Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mmmmh, the bed’s feeling very comfy and warm today. Did I go to sleep on top of the duvet? And why do I feel a brush of air on my face? Did I leave the blinds open last night?

For a few more minutes, she didn’t move, simply enjoying the warm sensation over her body as she rested, midway between a sleep and awake state, listening passively to the cold yet delicate whisper of wind that ran over her hair, the bugs that buzzed past her ears, the frogs—

Wait, frogs? She thought, the croaking of the peaceful amphibians well audible close by. Where did they come from? What about the insects, too? Had they also entered through the window left open? Gosh, I hope I wasn't 'attacked' by mosquitoes as usual…

With one last, big yawn, she stretched, her lips moving as her eyes began to open to reveal the world around her. Immediately, her mind spun; the shock and adrenaline in her veins removed any drowsiness left in her bloodstream as she realized she wasn’t where she had gone to sleep last night.

Instead of her apartment, she found herself in a small clearing, full of flowers and with small bushes that grew here and there, while strange trees, similar in some ways to oaks but much smaller, surrounded the clearing in a semicircle. In front of her, instead, was a small, narrow stream, whose water was as clear and crystalline as a finely wrought diamond, and on the opposite bank were other trees and bushes. There were bugs that flew around and crawled among the grass, and she could hear the chirping of birds in the distance.

Yet, the most amazing thing was how nature, all around her, seemed so much more alive, flourishing, and beautiful than it had ever been before. The grass in the meadow and the leaves on the trees were such a bright, bright green that they seemed to sparkle whenever the sunlight shone on them; the flowers were such vibrant colors and emitted such pleasant scents; the gurgling of the river, the rustling of the wind in the trees, and the buzzing of insects almost seemed to compose the rhythm of a song; even the air seemed different and had a sugary, lively aftertaste that reminded her of sugar candy.

“No way… where am I? Did I go sleepwalking—WOAH!” Her thinking aloud got interrupted as the lost soul tried by instinct to get back on her feet, only to fall forward, her arms slamming onto the ground as she fell on all fours. Yet, she didn’t feel pain, but, rather, relaxed, like her own posture was supposed to be that way.

“What the—” She turned around to look at her hands, only for her eyes to widen in shock, her voice dying as she saw she had no fingers. Instead, they were replaced by hooves! White hooves at the end of her arms, and covered with fur!

The shock was such that the girl lost control over her limbs and fell down on the ground. It took a few more minutes and several efforts for her to be able to get back on her ‘hooves’ (her feet, just like her hands, had been replaced), the struggling creature moving slowly yet steadily toward the river, trying to get close enough to see her reflection in the water.

What she saw was astonishing.

From the clear, limpid natural mirror made by the water, a tall pony looked back at her. Her fur was pure white, her mane was dark red (with a large, lush tail of the same color), wings tucked tight to her sides, a tall unicorn horn that departed from her forehead, and, on her flank, a picture that depicted an ink bottle and a black quill.

She couldn’t misunderstand it: the pony in the reflection was the Fausticorn, aka the ‘ponysona’ she herself had drawn, a long time ago.

For her name was Lauren Faust, and, unbeknownst to her, she was finally home.

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” Lauren screamed for the -nth time, pacing back and forth before the stream, each time yelping as she looked at her own reflection, only to see a tall, winged unicorn instead of her usual human self. “This is not true; this is not true! You were probably overworking yourself again, so you ended up passing out cold in the office, and, later, Craig put you back to bed, and now I’m having a crazy dream where I’ve become my own ponysona, and I’m going to meet all the characters!”

Well, if it was a dream, it surely was a well-made one, since all previous attempts on Lauren’s part to ‘snap’ herself out of it had ended in failure, the human-turned-alicorn now forced to acknowledge her situation. Perhaps she was in some kind of deep, lucid dream where she felt like she was awake. Or maybe something had happened to her, and she was in a coma, trapped in a hospital bed with a machine that kept her alive, her family and friends waiting for her to wake up someday while she was trapped in her head.

“There is no way I have actually transmigrated, and now I am in Equestria, the very own world I have created, in the body of my own original character! This sounds like the stupid plot of some crappy fanfiction!” She stopped talking, closing her eyes and trying to focus, trying to wake herself up by sheer will.

“Come on, you have a family. You have a husband, Craig, and a daughter! My dear Quinn… do not worry, Mommy is coming back to you! Come on, come on…” 

And yet, no matter how hard she tried to concentrate, the dream didn’t dissipate around her. In fact, the green, lush nature that surrounded Lauren seemed even more real than anything she could remember from the ‘real’ world.

“I guess it’s no use.” The woman transformed into her own ponysona sighed, giving up after several minutes, still there in the same clearing. “I guess either this dream is stronger than I assumed, or the only way I could wake myself up is by doing something extremely reckless, like trying to kill myself. And there is no way I’m going to do that, even if this is a dream.” And besides, her mind began to add before stopping abruptly.

There was a third option that could explain her current situation, even if she refused to acknowledge it: what if the reality around was actually real, and she had transmigrated into the world she had contributed to creating, and she was reborn into the pony version of herself? Lauren knew that such a plot was popular among fans of the show; she herself had found delight in a couple of stories where the main character was a human who ended up transmigrated or reincarnated into Equestria (usually a fan of the show who knew enough about the world to orient themselves). A few stories even featured her as the main character.

Still, none of those stories could compare to the actual thing.

With a side of curiosity, the red-maned Alicorn re-approached the stream of water with the intent to get a good look at her Alicorn physique. To be honest, she didn't look too bad; rather, she was stunning, majestic, the horn sprouting from her forehead and the wings on her back making her look just like—

“What the heck?!” Lauren gasped again as her eyes fell on the reflection of her cutie mark area. “My butt, or rather, my flank… it’s huge!” She lamented, noticing how pudgy and inflated it looked. Was that perhaps a side effect of her status as an Alicorn? Or was it something else?

Then, her attention moved to her wings. Perhaps she could use them? If she could fly, surely it would be a great way to move and keep herself safe from danger.

Silently, Lauren focused once again in an attempt to control her new back appendages. It took a full minute, but, finally, her wings unfolded completely, spread full to her side, which made her figure look even more majestic and grandiose.

And then, they started to flap.

“Okay, so, I can say that, while I can control my wings enough to move them at will, it will still take some time before I’m able to fly on my own,” Lauren conceded, her body aching. “Ditto for magic. Of course, I never had wings or magic before, so I guess I did enough for my first day, all considered.”

The great success, however, was walking; while movement on four limbs was harder than simply two, after a bit of practice, she could easily walk as she did when she was a human, even managing to ‘trot’ from time to time. Perhaps, with a bit more practice, she could trot as long as she wanted, or perhaps even gallop.

“The jury’s still out if this is an overly detailed dream, perhaps with a chance of coma, or if I have transmigrated in Equestria for real. That said, if it’s the latter, does that mean that I created Equestria, or perhaps it existed already and I simply guessed it?”

She looked away, taking a deep breath and letting her now equine lungs fill with the fresh, sweet air of the magical-filled world she had dreamed of ever since she was a little girl. Dream or reality, she felt ecstatic at the chance to be able to explore such a world for real. Yet, she felt her wings flap once again, and her mood soured as she remembered a key flaw.

I can’t go out and explore, not like this! Lauren thought, looking with a note of sorrow at the winged alicorn looking back at her from the reflection in the water. Only alicorns are supposed to have wings and horns, and the only alicorns are Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. The transformed storyteller grimaced, thinking back at the pink alicorn of love that she had spent so much time arguing about with Hasbro. Then there’s Twilight, if we’re already past Season 3… and Flurry Heart, she added. The little alicorn filly, while she had no say in her introduction later in the show, had caused her so many headaches, especially after her design had been leaked before time.

Damn German Hasbro, already gave away the surprise by selling the toy earlier than planned.

