1) Prologue in the Library – five years ago

Staring into the crackling fire of her fireplace, Twilight tapped her chin thoughtfully. Across from her, Princess Luna sipped her cup of tea gently, while looking at her host's reactions. The two ponies found themselves in Twilight’s living room inside the Golden Oak’s Library, following an hour-long discussion of modern times. The magically protected fireplace bathed the room in a cozy reddish-yellow light and spent welcoming warmth for the two ponies in front of it.

Surrounded by books, Twilight was at home. When she was out in the open, she always had an inkling of fear that she might be rejected or outcast but surrounded by books, such a fear did not exist. Books did not judge, and books did not hurt anyone. Not her, at least.

But the pony across from her could judge her, so she wracked her brain for an applicable answer.

“No, I-I mean we, did not fear you, Luna… or Nightmare Moon for that matter. It is true that I was the only one who knew of your coming and by extension, of your powers. But, Celestia was missing… and it was night in the middle of the day… so, I… or rather we… had to do something! I guess.”

“Tis not a scandal if thou would admit to be frightened of us,” Princess Luna said, her subtle melancholy revealed by the flames.

“But it's not like we had any time to worry, Luna. That day, everything went by so fast that I didn't even have the time to sit down and ponder over what would happen if we confronted you. Our only goal was to reach the Elements of Harmony and free Celestia… to free you was never actually my plan in the first place. It kind of just happened.”

“This does not make thine actions any less noble or thank-worthy.”

“I guess so…”

Luna lowered her cup and forced herself to look at the purple unicorn right next to her. “We didst not actually thank thee that day, did we?” she wondered.

“You don’t have to, Princess. As soon as I felt someone else's magic inside of Nightmare Moon, I kind of knew that it was not evil, I knew that it was trapped inside of Nightmare Moon and I feared for the pony trapped in such a foul creature. So… I tried to save it. Anyone would have done the same, I think. That the Elements of Harmony would outright destroy Nightmare Moon, I had no idea of. True, I had the control over what they would do. But right at that moment, all my concerns were about the pony inside of her.”

“And that’s the noble part of thine deed. Thou didst not care of who we were. Thou only cared on how to save us.” Luna tried to speak but hesitated for a moment. “Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.”

Averting her gaze, Twilight nodded dismissively. Receiving praise was always something that made her feel uncomfortable. “Well uh... thank you, but… what… if I might ask, could Nightmare Moon have done to us? I mean… was she really so powerful, that the only reason we won against her was because she didn’t see us as a threat?”

The question seemed to hang in the air. The silent crackling of the fire was the only sound that could be heard in the room for quite some time. At last, Luna's gaze dropped, and she inhaled audibly.

“Friend Twilight, be assured that thou would not like to hear what we could have done when we were at our lowest.”

“I… I am sorry to say so, but this does not answer my question, princess. I… I need to know.”

Nodding in understanding, Luna looked back into the fireplace and thought for a moment. The silence falling onto the room was bone-chilling for Twilight, she almost feared that she might have offended Luna in any way.

“An Alicorn is not just a pony with wings and a horn, Twilight. We are an aspect of the world incarnated. For us, we are the incarnation of the moon and therefore its guardian. We hold power over the night itself and every aspect of it. We hold power over the light and the form of our celestial body, but we also hold dominion over the dreams of our ponies beneath it. We could have done cruel things, Friend Twilight. Things that we are unwilling to tell thee, not because we fear thy reaction, but because we fear what could have happened. We… I mean I, don’t want to think over it, please.”

Twilight shuddered at the implication of such horrors that would give Luna pause and nodded. The silence returned to the room as the two ponies stared into the fireplace and at its dancing flames among the logs. Something Luna had said came back to her though and she could not help but voice the question it brought.

“What do you mean, you hold dominion over dreams?”

Giving her host a sidelong glance and only seeing the curiosity of a scholar towards a new subject, the night blue alicorn smiled wryly.

“As we said, we hold powers of every aspect of the night and dreams are a part of the night as well. So, to answer your question, we can see and visit the dreams of anypony, or creature for that matter, and help them if they have troubles.”

“Visit dreams? So, the legend telling that one sister could walk through dreams as good as Pegasi could fly are true?” Twilight wondered.

“Tis quite true, even literally so. As soon as a sentient creature lays down to sleep, their mind enters another plane of existence. Some scholars of our time had named it 'dreamscape'. In this place, every being's dreams, like ponies, griffins or dragons share a singular home. Within this plane, particularly close dreamers may even harmonize to form a shared dream. But a certain malady has found its way back into this sacred plane.”

“Since the dawn of time, dreamers are haunted from nightmares. It is our sworn duty, to protect the vulnerable from them to the best of our ability, and to help them deal with their own destructive fears and doubts. But in our absence, we failed to do so. Nightmares were once a seldom thing to have, but in modern times are quite common due to the fact that we could not help our ponies for such a long time. We think we will need some time to squelch those cursed dreams once more, but we will manage it in time.”

Fascinated, Twilight couldn’t resist asking, “So, you can literally walk into a pony’s dream and see what they are dreaming?”

“Quite so, yes. We could also wander around in their mind and find information, like secrets, fears or feelings, but we do not do so, not unless we absolutely have to. Not even in times of war. The mental plane is sacred, and we vowed to ourselves that we would never abuse those powers if we can help it. Nor would we tell any other living creature what we have seen in one’s mind. Not even our sister.”

Twilight's eyes went wide at the revelation.

Secrets and feelings.

Did the Lunar Princess already know of her feelings towards her sister or herself?

Since Twilight became Celestia's personal student, she looked up to her mentor and adored her. At first, this adoration was only between student and teacher for the prospect of knowledge. But as the years went by and her body changed so did her feelings. The thought of being with somepony was always met with the thought of Celestia, since she saw the princess once sleeping on one of her cushions, after falling asleep in her lecture after a long day of court. At that time Twilight did not understand what the sensation in her heart was. She shrugged it off at the prospect of her ruler, mentor, and friend laying sleeping in front of her, shivering.

Spurred to help, Twilight had brought her a blanket and laid it gently over Celestia’s immaculate body. The soft smile finding itself on Celestia's muzzle made it clear to Twilight that she would never want to disappoint the alicorn, simply for never having to see that entrancing smile vanish.

But as the weeks went by, the thought of Celestia never left her mind once. She imagined herself being held by her strong embrace over the night, protected from her petty insecurities like she sometimes used to when she was still a filly. She imagined herself to nuzzle into her soft fur like she did whenever they hugged. She imagined that the white alicorn would love her as much as she loved her, but she never dared to voice her feelings. Not even once. The fear of being rejected or sent away was too great.

And so, Twilight held this crush for many years. At first, she thought those feelings would eventually vanish, but they didn’t. The longing for her mentor’s body grew from day to day and would she not have been sent to Ponyville, Twilight was sure she would have either gone insane by now or would have done something she would regret later.

Being sent to Ponyville was her own doing and as much as it stung, she needed the distance. But after freeing her sister, she started to also translate her feelings to the younger monarch. Seeing Luna once so small and powerless made her almost approachable for her. Celestia, the literal god of ponykind, had a sister. A sister that for all intents and purposes was the same as Celestia in power, majesty, and kindness. But she seemed approachable for her somehow, having freed her made her imperfect in Twilight's eyes. Celestia was perfect, untouchable and unreachable. But Luna was not so far away.

So, her feelings for the pony across from her blossomed over the 6 months she had returned from the moon, but her feelings for Celestia did not wane in the process. Not in the slightest.

Twilight felt that it was pure selfishness from her own part, but she wanted them both. She wanted her mentor and her sister. She wanted the two rulers of the very nation she lived in. She wanted two of the three Goddesses pony kind had to offer. And she wanted them for her alone.

But she couldn’t. Twilight felt unworthy to confess to even one of her coveted princesses, not mentioning both.

She was only a unicorn after all. The student of the princess, true. But she saw herself as nothing but an ordinary unicorn. She thought of nothing special about herself and could not think of any reason why one, or for that matter two, of the beings so high above her would want to have anything to do with her.

And so, Twilight tried to bury herself in her work, in her studies, and in her friends. But the feeling of longing never left her.

And now, one of those beings she so admired sat in front of her and casually said that she could, if she so desired, find out her greatest secret.

The prospect of being found out ran ice cold down her spine as if someone had tossed her into one of the snow piles outside and left her there for an hour. The shudder rippling over her body did tell Luna of her distress though.

“Aren’t thou feeling well, Friend Twilight?” Luna asked, her voice filled with concern.

Snapping away from her musings and back into reality, Twilight briefly looked at Luna before quickly lowering her gaze to the floor. “No, no everything is fine, just… cold… I am just a bit cold,” she lied, trying to justify her sudden stiffening.

Taking Twilight's word at face value Luna smiled, shuffled over to the purple unicorn and gently laid a downy wing over her back.

“Tis quite late now. If thee wishes, we could leave and come back next week for another of thine lessons. We quite enjoy these,” the Lunar princess reassured.

Nodding softly, Twilight glanced at the princess next to her. The smooth and soft fur over the princess’s body did not help her in any way with keeping her thoughts proper or at bay, but she didn’t want Luna to go away either. Though she did not dare voice her desire, and so kept to herself.

“Then we thank thee for thy hospitality and knowledge. We hope to see thee very soon.” Luna said, without moving an inch. The voice of the princess gently tickled Twilight's ears along with the gentle vibrations she felt coming from the monarch’s chest while they touched.

Gathering every last resort of willpower she had left in her body, Twilight looked at the Alicorn and nodded. The following squeeze that came from the princess made her revel in the feeling of downy soft feathers against her body. But much too soon for Twilight's liking, her source of comfort rose from her spot next to her and the cold of winter reached her coat once again, and with it, the ache in her chest returned.

After her farewells with the princess, Twilight frantically searched through her library for any book she could use to create a ward for the princess, to never enter her mind.

She feared that if Luna would ever see what she held in her heart, the princess would be disgusted and would never want to see her again.

And so, Twilight worked late into the night to create a spell Equestria had never seen before or needed for that matter. A spell to keep Princess Luna's power out of her head. The thought stung, but she told herself that she had to do it.

2) Prologue in the Royal Chambers – present day

It was a beautiful night in Equestria, the full moon casting his quiet light through the clear sky, overshadowing the sparkling stars that were fighting an unwinnable battle for prominence of the horizon. All over the land ponies were asleep, working or enjoying the night while gentle silence settled itself over the kingdom. Even Canterlot had grown dark by now and only through a few windows was the soft light of a candle still visible. One of those candlelit windows was in the city’s castle, in one of the highest towers, the Tower of the Princesses itself.

Sitting on top of her overly large-sized bed, Princess Luna squinted at her tired sister warily.

“So, pray tell, sister, why art thou still awake at this hour of the day? Should thou not be in thy chambers and rest until the morrow?”

“I could ask you the same, dear sister” Celestia answered, smiling.

Knowing Celestia throughout her entire life, Luna could only think of one reason why her sister had come across her room to see that she was still awake.

“Thou were in the kitchens in search of one of thy cakes,” the Lunar monarch half asked, half stated accusingly.

Nodding and smiling guiltily, Celestia fully stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. “Well, you know… me and my sweet tooth these days.”

Trying to suppress a grin, Luna made room for her sister on the bed and waited patiently for the larger alicorn to settle down next to her.

“It doth not explain why thou are visiting us at this hour.”

“Do I really need a reason to visit my little sister?” The white Alicorn asked in mock offense.

Luna gave her sister a sidelong glance and shook her head, smiling.

“Well, now that I am here, is there something that keeps you up at night, Luna?”

Sighing in resignation, the Night Princess looked out of the window at her moon hanging in the sky.

“We were just wondering, since we came back to Equestria, we have seen ponies acting much more autonomous than was customary in our days. This, of course, is something good we presume. But we couldn't help but wonder… if we are still needed these days?”

Frowning slightly, Celestia looked at Luna. “What do you mean, if we are still needed?”

“Well… we have seen that our little ponies have had to deal with many problems since our banishment. What we also have seen is, that thou have decided to give them more and more power to handle them themselves. So, we were just wondering if we’re still needed in our kingdom… or if our little ponies would one day be able to handle themselves without thine or mine guidance.”

Realizing her sisters’ approach, Celestia smiled. “Well dear sister, as much as I would like to say we could give up the mantles of leadership one day, the truth is, that I’ve tried. I tried so very hard after you were gone. I thought that I could finally wallow in my own self-pity if I would just get them to be independent enough to no longer need us. But they came back every time. Each time I tried to push them away, more and more came back, asking for guidance, tutelage or help in some manner. Some might argue that they saved me from my own destruction, which I am eternally grateful for in hindsight, because I think, that if they wouldn’t have done so, I might have lost myself too and would never have been able to see you again, sister.”

Inhaling deeply and sighing, Celestia continued, “but you see, these days, they are so ‘autonomous’ as you had called it because it is a simple necessity to run such an extensive country as ours. Equestria has grown over the centuries. It has been difficult, Luna and even though I have had Cadence helping for the good part of five hundred years, Equestria is simply too demanding to be handled by so few. After all, we are the biggest country in the known world, dear sister. Our duties though… have changed over the centuries, too. While it saddens me, we can no longer hear out every one of our little ponies. We have to set ponies in charge instead of us to rule and govern what we cannot. But all in all, yes, we are still needed, now more than ever. Our ponies do not solely look up to us for guidance now. They see us as their head of state now. They see in us the values of our kingdom, the very values ponykind stands for. We are their immortal anchor through time now, dear sister.”

“But why, dear sister, did thou plan for thine niece to rule in the Crystal Empire rather than in Equestria?”

“Whatever do you mean, Luna?”

“Didn’t thou send Cadance away because of us?”

“I didn’t send her away because of you, Luna, what are you talking about?”

“After our return, thou sent Cadence away rather than letting her rule alongside us. Didst thou only use her as long as thou needed her until we were due to return?”

Celestia sat there, baffled.

It was a rare thing these days that something could give Celestia pause, and so it had only occurred once or twice this century, but right at this moment, Celestia lacked any words and simply stared at her sister in disbelieve.

“I love Cadance as much as I would love my own daughter. And I would never send my daughter away!" Celestia defended.

Suddenly she paused and flinched visibly as she realized that she had just run into one of Luna's traps. Finally understanding that Luna was trying to mislead her, she played along for now, "well, I sort of did, didn't I...? But only for the time being, the Crystal Empire needs her right now. I think more than Equestria does. After King Sombra, the ponies of the Crystal Empire needed to come to terms with the fact of their banishment just as much as you did, and Cadance is there simply to help them grow steady again. I never intended to send her away and as far as the plan goes, she will either leave the Crystal Empire one day to rejoin us in Equestria or the Crystal Empire unites with us.”

Now, it was time for her to finally take back control over the conversation, “as far as we can tell, the latter will happen in one or two decades. But… you should know all this already, dear sister. What is really bothering you, hmm?”

Looking back at her moon outside, Luna shook her head once and sighed.

“We can’t tell thee. We have to… um, I mean, I have to figure this out alone.”

To comfort her sister, Celestia nuzzled the smaller alicorn and switched to a much gentler tone. “You can tell me everything, Lulu. We may have been separated for one thousand years, but I had hoped to not have grown as far away from you as you might think right now.”

Relaxing at Celestia's nuzzles, Luna looked back from her moon to her sister and sighed again.

“The problem is thy former student,” Luna stated as a matter of fact.

“Twilight? Is there something wrong with her, dear sister?” Celestia asked, suddenly concerned for her former student.

Shaking her head and recoiling from her sudden slip, Luna tried to change her approach. “No, no… it's just… we thought we were her friend, one day, but… well, there is… we mean… well, after her ascension we…”

“Luna? Luna calm down, please.” Celestia softly rubbed her sister’s wing. “Just calm down, Luna and tell me what is wrong.”

With the telltale signs of beginning to cry, Luna nuzzled her head into Celestia's chest, as she did so many millennia ago when the two of them were still foals. After a moment of contemplation, Luna gave in and decided to tell her sister. After all, she knew Twilight longer than she herself did and practically helped to raise her, so, Luna figured, if someone could help her with her dilemma, it would have to be her sister. “After our return, we vowed to ourselves that we would protect those who were so kind enough to free us from our foolishness that much more. We vowed that we would guard their dreams to ensure that the six of them would have a pleasant life, and thusly that duty has been fulfilled, with just one exception...”

Luna choked down a sob. “But we can’t. We can’t help her... since this day, exactly five years ago, she won’t let us. She has to hate us. She has to… fear us.”

Looking down at her sister, Celestia was stunned again. Not only could she not imagine Twilight hating her sister, nor did she expect her sister to cry so suddenly. Stroking her mane carefully, she tried to soothe her sister as much as possible until she was able to talk again.

“Even after Twilight ascended, our vow did not change. Our protection would not waver. Our vigil would be a happy one for the fact that we would see her joyful and know we were a part of it. To our great dismay though, we fear our shame could stand now for the rest of eternity. We would rather help her and try to make up for our crimes, than see her writhe in her sleep every night. We should be forever in her debt, but she has shut us out,” Luna said, her voice cracking again.

“We want to be there for her as much as she was there for us, as much as she helped us and as much as she is still helping us… but she has shut us out. We don’t know how, nor do we know why, but… she… shut… us…” the Lunar Princess pressed herself against her sister, crying.

"Shhh, shhh, little sister," Celestia hushed, distressed by her sister's grief. The ache in her chest grew with each moment of Luna's labored breathing. That very same ache was telling her to do something, though she had no idea what. With the intent of knowing exactly what was causing Luna to cry so, Celestia asked, "From where Luna? Where have you been shut out?"

“From her dreams!” Luna almost shouted, shoulders sagging, as if admitting it out loud would be like admitting to being a complete failure. “We can’t access them, every time she has a nightmare, we have to stand there and watch without being able to help. We… we can’t help her. We can’t assist her. We just can’t look into her dreams and see what ails her, we just can’t, sister, we can’t.” The weeping alicorn sagged against her sister once more.

Celestia was puzzled. Her sister, the sole master, and discoverer of dreams was powerless in her own realm? In this very realm of dreams which indirectly sprung from her creating hoofs? She had never heard of anything even closely resembling the capabilities of accessing the dream realm and thought of it as impossible aside from her sister. She did not know what to say, so she continued comforted her sister further and waited for her to resume speaking.

“Five years ago, we and thy student sat in her library after one of her lessons for us to adjust to modern life. After her teachings, the two of us found ourselves in front of her fireplace and she asked us what our true powers were. She asked us how powerful Nightmare Moon really could have been and what she could have done to her and her friends,” Luna began to explain.

“We considered her and doubted she would have anything negative in mind besides her natural curiosity, but we didst not tell her this to spare her the dark thoughts. But we did tell her of our powers. We told her that we shepherd dreams. After hearing that, she changed. She began to act weird, but we did not question it. We simply thought it was one of her phases and ignored it. “

Tearing up again, Luna tried to press through, “b-but after we left that night and resumed our duty in the dreamscape, we found out that she had shut us out somehow. She had created some sort of force-field around her dream to shield it from mine presence and powers. This shield has remained unwavering for exactly 5 years. For 5 years now, we have been unable to enter her dreams. We are unable to mend her when she has nightmares, ... l-like today, and we are unable to confront her of this topic. Every time we bring it up, she shies away saying nothing. We are useless if we cannot even fulfill our base purpose. How can we call ourselves a princess, when we cannot even help those who we hold dear?”

“Shush, calm down, sister.” Celestia rocked Luna gently. “What would you think if I would help you and we simply ask her together once we see her the next time, hmmm? I am sure there is a logical explanation for all this and I am also sure that she does not hate you. After all, she does enjoy your weekly visits to her castle, I am sure of it.”

Sniffling softly, Luna glanced up at Celestia. “She does? How does thou know?”

“Well, for one, she said so in her letters. And two, she seems always so happy when you are around, so I doubt that she could ever hate you.”

“Art thou sure?” Luna asked, finally composing herself and wiping away some tears.

“I am certain, dear sister. Now, how about the two of us are going down into the kitchens and I show you the wonders of modern hot-coca.”

Snorting once, Luna glanced at Celestia, smiling. “Thou use every chance thou get to feast thyself on something sweet, doesn’t thou?”

“Well, what should I say? I am a simple mare, and when I have the chance to cheer up my sister in the process, I do it all the more gladly.”

And so, the two Alicorns left the room and went to the Royal Kitchens, where they found aside from the promised hot-coca a very selfish white noble stallion who was swiftly driven away from the kitchens by using cake leftovers and every throw-able item in range of the two alicorns. The impromptu food fight that was created in the process left the royal kitchens like a giant battlefield after the two laughing alicorns left the room, to the shock of the shortly arriving morning brigade of cooks and maids. After some time, the castle was finally silent again, as now, the two rulers reached their respective beds and fell asleep shortly after midnight.

Twilight tossed and turned in her sleep. The young alicorn lay in the midst of her many blankets and cushions which she had arranged like a nest, otherwise, she couldn’t sleep ever since her ascension.

In Rarity’s opinion, it was unbefitting of a princess to house like a bird would, but Twilight couldn’t care less. After facing the problems of sleeping with her new wings, she had to find a new way for her to rest, otherwise, the world would have to face a grumpy and sleep deprived Twilight for the rest of eternity.

The problem was, the traditional way of sleeping just felt uncomfortable for her overly sensitive wings.

It got better, but at that time, she had no idea how Rainbow or Fluttershy could endure it. The uncomfortable feeling of claustrophobia, when tucked under a blanket, had her nearly go crazy the first two weeks of having her new wings.

True, after she got used to her new appendages, she could have gone back to the traditional style of sleeping under the covers, but she still didn’t like the strange feeling it gave her and she began to like how it felt to just curl up into a small ball, surrounded by fluffy pillows and blankets, and fall asleep.

But, the comfortableness of her bedding did not help the purple mare any bit at the moment. In fact, her problem was, she was asleep.

In her dreams, Twilight saw herself as a filly again. It wasn’t unusual for her to dream from her youth, but those dreams came with an ulterior motive that an outside observer might not expect.

She was back in her mentor’s chamber, right after she got accepted into her tutelage and started her life in the palace.

The dream, as strange as it may sound was wishful thinking for her. Even though she fondly remembered those days with joy, she couldn't help but feel a strange melancholy at the thought of them stuck in the past. The feeling of longing for those past days created an ache in her chest that she couldn't possibly deny.

She wanted to feel it again, to lay curled up under Celestia's wing. She wanted to feel her mentor stroking her to sleep when she had a nightmare again. Twilight wanted the affection she received back when she was still a filly.

No… she wanted more. She wanted much more, and she knew she should not.

She saw herself with Celestia sitting in front of her old fireplace. The little version of herself had just gotten the first taste of hot-chocolate made from her mentor personally and drifted in and out of consciousness. Curled up under Celestia's giant wing, the young mare snuggled deeper into Celestia's soft chest fur and sighed contently.

Twilight, who stood aside and could remember just fine how that moment had felt, was about ready to cry when she heard Celestia's soft voice reading her out of the foal’s book in front of her. She heard the gentle but strong voice of her mentor, the voice which upheld Equestria so many millennia and which would grace Equus for the rest of time if she could help it.

Twilight knew she was dreaming, she knew that she could just change the scenery or be in the place of her former self. She knew, that if she wished, she could be the one being snuggled by Celestia.

But she restrained herself and chose to just watch.

The purple alicorn knew from experience that if she would indulge herself in her fantasies, it would just get that much harder to restrain herself later.

So, Twilight stood aside and watched. She watched as Luna came into the room. She knew full well that Princess Luna was still banished to the moon in that point of history but damn it! It was her dream after all! So, if she wanted Princess Luna to just lay next to her too…

Her mental restraints crumbling and without her consciously knowing it, Twilight found herself surrounded by two wings and bodies. She saw the clear white of her mentor’s fur and wings and she saw the dark blue of her sister's. She felt the soft sensation of downy soft wings wrapped around her, the warmth and love which radiated from the two ponies holding her and the incredible feeling of being pressed into their loving embrace, unable and unwilling to move.

Momentarily forgetting that she was dreaming, Twilight drunkenly nuzzled deeper into her surroundings and sighed in contentment. The sensation was divine, and she relaxed completely. As she felt a feather run over her cutie mark, she felt a shiver running down her spine and she could quite clearly feel her body react in different places too.

The constant tingling between her hind legs started to become more than just an itch, it became almost a need for the young princess.

Faced with the demanding need of her body, she could practically feel her body's receptivity to touch increase as she imagined herself under the loving ministrations of the two sisters.

Finally, as one of them slowly slid her wing over her thigh, she gasped with suppressed need and arched her back into it, and just that made her aware of her current situation. Twilight remembered that she was dreaming and quickly left her imagined body. Once again, she stood aside and looked at the display in front of her, tears now flowing freely.

She loved the two sisters! But every time she tossed and turned that thought around in her head. No matter how often she calculated it with the help of her books and the character charts of the sisters past lovers. Twilight could not find any reason why Luna, or Celestia for that matter, would ever see her as more than a simple friend. She could not find any indications that her mentor or her sister could ever love her, after all, the odds of that event occurring had more than two hundred zeros following the decimal point.

The two sisters could literally have any pony they desired. They were beautiful, wise, eternally young and powerful. Even though Twilight did not crave the latter, like so many other stallions or mares focused on who tried to court the princesses, she had nothing to offer. Twilight could not see any admirable traits in herself.

So, the logical question was, why would any of those two impeccable beings see anything in her that would attract them, if she couldn’t do so herself?

She felt like the two princesses were so high above her, even after her ascension into alicorn-hood herself, they still seemed unreachable.

So, she concluded, she would never have them. Not one, never thinking of both. Twilight knew it. She just knew it.

Silently curling up into a ball, Twilight cried in her sleep.

The ache in her chest just got worse every time she looked at her dream image. So, to not have to endure the pain every time she saw what she couldn’t have, she concentrated on emptying her head. She tried it by wiping away the dreamworld around her and stuffed it into her unconsciousness until she was floating in a vast black void. But, to her great dismay, the ache in her chest did not go away with the images. She just felt so lonely. So vastly lonely.

As the sun slowly crept over the horizon and a couple of sunrays slid through Twilight’s curtains, they hit her straight in the eyes. Groaning, the sleep-deprived mare just curled up into a that much tighter ball of purple pony princess material and slid her left wing over her head, trying to sleep an hour or two more.

After all, she had a free schedule today and could rest after an exhausting week of studying, rendering judgment and mediating disputes over the town and local areas.

After her ascension, Twilight had practically begged Celestia to give her some duties of her own. The young princess eagerly wanted to help in any way she could and even though Celestia gladly shared her workload with her, the old monarch would have preferred it if she did not have to stain Twilights young mind with the bickering, whining and squirming attempts of modern politics.

Be that as it may, her ascension itself meant a hoof-full of work for her as well, because representing the magic of friendship and being the incarnation of magic meant many new powers, opportunities and in general, much, more stuff to learn.

So, the factors of unrestful sleep and a stressful week meant that Twilight was looking forward to this weekend. Her plans were simple and oh so much unusual for her.

Nothing. She had planned nothing.

She simply wanted to relax a bit. The stack of books that had made it into her library which she had not yet time to read was agonizingly large for the former librarian, but simply reading them under the week was not something she did. Twilight wanted to enjoy her books.

She unofficially planned on doing exactly that today. But after last night, she even doubted that she would find any joy in that.

So, carefully shuffling around, Twilight turned away from the sun and nudged a blanket loosely over herself with a flick of her magic.

Trying to get back to sleep, she laid on her bed and let her mind wander. To her joy and disappointment, it quickly came back to the topic of her dreams tonight. Without anything else to do, Twilight laid there for another good half hour.

Finally, as a heavenly smell crept its way into her nose, another desire started to rise in her.

The promise of breakfast sounded suddenly appealing to her. Some pancakes with syrup.

Oh, sweet Celestia, she loved Spike for his cooking.

The young baby dragon always hit the perfect day to make them, every time when she was feeling down. Sometimes she wondered how the young baby dragon knew when to make them, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure it out, nor did she really want to. Unbeknown to her, the simple fact that she did not rise with the sun let Spike know exactly how his surrogate mother felt said mornings.

With the promise of breakfast, she slowly dug her way up out of the covers. Stretching her forehooves and arching her back, Twilight resembled more a waking cat than a pony at that moment. Flapping her wings lazily to get the cramps out of her muscles and finishing her stretching, she slowly got up out of her bed and looked around.

Her personal quarters in her castle were decorated with pictures and small knickknacks from her many adventures. Slowly trotting towards her vanity mirror, Twilight looked at the many pictures littering the frame and smiled. The pictures of her friends always made her smile each morning, but as she laid eyes on her own reflection, she quickly decided that she definitely needed some pampering before going down and meeting the other castles occupants.

So, she simply took a brush and stroked through her mane attempting to flattening it to her usual style. Her attempts of taming her mane were without success though, and after another hoof-full of tries she simply let her bed-mane be for the moment and decided that she would not need to look presentable in her own castle, she would simply take a bath, or whatever, after breakfast to straighten out her mane. After all, the sole important thing of this statement was ‘after breakfast’.

Making her way down to the kitchens, the smell of cooked pancakes grew in intensity and the anticipation of the sweet morning meal made her mouth water.

The simple thought that she could eat as many of them as she wanted added a bounce in her step, and the knowledge that Spike would provide her with as many as she desired, made her practically run down the hallways as if she had starved for a whole week and was now led to a banquet of her own.

Theoretically speaking, Twilight could, much to the envy of Rarity, eat literally as much as she wanted. As an alicorn, her calorie upkeep skyrocketed after her ascension. The fact that she was unable to leave the royal kitchens after she became an alicorn for nearly two days, as her body craved for all the calories in there in an attempt of replenishing all her magic, made it all the clearer that food was, for all intents and purpose, now simply a luxury good for the young immortal.

Only after Celestia had pried her away from the many cakes and meals she demanded was it possible for her to teach Twilight a technique which replenished her magic through her now accessible means and powers. Only through learning those spells was it possible for the young princess to stop devouring her own weight in a matter of hours and to return to her normal life.

But still, there are some cooks who get panic attacks if they see the young princess, and others who claim to have hellish nightmares of a never-satisfied Princess Twilight Sparkle running around in their kitchens, devouring all she could see which would normally feast the whole guard staff for a week.

So, even though Twilight could simply tap into her alicorn magics to not have to eat, she mutually agreed with Celestia that she would probably never abdicate from food if she could help it.

It simply tasted too good.

So, the prospect of pancakes, without having to fear her own waistline made her practically run into the door of the kitchens as she temporarily forgot to look where she was trotting.

Staggering back and wrinkling her nose, Twilight looked into the kitchen to see Starlight and Spike pressing their mouths shut in their combined attempt to not snicker. Huffing in resignation, she decided to simply ignore it for the time and stepped into the castle’s kitchens.

“Good morning you two.”

Having to forcefully keep down her laughter, Starlight simply nodded in greetings to her mentor.

“Hehe, morning Twi, want something for breakfast?” Spike asked the obvious question with a raised eyebrow. His attempts at raising an eyebrow got better every time he tried, but it still made him look so unbelievably cute every time.

“Oh, yes please,” the freshly woken mare stated as she jumped onto her chair. Silently noting that the morning papers had already been placed there for her, Twilight decided that she had to do something good for her little assistant in the near future.

Breathing down into the kitchen’s fireplace, Spike rekindled the flames for the pan he was using with his green dragon fire. As he added some eggs and butter to the mix, Twilight couldn’t help but smile at her young assistant. The small purple baby dragon stood on top of a footstool so that he could reach the counter. His chef’s hat and apron to complete the look, he could be mistaken for a royal cook, if he would not be a dragon. Even though he seemed to be only a baby, Spike was nearly as old as Twilight and could cook very well, or at least better as the two ponies combined in the room could cook.

Relishing in the silence of the morning, Twilight picked up her newspaper and read the first article.

On it was the depiction of a very familiar but definitely disliked colt with the headline:

- Prince Blueblood caught while trying to sneak out of his mansion in the middle of the night. -

“Prince Blueblood was caught trying to sneak out of his mansion in an attempt of meeting up with some lady he proclaimed. Even though after many attempts he refused to give us the name of this so-called filly he claimed to see in the middle of the night. As he was later seen exiting the local potion shop with a suspicious looking vail in his magic its left open the question of what he really was doing. Local experts proclaim that he was trying to find a cure for his distasteful smelling breath after he had embarrassed himself some weeks prior. This statement calms the local citizens a bit, but […] “

Unwilling to read anything more of this distasteful stallion, Twilight folded the newspaper and placed it aside to store it later. Trying to lighten the mood in the now silent kitchen, she searched for a topic to broach conversation.

“Nothing interesting in the newspaper, huh?” Spike relieved her of her attempted duty.

“No, not really. It's just the normal gossip over nobility.”

“Which you are a part of, aren’t you?” Starlight asked mockingly, knowing exactly that this was a sore spot for the young princess.

“This is all the more reason I don’t want to know what they are writing,” Twilight stated with a shrug.

“I know of at least two mares who would give their left forehoof in exchange of getting so much spotlight from the reporters as you and the other princesses get on a daily basis.”

“And I know that I tried redirecting those reporters at least thrice this week already.”

“Yeah, and you see how well this went on page 3 after the report on Celestia's school meeting this year.”

Snorting, Twilight shook her head. “I really don’t wanna know.”

“Might be better,” Spike chimed in.

“Anyway. What are you two doing today?” Twilight asked in an attempt of redirecting the conversation.

Shrugging a bit Starlight just looked out of the window. “Trixie had asked me to come over today, she said something about a new idea for her next week upcoming stage show in Manehattan.”

“And that interests you why?” Spike asked, the venom for Trixie audible in his voice.

“SPIKE!” Twilight scolded but was interrupted from going further by her student.

“Well, she knows that she is just bolstering around and therefore asked me if I could help with some of her spells. She is really trying to better herself, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah… I still cannot understand how you two stomach her even near you, or the castle for that matter,” he grumpily stated, knowing full well that Twilight didn’t like it when he was pulling someone’s leg.

“Spike! Friendship does not mean that you have to like all of your friends’ friends, but to get along with them and to tolerate their friendships.” Twilight shook her head. “You don’t have to like her, but I don’t want to hear another word of your distaste to Trixie. I cannot stand her as well, sorry for that Starlight, but I hold my tongue and you know full well you should too.”

Nodding gratefully Starlight shook her head and smiled. “Or should I start whining about this little dragon princess you seem to find so enticing?”

“Hehe, how is Ember doing anyway?” Twilight asked.

Trying not to blush, Spike intensely focused on his pan. “Fine, I presume. Her last letter is over three weeks old and I think in a couple of days a new one should arrive.”

As he finished a stack of pancakes, he placed them on a plate and brought them to Twilight. The now salivating Alicorn practically devoured the stack of baked goods already with her eyes and nearly shoved her muzzle into them until they finally arrived in front of her.

Having successfully started to brighten her mood, Spike chuckled over Twilight's antics and turned back to the pan he had used and prepared another load.

The little aprons and chef’s hat he wore made him look so adorable every time the two ponies’ saw him in that outfit that it never failed to make them smile.

“Well, to answer your question, I have been asked over by the Cutie Mark Crusaders to help them with her current cutie mark problem. Later then, I think I received some comic books from Cadance this week.”

“Hmm, don’t get yourself in trouble again, young man,” Twilight stated, smiling.

“Haha, no, I won’t, I promise.” He served Twilight another stack of pancakes, which the young princess hastily shoved into her maw.

All the while, Starlight watched her mentor eat like a pig and said nothing, she just smiled.

She had quickly learned after her arrival in the castle, that she better not question some of her antics, or Pinkie’s for that matter. After settling with the fact that the new princess, or the other three, were nothing like she had expected and more like everyone else, playful, funny, sad sometimes or even happy, allowed her to really get to know her mentor and to start to feel at ease around her.

After all, living with a living god was not something you did every day.

She didn’t know Twilight before her ascension, but from what her friends had told her, she has not changed a bit since then.

Shaking her head and looking over to Spike, Starlight watched as he poured a healthy amount of Gem-powder into a fresh batch of pancake batter. Wrinkling her nose, she quickly ate her stack of pancakes before Spike was being done producing his ‘Gemstone Enriched Super Pancakes’, or short 'G.E.S.P', as he named his abominable construct of breakfast he adored so much.

She understood the reason why he did it, after all, gems are a normal part of a dragon's diet, but after accidentally eating one of his pancakes once, she didn’t want to even see any of those ever again. The stomach pain was simply too much for her that week and the mere thought made her shudder.

After Spike finished creating his breakfast and joined the other on the table, he poured a healthy amount of hot sauce over his pancakes, just as he liked it.

Seeing his surrogate son making breakfast, Twilight pulled carefully her remaining breakfast protectively away from the abomination Spike called food to protect it from getting hot sauce over her sweet meal.

Ignoring the strange glances he received from the two occupying ponies in the room, Spike dug into his breakfast with healthy abandon. After some bites of his food, he raised his fork and pointed at Twilight. “Well, after you know now what we are doing today, you are the only one still having to reveal your plans for the rest of the day.”

Glancing up from her breakfast, Twilight shrugged. “I dunno. My schedule is free today and I thought of keeping it that way, really.”

Spikes fork found its way to the floor as he stared at Twilight. Blinking once, then twice, he quickly jumped onto the table and stared at Twilight. “WHO ARE YOU! AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER, IMPOSTER!” he demanded to know, unwilling to believe what he had just heard from the pony across from him, the only pony who would normally work every day.

Chuckling at his antics, she levitated Spike back into his chair and brought a new fork over from the counter while dropping his dropped one into the sink.

“Haha, I am me, Spike. I assure you.” Twilight grinned at her surrogate son. “Or how would I know where you are ticklish?” she stated as she flicked her magic behind his shoulder blades.

Squirming under Twilight’s ministrations, Spike couldn’t raise any other objections and believed the pony across from him to be the one she claimed to be.

Starlight chuckled, “You have to teach me that someday,” she paused to think for a moment, “well, that still leaves us with the question what are you really doing today?”

“Well, I dunno, really. I thought of reading a book, or two. Maybe I’ll pay Rarity a visit, or go to the spa today, maybe both,” Twilight shrugged. “Maybe I’ll just go back to sleep and spend the rest of the day in bed.”

“When I meet with Trixie, I usually go past Rarity’s Boutique, should I ask her to come over?”

Pondering over the offer, Twilight nodded as she leaned back in her chair, happily patting her now full belly. “Thanks, that would be great. But please ask her to not come over before noon. I think I want to read at least a bit before she eventually drags me to the spa.”

“No problem.” Starlight smiled at her mentor before standing and patting Spike once. The young dragon waved at her good-bye as she trotted out of the room.

Silently observing Spike as he ate, Twilight waited until he was done and stood up to put his and Starlight’s dishes into the sink. As the young baby dragon prepared to wash the dishes, Twilight gently levitated him over and hugged him once. “Thank you, but I’ll do that today, have fun with your friends,” she said, gently shuffling the dragon towards the door.

“Thanks, Twi!” he shouted before dashing out of the room and into the hallway leading to the castle entrance.

Silently pondering over what she really would do after she did the dishes, Twilight smiled and genuinely felt happy for the moment.

High up in Canterlot, inside a small but dark house, a group of cloaked figures waited for the arrival of their last hooded companion.

The group consisted of eight hooded figures, three of which were clearly not equine, and what could be seen through the haze of darkness and the concealing cloaks they wore was that two of them were griffins and the other was a minotaur. They waited patiently in the dark of their little hiding spot with a perfect view of The Noble District.

As the approaching sound of somepony with heavy hooves became louder, the group quieted down and looked to the door of their apartment awaiting their missing member.

The door opened, and a bulky equine figure came in, wrapped in a dark tunic from hoof to shoulders with only the head sticking out. He was clearly the leader of the small group and had a scar right over his left eye. The horn sticking out of his head identified him as a unicorn, but his bodily muscles resembled more those of a heavy working earth pony.

His gaze drifted from one of the figures to the next, stopping at one of the griffins.

“Is everything prepared, Hunter?”

“Everything is in place, my lord. The magical enforcers work perfectly, and we have several alternatives as well, if the target proves uncooperative,” the addressed griffon answered quickly and bowed deeply.

“Very well, and I have the magical suppression rings.” He nodded, “We’ve been given everything we need to get this done, we have the tools and the opportunity that we cannot let pass us by. Nevertheless, this will be difficult, but as my father always said: the end justifies the means. We will begin at noon and we’ll have to be fast! My informants confirmed that our two targets will be at home when we strike, but still, it will not be easy, after all, we will be dealing with powerful enemies here! We don’t have the luxury of mistakes.”

And with that, he turned around and walked out of the room, leaving his companions to do their last preparations.

Absent-mindedly drying her hair with her magic and a fluffy towel, Twilight slowly trotted out of her bathroom after enjoying a relaxing time in her beloved hot tub. Having finally straightened out her mane, she now looked herself over in her vanity mirror, again.

Having Rarity coming over in a couple of hours, Twilight knew that if she didn't want to be murdered by her fashion-loving friend, she had to at least look presentable.

The problem was, that wasn’t a joke in of itself.

The last time Rarity saw her without an orderly mane and a clean coat, after she helped Applejack on the farm, the fashionista had personally dragged her into the nearest bathroom - coincidently her own - and scrubbed the then unhappy alicorn from head to tail.

Unwilling to relive that experience, Twilight made sure to at least be washed before facing said friend and could now tick off that point on her checklist.

Satisfied with her looks for the moment, the now clean alicorn made her way to her personal library.

The number of books the young alicorn had acquired since Tirek’s attack was astonishing, going so far that even Celestia had no idea how she managed to hoard so many of them so quickly. But Twilight wasn’t simply going for quantity. The young princess had acquired thousands of the rarest books equinely possible and shelved them all by herself, well, sometimes with the help of a certain young dragon.

After Tirek had destroyed the old town's library, and with it her beloved home, Twilight had opened her new palace gates to allow everyone to use her obscenely large halls as a library instead. Most of the time though, she was alone in her vast halls of books, for as hard as it was to accept the truth, a traditionally orientated settlement apparently had no need for such an extensive library.

Unfazed by this revelation, Twilight made it her personal hobby to have the greatest library in the world, and the partially burnt books rescued from her old library were the first of many volumes to adorn the personal collection of the self-proclaimed librarian.

Strolling through her many rows upon rows of books, Twilight wandered through her bookshelf maze absentmindedly.

Being the only one who didn’t need a plan of where to find something, Twilight looked from one section to the other in hope that one of her books would sort of jump at her to read.

Stopping in front of the romance section, she thought for a moment before shaking her head dismissively. Her recent dreams and rising desire of her secret crushes gave her all the reasons she needed to not reread one of those.

So, she made her way deeper into her library and after no more than five minutes of search found herself in front of her stories section. Smiling and without consciously thinking about it, she grabbed the book Celestia had read to her in her dreams tonight. Marveling at the beautiful cover of a young Star Swirl the Bearded for a moment, Twilight shrugged and tucked it under her wing and went to leave, greeting an unfamiliar colt, who was currently looking over an ancient cookbook, on the way out.

The fact that some ponies traveled through Equestria to peruse her library made her smile every time. She knew for a fact that no one would steal one of her books for two reasons. First and foremost, she had more binding and location spells on each of her books than Celestia had wards on her personal quarters and second, the last pony who tried to steal one of her precious books didn't even make it to the outskirts of Ponyville before a very pissed off alicorn landed in front of him.

Having to face a pissed off Twilight if someone maltreated one of her books, or tried to steal it, made even Celestia shudder. The lesson of handling books carefully in the presence of Twilight was something Celestia learned shortly after she accepted the purple bundle in her tutelage. Who knew that a small purple unicorn, not even big enough to reach to Celestia's knees at that time, could throw a goddess through the nearest wall in an attempt of rescuing the book from tea stains?

The attempt was futile, but Twilight had forced Celestia to replace that book immediately to which the monarch of the day had relented simply because she could not believe that a mere unicorn of five years had just smashed her through a 6-hoof thick wall of stone, for a book.

Some guards still claim that Twilight was burning at the very moment as they had tried, but ultimately and spectacularly failed, in subduing the one daring to attack their princess.

Reminiscing about her more carefree days, Twilight smiled fondly. Now tightening her wing around the book, Twilight happily got onto the way to her favorite reading place in the castle, a small room in which she could sit next to a fireplace and a gigantic window at the same time.

The room let it seem as if The Tree of Harmony had designed the castle with Twilight's personal preferences in mind, but how the tree had done so was beyond her. After some extended research, Twilight had stopped thinking about it some time ago.

Wandering towards her kitchens to pick up a mug of steaming hot chocolate and to collect a fluffy blanket from her bedroom, she crossed the map and throne room to walk into a seemingly unimportant corner right next to the castle's entrance.

Stepping into the small room, Twilight flicked her horn to light the fireplace. Making sure the fire would last for a couple of hours, she settled onto the window frame and threw the blanket into the air, quickly ducking under it before it came down, and let herself be blanketed by it with only her head and the book sticking out. All without spilling one drop of her cup of hot chocolate, Twilight nuzzled deeper into her blanket and looked out of the window for a moment.

She could see the Everfree Forrest in the west and Canterlot-mountain in the northeast, her beloved town of Ponyville nestled comfortably between. Twilight could nearly see across all of Ponyville from her vantage point.

She could see from Fluttershy’s cottage, Carousel Boutique, Sugarcube Corner to Rainbow’s cloud house and even a part of Applejack's barn.

Seeing all of her friends’ houses made Twilight smile, but what she also could see were the many ponies walking around Ponyville doing their errands.

Her crazy town looked so peaceful.

Due to its distance from the Everfree Forrest, monster attacks or the like were a common threat in this area of Equestria. And when not monsters or some other world-ending threat, the Gates of Tartarus or a stampede of riled up cows disturbing the town's calm, then an overly energetic Pinkie Pie would do the job just fine.

The random songs the town sometimes performed disturbed the educated part of Twilight's brain immensely, as did Pinkie's actions, but that’s something to worry about later, she told herself.

At the thought of Pinkie, Twilight could swear she just saw a pink blur at the end of her peripheral vision.

Shaking her head and confirming that the line in front of Sugarcube Corner was still moving confirmed that Pinkie was at work this early Sunday morning and not, to her relief, running around in her room, or popping out of the next vase.

Still, she checked.

Satisfied that Pinkie would not suddenly come out of nowhere and do Pinkie stuff, Twilight looked down at the book in her hoof.

“Star Swirl the Bearded’s collection: The Arcana Principals, Volume I”

The fact that all those years ago a 5-year-old Twilight had a scientific autobiography of Star Swirl the Bearded as her favorite book could be considered questionable. But, for lack of a better term, Twilight had always been special in that regard.

Her thirst for knowledge was unrivaled and after Celestia had accepted her, the old monarch had tried to quench that thirst of hers by teaching Twilight everything she could.

And so, Twilight learned.

The young mare had absorbed knowledge like a dried-out sponge and raced through her classes at an obscenely high speed.

The only problem was, the young mare's thirst for knowledge was never satisfied, and after she had raced through her classes, she began to study at the age of 9. Twilight was the youngest graduate of Celestia's school for gifted unicorns at the age of 11 and continued her studies with Celestia as her mentor even further.

So, for everypony who knew Twilight personally, it was no surprise that the young mare would only fall asleep if somepony would read her out of one of her science books rather than a foal’s picture book.

Opening the cover, Twilight scanned the first page.

She practically knew this book by heart and so she began to skim, all the while letting her brain peacefully wander around.

After all, she wanted to relax.

Having a warm fire nearby, a cup of hot chocolate in her hooves and settling in her belly, a familiar and good book in front of her, Twilight finally started to relax after her stressful week.

And relaxing is what she did.

The young princess relaxed so much that she eventually fell asleep and began to dream.

The warmth surrounding her gave her the impression of being held by someone.

The feeling was enticing. She didn’t care who was holding her, nor did she really doubt her suspicion. Twilight just let go for the moment and reveled in her thoughts and feelings.

She was laying on top of a giant white hoof, just as she had in her youth, and looked dreamingly at the white mare whom said hoof was attached to.

Celestia looked gorgeous.

Her immaculate white coat was softer than any of the clouds she had ever laid upon and she was warm, she was so wonderfully warm. Her gentle voice trained by a millennium of politics and age sent the finest impression of vibration through her body and her mane, which was ever-flowing in an ethereal wind, tickling her where it touched her fur.

The dream was wonderful, and Twilight wished she would never have to wake up from it.

But, apparently, all good things have to come to an end, or at least she had to wake up eventually. So as Celestia tried to slip away her hoof, Twilight gripped it with all her might. She desperately tried to lay there for simply five more minutes.

Chuckling softly, Celestia softly poked Twilight on the nose. Her delicate actions made Twilight giggle and clench harder around Celestia's trapped appendage. “Twilight… come on, let go please.”

She could feel the dream crumbling around her, but Twilight desperately wanted to not have to leave her mentors embrace. Unfolding her wings, she tried to leach onto Celestia's hoof now with all her might, desperately trying to not wake up. Not yet at least.

“Twilight… please wake up.”

…

“Twilight… you… you’re hurting me… please.”

This wasn’t the sound of Celestia anymore, this sounded different.

Shocked, Twilight opened her eyes to see white fur.

“Twilight… please… let me go… ouch, ow, ow… please.” the white fur whimpered.

Blinking once, then twice, Twilights sleep drunken mind slowly kicked in and realized that she had something clenched between her forehooves. Namely… a pony.

“Ow… you are crushing me…” the pony whined.

Still unable to comprehend the situation completely, Twilight blinked once more, and then it clicked.

Forcefully pushing the white pony away, Twilight realized suddenly who she just had cuddled like a giant teddy bear. “R-R-R-Rarity!?”

The sensation of flight was something commonly desired, though the reality could be very different. Rarity was currently experiencing this reality as she briefly flew across Twilight's compact reading chamber. Her flight though was interrupted by her back hitting the wall with an audible smack!

“Rarity?!”

“Argh!” Rarity groaned, both from being nearly asphyxiated and from the pain of hitting the wall.

“Oh, sweet Celestia, Rarity! Oh no… I-I am so sorry,” Twilight jumped up from where she was sitting and rushed over to where her friend was laying, nearly tipping over her blanket in the process. “Rarity… Rarity?!”

Rolling onto her side, Rarity held a hoof to her head while wheezing to get air back into her lungs.

“Oh no, I am so sorry, really, you must believe me, I didn’t mean to… well... I…” Shaking her head to clear her mind and to focus on what was actually important right now, Twilight had to concentrate for a second before she cast a simple scanning spell on her gasping friend.

The spell, to her relief, did come up with nothing though. Having lived with a baby dragon for years, accidents involving her surrogate son were nothing unusual for her, so she learned various healing and scanning spells quite early. With the help of Princess Celestia she even learned to perform extremely precise diagnostic spells which she could now perform without a second thought.

After another series of spells to confirm Rarity’s wellbeing, even triple checking them just to be sure, she proceeded to help up the confused mare. “Rarity, Are you all right?”

“Ow, darling, that was totally unnecessary.” The fashionista declared.

Ignoring Rarity’s remark for the moment, Twilight ran her magic along her body, providing relief from any potential pain.

Shaking her head again, the fashionista righted herself and glanced at Twilight, “Dear, might you be so kind and explain to me why you just did that?” Rarity asked, still dazed and holding a hoof to her forehead.

“Uhh… well, you startled me?”

“You outright grabbed me as if I was one of Sweetie’s stuffed animals.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, her ears drooping in the process. “I-I’m sorry, you know I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Come now, of course you didn’t, but nevertheless, my mane is at risk and I will not risk that” - Rarity gestured at the wall - “happening again. Just imagine the horror of my mane in such a state, augh!”

Twilight gave the fashionista a pointed look, causing her to drop the act and to move on.

Having assured herself that Rarity was ok, Twilight let go of the still wobbling mare.

“What was that about anyway? It seemed like you had a nightmare there, darling.”

Unable to tell Rarity the truth, Twilight just went with the idea of a nightmare, even knowing full well that this was the very opposite of one. “Yeah... maybe, though I can barely remember a thing, what with it being a dream and all.”

“Uh huh,” Rarity raised an eyebrow in suspicion, “I didn’t know we could even get nightmares anymore. You know, since Princess Luna's return, I thought she would have gotten rid of such horrid things by now.”

Realizing just how close Rarity could come to the truth, Twilight quickly averted her gaze. “Well, it could be the time of day? They called it ‘night’-mare for a reason.”

“I doubt very much so, I didn’t have to suffer under such a horrid thing for quite some time now and I am more than grateful for that. After all, they would disturb my beauty sleep.”

Chuckling a bit uneasy, Twilight nodded.

“But darling, we’ve got bigger problems now,” Rarity exclaimed, instantly grabbing Twilights attention. “I mean, just look at yourself, you look like you’ve just been attacked by a wild mouse or something like that!”

Looking down her own chest, Twilight just now realized what falling asleep always meant for her. Before her mouth could form the “uh-oh” screaming in her head, she had already been pulled down from the fashionista by an abrupt yank at her tail.

Now fuming over her friend, Rarity tsked. “Darling, you look like an absolute wreck.”

“Well… uh… as you have seen, I just woke up and I, OW!”

“Sweet Celestia, look at your mane, it’s all frazzled.” - Rarity grabbed the alicorn to examine her closer - “Oh, oh my, look at that coat of yours, it looks horrible…”

"Seriously? Rarity, can you stop? Ow! No, don't touch that..!"

Rubbing between Twilights wings with a tissue, Rarity looked up. “But darling, it looks like you have some dirt…”

“That's not dirt, that’s my wing bone, ow, and it’s quite sensitive, ow, ow, ow.”

Shying away and covering her back by ruffling her wings, Twilight tried to shuffle away from the fashionista.

Letting Twilight get away to get a better vantage point, Rarity looked her over further. “Good graces, darling, are those bags under your eyes? How have you been sleeping lately? Do you need something? I think I still have some herbs from Zecora at home.”

Trying to extricate herself out of Rarity’s magic, Twilight gently pushed with her own magic against that of her friend, “Rarity, … I am fine. I really am. Ouch!”

Having found an untangled feather, Rarity had expediently plugged it out as Twilight tried to crawl away. “Oh, I am sorry dear, but honestly, when was the last time you had a hooficure?”

“Uh, I don’t know… why?”

"Twilight. Darling. A mare like you should strive to look her best. A mares appearance matches her state of mind after all, and you simply look dreadful, my dear."

“Well, I haven't had time…”

“Ah time, yes, yes, that excuse again. First Applejack, and now you apparently, it isn’t becoming of you, my dear-"

"Rarity..." Twilight tried to interrupt.

"Honestly, the state some mares let their bodies turn to-"

"Rares..." Twilight tried again.

"Do ponies think such a magnifique appearance like I have materializes from thin air?”

"RARITY!" finally stopping the fashionista mid-rant, Twilight continued once she was sure her friend was properly listening to her, “I am fine, truly,” she tried to reassure.

“Of course you are, darling, but you have to understand, a lady has to look her best, especially you, my dear.”

“I look just fine, I just need a brush and then everything will be fine.”

“A brush? No no no, a simple brush won’t do, no... this calls for a trip to the spa. Aloe and Lotus can do wonders for your current, state. Oh, we could finish with one of their new massages, I've heard from Fluttershy that they're divine. I haven't had the pleasure yet but it's been the talk of the town. There must be something about that oil too... I haven't been this outshined since that visit to the Crystal Empire last summer."

At the mention of oil, Twilight was reminded just how much she actually hated that stuff. Sure, it sounded nice and she was even tempted for a moment, but she knew later she would feel that stuff clinging to her fur relentlessly. She shuddered at the mere thought of it. Not to mention what would happen if it got into her wings. Preening was difficult enough without tasting the hint of lingering oil.

“Uh, okay... thank you Rarity, but I doubt I need a massage right now, I-” Rarity cut her off.

“Oh, but you do. But first, we definitely need at least an hourlong soak in the hot tub to loosen up these muscles of yours. We won’t have a massage when your muscles are all cramped up like that, that would only make it worse. Yes, a relaxing time in the hot tub, maybe a hooficure later, that has never hurt anyone.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Ignoring Twilights complaint, Rarity continued. “Splendid, then it's settled. The all in one package, oh, wait, please say that you have time.”

Giving Twilight a near puppy dog eyed stare, Twilight relented. “Well, I have nothing on my schedule today, so I guess I have time for that.”

“Wonderful, come now, let’s pay Fluttershy a visit, I am sure she’d be delighted to join us.”

“But you said nothing about right now, I thought-”

“Nonsense, as your friend I invite you to join me at the spa, I won't take no for an answer...”

“In that case... alright, but how about some tea first?"

"And leave you like this? Good gracious no, if I'm to continue being a mare of fashion I cannot let this stand any second longer."

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Twilight muttered under her breath.

"Fine, let’s go now then," Twilight said rolling her eyes and resigning herself to her fate. She knew full well what she was getting herself into when she had sent Starlight to Rarity, but she didn’t expect the fashionista to drag her to the spa so quickly.

“Splendid!”

Clapping her hoofs together, Rarity stood up and made her way to the door.

Standing back up, and ruffling her wings, Twilight slowly made her way back to her blanket on the window frame. Closing her book and tucking it under her wing, she packed up everything she had brought into the room with her before extinguishing the flames of the fireplace.

Now leading the way, Twilight made her way to the kitchens, with Rarity in tow.

“How is Fluttershy doing anyway?” she asked, breaking the now lingering silence.

“Good, good, the dear has a hoof-full of work at the moment though.”

“Oh, how so?”

“Well, on our last Spa meeting she told me that a cat family stood on her doorstep one day, one of them apparently bearing kittens. She mentioned that they asked her if they could stay over the coming winter. They asked because the poor little kittens wouldn’t survive the harsh winter, and so she took them in.”

“Fluttershy accommodates cats at the moment?”

“Yes, and a couple of young kittens too, they are more than delightful, my dear.”

“Hmm, if we’re going to Fluttershy’s anyway maybe we could take a quick look at them before going to the spa? I’ve never have seen kittens before.”

“You have never? Darling, kittens are one of the most adorable things in the world.”

Twilight shrugged, “Well, I never had the time before, you know, with Princess Celestia's studies and now with my current responsibilitys I am quite busy.”

“But dear, she did talk about them at our last friendship meeting. She even invited everyone if they would want to see them.”

Rubbing her neck with her hoof a bit awkward, Twilight cleared her voice. “Well, did she? I… uh… I think I might have forgotten it then. The last few weeks were kind of stressful for me.”

“Well, darling then there is all the more reason you have to see them, they are the most adorable things in the world after all.”

“I’d love to, if they are anything like grown cats then I am sure they are lovely. I do like cats very much, after all.”

“Where does that revelation come from all of the sudden?”

“Uh… well, I don’t know, I kind of always thought of cats as cute, I just never had time to have one, I guess.”

“Oh, darling, you never said anything before, I could have brought Opalescence to you instead of to dear Applejack or Fluttershy when I am on a business trip.”

“Well, yeah, I’d love to watch over her, if you want. I mean, as far as I know, Owlowisious and Opal seem to get along quite nicely.”

“Hmmm, yeah, they do.”

Having packed away the blanket and the empty cup already, Twilight and Rarity stepped into the Library.

“Do you think mama cat will let me see her kittens though? I mean, as far as I know, felines can be quite protective.”

“Well, my dear, you would have to talk to Fluttershy, she's seems to have formed quite the connection to her. I'm sure you will be able to see them though. If she could be convinced to let Rainbow see them then you'll be just fine.”

“I hope so. Hey, do you know if they have been named yet?”

“I don’t know my dear, maybe you can come up with a suggestion?”

“What do they look like?

“It’ll be better if you would look yourself, my dear,” Rarity said, amused at Twilights sudden interest in cats.

Storing the book from under her wing in its proper place, Twilight and Rarity greeted the cloaked Stallion still sitting at one of her reading tables before making their way towards the castle entrance. After the two were out of earshot from the strange Stallion, Rarity leaned over to Twilight.

“I still cannot believe you let strangers walk around in your home, guards exist for a reason, you know?”

“I usually have Spike and Starlight for that, thank you very much.”

“A baby dragon and a potentially mentally unstable mage would work wonders, yeah. You are entirely too trusting my dear.”

“I have to be, well… sometimes anyway. And you know very well that I have 179 unique magical wards around my personal chambers and effects.” Twilight waved dismissively, proud of her magical prowess.

“And I am unable to place more than 3 enchantments on my dresses, I still don’t know how you are doing that.” Rarity said, rolling her eyes.

“I offered you to teach you.”

Rolling her eyes again, Rarity looked at Twilight. “And how exactly would that work out? I already struggle with my gem finding spell. I am simply not made for such magic my dear.”

“Only because you are not trying,” Twilight mumbled under her breath.

“Well dear, not everyone is so well versed or talented in magic as you are, or would you like to try and sew a dress?”

“You know full well I did and how that turned out.”

“Maybe that’s because you weren’t ‘trying’, my dear Twilight,” Rarity sang.

Stepping forward to open the castle’s entrance, Twilight rolled her eyes. As much as Rarity’s never-ending antics could be exhausting, she wouldn’t trade her for the world. The doors closed behind them though their discussion could be heard faintly through the crystal gates.

“And they really thought me naïve enough to sign an edict that would basically allow the nobility to march right into class and change the subject for whatever reason. I mean… why would I sign that?” Twilight asked, with an annoyed twitch of her wings.

“Well, they do have a point there darling, even I, as a big sister, am uncomfortable with little Sweetie learning such uncouth things like reproduction at her age.”

“That does not make them any less necessary, you know?”

“Of course, but there are some lines which I think should not be crossed...”

“But Rarity, isn’t it better if a foal learns of those topics earlier and not later?”

“Not necessarily, I still think there are some things foals should learn from their parents and not from their teachers.”

“But many parents avoid those topics entirely these days,” Twilight stated plainly.

“Then shouldn’t that be the fault of the parents, not the schools.”

Twilight sighed, “Rarity, do you even understand what this proposes? The nobility is already corrupt enough, imagine the potential fall out our educational system would suffer under their agenda.”

“But...! Oh, I didn’t think of it like that, maybe you’re right...” Rarity mumbled trailing off in thought.

“And, we’re here,” Twilight said, the conversation leaving a bitter feeling in her mouth.

Torn away from their discussion, Twilight and Rarity found themselves on the bridge to Fluttershy’s home. Their friend’s cottage stood outside of town, right at the edge of Ponyville. The general distance of her home to the Everfree Forest made it possible for many critters and other creatures to come to her home whenever they needed. Some of Fluttershy’s visitors even stayed for longer durations, Harry the Bear for example, who pretty much lived with her now.

As far as Twilight knew, Fluttershy had befriended the giant bear and he now made sure that nothing dangerous would attack her home. He was quite effective at keeping any intruders away and so generally acted as a personal guard and friend now.

The little stream in front of her cottage provided her with the water she needed, and she harvested a big portion of the food for her animals herself. How Fluttershy actually made bits for a living, though, was beyond Twilight and she had never asked out of politeness. For a brief moment though, she had entertained the thought of going to Mayor Mare and simply ask her to give her the financial information lodged in town hall to find it out herself. She quickly discarded the thought though as it would be a major abuse of her power.

So, as the two ponies crossed the bridge to Fluttershy’s home, they could see her friend standing on a footstool, sponge, and towels in hoof, while rubbing Harrys back for his weekly cleaning. How the giant bear fitted into this small tub though was also beyond Twilight and she had simply stopped questioning it all together.

Ponyville seemed to break the laws of physics on more than one occasion, even without thinking of Pinkie. That she hadn’t already gone mad though made her proud of her ability to stay level-headed, which did not mean that it spared her any headaches though.

As soon as the two reached the fence surrounding Fluttershy’s property, the two greeted her friend.

“Well, hello darling,” Rarity said, waving to get the attention of her friend.

“Hi Fluttershy,” Twilight said waringly, casting a wary glance to the white bushy tail sticking out of one of the bushes surrounding the cottage.

“Oh, hi you two,” The timed mare said upon seeing her two friends.

Jumping down from the footstool and passing the sponge to Harry while whispering something to him, Fluttershy made her way to the fence to greet her friends.

“Oh, it is nice to see you, Rarity,” she said, giving the mare a hug. “And it is also nice to see you, Twilight,” She said, smiling.

“Well, hello darling,” Rarity said, hugging her best friend back. “We are here to pick you up for our weekly spa meeting.”

Looking skywards to check the sun, Fluttershy gasped softly. “Oh, I completely forgot the time… I still haven’t fed my animals…”

“It is all right dear, I think we are a bit earlier than usual,” Rarity laughed lightly.

Mumbling something in acknowledgment, Fluttershy rushed back into her cottage, Rarity and Twilight following her.

“Well, darling, don’t hurry like that, I think we may have a few minutes anyway.”

Trying to pull out her head out of the small food sack she had nearly crawled into, Fluttershy asked. “Oh, how so?”

Rolling her eyes at her friend getting stuck in a food sack, Twilight gently pried her friend out of the sack with the help of her magic. “Well, you said something about a couple of kittens at our last meeting and Rarity mentioned that I should see them, so uh… I well thought I could get a glance at them before we’d go to the spa.”

Having been rescued from the sack of food and holding a bowl filled with corn in her mouth, Fluttershy mumbled in approval. After placing down the bowl in front of a couple of mice and guinea pigs she turned around and looked at Twilight, smiling. “Oh, you will love them, they are so cute!” she cheered, with her usual gentle voice.

Cantering into the next room, she motioned the two of them to follow her. Coming into Fluttershy’s pantry, Twilight looked around to see many sacks of food and other objects the pegasus needed on a daily basis to care for her animals.

Motioning to a small basket in the corner of the room, Fluttershy mimicked to stay quiet with holding a hoof in front of her mouth. “They are probably sleeping anyway, so please, don’t wake them.”

The three ponies slowly stepped closer.

As soon as the content of the basket slowly came into view, a set of big purple eyes glanced at the three newcomers.

In the basket was laying a big, completely white cat with purple eyes. She looked at the three approaching ponies with interest and what seemed like a raised eyebrow thrown to Fluttershy’s direction. Her back towards the ponies, she seemed to have curled around something. Something silently meowing and slowly moving.

Motioning Twilight and Rarity to stop, Fluttershy slowly crept closer to where the big white cat was laying. Lowering her head so she could whisper something to her, the pegasus talked to the big feline which yawned in the process. Her purple eyes fell on Twilight and she seemed like she was sizing her up before glancing back to Fluttershy.

Without breaking eye contact, Fluttershy motioned to Twilight to come closer.

Approaching the basket in the corner of the room, Twilight could see the cat observing her closely. As soon as she reached the basket laying on the ground, the white cat slowly rolled onto her back, revealing 3 pairs of eyes, one teal, one blue and one purple looking at the two ponies.

Twilights eyes widened as she, for the first time in her life, saw a set of kittens. The small kittens were pressed to her mother’s belly where they crawled up a bit to get a better read of the ponies.

Two of the three kittens had purely white fur and the last one was pitch black which glanced at Twilight with half-lidded, sleepy, teal eyes. The black one only turned around to press herself back into the crook of her mothers’ neck, while the other two slowly stood up.

As soon as the white big cat had rolled over completely, one of the kittens tried to jump out of the basket. Only succeeding in jumping onto the basket edge, her little claws dug into the fabric of the basket to give her stability.

Meowing in approval the white cat stretched a bit and looked at her young. Having shown Twilight the kittens but still having to feed the other animals, Fluttershy turned to her. “Well, I have to feed the others too, but if you want you can feed them, I guess?”

Tearing herself out of her trance, Twilight looked to where Fluttershy was holding a small bowl of dry food and nodded a bit. “I would love to, oh, they are so adorable.”

Chuckling softly, Fluttershy nodded, “yes they are.” Giving Twilight the bowl, the alicorn grabbed the food for the cats with her magic.

“Are they all eating that, or is the mother still lactating?”

“No, no they have grown quite a bit. They are doing both to be exact. Sometimes they eat a bit, but sometimes the mother is still feeding them a bit of milk. I think you will simply have to see if they want to eat.”

Nodding in understanding, Twilight turned back to the cats.

All four of them were now looking at her with big eyes and great interest. Smiling at them, Twilight separated the food she got from Fluttershy in 4 parts, one a bit bigger than the other three. Twilight hadn’t even realized that Rarity and Fluttershy had left the room as she watched the big cat stand up and jump out of the basket.

As she made her way over to where Twilight was sitting, with the food suspended in her magic, the feline licked her mouth in expectation.

The three little kittens tried to follow her mother and jumped onto the edge of the basket before it tipped over from their combined, albeit light, weight.

Chuckling a bit as the three kittens scrambled away from the now tipped over basket, Twilight almost fell over herself as the big white cat pressed herself against her side and wings. The purring feline rubbed herself along Twilights side, all the time not letting the suspended food out of her eyes.

As the four cats of various sizes surrounded Twilight, she lowered each portion of the food to one of them, the biggest portion going to the mother, while the other three were given to each one of the little kittens.

Watching them as they ate, Twilight marveled over the cute little things standing or sitting in front of her. While they ate, the alicorn turned the basket back over into its proper position before slowly stretching out one hoof to touch the mother’s fur.

Upon contact, the white cat jumped slightly before relaxing to Twilights touch and resuming her meal. Watching and stroking the big cat, Twilight didn’t realize that the three kittens had finished their portions and found an interest in her wings.

As soon as one of the small felines tried to crawl up Twilights feathery appendages, the purple alicorn fell over in laughter. The tiny feet of the kittens trying to find purchase on her body tickled, especially where her wings began.

Finishing her meal, the mother cat looked over to where Twilight and her three babies were now laying, and it seemed like she had an amused twinkle in her eyes. Joining her kittens, the mother rubbed again along Twilight’s now exposed stomach and purred audibly in the process. The three little kittens tried to follow the example of her mother and attempted to purr as well, only theirs sounded much more high-pitched and unrefined, but oh so much more adorable.

Having finally calmed down from her laughing fit, Twilight glanced down to where the big cat had now curled up in her hoofs and thought for a moment.

The sight of the white feline reminded her of something, something she just couldn’t place right. The way she was giving off an air of serenity kindled anew the spark in her heart that had demanded attention for years now. The gentle way she tended to her young showed her just how much that little cat actually cared for what she was doing.

It reminded her of just how much she yearned to have something like that, of having someone who would care for her on such a deep level.

Reacting on impulse, Twilight lit her horn and searched through her memory of spells which she had learned over the years. Concentrating a bit harder, Twilight's magic enveloped her body, and she began to shrink rapidly.

When the bright light of the transformation spell died down, in the place where Twilight lay just a moment ago now sat a completely purple cat, with a little stubborn bump resembling where Twilights horn had just been a moment ago.

Transformation spells were one of the more challenging spell types out there, even more so of living flesh, but having learned from Princess Celestia and having been trained her entire life made it pretty easy for Twilight to perform even the hardest of spells.

But as far as magic went, Twilight didn’t want to be stuck as a kitten for half a day, so she implemented the use of her magic into her new form by keeping her horn.

As soon as mother cat realized that the hoofs around her were gone, she looked around for her kittens. Seeing each one of them was good, but upon spotting another one sitting in the midst of the room, she nearly jumped in surprise. Having not expected to see another one, she slowly but wearily walked closer to the strange lavender kitten.

Upon coming closer and smelling the scent of the pony she had seen a minute ago around her, the feline relaxed and looked Twilight over thoroughly.

Still a bit dazed from the transformation, Twilight blinked her eyes open only to see the big white cat standing directly in front of her. If she had to bet, she could swear she saw a gentle smile on her snout.

Having had a ruffled coat before she transformed herself into a cat, her coat now looked like she just jumped out of a dryer and she could even feel it sticking out in odd angles.

Her heightened senses were overwhelming at first, she could smell so many different scents now, hear clearer than she ever had before, and her eyes could see in the dark pantry better than she could just a second ago.

The overload of new stimuli was dizzying for her, but she adapted quickly and made her first wobbly steps.

Why she had transformed herself into a cat was unclear even to herself, she had simply done it on an impulse that struck her, but now being a feline, she intended to see if she couldn’t learn something out of the whole ordeal.

Looking at her new paw, Twilight tried to bring out her claws. She marveled at the difference to having hands when she was in the human world.

Mother cat, though, looked at the new cat sitting in front of her. She sniffed at the former pony wearily though. Having confirmed that this strange kitten smelled exactly like the pony just a moment before, mama cat meowed once before she rubbed alongside Twilight.

For Twilight, a new body such as this was interesting, a tail she had absolute control over, whiskers that could feel the slightest movement of air currents and she even had soft paw pads with which she could sense the very ground she was walking on.