Nonetheless, the issue was evident: if a new, unrecognized alicorn would waltz into Equestria, folks would get alarmed, and they would call for the guards, and that would have drawn much more attention than she hoped for. How would the princesses react once they found her? Would they listen to her explanation and perhaps offer her a way home? Or would the enemies of Equestria find her first?

“Wings are much easier to hide than the horn.” Lauren nodded, looking back at her back, her wings folding back into a resting position. “I just need some cloth that I can use to cover them, at least for now. Something like a blanket, or a cape, or maybe—”

She stopped talking as her eyes caught sight of a scarecrow on the edge of the clearing where she was, seemingly guarding a few shrubs of bright red berries. The scarecrow itself wasn’t too refined; just a rudimentary figure made with a wooden stick and a dark brown cowl with a hood attached to it, the cowl resembling the kind of dress someone from the Middle Ages would have worn. And it looked large enough to cover her back, and thus, her wings.

“Okay, either I just received an incredible stroke of luck, or someone over there is watching over me,” Lauren said, looking around to make sure no one was in sight. “That said, beggars can’t be choosers, and I suppose I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” She chuckled, walking to the scarecrow and trying to pull the cowl out of it.

It took several minutes, especially since Lauren had to do things by hoof instead of by magic, but, eventually, she managed to pull the cowl over her body, the dark fabric covering her back and flank up to her belly, showing only a part of her tail, the cowl over her head providing her further camouflage by hiding most of her hairdo and her horn while still maintaining, visibly, its shape beneath. While she still looked much taller and statuesque compared with other pony physiques, as long as she kept the disguise on and didn’t draw too much suspicion, she would be able to meddle without worries.

“Now I only have to be careful to not remove the cowl unless I’m safe and be careful never to lose it by accident… or pass too close to Carousel Boutique,” Lauren joked, trying to imagine what kind of reaction Rarity would have if she ever saw her.

Chapter Text

Lauren quickly set her path, following the small stream of water, passing among medium-tall trees and shrubs of different kinds, until the surrounding forest dissipated, and, in the distance, she could see a large town with many colorful buildings of different shapes and architecture.

“That’s… Ponyville,” Lauren said with a voice full of amazement, recognizing a few key buildings even from such a distance, small tears of emotion running down her cheeks. She had seen this town countless times before, from when it was just a fantasy she dreamed of as a kid to when she started to put her ideas on paper, all through process production and development, until she could see the final product. She remembered the joy she felt when the first episode of the series was ready, and she could see with her own eyes how the small pony town looked through the screen.

And now, as the town kept getting closer with each step she took, she felt an even more joyful sensation spread through her bloodstream, warming her up. She thought Ponyville already looked cozy and welcoming in the show, yet seeing it for real, with her own eyes, made her realize how wrong she was: the bright colors of the buildings, the warm kiss of the sunlight over her skin, and the delightful smell of scented flowers and sweets filling the air made the small town feel even more authentic and real than any depiction she had ever seen before, both in ‘canon’ representations and in one of the countless fanon adaptations she had the chance to see at the bronies conventions (Lauren shivered for a moment, remembering a couple of unpleasant experiences she had lived through).

She continued her walk as, little by little, she finally met the town’s inhabitants.

Most of them were Earth ponies, but she could see pegasi and unicorns aplenty, walking around freely either alone or in couples, chatting about different arguments and topics with smiles on their lips, generally going along with their lives. A few unicorns were using their magic openly, without fear, their horns glowing as they levitated a few things with them, while the pegasi flew above their heads.

That one’s Pinot Noir, Lauren realized as she saw the purple-pink pony with a bunch of grapes and a strawberry as Cutie Mark stroll down the road, though everyone agreed to call her Berryshine. And that one’s Golden Harvest! And that one—

As the former human storyteller kept going, walking along the road of the town she had created for the show, she passed next to a small docking pier, where one pony with a large hat and a cutie mark resembling a fish in a net was currently standing next to a fishing rod, waiting for a bite.

“May I help you, miss?” The fisher-pony asked, noticing Lauren looking oddly at him.

“Just a small question, if that’s not too much of a hassle.” She replied, still trying to make sense of a pony (of all beings) fishing. “How do you… manage to put the worm on the hook?”

“Like everyone: with disgust.” The fisher-pony replied, as if it were the most normal thing ever. Lauren blinked a few times before deciding it wasn’t worth it and continued her walk, passing next to a tall wooden windmill with large wheels driven by river current and blades to harness wind power, the entrance finely decorated to resemble a horseshoe, Sun and Moon symbols painted on the door.

Mhh, no matter how hard I look, Lauren thought as she kept gazing upon the town’s buildings, I don’t seem to find Twilight’s School of Friendship anywhere, nor her castle. Perhaps they’ve not been built yet? Does that mean we’re still before season 3? Is the Golden Oak Library still standing, then?

As she continued her exploration, Lauren was pleasantly surprised that, so far, no one seemed to be suspicious about her presence. True, occasionally she noticed a few ponies staring at her from afar, their eyes fixed on the unusually tall unicorn stalking on the street, a few murmurings among themselves as they kept looking at the cowl covering her back and most of her face and her unusually long horn peeking from the underside. Yet, none of them seemed to consider her a threat; a few even waved at Lauren as they passed next to her, quickly returning to their previous duties once she was gone.

Finally, Lauren Faust reached Ponyville’s town square, a large circular square surrounded almost completely by other buildings, the river flowing through it and next to the town hall, a tall three-story building (four, if the small tower at the top was also considered) with a double wooden porch and large windows all around its circumference. She quickly noticed a large crowd of ponies, from all three races, working together to put up banners and garlands, hinting some kind of celebration was coming up soon.

“Huh, excuse me?” Lauren asked one of the workers, a dark-grey Earth Pony with a flag and a banner as a cutie mark. “What’s going on? Is there some kind of… celebration coming soon?”

“Some kind of celebration?” The stallion replied with a stupefied look on his face. “Ma’am, tonight’s the Summer Sun Celebration, the longest day of the year!”

“And this year, Princess Celestia herself has chosen Ponyville to celebrate the one-thousandth celebration!” Another worker added on. “The whole town is going to stay up all night to witness the princess raise the sun personally!”

As the two ponies explained, Lauren felt her mind spin as she realized the implication.

The Summer Sun Celebration? One thousand?! But that was… the time… the plot… of the Season One pilot. Did I end up on the very same day the pilot took place? But then… then…

“It’s been the talk of the town ever since Princess Celestia formally announced it over a month ago. How were you unaware of that?”

Lauren mentally cursed, realizing she had made a faux pas. The one-thousandth Summer Sun celebration, the princess herself coming, of course it would be such an event no one could genuinely claim to be ignorant about it.

Unless…

“Oh, I… didn’t have a chance to get myself informed in the last few months.” Lauren replied, trying to come up with a good excuse to cover up her ‘ignorance.’ “You see, I’m a traveling peddler, and rarely do I stay someplace for too long, always moving—”

“A peddler without merchandise?” One of the two challenged, noticing how Lauren seemed devoid of any belonging but her cowl.

“It’s pretty embarrassing to say, but I lost all my stuff a couple of days ago while I was taking a rest in a forest nearby. You see, I had to run from a few aggressive timberwolves—”

“Timberwolves?! Then you must come from the Everfree Forest! By Celestia, you’re lucky to have escaped with your life!”

“I’m alive, and I have a chance to start again: that’s what matters, isn’t it?” Lauren did her best to keep her poker face. “Anyway, can I ask you for one small indication? Which way is for the Golden Oak Library?”

“The Golden Oak’s that way, ma’am!” The first worker smiled at her, pointing with his right hoof into one of the main ways, right beyond the statue of Chancellor Puddinghead. “Always right into you reach Mayor Mare’s house, then to the right. It’s a large tree, so it should be hard to miss it.”

“Do not worry; I have a pretty good idea of what it looks like.” Lauren started to move, only for the other worker to add something.”