The only problem for her, she had lost her wings. The rest of her body she almost felt comfortable in, but the complete absence of appendages was something new to her. The instinctual twitching of phantom limbs caused a constant discomfort along her back that was unlike anything she’d felt before. Still, she was completely fascinated with her new body and Twilight didn’t even notice that the 3 kittens had spotted her. As they slowly crept closer and sniffed at her, their hesitation melted away after her mother had rubbed along Twilights side once. Seeing their mother’s approving glances, they ran at her and tackled the inattentive lavender cat down, playfully swatting at her.

Suddenly, for Twilight, everything went by too fast. She was toppled over and as the 3 other kittens tried to play with her, she panicked. Having not expected of being caught in a fight with the three kittens Twilight jumped up and run away, the three kittens taking that as an invitation and raced after her.

Scrambling over the floor of the pantry, the three kittens raced after Twilight as she tried to get away from the apparent danger. Her tiny feet and small body though weren’t trained in any way as the other 3 were and she quickly lost ground. Right before the black cat could catch her, Twilight bumped into something white and fluffy.

Her heart beating, she quickly tried to get past it and to run away further, already preparing a spell that would turn her back into a pony as she suddenly was grabbed by the neck.

The big white cat who had observed her 3 kittens chasing the new lavender one stepped into the action and saved the now panicking kitten from the three other overeager cats.

Being grabbed by the neck, Twilight was so surprised that she lost track of her spell. Her mind though quickly observed the situation and realized that the big white cat had her now secure in her grip.

Mama cat, with Twilight in her grasp, walked slowly over to where the now empty basket was laying. Her three other kittens had already lost interest and were now chasing each other, so she decided to calm down the panicking little bundle of purple fluff.

Gently laying Twilight into the basket, the white cat jumped next to her and kept Twilight from escaping with the help of her paw.

Now trapped at the mercy of the big white cat, who strangely enough still seemed to smile, Twilights panic subsided slowly. She didn’t know why, but she felt safe in her presence. The warmth radiating off her body was soothing, and she stopped fighting a battle she would lose anyway.

Her heart still beating, Twilight didn’t expect what came next.

As the white cat had settled around her, she reached down and licked Twilight over her snout.

Instantly wrinkling up her face in disgust and surprise, Twilight tried to get away again, only for the big white cat to tighten her grip around her and to draw her a bit closer.

All the while licking and grooming the lavender kitten, the white cat had no interest in letting her new charge go. She saw Twilight now as one of her kittens and she wouldn’t have an ungroomed youngling while she could stay in the nice, warm home of the yellow one.

Realizing her struggling only made it worse, Twilight finally stopped resisting the big white cat. The rough texture of her tongue was somehow soothing. The sensation of someone licking her fur and grooming it to perfection was strange to her, but it felt somehow familiar. As the white paws of the mother tightened around her barrel, Twilight closed her eyes and surrendered to the mama cat completely.

Feeling her licking along her neck, Twilight felt a strange sensation boiling up inside of her. She had never experienced something like this ever before, but she could feel her body suddenly softly vibrating. With every breath she took, she could feel that her tiny tummy hummed softly and with her mind half gone from the somehow soothing sensation of the white cats grooming, Twilight needed a moment before she realized what was happening.

She was purring.

As if with the realization something had clicked inside of her, she stopped purring altogether, surprised by her own actions. But as the white cat reached her back and licked over her neck and shoulder, the sensation overwhelmed her, and she began to purr again, this time even fiercer than before.

Eyes closed, purring and surrounded by warmth, Twilights heartbeat slowed down to her usual steady pace. The complex thoughts she had swirling around in her head for all her life now died down and she lost herself in the moment.

Feeling her charge relaxing in her grip, the mama cats’ big purple eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment in approval as she also began to purr softly.

As her surrounding began to vibrate, Twilight felt as if she was in heaven. The soothing sensation of the purring cat surrounding her coaxed her into relaxing even more than she had for quite some time now. The last time she remembered being so at ease was when she was under giant wings.

She remembered that she had just finished reading a book on alchemy when she had realized that Celestia had fallen asleep next to her. Marveling at the white coat and soft sensation of her wings, which Twilight only then realized had been draped over her, the lavender unicorn had levitated the book aside and blown out the candle next to the bed the two were laying on. As if Celestia had felt that in her sleep, she had drawn Twilight closer with her wings and held her to her chest.

The steady stream of heartbeats she could feel from her mentor’s chest and the warmth and smoothness she felt surrounding her had lulled her to sleep in only a matter of minutes, giving to her the most relaxing and restful sleep of her entire life.

Her entire body and mind calmed down and the only thing she was actually consciously aware of was the gentle but loving licks of the big cat surrounding her. Twilight yawned a mighty yawn for a small kitten like her as her mind slowly fogged completely with the pleasure she was experiencing. Displaying her sharp teeth to the world for a moment before contently licking her lips, Twilight laid her head on one of the paws of the big white cat and closed her eyes.

She could feel that her fur was being straightened out and cleaned. She didn’t mind that a small predator, which would normally hunt mouse or other creatures and ate them was now cleaning her with that tongue. It just felt too good.

The yearn she constantly felt in her chest was pulsating and spreading out warmth throughout her entire body. For the first time in many years, she felt nearly content. The only thing bothering her was it wasn’t Celestia or Luna doing it to her. But, for now, she didn’t mind some affections. The big white cat vaguely reminded her of Celestia anyway.

Having finished feeding her animals, Fluttershy walked back into her cottage. Stepping over the doorstep, she smelled something. Someone was cooking tea in her kitchens and upon further inspection, she found that Rarity had prepared a pot of lavender tea.

“Oh, that smells lovely, Rarity.”

“Well, darling, I thought after you had worked so hard for your little animal friends, you would like to have a quick refreshment before we leave for the spa.”

Smiling and nodding Fluttershy accepted a cup of tea which had been levitated over from where Rarity was preparing 3 cups.

“Have you seen Twilight by chance? She asked earlier if we could have tea before heading to the spa, so I made her one too, but I can’t find her.”

“Isn’t she still in the pantry with Fellora?”

“Fellora?”

“The cat mother's name is Fellora. I asked her if she had a name and she told me that while she had grown up, a nice old mare had taken care of her and named her Fellora, she liked the name apparently and so she kept it.”

“Fellora.” Rarity mumbled silently, “I think it is a fitting one, yes. But, no I haven’t seen Twilight in there. Well, I haven’t seen her leave either, but… well, you know how she can be.” Rarity rolled her eyes.

“Hmmm, maybe she just went out to get something?”

“I don’t know my dear, maybe you should take a look, maybe I just didn’t see her behind all those barrels and sacks you have in there.”

Nodding, Fluttershy placed her half-empty cup of tea on the table and happily cantered to her pantry to find Twilight.

Not even 20 seconds later, a loud gasp could be heard, well as loud as a gasp from Fluttershy could be. Expecting that something bad had happened, Rarity rushed after her.

As the white unicorn entered the pantry, she could see Fluttershy standing next to the basket where Fellora was laying inside. The three kittens running around and climbing onto Fluttershy’s supplies, the named Pegasus stood in front of the basket with a hoof held to her mouth.

Raising an eyebrow, Rarity stepped closer and looked into the basket.

In it, was laying the big white cat, fast asleep and curled around a tiny, lavender colored, kitten with a little stump piercing out of her head and a six-pointed star embedded on her flank.

The realization struck Rarity immediately and her eyes widened. The gasp leaving her lips was nothing in comparison to how quiet Fluttershy’s gasp had been, and so she woke Fellora with it.

The big white cat glanced up at the two watching ponies, yawning in the process, a series of mews and purrs came from the freshly woken feline and Fluttershy nodded.

“Uh, Fellora said that she, uh had no idea how, but Twilight has apparently transformed herself into a, um… kitten?” she half asked, half stated.

“She said that after she had fed them, she had seen a bright light and in the place Twilight had laid was now the little kitten she’s holding right now. She said that the other three had scared her and so she had, um… saved her?” Fluttershy translated Felloras trilling.

“She is so tiny and fluffy,” Rarity stated, almost not hearing her friend entirely.

Looking away from the two ponies, Fellora glanced at where Twilight was sleeping peacefully. Having curled around her to calm the kitten down, she had lulled the princess in cat form to a peaceful sleep, occasionally twitching her tail a bit.

Knowing full well that this kitten could have only been the pony from before, Fellora gently licked over Twilight's right ear, which flicked in the process, to wake her up. To her surprise though, the lavender kitten just curled up tighter and pressed herself into her chest further instead of waking up. After a couple minutes of gentle licking, Twilight finally opened her eyes and glanced at Fellora sleepily, as if she would ask her to just have five more minutes.

Fellora though pointed with her eyes just at the two ponies observing the two and Twilight reluctantly turned her head to look at what she was pointing at.

Upon seeing her two friends standing next to the basket, Rarity holding a hoof to her mouth to not squeal in delight, her eyes widened and her cheeks colored red in embarrassment.

Trying to scramble up and out of the basket, Twilight tossed and turned without achieving anything. As Fellora finally grabbed her by the neck again and sat her next to the basket, the lavender kitten’s paws found purchase and she scrambled away from her two friends.

Giggling in delight and in an entirely unladylike manner, Rarity gently wrapped her telekinetic magic around the fleeing kitten and levitated her off the ground to bring her closer.

“Ohhh, she is soo cute!” she gushed as soon as Twilight was floating in front of her, pouting. “Look at how cute our Twilight can be if she wants.”

Giggling a bit in delight too, Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, she is quite cute if you look at her like that.”

Trying to bat at Rarity’s nose from where she was levitated in the air, Twilight tried to silence the fashionista, making her swoon over her all the more.

“But, um… Rarity? I um… think you should set her down, I… think she, um does not like it very much.” Fluttershy stated, trying to free the now beat red Twilight from Rarity’s magical grip.

“But she is so tiny…”

The look Fluttershy was giving her made it clear to Rarity that she had overdone it, again. Setting down the little kitten on one of the sacks in the pantry, her little stump of horn glowed softly lavender before a great white light blinded the two ponies observing. Having learned her lesson before, Fellora had turned around to not look at the dizzying light emanated from the transformation magic.

Finally, having turned back into a Pony, Twilight glared at Rarity.

“Oh, darling you were so adorable. Those tiny little feet of yours, ooohhh.” Rarity squeaked, stomping her hoofs in the process.

“Yeah, get over it, please…” Twilight stated, unhappy at having been spotted doing something so entirely not herself.

Even though she was embarrassed right now, she would not trade this experience for anything. Having been a kitten under the gentle care of the white cat made her desire for Celestia's touch and approval only yearn more in her heart, and she had to really press down her sudden awaking desires.

Intending to change the subject, Twilight turned to Fluttershy who was silently snickering to herself.

Seeing only amusement on her two friends faces, Twilights glance turned to the white cat on the floor, looking up to her with her big purple eyes.

Sighing and expecting the worst, Twilight hung her head. The white cat, though silently tabbed closer to her and rubbed along her side once more. Smiling a bit, and stroking the feline over her fur, Twilight smiled in thanks at the white cat.

“Well, my little kitten, I think we still have a spa visit planned, don’t you think?” Rarity asked, her amusement still apparent on her muzzle.

Fluttershy who nodded in approval leaned down to Fellora and thanked her for her patience and said that she would be gone for a while.

How Fluttershy did this was something Twilight still had to find out, but at the reminder of the spa appointment, she glared at Rarity again.

“Only if you never say anything to anyone what just happened here.”

“But darling.”

“Promise it!” Twilight insisted, her wings ruffling in annoyance.

“Fine, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Rarity motioned halfheartedly.

“And you too, Fluttershy,” Twilight stated, a bit less forceful to her timid friend.

Nodding gently, Fluttershy also motioned the oath while saying in her gentle voice. “I will not say anything, Twilight, I promise.”

Nodding in satisfaction, Twilight glanced back down to the white cat which whom she had just slept.

“Well, darling, then say goodbye to Fellora and we can head to the spa, finally.”

“Fellora?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Her name is Fellora, she explained to me that an older mare had given her the name when she was still a kitten,” Fluttershy explained.

Glancing back down to the cat again, Twilight nodded to her. “Uhm, thank you for everything Fellora.”

Meowing in approval, Fellora rubbed herself once more along Twilight's side, this time purring.

Picking up Fellora after she rubbed along her coat, Twilight gently placed her back into the basket where she curled back up and continued to purr.

Smiling at the little feline, Twilight turned to Fluttershy. “The other three don’t have names so far, right?”

“No, they don’t.”

Turning back to Fellora, Twilight stated for everyone to hear, “How about Artemis for the black, Narvi for the white one with Blue eyes and Titania for the last one, then?” she asked, more to Fellora than to anyone else.

The cat, appearing to think over it for a moment, nodded and meowed loudly. Her three kittens all scrambled together and came back to the basket snuggling into her warm coat after their intense playing.

Stroking all four of them one final time, Twilight turned around and motioned to her two smiling friends that they should leave.

Stepping out of the pantry, Rarity walked over to Fluttershy’s kitchen. “Let’s have tea first, so you can tell us everything that happened, and then we can go to the spa.”

Having already been successfully embarrassed, Twilight followed her two friends into the kitchens to have a cup of tea before having to go to the spa.

Cursing or insulting in dead tongues without the addressed noticing or understanding was one of the perks that came with being very old. Celestia, having already lived through many millennia and therefore many language changes, made good use of this very particular set of skills as she grumbled silent insults at the pony across from her. All the while, her gentle smile and pleasant demeanor kept her image as the benevolent ruler of ponykind, while said ruler silently wished to just be back in bed.

The old unicorn standing in front of the dais leading up to the throne had brought multiple papers and maps with him for Celestia to review. Each and every one though, completely pointless and only beneficial for his house and sometimes the throne, but none of his proposals were of any use for the ponies it concerned.

Her only problem why she couldn’t outright refuse his rantings was that her decorum forbit it.

The rules that were created on how to handle court were sometimes obnoxious, but they helped her in many ways when she had to actually deal with something important. The positive addition that it saved her and her fellow princesses from going mad was also a point to consider before she would outright change those set of rules.

A good ruler, after all, followed their own rules and Celestia considered herself a good ruler.

The bureaucratic importance of such rules which stated decorum could be seen every Monday, when the most ponies came to her court and when she was basically trampled into the ground with petitioners.

But on weekends, like today, she had only a few of said petitioners, so she was basically stuck with them until 3 pm when she could finally declare the week as over.

Thinking of it, why did she held court on weekends in the first place?

Well, that was a question Celestia had to think over the next time she found herself in the position to change something so tremendous without someone noticing. And considering that the last war was 500 years ago and the last revolution even further in the past, she wondered if it would ever come to pass that she would have the weekends off completely.

Thinking of having the weekends off, where was Luna actually? She hadn’t seen her sister at all besides the odd conversation last night and a generally groggy sister sitting across from her at breakfast.

As if her thought had summoned her, the doors to the throne room swung open with a heavy bang and Luna rushed in, a couple of her nightguards in tow.

“SISTER!”

In an impressive display of her eternal calm, Celestia raised just an eyebrow as her sister stormed in.

The other occupant, aside from the guards of the room though, didn’t contain his annoyance at being interrupted and shouted with a beet red head. “Princess Luna, I beg your pardon but…

“SILENCE, INSOLENT FOOL!” Luna shouted, the ears of the noble stallion laying flat on his head.

"What hubris, to think a Princess cannot learn simple patience. I-"

Silencing the stubborn unicorn, Luna grabbed him in her telekinetic grip, before flinging him and his charts and papers at the door she just came in. With a resolute stance, Luna shut out any remaining complaints with a forceful crash of the court door leaving behind a dead silence.

“Sister, please don’t waste time with platitudes, we have a problem!” her co-ruler stated, almost heaving from her apparent run here, for what reason, however, was unbeknown to her.

Celestia's calm demeanor though, only further aggravated the dark blue alicorn. “Obviously there is, Luna, what’s wrong?”

“Thou hast to contact Twilight immediately!” Luna almost shouted, her annoyance at Celestia's lack of reaction showing on her face.

At the name of her student stated in such distress, Celestia's eyes widened, fearing the worst.

“Twilight's household has been attacked by a group of criminals, it has come to our attention that the parents of Twilight Sparkle; Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, are being kept as hostages….”

Celestia's eyes widened further and she jumped up from the throne. “WHAT?” She burst out, her mane whipping and flaring around her head in an impressive display of her writhing anger, catching herself though, she motioned with her hoof and took a deep breath to calm herself. “Where? How? Since when?”

“They are being held captive in their own home, which is now surrounded by a forcefield which we have tried, but were unable to break. We don’t know how, but the attack happened exactly at noon.”

“Why wasn’t I informed earlier?” Celestia stated, irritated to have missed something of that importance right next to her castle.

“It is 5 minutes after 12 Tia, the guards just came to us because thou were in court.”

“Oh, uhm, yes…” Celestia realized, “anyway… break out the alarm and surround the house, we will have to personally deal with it.” Celestia said, motioning to one of her guards, who quickly rushed out of the courtroom to deliver the message.

Walking down the dais, Celestia got to her sisters’ side, “I have feared that this day would eventually come to pass,” the older alicorn said grimly.

“Whatever dost thou mean, dear sister?” Luna asked, following Celestia out of the courtroom.

“I am proud to say that I have managed so far to keep Twilight's family out of political schemes, but I have feared that some may find their connection to her anyway,” the white alicorn explained.

“So, thou fear they have been attacked because of her?” Luna asked, more worry creeping onto her face.

“To state it simply, I fear how Twilight might react when it becomes apparent that the one thing she cares about the most is in danger,” Celestia said, actually shuddering once. “And that isn’t her collection of books or her friends. It is her family.”

“Aww, that sounds so sweet, darling, and I think she actually liked your company.” Rarity said, placing her now empty cup of tea onto the counter.

“Well, it was definitely fluffy,” Twilight stated, a huge grin on her face.

Nodding in confirmation, Fluttershy also put her and Twilights cup away.

“Well, now darlings, we are going to go to the spa, and we will have a great time, I promise you that.” Rarity said, her enthusiasm palpable in her voice.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight stood up and followed her two friends out of Fluttershy’s cottage.

As the three friends walked back into the town of Ponyville, Twilight thought over her weird little adventure.

Having been a cat was strange, but the overall feeling she got when thinking over what happened made her face grow a tad warm.

To her luck though, the color of her fur and the general thickness of it, due to it being now her winter coat, hid her blush from her companions as they walked across the country side.

But while thinking over the matter of being a kitten, something struck her as odd.

In general transformations usually resulted in the subject taking the desired form as if they’d been born as that species. So, Twilight normally would have kept her relative age as a grown cat in that case.

But upon revisiting her memory, she was absolutely sure that the cat she had been was not a grown cat. She had been a kitten, no older than the three other kittens in the room, which generally meant that she would have been somewhere around three or four months old.

But by the laws of magic, nothing could change the physical age of something. Even aging spells did not really age or revitalize the object or pony it was directed to, it just changed its appearance and mimicked the intended physical state of the time. Well, except for dark magic, but those arts of magic had a price, usually the lifeforce of the caster or its target, sometimes even conduits of multiple power sources, like ponies or other living creatures.

So, when she implied the base levels of magical theory into the scenario and the spell she used earlier, the outcome would be that she, a grown-up mare, should have changed into something more resembling the big white cat, and not looked like one of the kittens.

This though, implied that she did not intend on transforming herself into a kitten in the first place, which she was sure she had not consciously planned.

When remembering correctly, she had just used a spell to alter her physical appearance into that of a cat, which would have led to her becoming a grown cat and not a kitten. But, to her great confusion, she became a kitten instead of a cat.

From the whole kitten, cat jumping in her head, she felt a headache slowly starting to pulse under her forehead.

Having completely spaced out from the conversation Rarity and Fluttershy were holding, Twilight pondered over what that meant for her in general.

This makes no sense! There can't be any possible reason for that to have happened, I've cast that spell before and nothing like that happened then. There has to be some outlier or something I can use here. Perhaps my interaction with the kittens did something?

No, no, that’s ridiculous it likely relates to me being an alicorn, it has to be interfering somehow. Maybe my subconscious had to have caused some effect, I certainly wasn't trying to become a kitten after all. That would be impossible unless we introduced some sort of second element to the mix. The only thing that could have that much magical influence would be the Everfree Forest and I doubt it could cause anything like that to happen.

Are there any other options here? No... unless.

Unless the alicorn age is somehow the cause! Oh, I wonder if there's anything to learn from that. Ok to start, outline the variables, in this case, that's age, there should only be three unless I'm missing something. The first is the most obvious, alicorns as immortals, though that has to be split into the two that we need, those two depending on the assumption on whether we live through the end of time or not. The other would be using the unproven theory that alicorns only have an extremely long life span.

Hmm...

Well, may as well start with the first one, assuming alicorns live until the end of time... if that's even a thing. If my theory is correct, I could use my age difference as I currently am and as a cat as reference points to calculate the end of time, if that's when we die that is... Is it just me or does that sound obscenely morbid? Anyway, as I am of the age of 20 and assuming alicornisim, – wait, is that a word? – doesn't affect anything, and, at a guess, I as a kitten was around 4 months old, so this should be easy to figure out. Now, what's the average life span of a cat... um... it should be somewhere around 15 years, right? Oh well, this is all just a theory, luckily.

So corelating that would mean that the end of time, and my death, is in approximately... 900 years.

Wait, no that can't be right...

What if... what if we just ignore that, what could happen if I got Princess Celestia and Luna, or even Cadance to perform some tests. If I could get them to perform a replica of my spell their relative ages could prove to be interesting. Though potentially as a cat ages it could be harder to get a more exact age through just appearance. Though that does make me think if I'm being too literal, maybe the fact I was 4 months old was more to do with relative maturity rather than actual age.

Oh boy what have I gotten myself into? At least my theory on the end of time could be salvaged, maybe.

For now, though I should move on, to option two. Assuming Alicorns aren't immortal and just have long life spans.

Now that definitely does not work with my literal age, otherwise I would live for 900 years, and I know from Luna being on the moon for 1000 years that that’s verry unlikely. So, what would happen regarding maturity then?

To answer that, I would preferably require those tests, darn. I wonder though what results would come from Cadance. I remember there was someone who said she was about 400 years old, or was that 500? Either way, I still remember her growing up when I was a filly. Compared to what she was like then and now that would suggest that something had to have happened. Potentially Shining might have had an effect on her then.

That does bring into question what would happen with Luna and Celestia. Luna does seem to be smaller on scale compared to her sister, if that even means anything. If there were any differences between them after the tests, then there would have to be something from which I could learn, right? Maybe it could confirm whether Luna's banishment had an impact on her power.

Pity I'm never going to be able to follow through though... just imagine Celestia as a cat, I'd never be able to do that. Though I could imagine both of them as cute little kitties. Just think how soft could their fur be... heh, or maybe not, um...

NEXT OPTION!

Which leaves the widely regarded truth, our immortality being true, at least that means I could learn a bit about alicorns. Neat! If any of this holds a candle to the truth then me turning into a kitten could represent a sort of 'age' for alicorns, I suppose you could consider it similar to maturity as well. I could be considered a foal relatively when it comes down to it. This could also explain Flurry's interesting growth compared to regular foals, but she's still an outlier if naturally born alicorns hold any difference.

But what about Luna? She and Princess Celestia can't be that dissimilar in age, and then there's Cadance again. What is their rapid growth related to? Luna could have been easily considered a teenager when I first saw her. And now she's still smaller than Celestia even if it's only slightly. Does it have to do with their power at any given moment? That growth could relate to what I am going through.

Argh! There're just too many questions.

Everything of this gave Twilight a headache, and she mentally noted down that she really had to ask Celestia and the other princesses what they thought. But, later. Cause, now her head hurt, and she felt someone poking her side.

“Equestria to Twilight, hello? Anyone in there?” Rarity poked her again.

Finally snapping out of her thought induced trance, Twilights eyes refocused on her surroundings and she stopped moving on autopilot. Having learned to walk with a book in front of her without bumping into something gave her the ability to lose herself in her thoughts and enter into a mode that her brother had called autopilot. That she later found out that this name actually described a comparable thing in another dimension only redoubled the throbbing headache she had now.

After her eyes had adjusted to the now focused state again, she realized that she, and her two friends, had arrived at their destination. Of course, that destination presently had a rosebush staring Twilight in the face.

Hehe, note to self, don't walk and think for 10 minutes straight from now on. I'd rather not be reacquainted with any thorny bushes.

Blinking once more, Twilight looked to Rarity, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure you are well, dear? You seemed to have spaced out there,” she asked.

“Uh, yes I am, I just thought of something and may have gotten caught up in it,” Twilight answered.

“Well, that seems to happen quite often lately.”

Twilight shrugged.

Walking around the spa house to the entrance, the three ponies stepped into a relaxing looking room full of flowerpots and elegant smooth designs.

In the foyer of the spa, gentle music could be heard playing from an enchanted music box along with the faint splashing of water from somewhere in the distance.

Being not a frequent visitor of this place, Twilight still looked around in astonishment on how such a seemingly small establishment could house such a comfortable and welcoming looking ambiance.

As the door closed behind them, a neat little tingle emitted from a bell over the door informed everyone of their arrival. Due to the room’s quiet atmosphere, Twilight could hear the gentle steps of the spa sisters approaching.

A small little door opened on their right side, where the two outlandish sounding twins stepped in. Aloe, the sister with a pink coat and blue hair and Lotus, the sister with a blue coat and pink hair.

“Hello, you two,” Rarity greeted before the two sisters welcomed her with a hug.

“Well, hello to you Rarity and Fluttershy, I assume you are here for your weekly special?” Aloe asked after finishing the hug. Lotus, who just stepped away from Fluttershy though gasped in surprise.

“Well, not really my dear, we have thought of something special today.”

“Oh, what might that be?” Aloe asked, completely ignoring that her sister had bowed down before Twilight.

Unhappy that one of the two sisters had begun to bow before her, Twilight rolled her eyes and said as gently as possible. “You don’t have to bow before me, Lotus, I am just another customer, please stand up.”

Upon noticing another pony in the room, Aloe looked over to where she had just heard a voice talking. “Y-y-your highness!” she stammered, her face going pale. “I-I am so sorry, I-I didn’t see you there, I am sorry for not greeting you, …” she stammered, falling onto the ground next to her sister.

Holding a hoof to her face, Twilight sighed. “Please, you two, you’ve known me even since before I ascended, please stand up. You really don’t have to bow, not before me, I am the same pony I was a couple of years ago, so please.”

Standing back up a bit awkwardly, the two sisters smiled broadly at the prospect they could serve such high nobility. “Oh, it is our great honor to house you in our humble establishment, Princess. If we may incline, how can we serve you, your Highness?”

Suppressing another urge to facehoof, Twilight lamented that she couldn’t even bring the ponies of her own town to stop bowing to her. Everywhere she went, ponies bowed before her, some even graveling upon seeing her and stammering nonsense all the time. But the worst of it all, everyone thought that they had to give her special attention or call her by her title, only because she had a set of wings now on her back.

Sometimes these things meant only trouble...

“Well, what do we do now?” Spike asked as he and his friends sat down inside the CMC clubhouse.

Having finished helping a young pony and his family figure out that the young colt’s cutie mark actually meant that he would be a good bowler instead of becoming a skittles expert as they had thought before, they now had the rest of the day off. It being the weekend, neither of them had school or any other obligations as long as they didn’t bother any of the grown ponies too much, who would then give them boring tasks to do.

Flopped down onto a small couch they had carried up here a while ago, Scootaloo perked up, “Oh, oh, I know Rainbow has a new stunt she could show us!” she cheered, her wings fluttering in excitement for the sky blue pegasus.

“Nah,” Sweetie Belle replied as she rummaged through a box of knick-knacks they had found a week ago.

“Awww.”

“We've visited Rainbow a bunch last week, can't we do something else.”

“We could visit Twilight, I’m sure she has some projects for us where we could work on a bit,” Apple Bloom stated, who was currently stuffing some very important CMC paperwork into a folder sloppily labeled as ‘Classified’.

“Nope, off the list.” Spike chimed in, “She’s having a lazy day, apparently.”

“Wait a minute, Twilight being lazy?” Sweetie asked, her confused head popping out of the box. “Such a thing exists?”

“Apparently,” Spike shrugged.

In the dead silence, Apple Bloom's tummy suddenly rumbled to her embarrassment. “Well, what about a bite to eat?” she asked.

“Sounds good!” Scootaloo agreed, her belly now also rumbling.

“I still have a few bits from Twilight, we could go to Sugarcube Corner and ask Pinkie if she can’t whip us up something,” Spike said, bringing out a bag of bits.

“Uh, that sounds awesome! Let’s do it,” Scootaloo said, jumping up and running to the door, Apple Bloom nodding and following her.

“Well, ok, a hot pudding does sound nice,” Sweetie stated, following her friends.

As the four friends were about to close up the CMC Clubhouse, Spike felt odd, but before he could say something though, he gagged and coughed up a bound scroll which he caught quickly midair.

Having grabbed the scroll, Spike examined it before his eyes went wide. Even though the scroll was still sealed, the red ribbon sticking out of the side marked it as urgent, and seeing that even a second band was sticking out of it, which was blue, meant that it was even more urgent and from both of the Royal Sisters.

In all his life, Spike had never seen a double marked scroll which had been sent through him to Twilight, but seeing as it was sealed, he was not allowed to see the content without Twilight.

“Uh, girls? I think my plans just changed,” he stated, getting the attention from the three fillies.

“Huh? What’s this?” Scootaloo asked, trying to grab the scroll out of sheer curiosity.

“It’s a scroll meant for Twilight, and Twilight only, and it is marked to be delivered as soon as possible.” The young dragon explained, his eyes wide, “I have to look for her, I need to bring her this immediately.”

“Okay, sounds awfully important. We'll help, right crusaders?” Apple Bloom asked, suddenly excited to have found something important to do.

“If you want, but we have to be quick!” Spike said, beginning to run into the direction of Ponyville.

“YAY!” the three fillies cried in unison, before dashing behind Spike.

Upon explaining why the three had come to the spa, the spa twins had led them to a hot tub.

Before reaching their destination though, they had encountered the rest of the working staff and after explaining to each and every pony of them that, yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle had just come into their spa. And, yes, said princess was here as a customer. And also, yes, said princess wanted nothing more than that they stopped bowing before her and that they should just call her Twilight.

The big wooden tub was big enough for more than twenty ponies, but to Twilights delight, there was no other customer in sight which would potentially bow before her.

So, finally having been left alone by the spa stuff, she watched her two friends climbing up the ladder to slowly step into the steaming scented water.

“Oh, darling, that feels marvelous,” Rarity stated while Fluttershy nodded in confirmation.

Standing on top of the ladder, Twilight curiously poked a hoof into the water. Deciding that it was not too hot, she slowly moved forward, her legs engulfing into the water with each step. As the water reached her belly, her wings twitched at the sudden warmth.

Sighing in bliss as she submerged her entire body except for her head, Twilight nodded. “Oh, yes. That is exactly what I need when it gets colder outside,” the floating alicorn said, paddling around lazily in the water.

“It feels especially good in the wings,” Fluttershy said, her head laid on the edge while fanning out her wings in demonstration.

Following the example of her friend, Twilight opened her wings to let the water envelop them. Sighing again in bliss, she stopped paddling and just floated on the surface.

“How is it you survive without something like this every now and then?” Rarity asked.

“Hmmm?” Twilight murmured, her eyes closed and enjoying the relaxing warmth.

“Well, I need at least one visit a week, otherwise I would simply not survive all the stress and pressure I have to work through all week.”

Twilight shrugged, “Dunno, really. I do sometimes bathe a little longer than I need,” she said, gently floating to the edge to lay her head on it like Fluttershy was doing.

“Darling, I have seen what you consider bathing, and that means you are done before I would even consider getting into the water,” Rarity said, now pushing herself away from the edge to float in the warm water.

“Yeah, I dunno though. I think I just enjoy a silent evening with a good book a bit more than actually having to come here each week.”

“Well, you could always just employ a couple of maids to do that for you, you know.”

Rolling her eyes, even though they were closed, Twilight shook her head lightly, “Nope, will never happen, you know I hate that kind of attention.”

“Well, never say never my dear, besides, you are the one who will still be alive in a couple hundred years, who knows how it will be then.”

Scowling at the thought, Twilight glared at Rarity. Upon seeing her friends’ disapproving glance, Rarity flinched. “Well, that may have come out wrong, but still, you never know what will come. Maybe you’ll even enjoy it.”

“I never said that I would not enjoy this… well, ok I did, but still, it is just that I can think of some other things to do than be ‘pampered’ each and every day from a horde of maids. I could read a book, or work on my magic for example.”

“Yeah, and I only sew and design dresses my dear, you could have at least a bit variety in your life once in a while,” Rarity said, finally reaching the other side of the tub to lay her head next to Twilights.

“I think I have more than enough variety in my life. I am helping Princess Celestia, I have my own library, I even have my own student now. For Celestia's sake, we even rescued Equestria a few times, what should I do next? Take up dancing?”

“Oh, good graciousno, please, but you could at least unwind from time to time, darling.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight said, one eyebrow raised.

“Well, I think what Rarity is trying to say is… uh… you work too much Twilight, even Applejack is napping from time to time under one of her trees, well, well, uh, after you helped her, I mean.”

Twilight sighed. “I know… but there is so much stuff I want to do. And the day has only 24 hours, even for me,” she muttered, getting a bit annoyed at being unable to just close her eyes and enjoy the warmth.

“Why don't you let somepony help you?” Fluttershy suggested. “I am sure there are enough ponies out there who would love to help you with some of the stuff you have to do, I mean, Celestia has a whole castle of staff working for her, after all.”

“I just said that I don’t want to employ anyone,” Twilight stated, her wings twitching.

“Well, how about a stallion then? I am sure you have somepony in mind, my dear –” Rarity poked her chest with a hoof “– and I am sure he could also help you with some ‘other’ problems, my dear,” she said, waggling her eyebrows.

Inhaling sharply, Twilight had to actually force down a sudden urge to cough. “Oh no, we are not talking about that now!” she stated in finality, glaring at Rarity.

“Oh, so there is someone then, I know you had an eye on that dashing young pegasus from The Crystal Empire,” she gushed, winking. “And you know, he's not getting any younger, my dear.”

“No, there isn’t any pegasus,” Twilight said with a determined shake of her head.

Fluttershy glanced at Rarity in amusement before looking back to where Twilight was drifting through the water again.

“Hmm, but I remember you talked about him, my dear, you can't fool me and pretend that there is nothing to him when ‘The Twilight Sparkle’ actually mentions a male partner with such a glimmer in her eyes,” Rarity prodded again.

“No, I did not! Well, yes I did, because there was that one guy in the other world, but still, no!” Twilight said, her annoyance clearly visible.

“But darling, you should-” Rarity started before being interrupted by a light splash of water from Fluttershy.

“Rarity let it be, can’t you see that you have Twilight already annoyed enough with that, we are supposed to relax here,” she stated, her smile vanishing from her face.

“But there has to be-”

“No Rarity, there isn’t and there never will be a Flash Sentry in my life,” Twilight stated, glaring daggers at her friend who seemed as if she would at least regret her actions a bit.

Before the conversation could get any more out of hand though, a polite knock could be heard from the small entrance door to the hot tub room.

“Ahem, my Princess, I am sorry to bother you and your companions, but I fear your time in the hot tub is running short and your massages have been prepared,” Aloe stated, glancing from a red-headed Twilight to a sheepish looking Rarity and back. “Or should I come back later?”

Inhaling once, and motioning the technique she had learned from Cadance, Twilight smiled at the spa pony, “No, no, it’s all right, but please can't you just call me Twilight?” she asked, annoyed that she couldn’t even relax in the warm water.

“Well, uhm, of course, Princess Twilight,” Aloe stated, preparing three towels.

Sighing as she came out of the warm water, feeling more stressed than before and grumbling under her breath, Twilight just shook her head and accepted her title in defeat.

As the three of them were wrapped up in towels, Aloe led them out of the tub room and into the massage room, where 3 massage tables had been arranged. The many flowerpots and the big windows gave the room a welcoming feeling and the scented candles burning silently on a couple of counters added a nice lemony smell to it.

“Well, here we are, your Highness, my sister and the others will be along shortly,” Aloe said, motioning to the three prepared tables. “Would you please choose one of the tables to lay atop, we will start with a traditional kind of massage, and later maybe Your Highness and Miss Fluttershy would be interested in a bit of preening?” Turning to Rarity, she motioned to a set of creams and oils, “We also have prepared a mud mask and a bit of horn scrubbing for you and the Princess, if you like.”

“Well, that simply sounds marvelous,” Rarity said, jumping onto one of the tables and laying herself flat onto it, each hoof falling limply to the side.

Nodding in confirmation Twilight and Fluttershy followed tentatively her friends’ example and laid down onto a table. While Fluttershy had already been preened a couple of times here, for Twilight it was completely new.

Stretching out onto the massage table, Twilight was surprised when she nearly instantly felt the firm hoofs of Aloe working on her back.

Before she could think of anything else though, she felt the earth pony gently massage her overly stiff muscles, which lead her to release a silent moan she couldn’t suppress quick enough.

“Uh, sorry about that,” Twilight said, blushing lightly.

Hearing her two friends and Aloe gently giggle Twilight attempted to protest but was silenced as Aloe redoubled the pressure on that point. “It’s all right, Princess, I assure you, nothing will leave these halls and your highness isn’t the first customer with such an obviously cramped up back,” Aloe stated, her hoofs gently rubbing over Twilights sore muscles.

Now also hearing her friends moan in bliss from time to time, Twilight closed her eyes and rested her head on the soft pillow before her.

The expert hooves running over her body made her back crack multiple times, each time a short spike of pain was followed by a gentle sensation of relaxation, and Twilight could feel herself slowly relaxing under the hoofs of a professional.

As Aloe worked on her back, Twilight couldn't help but let her mind wander. She quickly settled on thoughts of Luna, her toned muscles and firm body replaced Aloe's as Twilight melted under her imaginary alicorn's ministrations.

The mental image of the dark blue alicorn standing over her with her hoofs running down her body made her quiver lightly and she could picture to herself how Luna's muscles would flex and bend while doing so.

As Aloe found another cramped bundle of muscle, Twilight moaned loudly, still lost in thought, as the masseuse worked her stiff muscles back into their intended lax form.

Losing her grip of reality completely, Twilight grunted and groaned gently as Aloe rubbed over her back. All the while, Twilight imagined herself being kneaded by Luna, she imagined that Luna would firmly work her over, while Twilight was slowly shaped into an image of contented bliss.

The slowly building wetness between her legs though was completely unnoticed by her, and it only grew as Aloe moved from the middle of her back to either side over her body. Aloe, however, saw that her Princess enjoyed this massage very much and therefore made a gentle effort to make it even more pleasant for her.

Being gone far enough, Twilight was nearly startled as Aloe moved from her back to her wings, and so snapped back to reality only now feeling just how aroused she had gotten.

Opening her eyes wide in panic, Twilight wanted to argue against whatever the masseuse was doing, but before she could even open her mouth, a gentle hoof was pressed onto it as Aloe leaned down. “This is completely normal, my Princess, just enjoy it and relax. I take it you have never had a wing massage before?” the spa pony asked gently, her tone hushed so that no one else would hear it.

Just too embarrassed to do anything else, Twilight nodded while watching Aloe work over her wing with one hoof, the other still gently laid over her muzzle. “Trust me, Princess, this is normal for the most ponies, just relax and let what comes, come. I swear I will not do anything inappropriate and nothing that happens here will leave this room. I can assure you that,” the spa pony said soothingly.

Nodding once more, Twilight surrendered to the firm and gentle feelings she felt spreading through her wings, and as she hesitantly closed her eyes again, the hoof covering her muzzle was lifted away to return to her wing.

Trying to suppress the moans her body demanded as Aloe's hoofs worked over her wing, Twilight just couldn’t stop them as the spa pony gently pressed her muzzle into her wings to straighten her feathers out just like she had been taught after getting them.

To her surprise though, she felt a small magical field enveloping her massage table as Aloe produced a small crystalline dice and placed it next to her. Tapping onto the dice, Aloe motioned with one hoof that it would keep her silent just as she pressed a bit harder onto her wing in demonstration, letting Twilight moan in bliss loudly, this time though, without anypony else catching on to it.

Relieved that her first problem had been solved, Twilight relaxed a bit more, her hind legs quivering in arousal.

Her second problem though, was her arousal itself. Even though she had been assured by Aloe, or even though she knew that pegasi wings were very, very sensitive, she didn’t like the idea of getting aroused by this, especially in such a public space like the spa. The very idea itself was something she was uncomfortable with, but the sensation on her wings rendered her unable to move even the slightest muscle.

As her mind slowly fogged with pleasure, the worries she held over the whole idea vanished one by one. With her mind in a haze, she found herself back under Luna's soothing caress.

The night blue alicorn though didn’t stop by massaging her, she moved from her back over to her side and licked enticingly over her wings, sending sparks of pleasure down into her wing joint and into her body.

Now trembling softly, Twilight couldn’t suppress her outcries any longer and with each lick and straightened feather from Aloe, her breathing became quicker and quicker.

Imagining Luna’s tongue dancing over each and every feather of her wing, Twilight practically drooled at the thought of Luna’s smoldering eyes on her body and finally stopped the small part of her that was still resisting.

The sensation of each caress spiked up another height in her body and Twilight could practically feel the loving care the lunar alicorn gave her. Somewhere in her mind, she knew it wasn’t Luna doing that to her, but her current bothered state didn’t allow any coherent thought beside the overwhelming pleasure coming from her wings.

As Aloe gently plucked out a cracked-up feather in Twilights thick alicorn wings, she cried out.

Not only did the small crystalline dice keep any sound coming from the now heaving alicorn, but apparently it shielded any onlooker from the sight of the now curling and heaving monarch.

As she felt a gentle twist and a quick pain on her wing, Twilight couldn’t hold it in any longer and a sensation of relief washed over her. Her mind was overstimulated and nearly completely deactivated by that point as the only thing she felt was the pleasure she received from her wing.

Her body curling up and her back arching out, she felt the sensations only double and double as she moaned to the heavens above, no sound actually leaving the small bubble which surrounded her.

Her wings, which were completely stiff at that point, shook, and as a wave of pleasure was washing over her, her feathers straightened and relaxed mimicking the pleasure spikes running through them.

As Aloe finished her first wing, she released it and Twilight collapsed back onto the massage table, panting heavily. Enjoying the soothing pause, her mind slowly gathered back to a state of being actually aware of what was happening around her, and upon seeing Aloe, a scarlet heat invaded her muzzle, setting her cheeks aflame in embarrassment.

The spa pony glanced at her princess, whose body was twitching occasionally with lingering pleasure and smiled softly. As she walked around the table, Twilights mind made a startling realization, she had another of those wings! Her body, acting against her mental instructions though, slowly stretched out the feathery appendage to the waiting expert next to the table. Against all her mental commands, her body had a mind of its own and eagerly awaited further indulgence. As Aloe started to preen the second wing, Twilights inner complaints were snuffed out again and her head hit the soft pillow below her, as her body anxiously awaited that oh so wonderful release still left unfulfilled.

Her friends though, whose heads had been gently turned around by the other two masseuses, had no idea what actually occurred behind their back. Only Fluttershy who was enduring the same treatment had an inkling of what might be happening behind her back right now, but she was simply not in the position to do anything to confirm her suspicion.

Working on Twilights second wing, Aloe chuckled to herself as she watched her Princess writhing in pleasure. Apparently, the myth of alicorn wings being abnormally sensitive turned out to be true.

Opening the entrance to the small war tent which had been placed down 100 ft away from the magical barrier around the small villa from the Sparkle family, Luna trotted in to see her sister talking alone with her Captain, a rather grizzly fellow that she preferred to avoid.

“Steadfast, we're running out of options here. Could we try breaking it with Professor Stone Claw’s magical disruptor?” Celestia asked.

"I’d advise against it, Your Highness. We've tried an array of disruptive spells on our own but nothing took. And if I may speak plainly, I wouldn't trust that mad pony’s spells to disenchant a filly’s colorizing spell," the stark gray stallion said.

“There seems to be plenty of reason, we're pressed on time and low on means. Why should we not do it?" Luna asked, introducing herself into the conversation.

"Ah, Luna, Your Highness, good afternoon," Steadfast greeted flatly.

"There is very little good this noon, Commander," Luna growled visibly disapproving.

Grunting in response Steadfast continued, "Tactful as usual. To the point then, the risk held in that disruptor could very easily backfire and cut the ties to magic across half of Canterlot. At the very least we'd be able to get through the barrier, but further infiltration could be difficult without magic."

"What about the two of us then?" Luna asked motioning to herself and Celestia. "I'm sure we could create a powerful enough defense for a few of us to resist the effects and then substitute your missing magic users with ourselves."

"A sound plan, Luna. But without more information, we'd be prime targets for ambush. We still don't know who these culprits are or why they would target here of all places... For now, it seems our focus should be on breaching this barrier, preferably whilst undetected. At least until we get more information," Celestia established, despite her calm demeanor Luna could tell she was unsure of herself.

Standing up rigidly Steadfast moved to reclaim his helmet, "Well then it seems I have no more use here for now. With your leave, I'll continue monitoring the situation." With a salute the resolute captain excused himself, immediately he could be heard shouting orders around the identical members of the guard. "Kindle! What on Celestia's sun are you doing? Get back into position!"

"I don't like him," Luna stated.

"Luna you know I don't employ a captain of the guard to have him blindly follow my every order. He's surprisingly insightful despite his age."

"He could at least learn some manners..."

"Ah, but I didn't employ him for that either."

"Argh, whatever," Luna exclaimed dismissively and taking a short breath to calm down. "Hast thou heard anything of thy former student yet?" she asked.

Shaking her head Celestia looked on to the map where Ponyville was displayed. “No, Luna, and that worries me. Maybe all of this is just a distraction to keep our attention away from the real attack?” she pondered, “but then their demands would make no sense… they asked specifically for her, and her alone. They didn’t raise any financial claims, or claims for power, they only want her, and that greatly worries me, Luna.”

Nodding in understanding, Luna's eyes wandered away from her sister to where she was looking at the map. “We have already sent a battalion of soldiers to look for her in Ponyville, if she is still there, we will be notified. Maybe dear Twilight simply didn’t receive the message as of yet?” she asked, her worry plainly obvious to Celestia.

“Maybe you are right, we’ll simply have to wait.”

“Thou art right,” Luna nodded, her face changing into a scowl of discomfort, waiting wasn’t her greatest strength.

Sprinting out of the map room, Spike looked around. Wherever he and her friends had looked for Twilight, they had found neither head nor tail of the purple alicorn.

Silently cursing under his breath, the young dragon turned another corner and opened the door of Twilight's favored reading chamber, empty.

“Where is she? She said she was having a lazy day, so why would she not be in the castle?” he asked, scratching his chin.

“Well, maybe she’s hiding?” Scootaloo asked, crouching low and looking under a cupboard.

“She is a princess, she won’t just suddenly hide randomly,” Sweetie Belle said, receiving a thankful glance from Spike, happy that he would not have to explain to her why that idea was stupid. “She would hide in someplace special,” the young unicorn exclaimed, attempting to climb onto the table to get a better vantage point.

Facepalming in desperation, Spike regarded the three girls with a shake of his head. “No, she wouldn't just hide for no reason, maybe she went out somewhere… maybe Pinkie knows where she is,” he wondered out loud trying to find Twilight with reasoning.

“And launch a Ponyville wide search ‘party’?” Apple Bloom asked, an eyebrow raised. “Actually... that sounds kinda fun. Why can’t we do that?”

Shaking his head, Spike thought frantically, muttering in the process. “If I was Twilight, what would I do when I have a day off,” he asked himself.

“Read a book?” Scooterloo asked, still crawling around on the floor to search for the missing alicorn.

Revisiting his memories of this morning, Spike tried remembering anything he'd forgotten before he had left the castle. Suddenly snapping his head back up, he turned to Sweetie Belle. “I think she asked Starlight to see if your sister could come over… maybe she went with her.”

“But today is Fluttershy and my sister’s weekly spa day, I doubt they would miss that for anything,” Sweetie said, looking at Spike curiously.

“THE SPA, yes she said something about the spa… maybe they are there,” Spike cheered, dashing out of the room, the three fillies following him.

Basking in a general feeling of happiness, Twilight wore a purely satisfied little smile on her face as Aloe turned away from her wings and returned to her back. Having been preened by the spa pony, Twilights mind turned away from her little fantasy of Luna and focused back on the real world.

Even though she found that she had greatly enjoyed the sensation Aloe had put her through, Twilight wondered if something like that could be described as harassment.

She wasn’t prepared for something like that.

Twilight may not have had as many massages as Rarity or Fluttershy, but while she was a student of Celestia, her former mentor had sometimes held a lesson or two while the two of them had been massaged from Celestia's personal little spa staff.

Having never had wings before though, Twilight had experienced massages as nothing more than an annoyance that would distract Celestia from her teachings than actual sources of pleasure.

But after her first treatment where her own wings had been involved, Twilight found herself suddenly in the position that she wanted something like that again. But not from anyone, the mental image of going to the spa to have her wings preened made her mind produce pictures of betrayal, and the mental image of Celestia or Luna, especially Luna, made her heart flutter.

Yes, Twilight found herself wishing that one of the sisters would have done something like that to her, and not some random pony she barely knew.

Even though she was not mad at Aloe, she was far from mad actually, somehow, somewhere in her mind she was actually grateful for what the masseuse had done for her.

Having had the experience of being preened, Twilight finally understood why so many books in her library described the process of preening as something a lover would do to their beloved. Even though she had searched out the reason why multiple times, the actual meaning of such an event wasn’t something she was able to discern, but now, now she understood.

Twilight finally understood why she never wanted anyone again to touch her wings without her consent, and as Aloe moved back to one of her feathery appendages, she drew her wing in.

“My princess, have I offended you in any way?” Aloe asked, suddenly aware of the protective posture of her charge.

Shaking her head, Twilight glanced out of the corner of her eyes at the pink coated earth pony. Licking her lips, she tried to speak. “No… no, everything is all right, I just…”

“I understand, my princess.” Aloe answered, smiling at her, “but, if I may inquire, is there anything else I can do, Princess? Do you maybe want a horn scrubbing or a bit of hoof care?” she asked, motioning to the previously prepared outlay of caring products.

Laying her head back and releasing a pleased grunt, Twilight nodded. “If it isn’t too much to ask, please go on with my hoofs,” she said, basking in the sensation of absolute relaxation.

Somehow, having had her wings preened, all stress she had built up today and this week had finally melted away and Twilight just enjoyed the moment.

As Aloe started to carefully tend to her left hind hoof, Twilight just now realized that the towel under her had been enchanted to soak up all fluids. The knowledge that there would be no evidence of her arousal calmed her at least a bit.

Somehow pleased that the spa staff had thought of everything, Twilight nuzzled her head deeper into the cushion and glanced around.

Her friends, with the eyes away from her, had also now gone from massages to some other activity.

Rarity, whose head had been covered with mud and whose eyes had been covered with a couple pieces of cucumber was currently enjoying a horn scrubbing and Fluttershy, who was looking a bit pleased herself was fast asleep on her table, the spa pony attending to her gently rubbing some oil into her fur.

Inhaling deeply, Twilight enjoyed the moment and was about to close her eyes as she heard commotion on the other side of the door.

“I have asked if she is here!?” she heard a very familiar voice pleading desperately.

“Sir Spike, please calm down. Yes, Princess Twilight is here, along with two of her friends, but she is currently not in the position of being disturbed,” Twilight heard Lotus saying.

“I am sorry, Lotus, but this is important… very important.” Spike said, his voice displaying his annoyance with the situation.

“Well, if I may ask, what is so important that you intend on disturbing her highness while she is getting massaged,” Lotus asked.

“We have an important scroll from the princesses,” a young, high-pitched filly’s voice could be heard through the thick wooden door.

“Yes, we have, please I have to deliver that at once, it may be very important,” she heard Spike again.

Sighing in annoyance that her calm would be disturbed, Twilight motioned to Aloe to bring Spike in.

Opening the door, Aloe stepped through and Twilight could see for a brief moment that the high pitched voice must have come from one of the CMC members, who apparently tried to follow Spike. As the door opened again, Spike was sprinting into the room and upon seeing her, towards her.

“Twilight, there you are, I am sorry to bother you, but this came via dragon fire and… well… it is two times marked as important.”

Smiling at her surrogate son, Twilight sat up and took the scroll out of his grip with her magic. “Thank you, Spike, what is it about?” she asked, smiling at Spike for a job done well.

“I don’t know, it is sealed, and you said I should not look into a sealed letter.”

“Ah, yeah, you're right… I forgot… you do sometimes peek, though,” she said, giggling lightly.

“Well, darling, won’t you read it already?” Rarity asked, suddenly widely interested in what was happening.

“Yes, yes, ah and Spike, could you wait a moment please, I might have to write back,” Twilight said, amused.

“Of course,” Spike saluted, already holding a scroll and inked feather in his claws.

Cracking open the seal, Twilight unfolded the letter and began to read it.

Dear Princess Twilight,

I am sorry I have to write to you on this occasion, and I hope you are well, but I have to inform you that a group of extremists have attacked in Canterlot.

More specifically, they have attacked your old home and are now currently holding your parents, Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, as hostages.

I am sorry I have to bring this to your attention, but my sister and I request your assistance in that matter.

We have already surrounded the battlefield with guards, but so far, we have been unable to break through the forcefield that they have installed around your home.

So far, their only request is that you surrender without a fight, but we will not let it come to that. I hope upon this letters arrival we have peacefully resolved the situation already.

I have taken the liberty of sending a carriage to your castle in Ponyville, and I hope to see you well soon.

Best regards in this sorrowful time,
Princess Celestia

The letter was short, and normally Twilight would have read it three or at least two times before deciding what she would do, but upon reading the actual content of the letter, Twilight was shocked. After a week full of annoyance and now adding her sexual bothered state, the message of the letter gave her the final drop to spill and she stood stock still, not moving a muscle.

“Darling?” Rarity asked, stepping tentatively closer to the locked up alicorn. “Is everything all right, my dear?”

Twilight's glance though, didn’t waver away from the letter and she scowled at it as if trying to dare it to change its content to something more pleasant. But a letter being only a letter, it did no such thing and as she felt a tentative hoof tapping onto her shoulder, Twilight's left eye twitched once.

Everyone in the room flinched away upon Twilight's left eye twitching, they could see that the literal space around her began to warp and bend around her. As her eye twitched again, the distortion of the space around her was now plainly visible.

“Twilight!? Twilight? Can you hear me?” Rarity asked, trying to step closer only to find out her hoofs had been locked up in fear.

Standing in the middle of where the space was curving around her, Twilight's eyes flashed white and with an ear-deafening crack, where the normally level-headed pony had stood just a moment ago, was now a strangely disturbing tear in reality itself.

As if on command, the gash, in reality, closed itself slowly and the letter Twilight had held a moment ago silently fell onto the ground before them.

“Uhm… that doesn’t seem, good,” Fluttershy said, having been awoken from the general commotion moments ago and with her eyes as wide as dinner plates staring at where the letter was now laying.

“What just happened?” Spike asked, glancing at Rarity or Fluttershy for help. He had never seen Twilight in such a state before and… well, he had never seen such a teleport either, and with no explanation too.

Grabbing the letter with her magic, Rarity levitated it over to her.

“But, Miss Rarity? This isn’t your…” Lotus tried to say upon seeing what Rarity was doing, but was interrupted by her.

“If there is something that is so dramatic that dear Twilight is having that kind of a reaction, I need to know what it is… if it is a matter of state, so be it. I as the element of Generosity, I have a right to know, and I want to help her,” she stated, as a matter of fact, turning the lightly singed letter around.

While reading its contents, her eyes turned wide. “Oh, Celestia help her… Spike, Fluttershy, get the others… we have to go to Canterlot immediately… a carriage will come to her castle shortly. Quick, hurry up, we have to be there for her as soon as we can.”

“What is it?” Spike asked, generally confused.

“Your, and Twilight's, parents have been kidnaped!” she said, one hoof in front of her mouth, covering her shock.

Hearing this, everyone in the room gasped in horror.

Standing a couple of feet aside, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia observed their guards as they attempted to force their way into the barrier still surrounding the villa of Twilight’s family.

The magical ritual performed by the best mages Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns and Canterlot’s Universities had to offer was powerful, so much so that the two observing alicorns could practically feel the magic emanating from it.

The eight unicorns were in deep concentration as a reddish-blue ball formed in the midst of the ritual circle that had been drawn onto the floor. As the ball grew in size, Celestia could observe even from where she was standing that all of the casters were beginning to sweat.

She knew very well that this particular spell was taxing, even for an alicorn, and she felt truly sorry for having to demand such feats from her subjects. As the first mages began to wobble, slowly showing how truly demanding the spell was of the casters magical power, another unicorn stepped into the circle.

His horn aglow with his dark-blue magic, he tapped into the free-flying mana in front of him to form the raw mana into a spell.

As he channeled the raw ball of energy into his horn, a sick sizzling sound could be heard as parts of his robe and fur began to vaporize from the amount of power he was now holding in his relatively small body. Before it could do too much damage though, a bright and strong beam shot directly at the barrier in front of him as he finally formed the excess magic into a spell.

As the beam hit the barrier, it rippled under the force of its impact, but the majority of the blue power just vanished into the dome, refocused into the magic absorption device which built its distortion field just around the actual physical magical wall.

“Another failed attempt, it seems,” Luna said finally, as the last evidence of the powerful ritual vanished into the cube which they could see quite clearly floating over the house.

Before anypony else could answer, the cube inside the forcefield dumped the excess energy it gathered into the ground where it would safely disperse.

“It seems that way, yes, but at least the magic has made contact with the shield this time,” Celestia answered, looking concerned at the now heaving unicorns who had focused all their magical energy into this spell in an attempt to destroy the magical distorter by overloading its capacity.

The last unicorn who had used then this excess magic to form an actual spell was carefully levitated onto a stretcher from a group of emergency medics. All over his body the two monarchs could see multiple burn marks, exposed flesh and darkened fur, displaying just of how much energy had coursed through his system for not even three seconds.

The young mage had tapped into too much magic and had nearly burned alive, but to their anger, his near-sacrifice was for nothing.

The magical barrier still stood proud in place.

Looking at said barrier, the white alicorn silently cursed that so many good magicians had already been hurt due to this cursed distorter protecting it.

Shaking her head, Celestia stomped with her left front hoof in determination, “I doubt this will work,” she paused, thinking, “but, we have to break through that barrier somehow. For Twilight's sake, we have to free her parents,” shaking her head, she sighed, “But we have already utilized the best of our mages we could bring here on short notice. I don’t know what we have not tried already, and I fear we truly have to hope on a miracle.”

Looking at her sister, Luna was concerned, Celestia normally wasn’t a pony which would hesitate or lose hope, but the situation was quite clearly getting to her. If she didn’t know it better, she would almost think Celestia looked a bit desperate right now.

Thinking for a bit, the Lunar Princess asked, “We thought thou specifically trained a great number of unicorns for exactly that purpose, to fend off any attacker in our Kingdom?”

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia regarded her sister, “Excuse me?”

“Thy School for Gifted Unicorns? Isn’t it supposed to, well… produce mages with such capabilities?” Luna asked.

“Oh, by the stars, no. My school is supposed to help young and powerful unicorns live a normal life or become something that will benefit Equestria as a whole,” Celestia said, worried over the point Luna wanted to bring across.

“Then what about our military? Aren’t there enough battle mages we could utilize for such a task?” Luna asked, desperately trying to find a way for them to have more power behind their rituals to break through the barrier.

“We did, yes, but unfortunately a major portion of our standing forces is employed in the Crystal Empire right now, Cadance can use their help for their recent expansion and restructure of the Crystal Ponies. Having come out of slavery has greatly unsettled them, and they need our help right now.”

“Then, pray tell, what is with the rest of our forces?” Luna asked, going wide-eyed.

“The rest are just guards and commanding officers structuring troop training,” Celestia said, glancing at the troops surrounding them.

“But-“ Luna tried to say but was interrupted by Celestia.

“Luna, we’ve had peace now for over 500 years. The great armies we had in older times are simply not needed these days and a big portion of our military are reservists who live a normal life.”

“So, thou art saying we are defenseless if someone might declare war now, sister?” Luna asked, actually shocked.

“No, we are not, for a start, we have the Elements of Harmony, and I am confident they can handle any threats which are actually evil, then we have Discord, who is now also part of our defense, and for the last, if we really need to attack, we can call the reservists back into the standing military in a matter of days… but I won’t break out the alarm just because we have some up rile in the capital,” Celestia explained, already turned around and walking back to the war tent they had just came from a minute ago, “We simply have to find a way to break through that barrier, an army will not help us here…”

“Hmmm, thou art right… have we at least made contact with Twilight by now?” Luna asked, glancing to where the small houses making up Ponyville could be seen.

“No, but I am sure that if our mail has arrived, then Twilight will already be anxiously waiting on the chariot to come here as soon as possible,” Celestia said, also turning around to look at the brightly shimmering castle which could be clearly seen towering over the rest of Ponyville.

“What will she be able to do though? Thou don’t plan on giving her to the zealots who ask after her just to free her parents, do you? We don’t know if we can save her afterward,” Luna stated in worry.

“Of course not, but I am sure Twilight will have an idea on how to break through this barrier. If not, I fear we’ll have to wait for Shining Armor and Cadance, after all, barriers are Shining Armor's specialty.”

“But aren’t they half a day away?”

“Unfortunately, you are right,” Celestia inhaled deeply to calm herself, “but do you have any other ideas?”

Luna glanced down for a moment before stubbornly admitting that Celestia was right with a shake of her head. “Nay…”

In the lull of silence between the two contemplating sisters, an ear-deafening crack could be heard. As the two whipped around to see what happened, Twilight was flying over the barrier, her eyes white and the space around her crackling with magic which seemed like it threatened to rip reality apart, but was at the same time curling safely over her body.

“What in the name of our glorious moon…” Luna said, before a magical beam, thick enough to engulf the whole mansion shot down from where Twilight was hovering with her purple color of magic.

The force wave emitting from where the beam impacted shoved nearly all guards and standing princesses from their hoofs as they watched the purple alicorn landing in front of the entrance to her family property, the forcefield having cracked already in multiple places.

“WHERE… IS… MY… FAMILY!!!” her words carried through the air around her, the force of her words actually knocking the guards back down who were quick enough to have jumped up again.

Having read the letter just a moment ago, Twilight stood now in front of her childhood home, her horn aglow with magic, but otherwise she appeared to be calm.

However, to anyone looking closely, they'd be able to see the occasional twitch of some of her muscles, or her wings, as she stared at the barrier, waiting for any kind of movement inside, or outside…

After her spectacular entrance and her display of magical power which she had instinctually produced, Twilight inhaled deeply before the magic lightning and her white eyes faded away with her tension.

Celestia, for her part, who was standing back up again multiple meters away would have been slack-jawed had she not had millennia worth of training in self-restraint.

But in Twilight's head was silence, her single thought and goal was directed at who and what lay behind this barrier as she anticipated the coming response.

Any moment now…

As if on command, the milky barrier suddenly cleared a bit and she could see a sturdily built unicorn with a dark brown coat, a scar over his right eye and a golden ray of teeth, but before her mind could actually store that piece of information away, he cleared his voice… hearable even through the barrier.

“Well, well, if that isn’t our beloved PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP I see…” his gravelly voice carried through the silent grounds. “It is truly an honor to finally make your acquaintance, your majesty.”

Grinding her teeth in annoyance, Twilight glared at him, “Where are my parents?” she hissed out, in a voice that even made the slowly approaching guards flinch away in fear.

“Ah, rather direct, are we? Well, I had at least hoped to have a pleasant conversation with you before we would come to business,” he said, chuckling to himself. “Well, just to have you know, they are right here,” he said, motioning to one of his followers to bring them into view.

As another set of unicorns entered the small window in the barrier, Twilight could see her mother and her father, tied up in ropes, with magical suppression rings on their horns and ball gags in their mouths carried on their backs.

Narrowing her eyes, she growled angrily, “What have you done to them?”

“Done to them?” the dark brown unicorn asked in mock offence, “Oh, nothing special, we have drugged them so that they don’t try anything, nothing too complicated or poisonous,” he said, clearing his voice, “at least if they get to see a doctor sooner or later,” he added, smirking as he saw Twilight's eyes narrowing even further.

Before she could respond though, he waved a hoof to his followers and turned back to her. “Well, now that you are here, I presume we can talk about our… ‘price’… if you would say so.”

“What? What do you want?” Twilight cried out, angrily flaring her wings.

“We… oh… we, well we don’t want to have much, Princess, we just want to make a deal, if you know what I mean.”

“What deal?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? We release your oh so precious parents and I’ll even hand over a list of what we drugged them with, just because I'm feeling nice,” he said, polishing his hoof on his cloak, “in exchange for yourself of course.”

“Why?” Twilight said, the venom in her voice clearly palpable to even the most thickheaded creature in existence.

“Why what, dear Princess… I am afraid I might have misunderstood you.”

“Why me?” she asked again, some magical lightning starting to run over her body again.

“Well, this is easy… because we were paid to do so,” the unicorn stated, smiling innocently.

“And what, do you think, is saving you from me just destroying this barrier and getting them myself?” she snarled, lighting her horn.

“Ah, ah, ah dear Princess, even you should understand your plight here. If you try to break our defenses, we won't hesitate in greeting you with two very dead ponies,” he stated.

Halting, Twilight glanced at where she thought her parents lay now behind the barrier. Thinking for just a second, she looked back to the unicorn and nodded once.

“Fine… my parents’ freedom for mine,” she stated quickly, completely ignoring the logical part of her brain and the shouts and screams from the ponies running towards her.

“Oh, a wise decision, Princess…” he nodded, motioning to his companions. “But we, well we have to make sure that you don’t play one of your games with us here,” he said before a small space opened in the barrier and a small ring and belt was thrown out…

“Wear these, would you? They are, let’s say… safety precautions. They will keep you and your pesky magic and wings where they belong,” the unicorn said, a malicious grin on his muzzle.

“What will assure me that you’ll keep your end of the bargaining and release my parents?” she asked, glancing at the two magic suppressors in front of her.

"Dear Princess, do you not understand? It seems like you have no other option than to trust me. I'm sure as the Princess of Friendship that should be easy for you," he mocked, absently toying with a knife in his magic as if he were trying to be the very opposite of trustworthy.

She was trapped, Twilight knew what they would do to her parents now that she was here and so her decision was easy. Huffing in frustration, Twilight levitated the ring and belt to her and put them on.

The logical part of her brain screamed unheard that this was the dumbest idea she’d ever had, but her heart simply didn’t let her have any choice in the matter.

Picking up the ring and regarding it for a moment, Twilight placed it on her horn and fiddled with her hooves to connect the belt around her waist and wings.

As she clipped the belt in place, the barrier opened once more as her parents and a piece of paper were thrown out before she was seized in a strong magical grip, presumably from multiple ponies at the same time.

Now stepping into the opening, the dark brown unicorn chuckled to himself as he watched Twilight who was slowly levitated into the barrier.

As she passed by her parents, Twilight hung her head a bit and closed her eyes, one tear escaping her eyes as she silently whispered. “Sorry I had to do this, please, please be able to forgive me…” she said, as she was levitated into the barrier before it closed around her.

Having lost all hope of a better solution, Twilight had given up.

As soon as Princess Celestia was back onto her hoofs, she could see that Twilight, however she had come here, was standing in front of the barrier, talking to one of the extremists of the group.

“Oh, no… Luna… what is she doing?” she asked, yanking her sister up who had been buried under her.

“We think the more interesting question is how has she com… by Tartarus, what is thine student doing?” Luna asked, her eyes wide as they watched Twilight converse.

“They are talking,” Celestia said… before she shook her head and inhaled deeply. “TWILIGHT!” she yelled, attempting to get the purple alicorns attention.

As her former student didn’t even flick an ear into her direction, she started walking towards her.

Suddenly the barrier opened and two small items were thrown in front of her. “TWILIGHT, NO WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” she yelled again, now beginning to gallop fruitlessly to Twilights aid.

As she levitated the two items closer to her and began to put them on, Celestia tried to teleport to her side, only to realize that her magic was somehow blocked from her.

“Oh no,” muttering to themselves, Celestia and Luna galloped faster and shouted all the while trying to get the attention from Twilight who was beginning to buckle the belt around her waist.

As her former student was finished, Celestia and Luna had to watch in horror as the barrier opened once more and Twilight’s parents had been thrown out while the purple alicorn was gripped in a magical aura and levitated closer to the barrier.

“NO, STOP, TWILIGHT!” Celestia shouted once more, having to watch helplessly as her former student vanished behind the now again milky barrier of magic.

Reaching the spot where her student had stood a moment ago, she cursed loudly before looking at the two bound up ponies in front of her…

Sighing in defeat, Celestia motioned to a few guards to pick them up and to tend to their needs as she tried to summon up her own magic to break through the barrier.

Producing only a couple of sparks with their horns, the two sisters looked at each other in horror as they realized they could do nothing to help her friend right now…

“GUARDS! OPEN FIRE ON THE BARRIER! WE HAVE TO SAVE PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” Luna shouted, having turned around and running back to the line of guards which they had just left.

As Celestia was left behind, she could suddenly feel a violent disturbance in the magical flow around her, as if suddenly something immensely powerful had been released.

Having mentally given up by this point, Twilight silently cried as she was set down inside of the barrier.

"Oh, Princess, what a pitiable thing you are, enjoy your title while it lasts. Soon you'll have nothing to cry about, soon you'll be nothing at all," he scoffed, spitting at her face.

“Why?” she said, again, tears streaming down her face.

“Why what?” he mocked, almost amused at his captives seeming stupidity.

“Why me?” she asked again.

“Because you apparently had very powerful and influential enemies, my dear,” he chuckled, “But, rest assured, you of all ponies don’t have to question it any longer, because you, my little princess, are going to sleep for a while,” he said as he swung a powerful hoof at her chin, knocking everything black.

Seeing no way out, Twilight embraced the black as it hit her. Her limp body falling to the floor before any of the extremists around her could catch her.

Rocking back as if she was flying backwards, Twilight found herself in a state of mind where she could see and hear everything, but at the same time couldn’t move a muscle. Having never been truly unconscious before, Twilight figured that this was just that right now.

But she didn’t struggle or fight it. Being at her lowest right now, with no hope of a bright future, ever, her only comfort was that she knew her parents where safe, they would be fine. They had to be fine.

They had to be fine, without her. They simply had to be.

As she whimpered to herself, Twilight thought of all the ponies she most likely would never see again.

Her parents, even though she knew they would have to be fine, her friends, to whom she was not even able to say goodbye, her brother, who will probably get sick when he hears what she had just done, her sister in law, her niece, Spike, her surrogate son, and most importantly Celestia and Luna, to whom she never even had confessed how she felt.

She felt as if she had disappointed them all, somehow.

She didn’t even give them the opportunity to help her, she just ran into this like a foal would have run for the first solution. She simply hadn’t seen any alternative.

She just gave up, she gave up like a coward, and she hated herself for doing so.

Suddenly though, she heard a whisper. There were no words, well not in the literal sense, but silent noises, curling all around her, bringing up images and pictures of… of herself?

She saw herself at the entrance exam of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, losing control of her magic. She saw herself learning, under Celestia’s wing and guidance. She saw herself and her friends fighting against Nightmare Moon, where all six of them wielded the elements for the first time in their life. She saw herself finishing the last spell of Star Swirl, ascending into an alicorn. She saw herself battling Tirek, having been pushed through literal mountains without a scratch.

Every vision she saw had one thing in common. It wasn’t her friends, her position, her willpower. It was how magic had influenced her life. How she had united and activated the elements of harmony for the first time in one thousand years. How her exceptional power had drawn Celestia's attention and how she had been tutored to control this power, and how she had always tried to use this power for the betterment of everyone, not just ponies, for every creature living on Equus.

She saw herself as she stood side to side with her friends, facing one evil to the next, all the way leading them to a better future.

She could see all the things she had accomplished, she saw all the things her friends and family had accomplished, and she could see all the things which they had accomplished because of her.

A warm feeling spread out through her chest as she looked at the images flowing inside her head. A comforting presence made itself known inside her as she thought she would break down into another fit of sobs right then and there.

It was a presence which was much more powerful than her own, but at the same time, just like herself. It felt oddly comforting as it wrapped up around her, blanketing her and soothing away the pain and guilt she was feeling.

Finally calming down, she could feel all the love and passion from those memories, from her friends, her family, behind each and every one of them.

She felt hope, for the first time since she was brought inside of the barrier, Twilight truly had hope again. Her dark thoughts were now completely wiped out and she was calm again.

As if the sudden spark of hope had lit a bonfire inside of her, Twilight could feel the warmth leaving her chest and spreading out into her limps, her wings, her horn. She felt warm again.

Thinking of all the ponies she wanted to see again, Twilight reached deep inside of herself

Deep inside of her was a vast pool of power, one she had never consciously tapped before. Standing over this pool of power, she could look around but did not see an end of it.

Deciding to ignore her inquisitive desires for now, she dipped her consciousness into the pool and was suddenly overwhelmed with images, impressions, locations.

Twilight felt like she was everywhere. All of the impressions blurred into a giant, incomprehensible picture of images and information, all muddled together.

Though, she was able to see a few things quite clearly.

She saw all of her friends, how they hurried into the direction of her castle, she could see her brother and sister in law, sitting in a train speeding to Canterlot, she could see Luna barking orders at the guards in front of the barrier and she could see Celestia who sat inside a tent, streams of tears running down her face while she crumbled up a sheet of paper and incinerated it.

She knew what she had to do. She had to fight. She had to fight when she wanted to see her friends and family again. She had to fight for the hope of stopping the tears of those she wished to continue loving, and she would. Twilight was ready, ready to take on anything and everything that intended to do her wrong.

As Twilight's body limply hit the floor, the dark brown unicorn laughed again and turned around. “Bring her inside and prepare the teleport, I want to leave this place as soon as possible.”

Before any of his companions could do anything though, they heard an otherworldly chuckle.

Turning back around, he saw Twilight's body shaking in amusement, her eyes still closed and having not moved an inch since hitting the floor.

“Oh, what is so amusing, little Princess?” he asked, not losing his cool for his apparent failure. “I fear you quite misunderstand the situation, you have nothing to laugh about, especially considering where we will bring you in just a couple of minutes.”

“Oh, what makes you so certain of that?” Twilights voice was ice cold and the question sent shivers down the spines of everyone surrounding her.

Chuckling to himself, the unicorn remained resolute as he shook his head, “What will you do, little Princess? You have nothing. You can’t use your magic, you are bound up and no one will be able to help you. Why don’t you give up and spare us the trouble?”

Twilight laughed with empty amusement, “I ask again, what makes you so certain you have won so easily?”

Flaring up in anger, the dark brown unicorn tensed his muscles. “Because you are a worthless, weak, pathetic excuse of a pony! You are no princess, not mine, certainly! But you have something my client wants.”

Without opening her eyes, Twilight sat herself back up and turned her head to the speaking unicorn. “Oh, and what might that be?” she asked, her voice cool and void of emotion.

“You’ll see soon enough,” he growled, trying to hit her again into the chin with his full power.

As his hoof hit her chin, a sickening crack could be heard as it echoed through the dome.

Having not even flinched a muscle, Twilight stood calm and collected, the hoof still connected to the lower part of her chin as the unicorn’s eyes widened in horror, and then in pain.

As he recoiled his hoof to stare at it, he inhaled sharply to scream out in pain as he realized his hoof had a clear crack through it and had split apart even through parts of his bones.

Having been hit, Twilight took this as the right moment and opened her white glowing eyes to look at the screaming unicorn in front of her.

“H-h-how is that possible?” he screamed, both in pain and in disbelief.

“It is simple,” Twilight said, her voice oddly carried through the wind and echoing many times in of itself. “You failed,” she said lighting her horn while the magical suppressor around her horn and wings exploded into millions of little particles from having overloaded.

Stepping out of the magical confinements the other unicorns tried to enforce on her as if she would step through nothing, she turned her head and looked at them, her expression completely emotionless as she regarded them.

“I offer you this one chance to surrender, or you will feel the consequences of your actions,” she said, oddly calm, as if she would restrain herself from using too much of her new-found power.

As the other ponies glanced at each other, Twilight could see the sudden fear in their eyes, but suddenly, a loud shout could be heard from her right. Turning her head, Twilight saw that a bulky minotaur was running towards her, his horns angled down in his best attempt to impale her.

Shaking her head sadly, Twilight lit her horn and before the bulky minotaur could realize what was happening, he already ran head first into a solid wall of magic, breaking his horns while doing so.

Seeing their comrad taking action, the remaining ponies charged their horns, drew blades or took a fighting stance. The two griffins accompanying the group though, seemed oddly distanced and just kept on watching.

Shaking her head, Twilight calmly sat down in front of them, her eyes still blazing with white power as her mane and tail slowly dissolved into a pure purple vapour of magic. Her normally slightly bigger size grew to a point where she could easily tower over her adversaries.

Already dancing in agitation, two of the extremists couldn’t handle it any longer and charged at her, one his horn aglow with magic, the other trying to wrestle her with his Earthpony strength onto the ground.

As if the charge of their fellows had broken everyone out of their trance, now the rest of the group also got into motion and charged at the purple alicorn.

Before any of them could reach her though, Twilight opened her wings and jumped into the air. The two pegasi instantly attempted to chase her, but as it seemed, she had expected that. Whipping around and gripping their wings mid-flight, Twilight yanked them together so that their heads collided with each other before they tumbled dazed back to the floor.

Settling down behind the rest of her attackers before they could even whip around, she formed a couple of small obstacles before their feet, bringing every one of them tumbling down to the floor.

Suddenly though, Twilight could feel something sharp and pointy at her throat.

“If you move one muscle, or if I see one spark of magic from this horn of yours, I will…” – the griffin didn’t even manage it to finish his sentence as Twilight bucked him into his gut and flung him with her magic to the rest of her attackers who all crashed down into a big pile of hooves, limbs, wings and other appendages.

The last griffin who had stayed behind up until now growled and jumped at her, his claws ready to grab her, but she just turned around and dunked him onto the floor with a mere thought.

As the griffin’s body sunk down unconscious, Twilight could see some of her attackers trying to stand up and she inhaled deeply.

“ENOUGH!” she shouted annoyed, the force of her voice pushing the pile of extremists against the house wall.

The leader of the small group, who had sunken to the ground in pain and who clutched his hoof to his chest, tried to sit up a bit, but was seized in a purple aura of magic to keep him in place.

Lighting his horn, he attempted to break free while he shouted with all the energy he could muster, “This can't be right. NO! I WILL END YOU! I WILL KILL YOU! I DON’T CARE WHAT MY CLIENT WANTS! I WILL KILL YOU!”

As he couldn’t move an inch and his every attempt of escape was futile, he had to look on in horror as Twilights gaze slowly fell onto him and she narrowed her eyes.

“You can insult me..., you can hate me..., you can hurt me..., but what I won’t allow, and what your biggest error was, is that you went after my FAMILY!” Twilight shouted, her horn pulsing with a wave of power that quickly filled up the whole dome and pushed all the extremists against the wall, their hoofs, feet’s or claws not even touching the ground anymore.

“I along with my friends have risked ourselves time and time again. For the sake of Equestria and the world’s peace, my life was forfeit. Not for anyone special, but so I could offer a brighter future for who I could, when I could...” she said, her voice trailing off into an unnaturally calm silence.

“AND YOU COULDN’T LEAVE ONE THING ALONE!” Twilight cracked, her tension unsettling in the air. “ALL THAT I DID, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, AND ALL I WANTED WAS ONE THING. ONE THING!” Taking a deep breath Twilight seemed to calm down again. “And you couldn’t even do that...” Twilight’s eye was left unwavering in its newfound gaze of the terrified ponies in front of her. “You, you couldn’t leave it well enough alone, the one thing... ONE. THING!”

She broke out, her horn flaring again and exploding in another wave of power, now crushing all of them into the wall, some of them screaming in pain.

“You have deliberately chosen to hurt those I love, and now I wonder. Those times when my life was at risk for the world was it worth it? For the sole reason that you live today, was it WORTH IT?” she demanded, walking up to the pressed-up extremists, all care of good sense long since banished from her mind as she stood in front of them. “TELL ME!”

Hearing no response Twilight shouted again, “YOU ALL TREAD OVER WHAT I DID! FOR YOU, AND FOR SO MANY OTHERS... YOU MAKE ME SICK!” Her horn flared again, crushing the extremists even deeper into the wall while her magical surges had drained the shield completely from the inside. As the big barrier cracked and finally shattered, Twilight took another step towards the now screaming extremists.

“You are the worst!” she said, a dark tint slowly creeping into her magical aura, as the yells of pain only grew in volume. “And I never want to see you ever again!” she shouted, as some cracking noises could be heard from her captives.

Just before Twilight could do anything else though, she heard a faint call of her name somewhere at the edge of her hearing. Blinking once, and annoyed at the interruption, she turned around to see that the barrier around her had vanished and that she now stood in front of a great assembly of guards, all aiming their spears into her direction.

But the most important thing of that all, was that she could see the two sisters looking at her, both with shock on their muzzles at seeing her.

Turning back around though, Twilight quickly could think of why, and her eyes widened in shock.

Cutting off her magic, and scrambling backwards, while falling over her hoofs, Twilight shut herself out completely. Turning back into her usual form and posture, she stared in horror at what she had nearly done, and as she heard her name called out once more, she looked back before her eyes rolled up in her head as she hit the floor, falling into unconsciousness.

As Celestia stepped back into the tent, she had nearly lost her composure already. Luna who had seen her sisters’ distress had reassured her that she would be fine for a minute or two if she would need some time to recompose herself.

And so Celestia found herself back at the much too small table where she just fell down into a chair and stared ahead.

Having lived and controlled her emotions for many millennia now gave her usually the ability to appear calm in the most stressful of times, but it also had given her a fine sense on when exactly this control would slip, and it was definitely slipping right now.

Sitting on the small desk with a map of Canterlot on top of, Celestia stared ahead as she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Having seen her former student, her friend, so utterly desperate that she had given up on the spot was something new for her. She had dealt with many losses over her long life, but none of them stung so deeply as the loss she felt in her heart right now.

Twilight Sparkle, her biggest success as a teacher and a fellow Princess, a fellow immortal had given up on the spot as she was unable to see an alternative on how to care for those who she loved.

Celestia felt weak right now, she felt as she had disappointed Twilight.

She had, and she was sure of that.

She was unable to protect the one and only thing she knew of which was important for her friend.

She was the ruler of the strongest nation in the known world and she was unable to protect her friend’s family. She was unable to help her friend like she had done so many times before when she had saved Equestria from one threat or another.

Celestia felt as she had done a great disservice to the one pony she loved as much as her sister. To the very pony which had freed her sister from her dark path and returned her to her side.

She had failed the one pony she truly could consider more than a friend.

And now that pony would be gone.

Celestia had no idea how they should break through that barrier without harming her, or without giving her captives enough time to harm her.

Celestia had no idea how she was supposed to react now.

She wanted to do something… she wanted to help Twilight, but how?

All she was able to do was look on, as her friend had been dragged out of her reach.

Shaking her head to push away the dark thoughts, Celestia grabbed a quill and ink alongside a paper. Sulking around didn’t help anything and she had to do something if she wanted to have at least a chance of getting her friend out of this situation.

So, she drew.

She drew a set of the most potent spells she knew. She recreated from memory the most powerful shield breakers she knew; the most devastating destruction spells she could remember and the most terrifying display of power which would help her in any possible way right now.

Her efforts consisted of spells long since forgotten, long since buried under the mantle of time, with her and her sister being the only two beings in existence who still knew of that kind of power.

As she reached the end of the paper, Celestia realized that each and every one of those spells would make the skin crawl of even the most sadistic pony or creature out there, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was how she would use them to free her friend from the clutches of her captives.

All she knew of was how she would save her Twilight like she had done so many times before with her.

Inhaling once more, Celestia formed a plan in her head and stood up. Crumpling up the paper into a ball, she quickly lit the paper on fire and watched it burn to ash as she would not allow the knowledge of those spells to ever come back.

Having decided a course of her action, she turned around to leave the tent.

As she stepped outside, briefly blinded from the light of her own sun as she stared at it, Celestia looked back at the magical barrier in front of her.

Lighting up her horn, she prepared a series of spells that would probably melt the floor or light half of Canterlot aflame, but she didn’t care right now, her only goal in mind was to rescue Twilight. All consequences may be dammed. Before she could proceed to cast even one of them though, the ground shook slightly, causing her to look back at the barrier.

Wondering for a brief moment on what had just happened, Celestia glanced over to her sister who had also stopped mid-step to look at the commotion.

As another tremble in the earth could be felt, Luna finally glanced back to her sister. Before Luna could react, Celestia shouted with her royal voice. “Get back into lines! Something is happening!”

As the guards crumbled and run back into line and to surround the two princesses, all of them lowered their spears and focused their attention on the barrier.

Waiting on anything that might happen next, Luna had run over to where Celestia was standing, but before she could ask anything concerning the matter, another powerful blast could be felt, this time shattering the barrier in one go.

As the last remanence of the magical shield fell to the ground and the two monarchs could see through the magical mist, Celestia had to restrain herself from letting her mouth fall open.

There, burning with magical energy stood Twilight, her horn aglow and not even realizing that she had just brought down the barrier single hoovedly.

A great wave of relief washed over Celestia at seeing her former student standing there. “Twilight!” she called out in hopes to get the young mare's attention.

This time, her call had worked at first try as the purple alicorn looked startled before turning her head. Glancing around, her eyes widened as soon as she saw the two of them and she looked back to where she was holding the extremists in shock.

Suddenly recoiling and stumbling backward, Celestia began to run towards her, some of her concerns though crept back seeing her fall. “Twilight!”

As her former student turned around once more, she looked at her briefly before her eyes rolled up into her head and she sunk to the ground.

Catching her before she landed on the floor, Celestia held the purple alicorn in her grasp and cradled her head. “Twilight, Twilight, hey, please… Twilight, speak with to… please…” she called again, nearly crying again.

“Bring a doctor here!” Luna shouted from her side, “We need a doctor immediately.” She shouted again, her concern palpable in her voice.

Looking back down to the now unconscious alicorn, Luna shook her head sadly.

As a series of groans and coughs managed it to come to her ears, Luna looked back up to examine her surroundings in search for more ponies which might possibly need medical attention.

Finding the source of the sounds, her look darkened and she practically glared at the group of extremists who slowly tried to shuffle out of the pile of rubble which was left from the once so glorious house of the Sparkle family.

The former mansion appeared to be completely destroyed, the front wall was nothing more than a pile of smoking rubble, while the roof was hanging dangerously low to the ground. The few rooms Luna could see were completely destroyed and multiple burn marks, piles of shattered glass and pieces of wood littered the once clean and well-furnished hallways.

Gingerly positioning herself between her fellow princesses and the extremists, Luna watched them trying to get up and going again. One of them, the unicorn they had seen earlier representing the rest of the group seemed to have passed out entirely, his left forehoof pressed to his chest which had a rather visible crack all the way through the sole of his hoof through the coffin bone and up into the upper parts of the leg.

Wincing at the mere sight of it and knowing full well the pain such an injury could cause, Luna looked over to the rest of them, who appeared fairly bruised, cut at various places and some even unable to stand on their own.

Shaking her head and wondering why any of them were still alive, in her time, such tedious acts would have been enough to punish the attacker with instead death on the battlefield.

Hearing the sound of rushing hooves Luna was abruptly made aware that she had company, company of which was not entirely unwelcome, despite the captain in question.

“Princess Luna, I” – Steadfast paused, looking around at the surrounding chaos – “if I may speak plainly, what in Celestia’s name happened here?”

Narrowing her eyes in scorn at the culprits, Luna replied, “That, Captain, is a good question. I am still unsure myself, needless to say Twilight somehow... overpowered the situation. The details, however, remain elusive. For now, these criminals need to be detained, I doubt there are any more in hiding but the area should still be searched as well.”

“As you wish Princess, just one question, how badly wounded are they? How much attention will they need?”

“As much as I loathe granting them the reprieve, I fear they will need extensive medical attention. Before they bleed out, I would prefer to the have the opportunity to talk,” sighing in frustration she continued. “Check for internal injuries, beyond that I have little expertise.”

“Sounds reasonable, I will excuse myself then, I am sure there will be further discussion at a later date.” Luna knew the stallion had little sympathy for the worst of people of the world but he still had an almost oppressive tendency to ignore any personal vendetta for the greater good. Though that didn’t stop him from spitting out some spiteful insults at the grouped abductors when he thought Luna wasn’t listening.

Leaving the captain to carry out his duties, Luna turned away from the hateful sight to make her way back to where Twilight was being watched over by her sister.

Still stroking her former students’ mane soothingly, Celestia tried every spell she knew which would check, heal or help the pony in her hooves. As Twilight didn’t seem to wake up though, she rose her head and looked around to find a medical pony running towards them.

As soon as the white unicorn, with a red cross as her cutie mark, came to a stop next to the three rulers, she bowed quickly before standing up again and looking at Twilight.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, my name is Chariot Heart,” the white unicorn explained in a rush, “I came as soon as I could, but I didn’t see anything hitting Princess Twilight,” she hesitated shortly, “have the two of you maybe seen anything so I might know what to look for?”

Shaking her head, Celestia watched the young medical pony perform a few tests on her former student. “No, I didn’t see anything, as the barrier shattered, she looked at us and then collapsed to the ground.”

“Maybe she was hit from a spell earlier?” Luna asked, trying to not get in the way of the white unicorn.

“I didn’t pick up anything which would have such a lasting effect,” Celestia stated, shaking her head.

“I can’t find anything either,” Chariot Heart said, carefully opening one of Twilights eyes with her magic and looking at it with a small lamp, “her heart rate seems a bit slow, but other than that, she looks completely healthy from what I can see. Her pupils though react poorly to the tests, it seems Princess Twilight has passed out from shock from what I can tell,” the medic stated, packing her lamp back into her bag.

Touching her horn to Twilights, she tried to get a read out of her mana level, but upon contact, her eyes widened. “I-I-I nearly can’t detect her magic signature, your majesties,” she gasped.

“WHAT?” Celestia asked in shock, attempting to do the same to her former protégée. “H-how is that possible?” she asked, her eyes wide, “If she would be drained, she would still be able to…”

Shaking her head, the unicorn bowed deeply. “I am sorry your Highness, but I don’t know. In all my life as a nurse and emergency medic, I have never seen this to this degree.”

“Then, doest thou have any way to help her?” Luna asked, her gaze fixated on Twilight.

“I fear there isn’t much we can do… a pony suffering from magical withdraw needs to rest and rebuild their magic reserves before they wake up again. If there is a very serious case, we give the patient a couple of drops of phoenix essence.” Shaking her head, the unicorn looked at Celestia, “But I fear we don’t have any of this essence in stock since the changeling attack, it is quite rare and hard to get so I fear we have to wai-“

“Phoenix essence?” Celestia exclaimed, her eyes widening, “of course, yes… I think I can extract a bit of Philomena’s essence out of her feathers,” she said, looking at the medic.

“Erm, that could be possible, my princess… I suggest you should seek advice from a more reliable source though, I fear I have no more insight in this,” she said.

Glancing down to the peaceful seeming pony in her hooves, Celestia mouthed her name one more time before hugging her and slipping her on her back. “Thank you, miss Heart, I will take care from here on out,” turning to her sister, Celestia continued, “I will take her to my chambers immediately, we should have everything available to help her for the time being.”

“Of course, sister, we will come along shortly. We fear we have to calm the press for now,” She said, visibly souring.

Watching her sister depart with a bright flash of light, Luna nodded once more and turned around towards the quickly gathering crowd of ponies behind them.

Having to keep a phoenix still and plucking a couple of her feathers was a terrible experience, and a hot one at that, but Celestia, with the help of her doctor, was finishing the syringe now as she slowly poured the yellow glowing liquid out of the vial into it.

Looking once more over each step and checking them mentally, Celestia nodded once more in satisfaction and turned to the white coated pony next to her desk.

“Miss Heart Petal, I think I am ready. I have extracted as much essence from Philomena as I could without harming her,” Celestia explained.

“Thank you, Princess, I hope she is not taking it too hard on you for doing so, but I fear this is the only option we have if we want to improve Princess Twilight’s condition.”

“Don’t worry about that thickheaded bird of mine,” Celestia said, looking over at where Philomena was sitting on her pole and glaring at her, “she should molt in a couple of days anyway.”

“Well, if you say so, Princess,” Heart Petal stated, glancing wearily at her Princess’s house phoenix. “I feel as if she’s been glaring at me the whole time since we took some of her feathers.”

“Oh, well, you see, Philomena is very intelligent and I am sure she will eventually understand, but right now, I fear, she may have a grudge against the two of us,” Celestia said, shrugging, “I expect her to find some sort of way to get back at us for that,” she added with a smile, ”but I think she will be fine.”

Gulping once, the young mare tore her gaze away from the still glaring phoenix and looked instead at the vial hovering in her magic. Checking for the correct dosage and looking it over herself once more, she turned around.

Walking through the ornate room, filled with many valuable pieces of art, collected from all over Equestria and spanning hundreds of years, Heart Petal looked at the peaceful seeming pony set on Princess Celestia’s bed.

Celestia’s bed was huge, after all, it had been built with a much larger pony in mind and so created a rather comical picture with only Twilight on top of it. The satin lavender sheets, with their gold trimmed rim and a copious number of pillows all stacked up neatly at the head and foot of the bed, appeared to be completely empty. Twilight had been placed in the middle of Celestia’s gigantic bed, which could surely hold up to ten or twelve more ponies of her size, or two, maybe three Celestias, before eventually becoming uncomfortable.

Before Heart Petal could step closer and administer the vial which was prepared by the bed’s usual owner, a questioning knock could be heard in the otherwise quiet room.

Looking up from where she was sitting and cleaning her usual worktable of every alchemical device she had been using, Celestia gently spoke, “Come in, please.”

As the door opened, Princess Luna slowly stepped in, looking around the room for any pony except her sister, and upon only seeing miss Heart Petal, straightened visibly. “Where are the doctors? We’d expected more than just one mere unicorn tending to our friend’s needs.”

Sighing and motioning her sister to not fret too much, Celestia looked over to where Twilight was laying, a couple of medical devices still attached to her former student. “Well, she appears to be fine, from what our medical staff could tell, just as Miss Heart had said before. The only explanation why she still hasn’t woken up by now is that she has likely used too much magic at once and is now suffering from magical withdraw, but even that is not certain,” she sighed.

“Then, when will this phoenix essence be ready for her?” Luna asked, walking over to where Twilight was laying on the bed and only briefly glancing at the doctor next to her.

“It already is, Princess Luna, I was about to administer it to her,” she said, carefully tapping the syringe with her hoof to shake the contents into the needle.

“Then please, by all intents, let thou not be disturbed by us,” Luna said, looking at the syringe and remembering how much she hated those things.

Having come back from the moon only a couple of years ago meant she had never received a vaccination before in her life, because such medicinal advances had simply not been made in her time. But the careful nature of her sister had made sure of, even though alicorns could not come to harm by any known illness, that she would receive a proper vaccination and medical overhaul after her return.

The memory at being stung multiple times in her flank made her still think of bloody retaliation to any inventor of such infernal medical torture devices.

But still, she looked on, in discomfort, as the slim unicorn leaned over Twilights still unconscious form and carefully administered the syringe with its brightly yellow glowing contents directly beneath her friends’ horn.

“That’s it, now we simply have to wait,” she said upon leaning back.

Stepping next to her sister and looking at her former students’ body, Celestia asked, “Miss Petal, would you be so kind as to tell us when we can expect an effect taking place.”

Carefully dabbing at the now slightly bleeding place where she had pierced Twilight's forehead, the mare didn’t look up from her work as she answered. “Well, it’ll depend on how much magic Princess Twilight used, if she’s used too much and exhausted herself too much, it could take one or two minutes before her condition improves, otherwise we should already see an effect.”

Opening one eyelid of Twilight, she carefully looked at it with a small lamp. “But seeing as though nothing is happening, I think Princess Twilight opted for the former.”

“What will happen if neither option occurs and there is no reaction at all?” Luna asked, concern palpable in her voice.

“Well, seeing that Princess Twilight seems otherwise healthy, we will simply have to wait for her to wake up on her own.”

Suddenly, a faint grown could be heard from the pony in front of them.

“See, she is…” Heart Petal stopped mid-sentence as she touched her horn to Twilights, “but I don’t understand… t-there is no reaction? I am still nearly unable to detect her magical presence, it is as if her mana level hasn’t risen at all from the injection.”

“But wasn’t that enough magical energy to raise up half of an army from magical deprivation?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, Princess, I have no explanation for that, she reacted, but her state hasn’t bettered at all.”

“Then, what art thou planning to do next?” Luna asked.

Shaking her head, Heart Petal looked to the two royals next to her, “I fear we don’t know enough about alicorns to do anything else, I suggest we simply have to wait and see what happens, I-I would have to go to the archives and research before I could tell you anything more,” the unicorn said, bowing.

“Then please, do so,” Celestia said, climbing up onto her bed and nuzzling Twilight carefully. “If you find anything, you are free to come in, even if it is in the middle of the night.”

“Of course, Princess,” the unicorn said, packing her things and walking to the door. “Please send one of your guards after me if she shows any signs of waking up.”

“That speaks for itself, Doctor,” Celestia said carefully settling down behind Twilight.

As soon as the door clicked in place, Luna turned from Twilight to her sister. “What now, sister? We can’t do nothing and just wait, what if-“ Luna asked, before being interrupted by her sister.

“She will not, Twilight will be fine, I am certain of that,” Celestia said, her tone filled with authority as if commanding the universe itself to heed her words.

“We hope thou art right, sister. Twilight is much too important to us then to see her pass this way.” Luna said, a quiver in her voice.

“She will be fine, she has to be…” Celestia convinced herself, carefully resting a wing over her unconscious former student.

After a couple of minutes of watching the steady rise and fall of Twilight’s chest, Luna looked up. “Sister?”

“Yes, Luna?”

“How is it that Twilight is here, but her chariot is not?” Luna asked, driven by impulse.

“What?”

“When we came back from the press room, we saw that the royal chariot thou sent was still missing.”

“Hmmm, that is strange, usually the guards are very efficient when it comes to packing such things away.”

“Maybe she didn’t come with the chariot at all? Does thou remember the loud noise we heard at her arrival?”

“Uhm… yes?” Celestia asked, quizzically.

“Then thou have also seen the amount of magic she shot at the barrier, easily eclipsing the amount of magic provided by all our attempts combined.”

“Hmm, you are right,” Celestia said, looking at her sister questioning.

“What if she didn’t come with the chariot at all? What if she teleported all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot?”

“But that would be impossible,” Celestia said, shaking her head.

"Hasn't Twilight done many things considered out of reach? Today already being no exception," Luna said, looking down at the unconscious body on her sisters’ bed. “she has surprised us with many things we thought of as impossible.”

“Hmmm, you are right, but still, the amount of magical energy needed to fulfill such an act would totally exceed every scale we have of magic.”

“But she brought down the barrier, also without anyponies help,” Luna countered.

“I was also wondering about that; do you remember her size and stature before she fell unconscious?”

“She seemed to be roughly the size of you, if not bigger.”

“Yes… what if-“ a firm knock at the door alerted the two Princesses that somepony wanted something from them.

Glancing at each other, Celestia looked to the door and spoke with a firm voice. “Enter!”

As the door creaked open, a guardsman stepped in, bowing deeply before his three rulers. “Princesses, I am here to inform you that there are six ponies and one dragon waiting in the throne room, all demanding to speak to Princess Twilight and claiming to be her friends.”

“Are the bearers among them?” Celestia asked, her tone warm and motherly, calming the distressed guard.

“Uhm… yes, my Princess,” he said.

“Then bring them in, please.”

“Of course, your highnesses,” he said, before turning around and closing the door behind him.

“The bearers are here?” Luna asked, an eyebrow raised.

“It appears so, yes. I was wondering if or when they might show up, but I didn’t expect them to be here so early.”

“We also expected Twilight to arrive later, maybe they ought to know more about it?”

Stretching her wing and nuzzling Twilight once more, Celestia stood up, careful not to disturb Twilight as she jumped over her and landed next to her sister. “Well, we’ll simply have to ask them, don’t you think?”

“Thou art as graceful as a fat cat, sister,” Luna said, mocking her sister's antics.

“Oh, and you think you are better, dear sister?” Celestia said, swatting at her with one of her wings.

“We are certain of it, after all, more and more ponies are trying to opt after our figure instead of thine,” Luna said, snickering.

“And I know perfectly on how to change their mind, Luna, trust me, I have already set things in motion.” Celestia shot back, winking. “But, back to the matter at hoof, Lulu, what do you think should we tell Twilight’s friends?” she asked, bringing the conversation back to safer waters.

“The truth, we presume?” Luna asked, sitting down and watching her sister open one of her many cupboards in her room. “After all, they are not only her friends but the bearers as well. We think they have a right to know what is happening to dear Twilight.”

“And her student?” Celestia asked, still not trusting the former villain completely.

“Well, she has a right to know as well, doesn’t she?”

Sighing and nodding, Celestia glanced at the small object now in her hoof, it was a moderately sized gem she had laid back for when Spike would visit the next time. Having watched over Twilight and Spike as they both grew up, she had always acted a bit more like an over caring grandmother to him. When Twilight acted as his mother, Celestia always snuck a couple of treats to him, knowing of her own weakness for sweet goods.

Having been caught by Twilight once, as she wanted to give Spike a gem while she was busy reading, Celestia remembered quite a funny confrontation between herself and her student, where Twilight attempted to explain to her that she should stop doing that without overstepping her boundaries as a student. Even though, thinking back, Twilight never had any boundaries that were not self-imposed, well, only with the exception of those which were trying to get the young mare to eat and sleep. In her years as her student, Twilight always tried to behave herself, of course she did silly things a normal filly would do, like running around in the castle or jumping into a fountain on a hot day to cool down, after which Celestia showed her where the young mare could go bathing in a near pool, but Celestia never had to truly scold her.

What she had to do though, was try and keep the young mare from over exhausting herself. Twilight tended to skip meals, forget to sleep or fall into a panic while studying, and so Celestia remembered ordering her staff to keep an extra eye on her.

So, while some maids snuck a couple of sweets or even meals near her, the guards always tried to accidentally walk past her when she was forgetting the time in the library to inform her that she should be in bed right now. The number of nights where Twilight collapsed on top of her chosen book in the library and had to be carried back into her chambers were uncounted, but Celestia knew full well that some guards had a bet going each and every night on whether Twilight would stay up too long.

Remembering the good times when Twilight’s small and inquisitive hooves clopped through the castle, Celestia smiled to herself before looking back over her shoulder to her now unconscious former student, hoping that she would be all right.

As another firm knock sounded through the room, Luna was the first trying to opening the door to welcome their new guests. Before she could reach the door though, said door broke open and six ponies and one dragon rushed in and quickly scanned the room, stopping mid-step to bow as they spotted Celestia and Luna’s inquisitive looks.

“Well, hello, my little ponies,” Celestia greeted, closing the cupboard and hiding the gem under her wing, “It is good to see you, but might I ask, what brings you here?” she asked, trying to find out the obvious.

Having a clear goal in mind, Applejack was the first one to speak up, “It’s mighty good to see you too, your majesties, but we came to see Twilight, we heard that something had happened to her parents so we came as fast as we could, and the guards said she would be here.”

Smiling sadly, Celestia nodded and pointed to her large bed.

As the group turned to see what Celestia was pointing at, they all gasped upon seeing their friend lying motionless on the large bed. They would have rushed towards her, but a transparent light blue bubble of magic kept them all at least one foot away from her.

“What in tarnation happened to her?” Applejack demanded, turning around and staring questioningly at the two princesses.

“Yeah! What is she doing here and why is she… sleeping?” Rainbow asked, her wings beating in impatience and keeping her at least one head over her friends in annoyance at being unable to go to her friend.

“Darlings, please, watch your words,” Rarity chided, “they are the princesses after all, besides, rough words will not get us anywhere any quicker. “

“It is all right, my little ponies,” Celestia said, walking over to their new guests, “but I am afraid I have to inform you that Twilight is currently… well, not in the condition to-”

“What our sister is trying to say,” Luna cut in, not wanting to waste time on politically correct articulation, “is that Twilight is currently unconscious.”

Another gasp rang through the room as all six ponies heard what Luna said. Flinching inwardly at the sudden way of putting it, Celestia glared at her traitorous sister. “Well, yes, what my dear sister is saying is true, but there is more to it,” she said, motioning for the group to sit down.

Following their ruler's bidding, the group silently sat down in front of her. Spike, who considered himself family to Twilight tried to settle down as close as possible to her. Rarity, who could sense her friend's distress sat down right next to him, gently ruffling him over his head while doing so. Starlight, who lived with along Spike in Twilights castle gently settled down next to the young drake, trying to comfort him as well.

Fluttershy, still feeling uncomfortable in Celestia and Luna’s presence, gently laid down next to Rainbow who had settled herself next to Applejack. Pinkie, who had stopped bouncing once hearing of Twilight’s condition, eyed her one more time wearily and flopped down between the two groups, seemingly lost in thought.

“Well, before I start to explain what happened, I would like to ask you on how much you know already,” Celestia began gently, her motherly aura slowly calming everypony down.

“Well, Rarity came to us and informed us that you sent Twilight a letter, Princess,” Starlight said, gulping once, “And she said that um, that Twilights parents have apparently been ponynapped.”

Raising an eyebrow to Spike, the young dragon shrunk away under Celestia’s disapproving gaze. “Yes, I did, and how, if I might ask, did you receive this information, Miss Rarity?”

Gulping once, Rarity cleared her voice neatly, “Well, today is my spa day with Fluttershy, and well… I managed to get Twilight to come along and then dear Spiky came in later with that horrid letter for her.”

“So, I assume Twilight shared this information with you?” Celestia asked, not at all interested that they knew, and more interested in how or what happened after.

“Well, no, not directly,” Rarity said, shrinking sheepishly into herself, “I… um… picked it up after she vanished to read what had unsettled her so much.”

“Vanished?” Luna asked, understanding what Celestia intended to find out without asking directly.

“Well, yeah… after I gave her the letter, Twilight was all locked up and strange, then uh… the air around her seemed to um… change and she vanished with a loud crack and a strange tear of many colors hanging in the air.” Spike said, trying to explain what happened. “Though it didn’t seem to last for very long, and afterward was when Rarity picked up the letter.”

“I was just trying to figure out on what had made her so... distressed,” the fashionista finished, having gotten her composure back.

“Um… she… didn’t mean any harm in that,” Fluttershy said, her weak voice barely audible while she tried to defend her friends’ actions, “but we… she… I um…”

“It is all right, my little ponies, I cannot be mad, nor can any other be, not for caring for Twilight’s well-being,” Celestia reassured, releasing her frown and letting a gentle smile play over her lips, “But I fear I have to ask you to explain to me what happened in a bit more detail than that.”

Glancing at her friends, Rarity gulped and looked ahead, “B-but, Princess, we came here to help Twilight,” she said, pausing and glancing at her unconscious friend on the bed.

“And you shall, but we are afraid there isn’t much we can do right now,” Luna said, her eyes following Rarity’s, “She has already taken care of everything, but afterward she collapsed and we were unable to raise her since then.”

“She collapsed?” Starlight asked, being Twilight’s personal student meant she had trained with her multiple times. In her training, Starlight had learned of Twilight’s magical prowess and even though being exceptionally powerful herself, she was never able to even hold a candle to what her mentor could throw at her. “I have never seen her tire out from magic usage before,” she stated.

“Oh, there have been times,” Celestia said, thinking back to when she had Twilight levitate obsidian marbles enchanted with a magical draining spell, “but you are right, it is exceptionally difficult to tire her out the way she apparently did,” Celestia continued, her tone filled with worry for her former student.

“If thou hath read the letter my sister has sent her, we presume thou all know of the magical barrier we were unable to break, right?” Luna asked, her gaze sweeping over the assemblage of ponies in front of her. “Well, the fact is, we were still unable when she arrived, and with her arrival, she nearly destroyed the barrier in a single attempt,” Luna continued, watching Starlight and Rarity’s eyes go wide. “After that, Twilight let herself be taken hostage but before we could even attempt to rescue her, she did all but destroy the barrier and nearly her captors as well.”

“WHAT?” a collected shout was uttered from all the assembled, “But how?”, “Alone?” and “She did what?” questions toppled all over themselves as all the assembled ponies and dragon tried to process what they just heard.

Raising a hoof and effectively calming everyone down, Celestia's eyes wondered over to Twilight while she continued, “That is one thing we aim to figure out, but we are currently having a bit of an issue with it,” sighing and hanging her head slightly, Celestia glanced at the group of ponies in front of her, “In short, we don’t know what happened, not even half of it,” she said, “What we know though, is that she is currently suffering from some sort of magical withdrawal, and therefore refusing to wake up.”

“But Princess, excuse me my boldness, how is that possible?” Starlight stated, thoughtful, “I've trained with her multiple times, and while she had me run down, she wasn’t even sweating, I’ve never seen her use anything close to too much magic, and if so, I’d imagine she would know her limits very well,” Starlight said, gesturing with her hoof to herself, “I didn’t even know she could reach any limits and I guessed it would be connected with her being an alicorn, no offense, but… how, why?”

Chuckling softly, Celestia shook her head, “No, it is all right, and yes, we alicorns do have a limit to our magic, even though it is quite possibly much higher than any unicorn could ever accomplish,” she said, “But Twilight was always exceptional in that, and that is what is worrying me, I cannot imagine Twilight to overstrain herself… at least not intentionally.”

“Another question is,” Luna butted in, “why did she only collapse once the barrier was down, and not earlier, she seemed fine the first seconds we saw her, even more so, she seemed to not have run out of magic at all.”

Following Luna's explanation, the room fell silent while Starlight and Rarity glanced back at her friend on the bed, unable to think of anything that could unsettle Twilight that much.

Being an earthpony, Applejack was unable to understand anything of the speech from Celestia or Luna about magic, but she understood how gravid this revelation seemed to be and so kept her mouth shut. Though as the minutes dragged by and the questioning air grew without anyone contributing anything to the conversation, she cleared her voice to get back to the matter at hoof. “Well, that sounds all truly important, but for my part I came here to help her,” she stated, raising a hoof to forestall any interruption as she continued, “so I ask this and I hope anyone can explain it in a way so I can understand: Is there anything we can do for her, right now?”

Sighing once more, Celestia shook her head, “I am afraid not, Applejack,” she said. Thinking for a moment and turning back to Spike, she voiced an idea, “but you said something about a strange… tear… hanging in the air for a moment when she left, right?” Celestia asked Spike, who nodded vigorously. “Could you, describe what happened, maybe in more detail?” she asked, her gaze wandering from Spike to Rarity and Fluttershy.

Clearing her voice, Rarity spoke up, “I am not one-hundred percent certain, Princess, but as Twilight got the letter, I could practically feel her getting angry. She locked up and as I tried to approach her and comfort her, I was not even able to move. She didn’t use any magic on me, not that I saw, at least, but then the air around her began to shimmer and… curve… yes, it curved inwards and broke the light as if you would look through a pair of glasses,” Rarity explained. “And then she just vanished, I am not certain what happened exactly, but it seemed like she teleported. I had no idea to where, but when she was gone, there was something like a rip of… fabric… in the air for just a moment.”

“A rip of fabric?” Luna asked, her eyes wandering to her sister who seemed deep in thought.

“What you are saying is that Twilight teleported from Ponyville all the way up to Canterlot,” Celestia said, turning thoughtful.

“But that’s impossible!” Starlight threw in.

“It is,” Celestia said, “or it would be, normally. But speaking of it, we heard a loud crack too,” she stated, waiting until Luna nodded in confirmation, “and then she attacked the shield with raw power which outclassed all the attempts from the High Circle of Magi combined,” she mused, “there is more to it than we know,” Celestia sighed, tucking her hooves thoughtfully under herself.

“Ok, let me get this straight,” Applejack said, a hoof held in front of her to order her thoughts, “what the two of you are basically saying is, that Twilight, not only moved to Tartarus and back to protect her parents, but also kicked more behind than when she fought against Tirek in the process?”

“Thou art right, dear Applejack,” Luna said, nodding, “Twilight probably used more magic in the last couple of hours, than we all here combined in the last year.”

“And she did this to free her parents, from… um… some idiots trying to get to her?” Applejack continued.

“Yes,” the sister answered.

“And now that she has done so, she fell into some sort of hibernation to refill her magic?” Applejack concludes.

“You could say so, but the problem is, we don’t know it for certain,” Celestia said, “it also could be something else.”

“And all we can do is sit idly by and watch until she recovers?” Rainbow asked, pointing at Twilight.

“We are afraid so, yes,” Luna said.

Pinkie, who had been oddly quiet until now, was muttering to herself, bringing the others attention to her.

“Uh shucks, Pinkie, what were you saying?” Applejack asked the normally chipper party pony.

“Nothing!” she quickly said, her eyes darting left and right as if she had been caught, “what should I know? There’s no secret here, nuh uh.”

“What are you saying, dear?” Rarity asked, confused.

“Nothing…” Pinkie said, oddly trailing off.

The group gave her a worried glance before continuing. “So, until she wakes up, Twilight is going to stay here?” Applejack asked Celestia.

Not having spent any thoughts on the matter, Celestia nodded her head. “Well, of course, we have doctors and other medical staff here to attend to her, if anything gets worse we’ll be prepared. Otherwise, I presume we’ll just have to wait.”

“And where will you sleep then? Your Highness?” Rarity asked, catching on on what Applejack was asking.

“I presume that my bed shall be sufficient,” Celestia said, instantly catching on what the others were trying to ask, “or, um, I could just move to a couch for a while."

“So, Twilight will not be moved to some sort of hospital?” Applejack continued.

“There is no need for that, I am afraid, no hospital in Equestria will be able to help her,” Celestia said in earnest.

Meekly nudging Applejack once they fell silent, Fluttershy tried to get the earth pony’s attention.

“What is it, Shy?” Applejack asked softly.

“Uhm… do you remember when Twilight got her wings and how she complained that she couldn’t sleep?” Fluttershy asked, drawing a slow nod from Applejack, “Well… we found a solution and, so could you maybe-“

Catching on that Fluttershy and Applejack were whispering to each other, Luna cleared her voice, “Wouldst thou be so kind to speak up please, if it is of any concern for Twilight we’re sure we’d want to know as well.”

Eeeping and blushing, Fluttershy tried to hide her face behind her mane. After realizing that now everyponies attention was on her, she tried to hide even further in embarrassment, but before she could do so though, Applejack nudged her softly and gave her a reassuring smile.

Mustering all her courage, Fluttershy meekly glanced to Celestia, “I, um, just remembered something, something that came up when Twilight became an alicorn,” she stated, her blush on her face glowing bright red, “m-may I do something, princess?”

“And what might that be, if I might ask,” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, ever since Twilight got her wings, she… um… didn’t sleep normally. She complained to us that they made it almost impossible for her to lay still and… well… after a couple of tries, we found a solution.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… um… we…”

“Twilight prefers nesting,” Rainbow said, supporting her shy friend.

Also raising an eyebrow now, Luna looked puzzled at her. “She prefers what?”

“Well, you see, Twilight couldn’t sleep very well after she got her wings and asked us for advice,” Rainbow said, motioning to Fluttershy and herself, “and Flutters here came up with an idea that would remove some of her discomfort,” Rainbow stated, gesturing to Fluttershy, “and we found out later that she began to nest because of it.”

“Nest, as in building a nest like a bird?” Luna asked, not getting the point.

Upon seeing a confirming nod from all of Twilights friends and dragon, Celestia raised a hoof, “And, pray tell, what are you trying to imply by that?”

“Well, you see, I thought that it would be, possibly, more comfortable for her if she would… um… sleep like she is doing at home,” Fluttershy continued.

“So, you want to build a nest inside my chambers?” Celestia asked, wondering what her former student was doing in her sleeping chambers.

“Yes, well… no… but yes,” Fluttershy said, blushing.

Confused and unable to picture it, Celestia looked over to Twilight and shrugged, “Well, then by all means, please do so, I honestly doubt it would do much good, but maybe you have a point.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, standing up and walking over to Twilight on Celestia's bed. Grabbing multiple large pillows and blankets the Princess had laying on her bed, Fluttershy arranged them neatly around Twilight and awkwardly curled her up a bit to fit into the newly arranged nest of blankets and pillows for her.

As if she was proven right, Twilight instinctively curled up more on the spot and draped one of her wings over herself. The mare still looked slack and uncomfortable, but Fluttershy could swear she saw her mood brighten a little as she prepared everything for her friend.

Watching as Twilight moved once more since she fell unconscious, Celestia and Luna glanced at each other before continuing to observe as Fluttershy carefully propped Twilight against the array of blankets and comforters.

Nodding to herself, the pegasus turned around and settled back down when her job was done, a slight blush on her face from getting all the attention in the room.

As the silence stretched to uncomfortableness, Celestia cleared her voice, “Well, thank you,” she said, looking at the sleeping lump on her bed. “It seems like you were right after all.”

Looking to each other, Twilight’s friends shuffled awkwardly. Realizing that they couldn’t do anything to help their friend right now, they waited for something that would give them a clue for what they should do next.

“Shall we prepare rooms for thee so thou can stay here and wait for our friend’s recovery?” Luna asked, reading the mood.

Looking at her friends and at Twilight once more, Applejack hung her head, “As much as I would love to, your highnesses, I am afraid I have work to do on the farm, but,” pawing at the ground anxiously, “Could I be contacted when she is getting better?” Applejack asked.

“Of course,” Celestia said, nodding to Applejack, “and what about the rest of you?”

“I'll stay!” Spike chipped in.

“Well, um, if it isn’t too much to ask, I'd like to stay as well,” Starlight said.

“I, um, I have some critters to feed, so… I don’t think I can stay in Canterlot, I haven’t had time to set someone up to look after my little friends,” Fluttershy said meekly.

“I can simply stay over at my boutique in Canterlot for a while, I think Sassy would be happy to see me anyway,” Rarity said, politely declining Celestia’s offer.

Her head drooping, Pinkie’s mane deflated slightly, “I have to go back to Ponyville as well, the Cakes have asked me to bake tonight.”

“Nothing will stop me from being there for Twilight when she might need me,” Rainbow declared firmly.

“So, the two of you need a room then?” Celestia asked, nodding to Rainbow and Starlight, “I am certain the castle staff will have them ready in the hour.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Rainbow and Starlight said, bowing slightly.

“And what about me?” Spike asked, worry in his eyes.

“Don’t you have a place in Twilight’s tower already? It is always prepared, in case either of you drops by,” Celestia said, smiling to the young dragon and slipping the gem from under her wing to him.

Realization dawning on Spike, as he nodded and picked up the gem, “Thank you, Princess.”

Smiling once more, Celestia glanced out of the window, “I think my sister and I need some time to discuss some things,” she said, Luna nodded and stood up.

“But before we do that, we will make certain your accommodations are cared for,” Luna said, stepping to the door and opening it. “Guards, we need your attention, please…”

While Luna was speaking to the guards, Celestia turned back to Twilights friends, “I am sure Twilight will be happy to hear you have been here,” she said to Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie, “I will send for you immediately if Twilight’s condition changes,” Celestia said, standing up.

Following her rulers’ example, the gathered ponies stood up, bowed deeply once more and turned to leave. Before any of them could go far though, Pinkie stopped mid-step, her gaze fixed on where Twilight was laying.

Not moving an inch, Fluttershy almost bumped into Pinkie as she stood stock still, not moving a muscle as she regarded Twilight.

Glancing at each other, everyone looked at Pinkie as her eyes grew by the second until they were as large as dinner plates.

Watching her friend for a short moment, Rainbow nudged Pinkie to try to get her attention, “Uh, everything ok Pinks?” she asked, slowly getting worried over the strange behavior from her friend.

Waving a hoof in front of her face, Rainbow Dash was unable to even get a glance out of Pinkie as she all but stared at Twilight as if no one else was even there.

Before anyone could do anything more though, a resolute “Yes, Princess!” could be heard from outside and Luna stepped back in.

Seeing everyone standing around Pinkie and trying to get her attention, she raised an eyebrow, but before she could ask anything, Pinkies mouth fell open and she mouthed a silent, “Oh no.”

Whipping her head around and staring at Luna, the Princess almost felt as if her soul itself was judged from Pinkies piercings gaze.

Silently mouthing words and staring back at Twilight, Pinkie muttered under her breath, all the while shaking her head frantically and recoiling from where she was standing.

Regarding Twilight once more, the pink party-pony stopped again, regarding her with the same stare she just gave Luna, “that is odd…” she said aloud, her ears falling flat again, “they would never…” she said, her gaze turning back to Luna.

Before anypony could utter anything else, Pinkie lowered her head once more, “but she thinks…” whipping her head once more to Twilight, she gulped, “what if when…” staring at her friend for almost a minute, Pinkie turned her head to Celestia, her gaze as hard as it could be, judging the Sun Princess.

Realizing the questioning stare from Pinkie on her, Celestia was about to ask what she was talking about as her head whipped back to her sister, who now recoiled in shock and slight fear.

As Luna saw Pinkies gaze once more, she felt like if someone was invading the privacy of her own mind, judging her, searching for her worth. But this should be impossible, she thought, before she could do anything more through, Pinkie spoke up, “She is hurt…,” she said, turning her head back to Twilight.

“She can’t get out of there…” she said, shaking her head and turning to Luna, “why not?” Stepping once more closer to the moon princess, Pinkies tail twitched, “you have to help her…” she said, shaking her head, “no… she can’t… why not… what if…” she muttered to herself, “but she has to.”

Turning back to Twilight, Pinkie stopped once more, staring at the sleeping lump on the bed. “She has to…” she said once more, turning to Luna and starting to walk towards her, her gaze never wavering from Luna's own, staring her directly into her eyes, “you have to help her. You are the only one that can do it, no… no… not the only one, but you have to do it, she is hurting, for a long time now, she is hurting. Help her, you have to, she can’t get out…”

Having successfully been frightened by that pink pony, for every step Pinkie did towards Luna, she did one back, frantically trying to get distance between herself and her. “What are thou talking about?” she asked, bumping into one of Celestia’s cabinets while Pinkie was still advancing on her.

“You have to help her, she can’t get out of there, she needs you!” Pinkie continued.

“Help her how, what are thee talking about?” Luna asked, trying to back up even further.

“You know what I am talking about, you have seen it, every night you have seen it, and you didn’t do anything, now she needs you, she is hurt, and alone.” Pinkie pleaded, reaching Luna, tapping a hoof onto her chest.

Everyone in the room looked on in shock as Pinkie rounded upon Luna more and more, not doing anything as the Princess was cornered further into the furniture while Pinkie stepped closer and closer.

As Luna was finally cornered, Applejack was the first one who came back from their collective shock of what Pinkie was doing. Shaking her head, she rushed forward, clamped down on Pinkies tail and yanked her away from the Night Princess, who at that point had almost a white muzzle from all the blood that had been drained from her face.

Yanking her away from Luna and pinning her to the ground, Applejack held Pinkie in place, “What in tarnation, Pinkie, what is wrong?” she asked, trying to calm the almost mad sounding pony down.

As Pinkie was yanked away, and pinned to the ground, her eyes went wide, and she stared at Applejack. “Huh? What is wrong, silly? Nothing is wrong, you are just standing on me, that’s all,” Pinkie said, chipper.

“What?” Applejack exclaimed, recoiling slightly.

“Well, these are your hooves standing on me, duh!” Pinkie said, reaching up and licking Applejacks nose.

Recoiling from the sudden wet organ dragging over her nose, Applejack stepped away from Pinkie, releasing her in the process.

Suddenly free again, Pinkie mushed into the ground and snapped back up, jumping into the air and turning around in the process. Looking around at all the wide-eyed looks directed at her, Pinkie sat down and cocked her head, “What? Do I have something on my face?” she asked, rubbing her nose.

Blinking once, Luna tried to digest what she was asked about. Her mental gears slowly but steadily worked through the sentences Pinkie had exclaimed, but not coming to anything coherent.

“You all look like you have seen a ghost, or some sort of nightmare thing floating around,” Pinkie said, giggling.

Upon the word nightmare, Lunas eyes widened.

Once she was certain her brain had caught up with the situation, she opened her mouth, but no words came out as she attempted to find any kind of response to what just happened. The shock that Pinkie somehow knew about whatever mystery ailed Twilight was frightening, but that it involved her sent an ice-cold sensation down her back.

Attempting another try at communication, Luna looked over to where Twilight was laying, “How does thou know about…” Luna tried to ask but stopped mid-sentence as she lost her train of thought again.

Watching her sister fumble for words, Celestia stepped forward, a reassuring smile on her lips, “Be sure my little pony, we’re trying everything we can do to help her,” she said sincerely, feeling that Luna had been pushed out of her comfort zone, she gently opened the door of her chambers and motioned to them.

“As I said before, we are grateful for you trying to help Twilight, but I fear we have to wait before we'll see any actual improvements,” she said, the worry in her voice coming through, despite her naturally refined skill of speech, “But I am afraid that Luna and I have some things to discuss,” she said, glancing at the still blank-faced and almost white-headed Luna, ”but I can assure you that Twilight will be well looked after.”

Glancing confused at Pinkie and at each other, the dazed group seemed content with leaving for the moment, even if for the simple fact of mulling over their enigma of a friend.

“I think that might be for the best, yes,” Rarity said, nodding. Motioning to her friends and turning around they began to walk towards the door, “Have a nice evening, Princesses,” she said.

Turning around Applejack bowed one more, “We are mighty sorry about that, your highness,” she said to Luna, trying to shove the still oblivious Pinkie out of the room.

As all of Twilights friends finally left, Luna turned to Celestia, her gaze still appearing haunted, “What was that? How does she…? Why does she…?” she tried.

Celestia patiently waiting for her sister to come back to her senses tried her best to not topple over Luna with questions about what Pinkie was talking about. Apparently, Luna knew very well what Pinkie was talking about, but she understood quite well that her little sister had just gotten the shock of the century.

“This is impossible!” Luna exclaimed finally, appearing to have gotten back to her senses.

“And what might that be, dear sister?” Celestia asked, her motherly tone from before vanished completely as she felt Luna had kept something from her, something that might help to get Twilight back onto her feet.

“How does this pony know of our journeys through the dream world?” Luna clarified, clearly scared.

Blinking in confusion as Celestia had not expected the conversation to go in this direction. Thinking for a moment, Celestia pointed at a neat little stack of scrolls on the top corner of one of her shelves. “It appears you have become a victim of what Twilight has called ‘The Pinkie Effect’”, she clarified.

“The what?” Luna asked, the momentum finally stolen completely from her as she stared at her sister, lost.

Chuckling at Luna's expression, Celestia explained, “Well, you see, it was shortly after Twilight arrived in Ponyville when she became victim to the same effect you just suffered from.”

“What didst she do?”

“She studied it of course,” Celestia stated, smiling as if that would be the most obvious answer in the world.

Waiting for her sister to continue, Luna leaned back, “And what didst she find out?”

Shrugging, Celestia’s smile only widened, “It appears that Twilights attempts had led to some rather, unhealthy escapades and she decided to let it be, for the good of her own sanity.”

“So, thou art trying to say that this pony is dangerous?” Luna asked, confused.

“As far as I know, it would be the wisest idea to not question her. Even I cannot comprehend this strange pony,” Celestia said, her brow furrowing, “there are some like her from time to time in each generation, and overthinking their actions is only going to cause headaches,” she explained.

Glancing out of the window for a moment, Luna returned her gaze to the sleeping lump on the bed, “But what if she is right?”

“Then, pray tell, sister, would you elaborate on what she might be right about?” Celestia gently questioned, finally getting to the root of the problem.

Gazing sadly at the low hanging sun over the horizon, Luna lost herself in her thoughts for a moment before a gentle hoof touched her on the shoulder. “What is wrong, Luna?”

“We are… we were… we… I was just thinking, sister,” Luna said, her gaze not wavering from the low hanging sun.

Patiently drawing back her hoof and glancing to her sun too, Celestia waited.

As the minutes drew by and the sun slowly came closer to the horizon, Luna managed to rearrange her bearings. “Thou remember what we were talking about the night prior?” she asked, her voice barely resembling her normally proud and strong nature.

Thinking for just a second, Celestia nodded, her memory of the night quite fresh in her mind.

“Then thou remember that we already explained what thine former student has accomplished, and what we vowed to do?” Luna half asked, half said to remind her sister anyway, “but what we didst not talk about was what we truly feel about it,” she finished, her voice now slowly cracking again.

Gently opening her wing and laying it over her sisters back, Celestia looked back at the smaller alicorn, “You mentioned something about how sad you are that you cannot fulfill your duties and your vow to someone who is important to you,” Celestia answered.

Nodding once, Luna's gaze fell to the ground, “But this is not the extent of it. The problem is not that we feel we may lose her as a friend, but the problem is that we feel we may have scared her.” Luna explained, “Every time we lay eyes upon her dream, however shielded, we are reminded of her question, we are reminded of what we once did, of what we are capable of and of what ponies could see in us.”

Pausing and looking back up to her sister, Luna looked her into her eyes. “I have done horrible things, sister, and it could have been even more horrible if she would have won, but she didn’t. I didn’t. Twilight saved us. She was the one who helped a stranger in a time where she was in greater danger than the both of us are willing to admit, and she helped us when we were in Ponyville for the first Nightmare Night. She helped us when our own dreams got the best of us and she helped us when we were sitting lost in our chambers, unable to come into touch with anyone in these modern times,” Luna explained.

“Twilight is the one who brought us back to the right path, even before she ascended, and she hath saved the two of us and Equestria more often than any other being in their whole life,” she continued, “and then, when we visit the dreamscape and we see her dreams, shielded from everything, we cannot help but think of what we have done to scare her of us that much.”

Inhaling once more, Lunas gaze hardened and some of her determination came back, “She hath proven to us that she is strong, that she doesn’t need our help, but then, when we see her dream, we can even see from the outside that she is hurt,” Luna said, sniffling once before continuing, “she is not only having nightmares more often than any other pony we know of, but she is also the only one which we are unable to help. Twilight Sparkle, the very pony who hath presented us with the world is the one pony which we canst not help when she is in dire need of it.”

“Every time we lay eyes upon her dream, we are reminded of how generous, kind and strong this pony hath been for us, and every time we have to realize that we are neither for her,” Luna sobbed, “we are standing by, watching the one pony most deserving of our attention suffer. And that hurts, sister. Thou canst not comprehend how horrible we feel, every time, nearly every night when we see Twilight’s dream and we are unable to help her, we are not even knowing of why she hurts so much.” Luna sobbed, her determination gone and leaning into her sister’s coat.

Celestia, who had been quiet the whole time and who also had specks of moisture running down her cheeks, looked ahead, her gaze fixated upon her own sun, “No, sister, here you are wrong,” she finally answered, “for one thousand years, I had to watch you every night in your prison, I had to watch the one who should have been destined to stay by my side being shoved away by myself. I had to watch you, reminded of just how unable I was to see the signs of your true feelings, of how much you were truly hurt,” she explained.

Meaningful silence settled between the sisters as they watched the sun hanging low in the sky. Feeling the gentle touch of the moon, Luna lit her horn, leveling the white disk of light over the horizon. The usual black and star dotted expanse that normally accompanied her celestial duties failed to appear though. In its place was a gentle sheen of lavender coating the world.

Both of the sisters stared ahead, into the sun and moon both hanging low over the horizon, watching as one slowly made its way into the sky.

Feeling the time has come, Celestia lit her horn, gently and gracefully lowering her sun and giving the sky over to her sister completely.

The lingering silence only was broken as Luna's gaze turned from her moon to her sister, “What if Pinkie is right?” Luna asked, “what if Twilight is truly needing us… me… our help?”

“Then we will try our best to help her, of course,” Celestia answered, looking down and into the eyes of her sister.

From afar, all that some curious onlookers could see were two ponies sitting beside each other. While the high towers of Canterlot Castle gave the two princesses enough space to talk freely and without concern of unwanted ears, right now, both of them preferred the welcoming silence of the night to actually discussing the pressing matter at hoof.

Having settled onto the balcony, both Celestia and Luna silently watched the stars.

For Celestia, looking at her sister’s stars had always been a source of loss and longing for her little sister ever since her banishment, but now, since Luna had been returned to her, the sorrowful feeling had changed to one of happiness. Now, watching her sister’s beautifully decorated nights never failed to make her smile, even now, when neither of them could truly relax due to the pressing matter which was currently unconscious on her bed behind her.

For Luna, her stars had always been a central point of her being. Ever since she’d learned that she was able to move the moon and stars, she had spent each and every night pouring her very soul into her celestial duties, never failing to amaze curious onlookers with the beauty she created for all the world to see. The pride and accomplishment she felt when somepony acknowledged her work always gave her strength and a sense of longing, but one thousand years ago, her source of sanity had been destroyed as all the ponies in Equestria started to fear her night more and more.

But now, a thousand years later, after she had learned that whole studies, tales, legends, and lives had been made based around her night sky, this source of security had strengthened a thousand-fold yet again.

Every time she felt down, sad, or alone whilst living in this strange new world, she had looked up to her stars and regained hope. Every time she had to think, she could now sit down under her skies, and lazily watch her stars drift in her night sky or redecorate them in order to clear her mind.

But right now, faced with the problem of helping her friend, not even her beautiful night sky could do any good of relieving her of the frustration she felt.

For the longest time of five years, she carried her burden alone. Now, after successfully pouring her heart out to her sister, Luna felt relieved.

Or at least, she would have.

Even though Celestia had promised she would support her, and the two of them had agreed that they should help Twilight, Luna was ultimately the only one truly capable of doing so.

And now, faced with the opportunity, she had no idea how.

The barrier which blocked her from Twilight’s dream had kept her away for more than five years now, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t tried to enter anyway. Luna had tried multiple nights to find anything that would give her a clue on how to go around, break or dispel the barrier which was keeping her away from a pony who she could clearly see was suffering under recurring nightmares.

Twilight had many nights in the last five years in which Luna wished she could have intervened, but now, faced with the possibility that the life of her friend was in danger due to it, it made it all the more frustrating for her that she still didn’t have even the faintest idea on how she could solve this problem.

For Luna, she had already failed when the barrier came to be, because she felt she was the very reason why said barrier was there in the first place. But now, knowing that Twilight was in danger and her sister was counting on her, she felt all the more pressured all of a sudden.

While Luna sat there and thought, Celestia recognized the telltale signs of her sister getting angry. Thinking for a moment and figuring that she knew the problem, she gently laid one of her big white wings around her sister and squeezed softly.

Feeling her sister’s wing around her, Luna relaxed slightly. Nuzzling under Celestia’s chin and cuddling into her side, she sighed. “We just can’t think of anything, sister.”

Hearing her sister but saying nothing, Celestia tightened her wing around her and kept looking into the night sky.

“We have watched over millions of our ponies each and every night, protected them from their own feelings, fears and doubts, but right now, we feel as if we have learned nothing from what we were doing all those years,” Luna said, her tone calm but quiet. “It isn’t that we are unwilling to help her, we just don’t know how, sister.”

Listening to her sister and thinking for a moment herself, Celestia pulled back slightly. Waiting until Luna had turned her head and looked into her eyes, she smiled, “A wise pony once said to me, that we don’t necessarily need to know what we are doing, we just need to trust ourselves to find the right solution.”

Thinking for a moment, Luna turned away. “But we are unable to trust ourselves right now,” she complained, a quiver evident in her voice.

“I trust you, Luna, and I know Twilight would as well, but I am afraid you are the only one able to act right now, sister.”

Nodding, Luna continued to cuddle into her sister’s wing, enjoying the images it brought back from when they were younger.

As a couple of minutes went by, with neither of them moving from their joined position on the balcony, Luna’s thoughts ran in circles. They always came back to the point in which she wished herself more familiar ground to work on, instead of the unknown on which she trotted on, all for the knowledge of how to overcome Twilight’s barrier.

Having lived more than two millennia already and having had a couple of the greatest teachers of the known and unknown history, Luna could proudly count herself as one of the most powerful mages in the world right now. But still, she never had faced such an obstacle as the one she was facing right now.

But then, she suddenly had an idea.

Her eyes widening, Luna’s thoughts almost jumped over each other as she frantically tried to get away from her sister.

As she finally broke free from her sister’s white wing, she all but dashed into the room, intent on finding a page on which she could scribble some notes.

Celestia almost felt sad as her sister suddenly tried to get away from her, but she crushed this rogue feeling directly as she watched her sibling all but jump at her drawers, frantically trying to find some paper. But seeing her sibling acting with purpose once more, she found a small smile tucking on her lips.

Standing up and following her sister into her chambers, Celestia settled beside her again as she watched her scribble something on her recently plundered piece of parchment.

After nearly a minute, Luna looked up, frantically in search for something. As her eyes landed on her sister right next to her, she all but jumped on her with an enthusiasm the white alicorn only knew from her neurotic student who was currently on her bed.

“We have it!” Luna all but shouted, nearly strangling her sister with the hug she gave her before jumping off again and rushing to Twilight. “We have a solution.”

Before Celestia could calm down and regain her bearing, Luna came back and all but shoved the piece of paper into her face, “We think we can help Twilight,” she said, drawing her hoof back before Celestia could even look at the text or pictures which had been made on Luna’s note, “All we need is your help though,” Luna said, thinking.

Shaking her head and smiling at her sister, Celestia finally managed to compose herself, “Well, I already said that I would help you, Lulu,” she said, smirking impishly. “Though I am afraid, you may have neglected telling me what I need to do as of yet.”

“We just have to take thee along with us into our dream realm to help us break the barrier with a combination of our ability to distort the dreamscape and thine skills of magic,” Luna explained without actually explaining anything.

Blinking once, Celestia’s smile didn’t vanish, but her tone subtly shifted a bit, “But, Luna, I don’t have any power there,” she tried to reason, remembering the last time she had joined her sister into the dream realm, she had not even been able to levitate something properly.

“This time though, we won’t bring thee into our realm with purely thine spirit following us, we shall transport thee completely into our realm, like when we join into it ourselves,” Luna continued.

Being at a loss of what her sister was talking about, Celestia raised an eyebrow, prompting Luna to explain further.

Rolling her eyes upon her sisters’ trademark expression, Luna obliged, “A normal pony dives into the dream realm when they fall asleep, but they don’t leave their physical body when doing so. The way we move in and out of the dreamscape is by transporting our very being over there, which reforms in a much stronger incarnation of our self, rather than doing it the other way around,” Luna explained. “A normal dreamer, due to not leaving their own mental plane when dipping into the dreamscape, does not lose their strength from leaving their body. But if we take a dreamer from their own dream and put them into another’s, they would only be connected to their own body by a small link between the two dreams. While normally the foreign dreamer would support the visitor automatically you had no such support. So, when we took thee along with us on a journey to our realms, thou could only draw power from thine weakened link.”

“But if we transport thine essence alongside ours to the dream realm, the two of us should be capable of standing up against Twilight’s barrier. When we then alter the reality around her sphere, we could multiply thine powers so thou would be able to break open the barrier which we could then safely enter and find out what ails her so much that she is refusing to wake up,” Luna explained happily.

Blinking once and drawing back a bit, Celestias brain slowly began to work through all what Luna just sprouted at her which she had never heard of, once she was fairly certain she got a basic idea of what Luna was talking about, she turned her focus back to her sister which waited eagerly on a response.

“Well, um… that sounds nice, Luna, but, uh… are you certain this is safe… for Twilight,” she added hastily, while silently thinking of her own safety too.

“Of course, there is nothing to fear,” Luna smiled, “While thou leave thine body thou will stay connected through thou dream’s link which will thus keep thine physical body alive, however, Twilight will not be fazed a bit, considering she is not leaving her body at all,” she explained.

“What do you mean keeping my physical body alive,” Celestia exclaimed, her face going pale.

“Thou will have the same connection we have in our dream to our own dreamscape, thine essence will be free to go, but thine body will stay here and wait in a sleep-like state,” Luna continued. “While thou leave thine body, thine spirit will always stay connected to thine body which will allow thou to find thine way back.”

“And what would happen if this connection should break,” Celestia asked, worried.

“Thou would be stuck in the dream until thou found thine body again,” Luna stated, as if she had done it thousands of times already, “When thou remember, when we didn’t rise from all but a week, we had lost our connection too, once, but because the two of us are going together, the chance of either of us losing our connection is minuscule, and even if so, I could surely assist thee in finding thine dreamscape again,” she explained, shrugging.

“And what if we both get, um… disconnected?”

“Rest assured, sister, we have done this often enough to make certain that there is barely any risk at all,” Luna said, laying her hoof onto her sisters’ shoulder. “It isn’t us you should be worried about, dear sister, so please, trust us.”

Regarding her sister for a moment, Celestia looked over to where Twilight was lying curled up in her bed, and after thinking for but a moment, she turned back to her sister and nodded. “If you are certain that this will help, then I’ll do it,” she said, smiling.

Once Luna had explained her plan to her sister, Celestia had settled gently onto one of her cushions and waited for Luna to work her magic. From what Celestia expected she thought that she would fall asleep and wake up in the realm of dreams, like the many times when she had accompanied her sister into her realm.

But as Luna lit her horn, Celestia didn't fall asleep as she expected, instead, she felt as if she was falling down a great waterfall. Everything began to spin and blur, not even closing her eyes helped her as once she expected the normal black to greet her, she found herself staring at a nimbus of color as if she had fallen through the space in reality itself.

But then, suddenly, everything went black and a piercing headache stabbed through her forehead.

As the pain in her forehead persisted, and she felt as if she was laying on the dead cold marble floor outside of her castle, Celestia opened her eyes.

The vast black blue expanse that greeted her seemed like the night sky, but for it to be the night sky, there were no stars in it. Under further examination, the space around her which seemed black was not a space in its own right at all. It seemed like as if thousands upon thousands, if not millions of tiny pinpricks of light had been poured, into everything around her. Everywhere where she looked, Celestia could see more of said pinpricks of light, filling each possible visible spot and somehow, she knew, everything she could see, had an infinite background to it, all filled with these tiny pinpricks of light, as if the space around her consisted entirely out of it, with only the exception of her immediate vicinity.

Shaking her head and squeezing her eyes shut, Celestia calmed herself. Opening her eyes once more and looking at the ground, her eyes widened, as she didn’t find solid ground beneath herself like she felt, but a star littered expanse on which she could apparently find purchase.

Looking at the questionable surface on which she lay, Celestia wondered if or when the stars beneath her would move for her to fall through into the vast infinity beneath her.

As nothing moved under her though, Celestia carefully managed it to stand up and finally look around properly.

Behind her, the star littered floor continued to what seemed like a path and seeing that it was the only direction Celestia had right now, she decided to try and follow it.

Silently cursing that Luna had apparently lost her already, the sun princess began to march forward, expecting anything to jump at her at any given moment.

As she wandered along the path of stars, Celestia’s vision finally stabilized enough to discern what was around her. What had seemed so far away and out of her reach, revealed itself to be rows upon rows of small spheres, all shining, rippling or glowing a bit differently.

While she wondered along the road, Celestia deduced that what she was seeing were dreams of different ponies or other creatures, as she could swear, she could see tiny pictures or scenes play in each one of them. Some of them even seemed connected to each other through tiny fine ethereal threads, while others seemed pale and dull as if they were empty, or currently not in use.

Marveling at the sight around her, Celestia completely missed a small plaza which appeared in the distance.

As she drew nearer to the plaza, something began to stir and move to her direction as she continued walking ahead, marveling at the beautiful display around her.

“Greetings, sister, we see thou have arrived in our realm properly,” Luna said, once she had caught up to Celestia.

Having heard nothing, nor seen anything which could have given her sister away, Celestia jumped frightened into the air, her wings pushing her up even more while she whipped her head towards the sudden noise, her horn already charged with magic.

Seeing her sister jump was a rare thing to happen for Luna, and she couldn’t help but giggle while she watched her sister stare at her, “Thou seems a bit tense, dearest sister of mine,” Luna said, having to restrain herself to not topple over in laughter.

“LUNA! How, from where…” Celestia uttered surprised. Making a mental note to get back onto her for that, Celestia settled back onto the floor, dispelling the magic she had gathered in her horn and tucking her wings back in.

After successfully calming herself, Celestia frowned at her sister, “Well, hello, Luna…” she said, her mood anything but bright right now, “so kind of you to finally find me.”

“We saw no need in getting thee, thou would have ended up here anyway.” Luna said, shrugging, turning around and walking back to the plaza, “after all, we have prepared such a meeting for quite some time now.”

“Uh, and might I ask why that is?” Celestia asked, stepping beside her sister and following her to the opening she just now saw.

“Didst thou not see the road we have crafted for thee so long ago?” Luna asked, smirking, “Or didst thou think these passages would have come out of nowhere.”

“Well, I didn’t…” Celestia continued before catching herself, “Where are we anyway, Luna?”