“We should warn you, however, that the library’s currently closed. Our previous librarian retired a few days ago, and we’re still waiting for a replacement. If you have a book you want to borrow, you should note that down and return later.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.” The human-turned-pony nodded as she turned her back on the town hall and began to march in the opposite direction, quickly passing over the statue of the late Chancellor and going forward…

The Golden Oak Library! Lauren gasped as soon as she could finally see the most plot-relevant place in all Ponyville with her own eyes. I never thought I would ever get a chance to see such a place in real life… Well, barring the option someone did lobby to make a My Little Pony-themed amusement park, she added with a hint of bitter frustration, thinking back on how many crazy ‘business’ proposals she had received over the years.

Like any other building Lauren had seen so far, the ‘real life’ version of the Golden Oak Library looked much cozier and more magical than the show: on the side of the entrance, there was a large sign depicting a book and explaining the time the library was open to the public, while, attached to one of the main tree’s branches, was a honeycomb with a few bees buzzing around, providing a source of fresh honey for those daring enough to try and get it.

And the way the light of the setting sun managed to make the whole building look surely—

Wait, setting sun?! Lauren was taken aback, as she realized the sun was lowering itself in the sky, perhaps in the direction West was. That meant that, soon enough, the ‘day’ would be over, and Princess Celestia would lower the Sun and raise the Moon, and everyone would gather, waiting for the moment the sun would be raised again by tomorrow morning.

But then—

CRASH! Lauren was so engrossed in her thinking she paid no attention to where she was walking, and she slammed into somepony else, both of them knocked back by the impact and dropping onto the ground.

“Ouch!”

“Hey!”

“Oh my! Are you okay, miss—”

Lauren’s mind shot into alarm, for she could recognize those voices as she struggled to get back on her feet, and he saw a purple unicorn with a striped mane and tail, violet eyes, and a cutie mark resembling a six-pointed star (surrounded by five smaller white stars) on her flank. Next to her, there was a baby dragon with pink scales covering his body and pistachio-green spikes, plus a cream-yellow-coated pegasus with a long, fluid pink mane and tail, aquamarine eyes, and a cutie mark resembling three pink butterflies.

In short, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Spike, three of the main characters of the show and the ones Lauren had been sentimentally attached to the most, even before Equestria and all of them existed only in her head.

And they were all staring at her.

Did they? Lauren panicked for a few seconds before realizing her cowl still covered her body, and thus, her secret was safe, at least for now.

“Wow, you’re so… tall,” Fluttershy murmured.

“Oh, yeah, I get that often.” Lauren chuckled, realizing it was the reason why they stared at her. “I apologize for bumping into you; I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Do you need any help to get back on your hooves, Twilight?”

“No, thank you, miss. I think I can—” Twilight answered (using the same voice Tara Strong had given her, to Lauren’s inner delight) before stopping, her eyes widening once again in shock. “How- how do you know my name?!”

“Well, why shouldn’t I?” Lauren caught herself, trying to come up with a good excuse for her major faux pas. “You’re the personal student and protégé of Princess Celestia herself; of course I’ve heard about you. You’re the unicorn who managed to overachieve her magic exam test and managed to hatch a dragon egg that had been laid dormant for centuries.” She turned her head toward Spike. “And I suppose you’re Spike the Dragon, Twilight Sparkle’s trusted assistant and helper, born out of the egg she hatched on her magic exam.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Spike said sheepishly, scratching the side of his face, not used to receiving so much admiration and respect at once.

“And you?” Lauren turned her attention to Fluttershy, the timid pegasus squeaking and trying to hide behind her own mane the moment she was spoken to.

“I’m… Fluttershy.” Ponyville’s local veterinarian and animal lover replied to Lauren’s gigging, trying to control herself as she felt her own heartbeat go faster and faster.

Aww, cuteness overload indeed. The author thought. She's just too cute. Oh, why did I make her so cute? Oh right, I based her off my Posey.

“That’s such a cute name, graceful and kind at the same time! It surely fits you!”

Fluttershy looked away, but Faust could see a meek smile forming on her lips, a sign she had appreciated the compliment. Let's see if I can bring you out of your shell, my dear.

“And what about you, Miss?” Twilight questioned, her gaze still fixed on Lauren’s horn, mentally comparing it to her own. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, right! I apologize for my rudeness! I’m…” Lauren thought for a few seconds, trying to come up with a good name. “Rosetta. Rosetta Severna, yeah, that’s my name. I’m a traveling peddler, but recently I lost all of my belongings while I was traveling in the nearby forest.”

“Oh, you mean the Everfree Forest?” Fluttershy mused. “You… you must be very brave for venturing in there, Miss Rosetta. The Everfree Forest is a very dangerous place; barely any pony dares to venture into it.”

“Believe me, I know the kind of dangers that lurk in it.” Literally, since I was the one who created it in the first place for the show, Lauren added. “That said, I heard there was a new librarian in town, so I was hoping if I could… you know, borrow a book?”

“Oh, a fellow book lover?” Twilight seemed to brighten up. “Sure! Technically, the library’s not open yet, and I had just arrived, but… I think I can help you. What’s the name of the book you’re looking for?”

“I don’t remember,” Lauren explained, “Guess I’ll have to check a few covers to try and jog my memory. Of course, assuming there are no problems.”

“None at all! Just allow us to get inside, and I’ll be glad to help.” Twilight turned toward Fluttershy. “I apologize, but I need to assist Lady Rosetta with her search; plus, my poor baby dragon needs his sleep.”

“Hey, I don’t—” Spike tried to protest, only for Twilight to buck him off her back.

“Aww, wook at dat,” Twilight said with a fake smile, using baby talk. “He's so sweepy he can't even keep his widdle bawance!”

OK, that’s the worst excuse someone ever made in all the history of animation, Lauren mused, looking at Spike’s irked expression. Twilight sure is lucky Fluttershy is too kind and empathetic to catch on to her lie.

The following sequence played out exactly like the cartoon, with Fluttershy carrying Spike inside and Twilight pushing her back outside before slamming the door, forgetting that ‘Rosetta’ was still outside and leaving her alone with Fluttershy.

“Sorry about her,” Lauren said, apologizing on Twilight’s behalf. “She’s very much like you, only with books instead of animals. And she, too, doesn’t handle social pressure too well.”

“That’s ok.” The yellow pegasus replied, returning to her quiet, shy demeanor.

“Shall we go inside? Pinkie did send you an invitation, right?”

“Pinkie?” Fluttershy gasped, realizing that Rosetta knew what was waiting for Twilight on the inside of the library. “How do you—”

“It’s Pinkie Pie, that’s how I know.” Lauren replied as the sound of honking and a kazoo blowing (and several pony voices saying ’SURPRISE’) informed her that the ‘party’ had sprung. “Shall we?”

Chapter Text

“Twilight, are you okay?” Lauren asked, as she reached the top of the stairs, her eyes scanning the room until she identified the petite shape of the purple unicorn resting on a bed, a pillow over her head as she tried to not hear the clamor from the party going. Seeing this, the formerly-human author could help but giggle internally:

My lovely main character, so not used to social events she snuck out of a party held in her honor. Do not worry, you’ll soon learn how amazing your friends are.

“Oh, it’s you.” Twilight murmured turned head, seeing the strangely tall unicorn trot in sight, her cowl still covering her back. “How’s the party going?”

“It’s great!” Lauren announced, thinking back to all the fun she had while mingling with the other ponies, fulfilling one of the oldest and strongest fantasies she had ever since she was a child. “There was a singing contest, then they started dancing… although I didn’t get too many glimpses, most of what I did was talk with the other guests.” She grimaced, a sheeply expression over her face. “Apparently, just because I’m a little taller, everyone assumes I’m some kind of top model or something like that. Rarity even asked me if I’d be interested into doing some modeling job for her.”

“Did she try to give you an unnecessary makeover as well?”

“Well, she did have quite a strong reaction seeing my cowl, saying it was ‘uncouth’ and how I needed to replace it immediately.” Lauren shivered. “Still, I’m sure she was only trying to help. She’s a very refined pony, and she seems quite eager to help others. And,” the red-maned pony added, with a hint of teasing, “your little reptile assistant seems to have a thing for her.”