“We are in the space between dreams,” her sibling answered.

“The space between dreams?” Celestia asked, unable to understand the meaning of Luna’s inquiry.

“Indeed,” gesturing around, Luna walked onto the plaza, “around us, thou can see the dreams of any pony and creature alike, all gathered here to create this realm.”

As the two sisters continued to walk into the plaza, Celestia noticed a couple of pillars standing around, each of them holding one of the many dream spheres that she had seen already. Though these seemed deliberately placed, all arranged in some sort of order as each had a small white gate behind them, which resembled a doorway or if she imagined it, something more like a portal.

One of the pillars though was different.

Not only was it larger than the other pillars Celestia had seen so far, but it also had a small staircase leading up to it, as well as four archways which were arranged around it, as if to support vines or other plants.

Though, the structure around the pillar was not the only thing odd, on its top, where normally a shallow depression had been made to hold one orb at a time, here two had been made, each of them holding one orb respectfully in place as if they were watching over everything they saw.

A dark blue one and a bright yellow one.

As Celestia stared at the yellow orb, she felt like as if she was watching herself in a mirror, as if the orb was staring back. Tearing her gaze away, she looked at the other. “Are these...?”

“Yes, they are,” Luna confirmed, “These are our dream spheres, thine placed alongside mine to keep us company while we watch over our subjects as they sleep.”

Marveling at the display in front of her, Celestia watched the two spheres lightly glow and pulse. As she looked away once more and her eyes found these of her sister, she said in awe, “This is beautiful, Luna.”

“Thank you,” Luna nodded, “It came with the centuries, as we have only crafted this place due to the long time we have spent here.”

“Which does not make it any less beautiful, sister,” Celestia said, stepping next to her and squeezing her with her wing.

Looking around once more, Celestia noticed a small constellation of pillars which had much in common with the one where her and Lunas dream spheres had been placed.

On top of a circular pedestal, Celestia could see 9 more pillars.

Three of them had been arranged next to a small crystalline heart, all of them placed close together and one nestled between the two others.

The other five, which had been arranged in a small circle, were placed around the sixth, which was slightly more elevated than the ones surrounding it.

Each of the slightly smaller ones glowed brightly. One slightly yellow, another slightly blue, white, orange and pink. The last one which had been placed in the center, glowed lavender, even though a faint transparent sheen surrounded it, which dulled its glowing color.

Looking at the last one, Celestia noticed that under the transparent sheen, the orb was rippling and milky, as if something was boiling beneath its surface.

“Thou have found her,” Luna said, nodding to the lavender orb.

“Twilight?”

“Yes, hers is the only one we have ever come across with a blockade around it.” Luna continued, “Once, when we could still access her dreams, we had visited her once or twice while she slept as she had troubling dreams, but now, since she had created this shield around it,” Luna motioned to the orb and gently levitated it away from its spot to hover in front of them, “we are forced to watch her suffer.” Luna said, her tone of voice betraying her and revealing her sadness.

Gently laying a hoof on her sisters’ shoulder, Celestia nuzzled her cheek once, “But we are here now to help her, aren’t we?”

Regarding Twilights dream a moment longer, Luna nodded and turned around, walking away from her sister, the orb gently levitating beside her, “but we aren’t even certain it will work,” Luna said, placing the orb on another pedestal which rose out of the ground as Luna stopped walking.

Settling in front of the orb, Luna stared at it.

Walking up and settling down next to her sister, Celestia nuzzled her once more.

Letting Celestia wrap her up in one of her wings and feeling her motherly aura washing over her, Luna looked away from Twilights orb and right at her sister. “What if it fails?” she asked.

“Then we try again, and again,” Celestia reassured.

“And what if-” Luna wanted to argue, but a gentle hoof pressed on her lips.

“It won’t, Luna. I believe in you.”

Looking at her sister over her hoof, Luna watched her for a moment. As Celestia drew her hoof away once she felt Luna would not doubt herself again, she watched as Luna gently struggled away from her.

Once successfully extracting herself from her sister’s wing and settling across from the orb down, Luna watched her sister smile gently at her.

Feeling her doubts slowly calm down, Luna’s resolve strengthened. Nodding to herself and looking at the sheet of paper that she brought out from under her wing, Luna silently muttered to herself in thought.

As a gentle silence settled around the two, Celestia watched as her sister’s horn lit up multiple times, each time flashing for just a moment as she apparently prepared. While Celestia waited for her sister to be ready, she noticed that the floor beneath her hooves had changed.

Where normally a star littered expense had been seen, now a solid and spotless white ring grew out of the pedestal on which Twilight’s dream sphere lay. As the circle stopped growing, fine black and blue lines appeared, all forming multiple symbols of arcane power which Celestia had never seen before, all dancing and turning around, as if a great mechanism was working beneath her.

Before Celestia could even decipher what one of the symbols could even mean, Luna's horn lit once more and the circle beneath her glowed brightly with her magic’s color.

“We are ready,” she announced, her horn still glowing as the circle beneath them began to spin faster.

“What should I do now?” Celestia asked, her attention now focused away from the display of magic beneath her and at her sister directly.

“As we have discussed before, thou have to destroy Twilights shield now, but be aware, thine power is now greatly increased, be careful to only destroy her shield and not the orb beneath it,” Luna explained.

“What would happen if I…” Celestia wanted to ask but wasn’t able to finish her question.

“Thou would shatter Twilight’s mind,” Luna explained.

Gulping once, Celestia looked at the orb in front of her. As Luna concentrated to keep the spell around the two of them active, Celestia closed her eyes and focused a tiny beam of magic at the sphere, probing for it.

As her magic came in touch with those of Twilight, she analyzed the barrier. Even though the shield was tiny, it possessed great strength and Celestia nearly couldn’t sense it at all, as her magic apparently was used to strengthen it further.

Knowing that every spell could be broken, Celestia carefully increased the amount of magic channeling through the beam, watching and probing for any sign of Twilight’s shield failing.

As nothing happened, Celestia increased the amount of power once more. As again nothing happened, she repeated the process.

Over and over, Celestia increased the power with which she assaulted Twilight’s barrier.

As again and again, nothing happened, Celestia redoubled her efforts, sweat starting to form on her forehead.

Even though Celestia knew Twilight for her whole life now, Celestia had to admit that she was impressed by her former student once more.

Creating a magical barrier that could keep an army away was one thing, as with enough mages and enough time a sufficient barrier could be set up. But creating a magical barrier that could hold off the shepherd of the sun, was another thing entirely.

While Celestia had almost been at the point this afternoon where she would have disregarded all concern for safety and was ready to call down the might of the sun to tear apart the disruptive barrier, which had been used by the criminals to keep her away from Twilight, she had not needed it in the end.

Focusing her magic through a tiny beam to crack open the shield around Twilight’s dream, Celestia neither had to fear any consequences to the environment, as she could feel Luna’s magic altering the realm to endure her vast amount of power and shielding the other dream spheres, nor had she the need to fear for any other creature coming to harm from her normally contained might.

Calling now almost the whole force of the sun to aid her in her trial, Celestia finally felt Twilight’s barrier crack and give away beneath her assault.

Once the barrier began to crack, Celestia instantly cut out her magic and watched as Twilight’s barrier slowly broke and crumbled into pieces.

As the last remnants of the shield around Twilight’s dream dispersed into ethereal glitter and vanished, Celestia looked up at her sister.

Panting heavily and sweating as if she had dived into the sun itself, Luna smiled. The amount of relied she felt almost made her topple over as she grinned from ear to ear.

Finally realizing her own strain from her magic, Celestia wiped her brow and started to smile too.

“I assume this means success, right?” Celestia asked, looking concerned over Twilight’s dream sphere.

Looking up from Twilight’s now unblocked dream sphere, Luna nodded, “Indeed,” lighting her horn she focused her magic around Twilights orb as she regarded her sister, “We think it is time to help our friend, does thou not?”

“Indeed,” Celestia answered.

Hearing her sister’s confirmation, Luna concentrated her magic and focused harder on Twilight’s sphere as everything went black for both of them.

Silence, complete and utter silence, greeted Luna.

Normally, as Princess of the Night, Luna was able to freely walk in and out of dreams.

But now, she found herself collapsed on the ground as she had done in the years where she had first found her ability to dream walk.

Generally speaking, the more powerful her target’s dream was, the harder it was for Luna to enter it. While she normally could easily power through those minor hiccups, an especially frightened filly or colt was from time to time able to slow her advance down when their nightmare was particularly vivid.

While Luna would normally shrug it off and try and help the pony, a grown up, with their imagination rooted much deeper in reality had such kinds of dreams far more seldom and so Luna only rarely encountered such a dream.

But for Twilight, to outright stop her and disorient her, Luna now feared for what she may find in her friend’s mind all the more.

Shaking her head and opening her eyes, Luna saw something which she thought to never see again.

While she had not often been in this place, she remembered it quite well from her weekly visits to her friend as she taught her about the current customaries and trends of the modern world.

The home which Twilight had called her own since her return, and which she had lost since Tirek had destroyed it.

The Golden Oaks Library.

A sudden groan startled her enough to turn her head to her sister, who had appeared right next to her on the cold ground in front of Twilight’s giant tree.

As Celestia opened her eyes, Luna all but jumped up and rushed to her, “Sister, are thee well?”

While Twilight’s dream had so far only disrupted Luna, she could only imagine how Celestia would feel now, seeing that she never had any training in the machinations of dreams.

“Ugh,” the white alicorn groaned as she rubbed her forehead, “Where am I?” she asked, trying to orientate herself.

“We are in Twilight’s dream, sister,” Luna answered, trying to stabilize her wobbling sibling. “How art thou feeling?”

Closing her eyes and pressing a hoof to her forehead, Celestia mumbled something under her breath which even Luna was not able to catch. Shaking her head, Celestia's horn lit as her golden magical glow enveloped her forehead.

After a short moment, Celestia's magic died down and she opened her eyes once more, “I am fine, Luna.”

“It appears to be the contrary though, sister,” Luna said, generally worried.

“Ok, then let’s say I will be fine,” Celestia said, a smile playing over her lips as she looked around.

As she recognized the structure before her, her eyes went wide, and a silent gasp escaped her.

Seeing her sister’s reaction, Luna turned her head as well, “It appears this is Twilight’s mental focus point,” Luna started to explain, “The place where all her thoughts are centered and where we will be able to truly get insight into her consciousness.”

“It’s her library,” Celestia said, one of her hoofs gently touching the front door as if to proof that it was really there.

“Indeed, we had expected something like that.”

Stepping closer to her sister, Luna gently turned the doorknob of Twilight’s former home.

Opening the door and slowly stepping inside, the sisters both felt a wave of nostalgia breaking over them.

Celestia, who had hoof picked this place herself, remembered just how much she had gone out of her way to create a home outside of Canterlot for her dear little student, not knowing that it actually would become her home so quickly. And Luna, who had visited Twilight much more often than her sister had in the past remembered the many lessons and friendly chat’s she had with the former unicorn inside this tree.

Regarding this place, the both of them felt as if they should know it, familiar and unchanged, but, wherever they looked, everything had an air to it that made it feel different as well.

The smooth floor and the many shelves of books appeared to be the same, but where normally the library had been small, it now stretched out far wider than any of them could remember.

The main room which had held the majority of Twilight’s books back then had not only much bigger bookshelves now, but many tables and short cupboards on which trinkets and other reminders had been placed. On the walls and on any other available surface pictures and cards had been arranged, while all the tables were littered with letters and small figurines depicting Twilight’s friends.

As the door closed behind them, both of them felt strangely at home.

The gentle fire that crackled in the fireplace bathed the room in a welcoming orange light and the many personal effects added to the room made it seem truly Twilight’s.

While Celestia and Luna looked around, they could find many pictures in which Twilight was surrounded by her friends, all smiling, laughing or both. Some depicted her in other situations, where she was littered in party streamers from one of Pinkie’s get-togethers, somewhere she and Spike sat together, working hard on a book in front of them. Another depicted her standing next to her brother, both exhausted and holding a broken kite but still smiling, the crystal empire in the background.

Looking closer, Celestia found even more pictures littering or standing around the wall and tables.

In one, Twilight stood on a high balcony of Canterlot, wearing her crowning dress and speaking to the public. In another, she stood side by side with her sister, smiling into the camera, a wing draped over her sibling. Yet another again, she saw herself, sitting next to Twilight, both laughing.

Looking around, Celestia could find many pictures in which she either saw her sister, or herself. Some of them even had them both framed.

Celestia never remembered having posed for even half of the pictures littering the wall.

Though, she could see some which she knew guards or her family had taken, like the one where a much younger Twilight stood next to her, smiling from ear to ear with a certificate presented proudly to the camera.

While Celestia marveled at the many pictures she found, Luna was searching through the dream for anything that may give her a clue on why Twilight was hurt and refused to wake up.

As the minute's long search, in which she fought against the many scientific instruments she found and didn’t understand, turned out to be for naught, Luna turned to her sister, who had by now found one of the books that had been laying around and perused through it.

“Sister, we are not here to break into every aspect of Twilight’s mind,” she chided, taking the book away from her sister and gently settling it back to where it was mere moments ago.

“This place is fascinating, Luna, I never knew Twilight to keep so many pictures or mementos to herself,” she said, a sparkle in her eye. As a realization struck though, she lowered her ears and her good mood almost vanished instantly, “Though I have to admit, I never have seen Twilight’s old home that often to see some of them,” she lamented.

Shaking her head, Luna smiled and gestured around, “We are not in her old home, sister. We are in her mind, or rather in the meta-physical place in which her mind is shown to us,” she explained, “Everything thou can see here, is something Twilight treasures, remembers or is important to her.”

Walking to one of the depictions where she sat beside Twilight in front of a table littered with books, papers, and household utensils, she continued, “Thou see, this, for example. This is a memory where Twilight taught us about the inventions made in our absence that concerned cooking,” gesturing to another, “This, this had been made as the two of us traded stories of old and new between us.”

Turning to her sister, and gesturing around once more, Luna concluded, “This place is her mind sister, thou can see here everything thine former student chose to remember, everything organized or sorted in a way which is comfortable to her.”

Realizing that what she had read wasn’t a story book, but the description of a day Twilight had once with her friends, Celestia's eyes widened.

“Now thou see why we choose to not speak of anything we witness inside a dream,” Luna explained.

Nodding in understanding, Celestia looked around once more, now much more in thought than before, “Then, pray tell, what is it that I should keep an eye out for then?” she asked.

“Tis a good question,” Luna nodded, “Normally, we appear right inside the dream of the dreamer, and not in their mind, but seeing that apparently, Twilight is having an unprecedentedly terrible dream, we fear we’ll have to find the dreamer first before we can help her.”

“So then, where is she?” Celestia asked.

“Well, seeing that nothing down here appears to hold her essence right now, we ought to look in a different place,” Luna thought out loud.

“Hmmm, I have only seen the stairs leading up to her chambers, or the one leading down into the basement,” Celestia said.

Thinking for a moment and looking into the small kitchen where the two of them stood in front of, Luna nodded, “maybe we’ll have luck closer to her center, which very well may be her old chambers,” she deduced.

“You tell me,” Celestia said, smiling, “You are the dream expert.”

“Oh, har har”, Luna scoffed, “Get thine posterior into motion.”

Giggling lightly, Celestia turned around and swatted her sister with her tail.

As the two of them walked up the stairs to Twilight’s bed chambers, the room around them changed.

From the normal warm orange light which illuminated the library mere moments ago, the two found themselves now in a rather dark and depressing hallway.

While the theme of the pictures littering the wall hadn’t changed, they still showed a smiling Twilight with or without her friends, the light and the shrinking space of the hallway made it all but welcoming.

Humming to herself, Luna looked around, “We don’t like where this is going.”

“Well, it seems rather dark all of the sudden, right?” Celestia asked, wondering if it was just a trick of her own mind.

“Indeed, we also feel that we have come closer to her, much to our dismay at finding her at such a dark place in her mind,” Luna said, carefully walking further into the hallway, “Usually, if a place in the mind of a pony darkens, there are only two reasons to cause this. Either, we may have found a repressed part of her mind or we have found her fears,” Luna added grimly.

Walking alongside her sister through the seemingly endless hallway, Celestia felt cold, even though the sun normally kept her protected against such mortal problems. Despite walking by several lit candles, or other sources of light, Celestia had to strain her eyes hard to even know where she was going, not even thinking of identifying the pictures around her.

Envious about her sister’s ability to see through the darkness, Celestia wondered what may be so dark that it would cloud Twilight’s mind. The normally happy pony never appeared her to be one to have many dark thoughts, but she had to admit that she may have lost contact with her a little since she had moved to Ponyville.

As Luna suddenly stopped, Celestia all but bumped into her.

“Maybe even both,” Luna said, her tone grim, but determined.

Closing her eyes and lighting her horn, Luna concentrated in banishing the darkness around them.

The worry her sister radiated only caught fire and exploded thousand-fold as Celestia noticed her surroundings.

While Celestia had walked along side Luna, she had all but neglected to watch where they were going. As she found herself now in an all but black expense, the formally cold feeling she had threatened to freeze her heart now.

Slowly, but steadily, Luna's magic began to show its effect. The black expanse Celestia saw around her began to lighten up and starting from her sisters’ hoof, the room slowly turned back into its original orange colored glow, revealing five doors in the process.

As the last signs of darkness vanished, Luna cut her magic and opened her eyes again, “She is close, we can sense her essence nearby,” regarding the door to their left, Luna continued, “maybe behind one of these doors.”

“Which one, though?” Celestia asked, noticing that all these doors appeared to be locked.

“We can’t tell, we can’t bring us further without actually looking through the dream now,” Luna explained, examining the doors.

“So, what we are about to do then?” Celestia asked, “open these doors and look for her?”

“Indeed, we fear we have to do so,” Luna said, turning away from the doors and facing straight at Celestia, “But sister, remember, what we are about to see is all in Twilight’s mind, it is just a figment of imagination and is not actually harmful, not for us.”

“Harmful?”

Sighing and nodding, Luna gestured with one of her forehooves at one of the doors, “It appears that these are repressed or partly repressed memories, fears, or wishes. Whatever thou can see behind those doors, is not necessarily Twilight. It may be a figment of her own imagination, doing something she would never do, or doing something of what she is most afraid of. It may appear silly sometimes of what a pony is afraid of, but this does not lessen the fear, the only thing we can do when we find her is help her through those fears, repress them further and help her forget, or in case of anxieties to utter wishes or dreams, sometimes it is good to help them to fulfill these, but we can’t just alleviate them from her.”

As her sister nodded in understanding, Luna gulped and regarded the doors with caution once more. “Even though whatever we may see is not harmful to us, for Twilight, these things are all too real. If we do something wrong here, her very mental health is at risk, so please, be careful,” Luna said, stepping closer to the first door.

With her hoof nearly at the door handle, Luna stopped and thought for a moment. Perking up once more and turning to her sister, Luna continued, “And before we forget, whatever we may see down here in the depths of her mind, we ask thee, don’t hold it against her afterward, these things are down here not without good reason.”

Chuckling and nodding, Celestia gently bumped flanks with her sister, “So, when I see her marrying a book here, I can finally say that I have managed to chase that childhood dream away from her,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.

Raising an eyebrow at her sister, Luna cocked her head, “She tried to marry a book?”

“Well, not directly, but I feared she would want to do it at one point in her life,” Celestia said, shaking her head, “And after she started hoarding more and more books in her room, I may have tried setting her up with a stallion once or twice.”

As Luna's eyebrow raised even further, Celestia smiled, “Ok, maybe I asked Cadance to do it, but, well, you see how that turned out, every attempt we had to let her make friends ended in her locking herself in her room or staying in the library for days.”

“And then thou sent her to live in a library?” Luna asked.

Rubbing her neck sheepishly, Celestia averted her gaze.

Shaking her head and turning back to the door in front of her, Luna gently pressed down on the handle.

Even though the door was held in place by many different locks, chains and metal bars placed all over the door, Luna still pressed down on the handle, causing every lock to swing open and a faint gleam of light and distant sounds sprung forth through the door.

Opening the door fully, Celestia and Luna carefully stepped in.

Inside, there was a huge black expanse. Everything seemed as if there was nothing but black, everything except a small cone of light in what may have been the center of the room.

There, placed right in the middle of the cone of light, stood an image of Twilight, her face determined, but clearly afraid.

Not recognizing it as an image like Luna did, Celestia wanted to get closer to comfort her former student immediately, but a raised hoof and a shaking head from Luna stopped her advance.

“This is not her,” Luna explained simply.

Before Celestia could ask how her sister knew, the dream shook as a giant silvery hoof stepped into the light, one which alone dwarfed Twilight at least thrice.

Twilight, who by now was trying to hide her fear better, was slowly but carefully walking backward while she looked at the giant hoof in front of her.

As a throaty chuckle shook the ground once more, the cone of light slowly expanded over the creature whose hoof was only visible.

“It appears we are on an impasse, Princess,” Tirek said, his body strong and filled with magic.

Twilight, who by now had stopped drawing back glared at him. The might of all the alicorns in the land rippled through her body and even though she appeared to have fought against him already over a longer period of time, her breathing remained careful as she waited for her adversary to do his next move.

Chuckling once more, Tirek snapped his fingers, “But I think, I may as well end it here and now,” he said, levitating a sphere of magic from behind him in front of Twilight.

The sphere was milky, yet still, inside of it, Celestia and Luna could see two ponies.

Themselves.

As the sisters watched on, Tirek showed the sphere to Twilight, who had gasped in shock and was shaking her head slowly while her eyes teared up.

“You see, all I want is the magic you hold in side of you, all the magic which would make me the most powerful being on this planet, and which would help me to reform the world after my image,” he explained, making a show of letting the weakened Celestia and Luna out of the bubble and placing them in front of him.

Sighing, he continued, “I didn’t want to have to make use of such drastic acts, but I am afraid, if you don’t surrender now and give me what I want, I may have to start… hurting… ponies, up to the point where you finally decide to come to your senses and give me what I ask for… willingly,” he said, gesturing to the weakened alicorns below him, “and I think I will start with those two.”

While Twilight teared up further, she stared at Tirek, the centaur slowly lifting one of his hooves to hover over the two ponies placed in front of him. “So, what is your answer?” he asked, his tone booming.

Gathering magic in her horn and fixing Tirek with the most withering stare Twilight could muster, the purple alicorn flared her wings, “Get away from them!” Twilight shouted, releasing her magic and pushing Tirek away slightly.

Having expected the barrage already, Tirek pushed against Twilights magic with his own, “Very well, if this is your last word, then so be it,” he said, rearing back to bring his hoofs down upon Celestia and Luna.

As Twilight saw this, her attack shifted to form a protective bubble around the two ponies on the ground. “NO! You, I won’t let you!” she shouted, her face full of tears, “Princesses, please, move!”

While he stood on the forcefield around the two Princesses, Tirek wasn’t using his magic and so formed a small ball of pure flames and aimed it at Twilight, “Give up Princess! You can’t save them and yourself! Give me what I want, and I let them go. I promise,” he said, a wicked smile playing over his lips.

“You won’t! And I will not fall for it!” Twilight shouted back, her tears streaming freely down, “You are a monster, Tirek!” she shouted once more, trying to split her unfamiliar magic to push him away from the Princesses.

Chuckling from Twilights attempt, he let go of the fireball he was holding and let it hurl towards the young Princess.

As Twilight saw the ball coming closer and closer, her instincts cut her magic shielding the Princesses to wrap herself into a shield of protective magic.

Once the shielding magic around Celestia and Luna had fully vanished, the blockade for Tirek’s hooves was finally gone and as the flames around Twilight dissipated, she was forced to watch as Tirek’s hooves ultimately struck the limp figures beneath them.

Having been forced to watch the princesses disappear under Tirek’s hooves, Twilight all but toppled over on the spot, her lips mouthing a silent plea for mercy as she stared all but dazed at the spot where Celestia and Luna had lain mere moments ago.

Snapping his fingers, Tirek summoned two more ponies before he presented them to the young Princess.

Twilight though, didn’t pay him, her sister in law or her brother any mind, as her eyes teared up further.

“I ask you once more,” he continued, “Will you give me what I ask of you?” he said, placing Shining Armor and Cadance next to where Celestia and Luna had laid just a moment ago.

All that the pony in question was doing was staring at the spot Celestia and Luna had laid a moment ago. Nothing gave away that she was still alive, as her breathing had stopped and even the very wind around her seemed to have stopped gently playing with the edges of her mane.

As Twilight finally collapsed to the ground in a motionless pile, Tirek stopped what he was doing and regarded her once more, “So, what is your answer?” he asked, his hoof already hovering over Cadance and her brother.

“You killed them,” Twilight said, her voice sounding far more distant than was natural and completely ignoring his last question, “I never… not even… was able t-to say… t-that I…”

Chuckling once more and ignoring the changes in her voice, Tirek leaned forward, thinking that he had already won, “And I will kill many more if you don’t give me what I ask!” he said, trying to siphon Twilights magic forcefully. “You are weak. You can’t even control the gift you hold inside of you right now,” he mocked, “But you don’t have to worry about that. I promise, you won’t have to try for much… “

Before the red giant could end his sentence, Twilight had gripped his mouth and slammed it shut, without any sign that she had even used her magic at all.

Even though Twilight hadn’t moved an inch, nor used her magic, Tirek found that he couldn’t move at all and that his gaze was focused on the small pony in front of him.

As Twilight slowly but steadily stood up once more, the tears starting to dry on her face, the gentle purple of her fur slowly changed and darkened while runic symbols wrapped all around her body, engraving itself on her fur and forming magical circles and patterns more complex than Luna or Celestia had ever seen before.

Forced to watch as Twilight steadily regained her bearings, Tirek became even more angry that his plan had not worked as well as he had hoped and tried to break free from the invisible grip.

“You killed them,” a voice echoed through the dream, a voice so distant from emotions that it turned Celestia’s and Luna's stomach upon hearing it, “And I was too weak to stop you,” it spoke again.

Glaring at the small pony in front of him, Tirek strained to speak, “And you will be next. Once I am free, I will end your life!” he hissed.

But Twilight, whose fur had by now changed to a much darker purple and who was currently conjuring more and more magical armor which she wrapped around her body, stood still in front of him. Her normally gentle atmosphere around her had vanished and even a simple glance from Celestia or Luna made them feel cold and hollow.

As Tirek fought harder and harder against his restraints, Twilight uttered one simple phrase before he was released and flung back as he were a mere foal’s toy. “Try it!”

Once Tirek was free, the two ponies he had conjured up mere moments ago all but forgotten, he charged between his horns a flaming magical power and flung a great ball of yellow and red flames at Twilight.

Without moving an inch, Twilight simply let the magical ball explode in front of her, her horn still dim as the last pieces of her armor clicked in place and the remnants of Tirek’s spell rained down around her.

“You have brought much suffering to this world,” Twilight spoke, her voice cold and hollow, “And it will be both my punishment and my duty to end your reign of terror, Tirek,” she said, her horn lighting up and a beam of magic striking Tirek, pushing him backward.

Grunting under the sudden magical pressure, Tirek tried to work against it, only to find that the beam only became stronger and stronger as he struggled.

Finally, he was pushed back and flew towards the next mountain, Twilight flapping her wings and flying after him let loose a torrent of magical explosions, all bruising and hurting Tirek while he was unable to defend himself.

As Twilights magic finally flung him back, she flapped her wings once and shot into the air, flying after him and letting loose one spell after the next. As the torrent of magical spells hit Tirek, all exploding, burning, slashing or ripping at him, Tirek was unable to protect himself entirely as wound after wound was inflicted over his body.

As he finally crashed into the mountain, Twilight landed on top of his chest, her horseshoes sizzling his flesh on where she stepped.

“You have ended the lives of the two most important, gracious and wisest ponies today,” she said, her voice just above a whisper but still audible all over the planes in which they fought, “so I will punish you accordingly,” she said, a somewhat cruel smile ghosting over her lips.

Lighting her horn once more, Twilight formed a magical ball and chain which slowly dragged on over the floor. Yanking on her magic and swinging it above her, she whacked Tirek multiple times with it before she hit him with another blast of magic in the side, throwing him away once more.

As Twilight was following him slowly and with measured steps, Celestia, who had watched the scene quietly so far, gasped in horror, “This, this is terrible.”

“Indeed, it is, it appears due to our untimely demise...” Luna stopped, glancing at where the cone of light had been and where their dream counter parts had been crushed under Tirek’s hooves. “We think that Twilight fears what could have happened if she had… lost… that day. We presume she thinks of it as a possibility to fall as we did, if events hadn’t played out like they did in reality,” Luna explained.

As another crash could be heard as Twilight further attacked Tirek, letting loose her restraints more and more.

Shaking her head and closing her eyes, Celestia turned away from the scene unwilling to see Twilight in that state and beginning to walk to the door, leading out of the dream room, “But what does this mean?”

Following her sister and shaking her head, Luna had it in her to look back once more, “We cannot say for sure, but we think she is fearing that something like that might happen one day.”

“What? That we are…”

“No, but that something happens so that she loses herself in the nightmare like we did once.”

“But that is impossible,” Celestia said.

“Indeed, it is not, not here. No matter what she is afraid of, in her dreams, everything can be, even her having fallen.” Regarding Twilight once more, Luna raised an eyebrow, “Besides, we have fallen once, and we know for certain that you were not far from it at a certain point. Even thine niece has her dark moments. So, why do you think she could not fall as we did one thousand years ago?”

“Because Twilight is so pure of heart, she could never succumb to something like that,” Celestia explained.

“Couldn’t she?” Luna asked, “Does thou forget that everyone has a darker side, sister?”

“But Twilight?” Celestia whined.

“We are afraid so,” looking back into the room once more, Luna closed the door right when Twilight began to conjure a sword of pure magic, “But seeing the kind of things she has been afraid of so far, we wonder what terrible nightmare we will find here next.”

“Honestly, I would rather find her and help her wake up than see any more of such things plaguing her mind,” Celestia said, her ears lowering.

“Indeed, we also wish to find her to help her,” looking back at the now closed door, Luna continued, “But such is the nature of dreams and the mind, even dark things can be found in the most shining of hearts.”

“When this is all over, I think I may have to talk to her about that,” Celestia said, concerned.

“Indeed, we think that would be most wise of thee,” Luna nodded.

Stepping towards the next door, Luna glanced at her sister, “Art thou ready?”

Sighing and looking her sister in the eyes, Celestia’s fear and doubt was plainly visible for Luna, “No, and I think I will never be,” she said gravely before lowering her eyes once more, “I never want to see something like that ever again. I truly can’t understand how you can stand something like that every night, sister.”

“Normally, we don’t have to, besides, we are all but digging into her mind right now, we don’t want to imagine what we ought to find in thine,” Luna explained.

“That does not make it any better,” Celestia said, “I am sorry, but I feel responsible for what we have seen just mere moments ago, it should have been me who fought against Tirek, not her, she had done so much already, and what did I do? Send her against something that now gives her nightmares.”

Seeing her sister’s downtrodden expression, Luna slightly bumped into her, “Fear not, sister, one out of five doors are done, and maybe we’ll find her in one not so,” she thought for a moment, “Depressing.”

Nodding and smiling at Luna for the optimism, Celestia visibly straightened, “After all, we are here to help her, and when I can find out about such anxieties this way, maybe I can even help her get rid of them,” she said.

Nodding once more, Luna turned back to the door, “Hopefully.”

As she pushed down the door handle, much like the door before, all the locks and security measures holding the door closed flung open and another cone of light filled the library once more.

Behind the door’s threshold spanned a huge expense of clouds. All fluffy and white. They all but created a sea of clouds as far as the eye could see, and in the few gaps between them was the ground only as a distant backdrop. The sky above them was a spotless blue and the evening sun hung gently over the horizon, bathing the scene in a warm reddish hue, while some of the stars already started to become visible.

Stepping onto the first cloud and looking around, Celestia raised an eyebrow, “Well, I don’t want to call for it, but this doesn’t appear to be a horrible dream at all,” she said, the relief washing over her.

“Then we should be all the more careful, sister,” Luna warned.

“Indeed, who knows what lurks behind this façade.”

“It could also just be a dream which gives her great pain or sorrow, even though it’s a good memory,” Luna said, gently flapping her wings to get a better look over the area.

Carefully trotting through the watery vapor to look for Twilight, Celestia wasn’t prepared for what she found behind a small hill.

There, curled up and nuzzled into each other, lay Twilight. But what was the oddest thing about it was, that she found herself and her sister curled around her former student, all sleeping, wings and hooves gently draped over each other.

“Uhm, Luna?” Celestia gently called, instinctively careful not to wake anyone.

“What is it, sister?” Luna shot back, her head popping out of the cloud next to her.

“I think I found her… and us…”

Looking at the direction Celestia was pointing with her hooves, Luna's eyes widened for a moment. “Well, this was unexpected,” she said out loud, not caring for the sleeping ponies not far away from them, “We had expected some sort of flight anxieties, or fear of falling.”

As Twilight gently stirred in her sleep, Celestia glared at her sister, “Not so loud, or do you want to wake them?” she hissed.

Waving her sister off, Luna rolled her eyes, “As if we could disturb them,” she said, lighting her horn, “Not expediently, at least.”

Before Celestia could say anything, Twilight carefully pulled herself out of the two other ponies embrace, only to turn around and all but flop back onto the both of them, her head nuzzling into Celestia’s chest fur, while she reached out with her wing to effortlessly draw Luna closer and draping her forehooves around her neck, holding on to her like a teddy bear.

A small blush rushed over the muzzle of the sisters as they witnessed how the small purple pony curled up on top of them, the blissful smile even visible from their hiding spot.

Stepping out of the cloud and averting her sisters gaze, Luna all but stared at Twilight and how she cuddled with her dream counterpart, “Um, maybe we should go, sister,”

Nodding but unable to draw her eyes away from the pile of sleeping ponies, and specifically how Twilight all but rubbed herself into her own fur, Celestia wasn’t moving an inch towards the exit of the dream, and neither was Luna.

As the moment drew by and once more the three sleeping ponies moved, Lunas blush once more as she watched her dream counterpart pressing herself against Twilight, while said pony kicked slightly with her hoof in her sleep.

The image of Celestia, which was by now all most completely buried under her sister and Twilight, also began to move as her forehooves and wings protectively curled around the two ponies on top of her, effectively shielding Twilight from view completely.

Ripping her gaze away from the display, Celestia nudged her sister to get her attention, “Um, I think we should go now,” she said, this time actually beginning to move towards the exit.

“Indeed, that would be most wise, we presume,” Luna said, following her sister.

Carefully trotting through the clouds towards the exit, Celestia glanced at Luna, “Any idea on why Twilight is having such thoughts about, um… us?” she asked, suddenly sounding as if she’d been replaced with a frightened teenager and not like the proud ruler of a country.

While Luna could think of many reasons why something like could be found inside the mind of a pony, she shook her head before looking up, “We truly do not know, sister, it could simply be that she once imagined something like this, or that she truly desires that,” Luna tried to explain. “The ways of the mind are complex and while the other dream we saw could come from the fight against Tirek and her usual anxieties, this one could root from a hidden desire inside her, or maybe she just wishes to do that with their special somepony’s one day and our presence altered the picture to be in their places, …”

“In other words,” Celestia cut in, “It could have simply been random what we just saw?” she asked.

“It could very well be a random thought, but that would not explain why we would find it here of all places,” Luna gestured around.

Closing the door and trotting towards the next Luna continued, “The only thing certain was, that the pony we saw was merely a ghost of Twilight and not she herself.”

“How will we be able to identify her anyway, sister?” Celestia asked, remembering that aside from the changes the first dream Twilight went through, both of them looked exactly the same in the beginning.

“Thou will just know sister, thou will not be able to mistake it if she is standing in front of thee,” Luna said, stopping in front of the third door. “Well, this is odd.”

While both doors Celestia and Luna had visited so far looked exactly the same, with their locked exterior, this one though was different. It not only had more visible locks, but it also appeared to be partly hidden behind a metal grating to keep it shut.

Upon Luna trying to open the door, the night princess frowned once more, “Sister, we may have a problem here,” she said, the tone of her voice telling her sister that the problem must be severe.

Inspecting the door herself, Celestia soon saw that Luna, even though she had tried like the other two doors, where upon her touch the locks flung open, this one, seemed genuinely closed and didn’t budge an inch when Luna tried to open it.

“While the other doors may have been brought here by her unconscious, this one is here because Twilight is trying to forget, or trying to banish the thought from her mind,” Luna said, letting her hoof fall back to the ground, “If we ought to enter it, we could very well release its content into her mind and only make matters worse.”

“Could she be inside of that too?” Celestia asked, understanding that a free-roaming nightmare would only make matters worse.

Nodding her head and turning to her sister, Luna sat down, “She could, these kinds of dreams which she is actively trying to forget could be the very reason why we are here,” she explained, “Remember, the pink one said something about her being hurt.” She nodded to the door, “This might be it, the things we are willing to forget are always the things which haunt us the most, if not dealt with.”

Settling beside her sister, Celestia thought for a bit, “And what if she is not there and we open the door?” she finally asked, worried what her sisters might answer.

“We could worsen her nightmare if we are unable to seal it quick enough,” Luna said. Over her many years of dream walking, Luna had found herself sometimes in situations similar to this. While usually the ponies in question directly came to her to ask her about troubled sleeping, repeating nightmares or other symptoms, Luna could sometimes help them by breaking open these kinds of things inside their minds, to help them resolve the problem, or simply to make them aware of them once more.

While dreams usually had nearly no influence on the waking world, strong nightmares, suppressed memories or guilty feelings could have an effect on the pony in question, and considering that Twilight had created a spell especially to block Luna from accessing her dreams, Luna figured that Twilight had something she wished her never to find out.

Even though Luna never held what she saw in ponies’ minds against them, she had to admit that some revelations were better left unseen, else they influenced her actions towards said ponies.

But for Luna, the question was already answered.

She had to find out.

She had to find out why Twilight created a shield around her dreams, why she wished of her to never see what she thought of her or else she was sure she would go mad.

The constantly nagging thought which sprung up every time she saw the young princess, which reminded her of her guarded self against her and which let her all but hallucinate one of many reasons why Twilight might have done so ate at Luna. For every sense of concern for privacy Luna had, she just had to find out and so turned to her sister, her determination shown on her face.

“You are willing to risk it,” Celestia stated, able to read her sisters face. “Do you think this is why she created the shield around her dream?”

Nodding towards her sister, Luna hung her head slightly, “We have to know, sister, it hurts us as much as Twilight must be hurt right now.”

Inhaling once and closing her eyes, Celestia thought for a moment. As she opened her eyes once more and exhaled audibly, she nodded. “Fine, then we go and take a look, but if this goes bad, you promise me you help her through anything that may come, and later explain to her what we have done.”

Looking at the closed door once more, Lunas face hardened, “We will, we would have done so anyway, and we plan on doing this even if everything will go over smoothly, just, maybe not the next time we see her.”

Nodding her head in understanding, Celestia gently placed a wing over her sister, “I understand, let's hope Twilight will also be as understanding when she finds out.”

Nodding her head, Luna nuzzled into her sister’s side once more. “Thank you,” she said, the hope of possibly finding out and finally resolving the matter which had haunted her in the last five years making her smile.

As Luna enjoyed the company of her sister for a moment longer, Celestia’s concerned glance lay on the door which they would soon enter. “So, how are we going to do this,” she asked, wondering if they would have to break open this dream like they did with the barrier around Twilight dream.

“Going in is rather simple,” Luna explained, trying to nudge away from her sister, “We can create a hole in the dream through which we can slip in. Though coming out, without taking anything with us will be harder.”

“Anything I have to know or keep in mind to make it easier?” Celestia asked, opening her wing and letting her sister go.

“Not really, thou canst use dream magic and so, if thou would notice anything, it would already be too late,” Luna explained, her horn starting to glow.

“So, we just go in there and hope we don’t take anything out with us?”

Wearily shaking her head Luna continued, her horn still glowing, “We said thou cannot do much. We though... we think we can handle it if we are quick enough,” she explained, her horn suddenly flashing brighter causing the dream around them to begin distorting.

The door which blocking them from entering Twilight’s dream warped further and further, appearing to only get thinner by the second.

Then, only slowly growing, a small spec of light could be seen. The door, which had blocked them just a second ago now had a small, but steadily growing hole in it through which the scene inside could be seen partly.

Their entrance point appeared to be somewhere in a stonewalled but carpeted hallway. As the hole grew wider, Celestia recognized it as one of the many hallways of Canterlot Castle. The red carpet and the rather elongated room weren’t anything she remembered having in her home and as both Celestia and Luna had stepped in, they looked around.

“Where are we?” Celestia asked, the hallway giving off a sense of familiarity.

“We are not certain, but look,” Luna motioned ahead, “this appears to be the doors to thine chambers,” she said before frowning, “and oddly enough, mine as well.”

Stepping closer to the closed double door which had a crescent moon and a shining sun engraved on each of the door sides, the two princesses could make out faint noises coming from the other side.

Quizzically and without thinking much about it, Luna grabbed the door handle with her magic and gently clicked it open.

As they looked inside the room, they could see three ponies, one, which was Twilight standing in the middle of the room, and the other two appeared to be themselves, again.

While the dream counter parts that they had seen so far all could have been a cutout out from a mirror, these two looked more… radiant.

The dream Celestia, who sat on one of her many cushions in the room and had a book floating in front of her, had not only her usual white fur and her billowing rainbow mane, but she also seemed to glow faintly.

The aura around her wasn’t just light or anything like it, this Celestia actually seemed to be radiant. Each hair of her fur and each feather in her wings seemed perfectly groomed, not that they weren’t in reality, but here, they seemed somehow more so. They seemed as if Celestia hadn’t aimed to look her best, but as if she had straight on hit perfection. Even her wingtips seemed to have changed slightly, a feint hue of red and orange only helped to accentuate her already shining beauty.

The crackling fire in the fireplace behind her only helped to accentuate the mare sitting in front of it, but she wasn’t the only one.

Luna, while having apparently received the same treatment as her sister, stood next to the balcony doors, a couple of books and astronomy gear strewn around her. The light of her moon bathed her in its light and made Luna look like a perfect cut out of the night sky, with her mane not only displaying many more stars, which were apparently all structured after the constellations of the night sky, but her coat and her wingtips also seemed to have darkened a little bit. Her primary feathers faded from color slightly and appeared to be completely white on the edges, while parts of her mane had turned white like the moon she wielded, and which was resembled in her cutie mark.

The appearance the two mares were wearing was, both Celestia and Luna knew, from one of the many depictions of them out of one or another book Twilight must have read over the years.

While both had changed their looks to their now normal seen appearance, from which they only kept their flowing mane, they could very well remember looking like that once.

While the flowing mane and tainted wingtips had not served any more purpose than their flowing manes did now, it had alienated them from their subjects and so they had chosen to loosen it up slightly over 1500 years ago.

The magical power an alicorn produced was great and what fueled it largely unknown, but it was also the reason why they had to uphold two kinds of spells nearly all the time, one, which Twilight and Cadance had to already use was the one which helped against their hunger and feeds the user constantly with a magical created substance. Even though Celestia and Luna knew that they would be fine without it, the constant feeling of hunger was greatly distracting. The other, once the sisters became more and more powerful, their magic seemed to easily get out of control from time to time, especially when angered or otherwise distracted, so they had created this spell to safely dispatch any excess energy which would lead towards them destroying the cup they held or the door knob they tried to turn.

While the spell itself wasn’t that complicated, it tapped always into the magical reservoir of the caster and worked like an overflow. When a normal ponies magic reached their limits, they simply had a full reservoir, but the magical pool of an alicorn was endless. They simply gathered more and more energy and much alike a strong pony they had their problems fulfilling delicate tasks, the amount of stored up power grew more and more unwieldy to use and caused further problems. So after having created enough messes when they were young, Luna came up with the idea of simply venting any excess energy out of their systems to create an artificial limit of their own.

By expelling the energy which they overproduced, the venting areas on which they let their magic leak out controlled had then always fumed vaporized magic. With the problem of quickly steaming up a room, Celestia then had the idea of using up this magic to maintain different kinds of spells to get rid of their vapor and due to them finding it appropriate in their youth to show up a bit, they maintained an alteration spell which transformed their manes into ethereal mist and colored their wingtips alike.

While the second spell was not necessary for Twilight so far, because she was still growing in her power. Cadance though had opted to color her wings instead of having billowy hair once she had shown the same kind of problems.

While both Celestia and Luna knew that Twilight never had seen them wearing the full spell even once, they both were impressed on the amount of detail which they could see on their dream counter parts.

Twilight though, despite being the dreamer herself, wasn’t looking any different, and if Celestia and Luna had to bet on it, they would both say that she even looked smaller, and duller than her normal fur color would be.

While both of the dream figures of Celestia and Luna looked at her, it seemed as if they were not paying her full attention and looked rather distracted by what they were apparently doing earlier.

An almost timid clearing of Twilight’s voice made them focus their attention on her though.

“Um, what I was going to ask was,” she said, one forehoof absently pawing the ground, “That I, um… well… I wanted to…” she stammered, her tone of voice only accentuating her nervousness.

“Well, um you see, um, I know that I am the youngest princess, and, well, yeah, I know that I can’t even hold a candle to you and your knowledge and power, and probably never will, but I, well, um, I… I wanted to ask if you, well, and I mean the two of you, um…”

“Twilight, dear, please, get to the point,” Celestia interrupted and asked, gently rolling her eyes upon her former students’ antics, “I am afraid if you don’t get to the point on why you disrupted our evening, we will find us here even tomorrow morning.”

Shaking her head and drawing back slightly under the inquisitive but bored expression of her former mentor and her sister, Twilight inhaled sharply and quickly wiped her forehead, trying to remove nonexistent sweat, “Well, I um, I wanted to ask you, um if you, well you know, maybe, would want to be my marefriends,” she finally asked, her eyes pressed shut.

As the question hung in the air, four ponies stared at her. Two of which had their mouths nearly falling through the floor and two which quickly glanced at each other before breaking out in roaring laughter.

Hearing Celestia and Luna beginning to laugh, Twilight laid back her ears on her head and drew back even more and while she frantically stared at Celestia and Luna in vain hope that she wasn’t the reason why they laughed, her eyes began to tear up, her hind hooves began to shake and her wings started to droop slightly to the floor.

Once catching herself and wiping a small tear from her eyes, Luna regarded the now all but cowering mare in front of her, “Thou wish to court us, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, visibly fighting against another set of laughter, “then thou should have stood up much earlier, maybe something around 2000 years earlier,” she said, finally giving up and falling back, laughing.

Even Celestia, who had daintily laughed behind one of her gold gladden hooves shook her head, “Oh Twilight, that was a good one, you nearly had me there for a second,” she said waving her hooves, “Can you believe it, Luna? Twilight Sparkle? The one who nearly brain washed a whole town is willing to date us?” she said, also falling back in laughter.

“But I… I thought I…” now almost laying on the floor, Twilight had to fight hard to not break out in tears right away and was doing a more than poor job at hiding it, “I thought now that I… I could… maybe…”

Waving her hoof and leaning forward, Celestia pointed at Twilight, the laughter still evident in her voice, “Well, … I make you a deal, if you get out of here and never come back with such audacity, then I may be persuaded to not throw you out of the kingdom,” she said, her shoulders already trembling with laughter again.

Her tears now only barely kept in, Twilight nodded and turned around, all but sprinting towards the exit, which seemed to not come closer even though being in full sprint.

The scenery around her grew out of focus and only the laughter of the princesses echoed around her, the image of them laughing at her playing around her head like an illusion which was following her as she ran.

Dropping a line of tears the entire way, Twilight only stopped once she ran into Cadance, who was holding and reading a scroll in her magic. As soon as she saw Twilight, she all but burst out in laughter herself as she regarded the now much smaller pony in front of her, “Oh Twilight, what has gotten into you to do something like that,” she said.

Turning around and running once more, she passed her friends, all with similar scrolls in their hooves, wings or magic, all beginning to tear up in laughter as soon as they saw the by now young pony sprinting past them.

Even her brother, who was only shaking his head seemed disappointed in her as he suddenly appeared next to her path.

All the ponies Twilight knew, all she trusted, all of them suddenly shunned her, the very idea of her having an affair with their other rulers so outright outrageous that they all had either began laughing or turned on her and started shouting.

While Twilight ran, her hoofsteps became smaller and smaller and everything else became bigger and bigger. She went past her teen years and was all but becoming a foal again, her wings lost somewhere in the process, her horn growing smaller by the second as she found herself surrounded by trees.

Both Celestia and Luna instantly identified the place as the Everfree Forest, but Twilight, who had by now all but become a filly, rushed through the thick undergrowth anyway.

Once the young pony had reached a small little cave under one of the bigger trees, she curled up under one of its roots and cried.

Seeing the form of her former student, even smaller than she had been when she had joined her tutorage, crying and curled up under the tree, Celestia, having completely forgotten that this was a dream, was about to rush and comfort the young mare but was stopped by her sister with one of her hooves.

While Luna too had tears in the corners of her eyes, she shook her head firmly, “Sister! We can’t! Not here, not now!” she said, her efforts at holding back her sister only minuscule.

Even though Luna wanted to help the sobbing filly in front of them, she knew that neither of them came here because of this, they were here for an even more pressing matter. Making a mental note to, hopefully, come back and alleviate Twilight from this nightmare, she had to harden her resolve as Celestia turned to her, her face showing that she was on the brink of tears herself.

“We laughed at her, Luna,” she said, her voice quivering and distant, “she… she had poured her heart out in front of us, and we… we…”

Settling down and wrapping a wing around her sister, Luna gently rocked Celestia back and forth, the normally composed mare who would not even flinch upon a blade held to her throat was now on the verge of a breakdown, the emotions of Twilight’s dream getting to her more than Luna could have imagined. “We have laughed, we know, we have seen it, sister. But this is just a dream, thou know we would… act differently,” she said.

“But how?”

Upon hearing the question, Luna was about to answer it simply with more soothing words, but upon her brain catching up to what Celestia had asked, she stopped and blinked.

Mentally revisiting what they had seen mere moments ago, she shook her head, “We don’t know, but… differently.”

“She, she loves us, Luna,” Celestia said, her hooves squeezing her and almost making her unable to breathe, “But she is… was… my student.”

“We know. But we have to get out of here, sister, our presence could make it only worse for her,” she said, looking once more at the sobbing filly who had somehow acquired two feathers, a white one and a blue one, and was clutching them towards her chest.

“But she-” Celestia tried to say but was interrupted by her sister.

“We will talk later, sister, but now we have to fulfill the duty wherefore we came here,” she said, squeezing her sister herself once more. “Does thou wish to wake up and we shall continue on our own?” she asked, concerned that dream walking was all too much for her sister. A small part of her though mentally pleaded that her sister would deny in hope to not have to do this all alone.

Even though Luna had much experience dealing with dreams, she was suddenly unsure if she would be able to handle what they would eventually encounter when they finally found Twilight for real.

After a moment of thought in which Celesta was about to say yes, she squeezed her sister once more and composed herself, “No! We started this together so we will see it to the end, together.”

Breathing out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding, Luna smiled to her sister, “Thank you,” she said, before nuzzling herself into her sister’s chest once.

As neither of them moved apart and the moment went by, Celestia looked at the sobbing form of the filly Twilight once more. “Whatever happens now, sister, we definitely have to talk about this,” she nodded towards Twilight, “Later,” she said, her voice filled with a newfound determination.

“Yes, we will have to,” Luna said, “But before we can do this, we have to get out of here and find her, sister.”

“Then we will do so now,” Celestia said, gently pushing Luna away and standing up.

Turning around and forcing herself to not look back, Celestia walked towards the hole through which they had come in, Luna quietly following her.

Once the two had stepped out of the dream and back into the Library, Luna's horn lit up and she let the dream snap back into its original form where the door was barred shut. Checking that nothing had escaped with them, she made sure that Twilight would not have to worry about this dream for the next couple of days as she sealed it further with her magic.

Looking back to the doors through which they had gone before, Luna stopped for a second, “Maybe those other dreams are related towards this,” she thought before continuing towards the next door where her sister was already waiting.

Seeing her sister’s thoughtful gaze, Celestia brushed one of her wings gently up Luna’s side, “Come now, there are only two places left where she could be,” she said, hopeful.

“Yes, thou art right,” Luna said, nodding and turning away from the other doors towards the one they were now standing in front of.

Examining the door, it turned out that they could walk through this one like they had through the first two and so Luna gently pressed down the handle with one of her hooves and opened it all the way.

Behind the door’s threshold, they could see the inside of Celestia’s chambers once more. The scene which they had witnessed mere moments ago exactly replicated, with Celestia laying in front of the fireplace, Luna standing on the balcony and Twilight standing in the middle of the room, anxiously pawing at the ground.

“Um, what I was going to ask was, that I, um… well… I wanted to…” she said, her tone of voice again giving her true nervousness away, “Well, um you see, um, I know that I am the youngest princess, and, well, yeah, I know that I can’t even hold a candle to you and your knowledge and power, and probably never will, but I, well um, I… I wanted to ask if you, well, and I mean the two of you, um…”

“Twilight, dear, what are you talking about,” Celestia interrupted gently.

Standing up and walking towards the young mare in front of them, she quickly picked Twilight up with her wings and nuzzled her comfortingly. “You are a wonderful mare and princess,” she said soothingly. “Come now, what is it that has riled you up this time?” Celestia asked, her reaction this time completely different from the reaction they had witnessed moments ago.

Twilight, who all but pressed herself into the white mare holding her, carefully looked up, “I, um, I wanted to ask you, and, well I mean the two of you, if you would maybe want to be my m… marefriends,” she asked carefully.

Having witnessed Twilight’s nervousness, Luna had come and was now standing next to Celestia and Twilight. Upon hearing Twilight’s question, she glanced first at her sister and then at the pony pressing herself into her sister’s chest for dear life. “Well, that is a good question, and we understand thine hesitation to ask it,” she said, her voice gentle. “But we are probably the last pony thou would have to worry about, thou are our savior after all,” she said, a slight smile playing upon her lips, “and thou know how a princess’s heart always belongs to their savior,” she said, before gently slipping under Celestia’s wing and embracing the pony beneath it.

As Luna nuzzled into Twilight’s mane, a soft chuckle could be heard from Celestia, “Well, I can see where this comes from, I guess,” she said, gently squeezing her sister and Twilight to her chest once more. “And I have to admit, you apparently were quicker than I in this regard, but I am afraid I wanted to ask this question too for a couple of years now, but I couldn’t find my courage to do so,” she said, nuzzling gently over Twilights head. “But now, even though I wanted you all to myself, I think I have to live with the consequences,” she said, winking at her sister, “But I won’t let my little sister have all the fun on her own now, would I?”

Observing the display in front of them, both Celestia and Luna stared at the pile of cuddling ponies. Shaking her head and letting a gentle smile pass over her lips, Luna closed the door, “She is not in there too,” she said, turning to the last door which was placed conveniently at the end of the hallway.

Staring at the wooden door in front of her, Celestia almost missed that Luna had turned around and was walking to the last door. Once realization dawned though, she quickly jumped up and hurried after her sister.

Neither of them spoke a word and both sisters appeared to be deep in thought.

Reaching the last door, both sisters stopped in front of it.

“So, she has to be here?” Celestia asked, her worry’s upon seeing the faded color on the door only increasing.

While all the other doors had looked somewhat normal in comparison, this door, looked all but grey. Even the locks and barrages holding it shut seemed rusty and worn down, as if they would not do it for much longer.

“It has to be, otherwise we don’t know where she would be then. We can sense that her essence is somewhere close by, and we have checked the other places, so, she simply has to be here,” Luna answered.

“Well then, let’s go and help her.”

“Indeed,” Luna said. As she tried to open the door though, the lock held shut and she couldn’t move it an inch. “It appears that we have the same problem as before, sister,” Luna said, her horn already lighting up.

“So, can you get us through then?”

“We think so.”

As Luna laid more power into her spell, both sisters watched the dream warping around the door once more. The wood of the door which barred them from entering grew thinner and thinner and after a short moment, a small spec of light could be seen in the center of the door.

While the space through which they could look through grew in size, a wide and open room came into view.

As the hole in the door became big enough, Celestia and Luna stepped through, their resolve hardening as they recognized the place.

Canterlot Castle’s Courtroom.

The normally light and brightly colored room through which both Celestia and Luna ruled on a daily basis was now dark and dull. Even the many stained-glass windows which normally depicted the heroic acts of Twilight and her friends, or other historical events like the first raising and lowering of the sun and moon after Discord’s reign were dark and blank.

The red carpet which led from the doors all the way up to the thrones was deep red and gave off a dangerous air and the many torches that were placed all over the room seemed to not expend as much light as they normally should.

The room as a whole felt airy and cold instead of welcoming and warm like it was intended to be.

High up on the dais, which looked higher than normal, both Celestia and Luna found copies of themselves. Both had a grim and determined look on their faces and both looked at the great double doors in front of them with something akin to disdain.

But Twilight was nowhere to be seen and when Celestia wanted to ask Luna about it, the doors to the throne room suddenly swung open.

In the middle of the hallway stood a group of four guards, each of them holding a spear and one end of a chain. In between them, wrapped in chains, with a magical suppression ring placed on her horn and multiple ropes around her wings, keeping them shut, stood Twilight.

Her expression looked sad and the chains attached to her hooves made it hard for her to even walk alongside the guards.

While she was slowly brought closer to the princesses, Twilight’s mind ran in circles. She had just tried to defend her family, she had just tried to rescue her mother and her father and now, she found herself in court.

Once she had managed to free her parents, she lost her temper and… and she had lashed out, at everyone. As the shield around her had dropped, she hadn’t even noticed, and when she did, she turned around, and what she had seen was horrible.

The guards, no, all the ponies, all of them stared at her, all pointed their weapons at her, all suddenly saw her as the enemy. But to top it all off, in the midst of all these staring ponies, stood Celestia and Luna.

The expression on their faces wasn’t much different from anypony else, but Twilight could swear she saw something that seemed like fear inside their eyes.

They were afraid of her and due to the frowns they were wearing, they clearly were disappointed as well.

All these stares, and the knowledge of having disappointed the princesses, as well as being a socially awkward filly her whole life adding to this, it simply grew too much for her and she collapsed.

As she woke up again, she found herself in the dungeons, though her questions on why she’d be sent there remained unanswered.

Now, as she was led up to the princesses, it finally dawned on her.

She had wronged them.

She had given in into her impulses and all but ran headfirst into battle against these criminals. And how could she not?

But she was a Princess, or had been, and so she should have been better. But she wasn’t.

Now, she was brought to the Princesses, to face them once more, in order to receive their judgement, to receive her punishment.

“In the name of Equestria, we present Twilight Sparkle, former Princess of Friendship and Student of Princess Celestia of Equestria, today here in court, to answer for her crimes against Canterlot and its inhabitants!” the Guard on her right spoke loud and clear, the chain he had held now safely secured on the ground.

As all the others of her escort had finished securing their chains on the ground too, they all stepped away in unison, vanishing out of the room and closing the door behind them.

Now she was alone, well, as alone as she could be with the princesses and the guards posted around them.

Looking up from the ground in front of her hooves, she hoped against hope to see only a glimmer of pity, mercy or understanding on either of the princesses faces. But all she could find was their disappointment written on their faces once again. It was as if they were looking right through her, to her very being, her core, her soul. As if they could judge her by merely looking at who she truly was, only to discover that all the good they had once seen in her had vanished, that she was flawed, scared and broken.

Letting her head fall back to the floor, Twilight just wanted to disappear. She wished she had never woken up today.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia’s voice suddenly hailed through the hall. “You are here today because you have committed heinous crimes against the equestrian nation. You have ended the lives of more than ten ponies today, and endangered half of Canterlot with your outburst.”

“Not only this, but thou have destroyed private property and placed the diarchy in a bad light in front of all our subjects,” Princess Lunas spoke. “Has thou anything to say to defend thyself?” she asked, all but daring Twilight to speak.

But all that Twilight could do was shake her head. Her emotions rendering her almost immovable.

“I had thought so, Twilight,” Celestia said, just from her voice Twilight could tell that she was shaking her head.

“We are more than disappointed in thine actions, Twilight, we had great hopes in the likes of thee, but now we are forced to react.” Luna finished.

A short break in pace let Twilight catch a glimpse of what was going on in front of her, and she saw Celestia and Luna raising to their full height.

After a brief second of nonverbal communication between the Princesses, Celestia cleared her voice. “Twilight Sparkle! For the crimes you have bestowed upon our Kingdom, and with the powers of our station, we sentence you to live out the rest of your life, in the dungeon.”

“The powers with which thee were gifted from thine ascension are not yours to keep for any longer, Ms. Sparkle, we will strip thee from thy royal titles and make sure thou are no longer a threat to Equestria and the ponies within!”

Celestia and Luna both lit their horns in unison, “Thou will live out the rest of thine days as an earthpony in the darkest cell Canterlot has to offer for thee,” they spoke in unison. “You will be nothing and we will make sure that not even thine name will be remembered in history for the weight of the crime thou have committed this day.”

Now that Twilight’s sentence had been spoken, both alicorns closed their eyes, their horns glowing brighter and brighter until, with another blinding flash of light, both of their horns dimmed as they gazed upon their work.

A rippling small purple blob, which waxed and waned repeatedly, hovered in front of them for a split-second before it shot towards Twilight.

Invading her body through her chest, Twilight immediately felt the invasive magic spread through her system, working itself into each and every cell of her body before a sudden stab of pain reared through her.

Starting at the edges of her wings, the spell slowly started to dissolve her appendages, which only now had begun to feel normal to her. And while there was surprisingly no pain involved, as Twilight would have expected, the sensation of loss still gnawed greatly at her.

Once the spell had nearly removed the entirety of each of her wings, in which they appeared to have fused back into her back and absorbed until they were gone completely, the magic changed. As it shifted, so did it change its primary target, and Twilight felt it as it suddenly began to work in somewhere very sensitive for her.

Being forced to watch as the magic of the spell spread out over her horn, as it tucked at her magic and started to drain it, Twilight’s tears started to run freely down her cheeks as she was not only drained of the magic she once had, but also from her pride and talent she had lived her whole life with.

As the magical suppression ring she wore fell uselessly to the ground, so did her gaze in silent acceptance.

Feeling devoid of her magic, suddenly cut off from all the subtle connections which had helped her over the years and which she had unconsciously accessed, her whole body felt cold and weak. The sensation was akin to the time she had spent without her magic when Tirek had stolen it, but now, there was no sensation of emptiness, as in there was something missing. No, now she simply felt weak, spent and exhausted. Would it not be for her chains, which had hugged her form and restrained her completely just moments ago, thudding limp to the ground and startling her out of her reverie, she would have almost missed her sudden loss of height as her body shrank down from her slightly larger posture to a weakened and muscle-less shadow of her former self.

Whimpering in silent sorrow and acceptance, Twilight didn’t even put up a fight as the guards who had brought her in before now grabbed her and subdued her quickly.

Powerless and unwilling to even fight, what was left of Twilight’s willpower directed her pleading gaze toward the princesses, as one last silent prayer for mercy, but with both alicorns sitting there and watching the scene unfold, their faces cold and stern, Twilight knew that she was a helpless cause.

As the guards forcefully shoved her towards the exit, Twilight closed her eyes, her silent whimpers suppressed as best as she could, and shuffled after them.

Once the giant throne room doors closed behind her, both Celestia and Luna, who had watched the dream up until this moment in shock, finally showed signs of life.

While Celestia only blinked and attempted to close her still open mouth, Luna on the other hoof was more verbal in her recuperation. Though, she was still as helpless as her sister as the only thing she could utter was an almost silent, “What?” which still echoed through the throne room as if somepony shouted at a funeral.

As to their repeated shock suddenly the throne room doors burst open anew as Twilight was brought in, restored, but in chains once more. Both sisters, in shock, were forced to watch as Twilight lived through the exact same dream as before again and again.

Once the throne room doors burst open a fifth time, Celestia, who was by now mentally revisiting each and every interaction she ever had with her former student and with which she was trying to determine when exactly Twilight might have started to believe she would ever do something like this, almost missed it as Luna’s horn suddenly started glowing and the dream uniformly slowed until it stopped.

Watching the frozen fright written in the eyes of her former student as she was brought to the dais once more finally managed to snap Celestia out of her stupor and caused her to turn her head towards her sister, her years of experience in dealing with emotions and when to show them completely disregarded as she stared at her sibling.

While both alicorns had seen much in their long lives, what they just saw went deeper than any nightmarish creature from the depth of Tartarus could ever hope to achieve.

As both alicorns stared at one another, neither of them had a word to say as they turned their heads back to the frozen scene.

Celestia, who never before had been so deep into a pony’s dreams and nightmares slowly reached out one of her hoofs and softly caressed one of Twilight’s cheeks, the scene still frozen in place and an almost silent, “Oh, Twilight,” echoed through the otherwise still room.

As a minute went by in which Celestia absently caressed Twilight, the elder alicorn closed her eyes, inhaled deeply and turned her head to her sibling. Her eyes faintly moist and her expression one of helplessness, her voice was almost too quiet for Luna to hear, “C-can you help her?”

Luna, whose horn was still aglow and who still stared at the scene blinked as she heard her sister’s voice through her own racing thoughts. Recoiling and shaking her head, Luna tried to look upwards to calm herself, only to notice that what she could see where not stars, but the cold marble ceiling of the throne room. Silently cursing and instead following her sisters’ example, she inhaled once before she turned her head to look at her sister once more, the question Celestia had asked only now starting to properly run through her head.

Her eyes turning to the ground in thought, Luna’s gaze absently wavered for a moment before she turned her head to the scene and closed her eyes, her concentration focused on her horn and her magic flaring brighter once more.

While Luna was casting, the dream slightly warped and bent but the scenery wasn’t changing.

Having created dream magic by herself, Luna had always been able to change any dream if she so desired, but because dreams sprung forth out of a pony’s mind, the factors of disbelief, willpower and magical strength could influence her abilities to tamper with them.

Panting and canceling her spell, Luna regarded the unchanged scenery once more before she exhaled in disappointment. “It appears we cannot, sister,” she said, Celestia’s falling expression disheartening her, “Her dream runs too deep through her for us to safely change it, if we forced it, we would risk hurting her… or worse,” she explained.

“B-but… there has to be something we… you… can do,” Celestia pleaded.

Inhaling, Luna glanced away in thought and without her turning her head or focusing at anything in particular she stared into the distance as if she would find all the answers they were looking for there. “Sometimes, when we ought to help a dreamer, we free them from their dream and make them aware of it. When we do that, we then can interact with them as if they were awake and show them that there is nothing to fear,” Luna explained, her expression falling. “But we are afraid that we cannot even use this method right now in order to help her, even without the potential problems we would cause when she found out that way that we broke into her dreams,” she said, turning to her sister, “Twilight seems to believe what happens here is just.”

“But it isn’t! We would never do something like this,” Celestia said, stomping one hoof onto the ground and gesturing to the dream clones of her and her sister.

“True, but it seems she thinks what she did today was not heroic, but criminal.”

“But she saved her family and managed to bring the responsible ponies to justice!”

“But she did so by force, dear sister, which goes against your teachings, does it not?” Luna asked. Her hoof motioned to Twilight, “She sees what she has done as unjust and cruel. If what we’ve heard from those imposters of us holds any truth,” Luna's voice dipped into a venomous contempt for their counterparts, “She appears to believe she may even have gone further than subduing them. It seems she outright fears to have killed them, sister, she seems to expect us to now be forced to punish her for that.”

“But she didn’t”, Celestia said, one hoof stomping onto the floor once more, “She did nothing of the sort! And even if she had done something like that, what I think the both of us would have resorted to in her place, even then, it would have been justified! They forced her hoof! I half expected her to do something like that, Luna, I expected her to lash out and potentially kill one of them.”

“Sister!” Celestia exclaimed, pointing at herself as if there was no way of truly explaining her thoughts.

“But she didn’t!” Celestia finally exclaimed, her chest heaving, and her eyes slowly watering more and more, “She not only saved the lives of her parents and those of Canterlot’s citizens, she also managed to save those of her oppressors as well, sister. No matter how detestable I consider those who wronged her, she nevertheless subdued them. She let them live, she let them face justice through court!” Celestia’s voice cracked, “Today, she has been a better pony than any of us could have ever hoped of being,” she said, turning her watering gaze away from Luna. “She deserves more than this for that,” she said, pointing at the scenery in front of her, “She has been a good pony, Luna. She is a hero. So… I… I can’t stand to see her like... like this!” Celestia almost shouted, her hoof crashing onto the marble floor once more, “She should be happy and merry, not afraid and sad. I can’t… I won’t…”

Turning to Luna once more, Celestia’s pleading eyes almost bored into her head, “C-can’t you… we… you… help her?”

Drawing her sister into a tight hug, Luna wrapped her wings around her bigger sister as far as she was able to, "That's what we are here to figure out, sister. It's no surprise to us that her dream is of the particularly harsh variety," she explained, drawing herself even closer to her sister, "But with all of our past experiences we've never seen somepony so imprisoned by such fear," she finished. One hoof carefully caressed her sister’s back as she let Celestia quietly sob into her mane, “But we are not here to give up now, we will not let this stand, sister,” Luna said, her voice growing thoughtful, “Though we fear thou will have to give us a moment to think of a way on how exactly we ought to approach this.”

Celestia, in one of the few circumstances where she was freely able to express herself, unabashedly sobbed into her sister's mane.

Luna, meanwhile, took the moment to think up a solution.

Having to hide her emotions throughout her entire life had made Celestia quite good at suppressing them as well, but seeing her former students’ feelings, fears and now nightmares brought to life in front of her was simply too much for her. Luna, who only kept her cool because she was used to such dreams, therefore was the perfect pony for her to finally let her guard down and succumb to her earthly feelings.

Pressing herself against her sister’s chest, the stored-up worries gathered from their trip finally broke loose as droplets of water ran down her cheeks. Her death grip which would have crippled a lesser pony only made Luna cringe a bit, and her mane, which normally gently flew in an ethereal wind now hung almost limp from her head.

Luna, who felt more and more like a giant teddy bear to her sister gently patted the larger pony on the back, the feelings and emotions she knew her sister was experiencing were all too familiar to her, so she too felt her own composure wavering.

While her head raced through the many possibilities on how they could approach this task, her grip on the dream slowly started to waver as the scene gradually started playing again, its tempo greatly reduced, and the sounds muffled.

Realizing her error and focusing her magic back onto the dream to halt it, Luna’s eyes fell on those of Twilight.

Twilight, who by now had passed the threshold of the throne room was glancing up, her expression to Luna’s surprise one of hope instead of sorrow as she seemed to look to her princesses for help.

Gasping and squeezing her sister with a sudden idea, Luna gently tried to peal her clingy sister away from her, “Sister, sister we think we have it.” Trying her best but ultimately failing to even move Celestia an inch away from her, the mental image of being stuck with her sister forever attached to her side quickly flashed through her mind as she regarded the still sobbing lump curled up and pressed as best as she could against her chest. Luna, though, had to admit, that for being the bigger pony, Celestia could make herself quite small if she wanted.

Her expression turning into a quiet smile, Luna kept away her enthusiasm this time as she attempted to communicate with Celestia once more, “Hey, we think we may be able to help her, sister” she gently said, carefully tilting Celestia’s muzzle up to look at her.

“B-but she fears us,” Celestia sobbed, her head quickly pressed against her sister’s chest once more.

Blinking and shaking her head, Luna attempted to communicate with her sister again, “No she does not, we are certain Twilight could never truly fear thee,” she said, carefully petting her sister on the head.

“Why is she then…”

Before Celestia could finish her sentence, Luna gently silenced her and looked her into the eyes, “We have said it before we entered the dream and we will repeat it once more, sister, thou canst not make her accountable for what we may find here. We are in her head after all, and it is not our place to understand it. Nothing we may have seen or heard can be taken at face value. We may just be the cause for her to see us on these thrones and judging her because we entered the dream and therefore slightly disturbed it. It may also be the case that this is just a fleeting thought for her, we will never know, nor will she ever know if asked directly. The reasons of the mind are more complex than any of us could ever imagine,” Luna explained, Celestia attentively listening. “But we came here with a goal, sister, we came here to ease her mind and we are still intending on doing so,” Luna said, her expression hardening. “So, art thou able to pull thyself together and help us, or art thou willing to wake up and leave us to our work, because we think we may have a solution.”

Looking ashamed away from her sister, Celestia nodded meekly. Wiping away the rest of her tears with one of her forehooves, she drew herself up and motioned through the calming methods she had used throughout many years now.

Finishing and turning to her sister, Celestia nodded with newfound confidence, “Okay, what do I have to do?”

Smiling at her sister and nodding in satisfaction, Luna turned back to the slightly altered scene, “Thou can see her glancing at us there, correct?” she asked, waiting for her sister to nod in confirmation before she continued. “Then thou can also see that she is still filled with a bit of hope here. We have to amplify that, sister.”

“But how? Next I remember is that she is brought before us and judged for, her crimes,” she said, her disdain for the situation palpable.

“Indeed, but right now, we think she still has a semblance of hope that everything might turn out well,” Luna said, a wicked smile playing on her lips, “So, we just have to make it so.”

Celestia, whose trademark raised eyebrow made it apparent for her sister that she wasn’t up for wordplay right now cocked her head slightly, “And how exactly are we going to do this?” she asked.

“Easy,” Luna smiled, “We just replace these here,” she pointed at their dream counterparts, “With these here,” she pointed at her sister and herself. “Then we can easily influence the dream without magic at all,” she said, her enthusiasm returning in full force.

“But I thought you said you were unable to change the dream, Luna?” Celestia asked, tilting her head even further.

Nodding and looking smug, Luna continued, “We did say that we can’t change it, we never said we can’t replace minor details, like, the pony sitting on the throne for a while,” she said, shooting a magical beam at her dream counterpart and destroying it in a glass shattering explosion. “If we let the dream continue now, she would just return because Twilight’s mind would smooth out the hiccup easily, but once we reveal ourselves,” Luna explained and started to walk towards the thrones, all the while sending a magical wave over her body to enter the dream properly, “And replace them with us, the real us, her mind should not find anything odd at it and therefore not conjure up another replica.”

As Luna sat herself onto the now empty spot, she turned to her sister, who still stood down the dais, “Once we let the dream continue then, we will be able to communicate with her and interact with what the dream conjures, within reason of course. While we cannot change the scenery, we can change what happens this way and guide the dream onto a better path.”

Understanding her sister’s intent, Celestia slowly climbed up the dais and stopped in front of her dream counterpart, as she attempted to destroy the figment like Luna did simply with her magic, she found nothing to focus on and quickly glanced to her sister who only chuckled and lit her horn.

Forming a spell and aiming it at her sister, Luna smiled as a magical wave pulsed all over Celestia’s coat, “Thou have now entered the dream properly and not just as a visitor, sister, please would thou do us the honor and remove this fraud from our thrones,” she motioned.

Celestia, who jumped slightly as she suddenly felt solid ground under her hooves carefully prodded around for a moment. Once the initial shock was over, she looked up and at her sister again while Luna smiled at her and motioned with her eyes towards her dream counterpart.

Lighting her horn and aiming a small ball of fire at her impersonator, Celestia suddenly had a better idea on how to handle this and let her spell die down.

Drawing back her hoof, Celestia utilized her anger at the figment and smashed her hoof through its head in a satisfying cracking sound similar to breaking glass. Watching the dream figment breaking up and dispersing into tiny magical fragments before those simply vanished into the dream's background, Celestia smiled as she turned around and satisfyingly plopped onto the throne next to her sister.

“Uhh, I think I needed that more than I should have,” she said, a large smile on her lips and gently shaking her hoof to clean it of the figment’s remains.

Chuckling and nodding, Luna smiled at her sister, “Remind me of it and we shall create thee a dream in which thou can smash as many things as thou might like.”

“That would be great Luna, especially after a stressful day with the Canterlot nobility,” she said, rolling her eyes even when she only started to think of some of those ponies.

Chuckling and nodding Luna turned to face the room, ready to kick the dream back into motion. Before she could lift her spell which held the dream in place though, Celestia quickly stopped her sister, “Luna, wait! We haven’t discussed on how we proceed from here,” she said, a little bit of panic rising in her voice.

Raising an eyebrow and regarding her sister for a moment, Luna had a mischievous smile playing over her lips, “Oh, we think thou can think of something, sister dearest. And we can assure thee we will not stand in thy way,” she said, her mischievous smile turning predatory. “Just remember, it must not be an act what thou ought to do, thou can let loose as much as thine heart desires, after all, we are in a dream, or are we not.”

“Well, yes but…”

“Then we will be fine,” Luna said, her smile still on her lips and her horns magic quickly sizzling and dimming away.

Celestia, whose usual modus operandi was to think first, then plan and at last take action was suddenly confronted with her sister’s carefree and headfirst attitude once more.

As the dream around them started moving again, Celestia inwardly cursed her sister and her enthusiasm. Had it have been any pony other than her, she was sure she would have scolded them right away. But it being her sister, she knew that Luna would have not thrust something onto her if she had even the faintest doubt that she couldn’t handle it.

And so, after a quick mental exercise as well as a deep breath, she quickly straightened out and looked ahead as if nothing was wrong.

Her many, many years of daily held court sessions and other royal duties had given her more than enough experience for such things to come naturally and for it to be so subtle that only a scarce few ponies could read her, but her loss in what to do still clung heavily on her mind as she looked out of the corner of her eyes at her still smirking sister.

Before she could do any more though, Luna’s face straightened out and Celestia was reminded by a clattering of chains that her time had come to act.

Turning her attention away from her traitorous sister and towards the matter at hoof, Celestia watched as five ponies entered into the throne room.

The mood which Luna's lightheartedness provided soured as Twilight was brought forth in a manner she had no right to deserve. Celestia's determination wilted at the sight of her student bound in chain. It was bad enough seeing it, but knowing they were caused by nothing other than Twilight's own mind left little more than a desire to never see this again and a hope that Twilight would as well.

While Celestia almost never displayed anything less than her motherly calm in public, there had been a few times when she truly lost it.

One such event occurred several years ago, as the Canterlot nobility almost entirely complained against her taking Twilight under her wing and not one of their more noble, blue-blooded or higher standing foals.

Once she had restored order and showed them their place, she had then seen to it that Twilight would never find out what had happened that day.

But now, even though Celestia knew this to be a dream, her eternal calm suddenly come to an end as she glared at the offending ponies in front of her.

“What is the meaning of this?” she growled, her voice echoing through the throne room and even creeping herself out as she heard it rebound from one of the walls.

Glancing at each other, the nameless guards apparently held a silent conversation before they looked at Celestia once more. One of them clearing his voice, the guardsman straightened up to speak but was interrupted by Celestia.

“Why is there a Princess of Equestria clad in chains?” she asked, standing up and flaring her wings, “Why is the hero of our very nation brought to us in court, chained up like a criminal, and not resting in her private chambers and treated like her station deserves?” she said, her tone growing angrier by the second as she glared at the guardsman.

Smiling wryly, Luna stood up next to her sister and lit her horn.

With a bright flash of blue light, all of what the guards were holding in their hooves was the end of a chain with nothing attached to it, and to their sudden confusion, said ends quickly wrapped themselves around their own hooves.

Twilight, who was still shocked from the sudden turn of events was even more startled as she was suddenly, gently lifted away by a golden aura surrounding her and neatly placed in a space before the princesses.

Shaking her head, the still confused, but now free mare quickly rushed forward and pressed herself against her former mentor’s chest in a desperate attempt to get as far away as possible from her captors. All while tearing up and shuddering like a leaf, Twilight felt a wave of relief washing over her as she felt Celestia’s wings closing behind her and enveloping her into a protective, warm and first and foremost sight obscuring cocoon of feathers allowing her an escape from the world.

Looking down at the still shuddering and sobbing mare within her wings, Celestia nodded in silent approval before turning back to the ponies in front of them.

Regarding them for scarcely a moment, Celestia’s gaze turned to Luna, who nodded grimly and stepped forth, her well known royal Canterlot voice ready.

“GUARDS”, Luna boomed, calling for her very own guard detail, her night guard, to reveal themselves. “Seize these traitors!”

Just as her real guards would often tend to do, six bat-winged thestrals suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and would it have been in reality, Luna knew they would have come out of their hiding spots in the shadows, but it being a dream, with a simple flick of her horn said guards appeared and followed their mistress’s command.

Letting Luna handle the situation further, Celestia turned her attention toward the still shaken pony in her grasp. While she would have normally teleported away with her and into the safety of her own chambers, Celestia assumed that if she would want to teleport the two of them anywhere, Twilight’s mind would have no time to dream this place up before they would land there. While dreamers themselves could usually teleport anywhere without problem, as they would already have the destination in mind, letting Twilight cast a teleport spell right now was out of question as Celestia figured it would even potentially disturb the coherence of the dream and risk her catching on that she was not alone in her dream and was in fact interacting with the real Celestia and Luna.

So, bound to the limitations of being unable to teleport, she gently tried to lift Twilight on to her back, the young alicorn almost desperately trying to stay attached to her flailed helplessly as she was lifted into the air for even the briefest of moments. “Shhh, Twilight, everything will be all right,” Celestia said, in an attempt to calm the still frightened pony.

Desperately clinging to her mentor, Twilight’s sobs were briefly interrupted in her attempt to speak, “I-I k-killed them… I-I‘m a c-criminal… W-why are y-you helping me?” she asked, her voice barely clear enough to discern.

Nuzzling the young mare on her back as she walked out of the throne room, Celestia shook her head, “You have done no such thing, Twilight,” she explained, her tone soft and loving as she carried her away from whatever her sister was doing to those dream figments.

“B-but I-I lost control and I-I…”

“You rescued your family, Twilight, you brought the culprits to justice and you possibly saved half of Canterlot by doing so,” Celestia said, walking along a corridor which looked strangely familiar as she approached her chambers.

“I-I hurt ponies, a-and y-you should be furious with me,” Twilight said, her sobs slowly dying down but her fear still evident in her voice.

“Yes, you have, Twilight, but you were forced to do so, no one will ever hold that against you, not Luna, and neither will I,” Celestia explained, having reached her chambers and opening the door.

Stepping into her room, Celestia immediately noticed that what she just entered wasn’t her room, not like it was in reality. The chambers which she beheld now was the chamber she and her sister had visited in the last two dreams. A shared room with her sister, but still individual in its own right. While opulent enough, the room seemed almost humble but dignified. For the briefest of moments Celestia wondered if she had stepped out of the dream and into another of Twilight’s mind, but disregarding the thought as implausible, due to her dream counterparts and those of Twilight missing, Celestia turned her head and quickly glanced at the pony on her back, confirming that she found nothing odd about this. Having assured herself that Twilight hadn’t caught onto the fact that she had just been carried away by the real Celestia, and therefore found out about them breaching into her mind, Celestia cautiously stepped closer to a large bed that had her colors and cutie mark on its blanket. Making sure that Twilight would not catch onto her slight hesitation, Celestia lit her horn and carefully lifted Twilight off of her back and gently placed the clingy alicorn onto the sheets.

Climbing onto the soft mattress herself, Celestia sat down next to Twilight who was examining the cuffs still clad around her hooves.

Letting her eyes sweep over the room once more, Celestia shook her head and turned her attention towards Twilight. “Mind telling me how you managed to end up in chains like that anyway?” she asked, letting her magic flow over one of the cuffs and snapping it in half.

Looking at her now free hoof, Twilight hastily tucked it under her as she looked up and at her former mentor, “I-I don’t know… when I woke up, I-I was in the dungeons,” she said, a slight shiver running over her body.

Normally, such a minor detail was easily overseen, but Celestia noticed and carefully placed one of her wings protectively around the young pony, effectively calming her agitations.

“I can’t really remember anything well, b-but what I know is that there was a guard, he told me that you and Luna were… you were mad at me and that I… that I have…”

Nuzzling Twilight once more, Celestia tightened the wing around her and removed another of her bonds with her magic, “Everything is fine, Twilight, just calm down,” she said, as she tossed the remains of the cuffs behind her.

Before they could even reach the ground, Twilight had apparently already forgotten them as they simply dispersed into nothing as Celestia watched them fly. Smiling a bit and going for the next cuff remaining on Twilight’s hoof, Celestia felt her charge crawling closer to her and pressing herself against her chest once more.

“… I thought I would have disappointed you,” Twilight finally said, “That you would hate me. I thought I… I would lose you, that you would have to banish me for what I did, or worse…”

Successfully removing the last two of Twilight’s cuffs, Celestia tossed them away once more and wrapped one of her hooves around the small pony, “I will do no such thing, Twilight, as I said before they had forced your hoof, and while I would have had no mind for tolerance of those criminals, you managed to not only save the lives of your parents but also brought those responsible into the dungeons, where they will be ready for trial and judgment in court, alive,” Celestia said.

“I could not be prouder of you even if I wanted,” she continued but paused for a brief moment as she saw a blue flash of light on the balcony.

As Luna opened the glass door leading from the balcony inside, carefully and without making any sound, Celestia tossed her a questioning glance at why it had taken her so long to come here. As Luna daintily rolled her eyes and ignored her sister’s unspoken inquiry, Celestia raised an eyebrow.

While Celestia had directly tended to Twilight, Luna, after she had left the now vacant throne room which grew more destabilized by the second, had instead of immediately returning to her sister, tried to check up on something.

More specifically, she had tried to find out what was wrong with Twilight’s magic.

Normally when she visited a pony’s dream, the place, the figments, everything, even the air around them would be saturated with the dreamer’s innate magic. But when she’d entered Twilight’s dream for the first time in almost five years now, she immediately noticed that something was off from what she knew had been fine in the past.

She had expected to almost feel dizzy when she entered the dream, she had expected to feel an immense saturation of very potent power.

But what she had found instead greatly disturbed her.

Where normally a decent amount of magical energy shifted through the dream of a dreamer, earthpony, pegasi and unicorn alike. Here, inside Twilight’s dream, inside the dream of the element of magic, the most powerful unicorn in her era and since her ascension a growing alicorn, here, where Luna had expected vast amounts of magic to be at work like those of Celestia and Cadance, the place felt almost devoid of it.

Everything around them had the hint of belonging to Twilight, yes, but where normally even a weak earthpony had a clear and strong magical field, the magic Luna now felt was almost nonexistent.

Thinking back to the diagnosis from doctor Heart Petal, Luna wondered if Twilight’s magical strength had just been drained, and so she had attempted to find Twilight’s source of magic to check if everything was ok, but being limited by time, Luna was unable to pinpoint exactly where that would be and instead had to return to her sister to potentially discuss the matter further.

Upon Luna entering the room in which she had sensed Twilight and her sister’s presence, Luna had to admit that Twilight looked worse than she had imagined. Slightly cringing at the thought that her absence could have only made it harder for her sister, Luna smiled apologetically at Celestia before quietly stepping to the two of them.

Shaking her head and not letting her sister’s late arrival disturb her any more than it already had, Celestia turned her attention back to Twilight to resume where she had left off, “And I am sure that I can speak for my sister too, that disappointment is the last thing the two of us would ever feel of you,” she said, quickly nuzzling her once more.

“To the contrary,” Luna said, her voice making Twilight jump slightly as she still had her back turned to the balcony and hadn’t notice Luna as she arrived, “The opposite would be the case young Twilight, thine actions have greatly impressed us this day,” Luna said as she stepped to the bed and kneeled down. “Thou hast displayed great magical feats of the sort even we were unable to perform,” she said, quickly nuzzling the young pony over the head.

“But why would the guards do something like that to me then,” Twilight asked, her voice still cracked but growing more and more stable.

Surprised by the question, Celestia glanced at Luna and gently shook her head to tell her that she had no idea how to answer the question while trying to hide it from Twilight.

Luna, who had been as surprised as her sister by the question caught Celestia’s silent plea for help and while she herself had no idea how to answer, she forced her derailing expression quickly into a soft smile and looked at Twilight.

Thinking for a moment in which she watched Twilight peal her face away from her sister’s chest to properly look at them, Luna hoped that Twilight’s awareness of the situation was still somewhat tainted by the dream to accept almost anything that she could tell her now.

Due to the lack of ideas she had, Luna quickly blurted the first thing she could think of, “Because it turned out that they were rogue changelings who were trying to defeat us with our own bureaucracy,” she answered, her breath held in fear that Twilight would question the answer.

But to both sister’s relief, Twilight’s head nodded in satisfaction and plopped down to the bed, her eyes closed and her shoulders sagging in relief.

Both sisters exhaled as they watched Twilight relax and accept what Luna had just told her, but Celestia, whose awareness obviously wasn’t tainted by the dream raised a questioning eyebrow at Luna and her answer. As Luna mouthed the word ‘dream’, she nodded in acceptance and made a mental note to later tease her about that.

Wanting to leave this dream as soon as possible so they wouldn’t have to answer any more of such questions, Luna motioned to the clock of the room to tell Celestia it was time to go.

Celestia though, shook her head and motioned to Twilight’s horn, on which the magical suppression ring from before was still fixed.

Turning her head down and nuzzling Twilights cheek once more, Celestia lit her horn and wrapped her magic around the ring, “You should rest now, Twilight, I imagine that this all had been very taxing of you,” she said, her tone gentle.

Nodding absently and relaxing into the bedding under her, Twilight hummed. “C-can you stay here, please?” she asked tired and halfway gone to sleep.

“Of course, we can, but please try to rest now,” Celestia answered, removing the ring from Twilight’s horn.

Once the ring was removed completely, Luna’s eyes widened in surprise as the dream changed.

Or more specifically, the magic of the dream started to change.

The emptiness that Luna had felt since they arrived suddenly filled itself and what she had felt weak and absent in the dream before, suddenly grew stronger and stronger. Starting from the bed, then the floor, the walls and even the air and the sky, everything suddenly started to glow with lavender energy of the sort Luna had never seen before.

Straining to move, Luna looked at the source of the magic, and oddly enough, she saw that Twilight herself seemed to emit wave upon wave of magic.

While Luna watched the magic seep into the dream, permeating everything and coating it with the familiar magical signature of her friend she suddenly had to strain herself to stay fixed to the dream and felt the magic starting to push them out.

While Luna knew that this was not necessarily Twilight’s own doing, but her magic trying to spread out, she had to quickly think and light her horn to conjure up two dream figments of herself and her sister in the hope that they would be able to stay before everything went black.

Opening her eyes and gasping for air, Luna suddenly found herself back in Celestia’s chambers, inside her body and no longer in Twilight’s dream.

Quickly wondering how she got here, one of her first thoughts was if her sister was okay.

Lifting her head and looking around, Luna noticed that she had apparently rolled off of the cushion on which she had laid herself, but dismissing the thought, her still blurry eyes scanned the room for her sister.

Celestia, too, had apparently moved from the place she had fallen asleep, but before Luna could dwell more on that thought, her sister started to move. Hearing a tired grown coming from Celestia, who had flopped to the side of where she laid and seemingly suffered from the same disorientation she felt, Luna exhaled in relief that she hadn’t lost her sister somewhere in the dream.

Relaxing further and thanking fate for not having to search Celestia in the dreamscape, Luna was about to lay her head back down to wake up properly and think over what happened when a painful groan, coming from her sister’s bed, quickly outranked everything else in her mental priority list.

Her eyes shooting open, Luna jumped up and ran to the bed, watching Twilight twisting and turning, her eyes closed and sweat starting to run down her coat.

Celestia, who had jumped up after her sister had rushed away, immediately changed her course from following her sister to the bed and instead ran to the doors of her chambers, “GUARDS!” she screamed, bursting through the doors and startling the half-asleep guards on the other side, “Wake Doctor Heart Petal immediately!”

~ later that night ~

Lowering her stethoscope and sighing in relief, Heart Petal turned away from the now sleeping form of Twilight, “She will be okay, it seems.”

Both Celestia and Luna sighed in relief.

“I don’t know what the two of you did, but,” she touched her horn to Twilight’s once more, “It seems to have helped with her condition.”

After two very startled guards had burst into her office chambers and had woken Heart Petal who had fallen asleep in front of many books splayed out on her desk, the young practitioner had been escorted to the royal chambers once more where she had found Princess Twilight half delirious and holding her head in what looked like pain.

Throughout the examination in which she had tried to find out what now ailed Twilight, the young princess had fallen asleep multiple times up to the point in which Princess Luna decided to cast a spell on her that would keep her asleep while the examination continued.

Nodding with satisfaction and turning away from her patient, Heart Petal turned to the two Princesses who anxiously awaited her judgment. “Well, it seems that aside from her having a serious headache and having to recover from multiple forms of sleep deprivation, I can’t say that anything more is wrong with Princess Twilight.” She glanced back at the now calmly sleeping pony, “I would suggest that she continues to catch up on the sleep she needs and to keep it low for the next couple of days. Also, I would ask that she come see me once she is fully awakened,” she finished, levitating her stethoscope back into her bag.

“Is there anything we can do for her in the meantime?” Celestia asked, her relief palpable in her voice.

“Well… from what I can tell, no, not right now, but I would ask of you to keep her away from stress.”

Nodding and looking at Twilight once more, Celestia turned around and started to walk to the windows of her chambers.

Looking after her sister for a moment, Luna turned her head to Heart Petal, “We thank thee for thine assistance this night,” she said, her expression turning into a sheepish smile, “And we hope to excuse our guards for waking thee so abruptly.”

Waving her hoof and closing her bag, Heart Petal turned her head and looked at Luna, “You don’t have to worry about that, Your Highness, after all, it is part of my job,” she said, a bright smile spreading over her lips. “Besides if you see it my way, I am the privileged one here. I am allowed to tend to the royal family to which I swore an oath to care for to the best of my abilities.”

Raising an eyebrow, Luna turned her head, “Thou love thine job very much, does thou not?” Luna asked.

“Of course, Princess,” Heart Petal said, bowing to Luna. “But as much as I love my job, I fear I have to excuse myself, otherwise I fear that I will imitate Princess Twilight and fall asleep on the spot.”

Nodding and following her to Celestia’s chamber doors, Luna gave the young pony a slight smile, “Please, do so, we know that thou have been up since yesterday morning, considering that it is almost time to raise the sun now.”

“Thank you, Your Highness, and have a good night,” Heart Petal said, before turning to the door and stepping out.

“Yes, and we shall make sure thou will have a pleasant night too,” Luna said, waving after her and closing the door.

Turning around and walking back to the bed once more, Luna gently laid a hoof on Twilight’s cheek as she watched her sleep. Looking up and to the windows, Luna’s eyes went wide as she regarded an otherwise empty room, “Where did sister go?”

Wondering why Celestia had seemingly disappeared from her own room, Luna was left alone with Twilight in her sister’s bedchambers.

After making sure Twilight was still sound asleep, Luna made her way over to look for her sister. Unwilling to call for her in fear she might disturb the young pony, she silently crept away from the bed, her extreme caution unnecessary as she herself had cast a sleep spell on Twilight which would allow her to sleep through nearly anything.

Yet still, she carefully sneaked through the room over to where she had last seen her sister before Heart Petal had left. Glancing around, her face quickly lit up as she spotted the faded silhouette that could only belong to one pony sitting outside the windows on her sister’s balcony.

Quickly rushing to the glass doors leading outside, Luna gave Twilight’s sleeping form one last glance as she silently opened them.

Her newfound happiness though wasn’t to last for long as she could see through the cold air of the night her sister sitting on the balcony, her head gazing into the distance and her expression gloomy, downtrodden and tired.

While recent events had stricken her hard, Luna guessed that what she had seen of her sister and how she had reacted that she was hit far worse by what they had seen in Twilight’s dreams than she herself was.

It seemed as if everything she had seen was now coming back to her and so Celestia had left to think.

Thinking of it, it was a pretty normal reaction of hers.

When the two of them had been younger, long before the founding of Equestria, Luna had often found her sister glooming over recently past events, and now that Celestia was sure that her former student was fine, she apparently had left to think as she had done in the past, alone.

Yet Luna distinctly remembered that such events rarely had a good outcome and she could only guess on how Celestia had coped with it all during her banishment.

Disregarding the thought, Luna shook her head, the only thing important right now was finding out what exactly was the problem, and how she could help.

Over the eons of coping with her sister, Luna had learned that the further away Celestia stared when she fled to think, the harder the problem seemed to be, and so, Luna concentrated to shift her eyesight into a spectrum which would allow her to see through the darkness of her night. Closing her eyes, a fine line of slightly blue light was shortly visible shining out from under her eyelids before Luna reopened them, revealing bright eyes with stark slitted pupils more apt for peering through the darkness.

As she regarded her sister once more, her sight greatly enhanced, Luna silently sighed and let her ears fall flat onto her head as she could now clearly see that Celestia wasn’t staring down at her subjects, to the towns below or to the mountains in the distance. Her gaze was directed at something much further away, up into the darkness of the night and through the sky above at something even beyond the borders of Equus. She was staring at her moon.

If that alone wasn’t bad enough, she swore she saw a faint trail of moisture from recently shed tears around her eyes.

Almost dreading the potential headache to come when Luna thought of prying through her sister’s numerous deflections, she resigned herself to her fate for the sake of her sister. Carefully closing the door behind her and making sure to make as little sound as possible, Luna inhaled in preparation once more.

Silently stepping closer to her sister, Luna still hoped against hope to salvage the situation. If she could catch her sister unguarded, unprepared, her chances of bringing Celestia away from her dark or illogical train of thoughts were much higher than when Celestia had already mentally gone through everything herself, alone.

Against all odds, her small hope and silent pleas to the universe were shattered as Celestia suddenly spoke, “Nineteen years, Luna. Nineteen… years…” she mumbled without taking her gaze away from the moon.

Luna mentally cursed fate, “Why can it never be easy?” she asked herself closing her eyes and changing them back to their normal form.

Nevertheless, she stepped closer to her sister’s side and made sure that her right-wing gently brushed up against Celestia’s left. The lack of reaction though, made her worry just all the more. “Pray tell, sister, what is it that thou are rumoring about in such times long passed by into history? If thou canst recall, we still dwelled on the moon at that time, so we hadn’t borne witness to what may have transpired prior to our redemption,” Luna said as cheerfully as she could muster, her attempt though even failed to her own ears.

As Celestia didn’t answer and Luna still tapped in darkness on what this was about, a heavy silence settled down between the two.

While Luna waited for her sister to continue, Celestia let her gaze dance over her sister’s moon before she lowered her eyes with a sigh. “I’ve known her for nineteen years now, Luna.” She clarified.

Cocking her head, Luna tried as best as she could to look her sister into her fleeting eyes, “we assume thou art talking about Twilight, then?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

While Celestia nodded, Luna leaned her head back and let her gaze wander up to her moon, though for an entirely different reason than her sister had done before. “Then do tell, sister, what ails you on this night of our success that thou seek out time to think solemn thoughts of thine former student? Thou should know by now that we will always be there for thee," Luna said, concerned, “whether thou like it or not,” she added with a smirk. “After all, we see scarce few reasons for thee to be so saddened now. Now that we have vanquished her nightmares and calmed her mind for the night.”

“It is… well, it is complicated Luna, I… I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Celestia said, her eyes returning to the moon.

Raising an eyebrow and glancing at her sister’s face, Luna turned her head, “yet thou still sit out here and look at our moon,” she stated. “We have known thee for longer than both of us are willing to admit, so thou canst hide such things from us, sister.”

“Luna please, not now… it's complicated…” Celestia whined.

Shaking her head and leaning against her sisters’ neck, Luna nuzzled her gently, “Tia, please. Is it about what saw seen in her dream? Is it that thou fear she might be afraid of us? Must we really explain to thee again that what we have seen canst not be taken at face value?” she asked.

“No, it isn’t that Luna… well…” Celestia sighed, “I said it before, sister, it is complicated, please let me think in peace, okay?”

“Sister, it isn’t healthy for thee to try and bear it all alone, please, let us help.” Luna pleaded; her voice filled with concern.

As Celestia didn’t respond, Luna let her head fall before she made to stand up and let her sister dwell on her thoughts. It wasn’t what she wanted to do, but she didn’t want to pressure her sister into anything as well.

“Luna?” Celestia finally asked, her sudden start halting her sister mid-step. “What is it that comes to your mind when you think of her?”

The oddity of her sister’s request let Luna sink back into her sitting position. Her sister always had a knack for obscurity, even in front of her, but she knew that her sister always had a reason when she asked such questions.

Trying to humor her for that reason alone, Luna thought for a moment on what the best answer would be. Her decision, in the end, settled on the truth. “We think of a friend,” she stated. “Why does thou ask?”

Ignoring her sisters’ question, Celestia sought to dig deeper. “And what more, Luna, what do you see in your mind when you see her, hear her name or talk about her? What do you associate with Twilight?” she asked without skipping a beat.

Brought back to where she started, Luna reconsidered her answer, “well… um… we see a strong pony, proud, intelligent, a natural leader. Somepony whose heart is big enough for her friends to be as close to her as her family,” she said, glancing at her moon and thinking of what they had learned in the dreamscape recently. “We see a great magician, one capable enough to change the world. We see somepony kind and loving. Somepony who carries a beauty of their own and somepony passionate about what they do. We see somepony who sees the beauty in our nights, somepony who enjoys them as much as we do. We see somepony who may enjoy the written arts a little too much and one who is never afraid of showing her interests,” Luna said, a blush starting to spread over her muzzle. “We see our savior, our first friend in over one thousand years and one of the few ponies who has believed in us from when we first met,” she finished, proud of her answer and hoping it would be sufficient for her sister.

Celestia for her part, just nodded along, her eyes again fixed to the moon above, and her mane wavering in an unseen wind.

“Then again, sister, why didst thee ask such a question?” Luna finally asked, breaking the silence yet again.

“You see, Luna, if I were asked the same question, I would describe her in much the same way, yet still, I would do so differently. In some sense or another, you could even consider her as my savior as well, and I don’t mean to imply the many crises she has averted,” Celestia explained, finally turning away from the moon and looking her sister in the eyes. “You know, a little more than nineteen years ago, I was on a walk. It was a considerately good day that day. I could even dismiss court earlier and so I found myself having a bit of free time.”

A small tear dropped from Celestia’s eyes as she averted her gaze from Luna and looked at the ground in shame, “It was the first day off I allowed myself since I lost my former student to her own ambition and overconfidence.”

“Though, as you may have already figured, my good day apparently ended as a giant dragon head suddenly shot through the roof of my School for Gifted Unicorns. I thought of the worst, even an attack in the middle of the day would have not come to me as a surprise, considering how well the day had been so far. But when I tried to investigate, all I found was an auditorium plunged so deep into chaos that even Discord would have been proud of it,” she said, a small smile playing over her lips. “You know, it isn’t every day you see all of your examiners floating around and the other ponies in the room turned into potted plants. Nevertheless, once my shock had abated, I was further surprised by the magical anomaly in front of me, once I found out it was holding a little filly inside,” she explained.

Gesturing with her hoof, Celestia continued, “a pony, a young filly, a child, barely old enough to take my test floated there. Her magic should have vaporized her on the spot. Not even Starswirl would have been able to wield such an amount and yet there she was. A young pony, a mortal, wielding more magic than I have ever seen before.”

“And it was then that I realized something. This pony, this young, inexperienced, powerful pony was only here to go through the entrance exam. You can imagine my surprise when I see a pony barely old enough to take the exam as a source of more magic than even my High Council of Magi could handle.”

“Nevertheless, as I knew of the danger of the situation not only for others, but for this young pony alike, I stepped closer. I was about to dispel her magic when I touched her shoulder in the process and all of a sudden, her frightened eyes shot up to look directly at me. She stopped. As soon as she spotted me, she calmed down and stopped.”

“I didn’t know how, nor did I know why she managed to get control back over her magic. But she stopped, I still don’t know how, but I think now it was because of me,” Celestia explained.

As the solar diarch inhaled audibly, Luna could almost see her thoughts racing before she continued, “For the briefest of moments, I saw the filly being exploited, being taken advantage of and suffering under it. I saw her potential and how it could be twisted against her. I saw her afraid of herself, afraid of hurting others with what she could do. From that moment on, my decision was clear. Despite my plans to never take another pupil under my wing, I decided that I would teach her. I decided that from that day forth, she would be my student and I would protect her from such harmful influences.”

“She accepted, as you can guess. She was so ecstatic that she even started to jump around the whole room in joy, her dance of happiness only increased by the fact that she had received her cutie mark. She was six, back then.”

“I only realized that her cutie mark was special half a year later, as I accidentally stumbled upon the fact that it was an exact replica of the element of magic in its purest form.”

“When I approached her teachings, I did so expecting it would be like any other student I had ever had. I expected her to start strong, fueled by youth and enthusiasm, as students always tended to do. I thought she would eventually wax in her performance, become disinterested, bored or distracted, like any other student I had over the years. But it never happened, not even to this day. Twilight kept on it. She kept running, learning. No matter how much I taught her, no matter how challenging, or even outright impossible I raised her standards, she always came out on top.”

“She never failed to impress me…” a small smile ghosting over her lips.

“She was… is… truly special…” Celestia said, another tear dropping from her muzzle.

“But, you see, the position of my personal student is a very sought-after one, as the pony in question not only has a direct link to me but also becomes very influential and powerful. The title alone could bypass many laws and restrictions and nearly all classified information’s are accessible to them. There had been many ponies who had used this to their own gain. But never Twilight. She never asked for anything and she never sought-after power or wealth.”

“She was content with being my student.”

“She… she was the first one… the first and only one without ulterior motives behind her actions. All she wanted was to learn, and to get to know me.” Celestia said, her voice slightly breaking.

Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, Celestia refocused her resolve before opening her eyes again and continuing, her tone now again somewhat steady and reassured, “So, she grew close to me. When she moved into the castle to aid her in her studies, she spent most of her time at my side. We discussed politics, magic, philosophy and as the time went by even our day to day things weren't exempt either. She was the first friend I had in a very long time. The first friend I could truly trust.”

“She learned everything from me, from courtly manner, to even the most subtle of tricks. For me, she saved me from my near one thousand years of depression, something not even Cadance was able to do. I learned of her likings, of her hobbies and interests, I learned how much she loved the stars and how much value a book had in her eyes. You know, I was one of the lucky few who had more worth to her than a book. I’d spend nights consoling her when she had a nightmare, days helping her when her studies had reached rock bottom.”

“I’d spent more time with her than her own family had and, in some sense or another, I’ve become more of a mother figure to her than her own mother ever had been,” Celestia explained, her head against turned to look up to her sister’s moon.

While Celestia observed the darkened sky, Luna sat beside her and continued to ponder over what all of this was about. True, it was interesting to listen to her sister’s story, and she had to admit, the last sentence could explain some of the things she had learned in recent history, but still, for Celestia to be in such a bad mood, Luna figured there was still more to come.

But as Celestia didn’t continue, Luna grew more and more unsettled by the second. “While thine tale is truly interesting, sister, we still don’t see why thou chose to come out here to ponder over thine former student right now,” she stated, her patience reaching its end. “We could understand it if thine troubles would lay in what we have seen in her dream, but as thou know, we have already dealt with it and we intend to help her with it even in the nights to come. Whilst we still fear she might reform her barrier, we are now confident that we will be able to speak to her regardless. Maybe we’ll even be able to find her source of insecurity leading to her reason for secrecy in the first place.”

Celestia for her part just sighed. “Luna, it isn’t that, I told you. I… my problem lies in… in what we have seen, yes, but there is nothing to do about it. I am just upset, that’s all.”

“Upset over what, sister? Please, let us share thy burden which troubles thy mind.”

Looking away from the moon and at her sister’s pleading eyes, Celestia’s thoughts raced. How could she make her sister understand, or later Twilight, for that matter?

How could she make anyone else understand?

Sighing, Celestia turned away and laid her head onto the railing. Shuffling around and fidgeting with her wings, she seemed now even more troubled than before, but Luna could feel that she was finally getting closer and closer to the problem.

“Please sister, talk to us,” she gently said, carefully nuzzling into Celestia’s neck and laying her head on her sisters’ shoulders. “We simply wish to help.”

“But you can’t. No pony can.” Celestia sighed, closing her eyes. “Well, no, that’s wrong… you could, even somepony else could, but not I. I can’t… it is not my place.”

“Sister?” Luna asked, her worries growing at Celestia’s words. “If ‘we’ should be able to help, then would it not be detrimental for us to know what it is that thou can’t do thyself? We would gladly help and so would every one of our subjects, we can assure thee of that. All we would need is to know what it is that is troubling thee.”

“Then would you be able to love her?” Celestia finally asked, her head gently bopping with her words as she still rested on the railing and her eyes pressed shut. “Would you be able to love her then, to stay at her side, maybe even for an eternity to come?”

Luna, for her part, suddenly stopped her nuzzling and lifted her head from her sister’s shoulders to stare down at the pony beneath her, blinking in confusion.

Her thoughts suddenly quieted down and her mane seemingly coming to a stop from its usual waving, Luna could not do any more than stare at her sister as a faint red color slowly grew onto her muzzle.

Celestia though, her heart heavy but relieved for finally having asked the question, drew back and sat up. Her eyes opening and fixing themselves into the distance, she opened her mouth to speak, her voice small and saddened, but relieved, “Could you do that, Luna, could you love her?”

Her head suddenly drawing a blank, Luna stared at the back of her sister’s mane. The question though, rang through her, bouncing from wall to wall and echoing in the stillness inside her.

“One thousand years alone…”, “Why me…”, “but my sister…”, “Twilight…”, and other thoughts suddenly joined into the silence as she fought for clearance.

Blinking once more and shaking her head, Luna gradually reestablished some control of her thoughts, enough so that she could find at least a part of her voice

Her initial fit of stammering though, only caused to Celestia glance back at her to see her expression. Mistaking the flustered appearance as a no, Celestia’s shoulders slumped as she turned back again. “I thought so, sister. I knew it would be too much to ask. I will not hold it against you. I, I am sorry.”

Luna though, still wrestled with herself.

Closing her eyes and trying to steady her breathing, she tried to calm herself. To calm the sudden whirlwind of questions now stirring inside her.

“You know, I’ve come out here to sort through all we have seen today,” Celestia said, inhaling and mentally preparing for what she planned to say next. “She did not… break down because of her magic or because of any fear she had for her own life or that of her parents. I rather think she… collapsed because of us.”

“What? Why?”

“I even think I have a somewhat solid idea on why she placed that barrier around her dreams all those years ago.” Celestia continued, a small smile finding its way onto her lips.

“Thou have? Then why? Please tell…” Luna eagerly asked.

“She… she seems to love us, Luna,” Celestia said gently, turning and looking with one eye at her sister.

Staring wide-eyed back at her, Luna’s mind suddenly came to another screeching halt.

“She… loves… us?” she mouthed, the dreams finally catching up to her. She had seen Twilight propose. Seen her being rejected, which had broken her heart. She had seen her being accepted, which had filled her heart with joy. She had even seen what she thought she could have done if she were to lose her loved ones or what she may do if she could have them.

All that she had seen, suddenly clicked in her mind as she stared at her sister.

Those ponies. Those which she had seen inside her dream. Those which she had thought of as a simple reflection, a simple trick of one’s mind to fill in the unknown, which had looked like them. Those that were supposed to be them!

Over her thousand’s years of life, Luna had visited many dreams, in many she had seen a simple reflection of herself or of ponies she knew of. Reflections to fill in the blank of absence, reactions to her ripple in the dreamscape when entering into them.

But in Twilight’s dream, the ponies she had seen had not been simple reflections!

She should have known. It was so obvious!

The scenes alone should have given it away!

They had not changed the coherence of the dream with their entrance. Twilight’s dream had been clear.

She had not seen a blank pony, one unknown or undefined. She had seen herself and her sister.

She had seen herself.

But now, something clicked. Why place a shield around one’s dream unless they were to hide things with it? If they weren’t to keep at bay the one pony who can visit them to find out something better-kept secret.

Better kept away from them in fear of their judgment.

In fear of their reply.

In fear of their rejection.

Luna finally understood.

It had felt like an eternity of misunderstanding, but now she understood. She finally did!

Twilight Sparkle, a social awkward just as much, if not more sometimes, as herself didn’t place a barrier around her dreams because she didn’t trust her. But because she loved her and feared what were to happen if she would have ever found out.

The world around her suddenly seemed distant. All the color drained from her vision and even the form of her sister seemed to lose shape.

It all started to blur. To blur together as she swayed.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she watched her sister sway. Her eyes had glossed over and she tilted forward.

“Luna?” she asked, as she watched her sister’s front hooves give out, causing her to start falling face-first onto the marble floor beneath them.

Panicking, she turned around and lit her horn, grabbing her falling sister before she hit the ground.

“Luna?!” she called panicked as her sister suddenly seemed to have fainted on the spot.

As she carefully turned her around and placed her onto her back, she found, to her relief, that her sisters’ eyes hadn’t closed and that she was mouthing something incoherent.

“… love us?” she thought she heard as she teleported a pillow from her chambers out and gently laid it under her sister’s head.

As strange as it might seem, her long life and experience with ponies hadn’t prepared her as well with pony physiology as she might have sometimes liked, and again she made a mental note to finally attend a medicine class one day as she had done every time she found herself in such a situation.

As she made to stand up and get help for her sister, a blue hoof on her hindleg stopped her and she turned around.

Luna, having recovered from her initial shock, had stopped her and was now somewhat befuddled staring at her. “Is… is that true?” she managed to ask with a hoarse voice more akin to a dying cat than that of her sister.

Turning around and kneeling down next to her, Celestia gently nuzzled her sister’s chest as she fetched a glass of water from her bathroom with her magic and offered it to her. “Luna, are you well you just…”

“Yes, yes we are fine, now answer the question, sister. Is it true?”

“Is what true?” Celestia asked, still more worried over her sister than the conversation they held before.

Luna though, was apparently keener on keeping the conversation as she tried to clean her throat. “T-that she is in love with us?” Luna asked as she eagerly tips and downs the glass in a few gulps.

Blinking and wondering if she might have been too quick to judge, she gently nodded. “I think so, Luna. From what I have seen, she… she wishes to be with the two of us…”

“Oh, how wonderful.” Luna absently sighed as she passed the now empty glass back to her sister.

Celestia, while dumbfoundedly accepting the glass, stared at her sister. “You… you’d consider it?” she asked softly, her eyes going wide.

Carefully rolling onto her side to adept a more regal form, Luna regarded her sister. “Why consider?” She asked, a grin spreading over her lips. “She has been instrumental in almost everything good since our return, if she’d choose us to love, then we’d gladly return the gesture.” She said, her eyes almost seemed glowing with interest in the faint moonlight.

“We have long since thought of choosing a mate since our return,” she eagerly added, “and Twilight has been one of, if not the most promising candidate of our considerably not short list of options,” Luna said, her wings fluffing and her enthusiasm palpable in her voice. “The only thing holding us back from asking her ourselves had been the barrier around her dream, of which we thought was a testament that she was unable to trust us.”

Her grin widening, she flung back and rolled onto her back, her wings lightly spreading and her hooves kicking into the air, “And if what thou art telling us is true, then we may finally have found somepony for us to love.” Luna said giddily.

Seeing her sister’s happy little dance as she rolled around on the floor in front of her, Celestia briefly wondered if Luna had despite her intervention still banged her head on something. Shaking her head and pushing the thought as far back into her mind as possible and wondering if it were possible to push such thoughts out, she adopted a happy smile as she watched her sister’s antics.

Reminiscing back to what they had seen in Twilight’s dream, questions of how her sister managed to have such a carefree attitude with the serious matter rushed through her head as she sighed wistfully and turned to the moon once more. Her plastered on smile though not helping to hide her sudden mood shift in the slightest.

While Luna still wiggled on the floor with thoughts of her many lonely nights finally coming to an end, her sisters’ still downtrodden sight though didn’t escape her as she rolled back onto her side and looked at the white pony just above her. Cocking her head, Luna leaned forward and nuzzled her sister under the chin, “but we still have not yet talked about thy problem, sister. Why art thou unhappy, please tell us?”

Sighing and gently nuzzling back, Celestia gave her sister a sad smile, “I am very much happy Lulu, for the both of you. Just… just don’t worry about it.”

“Sister?” Luna gently asked, carefully nipping at her sister’s throat, “don’t lie to us.”

“I… it isn’t a lie, Luna, ah,” Celestia said, as a sting of pain suddenly flooded her mind when Luna bit harder to remind her that she knew when she attempted to lie, “I am just…” she started, only to sigh as Luna started to caress the spot with her tongue, “I just dread to let her down myself,” she said, leaning into her sister’s ministrations.

Stopping what she was doing and regarding her sister for a moment, Luna raised an eyebrow. “And pray tell, why does thou think such a thing?” she asked, before continuing as she heard an impatient whine coming from her sister.

“Because, if I am not mistaken, the two of us had been shown in her dream, not only you or I,” Celestia said, slowly sinking to the floor next to her sister as she was gently nibbled along her neck while her fur was preened.

Considering her sister’s words, Luna gently nosed from the underside of her throat to the side of her neck and slowly made her way down to her sister’s shoulders.

Finding her way from the crook of her sister’s neck to her sensitive wing joints, Luna carefully licked over the tense flesh over her sister’s now stiffened muscles. “So, thou will share her with us then?” she asked, her tone dropping to a relaxed purr.

“I… no… I don’t… I wouldn’t want to… ah… get in the way.” Celestia gasped, having missed the gentle touch on her wings for longer than she cared to admit.

Leaning back and nuzzling behind Celestia’s right ear, Luna gently blew over it and watched it flick impatiently as she whispered, her words chosen carefully. “You wouldn’t,” she simply said, her words bringing more air forth than strictly necessary.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Celestia cleared her head. Her little sister had always been able to reduce her to putty in her hooves when she set her mind to it and normally, she wouldn’t have minded it. But this got too intimate for her liking.

They were sisters, after all.

It was bad enough that they had overstepped the boundary of sisterhood more than once over the many years of their lives, but this conversation was too important to let that get in their way.

And so, she forced herself to stand up, letting Luna slide down her side and land on the floor with a stifled yelp as she did so.

“Luna, stop. I can’t, okay?” she said, settling down on the cold marble floor a couple of meters away from her little sister.

Luna, annoyed by her sister’s resolve and even more from losing her leverage, huffed frustrated and drew her hooves under her. “But why, Tia? We both have seen from her dream what she seems to wish, so, why art thou so willing to deny her? We know of thine feelings in the night, of thine wish to no longer be alone.”

“Luna, no, it just wouldn’t be proper,” Celestia said, shaking her head and avoiding her sisters gaze.

“Proper of what? Does thou think Twilight is beneath thee? Because if so, no pony else living or dead would even come close to what thou then seek,” Luna said, carefully opening her right-wing and making a show of bringing it to her waiting muzzle. If she can’t tease her sister with bites and licks, she may as well tease her with looks.

“What? No, Luna, no. It isn’t that… rather that I could very well be her mother,” Celestia hastily said, shaking her head.

Humming absently, Luna raised an eyebrow at her sister’s words and observed her wing. She quickly scanned over it before slowly and tantalizingly licking over one of her primaries to straighten it and to show her sister what she was missing out on.

Gulping, Celestia briefly struggled to look away from her temptatious sister. “Luna, I have practically raised her, she was my student since she was six and I was basically her mother while doing so. I have consoled her when she had nightmares and I treated her like my own flesh and blood.”

“But thou aren’t her mother, are thou?” Luna asked, finishing her primary and neatly tucking it back into her plumage before finding another.

“I may as well have been, Luna. What the two of you are asking would be scandalous. There have been many who have accused her of being my hidden daughter already and even more who have thought I may have adopted her along the way,” Celestia said, her gaze deliberately directed at the floor.

“Yet again, thou haven’t” Luna simply stated, as she regarded a feather she was trying to straighten. Deeming it as unrepairable, she gently bit down on the broken feather, carefully plucking it out. Closing her eyes and shivering as a slight jolt of pain and relief shot through her, Luna sighed wistfully.

“No, but...”

“So where is the problem then, sister?” Luna asked, between her licks over the empty socket where a new feather now had space to grow. Judging that it would be enough, she drew her wing back and sought out a new victim to clean.

“This is the problem, Luna!” Celestia huffed, finally annoyed enough to outright stare at her and instantly regretting it as she saw her sister shuddering as she pulled a broken feather out of her wing.

The small part of her that wanted to enjoy what her sister was right now screamed loud enough in her mind that she mentally noted a spa visit was in order in the next couple of days.

But aside from that, she continued her stare at Luna, a slight twitch in her wing irrepressible.

Happy to have her sister’s full attention yet again, Luna paused in her ministration to give her a flat look before resuming and nosing through her plumage. “Then forget that. It is stupid,” she said, watching her sister’s expression derail with one eye.

As she heard Luna’s simple statement and rebuttal of her worries, her jaw dropped, and her determined stare turned into an indignant one. “B-but Luna! We have to think of how our ponies would take it. We can’t simply act the way we want… what if they think we’ve grown weak? What if our neighbors think we’ve become weak? Civil unrest or even outright war could be the result if we… I were to…”

“But we can, sister,” Luna stated simply, having found yet another feather which she straightened back, “as thou have said it thyself the other day, our ponies always come back to ask for guidance. That they see us in some way as a role model makes it even easier. Think of it, what would seem stronger, a ruler who has, despite the many difficulties they have to face each day, still time to hold close those who they love, or one who has to kick and flail each and every day just to keep the country from falling apart?” she asked, stopping her preening and looking over her wing at her sister.

“Then it would still be morally questionable,” Celestia whined, “I can’t just fall in love with my daughter.”

“As far as our knowledge is concerned, neither of us has living relatives or those with connections lesser than 40 to 50 generations back,” Luna stated as a matter of fact, rolling her eyes. “Even that fraud that calls itself ‘Prince’ and is posing his tie to thee around like a shining medal is not able to hold any more claim to the throne than the farmers of Ponyville or Appleloosa could.”

“But…”

“Besides, sister… does thou truly think thou could harden thy resolve for hundreds or thousands of years to come? Would such pretense still be true if Twilight would ask thee in two hundred years? Four hundred?”

“Uhm… I don’t know, but…”

“We both know how time washes away such barriers, or would thou deny thy excitement once we were back and the spring season rolled around?” Luna asked, pointing her wing accusingly at her sister. “So, what would be different then, from now?”

Thinking, Celestia had to shake her head in defeat, “It would still be too early though… she hasn’t even grown accustomed to the fact that she will outlive her family, Luna… I can’t just take advantage of her when she is already questioning her feelings already.”

“So, thou would rather hurt her then?” Luna asked, her pretentious session of preening all but forgotten as all of her attention shifted to her sister. “Thou would rather have her being alone while she has to go through that, than be by her side and show her that not all her family will be gone?”

“What? No! I would never!”

“But thou would sister.” Luna pointed out.

“But she hasn’t even asked yet?!” Celestia tried to defend.

Stopping and lowering her head, Luna thought for a moment before nodding, “yes, yes thou are right… she hasn’t asked as of yet. But from what we know of thine former student, she would hardly do so in a timespan known to ponykind,” she said, her tone filled with sorrow, “which would make her only more vulnerable until she might grow too weak to resist it one day.”

Lowering her ears, Celestia’s eyes widened, “w-what do you mean?”

“Sister! Don’t play pretend with us, we know thou have knowledge of what we speak!” Luna said annoyed and pointing a hoof accusingly at Celestia.

“But Twilight could never… she's too kindhearted…” Celestia tried, shaking her head in frantic denial.

Sighing and shaking her head sadly, Luna glanced away from her sister, “thou know it is true, the both of us are the best example of this. Our… exploits though were rather deeper than thine owns,” she said, her gaze drifting to the moon which had acted as her prison for one thousand years of her life. “Who knows, maybe the next time it will be thee who falls prey to the temptation, maybe Cadance, maybe her. We will never know until it is too late.”

“Luna, just because it happened to us does not mean it will happen to her or Cadance,” Celestia said, her denial of the possibility that either of them could fall to the temptations of the nightmare slowly annoying her sister more and more.

“Yet they both still harbor the thoughts deep in their minds, sister. One we have seen not more than hours ago,” Luna stated, motioning at her sister’s chambers and it's containing pony. “Feelings, emotions, desires, and dreams are possibly more dangerous to us than any outward thread could ever hope to be. It isn’t that they grow a consciousness overnight, sister, we both know this. But we both have fallen prey to its temptation. We when we were jealous of the love thou received, then when thou were unwilling to let go of him…”

“Leave Sombra out of this!” Celestia said, stomping her hoof onto the floor. “What happened back then was unforgivable and I deeply regret my hesitance, but right now this has nothing to do with him!”

“Here thou are wrong, Tia. His fall may have been unstoppable, but the consequential fall of the Crystal Empire could have been prevented if thou would have acted faster!” Luna said, the tone in her voice growing softer, “if thou would have let him go faster.”

“What has that to do with anything?” Celestia asked, her tone growing more irritated by the second.

“What would you do if Twilight would suddenly demand thy love, instead of ask it?” Luna said, standing and moving to her sister. Laying a gentle hoof onto her shoulders, she continued, “it isn’t as if this is bound to happen, sister but rather a possibility. One easily avoided if thou choose to not stall for once.”

“But she hasn’t even attempted to find any other pony before. For the love of my sun, she has never had an interest in any pony. At all…” Celestia argued, the hoof on her shoulder greatly comforting her. “What if this is a mistake? It isn’t healthy…”

“So is thine love for cake, sister. We fear the day the kitchen staff will be unable to provide sufficient amounts of pastry goodness for thee,” Luna said with absolute sincerity.

“That is insulting. Besides, I am not that bad... anymore,” Celestia said, with a wry smile.

“Thou are,” Luna simply stated, giving her sister a flat look.

“Okay fine, you may have a point there… but I would not suddenly become a monster if my appetite for cake would not be quenched” Celestia said, lightly chuckling.

Luna though, just looked at her sister disbelieving, “we aren’t so sure of that,” she said, watching her sister a moment longer before cracking a smile herself. “But maybe thou are right.” Mentally though, she tasked herself with having a closer look at the kitchens one day to ensure such an impasse would never happen. Thinking of it, she bumped the importance a couple of notches as the selfish interests of having her own occasional cravings for ice cream secured suddenly sprouted in her mind.

“Anyway, have thou come to a more sensible conclusion by now then?” Luna asked, staring hopefully at her sister.

Sighing and looking over the railing once more, Celestia hesitated. “Would it then be okay with you if I, um… would partake in it then?” she asked.

“If thou love her and not just pretend,” Luna said, her gaze softening.

Snorting, Celestia looked back, “shouldn’t you have asked that first?”

Shrugging, Luna grinned, “we assumed it.”

Shaking her head, Celestia’s smile widened, “what if I say I don’t?”

“Then thou would surely lie and be a changeling imposter,” Luna stated flatly.

Snorting, Celestia nodded. “Yeah, you may be right,” she said, curling her lips back and hissing at Luna.

Snorting herself, Luna gently nuzzled into her sister, “absorb as much love as thou want, my little changeling sister,” she said, chuckling.

“So I may grow more powerful until I one day can overthrow you?” Celestia asked.

“Try it.” Luna simply stated.

“Oh, is this a challenge?” Celestia asked, barely able to stop her chuckling.

“Maybe?” Luna said, letting go and jumping at her sister.

Rolling around on the floor, the two Princesses gently wrestled each other with hoof, wing, and magic, until Luna came out on top of her sister, softly panting, laughing and grinning like a mad mare. “There, we have defeated the evil Demon of the Sun, we shall have her pastries and wealth.”

“Oh nooo, not my pastries,” Celestia said in mock pretend.

“Thou will be punished and serve us for our personal amusement for the rest of time,” Luna said, her grin only widening and lowering herself onto her sister’s chest.

“Oh, is that so?” Celestia asked, forcefully rolling onto her side and taking Luna with her, “then may I show my mistress just how much I appreciate her?” she mockingly questioned, gently nosing through her sisters almost immaculate plumage.

“Thou may,” Luna sighed, sinking onto the marble floor and relaxing as she looked through the gaps of the railing at the city below. “But what now, sister?”

“Now, I am preening my new mistress,” Celestia said, a grin still spread over her lips.

“No, we mean it, what now?”

“Hmmm… what do you mean?” She asked, gently plucking a small broken flight feather and placing it on the floor next to her.

“Are we going to tell her once Twilight wakes that we have broken into her dream and have seen what she intended to hide?” Luna asked, shivering in delight as Celestia carefully caressed the tender flesh under her feathers.

Stopping and looking at her sister’s face, Celestia cocked her head, “that, would not be wise.”

“So, aren’t we going to tell her?”

“No, we have to, it wouldn’t be fair to her, but… not tomorrow… if we can avoid it,” Celestia said, her gaze shifting to the window and looking at her bed inside.

“When then?” Luna asked, her gaze following that of her sister as they watched the pony-sized lump on the bed.

“I… I don’t know, just not now,” Celestia affirmed.

“And how do we proceed with the fact that she will never freely admit her feelings? If she wakes up and notices that her barrier has failed her, she will most likely put it back in place. Hopefully, she’ll think that it failed due to herself falling unconscious and has no more other safeguarding mechanisms in place.” Luna mused, “If so, we may have to explain to her why we broke into the private of her mind sooner than later, sister.”

“No, you have to explain it, Lulu, I was just an innocent bystander,” Celestia said, grinning.

“Oh no! Thou were just as much involved as we were,” Luna said, shaking her head.

“Well, tell her the truth then, we tried to help her because she didn’t wake up,” Celestia stated simply. “And if she has no further security measures taken, we may as well tease the confession out of her,” she said, lifting one of the broken feathers and lightly dusting her sister over the nose.

Suppressing a sneeze, Luna smirked at her sister, “oh, so thou suggest we dangle the proverbial carrot in front of her until she bursts?” she asked.

“Well, why not? A bit of teasing never harmed anyone,” Celestia said, grinning. “Besides, I always enjoyed seeing her blush,” she added.

“Ooh, we have not yet been able to do that as much as we might have liked,” Luna said, rubbing her nose with a hoof.

“Well, we might as well make it good then, the next week, doctor Heart Petal said she should take it lightly. She may not have the authority to enforce that, but we do,” Celestia said, grinning.

“Oh, thou will abuse thine power for selfish interests?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. “Thou might as well truly be a changeling.”

Chuckling and shaking her head, Celestia nuzzled her sister, “Oh, no, not quite so, technically not even we would have the authority over her, considering that she is an equal. But I can assure you that if the two of us ask her to stay in the castle for a week, she wouldn’t have it in her to refuse, and we would have ample time to try and coax it out of her.”

Chuckling again, Luna shook her head, “thou truly are evil, sister, did nopony ever say that to thee?”

“Well… once or twice in court when I didn’t accept one of the noble’s requests… but aside from that, not that I can think of in any occasions from the last couple of months off the top of my head,” Celestia mused, amused.

“Well, now thee have,” Luna stated, clearing her voice, “Tia, thou are evil and devious,” she said, laughing.

Humming gently, Celestia quickly bit at her sister’s jaw and growled lightly, “I, the evil ruler of Equestria demand my pastries back.”

Chuckling and nodding as best as she could, Luna gave in, “we yield, we yield. Take thy evil pastries and begone,” she said, a bolt of pleasure shooting through her as her sister started to caress the now sore flesh of her jaw.

“And so, the pastries remain in their rightful owners’ hooves,” Celestia said, nuzzling her head under that of her sister.

Chuckling, Luna relaxed under the gentle ministration of her sister.

While the two enjoyed the moment together, a faraway bell began to chime, and Luna looked up at her moon. “As much as we enjoy this moment, we should get some sleep ourselves,” she stated, looking at her sister who was composing herself back.

“You may be right, Lulu, it is growing late,” Celestia said thoughtfully, looking at the moon herself, despite both of them knowing the time through their connections to their respectful celestial bodies.

“And where will thou rest, sister? Luna asked, standing up and shaking her left front hoof from having laid on it uncomfortably.

“In my bed, I presume,” Celestia said, cocking her head to the side and looking at her sister.

“But aren’t thou forgetting that…”

“Oh, I am sure she wouldn’t mind; besides, it is big enough for the both of us,” she said, waving Luna off. “I’ll simply lay myself on the other side.”

“Oh, so late to accept but so quick to embrace,” Luna mused. “Then we may join thee as well,” she stated, determined, “like when we didn’t want to be alone after our banishment. Besides, we have to keep an eye open that thou do not do anything untoward to poor little Twilight.”

“I worry more about you doing something inappropriate,” Celestia said, raising an eyebrow and smirking at her sister.

“We? Never. How could thou think such audacious thoughts about us?” Luna said, holding her head higher and looking down over the brink of her muzzle, “we are most offended.”

Chuckling and standing up herself, Celestia shook her head, “I sometimes wonder how nobles walk so the entire day,” she said, walking past her sister and opening her balcony door, “come now, if we fool around much longer we’ll raise the sun earlier than we get to bed.”

“It is thee who has to rise the sun, we can sleep in if we want,” Luna said, trying to navigate with her muzzle still raised.

“And it is you who has to lower the moon,” Celestia said, rolling her eyes and holding the door open for her sister

Bumping muzzle first into the window frame, Luna scrunched up her face as she raised a hoof to her now hurting nose. “Ouch, how they do this eludes even us,” Luna said, following her sister in and walking past her.

Rolling her eyes once more, Celestia chuckled lightly, “it isn’t as if I haven’t tried that myself, you know,” she said, her tone growing hushed.

“And did it work?” Luna whispered back.

Shaking her head, Celestia carefully stepped one hoof after another onto her bed, careful to not disturb Twilight more than she had to do.

While her sister climbed up to the bed first, Luna took her time to look once more over the already sleeping pony.

Checking that her sleep spell had worn off and that Twilight was now sleeping of her own accord, she was about to follow her sister when she noticed a tiny detail. A slight shiver emanated from the curled-up pony that lightly shook the bed as the temperature had dropped to an outside autumn chill now that the fire had died down.

Noticing this, she attempted to free a blanket from under her to place it over Twilight. Her efforts though quickly showed to be in vain as she would have to move her whole body only to peel the blanket out from under her.

The simple thought of moving her and potentially waking her opposed her almost to the point of disgust and so a better idea came to her mind once she mulled over the possibility of simply asking her sister for another blanket or to teleport her own from her own bedchambers over.

Tapping her sister gently onto the shoulder, she leaned closer to her sisters’ ears to whisper as silent as equinely possible. “She is freezing, sister, move thy fat flank over and help us keep her warm,” she said, her tone more teasing than commanding.

“My flanks aren’t fat,” Celestia silently protested, though followed her sister’s example as both of them gently shuffled around Twilight. Their bodies replacing the pillowy wall Fluttershy had created and their wings enfolding her from above, shielding her from any cold current possible.

Their combined body warmth quickly warmed the trapped air between their wings and Twilight’s shivers quickly died down after a couple of minutes.

Nuzzling her face into the bedding below her, Twilight even flopped to the side and pressed herself against Celestia’s lower body as a makeshift pillow and Luna had to suppress a hardy chuckle once she saw Twilight snoozing comfortably nestled between them.

As an insuppressible yawn escaped her lips, she looked once more over her already half-asleep sister before laying her head down as well. Nuzzling her head under her wings like her sister had done, sleep quickly claimed the two alicorns as they pridefully watched over Twilight like a precious jewel.

A young griffin, barely old enough to count as fully grown, carefully knocked on the dark wooden door at the end of an unlit hallway.

He knew, that being the bearer of bad news meant nothing good for him, yet his duty demanded that he would nevertheless deliver his missive.

Gulping upon hearing a low growled answer, he opened the heavy wooden door and peeked inside.

The room seemed aery, through the windows fell no light and what little light there could have been was blocked by the sporadically drawn curtains as the room greeted the young griffin with an almost pitch-black emptiness.

Only a sole, small candle was lit in the far side of the room, barely enough to illuminate the desk below and only showing the sharpened beak of the griffon sitting behind the table.

Gulping once more and straightening up as was expected from him, the young griffon stepped inside, his paws and claws greeted by the cold stone floor of the chamber only made his heart sink further.

Clearing his voice, he bowed low, stretching his right front claw and touching the floor with his forehead, “M-my liege, I-I bring bad news, the division we sent hasn’t reported back for almost six hours now. The operation while still possibly successful, is until we hear from our ambassador or the leader of the division considered a failure. It is possible they have been captured or simply ran into an inconvenience, but current intel sadly points towards the first,” he said, his voice shaky and frightened.

Not daring to stand up, the young griffon saw from the corner of his eyes the beak vanishing out of the cone of light and heard a chair creaking. A thoughtful hum echoed through the room before the candle went dark.

As the moon, gracefully shining in the night sky, slowly neared the horizon, lazily signaling the break of dawn, the world started to wake. From birds to critters, slowly nature started to rise, while others stepped down to claim their well-deserved rest.

The moon nearing the horizon, nearing dawn, signaled for all the world to see that the day was about to claim the heavens. And while the sun seemingly started to wake, so did its mistress.

Slowly opening her eyes, her internal clock never failed her, Celestia yawned luxuriously.

It was just about time, she knew it, the distinct pressure in her horn was the same as it had been every day since she got her cutie mark. An everlasting call which she no longer needed listening to, because her mind and body were so in tune with it as the birds were in tune with the wind and skies.

Yet, the night had been long and the temptation to just close her eyes and fall back asleep weighed heavily on her.

She had done so in the past and the world had been fine afterward.

She had done so when she was younger, it had always caused her ponies to make a ruckus, but this would be the problem of future Celestia. Present Celestia only wanted to sleep and to curl up in her soft bed.

It was so warm, and inviting…

But a sudden shift on the mattress made her eyes open again.

The question of when she had closed them shot through her mind but was quickly forgotten as her groggy mind slowly pieced another important fact together.

Something on her mattress had moved.

She wasn’t alone.

Luna.

Twilight.

The dream.

Everything came back to her and she started to remember.

Twilight had fallen unconscious after an attack on her parents.

They had tried to help her; they had failed her.

No, they hadn’t, they just needed to search deeper. Needed to visit her dream. She was stuck there.

Her conversation with Luna, her fear, her… decision.

Celestia blinked.

Despite many beliefs, she wasn’t a morning pony. Yes, she had to wake up at dawn for most of the week. But the few occasions she was not forced to do so, she simply raised the sun and went back to bed afterward.

But she had definitely felt something move.

Blinking again, she fought against the temptation to just ignore it, to close her eyes and fall back asleep. Yet, her mind didn’t let her, ultimately common sense won over and she turned her head.

Groggily looking down her bed, she found another sleepy set of eyes blinking at her.

It was her sister. Luna had awoken too.

Of course, she had. She had to lower the moon after all, and she was called from it just the same as she had been. She knew it.

Yawning again, Celestia stretched her neck. A multitude of satisfying pops went through her. “Good morning, sister,” she said groggily, her mind absently wondering why her body felt so heavy. Every movement shaking her awake a bit more, yet the sensations of tiredness still lured her to not move from her spot, there was no reason to get up, why shouldn't she go back to sleep?

Luna followed her example, stretching her neck and flicking her ear as if she were swatting something away. “Morning,” she muttered groggily, stifling a yawn.

Blinking once more, Celestia lit her horn.

Her connection to the sun allowed her to seize it even when it was outside her field of view, and she gently guided it along its path to the heavens.

Luna, doing the same with the moon, gently lowered her celestial body under the horizon, yawning again in the process.

Finishing their daily tasks, both sisters looked at each other. It wasn’t seldom that one slept in the other’s bed or that they shared a bed together, but waking up, entangled and or curled around their sister always made the start of the morning a tat bid awkward. Not that it was uncomfortable, on the contrary, it was much more comfortable waking up not alone, but the mingling memories of past times always shot to the forefront of their minds.

At least, Celestia assumed this. She didn’t know what it was for her sister, but for her, her mind never managed it to banish certain images for good and while neither of them did much more than blink at the other out of sheer content with the situation, Celestia always had to suppress a small blush rising up to her cheeks.

Sometimes… she wondered if Luna knew of her thoughts anyway.

“What day is it,” Luna finally asked, breaking the silence and already laying her head back down onto her hooves.

Quickly glancing at her calendar, Celestia yawned once more. “Sunday,” she said, stretching her forehooves and following her sisters’ example.

“Then we will return to sleep,” Luna said, her eyes already closed and her nose flaring with another suppressed yawn.

Celestia just hummed in approval, glancing at her sister lazily and shifting her gaze towards their wings.

Carefully tilting one of her primaries to peek inside, she spied Twilight, who had shifted in her sleep and had curled up at the far side of their impromptu cocoon.

She looked so peaceful, so happy. A small smile plastered on her lips and her right front hoof gently twitching as if she was dreaming.

Celestia silently wished that she would keep at least some of her calm in the waking world as she slipped her primary back in place to seal her away from the world.

She had exhausted herself yesterday and judging from how much she slept when she had fallen asleep studying in the past, Celestia didn’t expect her to wake before noon at the earliest.

Yawning again, she nuzzled into her front hooves herself and tried to go to sleep once again as a gentle knock on her door forced her to open her eyes once more.

Blinking, she quickly glanced at the calendar again to confirm that this was their day off and another glance at the window confirmed that they had successfully switched night to day.

So, who was it that dared to knock at her door in the middle of… well… morning?

Reluctantly lifting her head, she turned her attention to the door as she heard another, now slightly louder, knock come from it.

As a third followed swiftly, she sighed and gave up pretending whoever was there was going to go away if she ignored them long enough.

Unwilling to risk waking Twilight if it was trivial, she carefully raised a sound suppression field inside their enveloped field of her wings and turned towards the door.

Opening it with a flick of her horn, a startled guard peeked his head inside.

Softening her glare, Celestia remembered that her guards always had a good reason if they woke her. Aside from the times when Blueblood managed to cause chaos again, it always was something important when they sought her out in the morning when they knew of their princess’s preference to sleep in every once in a while.

Clearing his voice, the white stallion prepared to speak. He was one of the finest guards she proudly counted among her ranks and she desperately tried to remember his name. “My Princess’s,” he started, and Luna opened one of her eyes as well to glance at him.

While Celestia calmly smiled at him and gave him her attention, Luna settled to glare at the young pony for daring to disturb her rest.

“I, um, have urgent news,” he said carefully, eying Luna and gulping audibly.

Nodding in understanding, Celestia nudged her sister while her smile widened, “what is it, Guardsman?” she calmly asked.

“Well, um, the, it seems the, that, um, the parents of Princess Twilight are, um, well… searching her,” he said, awkwardly scratching his neck. “While we, um… have been informed that she is in the castle, yet we don’t know of her whereabouts and her parents demand that they see her immediately,” he stated, his resolve withering under her sister’s glare and the seemingly bad news he had to report.

Knowing her guards, Celestia guessed they had probably come together in front of her chambers and had drawn lots to decide who was the unlucky one to knock.

While Celestia had never even thought about punishing the bringer of bad news, the widespread fear of her letting the might of the sun come down towards her disturber always annoyed her and she tried to soften her expression further.

Nodding at the guard and giving him a smile, she bowed her head in understanding, “I see, please, I ask you to bring them here, if they demand to see their daughter, they shall not be denied,” she said, to Luna’s dismay at having her sleep suddenly stolen from her.

Jerking at attention, the guard saluted and quickly fled the room, closing the door behind him.

Once the guard had left, Luna turned her glare from the guard to her sister, and Celestia just smiled sheepishly at her, “you may leave the room and go to your own bed if you desire,” she said, a smile of amusement playing over her lips.

Huffing undignified, Luna shook her head and rolled her eyes, yawning again, she closed her eyes and tried to catch as much rest as she was able to.

After a couple of minutes in which Celestia had followed her sisters’ example, another, now much quieter knock could be heard from her door.

Opening her eyes, Celestia opened her double doors widely without lifting her head and regarded the two ponies almost falling in with care.

Both Nightlight and Twilight Velvet seemed disheveled and somewhat deprived of sleep as well and as they picked themselves up from the floor, both looked around frantically in search of somepony, probably their daughter or a sign of herself or her sister.

Once their eyes landed on the two princesses on the bed, both watching them, one amused, the other annoyed, their eyes widened and they quickly fell into a bow before their two rulers.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I am sorry we have disturbed you, but we are in search of our daughter and we…”

“We know,” Celestia simply stated, blinking lazily at her two guests, “my guards have told me how you’ve attempted to turn our castle upside down,” she said, an indulgent smile playing over her lips at seeing them both blush.

Before they could come up with any excuses, Celestia lifted her head and shifted her expression to one of concern. “Yet, the last time I had seen you, you were both bound and poisoned,” she said, her concern palpable in her voice. “I know our medical staff has been ordered to take care of you, and the fact that you both are on hoof so soon speaks volumes, yet I still have to ask how the two of you are feeling.”

Blinking at the sudden interest in themselves, both Nightlight and Twilight Velvet looked at each other for a moment before shaking their heads, “We are fine, Princess,” Velvet said, dismissingly, “your staff has taken good care of us, we can assure you of that.”

“We are of course grateful for that, your highness,” Nightlight quickly added, bowing once more, “and we would say that it wasn’t necessary, would the two of us not have been… um… otherwise,” he said, leaving the grim detail for everyone present to think.

“Think nothing of it, we would do so for all our subjects,” Celestia said, rolling her eyes, “but you are not just any of our subjects, you are of course tied closer to the throne than any other living relative of mine could ever hope to be,” she gently added, “which makes your claim to search for your daughter only reasonable.”