“Yeah, I noticed the way Spike looked at her, back at the Town Hall.” Twilight mused, before a question immediately popped in her mind. “Where is he, by the way?”

“Downstairs at the party, having fun.” Lauren replied immediately. “Like you should be. It’s your party, after all.”

“No! All the ponies in this town are crazy!” The purple unicorn barked, pointing at the clock just above her bed. “Do they have any idea of what time it is?!”

Lauren was momentarily taken back by Twilight’s yell, feeling her frustration and anger through her words. It was a scene she had seen countless times before, yet it had never felt so… real. Maybe because this time it was real, instead of simply being a short scene of the series’ pilot.

Internally, she wondered what to do: a part of her told her she had to get back and try not to interfere in the story. She knew how it was going to play out, after all: even if Twilight was feeling like this now, soon she would find out that the legend of Nightmare Moon was real, she and the others would set for the Castle of the Two sisters, Twilight would have her realization and awaken her own Element, Nightmare Moon would be defeated and the day would be saved. She had already mingled into the story, true, yet she had tried to avoid the spotlight, mostly using this chance to meet the ponies she created, acting not too differently from a background character they used to fill the scenes.

And yet-

She couldn’t leave her. Not now, not like this. She couldn’t interfere in the plot directly, true, but… perhaps some encouragement words would work?

“It’s the Summer Sun Celebration, nopony is going to go to sleep.” Lauren said. “They were already planning to stay up all night so they could see Princess Celestia raise the Sun, the party’s just giving them something to do while they wait. And all those sugary sweets they’re eating will give them enough energy to stay awake and do their work as usual tomorrow. Don’t ponies do the same in Canterlot.”

“They do.” Twilight admitted, seeing the logic in Lauren’s words. “During my first Summer Sun celebration my foalsitter, Cadance, spent it with me, and we read books together-”

“Cadance?” Lauren fake-gasped, feigning ignorance. “As in, Her Highness Princess Cadance? You had a princess, the Alicorn Princess of love herself, as your foalsitter?!”

“I did, we knew of each other even from before I got my cutie mark.” Twilight looked at the six-pointed star on her flank with a heartfelt expression, remembering that day. “And besides, my brother’s her coltfriend.”

“Yeah, Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Guard.” Lauren said, thinking back at the white stallion unicorn she helped develop. “If it’s not too much trouble, can I ask you how he’s doing? I never had a brother; I was an only child.” Though I always wanted to have siblings.

“He’s… fine, I guess?” Celestia’s personal student replied. “One week ago, Princess Celestia sent him and Cadance to Cloudsdale, to ‘oversee’ some political stuff. Just like me, being sent on some small town to oversee the Celebration’s preparations.” She looked out of the window, toward the Moon and the Alicorn-shaped figure on it. “Perhaps she would have been more wary of-”

“Are you worried, Twilight?” Lauren asked, knowing the doubts and worries currently crowding inside the unicorn’s head. “That the legend of Nightmare Moon may not be ‘just an old pony tale’ and a great catastrophe loom upon Equestria?”

“You know about it?” Twilight’s sudden turn, her sharp tone of voice and her widened eyes made it clear she wasn’t expecting that. “How?!”

“I told you, I’m a peddler, I used to travel, and whenever I go, I heard some nice interesting stories.” Actually no, the REAL reason why I know is because I created the legend, alongside this world and everyone living in it, just to provide some backstory, she added mentally. “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. The elder sister controlled the sun, while the youngest sister controlled the moon.” Lauren kept talking, giving an abridged version of the legend Twilight herself had learned that very same day. “Yeah, I know about the tale, the younger sister becoming resentful, the negative feelings she experienced turning her into Nightmare Moon and being banished into the Moon through the Elements of Harmony. Yet, the legend also says she will escape her imprisonment, on Summer Sun Celebration one thousand years after her banishment. And now,” she looked back at Twilight, “you’re afraid the legend may be true, and thus, Nightmare Moon’s escape is upon us.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I am afraid of,” Twilight nodded, looking back at the Moon in the sky, wondering if the alicorn shape on it was just a natural phenomenon, as many believed, or it was actually the hint that an evil entity had been trapped in there for over a thousand years. “As soon as I found out, I tried to warn Princess Celestia of the danger, but instead, she dismissed my fears and sent me here, just so I could supervise the town’s preparations and make friends!” She looked down for a moment. “What does ‘making friends’ has to do with the security of the whole Equestria?”

A lot, believe me, much more than you could ever imagine.

“I thought I'd have at least some time to learn more about the Elements of Harmony, just to be safe, but… you don’t believe me, right?”

“Actually, I do, Miss Twilight. And I think even Princess Celestia does.”

“What?”

“Think about it: the eldest sister, a pony whose power allowed her to raise and lower the Sun… doesn’t it remind you or somepony? Some ancient, wise alicorn princess who just happens to be your own mentor?”

“Y-yeah? But, if Celestia was the eldest princess, then-”

“You’re getting to it, don’t you? Nightmare Moon was her sister, the pony she loved so much yet she was forced to banish, using a power much more superior to her own, for the safety of everyone else. I think she already knew of the legend, both the part about the Elements and of Nightmare Moon’s return.”

“But then, why was she so dismissive toward my warning? Why send me here with orders to make friends, instead of preparing us for the threat?”

“Who says she’s not prepared?” Lauren challenged, a bit of smugness growing inside of her as she saw the shock on Twilight’s face. “After all, Celestia’s over a thousand years old. Even ruling a nation, that is more than enough time to prepare countermeasures and plans to deal with the chance Nightmare Moon may break free out of her prison. I bet she already has plans to deal with the matter, that’s why she sent you here.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh, come on, don’t tell me you find a bit strange that she sent her own student away from Canterlot, at the eve of such a catastrophic event happening? She wasn’t dismissing your claims, I bet she was trying to send you out of harm’s way, so should Nightmare Moon return and attack Canterlot, you’ll be here, safe and sound even if her plans fail and she is defeated. Just as Princess Cadance, who from what you told me is currently in Cloudsdale alongside the Captain of the Guard, and thus far enough to be safe even if Canterlot was lost.”

“That-that makes sense.” Twilight thought about those words, fear and paranoia disappearing from her face as newfound hope took their place. “Cadance’s the only other Alicorn, besides Princess Celestia, and thus, if Nightmare Moon returns, she will obviously target her first! And Shiny’s not only the captain of her guard, but his shield is strong and big enough to protect even a large city like Canterlot and Clousdale. And-”

“Yeah, you get what I’m trying to say to you, don’t you?” Lauren chuckled, both happy that her words had managed to reassure Twilight’s doubts and a bit worried, wondering if her ‘pep talk’ would be enough to help the purple unicorn without causing too much drama. “The Princess probably had several plans to deal with the threat, some who may even linger on your presence here.” Even more than you can currently believe, the disguised alicorn added inside her mind once again. “So, how about instead of worrying for things that may or may not to come, you don’t come down and try to enjoy the party? I can tell you, Miss Pie surely is a pro!”

“But-but what if it does come to pass, and whatever the Princess has planned doesn’t work, and Nightmare Moon returns and plunges all of Equestria into a never-ending night-” Twilight once again began to go into a panic as her mind re-started worrying about everything at once, forcing Lauren to trot over and shake her with her front hooves.

“Then I’m sure you will find a way to stop her. You’re Princess Celestia’s personal student after all, the most magic-savvy pony in all of Equestria.” Lauren said with a small grin. “And you won’t be alone.”

“Yeah, I have Spike with me.”

“You have Spike, but you also have everypony down there who I bet will be willing to assist you in the struggle. The ponies of this town may look… weird, perhaps under some point of view, but they’re all loyal to their princess to the core, and they won’t stand for a night-hegemonic tyrant.”

“What about you?” Twilight asked, and for the first time, Lauren was caught by surprise, her mind freezing as the purple unicorn made the one question she hadn’t one answer prepared for. “Wouldn’t you help me as well?”