“Then where is Twilight, your highness?” Velvet asked panicking, her voice full of concern only a mother could hope to express.

“Oh, your daughter is here in the castle,” Celestia said, “while she has had a hard time after her fight with your captors,” she added, receiving an impatient nod from her guests, “she collapsed and had to be treated medically. While Alicorns naturally are very resilient and widely immune to known poisons and illnesses, she has received the best care we were able to deliver,” Celestia explained, hoping to calm the frantic parents but achieving the opposite.

“To make matters short, Twilight is fine, of all medical concerns at least,” she continued, watching the intended relief now finally play over her guests’ bodies. “If there are psychological consequences though, we haven’t been able to tell so far and we simply hope there are none,” she added, despite knowing that they would both not take it well but unwilling to let Twilight’s parents trod in the dark.

Her anticipated reaction came as soon as she finished the thought as both Nightlight’s and Twilight Velvet’s eyes widened.

“But if so, rest assured that she will receive the best care Equestria has to offer and if we have to, we’ll do anything to make sure she will be alright,” Celestia proceeded, receiving an eye-roll of her sister.

“Your daughter is fine,” Luna simply said, glaring at her sister, “we can tell from monitoring her dreams all night.” She added, gracefully leaving out the detail of their nightly adventure.

After overcoming their momentary shock, Nightlight drew himself up, “then, with all due respect, your Highnesses,” he said, eying his wife cautiously, “WHERE exactly is our daughter right now?” he asked, his gaze turning back to his rulers and his determination visible on his face.

“Oh, she is closer than you might think,” Celestia said, smirking at her sister, who smiled back.

As both of the alicorns slowly opened their wings and revealing the still resting pony between, both Nightlight and Twilight Velvet gasped in relief at seeing their daughter.

While they attempted to step closer and to embrace her, swiftly forgetting where her daughter was sleeping or that she was sleeping at all, a blue aura in front of them swiftly reminded them of the two watchful ponies around their daughter. “We would ask thee… you to refrain from doing that. While I know it must be of great relief to you to finally see your daughter again,” Luna said, swiftly correcting her error with modern ponish, “my sister and I hoped for her to catch up on sleep of which she is in desperate need of right now.”

Blinking once and nodding quickly, Nightlight carefully rested a hoof on his wife’s shoulder as she still tried to get to Twilight, “I think the Princesses are right, honey. Twilight sure looks like she is tired,” he said, getting the attention of his wife.

“But she is my baby, I…”

“She is a grown-up mare, sweetie,” he corrected, “and I doubt you could do any better than the Princesses could,” he added, nodding respectfully at either Princess.

“But she is MY daughter, I…”

“Honey, please. I know you want only the best for her, as does everypony in this room,” he tried to reason, “but I am sure that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna know what they’re are doing, after all, with all due respect,” he added, flashing an apologetic smile, “since she has become an alicorn, she has become… well… for the lack of any other word, another… race,” he said, his words sounding wrong even to his own ears, “and following your own words of advice when Twilight was young and asked questions, I believe an alicorn might know what’s best for an alicorn,” he added, effectively earning him a heart-wrenching glare from his wife.

“She is my daughter! I know very well what is best for her… and besides, I never could… I can’t…”

“Miss Velvet, please,” Celestia attempted to reason personally while both princesses lowered their wings to shield Twilight from the light of day, “you’ve known me for a long time now, and you know I would never let any harm come to your daughter, so please, refrain from interrupting her rest now. I will personally send for you once she has woken up on her own, and I guarantee neither I nor my sister will leave her side while she hasn’t,” she explained, calming Twilight’s mother slightly. “While I know this must be hard, I please ask that the two of you take a leave for a while. I doubt the two of you have had breakfast as of yet and I formally invite you to have it prepared from our personal cooks and the castle staff,” she added.

Nodding from her sister’s speech, Luna lit her horn and produced a dark blue token, on which her cutie mark had been ingrained and lazed with gold and handed it over to Twilight’s parents.

As Nightlight took it and looked at it questioningly, Luna lit her horn once more and the token which she had just handed over started to glow for a second in his hoof. “The symbol I have given you is a symbol of office which will ensure that the castle staff will know that you are here on our behalf and that they are to treat you as they would treat us,” Luna started to explain. “This will effectively give you both the rights of diplomats, but I assume due to you not coming from any outer nation, you will not be bothered with any of the normal expectations such a position involves.”

Glancing at the token once more and at Luna for a second, Nightlight raised an eyebrow. “Um, thank you, Princess, but I don’t think this is nes-”

“But I do, Mr. Nightlight.” Luna interrupted, “I have witnessed yesterday's happenings and I am unhappy to tell you, that I believe your stay here at the Castle will surely be one of the longer sorts.”

Looking questioningly at Luna and then at Celestia, both of Twilight’s parents seemed lost with Luna’s half explanation.

Clearing her voice, Celestia directed their attention to herself, “you are right, Luna, but I am afraid no one as up yet has been able to tell them,” she reasoned, suddenly seeming a bit self-conscious for Luna’s eyes, “I would ask of you to remain calm please,” she added and waited for both Nightlight and Velvet to nod in understanding, “but while your daughter… while Twilight fought for both of your lives, she may have inadvertently damaged your… home… irreparably,” she explained remembering the remnants of what formally had been the proud Villa of the Twilight Family.

“While I can assure you that we will take every action and will not shy of any costs when rebuilding your home, I believe my sister may be well-founded in her belief that you will have to stay somewhere for the time being. Seeing as though you are technically part of the royal family as well, you are more than welcome to stay in our castle for the time being.” Pointing at the token they had received from Luna, she continued, “and while the both of you will be well known in the castle, this symbol of office will ensure that you will receive a diplomats suite and all the comforts contained therein.”

Blinking and staring at Celestia in disbelief, both Nightlight and Twilight Velvet looked at each other. “Our Twilight did what?” Nightlight started; his eyes wide, “surely you are mistaken, your highness, Twilight surely would never have done something like… well... destroying a home,” he stated, gesturing with his hoof.

“But I am afraid it is true, Mr. Nightlight,” Luna said, a sympathetic smile playing over her lips, “there isn’t much left of what you had once called your home,” she added.

“Are you sure it was Twilight?”, Velvet threw in. “I mean, I would understand it if any of our attackers did something like that,” she explained, her gaze flicking back to the princesses and then to where Twilight was sleeping. “I have never seen her with anything but the utmost care when it came to her magic, I cannot imagine her doing something like that.”

“Well, yes… normally I too would have to agree with you,” Celestia replied thoughtfully, “yet the outcome clearly states differently.”

“Once your daughter had been able to lower the barrier surrounding your home, we had found her standing in the midst of the rubble, her magic flaring and holding all of your attackers in it and pressing them against the remaining wall of your home,” Luna explained, her eyes briefly sparkling before she got a hang on her excitement. “I have never seen her like that before and through my own magic I have never felt something like it before either.”

“Yet still, Luna, Mrs. Velvet is right, Twilight is usually not known for something like this,” Celestia interjected, “to be honest, it even shocked me to a degree,” she added, her thoughtful gaze softening.

“Though, looking at it from a certain angle, I could understand why she might lose her temper in that situation,” she added, “we never ought to forget. She is an alicorn now, which means she is much more powerful than any unicorn could ever hope to be,” Celestia said, her gaze following that of Twilight Velvet to their closed wing. “Besides, I don’t believe she would have done what she did if there had been any other way,” she added, a soft smile growing on her lips.

“Uhm… you may be right, your highness,” Velvet started, her voice shaky, “b-but may I ask what happened in detail? And what is left of our… home?” she asked.

“You may, but right now, I am only willing and able to state that Twilight may have been angry and therefore used slightly more magic than strictly necessary,” she explained, seeing both of Twilight’s parents' faces go pale. “But, right now, neither I nor my sister know any more ourselves. The barrier which had surrounded your domicile has hidden all the exact details on how your daughter achieved victory and while she hasn’t woken yet, we were not able to as of yet gain any insight from her herself.”

Looking at each other, and then back at the Princesses, neither Nightlight nor Twilight Velvet knew of any more to say right now and therefore Luna started again, “while we understand that this will surely be a shock to hear for the both of you, I would like to ask you to leave for now, as I fear we may disturb Twilight if we were to continue our conversation for much longer. The both of you are, again, welcome in our palace and are more than welcome if you wish to reside here for now. If we learn of any more details of what has happened or how Twilight is faring, I assure you that you will be informed immediately. Besides, I believe Twilight may be the best to answer any of your questions once she has risen, and I am sure she will certainly find the time to do so in the upcoming days, if not hours,” Luna explained, drawing understanding nods from Twilight’s parents.

As both ponies, slightly stunned, shuffled to the door, Celestia could feel Twilight shift under her wing.

Once both Twilight Velvet and Nightlight had left the room, Luna lifted her wing and glanced at their young charge who had now shifted sides and was now pressing herself against her own chest.

Smiling fondly and nuzzling Twilight’s head carefully, Luna lowered her wing once more and smiled proudly.

Smirking at her sister, Celestia raised one of her eyebrows, “don’t think you are any better than me right now, after all, half of the night she has been doing the same to me,” she stated mockingly.

Rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at Celestia, Luna let her head flop back down onto her forehooves. “If thou see reason to point out such implications to us, we may start to think we may be better for her than thee,” she stated mockingly, her eyes now already closed again.

Shrugging and following her sisters’ example, Celestia drew her head into the crook of her wing, “hmmm… maybe you are right,” she stated, letting her own mind fall back and embrace the haze of sleep.

Yawning once more herself, Luna carefully drew her wing closer around Twilight, relishing in the soft sensation of their fur touching.

Before long, both princesses had fallen back asleep and were enjoying the silence of a Sunday morning. Yet their collective rest was interrupted once more as suddenly their bedroom doors slammed open.

Both Celestia and Luna’s head snapped up and looked at the intruder as a distant voice of Princess Cadance could be heard down the hall. “NO Shining! Wait, don’t do that!” it echoed along the hallway as Prince Shining armor stood in the doorway, huffing, trembling and eyes bloodshot.

“WHERE IS MY SISTER!” he yelled into the room, his chest heaving and his expression darker than anything Celestia had ever seen from her former guard captain.

Before any of them could answer though, his expression dropped and his gaze fixed onto Celestia, his horn flaring up and his eyes narrowing. Stepping closer, his voice had fallen almost to a whisper, “you!” he growled, “Answer me! … Where is she? Where is MY SISTER!” he demanded, his expression dark and threatening.

His eyes though, suddenly widened as a pink aura of magic enveloped his tail and quickly yanked him out of the room. His expression didn’t even have the time to transform into confusion as he was dragged outside, the doors silently closed after him and a minor set of commotions started outside.

Celestia blinked.

Looking over to her sister who was having trouble holding her jaw closed, both sisters stared at each other in confusion before the commotion outside stopped, one last yelp of pain coming through the doors before utter silence greeted them.

Before either of them could stand up and look outside for what just happened, a polite and calm knock came from the door, accompanied by a carefully measured, “um… Auntie Celestia?” from Cadance.

Now wide awake, both Princesses blinked at each other, seeing the same befuddled expression as they had themselves plastered on the other's face.

Shaking her head though, Celestia quickly checked if Twilight was still asleep and if the sound suppression spell around her still in place. Heaving a relieved sigh, she lit her horn and carefully opened her doors anew.

Judging from the commotions earlier, Celestia half expected the sight of her guards either pinned by Shining Armor to the floor or triumphant over him.

Her expectations though weren’t met at all, as what she was now able to behold hadn’t even come to her mind at all.

Behind the threshold of her door, a sheepishly smiling Cadance stood calmly in the hallway, her horn lit and a frantic Shining Armor in her magical grasp thrashing and kicking against his restraints. Her guards, who too seemed to have taken a punch, were also enveloped by her magic with both colts seemingly unable to move even the smallest of muscles, though Celestia couldn’t really tell from her position.

Sheepishly scratching her neck, Cadance bowed her head in respect, “um, good morning Auntie Celestia,” she said, and upon spotting Luna’s head looking around that of her sister, her eyes widened in surprise for only a fraction of a second before she added, “and good morning to you too, Auntie Luna.”

Staring at the pony in front of her chambers, Celestia blinked, still confused at what just happened but shook her head and reclaimed her bearing. A small smile settling onto her lips and her protective wing cradling Twilight relaxed. “Good morning Cadance,” she stated, nodding to her and waving her in as well.

As Cadance trotted calmly in, her husband still suspended in her magic seemingly trying to scream at the top of his lungs, she bashfully scratched the back of her head once more, “Um… I am sorry for Shiny’s… intrusion,” she began, bowing her head deeply, “and I am sorry for your guards, being…” she explained, the aura around the colts in front of her doors vanishing and both falling to the floor, “at the receiving end of Shining’s... err… protective instinct.”

Glancing at her guards laying groaning outside of her chamber doors, Celestia let her head fall in defeat, “Shieldfall, Thunderstrike, you are dismissed. Take the rest of the day and tomorrow off, that is an order,” she said in a firm voice, her guards acknowledging her command with weak nods.

Closing the doors with her magic and regarding Cadance once more, Shining Armor never leaving her sight out of the corner of her eye, Celestia shook her head. “I appreciate the apology, yet I am not the one who has taken the beating,” she said, glancing at Shining. “I just hope that he is at least going to apologize for that,” she added, her voice growing darker for a second.

Shaking her head and looking away from Shining. “Still, it is good to see you, Cadance,” she said, a warm smile spreading over her lips, “but, I have to wonder why exactly has your husband taken such an abrupt interest in my guards.”

“Well, once we heard what had happened, we came as quick as we could,” Cadance tried to explain, before drawing herself back up and glancing at her husband.

“Shining has been, to put it lightly, difficult since your letter, and once he'd read the front page of the today’s newspaper’s, well, there wasn’t much I could do but chase him here,” she stated, glaring at her husband and finally bringing him to stop and wither in her gaze. “Will you behave now?” she hissed, the stallion in her grasp seemingly thinking over it and nodding reluctantly.

Rolling her eyes and letting him drop unceremoniously to the floor, Cadance shook her head, mimicking her husband with one hoof and motioning as to his explosive arrival with deliberate mockery while muttering the trademark “stallions” under her breath. Her experiences with them and her comparatively young age of only half a millennium always shined through when she did something like that, and Celestia always had to smile mirthfully when she noticed Cadance’s reactions to the headstrong and brash behavior she too often found herself around.

Giggling amused, Luna shook her head. “It is good to see thee as well, fair niece,” she stated.

“Yes it is, Cadance,” Celestia added, “I would ask you on why you are here, but” she glanced at Shining who was currently picking himself up from the floor to stand next to his wife, “seeing as your husband has already… stated your business and the fact that I sent for you makes this line rather… unnecessary,” she explained, bemused.

Nodding in understanding and smiling at Celestia, Cadance glanced at Shining who was now starting to cower in front of three alicorns staring at him, one sour, one amused and one giving him a death glare for having disturbed her rest. Shaking her head and looking at the bed where both Celestia and Luna had curled around Twilight, unbeknownst to the alicorn of love, Cadance cleared her voice. “Well, while Shining’s method would need more fine-tuning, his question though, is somewhat a reason why we are here.” She began, looking concerned, “what has happened, and where is Twilight?” she asked, bringing forth a newspaper from under her wing and pointing at the headline.

Canterlot Times:

Princess Twilight, will her efforts end in tragedy?

Saturday, noon.

Yesterday, the unthinkable happened. Duke Nightlight and his wife Duchess Twilight Velvet, also known as the biological parents of Princess Twilight Sparkle and resident noble family of Upper Canterlot for over nine generations, were attacked at their home.

Their attackers ambushed their villa and subdued the two defenseless inhabitants quickly, while they erected a magical shield around the mansion to forestall any rescue by the royal guards.

Even with Princess Celestia’s and Princess Luna’s involvement in the affair, they remained unable to breach the perpetrator’s defenses to attempt a rescue mission.

Only after Princess Twilight had arrived, did a fierce battle commence.

While previously exchanging herself for the hostages, Princess Twilight managed to overpower her attacker’s and free herself.

Yet, at what cost?

From current information, Princess Twilight Sparkle had fallen unconscious as soon as the Royal Guards were able to lower the shield, and her current condition is still unknown.

From a hastily held press conference last evening, we know from Princess Luna herself that Princess Twilight must have battled passionately, but ultimately had succumbed to her injuries and exhaustion.

[…]

… finished with reading the newspaper’s contents aloud, Cadance lowered the newspaper and fixed a stern glare at both Princesses. “While I do not believe that Twilight might have lost, I still worry about what happened. So, where is she? And maybe even more importantly, how is she doing?” Cadance asked, accompanying her questions with firm clicks of her hooves on the marble. “Neither the guard nor the medical department apparently know where she is or if she is well.”

Slowly rotating her head to glare at her sister, Celestia’s expression morphed from relaxed amusement of the situation to a stern and barely suppressed glare of indignation, “Lulu?” she asked, her voice suddenly honey-sweet, which made Luna’s fur stand on end. “What, exactly… did you tell the press yesterday?” she asked, the tone of her voice dropping to an ice-cold level.

With her ears folding down, Luna lowly pondered to herself for a second before drawing back up to meet her sister at eye level. “We gave them the truth, sister,” she simply stated.

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia’s stern gaze didn’t waver while Luna tried to withstand her sister’s silence as best as she could, drops of sweat starting to form on her forehead.

Reluctantly letting her head fall, Luna sighed, “Okay, we may have over-exaggerated it a bit, but we have not concealed any information or given falsities,” she explained in her defense.

Sighing with disappointment, Celestia softened her gaze and looked at her sister, “Luna… you should know better than…”

“While I appreciate the implication that this is not as bad as it seemed,” Shining Armor interrupted, his voice firm but bordering on annoyance, “I still want to know where my sister is. You can grill yours as much as you like after we get out of your mane, so… would you please just indulge us for a second?” he asked, his lack of patience shown by his frantic gaze.

Shifting her attention from her sister to Shining, Celestia smiled wryly at the concerned stallion. “You are as protective over her as ever, Shining,” she said, amused. “But what if I were to say that she is already here?”

As anticipated, Shining’s eyes widened for a second, before he caught himself and leveled with a raised eyebrow himself.

Cadance though, who had been around for much longer than her husband and who had learned a long time ago to listen closer than to only that which the eye could see, had already found an interest in the enclosed wing structure of the two sisters.

Creeping closer to the bed, her head held low and her nostrils flaring, there was a certain smell and nearing the bed, she could swear it got closer. The world around her quickly became completely forgotten to her in her search, her eyes narrowed and almost closing with her concentration towards finding the source of the smell.

She followed her nose as best as she could.

A little closer and she'd be sure.

As Celestia gently brushed her away with one of her hooves and secretly winked at her, Cadance found herself back to her senses and blinked in confusion, effectively halting in her actions to stare back at Celestia, a slight bit confused before lighting up with a smile and turning to her husband.

Before she could do anything more though, Shining stomped his hoof on the ground, “Well… I don’t see her here,” he stated matter-of-factly, drawing himself up even more, “while I do not know of any hidden passages or rooms or anywhere she might be, I frankly don’t care… so, where is she?” he demanded.

Slowly tucking one of her front hooves back under herself, Celestia glanced at Luna for a second, who had lit her horn and was staring intently at the increasingly aggressive stallion in front of them.

Sighing at having to cut her game short, Celestia slowly freed her wing from Luna’s own and revealed the snoozing head of Twilight, who was still pressed against Luna’s chest.

Luna, whose wing was protectively curled around Twilight, was momentarily startled as Celestia moved her wing away. But her attention wavered only for a fraction of a second before it returned to Shining Armor.

As Celestia lifted her wing, both Cadance’s and Shining’s eyes widened as soon as they saw the purple head of Twilight poking out from under Luna’s wing.

Cadance, who had foal sat Twilight multiple times when she was younger and had found herself in somewhat of the same position multiple times already, had suddenly the unstoppable urge to coo at the nostalgic display.

Shining though, whose resolve was much harder to break, suddenly lost the fuel to his anger and stopped in relief. Sitting down next to Celestia’s bed, looking exhausted and older than he really was, he sighed heavily and let the frantic turmoil that had been building inside of him all day go all at once.

His little sister was safe.

Getting up and gradually walking closer, he carefully brought his right front hoof up and closer to caress his little sister along the cheek.

She was fine.

His relief at being able to touch his little sister was so strong, that once he redrew his hoof, his whole body started to shake, and a pair of tears ran down his eyes before he blinked them away.

Cadance, who by now had caught herself, settled for a fond smile of relief herself as she regarded her sister-in-law. “So, she is fine?” she asked, watching as Luna slowly relaxed her wing around Twilight.

“Well… she will be, yes,” Luna said, her attention still lingering on Shining Armor, “from what we believe we have been able to unveil so far, she might have overstrained her magic and then simply fallen unconscious afterward. She has been awake… well… somewhat once or twice already, but we figured she should be able to sleep as long as possible to recover,” Luna continued, her attention shifting from Shining to Twilight as she shifted slightly in her sleep, her head pressing against her chest a bit more in an attempt to flee from the sunlight streaming in through the windows.

“Hmmm, and what about Velvet and Nightlight? If I understand it correctly, they had been… exchanged… for Twilight, right?” Cadance asked, her attention shortly shifting to the newspaper.

“They are fine as well, as a matter of fact, they had visited us already before you even showed up,” Celestia chimed in, “and while I am afraid their home might have taken a beating, they themselves are well.”

“Our house has taken a beating?” Shining Armor said, slowly, and quietly.

“I am afraid so, yes. It was the price Twilight, your sister, paid for overwhelming their attack,” Celestia continued. “What happened in detail is still beyond us, but I am sure Twilight did what she thought was necessary at the time,” she explained, her tone comforting, and a hoof laid on Shining’s shoulders. “I know how much your home meant to you. To both of you.”

Nodding sourly, Shining stared solely at nothing.

“We have taken them in so far, so they may stay with us in the castle for as long as their home needs to be rebuilt, or for however long they desire,” Luna chimed in, “but we believe they will need help right now much like Twilight will surely need.”

“I understand,” Cadance said, her mood having dipped slightly, “we will make sure they are well, aunty, and if we may, we may even take them with us to the Crystal Empire to get them away from this for a while.”

“If that is their wish,” Celestia nodded, a small smile spreading over her lips.

Listening silently to their conversation, Shining’s ear flickered somewhat annoyed, “...and Twilight with us,” he stated so silent that nopony was able to catch what he just said.

Blinking and looking at her husband, Cadance straitened her ears, “um… what?” she asked.

“I said we will take my parents and Twilight with us…” he repeated, this time louder.

Panicked, Celestia’s eyes widened, as did Luna’s as they glanced at each other for a second.

“She has to stay with us,” Luna said, alarmed, watching Shining’s and Cadence’s reaction carefully.

While Cadance just looked surprised and slowly raised an eyebrow, Shining Armor though, tensed. “Why?” he asked sharply his eyes narrowing.

“Because… she may… we… we are better able to protect her here, personally, and we will be better able to help her deal with the… um, following consequences of the public regarding the attack,” Luna stuttered together, seeing their true plans for Twilight better-kept secret.

“She is coming with us, and that’s that,” Shining growled. “I am more than capable of protecting my sister on my own, and nothing will be able to come even one thousand hooves close to her without me knowing,” he retorted.

“No! She must stay with us; it is for her own good. Besides, we have the better medical team at our disposal to ensure she will be fine,” Luna hissed back.

“I have complete trust in our medical practitioners. After all, I have trusted them with Cadance and Flurry Heart. They have undoubtedly proven to be as capable as Canterlot’s, if not even more so,” he shot back.

“Um… Shiny? I am sure Auntie Luna has a good reason if she wants Twilight to stay here,” Cadance said, trying to deescalate the growing tension.

“No! Twilight is coming with us!” Shining Armor started to yell.

“Shining… not so loud, please, we can settle this reasonably.”

“Reasonably? What reason would there be for Twilight to stay here?” Shining burst out. “The only thing that would do is keep her in the line of fire for her to get hurt even more! They were here for her… for nopony else… my parents were just used as a means to get to her,” he stated angrily. “And besides, they have already proven that they are incapable of handling the situation on their own,” he added, pointing at Celestia and Luna on the bed.

“Shiny? … ”

“We forbid thee to talk with us in such a way, Prince Consort” Luna snarled back, her wing again curling around Twilight and her horn flaring.

“Prince Consort?” Shining growled. “so is that the way we are playing this game… So, you see yourself as better than us?”

“Shining NO!” Cadance called, trying to calm her husband.

“We are, obviously, thou are just a mere unicorn,” Luna shot back.

Growling, Shining lit his horn and summoned balls of magic to gather power behind his head. “Let her go!” he growled threateningly.

“Pff pathetic,” Luna laughed, gathering her own magic in her horn.

“ENOUGH!” Celestia stated, firmly, both ponies halting mid-action and staring at her. “Luna, tell him the real reason why we want Twilight to stay here, and Shining, I would advise you to calm thyself. The outcome of this would not be in your favor,” She said, having lit her horn herself and countering both ponies magic in a heartbeat.

“But sister, we…”

“She is my sister; I demand that she-”

“Shining Armor!” Celestia called again, “I said calm thyself! Twilight will stay here. It is not that we do not trust you, or your medical staff, or your skill with protection. It has something to do with a matter only my sister will be able to fix, as it is not her health that worries us, but the dreams and mental scars she might take from it.”

“She what?” Shining Armor suddenly stopped.

“Luna, please, tell him what we had to do tonight…” Celestia said, her horn still lit as she siphoned every attempt of them using magic.

Still indignant but seeing her sister’s point, Luna sighed, “we both had to visit her dreams tonight, as she had not only suffered from a severe nightmare after her breakdown but was apparently unable to wake up because of it,” she started to explain. “We were able to banish it so far, so that she could have a restful night, yet we are still uncertain about the coming nights, in which she might fall back into her previous state and therefore could be harmed much more than any magical attack could ever hope to achieve.”

The color draining from his face, Shining looked suddenly appalled.

“See, they have a good reason for her to stay here,” Cadance said to her husband, pressing the bridge of her nose, “look, we’ll stay here too for a couple of days, okay? So you can have an eye on her. But I believe Princess Luna when she expressed her concerns, and I do not take them lightly.” Softening her words, she leaned in and gently nuzzled under his chin, “I also would rather take her with us to watch over her ourselves, but I believe so would Aunty Luna and Celestia. I love her, just as much as you do, but I would rather have her staying here where Luna might be able to treat her, than to take her with us and potentially cause more harm than good.”

Sighing, Shining nodded.

Stopping her dampening spell, Celestia sighed as well. While it was no lie that they had to keep an eye on Twilight’s dream, Celestia knew that her sister could easily do so even if Twilight was in the Crystal Empire. But that was a detail neither of them had to know.

Besides, her own concerns about the safety of her former student could only be quenched when she knew Twilight was close, and Celestia had no intention whatsoever to let any more harm come to her or any of her family.

She already had a plan at hoof for specifically that.

While her attempts of forming a personal guard for Twilight had formerly been halted as her former student had simply refused any offers whatsoever, Celestia, even though she herself thought it a bit mean, had now a valid reason to bring the topic back up again, and she had no intention to drop it this time so lightly.

Regarding the pony pressed against her sister’s chest, Celestia could see how she tried to flee from any source of light and figured that she may sleep for another couple of hours if she was not disturbed further. Gently laying her wing back over her to shield her from the incoming sunlight, Celestia smiled faintly.

“Any clue as of yet as to why she had been attacked,” Cadance asked suddenly, her eyes focused on the wings under which Twilight seemed to relax again.

Sighing at the change of topic and hardening her face, Celestia looked towards her balcony and shook her head, “unfortunately no. While Twilight had been able to subdue all of the attackers, aside from assuring that they are properly locked in the dungeons,” she said, nodding to Luna, “we had simply not yet the time to start any investigations ourselves.”

“Hmm… that is unfortunate…” Cadance said, her face growing sad, “I had at least hoped we’d knew where they came from, or who sent them.”

“Princess?” Shining Armor asked, having calmed down and frowning once hearing of the lack of information, “may I be allowed to interview them... personally?” he asked.

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia regarded him for a second, his determined stare back, which made her inwardly smile, “It would be my pleasure, Shining, yet… please keep in mind, we’ll need to bring them to public court later, even if it is just for show.”

Growing thoughtful himself, Shining nodded. “I think I will manage that,” he said, a sly grin slowly spreading his muzzle.

Giggling awkwardly, Cadance looked concerned. She knew her husband and she also knew how protective he was over his little sister.

A small shudder ran down her back and she quickly tried to find a way to change the topic. Looking at where Twilight laid under Celestia and Luna’s wings, her expression grew softer. “Will you call us when she wakes?” she asks, carefully.

“Yes, of course, Cadance,” Celestia said, her smile sincere and honest.

“Then we may as well get out of your mane for the time being,” Cadance finished, lightly tugging at Shining’s tail.

Looking confused, Shining followed his wife to the doors before stopping once more and glancing back at the princesses, “thank you.” He said, his voice firm, but friendly.

Smiling but tilting her head, Luna blinked, “we are sorry, but we don’t understand for what thee are thanking us.”

“For looking after her,” Shining started, “I know you usually have a busy schedule, so for you to take the time and look after her, I can’t help but thank you,” he explained, his face still turned to the door as he started walking again.

Smiling, both Luna and Celestia looked at them depart.

Once Celestia’s chamber doors had been closed, Luna looked to her sister. “We may need to keep an eye on her brother, doesn’t thou think?”

Surprised by the question, Celestia cocked her head, “whatever do you mean?”

Snorting amused, Luna shook her head, “while Twilight tends to overreact to certain situations, we have the feeling her brother might be a tat bit protective,” she explained, “we simply state to be cautious of his actions for a time.”

Her expression softening, Celestia smiled at her sister, “he may be protective, yes, but he would never do something she would not approve of. Rest assured, your concerns are unfounded. I trusted him to be my… our... guard captain once, I would do so again, which entails he'd know restraint,” she explained.

Laying her head back down at the mattress and inhaling deeply, Luna hummed, “thou may be right, forget what I said.”

Nuzzling the top of her sister’s head, she softly hummed a decline, “I will not, it only shows that you keep far more of an eye on her than any other pony I know,” Celestia explained, laying her head next to her sister.

Laying on a particularly fluffy cloud and cuddling into Princess Luna’s wing, Twilight sighed.

She felt safe, warm and happy. All her anxieties were just a faint memory in the back of her head as she lazily looked up at the stars above.

Squeezing the sleeping form of Celestia lightly and effortlessly dragging her even closer to snuggle into the back of her head, Twilight smiled.

This was wonderful.

She never felt so free, so, ecstatic, in her life before.

Glancing at the sleeping body of Luna out of the corner of her eyes and pressing herself even harder into her embrace, the faint tingle in her head that something was wrong stayed ignored entirely.

Yawning, she nuzzled her head into the crook of Luna's neck as she lazily closed her eyes.

Opening them again, she saw nothing but darkness. Faint specks of light lightly shining through what seemed like a blanket of some sort stung in her eyes and she quickly closed them again. Ending up back on the cloud with both princesses snuggled around her.

Her heavy mind tried to process whatever she just saw, yet she had already forgotten what it was.

Must have been unimportant. Yet, the tingle in the back of her mind seemed to think differently.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to ignore it.

Though, curiosity tickled, she opened her eyes yet again and saw light, too much light. So much light that she couldn’t properly open her eyes. But one thing she could see… a white hoof gently touching her cheek.

Celestia's hoof. It had to be. A small smile settled onto her lips and she closed her eyes again, the sensation of the hoof lingering for a moment before fading away.

The hoof seemed thicker and more muscular than Celestia’s though… almost as if… but this too was unimportant and she quickly forgot it again.

Seeing Luna’s ear flicker in front of her slightly, an unquenchable desire to nip at it overtook her and she quickly found herself holding the flicking appendage between her teeth and gently sucked at it.

It felt... fuzzy. She smiled and laid her head back down, the ear still in the range to caress it gently with her lip as she tried to make it flicker again.

Blinking, the ear was gone, in its place was light again, yet… it was partly covered by a white blanket and a black one hanging slightly in front of her.

Blinking, the image was gone, and she was back in the clouds, though this time, she remembered it.

Something was wrong.

Blinking again, she found herself back in the light. It stung her eyes, but she managed to hold them open and glance around. The white and dark blue thing she thought was a blanket was indeed no blanket at all, it was too... feathery.

Closing her eyes again from the oppressive light, Twilight used the moment to think. Reopening them, she felt a faint sense of cold as white feathers lifted above her.

The blankets she thought were indeed wings.

Dark blue and white. Two majestic wings hovered lightly above her.

The blue one had a feather oddly sticking out from under it. She lazily glanced at it as the urge to nip at it overtook her again.

It felt just like Luna’s ear.

Just like...

She laid her head back down, her eyes lazily scanning her surroundings, the feather still in her mouth. Yes, there… behind her… she could make out the rough form of Luna, with her dark blue coat and short fur. Right next to her was Celestia, her fur white and a bit longer than that of her sister.

A small smile spread over her lips as she felt the mattress shift under her. “Well, good morning, sleepyhead.” The soft and melodic voice of her former mentor rang through her ears.

Yes, this was perfect. Celestia greeted her a good morning, something she had wished for such a long time now. Waking up in the midst of the princesses.

Waking…

Waking up…

A sudden realization struck her as her eyes opened again and she stared ahead. She was waking up…

This was no dream!

Celestia was really there... and Luna... and they were curled around her.

Her eyes widened as she stared at Celestia’s calm and reassuring smile. She blinked, though Celestia was still there. So was Luna, for that matter.

Panic shot through her system as she suddenly jumped up in realization. Her body though, wasn’t just yet awake enough and so her hoofs tangled themselves into the blanket beneath her.

Celestia’s blanket. On Celestia’s bed.

Before she could do anything more she tipped forward and saw the edge of the bed gracefully leave under her. Though neither her wings nor her hoofs were able to prevent the floor from steadily coming closer.

*Smack*

“Ouch,” she groaned from the floor while the blue feather gracefully landed next to her head.

One melodic and one roaring laughter could be heard from behind her.

Twilight blushed, had she really just fallen from the bed? And much more important, had she really just woken up, with both princesses around her?

Yes, yes, she had.

And now both Princesses were laughing at her.

With her butt still half on the bed and her face firmly embedded on the carpeted floor?

Yep, still accurate.

She felt her blush on her cheeks grow with every second passing while she did not dare to move. Maybe if she pretended to still be asleep, she could go back to dreaming in the clouds?

The laughter stopped from behind her, and a soft trail of warmth slowly spread from her back over her whole body, a sheen of golden magic following the sensation in its wake.

She was gently lifted from the floor, just as gently as one would a foal, and carefully placed back onto the bed beside both Princesses.

Celestia had picked her up. Oh, the embarrassment. Twilight briefly wondered if it was possible to pass out from blushing.

Giggling again and holding a diligent hoof in front of her muzzle, Celestia shook her head, “well, I must admit, I had not seen that coming, Twilight,” she said, her voice still filled with mirth.

Well, at least she had made Celestia laugh, that was good, wasn’t it? Twilight asked herself. Her blush feeling as if it had reached her ears, she slowly laid said appendages back against her head.

Her blush instantly forgotten and her eyes widening, as midnight blue hoofs slowly wrapped around her neck, “don’t be so mean to our poor little Twilight, canst thou see that she has just woken up,” Luna asked, her chin gently nuzzling over her head.

The blush returning in full force, Twilight sunk onto the bed even more.

“We wish thee a good morning as well,” Luna said, her voice calm and her throat vibrating with every word.

Slowly realizing that she had been addressed, Twilight blinked and searched for the correct words, “um… good morning?!” she asked, half at them, half to herself, her voice small and weak.

Panic.

A sudden sensation of fear, so strong as to dominate one’s mind and to prevent reasoning and logical thinking. An emotion causing overwhelming anxiety and frantic agitation often combined with an animalistic fight-or-flight instinct.

Twilight knew what panic was, after all, she had studied it thoroughly.

There had been times in history where panic had saved the day. Admittedly though, there had also been times where panic had done much the opposite.

As a matter of fact, Twilight knew every last event in recent history in which panic had been the reason or consequence of major actions ponies had partaken in.

And if someone were to believe her friends and family, Twilight herself was prone to panic.

Briefly remembering when she was young, Cadance had always lectured her how panic would not help her with her anxieties and that she had studied hard enough if an eventual surprise test came from her mentor.

It never helped.

Though, the tests never came either.

Admittedly, panic had also been the cause of one of her greatest mistakes, yet, while having many negative examples at hoof, Twilight didn’t dare to count the number of situations in which panic would have helped her or other ponies.

Besides, panic was a natural reaction to stress and uncertain situations. It helped the one experiencing it through enhancing their fight-or-flight instincts and had been one of the main reasons ponykind survived millions of years ago.

To make matters short, her fine-tuned sense of herself sounded every alarm it could possibly do.

To add to her supposed mania a faint echo of her mother’s voice sounded through her head as she observed the situation, “don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic…”

Yep, now was definitely the right time to panic.

Finding herself at a loss for what to do, as flight was no option while Princess Luna had buried herself in the back of her head and was currently squeezing her to her chest, and fight was, for obvious reasons, no option either, Twilight settled for an awkward chuckle.

While normally this would have been the pinnacle of her dreams, Twilight found that she could not enjoy the current moment as much as she would have liked.

Squeezing her eyes shut and waiting for her eventual combustion in shame, Twilight suddenly felt the sensation of another’s muzzle gently teasing alongside her own.

“It is good to see you awake, little one,” Celestia said, her voice near one of her ears and carrying with it the motherly tone which had always helped to calm her in the past.

It didn’t help now though, and to make matters worse, it did much the opposite.

Chuckling awkwardly once more, Twilight carefully opened her eyes to find the white muzzle of Celestia gently nosing against her own.

She was so close, so tantalizing close, her lips so inviting, so perfect and yet so far away as they seemed to call out to her.

Being regarded with what felt like relief washing over Celestia’s beautiful face, her attention flicked over from Celestia’s face to that of her sister periodically before a quiet chuckle, restrained yet still present, escaped her lips.

“Sister dearest, I do believe you might need to let her go for now, or I am afraid that blush of hers might become permanent,” she said, her voice normal, yet carrying a teasing note which was definitely not for Twilight’s liking.

A whine of disappointment sounding from behind her, Luna slowly let go of her shoulders and settled back into a lounging position, her pout visible as she regarded her sister with a glare. “Canst we not simply be happy that our friend is finally back among the living, sister?” she asked, her voice full of disappointment.

The blush her former mentor had mentioned, was now suddenly in the forefront of her mind in which Twilight briefly wondered if it was possible to blush even more. As she felt the sensation of blood rushing to her cheeks, a quick and even more embarrassing answer was swiftly found.

Not daring to move, Twilight glanced from one Princess to the next, her gaze flicking over to the door and mentally calculating if she would be able to reach it before either of them could do anything against it.

As if reading her thoughts, Celestia, too, resettled into a more comfortable position, her front hooves stretched before her, effectively placed in Twilight’s path and her hind legs gently tucked to her side.

Celestia’s wings gently brushing against her own, Twilight shuddered slightly as her former mentor looked her over with care.

Neither Princess said anything for a time, both just looked at her to see what happened next as an air of silence slowly settled into the room.

Still tense and on edge, Twilight felt the seconds ticking by, each and every one of them feeling like hours upon hours without end. Her gaze flicked between both Princesses, Celestia was giving her her full attention while Luna idly dozed beside her, only her perked ears betraying her attention. And while Twilight had of course heard the expression of dying of embarrassment, the hope of herself having a merciful and quick end, if it ever came to it, was now slowly withering and dying a painful and horrible death in her mind faced with the realization that embarrassment would surely only do this particular job very, very slowly.

Her ears falling flat on the back of her head, another awkward chuckle escaped her lips and she slowly tried to find a position in which the scrutinizing eyes of both Celestia and Luna wouldn’t find her.

To her great dismay though, there wasn’t one.

And while Celestia’s glance only conveyed her worry for her, Twilight couldn’t help but feel intimidated and judged by it, backing away slowly like a scolded cat before bumping into Luna and almost jumping out of her fur in shock that she had forgotten that she was still somewhat trapped in between both Princesses.

Awkwardly shuffling around and forcing herself to relax, she let herself sink onto the mattress, her thoughts racing, while her head felt emptier than it had ever felt before.

Why was she here?

Why had she been sleeping, out of all possible places, here?

What happened?

As the shock of her awakening slowly ebbed away, she forced herself to forget about the here and now for a moment and tried to piece together what had happened. Her mind helpfully supplying her with bits and pieces, she mentally went through what happened yesterday.

Skipping forward, the first jarring thing that came to mind was that she hadn’t enjoyed what Aloe had done to her, not that it was Aloe’s fault or that this was helping her right now, so she shook her head and moved on.

Then, there had been Spike.

And a letter.

The letter had caused her to be angry.

Then, everything had been white.

She remembered a sensation of shattering glass, of confusion and then the sudden sensation of falling.

There had been Canterlot. There had been her family’s home.

And a shield.

A fight.

Her parents.

The last thought echoed through her head. They had been in danger! Twilight’s breath hitched.

Had they been all right? Trying to remember, her heart started beating faster and faster for every second she couldn’t remember.

Had she been able to save them?

She had tried, she remembered, but had it worked?

She had exchanged them for herself.

“Had it worked?” The thought once again echoed through her head.

She remembered fighting, and anger.

But after that, the last thing she remembered was Celestia in tears and Luna in shock.

Had she been able to free her parents? Had she been able to free herself?

She remembered being bound, yet now she wasn’t.

Everything felt so real, yet so surreal at once. What if this was all a hallucination? If she was still trapped with those terrorists? What if this was a dream or… or an illusion? An illusion to keep her calm?

Her breath hitching again, Twilight instinctively lit her horn and tried to channel magic through it, determined to get out of…

Yet, as soon as she did so, a head-splitting sensation of pain shot through her forehead.

Crying out in agony she forced her hooves to her head, futilely trying to dampen the pain with the pressure of her hooves as she tumbled to her side and curled herself into a ball, intent of shielding herself even further.

“Ow,” she whined, the pain only slowly ebbing away as she rubbed the base of her horn.

Somewhere in her brain a realization slowly struck, the fact that she felt pain made it painstakingly clear to her that she at least wasn’t in a dream.

One out of three possibilities ruled out.
Would she not have to hold her head in agony right now, Twilight would have smiled.

The silence broken and her concern piqued at seeing Twilight curl up in sudden agony, Celestia glanced to her sister for a second, “Is everything all right, Twilight,” she asked, the teasing voice from before gone and replaced with worry.

Shaking her head, Twilight pressed her eyes shut, “It hurts,” she quietly whined, feeling as if thousands of needles had simultaneously been sunk into her scalp.

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia carefully crept closer and laid a hoof to the trembling forehead of her former student. It was warm to the touch, but not too warm. Yet Twilight still pressed her hoofs against her head in agony.

She frowned.

Before Celestia could ask any more though, Twilight slowly shook her head and forced her eyes open, her gaze all but piercing through her with its intensity, “How… how are my parents,” she asked, her voice strained but determined.

Trying to bury her concern for now, Celestia stopped for a second before she replied softly, her voice lowered, “They are fine, Twilight, you saved them,” she stated, her gaze glancing to her sister pleadingly.

Luna, who had already lit her horn and conjured up a glass of water, was currently busy with carefully offering it to Twilight through nudging it against the tip of her nose, “Thou shouldst drink, Friend,” she calmly said, her expression of boredom gone and replaced with worry as well.

Shaking her head to clear it from the illusion Luna would know more, Celestia carefully nuzzled herself closer to Twilight, offering a space under her wing which the young alicorn almost happily seemed to take. Her worries piqued, Celestia let her wing gently fall onto the younger pony and regarded her with concern, “Do you… remember?” she carefully asked, trying to keep her voice low so as not to add any further to her friend’s misery.

Draining the cup of water like a pony leaving the desert, Twilight almost overlooked the question. Clutching the empty glass between her hoofs, she regarded it for a second before she held it up to her forehead as she softly nodded and replied, “I think so, yes,” she said, her voice raspy yet calculated.

Looking up from the glass and staring at Luna for a second, Twilight’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, “H-how do I know that you are real?” she asked carefully, trying not to offend anyone if her suspicion proved to be wrong.

Raising an eyebrow, Luna looked at Twilight and then to her sister with confusion. While Celestia just stared back at her, a bemused smile on her lips, Luna almost followed her urge to question Twilight on what she meant.

While she had dealt with many oddities over her years, that particular question was nothing she had to answer often enough to have a reliable phrase to use. Yet, pondering over the sudden inquiry and remembering that it was Twilight, the personal student of her sister, who had asked that question, a sudden realization slowly blossomed in her mind.

What if her sister had somewhat trained her for the event of her being abducted? It made sense, seeing that many could harbor ill intentions towards the personal student of a Princess.

Looking back at her sister once more and only seeing the self-satisfied smile of her once again, Luna had to suppress a sigh and a sudden fit of chuckles before she could answer, “Oh, dear Twilight, that is certainly the question, is it not?”

Having a hard time suppressing her chuckles as well, Celestia nodded, “Well, it is a valid question, I suppose,” she thought aloud. “After all, we could simply be an illusion or something alike, supposed to keep our friend here company and trying to figure out state secrets,” she said, her smirk almost audible in her voice, “this though, begs the question on how we ought to prove that we are real, and by extension not an illusion.” She concluded, wrapping her wing tighter around Twilight’s mid-section.

Nodding along, a quiet “eep” escaped her lips as Celestia tightened her wing.

“On one hoof, I should be proud,” Celestia continued, making Twilight suddenly blush anew. “On the other, I do believe I should be agasp too, because if this is the first thing to think about when you wake up next to us, then I am all but certain I did something wrong when teaching you,” she said, making Twilight shake her head frantically.

“No, no, no, I… I just, I am sorry, I just thought…” Twilight tried frantically, but Celestia paid it no mind and simply continued.

“Though, this still begs the question on how we are supposed to prove that we are real,” she explained, looking to her sister, who poorly hid a fit of chuckles behind her hoof.

Looking away, she made a show of thinking over the question for a moment before she gave Twilight a sidelong glance, “Well, I suppose I always could prove it this way,” she said, and quickly but gently pushed Twilight to the side, making her roll onto her back and bare her belly while the already forgotten glass rolled harmlessly to the edge of the bed before Luna absently picked it up and placed it on the nightstand.

Assaulting the now exposed underside of her former student, Celestia quickly flicked her right-wing up and down Twilight’s chest fluff and upper belly, making her squirm and gasp in irrepressible laughter.

Effectively trapping the young pony in place, Celestia continued to think aloud, “Though it is oddly common for ponies to be ticklish somewhere and it proves to be poor evidence for the matter, especially at their most vulnerable places like the belly,” she stated dismissively and proved her point by spreading her feathers wider, making Twilight laugh even harder and not giving her any breathing room to escape as she continued to assault her with her wing, her gaze still turned away and upholding the pretense of her thinking over the question, “A more solid proof would be to tell you something only I would know, which would range from knowing your favored dish, which would be all sorts of sandwiches or dishes with daffodils, to the sort of books you always asked me to read when you were young, which would be one of the Star Swirl the Bearded collection,” she continued, one hoof thoughtfully hold under her chin as if to think.

Sniggering and having to actively stuff a hoof into her muzzle, Luna had to work hard not to break out in roaring laughter herself as she watched her sister make Twilight kick and flail helplessly under her ministrations. Twilight’s attempts at holding back her own laughter had already been given up in hopes of easing her breathing and/or escape.

“Ha… I… ha… I yield… I… I yield” Twilight gasped aloud between laughs, her breathing growing quicker and her sides starting to hurt, “I yield, I believe, I… stop… I can’t… I yield… please.”

Ignoring Twilight’s remarks, Celestia continued as if nothing had happened, yet her mind quickly filed the fact away that Twilight had kept her habit of giving up like she had done when she was a filly and had to have been tickled into submission to either calm or reassure her, “Yet, I also could bring out one of the many things you made for me over the years, as nobody would ever be able to get their hoofs onto those things.” She continued, watching Twilight attempting to flee from her offending appendage, “I could, just to prove my point… also move the sun, yet this could be imitated by the one casting the illusion by simply changing the lighting of said illusion,” she explained, finally letting go of her former student, who by now was gasping for breath next to her, “Besides, that would only serve to make me seem fake even more as you would know I would never do something like this without a very good reason.”

Shrugging and turning around, Celestia carefully laid her head down onto Twilight’s chest, as she had done so in the past, again trapping Twilight under her and looking into her former student’s eyes directly, “Or, I could tell you of the many adventures you and your brother had in my castle and the gardens when you grew up, or the silly little dance you and my niece always performed when you two met.” She said, grinning at her former student, who only slowly got back to her senses. “I could also recite the many situations in which you have attempted to rob me of one of my forehoofs with your absolutely adorable attempts at giving me a hug when you greeted me when you were younger,” she finished, smiling at Twilight and causing her blush to find its way back onto her cheeks.

“Tia, thou are cruel,” Luna stated, laughing.

All Twilight could do though, was nod and blush at Celestia, who wasn’t about to move away so she could possibly stand up.

Closing her eyes, Celestia exhaled through her nose, “But if I may ask, am I correct in my assumption that you tried to figure that out through your magic?” Celestia asked, her expression turning serious for a second, “Possibly, for example, with a four-dimensional location spell?” she asked, grinning anew and drawing a nod from the pony beneath her.

Humming, she sighed again and got up, “Well, I presume that this might be the aftereffect of the poison you so readily swallowed, my dear,” she stated, looking down at her former student and changing the subject.

Already missing the warmth and the contact with her former mentor, Twilight slowly turned around, one hoof absentmindedly reaching to her forehead and gently rubbing under her horn, “But I thought that we… didn’t you say once to me that… well… we are immune to poisons?” she asked, her voice thoughtful and slowly regaining its normal quality.

“We are not,” Luna stated, as a matter of fact, drawing a surprised glance from Twilight, “it is simply that our bodies are able to recover from what would normally be a lethal dose of poisoning. We do not die from it, nor come close to the effects we hath seen some alchemical brews hath wrought upon other ponies,” she said, a barely visible shudder going over her body, “yet, we are not immune to them either,” she explained, waiting for her sister to nod in confirmation, “while we do not perish from such simple concoctions, or from the complex, for that matter, they can, quite effectively so, harm us in other ways,” she gestured to Twilight’s horn.

“I assume that whatever you have taken was not intended to kill you,” Celestia helpfully supplied, “but rather to stop you from using your magic and therefore restrict you in your capabilities to fight,” she added.

Nodding along, Twilight laid her ears back, “Which, well, seems to have worked as intended,” she said, lighting her horn in demonstration but wincing as soon as her magic flowed through it.

Politely clearing her voice and drawing the attention back to herself, Celestia continued, “While I suspect that our bodies do not react negatively to something unless it would truly be harmful to us, my sadly many observations have shown that we seem to react differently to what would normally kill a mortal pony,” she explained, thoughtful, “I think that our magic is somewhat helping our bodies to cope with such substances, seeing that it is also responsible for our enhanced regenerative capabilities,” she added.

Shrugging, Luna smiled, “Said in other words, we are simply too stubborn to perish from poisons,” she joked.

Rolling her eyes, Celestia shook her head, “Which is not to say there aren’t consequences, though,” she said, turning back to Twilight, and suppressing an involuntary shudder, “Cyanide, for example, will manage to make it hard for us to stay conscious,” she mused, growing a distant look, “as I can personally attest to as I have spent multiple days tied to my chambers, barely able to get up and half-unconscious the rest of the time after consuming a dose able to fry half an army,” she said, her tone normal as if speaking of the weather.

While Twilight’s mouth fell open, Luna sniggered as she remembered, “Though, thou hast to admit the faces of our guards and the assassin were priceless as thou chucked down half a bottle of that stuff right in front of them before sending him to jail,” Luna said, barely holding her composure.

Shrugging, Celestia smiled at Twilight, who stared back at her, her mouth hanging half-open in disbelief, “Such feats every once in a while, do certainly help in reducing such attempts in the first place though,” she stated, barely holding the laughter back herself.

“B-but isn’t that dangerous? What if it would have k…”

“Oh, hush now, Twilight, my sister and I have survived much worse than that,” Celestia said, slowly pushing Twilight’s mouth shut, “besides, right now, I am more worried about you than I am over what we have done thousands of years back,” she explained, moving her hoof so as to cup Twilight’s cheeks.

Blushing, Twilight only managed to stare back at Celestia, involuntarily leaning a bit into the touch and hoping her former mentor simply wouldn’t notice.

Celestia though, noticed just fine, but opted not to say anything and rather looked into her former student’s eyes, seeing what seemed like an affectionate quiver inside of them. Letting her hoof linger on her cheek just for a moment longer, she drew her hoof back, letting it fall back onto the mattress and looked her over. “Hmm, how about you, my sister and I take a nice long bath together?” she finally said, breaking the silence and glancing at her sister, who perked up at the suggestion.

Her silent hope that Twilight would do the same was quashed though, as her ears fell back onto her head and she looked down at her hoofs, looking for all the world as if she was haunted and shaking her head slowly.

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia cocked her head for a moment, yet, before she could say anything, Luna spoke up. “Why ever not?” she asked, her own head laid askew, and her wings rustling.

Blushing even more, Twilight glanced to both ponies for a moment before looking back at her hoofs, frantically thinking and searching for a good reason to deny the request as she feared that seeing both her crushes bathing with her would make her already lewd dreams only worse, “I… I can’t,” she said, her voice small and uncertain, “I… I need to see my parents first,” she said, stating the first thing that came to her mind.

Rolling her eyes, and sighing, Celestia nodded slowly, “I see…” she said, her voice purposefully carrying her sorry tone with it, “I do believe we have no right to hold you back from that,” she explained, nodding to the door.

Ducking her head as if struck, Twilight couldn’t believe that this actually worked as she slowly got up from the bed, “I-I am sorry, b-but I need to see them,” she said, the worry in her voice all too real.

Sharing a helpless glance with her sister, Luna sighed as well, “We do believe thou wilt find them in the dining halls, along with thy brother, sister in law and possibly thy companion Spike,” she explained, her head still turned away from the young pony.

Getting up herself, Celestia slowly made her way over to her desk, her tone still holding a disappointed touch to it as she settled down and fixed Twilight with a determined look, “Before you go though, I would ask you to pay doctor Heart Petal a visit.” She said, drawing a slow yet confused nod from Twilight, “She is our personal physician and she tended to you yesterday night as well,” Celestia explained, “and she has expressed health-related interest in you visiting her when you wake up so she can check up on you,” Celestia said, her gaze fixed on Twilight to forestall excuses.

Nodding and turning around, Twilight wordlessly left Celestia’s chambers and pulled the doors shut.

Once Twilight had left, Luna luxuriously stretched on her sister’s bed, her wings flapping and her back arching like a cat before she let herself fall to her side to look at her sister expectantly.

While Celestia pulled out multiple pieces of paper, an ink-pod and one of Philomena’s feathers, and was about to go to work, Luna arched an eyebrow, “It is Sunday, sister, what is so important that thou wouldst start to work at such an hour?” she asked, her head slowly sinking between her hoofs as she regarded her sister.

Not stopping in her writing and not looking up either, Celestia cleared her voice softly, “If you remember, Luna, we gave to certain ponies a promise that we would notify them when Twilight woke up,” she stated diplomatically.

“Ah, so thou art writing to her friend’s now,” Luna asked.

“Among other things, yes,” Celestia confirmed, a smile spreading over her lips, “besides, I fully intend to have her treated to a bit of relaxation when she is finished with her appointments,” she added, making Luna’s head perk up, “after all, the doctor has stated she is supposed to take it easy,” she said her grin spreading, “and knowing my former student, I know that she will need some help with that.”

Intrigued, Luna got up and jumped from the bed to walk to her sisters’ desk, fully intending to help in the creation of such a plan.

Hours later, Twilight trotted along the halls of Canterlot Castle, her mood best described as annoyed by all the fussing that everyone seemed to see necessary around her.

Visiting the great dining hall had been a less than stellar experience. While it had been of great relief to see her parents up and running just fine, her annoyance had started as everyone seemed to feel it necessary to inquire of her wellbeing.

She felt just fine, well…mostly.

After multiple reassurances to her parents, later to Spike, Cadence and last but not least her brother, Twilight was annoyed. Having to answer the same questions over and over again, each one of them more concerned than the other, all that Twilight wanted to do now was to get to her chambers and either have a bath, or to curl up right away with a good book.

Her visit to Heart Petal had been much the same. While she had not been as insistent as her parents or her brother had been, the young doctor saw it as necessary to have her go through a multitude of tests and exams.

Adding to her annoyance, even though Dr. Heart Petal had given her something that would speed up her recovery to allow her the use of her magic quicker, she was still unable to cast even the simplest of levitation spells without her head feeling as if it would split apart. And after Heart Petal had, what felt after hours, also confirmed that she seemed fine, she had finally let her go after a half-hour long explanation that she was supposed to take the next week and, if possible, even the week after that, off.

Yeah, not gonna happen.

She was a Princess now; she couldn’t just take a week off of her royal duties. What would ponies think?

What would Celestia or Luna think?

Yeah, while she fully intended to have a lazy day today, after the one yesterday had been stolen from her, Twilight wasn’t about to let such an event slow her down.

Besides, she still had a couple of things she needed to research now, and her recent experiences only added onto her list.

Lost in her thoughts and rounding the corner leading to her personal royal chambers, a “small” gift from her former mentor as she had put it, she bumped muzzle first into what felt like a pony.

Already annoyed enough and even more so at still not being able to use her magic properly, Twilight didn’t even glance up as she mumbled a halfhearted apology before making to continue her way.

The pony who she had bumped into wasn’t about to let her go so quickly, though. “Well, if that isn’t our dear Princess of Friendship I see,” a male voice carried to her ears and she stopped mid-step, her blood running cold.

Why, of all ponies, had it had to be this one? She mentally cursed fate.

“It is good seeing you up, Your Highness, you have quite startled us all with your little stunt yesterday,” Blueblood said, his distaste for her probably intentionally poorly masked.

Clenching her mouth shut, she ground her teeth against one another before replying, “For what it is worth, I am sorry for making you worry,” she said, still turned away and her voice bordering on annoyed.

If she snapped at him or dismissed him directly, he would surely round up the papers against her again, and while bad press was not her biggest concern right now, she wasn’t willing to have to deal with all of that adding to her list of worries right now.

Walking around her and stepping in front of Twilight, Blueblood looked her into her eyes, “Oh, you misunderstand, Your Highness, I had full confidence that you would succeed,” he stated, nodding to himself, “yet I cannot deny that certain rumors have already begun to spread,” he said, mocking shock, “some of them even expressing your untimely demise, and others telling that you have willingly traded yourself,” he let his voice trail of and made a circular motion with his hoof, “to free a couple of… lower ponies,” he said, punctuating his words with a snort of disgust.

Closing her eyes and inhaling through her nose, Twilight tried to stay calm and composed before opening her eyes again, “What do you want?” she asked, her already crumbling façade cracking slowly.

“Oh, I? Well I was just about to make sure that our youngest Princess was on the way to recovery,” he stated as if not noticing her patience running thin.

Before he could continue with anything else though, another voice rang along the hallway, “Ah, Princess Twilight, there you are,” Celestia said, making Blueblood’s head turn back to look at her, a flick of disappointment running over his face, “We have already been looking for you,” she stated, Luna following her through the hallway.

Reaching where Twilight and Blueblood were still facing, Celestia bowed her head slightly in greeting, “Ah, and good day to you too, Blueblood,” she said, making both motions and tone only as friendly as absolutely necessary.

Kneeling in front of Celestia curtly, Blueblood’s tone shifted to a much friendlier one before replying, “Good day to you, Your Highnesses,” he stated, alternately nodding to Celestia and Luna in respect.

“While I am terribly sorry I have to interrupt this way, I do believe I have to steal Princess Twilight from you, as we have urgent matters to discuss,” she explained, unwaveringly looking at the prostrating stallion in front of her.

“Oh, this is no problem at all, Your Highness,” Blueblood said, “I was just here to wish her a good recovery from her injuries,” he said, waving a hoof.

Unseen to him, Twilight rolled her eyes but otherwise chose to remain calm.

“I do not doubt that,” Celestia said, nodding and slowly starting to continue her walk, opening one of her wings to usher Twilight along, “Twilight, would you please follow us?” she asked, watching Twilight fall in step next to her.

Seeing the relief of being rescued from That Stallion flash over Twilight’s features made her smile and as all three of them had rounded a corner, leaving Blueblood standing in the hallway, Celestia lowered her wing and tucked it back against her side, “Taking from your expression, I saved the morning press right now, didn’t I?” Celestia asked lightly.

Ducking her head and nodding ashamed, Twilight heard both princesses giggle beside her.

Still self-tasked with having a bit of alone time, Twilight looked up at Celestia, “Um, Princess, if I may ask, is there really a reason you wanted to talk to me, or… um… can I go now?” she asked carefully.

Letting a small pout flow into her expression, Celestia cleared her voice, “In a hurry, are we?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.

Hesitating but shaking her head, Twilight chuckled awkwardly, “Well, not directly,” she said, glancing away and at the passing windows, “but, I, well, I was about to go to my chambers to have some time to myself,” she explained.

Falling back and speeding up again, Luna fell in trot next to Twilight, effectively making the young Princess walk between both of her elders, “We were about to go to the royal spa ourselves,” she stated, gently nudging Twilight with a wing, “and we would greatly enjoy thy company as well,” she added.

Chuckling awkwardly and suppressing a blush, Twilight mentally searched for a reason to again deny the request, though this time, her former mentor spoke up first.

“Oh, I have to attest to my sister, it would be nice if you would come along,” she said, her voice trailing off, “if our company is not too much of a bother to you right now, of course.”

Eyes widening, Twilight instinctively shook her head, “Oh no, never, it would never…,” she said, mentally cursing her own inability to contradict Celestia, “I would be happy to come along,” she said, looking up.

Mentally congratulating herself for having got ahold of Twilight that easily, Celestia nodded in acceptance, smiling at the smaller pony and continuing her stride through the long halls of the castle. Not willing to let the conversation die down, she gently nudged Twilight with one of her wings, “So, how went your appointment with Heart Petal?” she asked honestly interested, after rounding yet another corner.

Silently sighing at yet another attempt at acquiring about her wellbeing, Twilight nodded, “It went well, I think,” she said out loud, keeping her eyes straight ahead and avoiding eye contact.

Seeing both Twilight’s suppressed sigh as well as her attempt at avoiding eye contact, Celestia raised an eyebrow, “That is good to hear,” she said, glancing to her sister, who merely shrugged as a reply.

Looking back from her sister to her former student, Celestia added, “And your meeting with your family?”

Mentally stopping at the fact that the question wasn’t directed at her health, Twilight smiled slightly as she replied, “Well, that went better, to be honest. It is good to know that both my mother and my father have survived and that they feel at least good enough to walk around,” she explained happily.

“Tis certainly a good outcome of yesterday,” Luna added, drawing a small nod from Twilight.

“And while I would have been happy to see Flurry as well, it is good to see my brother and Cadance for a change, even though Shining is currently blaming himself for not being there in time to help,” Twilight added.

“Well, the breakpoint of a fight or the resulting situation and mood are probably not the best place for a young filly of her age,” Celestia said, a fond smile on her lips at thinking of her grandniece,

Nodding, Twilight continued, “Yeah, you might be right,” she said, looking up and at Celestia, before blushing and quickly averting her gaze.

Rounding yet another corner, Celestia and Luna came to a stop in front of a large wooden double door, Twilight barely realizing that they had stopped walking and coming to a halt two meters further ahead, “Here we are,” Celestia said, lighting her horn and enveloping the door in her magic.

Opening the door wide, Celestia beckoned Twilight closer while Luna all but jumped in, a childish “Wuhuuuuuu” coming from her before a watery splash could be heard from the inside.

Following her former mentor and smiling at Luna’s antics, Twilight shook her head and sheepishly grinned at Celestia when she noticed her trailing behind.

For what it was worth, the room could hardly be described as a wide bathroom. White tiles framed both the walls and ceiling, the floor was a smooth solid and warm marble. Lavish basins filled with water had been seemingly carved out of the walls and decorated with elegant mosaics of sun and moon. A constant stream of water, fed by a spring hidden deep inside the mountain, refilled them and kept their water crystal-clear while simultaneously causing them to gracefully overspill their content into an indent in the floor.

Multiples of those small tubs, each still big enough to comfortably hold more than 10 ponies, all overflowing with water, constantly refilled, cascaded together into an enormous pool in the center, its outline forming a giant half-moon cradling a smaller sun in its midst.

And while the room and every water-filled body could probably hold more than one hundred ponies at a time, it was completely empty, save for Luna who was currently submerged in the pool in the middle, diving from one end to another.

Stepping into the room, Twilight gasped as never in her life had she seen this room before and could not remember hearing anyone ever talk about such a giant construct in the middle of the castle’s belly.

Mentally going through the list of corridors through which they had passed, she realized that this enormous room had to have been carved out of the solid rock of the mountain. Looking up at the high ceiling, a multitude of yellow-glowing gems had been embedded into the arched ceiling and were now illuminating the steaming room below.

Celestia, stepping in behind Twilight and having closed the door behind them, leaned down to whisper into her ears, “Impressive, isn’t it?” she asked.

Simply nodding, Twilight stared, in between every tub next to the walls, small shelves had been let into the walls, holding scents and soaps and filling out the rest of the space. Solid marble benches, which stood throughout the room, allowed anyone to perch atop and to comfortably rest away from the waters while not being too far away as to hinder one to mingle with those inside.

Chuckling at Twilight’s dumbfounded expression, Celestia continued walking, drawing one of her primaries slowly over Twilight’s back before looking back, “Come now, or do you want to gawk here all day?” she asked, smiling.

Eyes wide and blushing from Celestia’s touch, Twilight sharply shook her head and trailed after her former mentor, who made her way over to one of the entrances to the pool in the middle, “P-Princess? How… why… this is…I have never heard of this room before,” she finally managed to say.

Giggling lightly, Celestia swept her hoof around, “This, my dear, is the royal bath,” she explained.

“B-but, how come I have never heard of it before?” Twilight asked, still looking around in awe but slightly discontented at not knowing something like this. She had lived here half her live, after all.

Chuckling softly, Celestia leaned her head closer to Twilight’s “Because it wasn’t used for over one hundred years,” she explained, “I had it built around 700 years before you were born to hold court here,” Celestia said, looking up and gesturing at the far side of the room where Twilight could see a large bench placed upon what seemed like a dais, “back then, the custom of social baths had not yet been forgotten and I held day court here.” She said, a glimmer of remembrance shining in her eyes as if she would see the room as it had been in the past, pony filled and a place of joy.

Blinking the memory aside, she smiled down at Twilight, “Though, if I have to be honest, I didn’t account for the rising amount of bureaucracy at the time, so even though I was the one commissioning the build, I had to abandon it after only around 20 years of use,” she said, her small smile cracking a bit wider, “over the years, it has found its use as a social gathering place and even as a public relaxation room every once at a while, but around 300 years ago, Ponies started to forget its… existence,” she explained, her grin akin to sheepish, “And while it could be argued that the maids would remember, they too forgot why it was there in the first place and I never bothered to remind them of it, nor did Cadance.”

“Cadance? She knew?”

“Well, of course, she was the one who came up with the idea not to remind them in the first place,” Celestia said, a warm smile on her lips, “and she was the one who suggested that we should finally take something like this as our own,” Celestia said, shrugging, “besides, no one needed it any longer.”

Reaching the pool in the middle, Celestia stood before it, watching her sister and waiting for Twilight to finally step beside her, “And while I usually do not use public funds to have something of that grandeur to myself, or to only us,” she gestured with her hoof to Twilight, Luna and herself, “I found that if the royal family could keep a hold on this little secret of ours, we could have a place to retreat to every once in a while.”

Trotting closer to her former mentor, with her head still spinning around in awe, Twilight nodded, “This surely sounds wonderful,” she said, coming to a stop next to the pool and carefully poking the tip of her hoof into the water, watching the ripples she created intermingle with those Luna made.

Shrugging, Celestia nodded as well, “I’ve started to enjoy my hours here,” she finally admitted, “it reminds me of a simpler time.”

Perking her ears, Twilight looked up and at Celestia, “But, if I may ask, why have I never heard of it before either… I mean, I have studied the castle’s layout, I memorized the floor plans and at the very least, I lived here half my life,” she asked, a slight worry of underperformance embedded into her voice which only Celestia was able to decipher.

Her smile growing sly, Celestia glanced down her muzzle and peaked out of the corner of her eye at Twilight, “Oh? Is that so?” she asked, her voice growing firm.

Gulping at Celestia’s sudden change in tone, Twilight laid her ears back, “I am sorry, Princess, I…”

Slowly opening one of her wings, Celestia laid it softly onto Twilight’s back, making her stiffen up suddenly as well as postponing her apology, “Well, I suppose that there is much of this castle you don’t know, little one, after all, since your ascension you have barely spent a day here,” she said, her grin growing wider, “and stop ‘may I’ or ‘Princess’ing me, for crying out loud,” she finished, sweeping her wing forwards and shoving Twilight into the crystal clear water.

Not even being able to utter a surprised “eep” before having a mouthful of water in her lungs, Twilight found that not only was the water warm and inviting, but that speaking, and by extension apologizing, underwater was rather difficult.

Reflexively flailing her wings and squirming around, she resurfaced and coughed up the gulp of water she had almost inhaled.

While Celestia herself slowly made her way into the water through a gradually descending slope, her golden horseshoes, peytral and crown neatly settled into a pile to her left, Twilight thought she saw a satisfied smile on her former mentor’s face.

Swimming to the edge of the pool and trying to get a handle on her breathing again, Twilight managed something akin to a glare which she directed at her former mentor.

And while the target of her glare looked only too smug for her liking, Twilight almost missed it as a dark blue horn, which stood out of the water like a shark fin, slowly grew closer and closer to her before Luna jumped out of the water, splashing her and forcing her to close her eyes.

Through Luna’s surprising surfacing, Twilight reflexively tried to hold her wings before her head. Yet before she could do so, a soft hoof pressed onto the tip of her nose, accompanied by a mirthful and excited, “Tag”, before it redrew and Luna, laughing joyously, vanished the same way she came, splashing water in her wake.

Going cross-eyed, blushing and glowing like a lamp switched on, as the water finally settled around her, Twilight blinked. Looking around, Luna was nowhere to be found. Only Celestia, with half her body submerged, opting to gracefully swim in the middle of the pool seemed as if nothing had happened.

While a melodic chuckle reminded her it was better not to stare, Twilight tried to fight down her blush as Celestia slowly turned around to swim in a circle, “I believe you have been tagged, my dear,” she said and even though Twilight was unable to see her face, she could swear she practically heard Celestia’s smile.

Lying on top of a warm marble bench, Twilight lazily stretched. Most everything she did was meticulous, thought-out and rationalized, yet the last two hour or so stood in complete contrast to her usual behavior.

After Luna had challenged her to a game of tag in the pool not even 10 meters from her, and after Twilight had finally let go of her resolves not to indulge, the two had chased each other through the water for what felt like hours.

And while Celestia had never actively participated and tried to continue swimming in a lazy circle in the middle of the pool, after Luna had used her very sister to hide from her chaser, even Celestia had not been spared from the splash fight that had ensued.

Though, if she had to be honest with herself, starting a splash fight when she could barely use her magic and against the two best known tacticians, strategists and fighters in pony history, the outcome of what felt like the gentlest crushing defeat in her life was not surprising.

To simply say she got drenched was the understatement of an understatement.

Yet still, it had been great fun.

After managing to extricate herself out of the water and perching herself on top of the very bench she now sat atop, she was currently watching both royal sisters continue their watery fight without her.

Though, even that was slowly coming to an end as both Celestia and Luna could not fight and laugh at the same time.

Blinking lazily, Twilight briefly marveled at how lucky she was to be able to see both royal sisters completely relaxed and at ease with the world, not hidden behind pretense, masks and social standings. Though, this thought quickly led her back to the reason why she had to be careful around them at all times, as seeing them act like normal ponies led her heart foolishly believe that she possibly had a chance for the love she held in her heart for both of them.

While Twilight’s attention was directed at herself to check that she would not let anything slip or do something that could upset them, Celestia, with Luna draped over her shoulders, slowly climbed out of the water, still laughing and levitating a couple pieces of Luna’s attire which she had simply dropped once she jumped into the water.

Seeing her former student relaxing on a bench in front of her, Celestia stepped closer and opened her left wing to let Luna fall from her back and onto the bench next to Twilight.

While Luna “eeped” in surprise at the sudden relocation, Twilight tensed immediately.

Luna, with her starry hair, which due to being drenched was now affected by gravity, and her short, yet soft, coat was again touching her. Because the both of them were still drenched and dripping water everywhere Twilight got a perfect view of the muscular, slim and yet still incredible curvy outline beneath her fellow princess’s coat.

Having to clamp her wing muscles tight against her sides not to shudder involuntarily, Twilight looked suddenly almost pained for a second before she got a handle on it.

Yet still, both Celestia and Luna could clearly see Twilight’s sudden stiffening and the fleeting glances that roamed over either of their bodies before she finally looked away.

Smirking and winking at her sister, Celestia turned around and looked into the pool once more, her horn alight and fishing for the missing pieces of Luna’s attire.

Finding them and levitating them next to the others which she had already brought out, she nodded in satisfaction before making her way over to Twilight and her sister, “I have to admit, I didn’t expect it to be that much fun,” she declared, slowly striding in front of the bench and laying herself down before Twilight.

As Twilight now also got a perfect view of Celestia’s curvy, yet still muscular and elegant body only framed by the fact that her slightly longer coat and her down hanging rainbowy hair now hugged her in addition, she inadvertently gulped and stiffened up even more.

Feigning curiosity, Luna softly poked Twilight stiffened back, “Though we believe our friend’s back will sooner or later be listed under casualties of The Great Water War,” she declared out loud, drawing Celestia’s attention to her.

Looking at Twilight and how she had cramped up by now, Celestia chuckled, “Stiff muscles, huh?” she asked, waving a hoof, “It happens to the best of us,” she added.

Chuckling awkwardly at the sudden attention she got to her stiffening up, Twilight franticly tried to relax her back which only made it stiffen up even more, “He he, yeah, happens sometimes,” she awkwardly said, cursing her inability to control her body.

An amused smile on her lips, Celestia leaned closer and whispered into her ear, “You know, I can personally attest that my sister is the very best when it comes to massages,” she softly said, looking over at her sister and blowing her a raspberry.

Rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at her sister, Luna slowly got up and carefully prodded at Twilight, which was only met with minor resistance, to coax her to roll onto her belly before she sat down next to her and kneaded her front hooves into Twilight’s back.

Suppressing a groan, Twilight couldn’t even comprehend how she had gotten herself into this situation while Luna started pressing on her back, making it almost certain to the young alicorn that she needed a moment alone in the next couple of hours.

Or rather, sooner than that.

Clamping her tail down with one of her hindlegs, Twilight tried to redirect her thoughts to something not so dangerous and settled for silently counting the tiles framing the pool.

Watching as her former student tried to hide her arousal from the both of them, not that it helped in any way, Celestia had to admit that she surely had to have been oblivious for not previously noticing how Twilight looked at them when she thought she could get away with it. Admittedly, she was both too smart as well as too kind to be crude, but still, she found it now to be obvious.

Parts of her were still screaming in her head that it wasn’t proper, or at least not so soon, yet other parts of her wanted to jump around like a schoolfilly at the prospect at having someone to spend her life with.

Though, she had to actively remind herself that they hadn’t crossed that bridge yet.

Looking at her sister and how happy she looked while massaging Twilight, she silently underlined it in her head to at least help Luna to a relationship with her former student. Though, the thought of anyone but herself holding the affection of this little bundle of happiness made her heart ache.

Shaking her head, Celestia mentally scolded herself for getting distracted and looked over the pool where small crystal-clear waves still danced and rippled over the surface.

As Luna pressed down onto Twilight’s wing joint, the young alicorn was entirely unable to stop what was about to come now and a throaty moan slipped past her lips.

Chuckling softly, Celestia turned her head back to Twilight, whose head lay on the bench, her tongue poking out slightly and a bright red blush spread all over her face. Flicking her mane out of her eyes, Celestia cocked her head, “Our fight seemed to have taken more out of you than I had expected,” she said, smiling.

Unable to confirm or deny anything, Twilight settled for a small groan as Luna made it very hard for her to think coherently.

Nodding as if understanding, Celestia hummed, “Well, seeing what you have undergone yesterday, I would say that this would have to be expected,” she added. Looking over to the pool, a small smile crossed her lips as an idea struck, “Ah, by the way, how is your magic coming along?” she asked innocently, “You didn’t seem to use it very much during our fight,” she added, watching Twilight’s eyes go wide.

As Twilight tried to answer though, Luna pressed once more down onto her wing joint and another moan snaked its way past her lips.

Shooting her sister a glance and noting that Luna seemed all too happy with what she was doing, Celestia shook her head slightly, “Again, please, I have to admit I didn’t quite catch that,” she said, amused.

Before Twilight could try to say anything, Luna repeated her action, though this time, she managed to keep the moan to herself and instead hissed a breathy, “It’s fine.”

Tsking at Twilight’s answer, Celestia shook her head, “I thought you knew better by now,” she said, “you never have been good at lying to me, my dear,” she added.

Lighting her horn and scooping up a glob of water in her magic, Celestia gave Twilight a sidelong glance before propelling it at her, “Catch”, she said and watched Twilight instinctively light her horn and wince immediately.

As the glob of water didn’t come to a stop and instead found its mark right in Twilight’s face, Celestia sighed. “You don’t have to hide something like this from us, you know,” she softly added, watching as Twilight looked away in shame.

Glancing at her sister and conveying to her to hold back a bit, Celestia sighed and looked down, “You’ve been by Heart Petal this morning?” she began, waiting for Twilight to nod slowly, “care to share with us what she recommended?” she asked knowing full well what her doctor had said and watching as Twilight’s gaze grew distant.

Giving her former student the time she needed, Celestia waited.

After a short while in which Luna had let up on how much she kneaded Twilight’s back and was now only softly pressing down here and there, a small voice cut through the silence, “She gave me some medicines I am supposed to take,” Twilight said meekly.

Nodding, Celestia looked up and smiled, “Good,” she said, her tone gentle but expecting Twilight to continue.

As another silence settled between them, both Celestia and Luna glanced at each other in worry. Nodding to her sister, Luna directed her gaze down to Twilight once more and continued her massage, making the young alicorn relax further and further under her hooves.

After what felt like a pregnant silence ready to deliver, Twilight’s voice cut through the silence once more, “And she said I am supposed to take it easy for a couple of weeks,” she added.

Smiling, Celestia shuffled around a bit to make herself comfortable and looked at her former student, “Also a good advice,” she added, smiling at Twilight.

“Wilt thou take some time off then?” Luna asked, her attention not wavering from Twilight and noticing her stiffen slightly.

After thinking for a second, Twilight shook her head, “I don’t think so,” she said, her voice tentative.

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia cocked her head, “Why not, little one?” she asked, already having a good idea on why Twilight would not pay heed to that advice when she remembered how her former student had always struggled when she had fallen sick when she was young and was told that she wouldn’t be learning anything today.

Drawing her head in as if feeling that what she was about to say was not what they wanted to hear, Twilight spoke softly, “I can’t… I have… duties to perform when I get home,” she explained.

Snorting as Celestia had expected just that, she softly shook her head, “You don’t have to do anything, Twilight,” she said, smiling at her and leaning closer, “the only thing you have to do is to get better.”

“Our sister is right. What task hath such importance that it canst not wait a week or two for thee to fulfill?” Luna asked.

Holding up a hoof and forestalling Twilight’s response, Celestia cut in, “If you say now either ‘paperwork’ or ‘royal duties’, I swear I will never share my workload with you ever again,” she added, half joking, half serious.

Thinking it was better to say nothing, Twilight waited.

Nodding, Celestia smiled, “To be expected,” she laughed.

“This does not make it less important,” Twilight muttered, pouting.

Snorting herself, Luna nodded, “Well there thou art right, it is important,” she explained, “yet not so important that thou canst not take a break,” she added.

“If anyone in this Kingdom deserves a break, it’s you, Twilight,” Celestia added to the remark of her sister.

Blushing, Twilight glanced away, “But I don’t even do that much,” she tried to defend herself.

“You don’t do that much?” Celestia repeated aloud, her voice half disbelieving and half amused, “Twilight, you govern Ponyville and the surrounding villages and cities alone, you form trade treaties and contracts in the name of all Equestria, you are the sole librarian of your town and you still hold court in addition to your studies and your friends,” she recounted, “for crying out loud, in the last decade alone you saved Equestria more times than I am willing to count!”

As Twilight was about to mutter that she didn’t do that alone, Celestia shook her head, “Twilight, if it weren’t for you, none of your friend’s would have been able to accomplish what they have, and yet you still refuse to acknowledge your role in anything,” she sighed.

As Twilight’s blush only grew and she looked away, Celestia gently turned her head back with one of her hooves, “If I have to be honest, Twilight, I sometimes worry you will burden yourself with so much that one day you will do nothing more than sleep and work,” she explained, her voice growing softer, “Throughout my life I have seen too many ponies do just… that,” she added, her head falling for a second, “being a Princess is more than just working, Twilight, and I swear, I will not let you throw away what little life you have to yourself because you think you have to uphold anything, it is not only not good for you… it… it hurts others around you as well…” she finished.

While Celestia spoke, Twilight could see the sadness in her former mentor’s eyes well up. Not willing to upset her even more, she settled for a small nod which made Celestia smile at her before the white alicorn drew closer and hugged her around her neck, “Please, I cannot force you any longer, but consider taking at least this week off from your duties,” Celestia said, her quivering voice no mask, which was all too clear to both Twilight and Luna who herself had grown thoughtful.

Nodding again, Twilight relished Celestia’s touch, “If you insist…” she said before Celestia hugged her even tighter.

“I do,” the white alicorn said without letting her finish the sentence, drawing back and smiling at Twilight, she cleared her voice, “consider it a homework assignment,” she said jokingly to lighten the mood.

Giggling softly, Twilight nodded, “Anything special I have to take into account?” she asked jokingly.

Giggling herself, Luna stopped the last pretense of her massage and laid herself across Twilight’s back, making her blush anew, “Thou hast to fulfill thy assignment of relaxation here in Canterlot, thou can leave, but at least the nights thou hast to spend here to be able to get a good grade on thy work.”

Suppressing a shudder yet still chuckling, Twilight nodded, “Do I have to write a report of it later then?” she asked, jokingly.

Shaking her head, Celestia gently ruffled Twilight’s mane, “Never change, little one, never change,” she said, before chuckling herself.

As all three of them enjoyed the comfortable silence settling between them, a loud gurgle came from Twilight’s belly and a heavy blush spread over her face.

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia looked suddenly worried at her former student, “Please tell me that is not what I think it is,” she said, her ears falling flat on her head.

Chuckling lightly before a sudden sting rushed through her body, Twilight nodded.

Worried, Luna looked to her sister, who was already on her hoofs and running to the door, “GUARDS! FETCH ME CHALK AND ALERT THE KITCHENS!” she yelled, rushing out of the room.

Before Luna fully understood what was going on, Twilight had curled into a ball under her, groaning and holding her belly, “Ugh, I had almost forgotten what hunger feels like,” she whimpered in pain.

Realizing what was about to happen, Luna’s face paled.

Her horn dimming, Celestia exhaustedly staggered back before falling onto her rump and sighing heavily.

The first time it had been bad, but now, it bordered on crazy.

Even though Celestia had reacted immediately as they noticed that Twilight had become hungry, a feat normally impossible for an alicorn if all the spells and enchantments would have worked correctly, it had been too late.

As soon as the young alicorn was levitated out of the Royal Bath by Luna, already curled up and clutching her sides in agony, Twilight’s nose had picked up the faint scent of the kitchens all the way through half of the castle.

What then happened will probably go down as another traumatic event for the royal cooks in only half a decade.

Driven as if starvation itself had stood before her, Twilight had, despite apparent pain while casting, lit her horn and vanished out of Luna’s grasp in a heartbeat.

Upon Luna’s squeak of surprise, Celestia had turned from the quickly running guard and her heart had practically sunk onto the floor. She would have preferred to keep Twilight in someplace where she couldn’t catch a waft of the kitchens and the bath was, due to its wet nature, a perfect place for that, though her sister had meant it well.

Lighting her horn herself, Celestia had quickly teleported Luna and herself to the only place her former student would probably have gone. Upon her arrival, and the subsequent affirmation of her worries, Tartarus had practically already broken loose.

Neatly stacked up in the middle of the room, pristinely cooked and sealed with magic, the castle chefs had already started to make preparations for every working staff member, guard and noble currently residing in the castle and bordering barracks.

The various pre-prepared dishes reached from fine cooked meals with adaptations to personal taste, over pots of potatoes, noodles, and flower-based products, to the abundance of sandwiches, burgers, soups and other calorie high meals for the working class in the castle.

Though in addition to the usually pristine and perfectly prepared stacks of food that greeted them, an almost miniscule abnormality sat beside one of the stacks of food, carelessly grabbing one dish after the other and wolfing it down as if it was nothing while all the while the many cooks had started to frantically gesture, insult and complain that their already complex job was currently being brought to ruin.

And after multiple attempts in which it proved to be impossible to separate Twilight from her next chosen victim, Celestia and Luna had settled in to attempt to redirect the castle’s cooks back to their usual tasks while their friend hauntedly gorged herself behind them as they waited on the guard that would finally bring chalk.

To their great dismay though, their attempts at bringing order back into the kitchens were mostly for nought as some cooks started to screamingly run around in panic while shouting in fear of being devoured by one of their princesses.

In the mutual agreement of both Celestia and Luna, the word ‘stupid’ did not describe those ponies sufficiently as they had been forced to watch panic ensue around them.

While time had felt like stretching out and approaching infinity, the oblivious guard who still questioned his orders finally made his way down the stairs with the requested pieces of chalk suspended in his magic.

Upon his arrival, Celestia had immediately snatched the chalk from the befuddled guard and began to draw one runic circle after another onto the ground, her lines precise and deliberate while Luna attempted to separate the few dishes that were left from the pile to goad Twilight to follow her.

Twilight, whose mind wasn’t consumed by the unbearable feeling of hunger anymore, at least for a short while, thankfully cooperated and slowly followed Luna into the middle of one of the pentagrams before plopping down and impatiently waiting for Celestia to finish. Her eyes already on the still complete and untouched stack of food on the other side of the room, Luna furthermore attempted to strategically place herself between Twilight and the food some cooks now seemed to worship as their only savior from their princess’s apparent wrath.

Though while doing so, Luna quickly came to the realization that it probably would not be a good idea to stand in between a hungry alicorn and the second stack of food if the young princess’s patience should run out, as Twilight’s intense glare made her fur stand on end as she felt Twilight’s attention briefly shift to herself.

As Celestia finally closed the last rune with a circle, she unceremoniously dropped the chalk, pushed her sister and some stray running cooks out of the way, turned around and lit her horn, letting the freshly drawn up chalk lines glow in golden light before she directed her spell at Twilight and weaved the enchantment all alicorns had upon them together with Twilight’s font of magic.

The effect had been instantaneous as Twilight moaned in relief and flopped forwards, still stuffed but happily embracing sleep while the enchantment rooted itself inside her and started to feed her a magickly created substance.

Relieved that it finally was over, Celestia surveyed the room a brief moment before she inhaled exhaustedly once more before she felt a gentle hoof touch her shoulder.

Opening her eyes, Celestia smiled gratefully back at the pony trying to comfort her and upon seeing that it was her niece Cadance, her smile changed from a fake one to a genuine one as she bowed her head slightly in a tired form of greeting.

Cadance, who had followed the sudden commotion to the kitchens, now let her gaze sweep over the room. As her glance found the sleeping heap of Twilight, who Luna was currently picking up and carefully levitating onto her back, she sighed slightly and redirected her gaze to Celestia, “Please don’t tell me it is what I think it is,” she said allowed, her ears falling flat onto her head.

Blinking once, Celestia looked distracted for a second before she gave her niece another tired smile, “I would have to lie to you then,” she said, her voice holding a sheepish note in it, “I am afraid it is exactly what you think it is,” she explained.

Sighing and nodding, Cadance dropped her hoof and looked on in acceptance.

Memories of when she had ascended and found herself in the place Twilight had been in just a moment ago flashing through her mind, a small wince escaped her as she pictured herself having to go through that ordeal once more.

Shaking her head, Cadance thought for a second before opening her mouth once again, “While I hopefully assume correctly that she didn’t actively drop the spell on purpose,” she said, voicing her thoughts while glancing at the chaos around them and turning her eyes to Celestia, “W-who or what in Tartarus could have caused her to lose that enchantment?” she asked, her voice filled with sudden worry.

Humming in thought, Celestia let her gaze sweep over the room as well. As she remembered yesterday night and because of that the struggle they had faced to break into Twilight’s dream, a small part of her dismissed it as impossible but she still bobbed her head slightly, “I do believe I have my suspicions, yes, but I honestly cannot tell you anything with a certainty yet,” she said, her gaze growing thoughtful once more, “Though if my suspicion proofs to be correct, I believe it stretches further than just that enchantment.”

Nodding in acceptance, Cadance waited and watched as Luna, with Twilight on her back, walked past them before turning her head and looking at Celestia, “So… um… will she be alright?” she asked while watching Luna out of the corner of her eyes vanish into the castle.

Breaking Celestia out of her thoughts, the elder alicorn blinked before wearily smiling at her niece, “Of course she will,” she said half distracted, “it isn’t as if anything could have happened really. You should know that we cannot starve and that the purpose of the spell is to merely keep us from experiencing hunger,” she said absently, “If we were to go a week or two completely without anything to eat, our bodies would get accustomed to it and the hunger would eventually subside, as long as we do not start to eat again, that is,” she clarified, a palpable distaste mixed into her voice.

Shaking her head, Cadance searched for the correct words and gestured with her hoof in a circle, “I didn’t mean that, well… I meant… in general… is she going to be alright, generally speaking,” she said, her voice small, “You know… Shining isn’t around to make things even more complicated,” she explained, her expression growing sheepish and her ears laying back again, “So… I would like to know now if I can help in the long run or something,” she clarified, cringing at the notion that she hoped to learn more while Shining wasn’t around yet still looking at Celestia in search of an answer.

Snorting, Celestia had to suppress a hearty chuckle as she shook her head, “My dear niece,” she began, her voice honey-sweet, “Of course she will, Luna and I will take care of her for the time being and just to make one thing clear,” she said, her voice suddenly hard as steel, concealing her honest apprehension from her niece, “Shining Armor would never forgive me if I were to conceal something from him about his sister,” she explained, “Besides, I have it on good authority that he is already on his way here. He… has his way to get information about his little sister,” she said amused as the doors on the other side of the kitchens burst open and Shining Armor, flanked by two pairs of both Night and Day guards standing beside him, stood in the middle of the doorway, huffing and puffing in exhaustion yet still frantically looking around.

“Where is she?!” he called, making the cooks that hadn’t noticed him jump while Celestia calmly stood up and walked over to him.

After having explained everything that happened to Twilight’s brother and consequentially calmed him down and promised to keep a close eye on his sister, Celestia had returned to her chambers and noticed that Luna, with Twilight on her back, had returned there as well.

Having laid the young princess back onto Celestia’s bed, Celestia had settled down in front of her fireplace, a book in her magic and her tea next to her, while Luna had settled herself next to Twilight and was carefully showering the young Princess with subtle affections and rubs to soothe her churning stomach and troubled sleep.

While the book in front of her was merely a distraction, Celestia was thinking and so her mind raced and thought over everything that happened in the last two days while the hours of the evening flew by.

After having received their evening meals, through which Twilight had thankfully not awoken, Celestia found herself staring at her sister, who periodically tried to lay her head down onto her hoofs while in reality she all but fussed over their sleeping friend next to her.

Seeing the obvious, a small smile spread over Celestia’s lips as she regarded Luna, “You seem pretty affectionate lately, sister,” she said into the silent room, breaking a silence that had endured for hours and making her sister look to her with her head held askew.

Blinking, Luna held her gaze for a second before she returned her attention back to Twilight, who slightly cooed in her sleep as Luna gently rubbed over her still swollen stomach, “We see nought wrong with that, sister,” she said, a small smile spreading over her lips upon hearing Twilight’s unconscious reaction.

“Oh, you misunderstand, Lulu,” Celestia said, her voice gentle and shaking her head slightly, “I never said that anything was wrong with that,” she explained, “yet still, you have to admit, it is so different from how you carry yourself normally.”

Nodding slightly, Luna held her gaze on Twilight and studied her face attentive while she thought. Finally averting her gaze and glancing at her sister, Celestia could see the determination of her sister flash through her eyes, before Luna gave her a happy smile, “We both hath seen what she dreams of, Tia,” Luna explained, her voice firm yet dimmed so not to wake the pony next to her, “We…” she started, turning her head away and looking down at Twilight once more, “We wish for it to happen,” she finally admitted before turning her head back, “As we explained tonight, since our return, we wished for something like this to happen… though we never could hath dreamt in our wildest dreams that She, our Savior, our Guide… our… Friend, could ever be among one to return the sentiment.”

“Why ever not, Luna?” Celestia asked, unable to stop herself in time while admitting all the same that she probably wouldn’t have asked something else as well.

“Because we do not deserve her,” Luna stated, a grim smile spreading over her lips while one wing gently laid itself over Twilight, “She could do so much better than us,” she explained, looking away and at the door, “thee, for example, thou wert always a picky one,” Luna said, a slight smile on her lips, “yet we can see that she could effortlessly win thy heart,” she finished.

Her gaze dropping at the floor and studying her outstretched hoofs in front of her, Celestia slightly shook her head and whispered to herself, “She already has, in some way,” before returning her gaze back up to her sister and squinting at her, “But Luna, why would you ever think you would be not good enough?” she asked aloud, her ears lowered and looking at her sister sadly.

“Because we art not, Tia,” Luna said, shaking her head almost dismissively, “We almost would have brought ruin to our ponies and have spent a thousand years on the moon as punishment for our crimes,” she started to explain, turning her head to her sister and showing Celestia her sad gaze, “And upon our return, the first thing we try to do is to pick up where we left off,” she said, her voice cracking, “and she had to be the one to guide us away from our darkened path.”

“That wasn’t you, Luna,” Celestia said, slowly standing up, but before she could walk closer, Luna shook her head and rooted Celestia with an icy glance.

“Thou knowest as well as we do that tis not true,” Luna said, once more averting her gaze, “she hath a kind heart, while ours hath been frozen over the centuries, and to make matters worse, she wast the first in as long, if not longer, to even attempt to melt it,” Luna explained.

Reconsidering her next move, Celestia sat back down again and shook her head, “You have changed, Luna, you are no longer the nightmare that sought to destroy ponykind,” she started to explain, “But instead you are now the wonderful pony that you were always meant to be.” She said, her voice calm and soothing, “You’re my sister in everything, just as you have always been, and everyone blind to that has not deserved our presence,” she continued and looked over to Twilight, “She… she knows who you are, Luna, and she admires you because of it,” Celestia concluded, nodding her head and returning her gaze to the floor before looking back up and at Luna, “but please, don’t consider her… affection… as something you have to repay her for, you are no trophy she has won or…”

“Maybe we hath,” Luna said, interrupting her sister, “and we wouldst never give us to her because we think we owe it to her, she wouldst not deserve something so low and degrading,” Luna continued, her head shaking and looking to her sister once more, “though we cannot deny that our heart leaps at the thought of her being happy because of us,” she finished. Laying her head once more onto her hoofs and drawing the wing draped over Twilight closer, making the young pony sigh in comfort and causing her to nuzzle her head into the warm crook of her neck.

Luna smiled.

Raising a hoof before stopping herself, Celestia nodded slowly and shook her head, turning away. She was about to bring her sister’s worries up once more before she dismissed the thought for now. “Try to sleep, sister, you will need it if you want to keep her company tomorrow,” Celestia said instead, remembering the plan they had come up with after Twilight had left this morning.

Humming slightly, Luna drew Twilight even closer to her and silently listened to her friend’s heartbeat while Celestia went back to the fireplace.

Her thoughts racing, Luna closed her eyes and lit her horn slightly, effortlessly slipping into the dream realm and leaving her body behind to rest.

Letting her hoof fall onto the shining floor of the plaza below her, Luna skillfully stepped out of her body and into her domain, the pillar of her sister and her behind her still holding both of their dream spheres as it had so dutifully done throughout the millennia.

Her sanctuary, as she had come to call it, had not always served as her only retreat from the world as it had done in the years leading to Nightmare Moon’s disaster. In the years following her discovery of her powers over the dream realm, Luna had created this place in the hope that someday she might be able to show ponies through her domain, though this hope had died thousands of years ago when she was forced to realize that no one could actually follow her into her realm without her help.

Though in the end, it didn’t matter to her and she had crafted this place with as much love as she could muster. Ranging from elegant and soothing structures of crystalized moonlight over to beautifully carved fractals decorating almost every vertical surface, Luna had probably lost umpteen years in the construction of her small island in the middle of the nothing that was her surroundings.

All for her own enjoyment and for the eventual awe for the few ponies she ever showed this realm.

Her sister now amongst the select few to have ever laid eyes upon her creation, a sense of completion settled inside her stomach as she finished transcending into her realm.

Opening her eyes, Luna beheld the beauty that her realm was for a moment before she let her gaze drop to what she had created on her own. Her gaze sweeping from one pillar to another, all of them holding the dream of one whom she held dear, Luna smiled to herself as she started her descent down the stairs of her sister’s and her elevated position to the plaza as a whole.

Closing her eyes once more, her ears swiveling slightly to nonexistent sounds, Luna inhaled deeply and greeted the calming atmosphere around her.

Now that her sister wasn’t here with her anymore, the place had almost an eerie hue to it and Luna felt nearly compelled to seek out the company of her sister in the waking world once more.

Though in the end, she stayed, remained rooted in place and basking in the all-encompassing silence of her surroundings.

Finally letting go of the air inside her lungs, Luna slumped back into a more comfortable position and flicked a strain of her ethereal mane out of her face.

Surveying her surroundings once more, her gaze landed on the six pillars of Twilight and her friends.

Staring at the pillar in the center, which held the lavender-colored dream of Twilight, Luna curiously began to step closer to it before she stopped and sat down in front of it.

Her eyes wide as if she couldn’t believe what she saw, she watched the orb without its usual dulling shield around it and her eyes started to sting from tears welling up inside of them.

She knew that Twilight would probably raise her shield once more when she inevitably found out that it had disappeared, though for the moment, she couldn’t help but imagine the world as it was supposed to be while she watched the sphere for a time.

Her mind picturing a time in when Twilight would no longer have need for such a barring spell, Luna slowly reached out a hoof to the orb before stopping herself.

Blinking and wiping away a few specks of moisture which dared to find its way onto her cheeks, she gave in to her urge and slowly scooted closer to the pillar, her gaze holding a gentle smile as she hugged herself around it.

Laying her head down next to the lavender orb, she watched its surface ripple in lazy and comforting rhythms as if it would try to sooth her troubled mind before she closed her eyes and lit her horn with a faint spark of magic.

She couldn’t help it…

Opening her eyes once more, Luna found herself in Twilight’s dream.

While last time she had arrived with her sister in her mind directly, Luna now beheld the welcoming and soothing lit living room of a place she wished would not be lost to history.

Perched on top an almost comically too small pair of plush sofas, Luna found images of herself and her sister residing inside Twilight’s old library.

The two of them having been served an enticing smelling tea, whose kettle and cups had been placed down on a small coffee table in between them, Luna watched them observe the owner of the dream.

Twilight, while occasionally glancing back to earn affirming nods, was in the middle of explaining her upcoming plans for something lost to her mind as the whiteboard she stood before and scribbled onto was only filled with vague images and smears of color.

Their surrounding blurred out of focus, Luna observed how Twilight talked nonsense about magic, her friends and the picturality of lemons while both the image of her sister as well as herself seemed impressed with whatever she had managed to figure out.

A small smile settling onto her lips, Luna stopped for a moment and observed how Twilight’s wings bristled in excitement every once in a while.

As Twilight’s explanation finally came to a finish, both images in front of her cheerfully clapped their hoofs together before standing up and embracing the young alicorn in their wings.

Stepping closer as well, Luna tried to find the gaze of her friend in an attempt to read her mood, though as she set hoof in front of her, Twilight slipped out the embrace and cheerfully stepped through Luna and walked to the door.

Once she passed over the threshold, the dream around them changed from the warm and cozy library of her friend to an open field of high grass. A shadow spending tree stood on top a small hill in the middle of the meadow, Luna felt a gentle bristle of a warm summer wind gently blowing over her back as the sun stood high above them.

Twilight, who had changed from the grown alicorn she had been a moment ago to a small filly barely bigger than reaching to Luna’s barrel, was now cheerfully jumping through the high grass chasing imaginary things only she could see.

Looking around, Luna found that in the shadow of the tree, one pony had found purchase on a picnic blanket.

Her sister, with her usual calm demeanor, idly watched the young filly chase through the grass while sipping gently on a cup of tea she had prepared herself over a small flame she had conjured with her magic.

While her sister’s coat had always been pure white, Luna imagined that right now, her fur seemed even more immaculate than it usually was.

Pushing this stray thought away, and explaining it to herself with the fact that she was inside Twilight’s dream and that here everything the young pony could think of could happen, Luna absently shook her head as she found the occasionally bouncing form of a young Twilight once more in the midst of the high grass.

Watching the young filly play for a while, Luna wandered over to her sister and settled down next to her, aware that she hadn’t properly entered the dream and was only able to observe.

Though the thought of watching Twilight while she was young was enticing and a small part of her heart hated herself for not having been able to be there as she was then still banished to the moon.

Looking over to her sister, Luna wondered briefly on the reason why they were here in the meadow, though as her eyes fell onto the picnic basket, which had aside from the usual food and beverages also books and notes inside of it, she slowly realized that this must be something her sister had done with Twilight when she was young.

Though as soon as the thought had played through her mind, Luna felt Twilight jump through her and onto her sister.

The young filly laughed and bounced playfully before her sister, while Celestia merely raised an eyebrow before she slowly levitated her cup down and gave her full attention to the young pony.

“You promised to play with me when I managed to teleport,” the young voice of Twilight rang through the meadow with an enthusiasm only youth could muster.

Luna’s eyes widening in awe, she stared at the young pony in front of her.

By the looks of it, Twilight was barely older than 8 or 9 at the most, and while she had read and seen on multiple occasions that her friend was brilliant, her having mastered the ability to teleport at such an age should not have been possible.

The spell for teleportation was advanced and only a select few unicorns ever mastered it at all. For Twilight to have even understood the concept of such a spell with her age would have been a wonder, but for her to be able to cast it while beeing so young was outright preposterous for Luna as she watched her sister agree and stand up.

After both had agreed on certain rules for a game Luna could only vaguely recall having played with her sister when they both had been young, Celestia turned to the tree and started to count loud enough for the filly to hear.

Watching Twilight, the young pony quickly looked around and pondered over what she should do, before she lit her horn, stuck her tongue out in an intense gesture of concentration and vanished in a small burst of lavender magic while Luna had to work hard not to gawk at the space she had occupied only moments ago.

As it turned out, her sister’s ability to find the young pony was above the level Twilight was comfortable with while her own ability to find the large white pony had only occasionally scored her a point.

After a couple rounds of the game Luna found out was now called hide and seek, both Celestia and Twilight found themselves back under the tree, the later tired from her constant teleportation while the former provided her with a place to rest beneath her wings.

Watching Twilight snuggle into her sister’s side, Luna couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight before the dream changed once again.

Finding herself on a balcony high above Canterlot, Luna found an image of herself perched on a large and comfortable looking cushion in the middle of a cloudless night.

Standing next to her was a relatively large and expensive telescope which her image seemed only too eager to eyeball every once in a while.

As realization struck, Luna’s eyes widened as she recognized the exact day Twilight’s mind had conjured up before her right now, as it was only weeks after her return from the moon and the third time Twilight had visited her that week alone.

Back then, Celestia had asked of her student to teach her sister a bit of the modern world and to bring her up to speed with current events.

And while the young unicorn had only too happily complied, the two of them had started to get to know each other over the many hours they had spent together which resulted in Luna telling her eagerly that she had now finally raised and lowered the moon of her own accord once more.

Throughout the resulting conversation, Luna had made it abundantly clear to her young friend that she enjoyed spending time beneath her night sky for multiple reasons and that she felt still saddened that only a select few ponies ever took the time to even glance at her daily work.

And while Luna was by then still convinced that this would probably never change, Twilight, who only too eagerly listened to Luna talk about the night sky as it was one of her favored hobbies, had brought up the relatively new scientific direction called astronomy of which Luna was, understandably, only too eager to learn more about.

In the wake of her excitement, Twilight had promised to teach to Luna everything she knew about it and the two of them had agreed to meet at midnight on a cloudless Wednesday.

Eager not to be too late for their meeting, Luna had come almost one and a half hours early to their scheduled appointment and so had thoroughly ruined Twilight’s plans to prepare.

Not that she needed it, though the young pony had truly been distraught by the fact that Luna had come early and not on time.

Sensing the presence of the dreamer behind her, Luna turned around to see that Twilight, with a few strands of her mane out of place, was holding a few refreshments she was able to gather in her magic while giving her guest an uneasy look.

Stepping to the side to let the young pony pass, as the sensation of someone walking through oneself wasn’t very comfortable, Luna watched her settle down next to her image.

While what they said was probably lost to history, Luna could understand the occasional sentence she or Twilight spoke and remembered the scene only all too well.

After all, it was one of the most treasured memories she had made upon her return and watching it play out before her once more made her heart soar.

Though as eager as Luna had been back then, she quickly was forced to find out that Twilight, while worrying the whole day that everything was supposed to be perfect for the sister of her mentor, was growing more tired by the minute.

After two hours of lecturing, explanations and questions from Luna, Twilight had conveyed multiple books worth of information to her eager listener while she herself had occasionally explained one or two things on the side.

While Luna was the mistress of the night, able to paint the night sky as she saw fit and frequently changing it to strike her mood, Celestia had not been able to do so aside her many duties and the strain to both lift sun and moon.

While surely her sister had occasionally changed the night sky to not let it become stagnant, the ponies observing the night had started to tell stories and see images in it both to the surprise and the joy of Luna.

She had been presented with maps of the night sky wherein ponies had marked things that stayed the same and things that changed, where astronomist had interpreted images or stories into constellations and created or placed myths of their origin and their purpose.

Luna had discovered that there are now books filled with images and paintings of the night how it once was and predictions of how it will one day be.

She had found great joy in reading the many ideas her subjects had from her night and had almost missed it when Twilight’s tiredness had gotten the better of her and the young pony had slumped over onto her pillow.

While the dream once more started to fade, Luna remembered that once she found out that Twilight had fallen asleep next to her, she had smiled to herself and placed a gentle wing over the sleeping pony to keep her warm.

While she had let Twilight be brought back to her own chambers throughout the night, she had wished to enjoy the company of the only pony she had by then called friend just a few moments longer.

Breaking with a shake of her head out of her thoughts, Luna looked around to see where Twilight’s dream had brought her this time.

Finding herself back at Twilight’s old Library, Luna noticed that now the dream seemed to stabilize itself slowly but steadily.

As she looked around, more and more details where added as Twilight’s dream grew more and more stable by the second. Book spines grew readable, blurred outlines formed into shelves and decorations. The many pictures on the walls which had previously been just a smear of color grew clearer and showed Twilight’s friends and family.

Everywhere she looked the outline of what had previously been out of focus and not relevant formed into actual objects and shapes.

Watching the progress, Luna briefly wondered why Twilight’s dream suddenly started to solidify.

Her eyes wandering over the room, Luna couldn’t help but feel as if the room and everything in it was not how she remembered the Golden Oaks Library, yet at the same time, she felt as if she had seen it once before already.

As the last details of the dream added themselves in, a slow realization dawned upon her that what she now could behold wasn’t Twilight’s old library at all, but an idealized version of it. One she had seen not too long ago.

The feeling nibbled at her mind and as she realized that she had seen this room just yesterday as they had visited Twilight’s mind before, a slight shock overcame her and she was about to rush up the stairs to find her friend in fear of her having created another nightmare in which she may have gotten trapped once more.

Though as she turned around, she found that three ponies had gently nestled around each other.

An image of herself, her sister and her friend.

Twilight lay in the middle of both her and her sister just like they had done tonight, and Luna froze in place.

It seemed almost surreal, the three of them looking as sharp as in real life and not at all like in a dream.

Yet, they all looked peaceful, not like a nightmare which was Luna’s concern just a moment ago.

Some part of her heart melted as she looked at the display in front of her. She had to admit, the thought of having exactly that when they managed to make Twilight confess was something to look forward to.

She herself, or at least her image, seemed to have fallen asleep mere moments ago as she saw how her hoofs gently squeezed the lavender pony in an attempt to nuzzle even deeper into her invitingly looking chest fluff.

Celestia on the other hoof was wide awake, though her expression was lost to Luna as her head was turned away and at the lavender pony currently tending to one of her outstretched wings.

From what Luna could hear, her sister seemed to enjoy every second of it as she heard occasionally a gentle coo or soft groan come from her sister’s mouth while Twilight seemed to gracefully dance with her tongue over her sister’s wing.

Feeling a faint blush settle onto her cheeks, Luna couldn’t help but stare.

Looking at the pile in front of her, she could see that the image of herself seemed to have undergone equal treatment as her sister was now receiving. Her wings looking pristine and her coat looking brushed, Luna briefly wondered if Twilight had dreamed this before and was now resuming her dream just where she left off.

As another gentle coo of her sister brought her out of her thoughts of the unlikeliness of such a thing, Luna couldn’t help but notice how Twilight looked in comparison.

The lavender pony who usually managed to look almost pristine regardless of her actions now looked ruffled as if on the verge of a panic attack. Though when looking at her more closely, her actions told a completely different story.

While Twilight always had seemed awkward and hesitant, here and now, she seemed as if what she was doing was her birthright and she enjoyed herself to her heart’s content as she lovingly nosed through her sister’s messy looking feathers.

Not that Luna had seen her sister’s feathers messy in a very long time, but again, a part of her reminded her that it was Twilight’s dream and anything the young pony could wish for would happen in her mind at a mere thought, unconscious or otherwise.

While a small part of her was grateful that she was not seeing more explicit scenes right now, Luna’s mind halted for a moment mid-thought as the question of why she wasn’t seeing… more… suddenly popped up in her head.

She was in Twilight’s dream after all, and while the young pony was all too oblivious sometimes, surely, she would know or wish for something more than mere cuddles and nuzzles in the safety of her mind.

Though as she looked on and watched her sister’s image occasionally trying to return the gesture, once even conjuring a piece of fruit and offering it to Twilight, Luna watched as time and time again the young pony denied the attempt with a gentle application of magic, intent to keep the target of her affections from doing anything to her and focusing on her own work.

Shaking her head slightly, Luna was about to light her horn and do something about it when a slow realization struck her mind.

What if Twilight was somehow aware of this being a dream?

The level of detail the surroundings were in spoke for it, though Luna couldn’t be sure.

Though, if her theory was right, Twilight was actively avoiding having such things transpire in her mind and was possibly even fighting temptation time and time again as the image of her sister was surely controlled by her subconscious much more than her active mind.

If she was right, forcefully changing the dream in any way would assuredly reveal her presence and give the young pony even more reason to worry and distrust her.

If she were to reveal that she was doing exactly as Twilight feared, finding out through her dreams how she felt for her sister and her, Luna was almost certain that Twilight would wake up screaming in fear and flee from their presence immediately.

The potential damage she could do to their eventual and current relationship was something Luna wasn’t willing to risk, and so she, after lengthy discussions with herself, forcefully tore her gaze away from the display and stepped forward, a gently glowing light blue portal appearing before her as she quickly stepped through it and out of Twilight’s dream in fear of suddenly being detected.

Shifting out of the dream and back into her realm, Luna opened her eyes and looked at the still calmly glowing orb in front of her.

From the outside, Luna could see nothing wrong with it, except maybe a few too many erratic ripples. Thinking of what she could do, she closed her eyes once more and reached with her mind out to her real body before carefully drawing her wing even closer around Twilight’s body, watching the dream’s ripples slowly subside.

Returning her whole consciousness back into her realm, Luna detangled herself from the pillar she was still hugged around and looked down at Twilight’s dream with a heavy heart.

“We will not let this go on for much longer, my friend, we promise thee,” Luna said into the silence. Watching the orb pulse softly as if affirming her promise, Luna hesitated just a moment longer before closing her eyes and inhaling the calm spirit of her realm once more.

Swiveling her ears once more in another attempt to catch nonexistent sound, Luna felt her heartbeat and tried to follow its rhythmic beating in her mind to calm her racing thoughts.

She wasn’t okay with leaving Twilight at that state, though right now, she couldn’t really do anything except maybe wake her, which, again, sounded like a heinous crime to her as she knew that Twilight would need every bit of rest right now that she could get.

So, with a heavy heart, she turned away from her friend’s pillar and briefly stretched out her tendrils of magic to check if any of her friends were in any kind of distress.

Rarity was sound asleep, her dream calm and organized. Pinkie’s dream was unlit, suggesting that she was still awake as was, oddly enough, Rainbow Dash’s. Fluttershy was, to her surprise, not suffering from a somewhat bad dream right now as well and Applejack’s dream was as sturdy and stubborn as ever.

Satisfied that she had checked on those who she had sworn to never let anything bad come to in their lives, Luna turned around and wandered to the dreams of both Shining Armor and Cadance.

Cadance was, unsurprisingly, having a rather ‘pink’ dream again, and Luna refrained from making the great mistake of peeking too closely. Though once she turned her attention to the dream of her husband, Luna discovered that Shining Armor was obviously in distress, his dream rippled erratically and the light inside it was almost dimmed as if threatening to wake up.

Making a face, Luna lit her horn and gently touched her magic to the stallion’s dream, recognizing the fear in it and attempting to ease his mind.

He feared for his parents and for his sister, he blamed himself for not having worked hard enough to protect them and he was suffering an unrestful sleep because of it.

While somewhat empathizing with the young stallion, Luna wasn’t about to let his worries and his protective nature to get into her way and carefully eased his mind and restructured his dream into something he could draw strength from.

Nodding in satisfaction, Luna turned her attention to the brightly glowing bubble of Flurry Heart, without having to look closely, she could almost see the near-boundless happiness a young heart could hold and saw it reflected in her dream.

Making sure that their youngest addition was sleeping soundly as well, Luna turned once more and looked up with her magic to the dream orb of her sister.

It was dim, just as expected, her sister was still up and going and so she gently shook her head.

She shortly pondered if she should wake up and help her sister to go to bed, dismissed the thought though as she figured that even her sister sometimes needed time to herself.

Turning away, Luna walked past their shared pillar and onto the road leading out of the plaza.

Once reached, she stopped and closed her eyes. Without lighting her horn, Luna stepped in two directions at the same time, dividing her consciousness and walking in two different directions at once.

With both of her bodies free of each other, she opened her eyes once more, repeating the progress twice more before stepping close to the first dream she encountered.

While working to ensure the safety of her realm, Luna went, while continuously multiplying or merging with herself if needed, from one dream to another, covering thousands of dreams of ponies, griffins and dragons alike in the timespan of mere seconds, soothing, calming or changing dreams so the soul in question wasn’t about to suffer. Though some nightmares she let remain, dimmed, yet still present as Luna saw the lesson some of them tried to teach or the value they tried to convey.

Not every nightmare needed to be bad, sometimes one or another needed a reminder or a little shock to come to terms with something or another.

Such dreams where valuable and Luna wasn’t about to take them away if she could help it.

Gently nosing through Celestia’s beautiful plumage, Twilight enjoyed herself greatly.

Her former mentor’s feathers tickled her nose every time she straightened one out and the satisfaction of seeing her progress along her wings made her chest almost swell with pride.

Though oddly enough, there was a problem.

She was once more finding herself in one of her dreams.

She knew she was in a dream, but the inviting scene her mind had created here was too much to pass up.

Though while she lovingly caressed her former mentor’s wings, she couldn’t help but feel empty.

She knew this wasn’t real and she wished she didn’t.

Some part of her wished to just give up all pretense, though she knew what would come of it.

If she were to indulge herself here and now, giving in into the princesses with as much love as she could muster, she knew that tomorrow her sheets would be damped once more and she would not be able to look either of the princesses into the eyes for at least a week.

Besides, having to explain to Spike or Starlight just one more time why she had to wash her sheets again was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Also, something told her that this was a very bad idea right now for a different reason, though with her mind occupied, she couldn’t remember for the love of it why.

So, settling for at least something, as her desire was almost too strong for her to handle right now, Twilight had to repeatedly push back an attempt of not only Celestia but now also Luna as she had suddenly stirred from her sleep.

Silently cursing, Twilight almost moaned as she felt Luna gently press down upon her back, her eyes fluttering shut as she felt the night princess firmly knead just below her wing joints.

It made her blush on her cheeks only grow, and she had a hard time swallowing as she tried to clear her mind from the temptation.

She needed to stay strong.

She couldn’t give in.

Shifting her body slightly, she tried to flee from Luna’s temptatious hoofs before she returned her muzzle to Celestia’s feathers once more, making the sun princess almost purr in approval.

Somewhere in her mind, she knew that this was not making it better by any means, though she couldn’t help it, she felt as if she was going to burst otherwise.

And while another gentle yet firm application of pressure on her back had her shiver, Twilight finally had enough and stepped out of her body and into the room, leaving her old body behind to be taken over by her subconscious which swiftly gave in into the affections both princesses offered.

Averting her gaze quickly and trotting away, Twilight clamped her tail between her legs as she made her way to another section of her library.

Settling down on a soft pillow she willed into existence, Twilight tried to inhale several deep breaths of air.

Shuddering once more and rustling her wings, she looked at the display on the other side of the room only to wash it away with a heavy heart.

Sinking down, she tried to breathe normally, making herself comfortable on the pillow and looking around.

The room felt familiar and looked beautiful, though a pang of regret pierced through her heart as she remembered her old home and the memories forever lost in its halls.

Looking down, a small tear dropped down onto her hoofs before she shook her head and raised her gaze once more as she looked around the room in hopes to find distraction.

Sighing in resignation, she lit her horn and tried to change the scene only for both Celestia and Luna to reappear next to her, sideling up to her and beginning to nibble at her ears.

Groaning in resignation, Twilight cursed as she found that her subconscious had betrayed her once more.

Slowly but steadily becoming more and more unable to fight it, Twilight sank onto the floor, her tongue somewhat poking out of her mouth as she panted as Luna resumed her ministrations once more.

As suddenly - “They should be ours!” - dangerously echoed through her mind her eyes went wide, for a split second, before the image of Celestia gently bit down onto her right ear, making her moan once more before she couldn’t stop herself any longer and finally succumbed to the ministrations the two ponies put her through.

As Celestia’s eyes fluttered open, woken by the gentle reminder of her celestial body that it was time, another morning was slowly ushered in to greet the world.

Slowly but steadily, she sleepily let the sun glide over the horizon, her mind still fogged by the siren’s call of sleep.

While the morning was as beautiful as an autumn morning could get, the day seemed to bring with it the slow realization from every alicorn in Canterlot that the night was over entirely too quickly.

Even Cadance, who hadn’t even had an actual schedule during her stay and whose only obligation it was to show by her mere presence that everything was alright, was vocally annoyed by the sun’s march over the horizon.

While she loved her daughter Flurry Heart with more love than was physically possible, the young pony had kept both Cadance and Shining Armor up and running ever since she had first stepped hoof into this world.

Which included, to Cadance great annoyance, her little baby waking and screaming in the middle of the night.

Internally shuddering at her own treacherous mind for having formed such hideous thoughts, Cadance briefly shook her head and tried to banish them from her mind.

Flurry was still a baby after all.

The only one she could be mad at though was Shining, as he had the nagging tendency to sleep through Flurry’s calls like a rock.

Though, even that thought was something that made her sick to her stomach.

Besides, if she really needed it, she could always ask a few members of her staff to help her, though right now, only the most trusted friends and family were welcome to help her with what she believed was her responsibility.

Flurry was her child, not the one of a maid or some other pony. It would be bad parenting to do otherwise.

While Cadance silently muttered to herself, Celestia, on the other side of the castle, was swimming once more through an ocean of haziness while the last tendrils of sleep only slowly came loose.

Feeling the warmth of a pony pressed to her side, an internal battle was fought, though her common sense ultimately won over.

Lazily blinking her eyes clear, the sleepy white alicorn was about to draw the wonderful source of warmth closer to her and surrender back to sleep as her eyes landed upon her calendar.

Her eyes widening, Celestia felt her blood run cold and could almost swear she felt ice crystals growing in her veins as she looked at the day displayed on the hideous piece of parchment hanging from the wall above her nightstand.

Monday.

And as if the cursed day had not been enough bad news for the tired monarch, something had happened that she managed to avoid for almost thirty years and whose timing could not possibly have been worse right now.

She had already overslept 20 minutes.

Out of all days, it had to have happened today, she cursed while suddenly jumping into action and from her bed. Making her way over to her bathroom, Celestia woke, unbeknownst to her, the two other occupants of her sheets in the process.

Luna, whose mood soured almost instantly at being woken, and Twilight.

While Luna had to get up at roughly the same time as her sister, at least usually, the night princess never took too kindly to being woken and was about to make her displeasure known to the perpetrator who dared to disturb her rest as her eyes fell on the other pony which still occupied her sister’s bed.

Her ire short-lived, Luna watched how Twilight’s sleepy mind pieced together just where she woke up, again, by her eyes widening and face paling further and further to a point where the night princess wondered if Twilight would just faint on the spot for lack of blood in her head.

And while Twilight’s mind tried to find an adequate solution to her problem at, once again finding herself in Celestia’s bed chamber, the owner of said chamber rumbled and cluttered hastily through her morning routine.

Though as the young pony saw Celestia rushing out of her bathroom, toothbrush still in her mouth and intent on retrieving her regalia while a brush flew next to her and straightened her coat just to save a few precious seconds of time, the few fuses keeping her mind from overreacting finally blew.

Briefly halting because of the high-pitched scream ringing through her ears, Celestia considered whether to say something or not, though ultimately caught herself and returned to her morning routine, postponing the headache of Twilight and hoping her sister could handle it.

Luna, who was the only one who had not freaked out at either the time or her sight, was almost compelled to shove the sun back under the horizon and declare that all clocks in Equestria were, simultaneously, going wrong as she was forced to watch her sister speed through her room as well as Twilight’s attempt at fleeing their presence.

While unable to stop the latter as Twilight lit her horn and vanished in a lavender burst of magic, Luna sighed and rose from her spot.

Helping her sister, the two of them managed to arrive at breakfast only five minutes later than Celestia’s schedule dictated.

Though, to the surprise of neither of them, Twilight was missing.

Luckily, a few minutes later, the guards had been able to affirm that the young princess had in fact not fled the castle and was merely hiding in her room from which manic muttering could be heard.

Forced to accept the fact for now, both Celestia and Luna had settled down at the large table and waited for their meals.

Upon affirming that they were still alone and out of earshot of any guards or curious onlooker, Celestia glanced at her sister with an expectant gaze. “So, we keep to our plan?” she silently whispered.

Surprised at being addressed in such a manner, Luna stopped rubbing the grain out of her eyes and looked at her sister, blinking. “Pardon?” she asked, her voice still filled with the drowsiness of sleep.

Briefly looking left and right, Celestia leaned slightly closer and pretended to tiredly support herself with one of her hooves, “You know… our plan, for Twilight… do we stick to it or have you had any better ideas?” she asked conspiratorially.

Blinking once more, Luna regarded her sister for a second before a flash of realization struck. Leaning back in her throne-like plush seat, the night princess regarded her sister for a second before a small grin found its way onto her lips, “Ah, dost we see a hint of trepidation, dearest sister?” she asked, her gaze growing thoughtful as if thinking, “Or as the younger ponies would say these days, do thy hooves suddenly feel cold?”

Frowning and raising off from her hoof, Celestia too leaned back in her seat, “Well… of course not,” she said, the small break in her tone almost long enough for Luna to notice, “Though, I think I would feel better if we would go over it once more,” she admitted.

Rolling her eyes, Luna smirked at her sister, “Ah, and what precisely dost thou not understand?” she asked, her smirk spreading wider with every second, “it isn’t as if there is much to be misunderstood, Tia,” she clarified, holding a hoof up to her chest and the other in the air as if to lecture, “objective A, spend time with her, objective B, spend more time with her,” she said in an authoritative voice, her demeanor already cracking and betrayed by the occasional snicker.

Rolling her eyes, Celestia glared at her sister, “Yes, yes, I know, though once again, why?” she asked, her eyes flicking over the room once more as if to check for intruders. “I don’t know if simply telling her that we…”

“Well, isn’t it simple, sister?” Luna chipperly asked, dropping her act and scooting closer to Celestia, “We simply give her glimpses of what she could have until she finally burs… confesses,” she purred, correcting her error swiftly which made Celestia raise an eyebrow.

“And you really think this is a wise course of action?” Celestia murmured, her gaze fixed upon her sister and trying to judge her every move.

Brightening, Luna nodded and gave to her sister a calming smile, “We assure thee, sister, besides, we hath seen her dreams tonight, we doth not believe it will take much longer if we keep her from… getting us out of her mind,” she clarified after a second.

Sighing, Celestia nodded, “I still don’t feel alright with doing this, Luna. While I can accept and… see… that she clearly seems to have some kind of infatuation with us…,” she started to explain, only for her to have to think over her sentence for a second, “And I do have to admit, I find it intriguing, though I cannot help but think of how she sometimes gets,” Celestia said, twirling a hoof into the air, “worried.”

“Oh, hush now, it shalt be fine,” Luna said, shaking her head, “We are certain she can handle a bit of teasing, sister.”

Nodding apprehensively, Celestia sighed once more, “Usually, I would agree. Though as you remember, she has recently gone through some tough things, sister, I for one cannot tell if what we are doing is wise.”

Stopping and thinking for a second, Luna seemed to actually mull over her sister’s words before she nodded, “We hath to admit, thou art right,… we shouldst not overstrain her,” she started, stopping her sister’s reply with a hoof, “Though if not now, then when? Now might be the best time for her to open up, sister. She is hurting herself by not admitting it. If she keeps it up, other problems may arise. She even stops her dreams from playing out, which, if we hath to remind thee, is not very healthy. What we hath seen tonight is cause enough to worry, though it wilt not change by doing nothing.” Her tone softening, Luna reached out and touched her hoof to Celestia’s, “For now, we believe the best way we can help her is if we proceed. Seeing to it that she will let it out all at once may not be the romantic approach, sister, but tis the one she needs right now,” Luna affirmed gently.

“I see…” Celestia said, slightly hanging her head and nodding, “It is just… I don’t want to hurt her feelings, sister.”

“And thou shalt not, if we hath not achieved what we hope to reach at the end of the week, we will talk to her… together,” Luna said, seriously, drawing a nod and a small smile from her sister, “though up until then,” Luna started, a grin once more settling onto her lips, “let’s see who can make her blush the most, shall we?” she winked, drawing a snort from Celestia.

Smiling back at her sister, Celestia nodded warmly. Even she had to admit that if Twilight would confess on her own, even if coaxed, it would be the best outcome.

Suddenly though, the double door on the other side of the chamber opened, Cadance and Shining Armor casually strolling through it.

Quickly straightening themselves before either of them could see their rather intimate moment, both sisters gave each other a quick glance before they casually greeted the newcomers.

Happily joining the two older alicorns, the four of them held idle chit chat before their meals finally arrived.

Once finished, Celestia excused herself from the group, leaving her sister, Cadance and Shining Armor in the dining hall as she went to prepare court, intent for it to start as early as possible to show any pony who had witnessed the happenings from the last couple of days that everything was going to be alright.

As Celestia left, Cadance turned back to her meal only to notice that Luna hadn’t followed her sister and was in fact still seated at the table, gingerly nibbling at the remainder of an apple.

Glancing to her husband, she raised an eyebrow, “Um, auntie?”, she asked, causing Luna to glance up, “won’t you follow her?” she inquired, “I thought you usually held court together?”

Smiling, Luna nodded before she set down the apple grips on her plate, “We usually do, though sister and I have agreed that we shall take the day away from our duties to spend it with Twilight,” she answered, causing both to look at her expectantly.

Blinking, Luna frowned, “What? Hath we not promised that we wouldst keep an eye on her?” she asked, her gaze switching between both Cadance and Shining Armor.

Briefly glancing to his wife, Shining Armor reluctantly nodded, “Well, indeed, you have," he admitted thoughtfully. Resuming his meal, the stallion's ears went straight after a second of silence and he looked around, perturbed, his fork halted halfway to his mouth, "though if I might ask, where is my sister?”

Nodding understandingly, Luna sheepishly smiled back at him, “Well… we…

Her initial shock from when she had woken up finally worn down, and ‘other things’ thoroughly ignored by submerging herself in an ice-cold bathtub, Twilight wanted nothing more than to relax a little bit and let her mind calm down.

Because of that, she had, after what felt like hours spent in her room practicing breathing techniques, finally made her way to the castle’s library to make good on her promise to at last take one day for herself.

Though even as she walked through her most favorite place of the castle, or of the world if you would have asked her before she got her own library, Twilight had to admit that in the last year or so she had, somewhat, forgotten how to truly relax.

Adding to that was that the last few weeks had been stressful even without counting the last few days into the mix, though as she was simply unable to will Saturday and Sunday out of existence, Twilight found that her mind refused to calm down.

Walking through the alley of bookshelves stacked over each other, her thoughts jumping from her parents to the terrorists, over to her somewhat weird experience with the kittens, to the enchantment she had managed to lose and to the magical feats she had supposedly accomplished without her remembering.

All she knew was that she had a good Saturday up until Celestia’s letter arrived and after that, everything was hazy at best.

She knew some things, like that she had fought, though the exact details on how she had won was basically a blank spot in her mind that only added to her annoyance.

Her previous hypothesis that she had been captured and was being held prisoner in some kind of illusion or hallucination spell was also ruled out as Celestia had yesterday proved without a doubt that this was not the case.

Though just to be safe, once she had been alone this morning, she had tried multiple spells to check if she was really, really not in some kind of illusion.

As her every attempt at confirming that she was captured came back negatively, her mind had somewhat calmed down and treacherously returned to what Rainbow Dash would call ‘more fun places’.

Passing yet again the same intersection she had now passed thrice already; Twilight sighed and shook her head.

Half of her mind screamed at her that she should not waste time with a day off and get back to Ponyville, the other half welcomed the free time as she could start some research on why she had been able to lose her enchantments.

To her dismay, after Celestia had recast the nourishment spell on her yesterday, Twilight had taken the time earlier to figure out if other enchantments had been lost too.

While luckily not being the case, as setting up some of her diary enchantments on herself as well as a pocket dimensional anchor would probably take her at least a day full of work, every enchantment she had cast or woven onto herself had remained.

All with but one exception.

Her dream shield was gone, just as mysteriously as her nourishment spell.

The subsequent implications alone managed to make her head ache, though the fact that she couldn’t explain how it could have happened was even more jarring.

The only similarity between those two spells had been that they had been woven into her font of magic directly, which meant that she would have to lose all connection to her magic first before someone else could forcefully drain either spell of their own stored magical capacity before they would fall out.

Though if she would have lost her connection to her magic, Twilight was positive that she would now not be able to simply levitate the small tome in front of her which she had picked up earlier.

Not for an extended period of time, at least.

Stopping in the middle of the alley and lifting a hoof to her forehead, Twilight groaned slightly as she felt the remnants of the poison she had received as well as her building headache.

Shaking her head once more, Twilight glared at the book in front of her.

Transmogrification and Transformation of Objects and Beings, by Dusty Scrolls.

Her initial plan of having a day to herself still in place, Twilight hoped, that if she would take the middle way between a more serious study and one where she had previously simply toyed with the idea, that it would eventually help her to relax and to finally calm down enough for her mind to quiet down at least a bit.

Well, that was her hope anyway.

Shaking her head once more and tucking the book under her wing, Twilight trotted forward, taking the next corner out of the bookshelves and towards the exit where the head librarian happily nodded and smiled at her.

Nodding back, Twilight remembered how Miss Autumnshine had always been a nice pony to her and that she always had at least tried to help her locate any dusty and forgotten book the young pony had been in search of when she was still Celestia’s student.

Stopping for a few minutes to have a short chat with her old friend, Twilight, at last, made her way over to the kitchen.

Approaching the great halls in which some of the best cooks in all of Equestria were being employed, Twilight noted that the few cooks outside their domain reacted strangely to her presence.

Some of them merely glanced at her before hastily averting their gazes, others seemed to completely alter their course. One even, upon seeing her approach the door he just came out of, turned and vanished back into the warehouse, his crate wagon already forgotten and slowly rolling down the hall.

Sighing heavily, Twilight had a suspicion why they, again, seemed only too keen on avoiding her like the plague.

It was her ascension all over again.

Back then, Celestia had taken her back to Canterlot to explain everything Twilight wanted to know about her new body and responsibilities.

It had been fine, at first, though after only a matter of hours, she had slowly started to become more hungry and Celestia, while all the time having that knowing smile on her lips, had steadily supplied her with a constant stream of snacks and other delectables only too conveniently placed in her range while they talked.

As Twilight finally noticed that their conversation was not accompanied by tea and cake, but rather tea and cake was accompanied by a conversation, she was already finished with her fifth cake and who knew how many cups of tea.

What Celestia though hadn’t accounted for was her sudden sense of anxiety that she may have broken any form of decorum, and while Celestia had intended to ease her into the topic of something so life-changing, Twilight had then steadfastly refused to eat any more despite her body demanding more every second.

Though as her former mentor had finally taken notice of it, it was already too late, and Twilight was on the verge of snapping like she did yesterday.

Her resulting resumption of consumption was… too much… for the anticipation of the staff and they had found themselves in much the same situation as they had been in yesterday.

Muttering to herself, Twilight knew that her first incident had despite every attempt of Luna, Celestia, Cadance and herself, caused the kitchen staff to grow fearful of the appetite of an alicorn, and that yesterday had now only reminded them of that fact once more.

Silently cursing under her breath, Twilight briefly wondered if the few friends she had made in the kitchen staff all those years ago were also following the trend of their colleagues or if they would know better than to accuse her and every other princess of devouring ponies whole if they felt like it.

Shaking her head and dismissing the thought, Twilight was unwilling to cause yet another fit of panic among the all too easy to startle kitchen staff and so stopped halfway down the hall and turned briskly.

Slightly annoyed, she turned to the next guard she could find and asked him if he could kindly fetch her a thermos flask filled with hot chocolate.

The notion of sending someone for something so trivial made her sick to the stomach, though when she had a day to herself, she wanted something for once, damn it.

Her order sent and her request fulfilled only minutes after, Twilight briefly pondered at where to go now.

The castle was huge, much bigger than her own in Ponyville.

Though while she still thought of her castle as too much for her, Canterlot Castle’s size was justified, in a sense.

But to a small filly, Canterlot was a maze of wonders and she had found many secluded or hidden places, sometimes even some secret passages, to read in when she was young. More often than not, Celestia had been the only one who had known where her student had hidden away from the world around her.

Though after only a mere second of thought on where to go, Twilight decided on one of her favored places, one where even Celestia had sometimes tutored her.

The gardens.

More specifically, the hill just outside the window of her own quarters.

Settling down under an old cherry tree which had long since stopped carrying fruits, Twilight clutched her warm flask to her chest and sighed in contentment.

Looking around and down the small hill the tree stood atop, she could see a large portion of the guards’ training grounds where a group of soldiers was being chased along the runway by one of their sergeants.

Watching them exercise for a moment, Twilight smiled to herself and remembered the time when Shining had been among those running in circles. Her brother had always taken pride in his abilities and he had always aimed to be the best.

His later achievements spoke volumes of his success.

While she looked down the hill and at the guards, her thoughts miles away, the captain overseeing the current training spotted her and hastily rushed over to the sergeant shouting at the guards.

Tearing her eyes away, Twilight opened her wing and brought out the book she had carried with her, cracking it open before lighting her horn and letting both quills, ink and parchment pop into existence.

Warmed by both her fur and the perfectly heated hot chocolate she slowly drank; Twilight wasn’t fazed by the slightly chilled autumn winds as her mind got more and more absorbed by the book and her research.

Though as the time ticked by and the sun slowly crawled up further and further into the sky, her hot chocolate slowly emptying itself and her stacks of parchment she wrote on grew, Twilight’s mind sneakily wandered away from equations and theories to the image of Luna with her dark blue fur sitting in front of her, as a cat, demanding fish and belly rubs.

Shaking her head, Twilight blinked as she stared at the doodle of a cat curled up and sleeping on the top right corner of her paper.

Sighing slightly, Twilight turned her head away from her research and looked down the mountain, in the direction of Ponyville, and briefly wondered how Fellora and her kittens were doing.

Hearing hoofsteps slowly approaching from down the hill, her ears swiveled in that direction before she turned her head.

The sergeant she had seen earlier, his head beet red and out of breath, followed by a guard captain, who didn’t seem any better, slowly made his way up to where she was nestled under the tree.

As they arrived, both bowed as deeply in the grass as their armor would allow before the Captain straightened up again, “My Princess,” he said, his voice shaking slightly, “I am afraid our soldiers can last no longer.”

Surprised, Twilight blinked at him in confusion, “We have exceeded our normal training routines now almost five times,” he continued, puffing his chest out, “And while I know that your highness hasn’t announced an inspection, I couldn’t help but notice that your highness has graced us with her presence,” he added, a small smirk on his lips.

Blinking once more before briefly glancing down the hill to see the whole guard regiment from before wheezing in exhaustion, Twilight glanced back at the two ponies and shook her head slightly, “Um… okay…,” she started, her voice uncertain, “and uh… what exactly is it that you want from me now?”

Briefly glancing at his superior, the Sergeant rose as well and straightened before he spoke, “We had hoped that your highness’s impression has been a good one and we would request that you do us the honor of judging our troops upon their performance,” he said, his eyes narrowing slightly towards his superior while one of his ears briefly flick back in confusion.

Suddenly lost completely, Twilight stared at the two soldiers in front of her, her ears slowly falling back onto her head and her wings rustling in sudden worry at having misunderstood something very critical very wrong.

As the seconds ticked by in which her mind raced and in which multiple attempts at saying something appeasing failed as she neither knew exactly what the two guards expected of her now, nor had she actively followed the proceedings on the training ground to have her formulate an adequate answer.

Mistaking her lack of an immediate response for disapproval, the guard captain seemed to straighten up even more, “I see, your highness, I am sorry,” he started, his head bowing slightly, “For what it is worth, Princess, I apologize for my lack of oversight so that our troops have succumbed to a state you do not approve of.” Briefly glancing back at the Sergeant and narrowing his eyes slightly he continued, “I will personally see to it that our troops are brought up to standard and that the next time your Highness is visiting the state of our…”

“Princess Twilight, Captain Wind Shield?” another voice cut into the rather one-sided conversation, this one brisk and authoritative.

Turning her confused gaze away from the guards and towards the source of the voice, which turned out to be Princess Luna casually wandering up the hill, Twilight’s already confused mind made a sudden jolt of panic as she now definitely knew that she had done something wrong.

Her concentration slipping, the papers she had been holding previously in her magic were now free of their constraints and were about to flutter into all directions by the aid of the gentle breeze carrying over the hill.

Though, before it could come to that, Luna lit her horn briefly and caught the stack of parchment in her magic. Setting them down in front of Twilight, Luna turned her attention away from the young pony and directed it at the two guards, an almost amused smile on her lips, “Captain Wind Shield, I am sorry, but I believe you may have misunderstood the reasoning for Princess Twilight’s presence today,” she calmly explained, making both guards bow hastily in her presence and Twilight to rustle in sudden discomfort.

Briefly motioning them to rise, the Captain was the first one who did so and who found his voice, “Princess Luna, I am sorry, but we haven’t seen you-” he started but was interrupted by the night Princess.

“Oh, this is no reason to apologize, Captain,” she brushed off his concern with a gentle smile on her lips, “now rise, the both of you!” she commanded once more.

Following her command, the sergeant rose as well, his ears laid flat onto his helmetless head and his gaze suddenly troubled.

Startled at first, the captain quickly recovered from being interrupted and opened his mouth once more, “Princess… if I may, what did your highness mean we have misunderstood something in, um, Princess Twilight’s presence?”

Chuckling slightly, Luna briefly glanced at Twilight who merely stared back wide-eyed, “Oh, I just overheard your conversation,” she started, turning back to both guards, “and without implying anything, I believe that Princess Twilight has merely come here to read a book and not to judge you or your soldiers for their performance?” she asked, looking at Twilight and waiting for her to nod hastily.

Feeling the sudden glare of his comrade, the guard captain suddenly had to wring with his voice, “B-but I thought… she… I mean her Highness had… I…” shaking his head, the guard bowed once more, this time to Twilight again, “I am sorry your Highness for making assumptions, I-I had thought you would…”

“Which does not mean that your extensive training has remained unnoticed,” Luna suddenly interjected once more, “While Princess Twilight may not have the intention of judging you, I on the other hoof have noticed your guards exercising as well, and I am willing to share my insights,” Luna stated, drawing the attention of both guards once more and causing the Captain to relax slightly.

Turning her head and flicking a bit of hair out of her face, Luna glared down at the smaller stallion in front of him, “And I have to say, I am most displeased with what I have come to witness.”

Hearing the gulp from the guard even from her spot under the tree, Twilight suddenly felt bad for the captain in front of her. “While the endurance of both yourself and your guards could surely be improved, you have intentionally altered the standardized training routines and even extended them for far longer than they are supposed to last. While normally I would welcome such a change in practice, you have done so in an ill-advised attempt to gain favors from one of your superiors and have not taken into consideration the best interests of your subordinates.”

Holding up a hoof to forestall any excuses, Luna hardened her glare, “AND You… have willingly taken the risk of potentially hurting one or more of your soldiers for your personal gain!”

Flicking her gaze to the sergeant next to him, her glare didn’t soften, “And you, even though you have only followed orders from a superior, Sergeant, the wellbeing of the regiment had been placed in your hooves first and foremost and you have willingly played along to support Captain Wind Shield’s ill-intended agenda.”

Waiting for a moment for her words to settle in, Luna turned back to the captain, “Which abhors me the most is not that you pushed the limits of your troops, but the fact that you did so without taking their health and fitness into consideration,” Luna said, looking down the hill and at the only slowly recovering regiment, “These are still rookies after all. Bestowing upon them the same drill some of our older guards have bestowed upon them is neither fair to them, nor to yourself as it is only damaging their morale.”

Turning away from the regiment and back to the Guard Captain and Sergeant, Luna let her hoof fall onto the ground with a residing thud, “Besides, it should not matter to you that a Princess is watching as you are supposed to train your troops the same as if we were watching all the time,” she finished, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Regarding the two ponies one last time, Luna sharply drew away, “I will decide at a later date as to your punishment!” she said, stepping forwards and towards Twilight, “You are both dismissed!”

As both guards hastily scurried away, Twilight found that she was now faced with Luna purposefully marching towards where she had curled up under the tree.

Laying her ears flat once more and feeling like bolting as well, Twilight suddenly felt out of place.

Though without any additional word spoken from the night princess, the larger pony came briskly to a stop right before her while Twilight still stared wide-eyed back up at her.

Still drawn to her full height and looking down towards the younger princess, Luna slowly laid her head askew and blinked curiously at Twilight, “Dost there be something wrong with our mane?” she asked, her posture slumping slightly and her wings rustling, “Or hath we done something displeasing to thee?” she asked, lighting her horn and attempting to comb through her hair with her magic.

Blinking in sudden confusion once again, Twilight’s eyes widened briefly even more before she shook her head slightly, “Oh, no, no… I… I just thought for a second you would… well… umm…you know… I… um,” shaking her head and forcing herself to calm down, Twilight inclined her head to Luna, “Um… thank you.”

Chuckling slightly, Luna loosened her stance before slowly settling down onto her haunches, “Oh, we see,” she said, her voice filled with mirth, “If it makes it any better, the only thing we could say is that thou shouldst not lay on the cold ground without something under thee,” Luna added, her voice teasing which only made Twilight blush suddenly.

Shaking her head once more, Twilight stared down at her book for a second to reorganize her thoughts. “Still… um… thank you,” she said, a slight hint of a smile on her lips and her gaze unable to reach up to Luna’s face.

Smiling and shaking her head, Luna relaxed a bit and inhaled deeply before glancing around. As her eyes fell upon Twilight once more, the young pony had cracked her book open once again and was trying to distract herself by reading, something Luna would have none of, “This is truly a good day to spend outside,” she started, unfurling her wings, stretching and flapping them slightly which drew Twilight’s gaze away from her book.