“I-I certainly would, if I could, but… I must confess, I’d be more a liability than a help. I can’t even use magic.”

“You can’t?!” Twilight gasped, her mind unable to grasp the idea of a magicless unicorn. “Not even the basic levitation spell?”

“Not even that. In fact, I don’t have idea how to use magic.”

“But… that’s absurd! Even foals know how to surge their own magical power, and the levitation spell is so basic all unicorns learn it before they even find their own cutie mark! How can someone like… you,” she once again glanced at the magnificent horn sprouting under Lauren’s cowl, “be completely ignorant about magic? No offense, I mean.”

“None taken,” Lauren replied, hoping she could make up a good-enough excuse to explain her lack of magic knowledge. “The thing is… I never got a chance to learn. My parents couldn’t do magic, nor anyone else I knew.” This is not a lie, technically: humans can’t do magic at all. “And… everywhere I went, I didn’t had the time nor the occasion to learn. This is why I wanted to visit the library, once I arrived in Ponyville: I was hoping I could find some book I could use to teach me the basics.”

“Self-teach… oh no, that won’t do!” Twilight countered. “A full-grown unicorn like you, deprived of the chance to learn magic from young age, you can’t possibly self-teach! As Princess Celestia’s own personal student and her School for Gifted Unicorns’ top-score student for five years in a row, I’ll take responsibility to teach you all you must know about magic, its properties and how to safely use it!” She grabbed Lauren and began to march downstairs, the smaller purple unicorn seemingly having no issue with pulling the larger pony by her cowl, a burning fire in her eyes. “First off, we’ll have to-”

What have I got myself into? Lauren silently pleaded, realizing she had made a tactical mistake.

Chapter Text

“So… you never learned how to use your magic?” Rarity gasped, a few other unicorns who had been surrounding ‘Rosetta’ sharing expressions of concern.

“Yeah.” The hidden alicorn admitted. “As you can imagine, when Twilight found out, she was beyond concerned.”

“I’d say, of course she would be!” Another voice, belonging to a unicorn mare with pinkish fur and a bright blonde mane, replied. “All ponies can control and use magic, either through their hooves, their wings, or their horns. Even the Earth Ponies,” she stopped for a brief minute, giving an aside glance to Applejack, who was mingling in the great hall and having fun alongside the rest of her family, her brother Big Mac and her little sister Apple Bloom to her sides, “learn how to use magic in their way through adulthood. To hear that an adult pony has no grasp on how to use magic is something unheard of!”

“Well, the place I came from has no concept of magic whatsoever, so there was no one that could be able to teach me, nor any book I could learn from. In fact, many of us would have scoffed at the idea of magic.”

“Oh my, this ‘Anapony’ you talk about surely seems even more dreadful now.” Rarity murmured. “But then, if you have no magic, how can you do your day-to-day chores?”

“Well, with our—” Lauren began to say, only to stop as she remembered she didn’t have hands anymore, and instead of pinky fingers, she now had… hooves?

How can they manipulate objects with these? The transformed human questioned her own sanity as she recalled all those discussions she had, back when the series started, to consider the characters were horses and thus, all their society, culture, and technology (that is, those who didn’t fall in the ‘schizo’ category) had to be imagined as being made for creatures who didn't have hands. And the countless more discussions such a notion had caused among the show’s fans, especially after she left for other ventures, and more and more episodes showed ponies holding things with their hooves without apparent difficulty.

How—how can they? Lauren wondered, glancing around and noticing several ponies holding items with their hooves, in open contrast with what laws of physics said. And back at the library, during Pinkie’s party… she had touched and held several things with her hooves too. But how—how…

“You used your hooves for everything?” Rarity questioned. “Oh my, darling, you surely are way more resourceful than I’d dared to imagine. I don’t even dare to imagine how I would be able to keep going with my work if I had to do everything magic-less. Oh, and that reminds me… my offer still stands! Wouldn’t you like to replace that ragged, old cowl with something more modern and fashionable? You won’t even have to pay me; consider it a gift!”

“I’ll gladly consider your offer, but for tonight, we have more important things to focus on.” She glanced around, seeing more and more ponies gather inside the large town hall, either waiting in expectation or mingling with the others as they waited for the sun to rise. “Did anyone see where Twilight went?”

“Oh, she’s there!” Derpy (yes, it WAS Derpy, the grey pegasus mare being accompanied by a pale purple unicorn filly that Lauren knew was Dinky, her assumed daughter) pointed at one side of the large room where Twilight currently was, surrounded by Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Lyra, Bon-Bon, and several other ponies of the town, with Spike on her back. In great contrast to her canon appearance, the purple unicorn wasn’t looking all grouchy and worried; instead, she was relaxed and friendly and trying to find common interests to discuss with the other ponies present at the party.

Was this a consequence of my actions? Lauren wondered, once again raising her eyes to the sky and toward the moon, where the dark shape of the imprisoned Nightmare Moon was still plain and visible for anyone to see. Her words of encouragement, by stating logical facts and technical truths, were more than enough to assuage Twilight’s fear and allow her to socialize naturally and enjoy herself, giving Celestia’s personal student a much easier time into making friends she would need to wield the elements.

They would all become friends after today, Lauren assured with a heartfelt glance, as Applejack and her family joined Twilight and the others, and Rarity trotting to do the same; I just gave them a bit of an edge. Nothing that will cause everlasting consequences. Plus-

Her way of thinking stopped, Lauren’s head snapping toward the podium, as she felt a presence behind it. A presence whose magical aura seemed warm, comforting, and reassuring at the same time. An aura that seemed to inspire peace and relaxation in the former author.

So, Princess Celestia was behind the curtain during Mayor Mare’s speech! Lauren realized, a warm feeling surging within her as well.

And then, the choir of birds began to sing under Fluttershy’s guidance, and a light moved onto the podium, Mayor Mare standing on it and looking at the crowd, every chat stopping as the attention immediately focused on her, many pegasi flying over the rest to get a better view.

“Fillies and gentlecolts,” the experienced small-town politician announced, “as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!”

The ponies all cheered at the announcement. Everypony but Lauren, the disguised alicorn instinctively turned their head once again and searched for the Moon in the sky. She knew it was going to happen soon.

“In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!

As Lauren finally found the moon, she saw four stars move behind it, and barely one second later, the image of the Mare on the Moon disappeared in a flash of magic. She gasped, recognizing the instant, instantly searching for Twilight among the crowd.

When their eyes crossed, no words were needed, as both ponies saw the fear and worry on each other’s face. They both had witnessed it.

“And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria...”

It was then that Lauren felt another presence appear suddenly behind the closed curtain. But while Celestia’s aura had felt warm and comforting, this new aura felt cold as ice, and it brought a feeling of intense pressure and fear, like she knew there was some kind of monstrous predator behind those curtains.

And then, the warm, loving, inviting presence was gone, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, leaving only the dreadful one in its place.

“Ready?” Fluttershy whispered to her birds, the birds nodding in response.

“Princess Celestia!”

Right on cue, Fluttershy conducted her birds into a fanfare, Mayor Mare moving aside while Rarity pulled out the ropes and opened the curtains, the crowd cheering as they expected their sovereign to come in sight. Yet, their enthusiasm quickly turned into confusion and then into a frenzy, as the white alicorn was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh?!” Rarity gasped, realizing she was alone.

“Rosetta,” Twilight approached Lauren while the crowd started chatting nervously in the background, trying to make sense of the situation. “Did you see?”

“The Mare on the Moon’s gone, and so is the Princess.” Lauren replied, her blood turning cold as she felt the oppressive aura getting stronger by the second. “Looks like the legend was right in the end. Unfortunately, either the princess’s plans were not enough, or Nightmare Moon took them into account and set up her own countermeasures.”

“Remain calm, everypony!” Mayor Mare shouted, trying to calm down the crowd even as panic began to creep on her own face. “There must be a reasonable explanation!”

“There is,” Lauren sighed, saying it out loud without realizing, so everyone heard it and turned their focus on her. “Didn’t you see the sky? She is back!”