Playing innocent, Luna simply smiled to herself and nodded to Twilight, “Wouldst thou mind it if we joined thee for a bit?” she asked, laying her wings back onto her sides which caused Twilight to remember her manners.

Letting her gaze quickly snap back down to the opened pages of her book, Twilight nodded hastily, “Oh, of course not, I-I would be happy for the company.”

Nodding to herself, Luna settled down under the tree.

Her front hoofs neatly tucked under her and her hindlegs slightly touching the ends of Twilight’s tail, the night Princess slightly shuffled with her peytral before swiftly removing it alongside her crown and horseshoes.

Leaning her regalia neatly behind the tree, Luna sighed contently before stretching her wings once more which caused Twilight’s gaze to slowly wander back to her.

Affirming that she had the undivided attention of the younger pony by a covert glance of her own, she gingerly brushed herself through her chest fluff to help her fur realign naturally. Inhaling deeply, which made her barrel and chest expand slightly, causing her elongated fur to puff out even more, Luna let the air out in a drawn-out sigh.

Fluffing her wings to complete the cycle, Luna glanced at Twilight once more and found that her gaze was fixed onto her chest like a magnet.

Silently giggling, Luna glanced down to her own coat, observing how her fur danced in the slight wind that was blowing over the hill, “Does thou think we should get a cut for our winter coat?” she asked suddenly, causing Twilight to startle slightly.

“Buha, what, um… why?”

Giggling innocently, Luna ruffled through her fur with one hoof, “A simple cut,” she explained, drawing a circle over her chest, “Mayhap we could have one of our maids trim our coat here a bit so our regalia is not flattening it the whole time.”

Averting her gaze, Twilight glanced away, “Um… well… if you think so.”

“We don’t know, honestly,” Luna said in earnest, shrugging slightly and glaring at her regalia out of the corner of her eyes.

“On the one hoof, it would not cause us to have our coat flattened uncomfortably below our peytral, on the other, we would no longer be able to enjoy the soothing comforts of an elongated coat,” she sighed. “It would be easier to maintain, yes, though it feels very pleasant when it’s taken care of,” Luna added, causing Twilight to briefly glance at her chest once more before she averted her gaze.

“W-well, I-I am probably not the right pony to ask that, I don’t wear my regalia very often and so I simply have it g-grow until spring,” Twilight explained meekly.

Nodding, Luna glanced briefly to Twilight’s chest and she could swear she saw the young ponies heart beating rapidly behind, “Hmm, thou mayst be right, though still, what wouldst be thy recommendation?”

Causing Twilight to blush once more, the young pony slightly ducked her head, “Umm… I-I d-don’t know,” she shrugged, “h-how is C-Celestia handling the p-problem?” she asked, stuttering.

Humming softly and admitting the reasoning behind Twilight’s answer, Luna thought for a moment if her sister had told her about a recent cut to her coat, “Hmm, we do not know for certain, though we believe she is not doing anything against it and simply lets it grow as well.”

Watching the blush on Twilight’s face redouble despite her attempt at hiding it behind the papers she was holding, Luna smirked slightly and waited for her friend to answer.

“W-well, if C-Celestia is not having it cut, m-maybe y-you don’t have to as well?” Twilight asked and Luna found that behind her reasoning a poorly hidden hint of self-interest could be heard in her answer.

Smiling to herself, Luna nodded, “Mayhap thou art right and we simply ought to endure it, after all, it truly is pleasantly soft.”

Watching Twilight ring with her words, Luna decided that this would have to do and looked down at her book in an attempt to read while the young pony rustled her wings slightly.

Smiling to herself, Luna leaned her head askew as if to read a line or two from the book in Twilight’s hoofs, “If we mayest ask, what art thou reading?”

Latching on to the opportunity to stir the conversation into safer territory, Twilight shook her head slightly, “Um, it’s a book from the archmagician Dusty Scrolls, Transmogrification and Transformation of Objects and Beings,” Twilight answered hastily, closing the book with one hoof and showing the title.

Turning her head to better read the title, Luna nodded, “A most interesting topic,” she approved, “though we hath to admit, we hath never heard of the author,” she said, her curiosity peaked.

Thinking briefly, Twilight reopened her book to the page she had been on, “I believe he lived around 100 or 150 years ago,” she said, her ears slightly flicking, “So… um… I am not surprised you don’t know of him,” she sheepishly added.

Humming softly, Luna leaned closer once more in an attempt to read a few more lines, “Whilst we don’t know the author, we hath learned the theory back in our days as well,” she said, her mouth only inches away from one of Twilight’s ears, “This is a most useful branch of magic, especially for us, and we can proudly say that we claim to master it in many regards,” she added, leaning back and looking at Twilight whose face was now beet red once more.

Thinking for a second, Luna glanced at Twilight, “Is there a reason thou seekest knowledge of this particular topic?”

Nodding slightly, Twilight averted her gaze and looked down to Ponyville, “Well, I, um, I have recently tried something with it and the outcome has been very peculiar.”

“Peculiar thou sayeth? Hast thou tried to transform an object and the result has been not what thou wouldst have expected?

Nodding slightly, Twilight slowly turned her research paper over to hide the doodle still proudly displayed at the top of the page, “Well, you could say so… though I haven’t attempted to transform anything.”

“Then anyone, we can assume?” Luna added, her gaze growing thoughtful.

“Well, anyone, yes… though this anyone was, well… me.”

A faint smirk found its way onto Luna’s lips, “Ah, and thy attempt has led to… questionable results?” she hummed, “Hast thou not transformed into whatever thee wouldst have expected, or didst thou end up with more or less limbs than thou hath intended? Maybe thou hast changed gender?”

“Well, neither, though I found that I’ve come out with the wrong… age, I guess?”

“Age?”

“Well, for the lack of any better explanation so far, yes.”

“Ah… and how’s that, pray tell, in what form wouldst thou have wanted to transform that could be affected by age so vastly as to notice?”

Her blush redoubling, Twilight glanced away, “Um, a cat?”

“And thou ended up as a?”

“Kitten…”

Humming softly, Luna found that the image of a small purple kitten standing in front of her did not help her suppress the fit of giggles she felt welling up in her stomach. Hiding her laughter poorly behind a hoof, her amusement suddenly doubled as she found Twilight glaring up at her. “Oh, this surely hast been a lovely sight,” she giggled, making Twilight blush anew and shy way.

Having none of that, Luna opened one of her wings and drew Twilight closer with a startled ‘eep’, “So, pray tell, why wouldst thou want to transform thyself into a feline recently?” she asked, her voice still strained by suppressed laughter.

“W-well, I-I had visited Fluttershy a-and she has currently a young cat mother in her care who has asked to spend the winter at her cottage.”

“So, we see an opportunity, but not a reason for thee to transform into a cat,” Luna prodded further.

“W-well, I h-had helped her feed them a-and I-I had seen the kittens, which has been the first time I have seen kittens a-and so, I-I kind of did it on impulse,” Twilight tried to defend herself, her ears splaying back onto the back of her head.

“Thou hast cast a transformation spell on impulse?” Luna asked, her voice filled with disbelief.

Nodding, Twilight averted her gaze and shrugged slightly, “Well, it’s not the first time I have done something like it on impulse… or the hardest,” she reflected after a second.

Shaking her head, Luna was about to inquire further about the other spells she might have cast on impulse though let it slide for now, “So, um… dost thou remember what spell thou hast been using?” she asked, still trying to digest that Twilight could cast such a spell on a whim.

Nodding her head once, Twilight lit her horn and created a visual representation of the spell matrix she had cast, “Well, um… this one, I think,” she said, pointing her hoof at the hovering lavender construct of arcane runes, symbols, and lines.

Frowning slightly at the unfamiliar construct, Luna looked over the matrix with interest, noting at several points that Twilight’s spell was superior to that which she had used previously.

After a solid minute of studying the spell Twilight had set before her, Luna hummed in thought, “While we hath to admit that this spell most certainly hath many advantages over that which we would tend to use,” she pondered aloud, “we fail to see any component which wouldst affect the state of something, like age, form or gender taken into consideration for thy spell.”

Smiling at Luna, her previous embarrassment forgotten, Twilight rotated the spell slightly and pointed with her hoof at a rune circle linked to it, “The spell I’ve used is a simple transformation spell. There is no way for the caster to alter the target’s form by any more than the general idea of what to transform into. I can put into the equation a goal, like becoming a cat, and the spell takes age, gender, form, and the basic structure of the target to match a general magical copy of the goal.” Twilight started to explain, “So when directed at myself, I should transform into a female cat with the physical equivalent of my strength and body broken down to the proportions I’d have if I’d been born a cat. For all intents, the spell transforms someone into the version of themselves that they would have been if they’d been born as the creature.”

“While I cannot perform a pony to object transformation with this spell, it is a rather easy spell to perform because…”

Listening to Twilight’s explanation, Luna’s thoughts suddenly had a hiccup, “If THIS is what thou name ‘easy’,” she thought bitterly, “then we wouldst hate to see what thou would name ‘hard’ then,” she complained before returning her attention back to Twilight’s explanation.

“… Over the years, I’ve used this spell multiple times when I was still Celestia’s student to study different kinds of animals and animal behavior. As I grew older, my transformations followed and had become more and more mature like I did, though once I used it now as an alicorn for the first time, I found myself back into a state of a foal, barely older than the equivalent if I’d been maybe 5 or 6 years old.”

Nodding along, Luna studied the link Twilight had pointed at, “We hath to admit, this is a genius spell, and we most certainly can see the use for it.”

Smiling, Twilight looked back at Luna, “Yeah, but there is the problem. I cannot explain why I’ve transformed into a kitten and not into a grown cat. I mean I am a grown pony, a pony turned alicorn maybe, but still, I am still a grown pony, or am I not?”

Humming in thought, Luna looked Twilight over, “Thou art right, thy physical appearance is that of a mature pony,” Luna admitted.

“What I wonder now, is it because I’ve ascended so rather recently that the spell thinks I am a child or is there some other component added to it? I mean, I have multiple ideas on what could have influenced that. Maybe we are not truly… well… immortal and simply age slower than a normal pony which would shift the part I’ve already aged into a much smaller margin of my life,” Twilight pondered aloud, “Or we age like the time and the further we reach the endpoint of time the older we get by the spell,” she mused, for the first time turning her pages around and leafing through them.

Showing Luna one of her pages filled with equations, Twilight pointed at the bottom of it, “Which would lead me to conclude that the universe should only persist another 80 to 90 thousand years,” she said.

Lowering her parchments, Twilight stared at Luna, the pleasant sensation of Luna’s wing on her back only barely registering in her mind as she excitedly started to wiggle slightly.

“Hmmm, this is a most gruesome thought,” Luna admitted, observing the spell Twilight still projected once more, “maybe thou ought to cast the spell on us for reference, we hath been an alicorn for thousands of years, maybe the spell reacts differently to us.”

Suddenly halted in her excitement, Twilight stared wide-eyed at Luna, “C-cast t-the spell on you?” she asked, in disbelief, the image of a small night blue kitten sitting in front of her and demanding belly rubs once more coming to her mind.

Shrugging, Luna glanced at Twilight, seeing the bright blush which started to spread over her features once more slowly reach the young pony’s ears. “Hmm, why not, we see no harm in trying it,” she said, a small smile of her own settling onto her lips.

Sputtering slightly, Twilight frantically shook her head, “No, no… I um… I could never…”

“Why ever not? Tis simply would be like one of thy experiments or would it not?” Luna asked, drawing her wing a bit closer and lightly squeezing Twilight, “We wouldst do it ourselves, though we wouldst have to learn the spell first,” she said softly.

Averting her gaze, Twilight seemed to consider it for a second before finally giving up and nodding. “Fine, I’ll do it, though if I am already on it, I would like to do it multiple times, maybe there is something else to it.”

Shrugging, Luna slowly furled her wing back onto her side and stood up. “Thou mayst. Feel free to begin when thou art ready,” she said, her own excitement and curiosity barely hidden.

Inhaling deeply, Twilight motioned with her hoofs the breathing techniques Cadance had taught her before standing up as well. Lighting her horn, she briefly closed her eyes, “Ready?” she asked, holding the spell safely in her mind’s grasp.

Nodding Luna looked over her body once more before saying, “Thou mayst start.”

Hearing Luna’s affirmation, Twilight’s horn flashed brightly, and Luna was enveloped by a lavender sheen of magic.

Once the sheen faded away, a small dark blue kitten stood at the place Luna had stood before, glancing up at the much larger pony and mewling in sudden surprise.

Staring at the kitten in front of her, Twilight had to suppress the urge to hyperventilate and quickly lit her horn once more, the counterspell already prepared and another flash of magic transforming Luna back to her usual stature.

Giggling, the night princess stood in front of Twilight, now once more larger than the young pony and smiling down at her, “So, as it turned out, we become a kitten as well,” Luna said, Twilight already furiously scribbling notes onto her papers.

Sideling up to her friend, Luna almost purred into her ears, “But why so quick to revert? Hast we not been a cute little kitten?” she asked, Twilight’s already prominent blush slightly spreading and her head-turning away.

“Well… um… you didn’t… well…” Inhaling once more deeply to try and calm down, Twilight looked away, “We wanted to try it multiple times,” she pointed out, making Luna nod slightly, “Which meant I had to revert you back.” Twilight concluded.

Rolling her eyes, Luna shook her head and stepped once more in front of Twilight, “Then feel free to recast,” she said, a hint of mischief to her voice.

Nodding, Twilight lit her horn anew and cast the spell on Luna once more.

This time, Luna turned out to be a grown cat and not a kitten, which made both Luna as well as Twilight halt in sudden surprise.

Shaking her head, Twilight was the first to recover as Luna still felt somewhat dizzy from her transformation.

Lighting her horn, Twilight countered her spell once more to the audible protest of Luna.

After performing the spell a few times more, in which Luna turned out to be a grown cat twice and a kitten once, Twilight lit her horn one last time to transform the lunar alicorn into a cat.

The spell cast and the magical sheen vanishing, Twilight blanched as Luna had suddenly vanished.

Panic already rising, Twilight was on the verge of screaming in horror as suddenly a scratchy feeling attacked her left front hoof.

Looking down, the dark-blue kitten Luna had now three times turned into had attached itself to her hoof and was steadily trying to climb up her limb which made Twilight almost jump in shock.

Trying to scurry back and only tripping over her own hoofs, Twilight fell onto her back in an impressive display of failed eye to hoof coordination.

Luna, visibly happy for her target to no longer be so high up, let go of Twilight’s front hoof and gingerly landed on Twilight’s belly, her tiny claws not even penetrating her fur but causing Twilight to giggle slightly.

Her shock slowly fading away, Twilight watched in abject horror how Luna slowly padded up her belly and over her chest, her catface somehow forming a determined glare and her eyes filled with mischief.

As Luna finally reached Twilight’s chest after what felt like minutes of struggling to not fall off, while all the while staring the young pony directly into her eyes, the little kitten let loose a screeching attempt of a roar before jumping and flopping down on her chest, her belly turned up and wiggling around.

Surprised, Twilight stared at Luna who was rubbing her head and back all over her chest fur, happy little meows coming from her and her tiny body pleasantly tingling as she did so.

Starstruck, all Twilight could do was stare at Luna, whose movements slowed down and whose eyes found Twilight’s once more before meowing almost demandingly.

As if tranced, Twilight slowly lifted one of her forehooves from her side and gingerly brought it closer to Luna.

Seeing this, the small kitten attempted to reach for it, her tiny paws eagerly batting after the enclosing appendage.

Though while failing at first, Luna soon got hold of Twilight’s hoof.

Her tiny claws firmly taking hold of the appendage, the kitten slowly guided it to her fluffed-up chest fur while her head and body relaxed back, lazily blinking up at the large pony beneath her.

Understanding the demand, Twilight absently started to carefully rub up and down Luna’s chest and belly, eliciting some mostly failed attempts of purrs from the tiny kitten on top of her.

Her blush prominently spread over her cheeks; Twilight couldn’t fathom how it had come to this.

Though suddenly, as if Twilight wasn’t embarrassed enough, Luna managed it to convey her satisfaction of having her belly rubbed by starting to purr in earnest.

Following her new instincts, she closed her eyes and relaxed into the ministrations, her tiny body sinking even deeper into Twilight’s fur.

Helplessly watching as one of her crushes lazily relaxed on top of her chest, Twilight found that despite everything that had happened recently, despite her supposed embarrassment, her mind had finally started to quiet down and was more and more focusing on the pleasant tingle emanating from the little kitten.

Embarrassment forgotten; all Twilight could think now was that she wanted to stay here for all eternity.

…

“You know, it could be so easy!”

Her muscles tensing, Twilight awoke with a start.

Her breath hitched; all she could do was listen.

Listen to the silence around her.

Listen to the birds in the distance.

Soft rustling of leaves added to it as the wind calmly blew through the treetop above her, and a straight ray of sunlight playfully danced over her feathers.

It had been a dream.

Surely, she hadn’t…

She never would…

Wait… what hadn’t she?

The details of her dream rapidly fading away, Twilight found she already couldn’t remember what she had dreamed of.

Yet, a strong sense of unease remained.

Blinking her eyes clear, Twilight glanced around.

She was outside, still at the exact same spot she had been since she had come out to read.

Yet… she had slept, once again.

Exhaling slowly, Twilight noted absently that the heavy tree trunk she lay next to had a truly beautiful bark.

Following it with her eyes up and down, Twilight mentally noted just how many craters and indents the old tree had across its outer shell.

How long had it stood here?

How long will it still stand here?

The thoughts didn’t matter.

Letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding; Twilight closed her heavy eyelids once more.

It truly was calm here.

Shifting slightly, Twilight felt a small mass shift inside her left wing.

Opening her eyes, she looked down at the cocoon of feathers she had spanned around her.

She was holding something.

Carefully peeling her right-wing away, Twilight winced slightly as she tried to use a muscle that had already grown stiff as she had slept. How long had she been here anyway?

Dismissing the thought, Twilight glanced down her chest and onto her left wing.

There, curled up and slightly clawing with her tiny paws into her wing bone, surprisingly eliciting a pleasant tingle instead of stinging pain, a tiny dark blue kitten had nestled into her feathers.

Luna.

The thought echoed through her drowsy mind, causing memories to stir and Twilight to remember while she watched the tiny kitten sleep.

Watched her friend… her, her crush.

Despite the urge of panic she expected, she kept calm.

Luna had her head laid down on Twilight’s wing; had curled up her body around the slight bulge Twilight’s muscles formed along her bone and was peacefully snoozing.

Her tiny chest rising and falling, her tail almost tickling her own nose with every breath, Twilight watched the alicorn turned kitten sleep.

Every time Luna exhaled Twilight felt a ghost of vibration ripple across the sensitive underside of her wing, indicating that she was still faintly purring.

Watching Luna sleep was mesmerizing.

No, feeling Luna sleep was mesmerizing.

No… knowing…

Accompanied by the pleasant and rhythmic sensations she felt traveling up her wing, her thoughts gradually grew slower while her eyelids started to weigh more and more every second.

Closing the cocoon of wings again with her now folded right one, Twilight nestled into the grass even more, coaxing Luna to inhale deeply, the faint vibrations of her purring growing for a second, before she, too, relaxed back and continued as if nothing had happened.

Sleep sounded like a good plan.

It sounded peaceful.

Already drifting off, Twilight heard soft hoof-falls slowly coming up the hill.

Her mind registered it, though she was too tired to do anything.

The hoofs sounded heavy, probably a larger pony.

Princess Celestia? Her Brother? Cadance?

No, none of those. She just knew.

Maybe a guard?

It didn’t matter.

Though, the steps grew ever closer until they stopped right next to her.

She felt the ghostly presence of a hoof hovering mere inches away from her back as if someone was thinking over it if would be wise to touch her.

She could feel it, both the internal turmoil and the hoof behind her back.

It was faint but present.

She knew with certainty, just as if she would have stood behind herself and taken a look.

Finally, the hoof went away.

Yet, the pony stayed.

A slight metallic cluttering could be heard.

A weapon? Armor?

Twilight couldn’t do anything to check as her body simply refused to work for her.

She was tired. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep, to hold Luna closer to her, and stay right here and now for as long as she pleased.

She wished the pony would just go away.

Yet, the pony remained.

Rooted in place mere inches away from her.

What did it want?

Another clatter.

Definitely armor.

A guard then.

The pony behind her inhaled deeply. Maybe not a guard? An assassin? Someone out to kill her and committing to strike right now?

Though the blow never came, and the pony almost soundlessly exhaled behind her.

She was in the castle; in Canterlot. What did she worry about, surely nothing would want to harm her here?

Still, the pony remained.

Standing there, as if thinking.

Doing nothing.

Finally, after Twilight already thought she had imagined the whole ordeal, a very tentative voice, one hushed down in fear of waking some pony, started to speak.

“Princess Twilight?” was the soft inquiry hanging in the air now.

It was her name, and her title, her mind bitterly reminded her.

She was addressed.

She couldn’t just pretend she didn’t hear it, could she?

Would the pony go away if she ignored it?

Could she return to sleep?

Though, sleep had already been stolen from her and so she shifted slightly, making the pony behind her step back as if in fear of having drawn her terrible wrath.

She opened her eyes.

There was the tree.

Blinking a couple of times, Twilight shifted her head slightly to glance over her shoulder.

Surely, right there where she had imagined him, a bulky white stallion clad in golden armor stood behind her.

His eyes wide and his ears as best as he could lay upon his helmet, the stallion looked as if he would bolt at any second now.

He was an earthpony.

He wouldn’t get far if she really wanted to stop him.

She blinked, where did that thought come from?

She mentally chided herself.

She was a princess, she had other means of retaliation.

She chided herself again.

But… she could throw the book next to her after him.

No… she couldn’t… first off, it was a book, second, it was too valuable, and third, it could hurt the poor soul.

Yet… why didn’t he go away?

Had she remembered to glare?

Licking his lips, the stallion nervously glanced at her, unable to meet her eyes and trying to avoid looking down her curled-up form as best he could.

He failed.

Shaking his head as if he was mentally debating something with himself, the stallion drew himself up as he remembered his guard training.

Focusing his attention just slightly above her eyes and at her forehead, he cleared his voice, “Princess Twilight, I am terribly sorry to have woken you, Your Highness.”

Twilight just sleepily blinked at him, wordlessly urging him to continue.

Looking at her for a moment longer, the guard took another step back, “I-I am sorry, your Highness, I will go and inform Princess Celestia that you are currently indisposed,” he said, already half-turned and intent on going away.

She could have what she wanted.

She just had to stay quiet.

Celestia.

She couldn’t.

Rubbing her eye with one of her hoofs absently, Twilight shook her head, “N-no, no, wait… wait…” she said, her voice still dulled from sleep, making the guard stop, “Wha… what did she want?” she asked.

Nervously glancing over his shoulders, the guard seemed to consider his answer.

Finally, he turned around once more, facing her and bowing slightly, “Princess Celestia has asked for your presence at lunch,” he stated more clearly and unknowing of another Princess he could wake.

Her former teacher called for her, her friend wanted to have lunch with her. Her crush.

Twilight nodded and inhaled deeply, feeling her chest fur gracefully touching the kitten folded inside her wings, “Y-you can inform her that I will be there shortly,” she stated, the prospect of sleep suddenly no longer important.

Nodding, the guard rose and was about to go before he stopped and spotted Luna’s regalia still neatly piled against the tree.

Glancing around, the guard seemed to look for her, his gaze wandering over the hill.

Finally, it reached her once more and he glanced rapidly between the pile of regalia and Twilight.

Clearing his voice, the guard turned around once more, his head held low and his voice once again dimmed, “Umm… Princess, do you happen to know Princess Luna’s whereabouts?”

Looking at him, Twilight measured him up and down before wearily nodding.

Nodding along, the guard seemed to ponder if what he would do next was the right choice, “C-could you, if, by chance you see her, maybe inform her that her sister has asked for her presence as well?” he asked.

Realizing that if Twilight was called for lunch, Luna was probably too, Twilight quickly concluded that finding the night princess for anyone not knowing that she had turned into a kitten could be rather difficult.

And rather hard to explain when they would eventually find her…

Smiling slightly, Twilight nodded, “Of course, I will let her know,” she said appeasing.

Nodding, the guard seemed satisfied and carefully trotted away.

Once he left, Twilight felt a slight shift inside her wing.

Opening the cocoon once more, it seemed Luna had woken up during their conversation and was now glancing up at her with sleepily blinking eyes.

Smiling down, Twilight watched Luna for a second, a blush already starting to spread over her cheeks, and her throat suddenly dry.

As the kitten turned alicorn laid her head slightly askew and mewed up at her as if asking what was wrong, Twilight made up her mind and shook her head, “Well… it seems Princess Cele… um… I mean your sister has asked for us to have lunch with her,” she said, carefully grabbing the tiny kitten at the scruff with her magic and setting her in front of her, “And I believe we should not let her have to wait on us for too long,” she said, lighting her horn…

Sitting at the table with her daffodil sandwich barely touched, Twilight silently contemplated the choices of her life as she mentally cursed at her mane for not being able to hide herself in it like she had seen Fluttershy do so many times.

In her attempts to try, she had apparently found yet another universal constant.

Her mane was evil.

Once she had returned Luna to her proper species, the two of them had made their way over to have Lunch with both Celestia and, as it turned out, Cadance.

While normally she would have been happy to spend some time with her former foalsitter, her sister in law felt like just another nail in her proverbial coffin right now.

Why?

Because she was embarrassed.

Thankfully, while no guard dared to speak their mind as they had seen her and Luna walking by, and no noble had been encountered and Celestia at least managed it to hide her smirk behind either her tea or a fork of lettuce, not that she didn’t notice, Cadance had outright started to giggle as soon as she had laid eyes upon Twilight and her disheveled mane.

Sleeping, as history had proven time and time again, had cruel repercussions for Twilight.

Either her dreams haunted her or, as had been the case mere minutes ago, she looked like she had hibernated with her head inside one of Cloudsdale’s cloud exhausts.

To make matters worse, once she had been seated between Celestia and Luna, as the latter had all but sprinted forward to claim the last vacant seat next to Cadance, Celestia had lit her horn and began gently to rearrange every hair on her head just the way she had always worn them.

Not that it didn’t feel nice.

Why did it have to feel nice?

Yet... that wasn’t the point…

Silently pretending she didn’t like the act, her almost quieted thoughts started to whirl up again.

Why couldn’t she have an ethereal mane like Luna or the pony currently combing her? Luna’s mane looked just fine once she had been returned to being a pony.

And she had never seen Celestia comb any more than her coat as her mane seemed to always flow in just the perfect way around her head, framing it just so that she always looked so stunningly beautiful.

Her thoughts derailing, Twilight shook her head slightly, drawing the attention from Celestia.

“Is something the matter, Twilight?” she almost silently asked, only for Twilight to hear while her magic still held to some loose strands of her mane and carefully realigning them without being disturbed by her movements in the slightest.

Finding it hard to suppress her blush, Twilight had nearly shaken her head again in denial but caught herself in time, she wasn’t about to make Celestia’s job even harder with her constantly moving her head, “No… no… it’s alright,” she said meekly.

Looking at her, Celestia seemed to catch onto her undertone but luckily chose to remain silent and instead returned her attention to her mane and the conversation both Luna and Cadance had lapsed into.

As soon as her sister in law had seen what Twilight had looked like, she all but demanded to know what had happened and so Luna had started to tell her everything about the two guards pooling for her approval and the later conversation and the experiments she had partaken in.

Hearing yet another giggle from her sister in law, Twilight too directed her attention once more to the conversation.

“… we ended up as a grown cat then for the third time,” Luna explained with a shrug, her fork with a pierced-on piece of pineapple pointed at Cadance, “Yet while once again our friend was quick to cancel her spell, we had learned to overcome the dizzying effects of the transformation,” she said, Cadance’s grin only widening with the same mischievous gleam in her eyes as Twilight had seen in Luna before.

To Twilight’s ever-growing shock and embarrassment though, even Celestia seemed to be silently listening to Luna’s embarrassingly told story as she, too, had her smile widen for a mere fraction of a second.

While her gentle smile was unlike any other for an outside observer, Twilight knew her former mentor well enough to know that even though she didn’t show it outwardly, she, too, was silently laughing over the story her sister told.

Teleporting away, while incredibly rude, seemed suddenly a very appealing prospect.

“So, after we hadst convinced her to cast the spell one last time, we immediately spurred to action as soon as she hadst lit her horn,” Luna said, her lips tucked upwards, “While we didn’t know with what we would end up, we turned out to be a small kitten to our surprise, and were forced to adjust our plans slightly as we hadst hoped to be able to tackle her.” Luna explained, giggling, “So, instead of directly jumping at her to give her a scare, we managed it to climb up one of her legs instead.”

Barely able to hold back her giggles now, Luna had to compose herself for a second before continuing, “T-thou shouldst have seen her reaction though,” she tried to say, though having to stop for a moment to find another thread of focus to prevent herself from bursting out in laughter, “And while we hath ultimately achieved what we intended to, we believe in the end we slightly overdid it.” Luna said with an almost unnaturally straight face.

“I believe I can understand why,” Cadance giggled, “it is not every day your magical experiment starts to pounce at you,” she added laughing.

Unable to suppress a giggle of her own, Celestia inclined her head, “Oh, the two of you have no idea how often Twilight has managed something similar,” she threw into the conversation, “You wouldn’t believe just how often I had to step in and had to ‘rescue’ her when one of her experiments started to misbehave.”

“Oh, come on!” Twilight threw in, finding a threat of courage, “I wasn’t that bad,” she tried to defend herself, the pout audible in her voice causing the trio of ponies to giggle even more.

“Oh, I never said that,” Celestia said, shaking her head, still amused, “Though, in all honesty, I’ve never come across a pony that managed to bring a rosebush to life and have it chase a guard around the statue garden when trying to get it to grow.”

Glowing red with embarrassment, Twilight suddenly found her sandwich much more interesting than the conversation in front of her.

Much to the amusement of both Cadance and Luna.

“So, anyway, once Twilight had fallen on her back, we hath to admit we may hath gotten carried away and started to climb onto her chest,” Luna continued, a blush of her own suddenly slightly visible on her darkened face, “and while Sister can most assuredly hold testament to that claim, we could not resist finding out what house cats find so alluring about being petted,” she said, eliciting a small squeal from Cadance and a snort of laughter from Celestia.

Suddenly finding herself in a point of advantage, Twilight looked up with a mischievous smile of her own, “You all but demanded from me to get petted and nearly turned into a puddle of goo once I started,” she quickly threw in, causing Luna’s blush to deepen and both Celestia and Cadance to snort once in laughter.

“Tis not true!” Luna said, her wavering voice saying otherwise.

Unable to not straight out grin at her fellow Princess, Twilight simply looked at her while miming as if she were holding something nonexistent in her front hooves, gradually making a petting motion up and down.

Narrowing her eyes at Twilight, Luna contemplated her for a second, “Yea verily, thou didst enjoy petting us too,” she said, her piece of pineapple vanishing in her mouth and thinking to have cornered Twilight once more.

Shrugging, Twilight looked around, “Who wouldn’t enjoy petting a kitten?” she said challengingly, causing Cadance to almost snort her drink through her nose while Celestia merely nodded along, her smile telling everyone she enjoyed it just as much as Cadance did, though in a more dignified way.

Huffing, Luna rolled her eyes, “Well, hath we at least been a soft kitten then?” she asked, admitting defeat yet trying to find another battle to fight.

Stopping somewhat, Twilight merely shrugged, “Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t have much to compare it to,” she answered honestly, “It has only been days since I had seen a kitten for the first time,” she added.

Derailed, Luna blinked…

Using that window of opportunity to change the topic of the conversation herself, Twilight cleared her voice, “Well, enough with what Luna and I had been up to,” she said, looking around, “What have you been up to this morning, Cadance? And where is Shining?”

“I? Oh, dear, I haven’t been up to too much.” Cadance merely shrugged, “After breakfast, I went into the city to meet up with Fancy Pants for a bit and later tried to find Fleur for a bit of a talk,” she said, dismissively, “Turned out she is currently in Manehatten for one of her shows and will not be back before tomorrow,” she added.

“And my brother?” Twilight asked.

Glancing at the door for a brief moment, all Cadance did was shrug, “Don’t know, I had hoped he would come to lunch as well, though maybe he is down in the barracks with his old buddies and simply forgot the time,” she dismissed.

Disheartened, Twilight’s expression dimmed for a second before she pressed her lips together and nodded, “Well, tell him ‘hi from me’ when you see him next.”

Pricking her ears, Celestia glanced from her salad bowl up and at Twilight, “Oh, won’t you be around?” she asked, “Or do you want to go somewhere?”

Shrugging, Twilight shook her head, “Well, no… not that I have planned, yet, but I figured if he doesn’t come to lunch, I will not get to see him today,” she answered somewhat sourly.

Glancing between each other, both Luna and Cadance shrugged slightly behind Twilight’s back.

Watching Twilight somewhat listlessly taking a bite out of her sandwich, Luna briefly glanced at her sister who, too, shrugged.

Mulling over it for a second, Luna glanced back to Twilight, “Well, if thou hast not planned anything then, wouldst thou mayhap be interested in accompanying us to the city?” she asked happily.

Surprised, Twilight looked up, still chewing, and looked at Luna questioningly.

Simply shrugging, Luna answered her unspoken inquiry by absently stabbing another piece of pineapple with her fork.

Reluctant, Twilight glanced towards Cadance and Celestia, who both had their attention directed back towards their respected meals, and only one of her former mentors’ ears slightly turned into her direction and gave away that she was still somewhat listening to the conversation.

Unable to determine if what Luna asked was not too unusual to any of them, Twilight briefly wondered if it would be a good idea.

But looking back at Luna and at her expectant gaze, Twilight couldn’t do anything but nod somewhat befuddled, “Well, sure, I would love to. Anything in particular you would like to do there?” she asked.

Ignoring Twilight’s question and happily clapping her hoofs together once, Luna’s expression turned gleeful, “EEE… splendid! It hast been too long since we hadst anyone who wanted to go shopping with us!” she exclaimed happily.

Frowning slightly, Twilight levitated her sandwich down and examined Luna as she happily started to inhale her meal to get done with it. Glancing away from her and at Celestia, Twilight cocked her head, “Wait, shopping?” she asked unsure if she should regret her affirmation.

Looking down at her former student, Celestia’s neutral face turned into an amused smile, “Anything wrong? I was under the impression you always enjoyed the monthly market when Cadance had taken you there when you were younger?” she asked. “You do know it is the first week of the month AND Monday?” she added.

Her frown deepening for a second in thought, Twilight’s eyes went wide and her mouth turned in an understanding O as she remembered what the first Monday of a month always meant for Canterlot.

The first week of every month meant that the Canterlot market would be filled with hundreds of merchants, clerks and sales-ponies from far and wide.

It is one of the few things both the nobility and everyone else enjoys without too much fuss over it and it was one of the most eagerly anticipated things for a younger Twilight to visit with either her brother or Cadance whenever they had time.

Every self-respecting business tried its hardest to have every once in a while, a place among the carts and sales-booths whenever the Canterlot market rolled around and even Applejack and her family had an occasional stand there from time to time.

Though, as history had proven time and time again, not even Canterlot could withstand the monthly onslaught of applications and attempts to secure a place for each and every bigger business of Equestria.

Remembering that the waiting lists were sometimes longer than she herself was high when folded up, Twilight briefly wondered how obscene the prices for one of the stand-places would have grown if Celestia had not chosen to regulate them manually to offer everyone the opportunity to have a stand there every once in a while.

With her reluctance thrown out of the window, Twilight’s enthusiasm got somewhat dimmed as she remembered how ponies had reacted whenever Cadance had accompanied her to the market.

It had always been much more fun whenever her brother had accompanied her than when Cadance did, as the majority of the attention of everyone was converted to her instead of going on as usual.

Previously it had never bothered Twilight too much, as having Cadance accompany her always meant that the clerks and merchants had been extra nice to her and that she sometimes had even gotten something for free.

But now as a grown-up, Twilight understood why that happened and also understood why Cadance had always been reluctant to agree to her pleas to visit the market.

Not wanting to cause another incident so shortly after her previous one, her ears somewhat laid back onto her head and her expression turned sour for the second time that day.

Rolling her eyes, Celestia nudged her, “Hey, little one, what’s wrong?” she asked softly.

Thinking over her words for a second, Twilight glanced up and at Celestia’s caring face, “Well… as much as I would love to, I don’t know if it would be a wise idea,” she simply said.

Nodding slowly, Celestia’s gaze flicked up for a second to Cadance and back to her, “I understand,” she said, somewhat distant before her expression hardened and a mischievous smile started to play over her lips.

Looking around to check that no guard was around, Celestia lit her horn, “Well, then I believe it is time for us to show you a little secret.”

Watching in awe as Celestia’s golden magic formed at the tip of her horn and built up there for a second, as soon as she released her magic, the energy previously forming into a ball now started to part and ripple over her former teacher's coat like golden changeling’s fire.

Starting on her head, her rainbow mane steadily turned into a slice of night sky and her usual white fur came out dark blue like that of her sister.

As the transformation passed over the rest of her body, both causing her to shrink and to change color, where Celestia had previously sat in her chair, now it was as if Luna had taken her place, much to the chagrin of the original one.

Giggling somewhat at Twilight’s dumbfounded stare Celestia examined herself for a second before cheekily looking at her sister who was not too happy about what her sister had done.

“Nay, Tia, thou must revert this this instant!” she demanded, her salad completely forgotten already, “We art not a form thou art allowed to take!”

Giggling some more, Celestia rolled her eyes and lit her horn again.

As her golden fire had burned once more over her coat, now another Twilight sat in her place, much to the wonder and astonishment of the original, who almost instantly and completely forgetting her usual caution towards her former mentor lunged forward to examine her.

Giggling some more, Celestia watched Twilight as she grabbed one of her wings and unfolded it with her magic, tilting it this way and that, examining it from all angles and casting a few spells on her in rapid succession.

Briefly enjoying Twilight’s antics for a second, Celestia cleared her voice, “Just like you did previously with my sister and turned her into… well… a cat, the two of you can just turn into another pony to go into the city without the usual fuss over everything we do,” she said amused.

Halting for a moment mid compare between her own and that of Celestia’s transformed wing, Twilight stopped and blinked.

After a moment of sitting there, she looked up and at Celestia, slightly perturbed that her own face looked back at her as if she would look in a mirror, just calmer, “I… honestly... never thought of that,” she admitted.

Giggling herself, Luna leaned over to Twilight, “Not e’en our sister hast been able to come up with this idea, ‘twas I who thought of it first, a long, long time ago,” she said, boasting.

“Yeah, and I would have come up with it eventually,” Celestia shot back, rolling her eyes.

“But thou didst not, we were the first and so the glory shalt evermore be laid at our hoofs for our accomplishment!”

Cracking a smile, Celestia slightly stuck her tongue out at her sister, which for Twilight looked odd at seeing herself doing that.

Though instead of a heated response like she had expected, Celestia suddenly found that her vision was filled with something approaching very quickly and before she could do anything, a multitude of ingredients splattered across her and behind her as Luna had thrown her half-eaten salad bowl at her.

…

Hearing ecstatic giggling and a suppressed ‘eep’ from the other side, one of the guards standing next to the closed dining hall doors sighed to himself.

Turning his gaze to the left and towards the other guard standing stoically at attention, a small snort found its way through his expressionless mask as he watched his younger companion stiff and rigid.

Shaking his head, he was about to turn his head back to look down the hall as a faint splotch could be heard from the other side, followed by more ecstatic giggling.

Sighing and shaking his head once more, his gaze turned back to his companion, “Do you too sometimes think we guard a group of children?” he asked no one in particular.

His companion slightly loosening his stance and too glancing at the door for a second, shrugged, “Well, honestly? I have no idea.”

As the shadow of the left guard bulged outwards, a sight too familiar for any of the guards to do any more than glance at it, a shadowy form emerged from it, revealing Artemis, one of Luna’s personal guards and technically one of their superiors if they had not been the personal guards of Celestia herself.

Glancing around, both ponies looked for the telltale signs of another pony emerging from the shadow but couldn’t find anything.

Glancing at his companion, the left guard cleared his voice, “Anything wrong, Artie?” he asked hesitantly, knowing full well that they normally were not allowed to have personal conversations during their shift.

Briefly chuckling and shaking her head, Artemis turned his gaze towards the two, “No, not really. Lightning just got hit by one of the things Princess Cadance has been shooting around and is off to clean his armor.”

Glancing between each other, both day-guards contemplated their next words, “Umm… Artemis?” one finally decided to speak up, “I believe you too… um… have been hit,” he said, pointing nonchalantly at her tail which was smeared with what looked like cream.

Glaring at him for a second, Artemis bared her fangs, “Brightshield, do shut up, would you?”

Holding his wings out in a display of surrender, he took a step back, “Hey, just saying.”

“I know, but we can’t both leave our post to clean up,” Artemis sighed, “Once Lightning is back, I am free to go.”

Once more glancing between one another, the guard on the right now spoke up, “Well, technically, you have already left your post,” he pointed out.

“Lancer, the shut-up counts for you too, and NO, I have not, I am still watching over her… just… outside the room. Outside the line of fire, if you so want.”

“Well… I am not certain if…”

“IF anyone finds out, I am sure Princess Luna will understand.” Artemis sighed, “Besides, where are Shieldfall and Thunderstrike? Shouldn’t they be on duty today?” she asked.

“Well, yes,” Brightshield answered, “but they… well…”

“They took a beating from Shining Armor,” Lancer finished his sentence.

Wincing slightly, Artemis glanced up, “What the hell did those two bucket-heads do this time?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Lancer shrugged, “Just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Sighing, Artemis shook her head, “If the nobility knew what our Royals do sometimes…” she said, letting the sentence unfinished hanging in the air.

Shrugging, Lancer glanced at his friend and then back to Artemis, “Hey, better that they have their phases than that they would rule with an iron hoof or anything,” he said jokingly.

“I am reasonably sure that could count as treason,” Lightning suddenly spoke up as she stepped out of the shadow behind Lancer, giving him a scare.

“Yeah, so what, call him out for it,” Artemis answered with an eye roll. Waving to both Brightshield and Lancer, she turned around, “Well have fun you three, I’ll be back before you know it,” she said, walking away and towards the next bathroom, an unconscious flick of her tail letting droplets of cream fly everywhere.

Glancing at Lightning, Lancer gulped, “You wouldn’t, would you...?” he asked, somewhat worried.

“You owe me a mug of cider,” Lightning simply stated, “Hey… where are Fall and Thunder? I thought they had their shift today?”

…

Right in the middle of the many thousands of ponies busily jostling and buzzing around Canterlot and its many streets, all of them intent on finding this or that, always on the hunt for both the new and interesting and the rather mundane and normal wares to buy, no one paid the two ponies passively observing them any mind at all.

Not that any of them would have been able to recognize them anyway, as what seemed like two plain and ordinary ponies simply strolled calmly alongside the hectic bustling around them, both seemingly preoccupied in their discussion while in truth at least one always had a cautious eye upon the masses.

Making their way down the main plaza, Twilight was somewhat mortified to find out that she had started to get accustomed to the way most everypony usually made room for her to walk since she had become an alicorn, and now that this was gone, she found, much to her horror, she somewhat missed it.

Though, the fact that she could slurp as loudly on her milkshake as she wanted without having to fear for causing yet another national incident more than made up for it.

Or that she could have a milkshake at all while walking through Canterlot’s streets.

Well, as long as Luna didn’t mind that is, not that she could tell if the older Princess did, as she was currently nose deep in the rest of her cotton candy herself and with an ice cream cone skillfully held within her wing, slowly dripping onto her primary feathers.

Walking next to her fellow princess, Twilight couldn’t for the life of her fathom how Luna could have chosen to transform into a pegasus, as while she had to admit flying was nice, well… once one got the hang of it, voluntarily giving up the versatility and utility of her magic and being unable to use it was something that made her shudder, even if it only had to be temporary.

Dismissing the thought, Twilight briefly wondered if she should point out to Luna that her ice cream was currently making a mess of her feathers.

Though as she silently watched her while still debating with herself, Luna finished with the last pieces of her cotton candy and skillfully flicked the wooden stick the sugary treat had been wrapped around into the nearest bin, before greedily starting to devour her frozen treat as well.

When Luna had transformed herself, she had kept most of her height and her fur color, only changing her cutie mark into a telescope and evening out her fur around it to the rest of her body while getting rid of her horn for the time being.

Her mane, normally starry and billowing in an ethereal wind, was now light blue and bound together in a medium-sized ponytail, reminding Twilight of the hairstyle Cadance had worn in her youth.

While watching her friend out of the corner of her eyes, Twilight thought that, right now, Luna reminded her somewhat of Cadance’s friend Fleur de Lis. Only that she, instead of Twilight’s friends’ friend, was a Pegasus, and had a bit more emphasized muscles which Twilight could watch ripple under her coat with every step.

Not that she would ever admit that she had caught herself staring even once.

Besides, Luna’s coat looked naturally much more silken than the model could ever hope to achieve with any conditioner.

If Luna noticed her stare, she didn’t mind, nor did Twilight realize Luna did notice as she watched Luna greedily lick over her feathers, making sure to get out even the last drop of her ice cream before folding her wing back to her side, now glistening slightly in the sunlight from its impromptu preening.

Before Luna could glance in her direction, Twilight quickly averted her gaze, feeling her cheeks already warm up as she did so.

While Luna had chosen to become a Pegasus, Twilight had instead transformed herself back into a unicorn.

If anyone would have looked closely, she more or less looked just like she did before her ascension, only keeping her slightly bigger than average size and changing her cutie mark to a piece of parchment and a quill.

While adding some additional, more subtle, changes to deceive even those who looked closely, her mane had undergone the most changes, as from her usually flattened dark indigo mane style with a pink and purple streak, she now wore a more voluminous hairstyle, while both her secondary colors had been replaced from indigo and purple to a silvery and light blue mix which would surely have made Rainbow proud.

Walking in companionable silence for at least a minute, Twilight quickly found that the silence between the two of them had grown too large for her liking and so she frantically tried to search for a topic they could talk about.

Thinking back to what Luna had mentioned earlier in the dining hall, that she had, in fact, not been to a market for quite some time now got her thinking. Swaying her head slightly, she eventually broke the silence, “So… um, how long has it been now since you last visited one of the markets?” she asked, immediately cringing at how corny and wrong her attempt at small talk sounded.

Shrugging slightly though, Luna didn’t seem she minded as she considered her response, “Well, aside from the few times shortly after our return in which our sister had us all but dragged out of our quarters, instead of those of old, we never much enjoyed visiting these markets alone,” she said, a somewhat forlorn tone ringing in her words.

Frowning slightly, Twilight felt a pang of sadness at hearing those words, but before she could say anything, Luna sighed loud enough to be heard and let her head droop slightly, “Well, tis wrong to say that we hath been alone, The fact of the matter ‘tis we hadn’t much of an opportunity to enjoy the monthly occasion, as more often than not our duties interfered one way or another. We believe it would hath been a bad idea to ask one of our guards to accompany us. As much as we would like it to be otherwise, whosoever we hadst chosen, they would hath been accused of favoritism in one way or another,” Luna said, “And while certain actions still rouse such ill sighted rancor between the guards, we couldst hath always asked one of the few friends we hath made since our return,” she added, a faint smile given in Twilight’s direction from which the young pony shied away.

Straightening up for a moment, in the end, Luna let her head hang once more, “Though truth be told, we fear that the ‘modern’… markets… art not as appealing to us as they hath been in our times,” she said, her voice suddenly sounding much older, “It… saddens us that they seemst to hath lost the special joy and feeling they hadst always brought before.”

Nodding reluctantly, Twilight tried her best to understand though she found herself unable to, “Well… what is it then that you are missing?” she asked, carefully nudging Luna in a friendly gesture, “Maybe it isn’t that they have lost the quality but that you are merely unable to find it?” she added, once again inwardly cringing at her words.

Watching as Luna’s gaze slowly swept over the crowd, Twilight almost wondered if Luna wasn’t about to answer when she suddenly made a face and opened her mouth, “We know naught! That is the problem,” she exclaimed, a sigh following her words, “Tis just… it saddens us that they feel different, that they hath changed since our absence at all,” she explained, her gaze softening, “We hath to admit, we miss the days wherein craftsponies themselves praised their work and traveling merchants brought astonishing and interesting inventions from hither and yon,” she said, smiling slightly, “We miss the little shows and presentations they hadst all come up with, just to explain the newest contraption which was supposed to change our very life,” she giggled, “They hadst been carefree days, days in which what one might call normal today hadst been wonderous in the eyes of everypony, even those such as our sister or ourself...”

Listening to Luna’s explanation, a picture started to form in Twilight’s mind, one filled with cities full of little houses, all having a small place for a family business attached, whether it be a simple stand or a small shop, all run by the family living and working within.

There was a small marketplace, a stage erected in its middle for those who brought news from the other cities or for merchants who came to a halt in the little town.

Where Canterlot now had cobbled streets, in those days it had all just been downtrodden roads of dirt and mud, where the occasional wagon had been dragged across, carving its wheels deep into the ground and churning it into dust.

While Twilight listened, she could almost see the Castle of The Two Sisters standing proudly above the roofs, giving off a backdrop of wealth and stability to all those living in its shadow.

Listening to what Luna said, she could almost smell the scent of freshly baked bread and hear the deliberate hammering of steel on steel in the distance. She knew what Luna was talking about, she had read of the markets and cities of old not only in her history books, but in the novels and adventure stories she enjoyed from time to time as well.

While never having been able to be in one of those markets herself, as they were simply a thing of the past, Twilight felt as if she understood her friend’s grievance at having ‘lost’ the feeling of what now seemed as only so much a fairy tale today.

Eventually, though, Luna’s explanation came to an end, and so did the picture forming in Twilight’s mind. Though where previously confusion had been, a kind of understanding and empathy had taken hold. She knew that the time of which Luna had spoken of simply had passed and that both society and culture had moved on, but she also knew that she could not really help her friend come to terms with it.

Now she really wished she would have stayed an Alicorn or became a Pegasus, as draping a wing over her friend would have at least given her the illusion of having been able to do something.

Though while Twilight was secretly vexed with herself and took solace in the fact that she could at least be there for Luna, the night princess seemed to brighten up slightly and draped a wing over Twilight’s back instead.

Smiling up at the bigger pony next to her, Twilight sheepishly pressed her lips together before hesitantly speaking, “Well… I am sorry for not being able to help with that very much,” she said, her ears drooping, “I know it must be hard to come to terms with such changes,” she added, motioning to their surroundings wherein ponies were busily going about their days.

Following her friend’s gaze, Luna smiled and shook her head, “Thou hast naught to be sorry for,” Luna said, “Hadst it not been for thee, we doubt we wouldst be able to enjoy the here and now,” she added.

“But still, I can’t imagine how it is to face these drastic changes, even now, after all this time,” Twilight said, “I mean, even I have to admit that everything around us is… hectic.”

Nodding her head, Luna gazed around, “Thou art correct, today everypony has a certain place they always hath to be, a certain urgency driving them hither and yon,” she said, watching how a line of ponies impatiently waited for the merchant to dispatch one customer after another, “And while such things couldst also be said in the past, today they just seem more… present,” she explained, briefly watching a pair of pegasi carrying a large wooden box over the busy crowd and down the street.

“Tis not that things are more hectic these days, as there wast a fair share of it in our time as well, though tis the fact that we missed the change,” Luna sighed, “If thou look at our sister, she seems hardly to have taken it better, as she hast been all but imprisoned herself in her work during our absence.”

Twilight tried to say something, but Luna simply shook her head to gently silence her friend, “Tis neither thy fault nor that of our sister. But time hath taken its toll on us both, and we both hath to heal slowly,” Luna forlornly added and squeezed her wing tighter, “Wouldst it not hath been for thee, neither of us would have been able to start. But because of thee, we believe one day, what hath been wronged might be made right again and for that we must thank th-you, without any apologies belittling your work,” Luna added, as she saw Twilight inhale to speak.

Blushing slightly, Twilight instead turned her head away and found it suddenly hard to walk straight with Luna squeezing her with her wing.

Smiling impishly, Luna turned her gaze forward and watched Twilight only from the corner of her eyes, “Besides, in our long life we hath learned one thing, while these days the markets have all but grown silent and most shopkeepers hath lapsed into one simple friendly greeting as the only merriment one might find in their abode, we are sure that everything will one day come back one way or another,” she said, her smile widening, “And one day we will be able to show thee how what we hath described has felt like in reality.”

Thinking over Luna’s words, Twilight found that the longer she did, the less sense they actually made. Frowning in confusion, she glanced back to her friend who met her gaze with a friendly smile, “What do you mean ‘come back’?” she asked, her head cocked slightly, “It isn’t as if society would evolve backwards all of a sudden, or would it? I mean, I have never read of anything telling that what we now have has already existed prior?” she mused.

Shaking her head, Luna averted her gaze and looked skywards, “No, it is not so easy,” she said, her smile wavering for but a second, “But thou hath surely heard of legends telling stories of great empires covering the lands, vast cities filled with riches long forgotten and old knowledge lost to history?” she asked, her mood suddenly sounding dampened and waiting for Twilight to cautiously nod along, “It isn’t that it shall happen in only days or that it shall come to pass in the near future, but aside from ourselves, nothing is eternal, my Friend.”

Closing her eyes before opening them once more, all traces of sadness and age wiped away, Luna smiled back at Twilight, “Neither does history change without one,” she added, “even our banishment has just been one second in eternity and shall be forgotten as such.”

Frowning slightly, Twilight blinked, “But how do you know? I mean, even you or Celestia aren’t so old that you have lived in those eras,” she pointed out before realizing two mistakes at once.

First, they were in public, speaking freely had only been possible because they had not drawn attention from anyone, and saying any of the Princesses’ names, even her own, seemed to automatically draw attention as numerous eyes suddenly had wandered in their direction.

And secondly, did she really just assume their age? Having asked Celestia when she was young how old she truly was had only been shrugged off and followed with a gentle reprimand that one didn’t ask a ladies age. But now, she just assumed that they had been young when Equestria was young, but even to her reasoning that sounded hollow, as they didn’t just pop into existence just to rule a kingdom, or did they?

Continuously walking along, the attention of those around them slowly fading away, Luna didn’t seem upset and merely giggled slightly, “We just know, my friend. In all likelihood we assume that not even thy former foalsitter would be privy to that knowledge, but our sister and I art far older than history will make us out to be,” she said, the wing over Twilight’s back fading out of touch.

Missing the soft touch on her back already, Twilight nodded, “I thought so too, I mean… two fillies fighting Discord, I…” blinking, she just realized that she, in fact, had almost been a mere filly to fight Discord, had it not been for her friends to help her.

“Indeed, this hadst not been our first battle, but we hath not been on this world since its creation, as some assume, we hath merely seen a fair share of its history,” Luna explained, a playful smile suddenly back on her features and leaning closer, “And if thou art interested, thou couldst ask our sister about the forgotten tribes of Elix-az and how she and I hadst helped its population to flourish,” she added with a purr that made her friend shudder.

Blinking, gulping and blushing all at once, Twilight tried to shy away from Luna, though as quickly as the night princess had leaned in and almost tickled her ears with the movement of her lips, as quickly had she resumed her normal strides and adopted the most happy smile she could muster.

Watching her friend for a moment, Twilight had to eventually glance away as she felt her blush only deepening when looking at the graceful princess next to her.

How had she ever thought she could even hold a candle to those two magnificent beings?

She was just a mere second in their infinite life, infinitely younger, not worthy of their praise, not worthy of their attention.

Watching Twilight fumble slightly, Luna briefly meandered in thought how cute her friend really was and how innocent she seemed to be.

Had she ever had a lover’s touch on her?

Shaking her head, Luna eventually laid her wing back over Twilight’s withers, calming the young Princess slightly and making her unconsciously lean into her while giving Luna the ability to gently nudge her along while she was lost to her mind and thoughts.

If so, Luna definitely had to change that! She had to show Twilight how special she was! How truly magnificent and wonderous.

Glancing around, Luna watched the ponies around them.

Ranging from young to old, from energetic to reserved, from interesting to plain at first glance.

Looking at their subjects, Luna’s heart clenched slightly as she thought what they all would do if the two of them had chosen to walk here without donning disguises.

While having always wanted her subjects’ love and approval like her sister, Luna now found that she knew why Celestia had always seemed unhappy with the attention she had received and why she had always seemed jealous about her own ability to blend in and be more familiar with those they ruled over.

She understood now.

Her jealousy had been foolish. She should have known that it would have eventually changed again, and she couldn’t wait for this era to pass.

Feeling a slight bristle next to her, Luna glanced back at her friend and smiled. She didn’t need a kingdom following her every word, she only needed a few true friends to be happy.

And maybe even one who would be more than a friend?

Squeezing her wing slightly, Luna glanced up and looked around once more. If she wasn’t mistaken, at the next alleyway they had to turn left to eventually reach their destination.

Seeing a group of earth ponies carrying a crate much bigger than all of them together rounding a corner, almost dropping the cargo they held collectively on their backs, Luna lit her hidden horn and stabilized the load with a gentle brush of her magic, making sure it wouldn’t drop off again if they didn’t want it to.

As the four stallions looked gratefully at the crate that hadn’t dropped, nopony having been able to see the swirl of magic stabilizing it, Luna smiled to herself.

She loved her subjects, even though they could do without a little less formality to them every once in awhile, but that wasn’t a reason to not love them. They all chose their way of expressing their love differently and while she walked along, she heard one of the stallion’s praise to her sister in thanks for having avoided disaster.

Not quite, but close enough.

Gently coaxing Twilight along and slowly rounding a corner, Luna eventually heard soft mumbling coming from next to her.

Focusing her attention to her friend and watching her mull over her thoughts, Luna would have almost been able to say when the exact moment would be as Twilight turned her head slowly to look at her and ask, “The tribal state of Elix-az, source for many legends and stories about their liberty, beauty, and prowess in love and war has been guessed to have existed almost 12 to 13 thousand years ago. Are… are the two of you really that… old?” she asked, her ears pressed on her head and worrying that she may have said something upsetting her friend.

Though where Twilight expected a scowl to form on Luna’s muzzle, a gentle and playful smile was found instead as the Night Princess smirked at her, “Now, now, we thought our sister hadst taught thee better, one does not ask a ladies age,” she said, sticking her muzzle into the air and walking like she had seen many nobles do when they had been upset by anything.

Glancing down the brim of her muzzle, Luna watched as Twilight’s ears fell flat and her gaze dropped in immediate sadness.

Realizing instantly that Twilight had missed her attempt at a joke and taken it at face value, Luna felt her heart clench as she watched her friend’s mood drop because of her.

Immediately dropping the act and squeezing her wing reassuringly, Luna shook her head, “We didst not mean to… we… I… I am sorry, we, I thought it wouldst be a humorous joke and jab at our sister, we didst not mean to upset thee,” Luna said quickly, the pain in her heart almost real when she looked at her friend.

Forcing herself to calm down, Luna nodded slightly, “Thou art right, somewhat, but even we hath to admit we dost not know of the time which hath passed since then. Many moons hath come and gone and we hath to admit we hath long since ceased to reckon the passage of years -or centuries.”

Seeing Twilight only hesitantly collect herself, Luna awkwardly let go of her friend and let her wing slip down, “I… I am sorry, please, do not be upset because we made an ill-timed joke,” Luna pleaded.

Looking back at her friend, Twilight tried her best to smile and shake her head, to reassure her friend who now looked as miserable as she felt.

The jab had stung, she had to admit, but Luna had merely tried to be funny, she should have known!

Forcing a smile onto her lips, Twilight pressed her lips together for a moment, “It’s… okay, I shouldn’t have reacted that way either, I am so…”

“Thou dost not have to be sorry for anything, the fault was not thine own but ours,” Luna interjected swiftly.

Looking ahead, Luna seemed to briefly fight with herself as well before she dismissed her thought with a firm shake of her head, “Please, do not be upset on a day like this,” she said, the wing Twilight had almost become dependent on returning to her back and making the young princess almost melt in bliss at its soft and gentle touch.

“I… it is okay, Luna,” she said almost whispering as she slightly leaned into her friend’s warmth and comfort.

Feeling Twilight almost pressing herself into her side, Luna closed her wing and squeezed her as close to her as she could without making it feel uncomfortable to the young pony.

She definitely needed to watch her words with her. One wrong word or gesture and she would reveal what she knew, would reveal her and her sister’s intentions too soon and would potentially ruin a wondrous future she desperately seemed to crave each and every second more which she spent with the young pony.

Twilight was precious to her, and seeing her upset, even more so by her own actions, had almost made her upset as well.

===============(XXX)=========

Continuing their walk through Canterlot’s busy streets in silence, Luna finally recognized the buildings around them due to having almost reached their destination.

Looking down to see Twilight merely enjoying their closeness and the walk through the city, Luna slightly nudged the younger pony alert to look at her.

Stirred from her thoughts and back to their surroundings, Twilight blinked and looked up at her friend, the ponies around them having thinned out to only a few every few meters and the stalls and businesses set up for the market left behind them already a few minutes ago.

“We are here,” Luna merely said, nodding ahead and at a store, Twilight would have recognized instantly had she not been preoccupied.

Following her friend's gaze, eager to finally know where Luna wanted to go, Twilight froze immediately as she recognized the shop.

Rarity's Carousel Boutique in Canterlot.

Her eyes widening, Twilight didn’t even notice the wing sweeping over her as Luna wasn’t prepared for her to stop so suddenly in the middle of the street.

Alert, Twilight’s gaze eventually settled on the pony in front of her and she giggled awkwardly, “Umm… Lu-Moonshine? Wha… what are we doing here?” she asked meekly, almost forgetting again that they had chosen to use different names for themselves.

Eventually noticing Twilights sudden halt and coming to a stop a few steps further down the road, Luna turned around and cocked her head, regarding her friend with a puzzled look, “We believe the modern term would be ‘to go shopping’,” she said, a bit of uncertainty leaking into her voice at the sight of her friend so suddenly looking troubled.

Nodding slowly, Twilight pointed next to the boutique at the watchmaker which had been in Canterlot for longer than she had been around and which had quite a reputation among noble and common pony alike, “Erm… you want to go there, right?” Twilight asked, a sense of unease palpable in her voice.

Following Twilight’s gaze, Luna shook her head, “No, not really, we’ve intended to hie to thy friend’s boutique,” she clarified, making Twilight’s fear come true.

Gulping once and walking up to Luna, Twilight mutedly whispered, intent on not arousing any more eyes and trying to avoid causing a scene in the middle of the street, “What do you mean you want to go into the boutique? That is Rarity’s boutique!” Twilight hissed, her heart beating.

As Luna merely nodded, Twilight whinnied slightly, “No, no, no, no! We can’t go in there! Rarity will kill me if she figures out that I’ve brought you here!”

Frowning, Luna cautiously took a step back, making Twilight almost cringe by doing so, “What dost thou mean, ‘we can’t?’ We were of the belief thou wouldst enjoy coming here and helping us pick out a dress?” Luna asked, worried, and laying her ears back.

Following suit to be able to keep her voice low, Twilight laid her ears back as well before glancing around suspiciously, her voice hushing even more as she did so, “We can’t go in there! Rarity would kill me if she figures out that I’ve brought you into her shop, in disguise, and without her knowing!” Twilight almost fumed, “She has wanted to make a dress for you now for years! And you never even responded to the hundreds of messages and letters she has sent you over this time!”

Blinking, Luna merely frowned at her friend’s sudden aggressiveness.

Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Twilight staggered back and shook her head, “Oh no… no! I um… I didn’t mean it that way,” she said, her words almost falling over each other at Luna’s gaze, “I… I mean, why do you so suddenly want a dress? … I um… always thought you weren’t the dress wearing type of pony!” she explained, half whispering half shouting.

Immediately cringing at her own words, Twilight was about to continue her sudden rant as Luna visibly cracked up in a single snort of laughter, “Well, thou art not incorrect in that,” she said, shrugging and trying to calm her friend before sorting out the mess in front of her.

Having not expected this kind of a reaction, Twilight suddenly stopped in the middle of her backtracking, frozen in both fear of having insulted and almost screamed, all but quietly, at her friend as well as agitation towards Luna’s surely following outrage, “Wha… what do you mean?”

Making a deliberate motion to appear as unthreatening as possible to the startled pony across from her, Luna slowly walked closer to her friend, “We mean that thou art correct in thy assumption that we art usually not a, oh how didst thou put it?, ‘a dress-wearing type of pony’,” she explained, coming to a stop next to her friend, who seemed to shy away from her, and nuzzling her gently with her head, seeking to calm Twilight by doing so.

While Luna still didn’t understand why Twilight was so agitated all of a sudden, she knew from both her sister and personal experience that her friend sometimes tended to overreact to the simplest of things and therefore knew to not take affront at Twilight’s sudden harsh tone.

As her reassuring nuzzles seemed to help to calm her friend down, Luna opened her wing once more and laid it over Twilight’s back, noting that her eagerness to lean into the embrace seemed to have doubled as she laid her ears back and almost curled into her.

Closing her wing and holding Twilight close for a moment, enjoying the warmth and the smell from her friend as she did so, Luna noted that while Twilight outwardly seemed to calm down, Twilight’s heartbeat sped up the longer she kept the embrace.

Eventually letting go and seeing that whatever had troubled her had not yet left Twilight as she looked her into her eyes, Luna gently cleared her voice, “Now, wouldst thou mind explaining thy sudden… rant,” she asked, making Twilight wince slightly.

Relieved that despite her… actions… Luna seemed to have simply shrugged off her ill-chosen words and was apparently not ending their friendship, Twilight nodded meekly.

Sorting herself out for a second before pressing her ears against her skull once more, Twilight tried to apologize first but was stopped by her friend simply hugging her once more.

The thoughts, “I don’t deserve such kindhearted ponies,” and “I all but screamed at one of my friends,” made her almost crush down under an unwavering sense of guilt. Had Luna not wrapped a wing around her to show her everything was going to be alright; Twilight knew that she might have broken down in the middle of the street, crying.

Though feeling the soft fur of her friend’s coat against her own, every worry she had just a moment ago seemed… meaningless… now.

Seeking her voice, Twilight had troubles finding the correct words but eventually settled with what she could come up with on the spot, “I… I am sorry Luna,” she said, earning yet another squeeze of her friend's wing, “I shouldn’t have reacted that way,” she explained.

Correcting her jaw, Twilight tried to speak again but just sighed, letting her head droop slightly, “I… it is just… ever since the Summer Sun Celebration seven years ago, Rarity has been… excited.”

“Back then, we hadn’t been friends for too long, but because of me, she had been able to become acquainted with… well… Princess Celestia. The two of them talked for a lengthy time and after her stay at Canterlot later that year, the two of them had become… friends… somewhat.”

Visibly wrong hoofed, Twilight seemed to consider her next words, “Please don’t say this to Cel… your sister, but I think she could really use a friend or two more in her life… even that in-between Rarity and her seems… formal, at best,” she mused, causing Luna to nod slightly at her sidetracking.

Shaking her head, Twilight mentally filed that away for later, “Well, anyway. Rarity later told me she had always wanted to make a dress for the princess, and because I had been her student for years now, I asked Celestia over one of our tea meetings if she would consider such a thing,” Twilight explained, slightly blushing, “Well… seeing that not long after that Rarity was formally asked to make a dress for her, I would think that I made one of her dreams come true,” she said, a small smile finding its way onto her lips.

“Once she was finished then, and even had been able to tailor Cadance’s dress for her wedding later, she came up with the plan to make you a dress as well,” Twilight explained, her gaze suddenly shying away from that of Luna, “And, well… she planned. She made designs, sketched, and came up with hundreds of ideas. I mean, I’ve seen her sketchbooks, she has one specifically for you alone,” Twilight exclaimed, “The only thing missing was… well… you. She sent you letters, many, in fact, and even asked me for help once. Upon which I promised I would ask you when I had the opportunity.”

Her voice dimming yet again, Twilight’s troubles seemed to have come back with a vengeance, “And… well… I forgot. As I later visited the castle for a few days and overheard a group of guards debating your choice of… style, I assumed you would not want a dress from Rarity and therefore hadn’t reacted to her mail… but… I still haven’t asked,” Twilight said, her voice growing more unsteady by the second, “I just assumed and never sought to bring it up later as I just thought you would simply deny the request.”

Searching for the correct words, Twilight fell silent for a moment before she found her voice again, “A… and now you… we… are here, and you want a dress. One I assumed you never would want and what I even told Rarity later… I… I just assumed… I… I thought I knew… but… I… I am sorry, I…”

Squeezing her friend tightly to her chest, Luna couldn’t help but crack a smile, “While thou art correct that thou still couldst have asked, we dost not blame thee for thy assumption. We only hold a few dresses in our wardrobe, and those we have in there are not even ones we hadst received willingly or of our own volition,” Luna said, noticing Twilight seemed to slightly tremble, “They hadst been gifts, from diplomats and from our sister. And while the former lack in meaning and the later do not suit our style, we hath not yet been in need of a dress and therefore hath forgone this practice until today,” Luna started to explain, “It is not that we do not like dresses as a whole, it is just we enjoy the simplicity of our regalia or maybe a finely crafted piece of armor even more,” she said, slightly embarrassed at having to admit this out loud.

Nodding at Luna’s words, Twilight pressed her ears even more to her head, another apology already on her lips as Luna simply shook her head, “Enough of this. Thou failed to ask us, so what? Tis not as if the world would split because of it,” Luna said, a chipper note entering her voice.

As Twilight’s gaze seemed to convey that, yes, the later would happen, Luna simply rolled her eyes, “Ah, we dost not want to hear any more of this,” she said, gently straightening Twilight up with her wings, “Thou forgot, and there’s the end of it. Now, what upsets us the most is not that thou didst forget, but the fact that we ne’er received any of those letters thou spake of.”

Taken off guard, Twilight frowned, “Wait… you haven’t? But she has probably sent you hundreds of letters! Both addressed to the throne asking for your time and she had even a few sent directly to your chambers.”

“We hath not received any missive from thy friend,” Luna explained deep in thought and trying to figure out if she had maybe, somehow, just missed them.

“B-but… that’s impossible! I know for a fact that she did so! I even saw her give such a letter to the malemares from time to time. She was always so excited afterwards when she did so!”

Frowning slightly, Luna’s gaze seemed to darken a bit, “Well… we have some ponies go over our mail for us to filter through those which are important and which are not, but we do not think they would have stopped a missive from one of the bearers? Or would they?”

Starting to frown as well, Twilight slightly shook her head, “I do not think so… or… at least… I hope not,” Twilight mused.

“Well, we know that we will have to look into that when we are back into the castle,” Luna said, her mood suddenly sour which made Twilight lay her ears back onto her head.

Seeing Twilight’s reaction to her tone, Luna rolled her eyes, “Oh come now, let’s not stall for much longer. Let’s give your friend’s boutique a long overdue visit, shall we not?” Luna asked, her sour mood leaving just as quick as it had come.

As Luna wanted to begin their walk again, she was stopped as Twilight simply refused to walk and therefore held her back as she had still her wing draped over her friend.

Sighing slightly, Luna glanced at her friend with slight annoyance, “Well, what ails thee now?,” she said, her own aggressiveness startling her suddenly and causing Twilight to freeze up again.

Silently cursing, Luna complained to herself that she had just made Twilight comfy again and had now ruined it, again.

Right now, though, Twilight was only briefly reluctant, and she soon started to slowly follow Luna along, “Well… I still don’t like the idea of going in there with our disguises. Rarity knows me well, and when she manages to figure out who we are, she will probably kill me on the spot.”

“Well… that would be an act of…”

“Not literally! But she would surely be mad at me,” Twilight explained with a roll of her eyes.

Nodding wearily, Luna seemed to suddenly second guess her chosen destination when she heard of the previously unknown aggressiveness from the bearer of the Element of Generosity.

Letting it slide for now, Luna cocked her head, “How about we just go look for now, and we promise that we wilt return once we are not wrapped in illusions?” she asked, making Twilight look up.

“Well, what is the point of going now then?” she asked, her head cocking slowly.

Shrugging, Luna smiled, “Let’s just say we sample first, shall we?” The real plan on why she had come here still in her mind, Luna wasn’t about to leave without first having achieved her goal.

“And what if she figures it out?” Twilight asked, somewhat meekly.

“She shant. Just stick to our altered names and not even thy friend wilt be the wiser,” Luna explained, giggling, “Our transformations wilt do the rest,” she added with a wink.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight couldn’t help but giggle as well as Luna opened the door to Carousel Boutique, the bell above them tingling friendly as she did so, “Well, after you, Moonlight,”

“Oh, no, I insist that you shall go first, Duskshine!”