“She? Who is she?”

“And what does it matter with the— wait, what happened to the Moon?”

“What’s happening? What’s going on?!”

“YAAAH!” Pinkie yelped as a mysterious blue mist that resembled the starred sky began to form on the balcony. Even Lauren, who knew what was happening and that everything would be alright in the end, couldn’t help but feel scared as the mist kept growing and growing until—

The crowd gasped as the mist disappeared, and an unknown figure appeared on the balcony, standing at the same height as Princess Celestia, and like her, showing off a long horn on her forehead and wings on her back. Unlike the white alicorn, however, this one’s coat was pitch black, her mane and tail were dark blue with star-like sparkles adorning it, and her cutie mark was a silver crescent moon on a dark purple patch.

“Nightmare Moon.” Twilight and Lauren said, almost verbatim, while Spike could no longer withstand the rush of emotions he was being pulled through and fainted, dropping onto the cold floor.

“Oh, our beloved subjects.” The Alicorn of Darkness addressed the crowd, speaking with an ancient accent that had long become obsolete centuries ago. “It's been so long since we've seen your precious little sun-loving faces.”

Many of the ponies cowered together, fillies trying to find refuge and hiding by crawling together under the safest place they could hide while the mares and stallions stood almost as petrified, fear and nervousness stopping the personal initiative of many.

Many, of course, didn’t mean all.

“What did you do with our princess?!” Rainbow Dash snapped, ready to attack the intruder before Applejack and Derpy rushed to stop her, holding her respectively by her tail and one of her hooves. While they could understand Dash’s irritation, even they could see that, for a pegasus to attack an unknown powerful adversary (and an alicorn to boot) would be nothing short of a suicide.

“Why, are we not royal enough for thee?” Nightmare Moon seemed offended. “Don't you know who we are? Typical. You all worship our sister, yet you never appreciate us!”

“Your sister?” Among the crowd, Lauren could see Spoiled Rich, the wealthy pony clearly not scared enough (or perhaps, not smart enough) to keep her own mouth shut. “Princess Celestia could never have a sister, let alone someone so blatantly evil like you!”

“Does our crown no longer count now that we have been imprisoned for a thousand years?” Nightmare Moon’s tone grew even more irritated. “Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”

“We did.” Twilight spoke, determination blossoming in her face as she glared at the evil alicorn, Lauren moving to her side. “And we know who you are.”

“You are Princess Celestia’s younger sister, the alicorn of the Moon and of the Night.” Lauren spoke in turn, almost automatically, as she stood next to Twilight, ready to pull her to safety if the other alicorn attempted to hurt her. “You are the Mare in the Moon, imprisoned by the Elements of Harmony themselves over one thousand years ago. You are… Nightmare Moon.”

As the ponies in the crowd all gasped in shock, the dark alicorn chuckled, her previous irritation now forgotten as a wicked grin blossomed on her fanged lips.

“Well, well, well, this is a pleasant surprise. Somepony DOES remember us.” Nightmare Moon looked at both Twilight and Lauren. However, as her gaze moved on the taller unicorn, the human-turned-pony could see a moment of confusion, worry, perhaps even shock, as she noticed how unusually tall Lauren was compared with everypony else.

In fact, Lauren’s own physique resembled Nightmare Moon’s own, much more than anypony else’s.

“Then you also know why we’re here.”

“You’re here… to accomplish what you failed the first time.” Lauren replied, her glare focused on Nightmare Moon. “To establish Eternal Night over Equestria and rule it with an iron hoof.”

“Right into one!” Nightmare Moon began to chuckle with cruel lips, her laugh resounding in the silent town hall as everyone looked at her with dread. “Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!”

Chapter Text

Lauren had just finished wrapping her head around everything that had happened to her in the last twenty-four hours. First, she’d awakened in some unknown clearing, instead of her bed, with no hint how she arrived; then, she found she had been transformed into a pony, and not just any pony, but the Fausticorn, her own ponysona she had made a long time ago. Then, she realized she had somehow transmigrated into Equestria, the world she herself had dreamed, imagined, and created through the years, just like in some kind of third-rate fanfiction; only this time it had actually happened. Then, as she decided to go on an exploration, she found herself in Ponyville, the small town where all the main characters of the show lived, and through chatting with the locals, she found out she had transmigrated here just before the show’s beginning, on the Summer Sun Celebration, the day Twilight Sparkle would be sent to Ponyville and meet all of her future friends, and they would save Equestria from the dark alicorn Nightmare Moon. Then, she met Twilight, alongside Spike and everyone else, even getting the chance to mingle with them and give Twilight some reassuring words to try and calm her nerves. And now—

And now, she stood in silence as Nightmare Moon made clear her intention to never again raise the sun, dooming all of Equestria to live through eternal night and all life forms that depended on sunlight to thrive, to a slow, withering death.

“Seize her!” Mayor Mare shouted, shrugging off her shock. “Only she knows where the princess is!”

The Royal Guards, not questioning the order, rushed into attack, the pegasi mounting a direct attack on the alicorn while the unicorns attempted to use their magic. Yet, Lauren knew they were outmatched; for their opponent was an alicorn, albeit alone.

“Stand back, you foals.” Nightmare Moon said as her eyes glowed, and blasts of lightning fell on the guards, knocking them back instantly.

“All too easy!” Nightmare Moon laughed once again. “Our sister really let the quality of her guards go down in a thousand years. If they’re all idiots like these, taking over Equestria shall be easy!” She then turned herself back into blue mist and easily escaped, leaving behind only the remains of the celebration her return had disrupted, as well as a crowd of panicking ponies.

And Lauren.

“Twilight—” the disguised alicorn began to call for her, only to find out the purple unicorn was standing at her side, Spike holding onto her, and both were sharing expressions of fear.

“Let’s go!” Celestia’s personal student said laconically, pulling her outside the building. The trio galloped back toward the library, unaware that a certain rainbow-maned pegasus had seen them leaving in a hurry…

(…)

“So, the Mare in the Moon was real?!” Spike repeated for the -nth time, yet he was still unable to assimilate the information even after seeing a freaky dark alicorn appear with his own eyes. “The legend was real?!”

“All legends contain at least a small amount of truth,” Lauren replied, a part of her noting how she had always wanted to say such a thing. “On the upside, we know she was defeated once, so reasonably, she can be defeated again. And the same legend tells us how.”

“The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight nodded as she kept searching through the books, trying to find any kind of useful information. “There must be something in here who can tell us where we can find them!”

And there is, Lauren thought, glancing toward the bookshelf section labeled with an ‘E.’  Should I pretend to find it, or just wait for Pinkie to find it on her own?

Yet, before the human-turned-pony could make her decision, the library door opened with a slam, and some kind of light blue bolt zoomed inside. It was Rainbow Dash, and she got up in Twilight's face.

“And just what are the Elements of Harmony?” The pegasus angrily accused before moving her glare onto Lauren. “And how did you know all that stuff about Nightmare Moon? Are you spies?!”

“Seriously, you think we are involved in all of this?” Twilight asked with a deadpan tone. “You can’t be serious.”

“All I know is that you arrive in our town, and the next thing we know, the Princess has disappeared, some kind of crazy evil alicorn announces we will never see sunlight again, and that apparently you know about her all this time!”

“Now hold on there, sugarcube." A new voice announced the arrival of Applejack, accompanied by Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity (to Spike’s delight). “We can’t go around accusing ponies of being spies just because they know more than they say.” She then turned toward the trio. “But you sure know what's going on. Don't you, Twilight?”

“Well—”

“We do.” Lauren spoke with a sorrowful expression. “We’re sorry for not mentioning it before, but it’s a long story, and you probably wouldn’t have believed us.”

“Darling, we just witnessed a dark alicorn appear in place of our princess, and now it’s still night, even though the sun was supposed to rise at least an hour ago.” Rarity pointed to the still starry sky outside. “I don’t think whatever you may tell us could be weirder than this.”

“Fine.” Twilight sighed. “I found out about Nightmare Moon from a story called… the Legend of the Two Sisters.”

“I thought that was just a fillies’ story.” Fluttershy murmured.

“Yeah, I thought the same thing when Twilight told me the first time.” Spike admitted, now looking back with shame and regret at his own skepticism. “But I guess I was wrong, and Twilight was right.”

“I see,” said Applejack. “Anyway, Twilight, please continue.”

“The legend talked about two alicorn sisters, one who raised the Sun and ruled the day, while the other raised the Moon and ruled the night. At some point, however, the one who ruled the night grew jealous of how everypony praised her sister while she got no recognition at all, and in her jealousy, allowed a dark force to corrupt her, turning her into… well, Nightmare Moon.”

“You mean she was telling the truth?!” Rainbow gasped. “She is Princess Celestia’s sister?”

“She is.” Lauren nodded. “I too was aware of the legends, thanks to my travels. The story told how even Celestia couldn’t defeat her in a fair fight, and she had to rely on six powerful artifacts, the Elements of Harmony, to successfully defeat her and trap her in the Moon. Yet, the legend also foretold how, after one thousand years, she would be released from her own imprisonment on the longest day of the year.”

“The longest day of the year… the Summer Sun Celebration… yeah, it all matches…” Fluttershy once again murmured, yet too shy to say it forward.

“You mean you knew this would happen?!” Rainbow challenged. “And you didn’t tell anypony else?”

“I did!” Twilight countered, seemingly offended. “As soon as I realized the threat, I wrote a message to Princess Celestia to warn her. Yet, she dismissed my claims and sent me here to oversee the preparations for the celebration… and make friends. That’s how I met all of you.”

“No wonder you seemed so impatient and worried when we met.” Fluttershy recalled. “But then, why didn’t you tell us?”

“Would you have believed me if I did back then?” The purple unicorn glumly commented. “Even I was doubting myself, wondering if I was worrying too much about some old legend. And, during the party,” she looked at Pinkie, Ponyville’s resident party-maker, nodding with a giggle, “Rosetta and I had a talk while I was resting upstairs, and she brought up some logical facts that helped me relax.”

“Oh, and what did you say to her?” Rainbow turned to Lauren.

“I simply pointed out how odd Princess Celestia’s behavior seemed, and my own deductions based on logic.” The former human replied readily. “For example, since Princess Celestia was probably the one pony in the legend who had defeated and locked down Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago, how she probably was well aware of the threat and her ‘dismissing’ Twilight’s warning was only a ruse, and she sent her to Ponyville not just to oversee the preparations and try to make some friends, but also as a way to keep her away and safe.”

“Safe?”

“So, if by chance she lost, she would be here among friendly ponies rather than stuck in Canterlot, at Nightmare Moon’s mercy. Over a thousand years… I thought Celestia would have some preparations done for the day Nightmare Moon would come back. But evidently, either those preparations were not enough, or Nightmare Moon was too much for her to deal with, even with them in place!” She didn’t say how she had ‘felt’ when Nightmare Moon had arrived, nor when Celestia’s presence seemed to vanish. That would only draw even more suspicion upon herself if she admitted she ‘noticed’ Celestia being whisked away and did nothing.

“That is logical,” Spike pointed out. “Look, if you re-read the legend, it clearly says that Celestia couldn’t defeat Nightmare Moon alone, and she needed the Elements to prevail. Thus, if we hypothesize she hadn’t had them with her when Nightmare Moon returned—”

“Then these so-called Elements may be our only hope.” Applejack nodded, telling the ugly truth of their situation. “But then, how do we find them?”

“That’s the issue; we don’t know!” Twilight lamented. “I don't know what they are or where to find them, or how they’re supposed to work! I don’t even know where to look for clues!”

“The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide." Pinkie Pie read aloud. “Perhaps this one could help?”

“What?!” Twilight asked in shocked splendor, moving Pinkie aside and finding a large, shiny book with a red cover and the image of a golden unicorn head on the front, the book’s paper seemingly sparkling by contact. “How did you find that?!”

“It was under "E"!” Pinkie sang along, cheerfully bounding around.

Lauren couldn’t help but chuckle as Twilight opened the book and began to skim through its content. “There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery.”

That’s because you are the sixth Element, Twilight. Lauren mused as she re-listened to the same exact sentence she had heard countless times before, yet she never grew bored or sick of hearing it again. Or rather, your virtue, Magic, is.

“It is said the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now..." She suddenly stopped reading and gulped. “It can't be...”

“Now what?” Spike asked, puzzled as to the reason why Twilight had stopped.

“Let me guess, the Everfree Forest?”

“How do you know?” Twilight gasped for the -nth time in the night, turning her head toward Lauren, quickly imitated by everyone else.

“You remember how I told you that I ended up meeting some Timberwolves on my way through the forest?” Lauren replied, trying to control her expression to make her lie sound as truthful as she could. “During my trek over there, I caught a glimpse of some old castle lying in there, completely abandoned and dilapidated, and vegetation growing over its structure. At the time I didn’t think too much about it; I had other… priorities at the time, yet if what the book is saying is true, then it could be the Castle of the Two Sisters, where they both lived before—”

“—before one of them became jealous and tried to kill the other, yeah.” Spike nodded as a look full of determination blossomed on his face. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Oh no, you don’t!” Twilight shut the library’s door closed with her magic, stopping Spike from even taking one step outside. “Look, Spike, you’re my number one assistant and adoptive little brother—”

Little brother? Lauren gasped internally, hearing Twilight say aloud that Spike was part of her family. Something she surely didn’t write into the episode, no matter what the show fans would later say.

“—but there is no way I’m going to bring you in such a dangerous place!”

“Well, what about you?”

“Twilight,” Applejack spoke once again, “look, Ah understand how you feel about bringing Spike with us; believe me. Ah’d react the same way if my sister tried to pull such a stunt. But it is not a good idea to leave him here on his lonesome. If ya bring him with us, at least we can keep an eye out fer him.”

“And besides, dear Twilight, he's a baby DRAGON.” Rarity pointed out. “He's magic resistant, has scales like armor plating, can bite through diamonds, wade through molten rock, and breathe fire. Heat and light and flame—anything that lives in the Everfree is vulnerable to those.”

“I’m not staying here and waiting while you embark on some dangerous mission to save all of Equestria.” Spike said, his voice full of determination. “Not after these ponies showed me more respect in a single day than I get in a week. Even if I tried to go to sleep, I wouldn’t be able to relax, knowing you’re out there and possibly in danger. I made up my mind.”

Twilight sighed, realizing there was no way to talk Spike out of this, as she finally relented. “Fine, you’re coming with us. But you’re staying by my side all the time, and you’ll do anything I tell you. Do you understand me?”

“Then, I guess it’s time for you seven to hit the road.” Lauren nodded, a part of her feeling a strong sense of pride and happiness as the heroes of her story set out on their mission. “Remember, Nightmare Moon is probably aware of the dangers the Elements pose to her, and she’ll do anything to stop you. Trust each other, be wary—”

“Wait, you’re not coming with us?” Rainbow gasped, looking hurt.

Lauren stuttered as she turned around and noticed the looks all six ponies (and Spike) were giving her. Come on, this was my chance to slip out of the main plot and get back in the background, in time to watch your triumph and Princess Luna’s salvation!

“Believe me, I’d gladly come with you and assist you.” The disguised alicorn began to say. “But… I can’t protect myself. As both of you know already, Miss Twilight and Miss Rarity, I can’t use magic. And I don’t know what else I could be useful for–”

“Didn’t you say you were a traveling peddler?” Applejack pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “Moreover, did you travel through the Everfree Forest once?”

Fluttershy nodded. “If you were able to do that, you surely know how to move and avoid risks.”

“Well, but I…” Lauren tried to come up with something, realizing the little lies she had told them were now turning against her.

“Plus, you lost all your stuff and merchandise in there after those Timberwolves attacked you, didn’t you? Perhaps we could help you find them.”

“B-but—”

“And most importantly, you have already seen the castle of the Two Princesses, where it is and how it looks.” Twilight recalled. “If we go alone, we could waste precious time trying to find the right way and not knowing in which direction to go. But if you come with us and act as our guide, we could find the right way from the start and perhaps avoid a few obstacles on the road.”

Lauren realized she had completely ‘bucked’ up, and she had no way out of this. Not only would she look cold and ungrateful to them, but her refusal may lead to speculations, especially after the way Rainbow Dash had accused her a little before. That wasn’t much, of course, but someone just needed to be suspicious enough to try and look under her cowl.

Guess there’s no way out of this. Lauren internally groaned. Fine, I’ll accompany them, like some kind of mentor figure. I’ll get a chance to watch their triumph much closer, and once everything’s done, I’ll walk away with some half-apology like ‘my work here is done’ or something that may sound mentor-like.

“Alright, I’ll come with you.” She acknowledged, generating happiness and excitement in the six ponies (and dragon). “Let’s get on with this!”

Chapter Text

Ok, now I seriously regret making the Everfree Forest such an amalgam of dangerous critters and hostile flora, Lauren thought as she, together with the Mane 6 and Spike, marched into the forest. She was on the front, Twilight just behind her, Spike riding on her back while Applejack and Rarity flanked the purple unicorn, Fluttershy being the next to last with Pinkie closing the formation.

“Ok Rosetta, do you see something familiar?” Twilight asked. “Something perhaps that could help you find the road back to the castle?”

“I don’t know, this place looks different at night.” Lauren replied, trying to cover up her lack of knowledge with a plausible excuse. “That said, how about you, Rainbow? You can fly, so you could get high and try to—”

But before she could finish her suggestion, a loud cracking sound came from underneath their hooves, the Mane 6 (plus Lauren and Spike) widening their eyes in horror as the ground suddenly gave away, everyone screaming. Only Dash and Fluttershy (since as pegasi, they could both fly) managed to avoid sliding down the steep slope.

“Fluttershy! Quick!”

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness.”

Spike dug his claws into the dirt to stop himself, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly went to grab Pinkie and Rarity.

“Where’s Twilight? And Rosetta?” The little dragon gasped, looking around to locate his caretaker and their guide. It didn’t take long for him to locate Twilight, the purple unicorn dangling over the cliff with only Applejack holding her; however, Rosetta was nowhere to be seen.

“Twilight!” Spike cried as he rushed toward them, trying to help Applejack lift Twilight. However, the unicorn still weighed too much, and even with Spike’s help, Applejack was unable to pull her back to safety.

"Applejack, Spike!" Twilight said, still panicking. "What do I do?!"

"I don't know!" cried Spike as he struggled, refusing to let go of her hoof. Applejack, meanwhile, looked down to see Pinkie and Rarity were safe on the ground and heard the soft beat of wings flapping approaching.

"Let go."

“ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Twilight and Spike said almost verbatim, unable to believe what they were hearing.

“No, she’s not!” Another voice called from below. “Rainbow and Fluttershy are just behind you; they’ll catch you, Twilight!””

“Rosetta?” Spike looked down to see the tall unicorn emerge from the bushes, apparently without a scratch, with Pinkie and Rarity both surprised by her sudden reappearance.

“Yeah, they’re right behind ya, Twilight. Let go, and I promise you’ll be safe. And Ah’ll bring Spike down safely mahself.”

Twilight hesitated before conceding. “Fine. Just make sure that Spike at least gets down safe.”

“Ah promise he’ll be safe,” Applejack said in a soft, motherly voice.

Twilight let go and screamed as she fell… only for her fall to stop almost immediately as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly caught her. Meanwhile, Applejack was making her own way to the ground below, Spike on her back, as she hopped down on a few rock ledges.

“You know, you should have told Twilight immediately that our pegasi were going to catch her when you asked her to let herself go.” Lauren said to Applejack, once the whole group was back together. “I know she wasn’t in actual danger, but she had no way to know.”

“Yes, I guess Ah should’ve.” The apple farmer nodded. “Sorry for that, Twilight.”

“On that account, how did you manage to get down?” Spike questioned. “I didn’t see Dash or Fluttershy grab you as you fell.”

“That’s because we didn’t,” Dash replied. “I was holding Pinkie; Fluttershy took care of Rarity—”

“But then, how did you get down safely?” Applejack questioned.

“The same way you did, sugar.” The tall unicorn replied. “When I reached the cliff’s border, I jumped down on the rock formations.

The farmer pony grimaced as she realized that was an obvious lie: she had seen Rosetta move, and she knew she didn’t have the eye-hoof coordination she had required to jump down the cliff. And from the looks Rarity and Pinkie were giving her, it was clear they hadn’t seen her after being dropped to the ground before she emerged from the bushes.

She couldn’t have used that way down; she knew it. But then, how did she?

“Spike!” Twilight rushed to check on her adoptive little brother and number one assistant, the little dragon dismounting from Applejack’s back. “How are you?!”

“All is fine, Twi. Just a little… dizzy.”

“Then, it would be wise to keep moving.” Lauren recommended as she looked around, trying to catch Nightmare Moon’s mist, knowing she was the one behind the cliff collapsing as they were walking through it. “The more time we spend here, the more we are exposed to the creatures that live in this forest. And that’s without adding Nightmare Moon’s influence.”

And before anypony else could say something, she began to walk away, her shoulders moving to try and fix the cowl covering her. Applejack was looking right toward her when she did that and saw something she wasn’t expecting to see.

Namely, as Lauren’s cowl moved on her back, she saw something move underneath it.

“Alright, friends: I think we’re getting closer to the area where I saw the castle the first time.” Lauren said, giving the Mane 6 (and Spike) just half a lie this time. She knew, from what she remembered from the episode, that the Castle of the Two Sisters would come in sight soon. “Do you know how long it has been since we’ve entered the forest? I can’t say with the sky stuck in permanent night mode.”

“I think we’ve been in here for a while,” Fluttershy murmured, letting out a big, tired yawn, quickly imitated by others.

“Spike, you okay?” Asked Twilight, seeing the little dragon let out a large yawn in turn. “Are you tired?”

“I’m…fine, Twi.” He replied, struggling against his own tiredness. “I… I can still do it! No way I’m going to leave you alone now that the fate of the whole Equestria hangs in the balance!”

“I know you won’t.” Celestia’s personal student nuzzled her assistant and adoptive little brother. As she saw the heartfelt scene, Lauren felt like a knot around her heart, mentally replacing Twilight with herself and Spike with a certain person within her heart.

“Well… if you’re feeling tired, how about you stop here and rest your hooves a bit while I go forward and try to check the area?” The ponyfied human suggested, trying to come up with an excuse to get some time alone. “At least, if I am wrong, you won’t have to go back.”

“To tell the truth, I could use a little rest.” Rarity moaned. “My hooves are all dirty with mud, and my mane’s a mess! When we get back to Ponyville, I ought to get myself a spa day to fix this!”

“Well, Ah’m not a fan of fru-fru, but I could use a little rest as well.” Applejack nodded. “I feel like I bucked half of my farm’s trees in just one morning.”

“I don’t have hooves, but I guess I would like to stop and rest too.” Spike murmured. “Plus, my throat feels sore: I guess I have used my fire-breath too much for today.”

“Alright, let’s stop and relax for a while.” Twilight said, before turning her attention to Rosetta. “Are you sure you want to go alone? Perhaps, if you prefer, I don’t feel too tired, I can go with you—”

“Believe me, I can manage.” Lauren nodded. “And if I do find out something bad, I’ll make sure to yell loud enough so you’ll be able to hear me.”

Said that, the alicorn disguised as the tall unicorn trotted forward, leaving the six ponies and baby dragon alone.

“She surely is the most confident pony I’ve ever known.” The purple unicorn kept watching in the direction she had disappeared. “Once this whole thing’s over, she will have more than earned her book.”

“Actually, I think there’s something we should discuss about your friend.” Dash said, landing next to her. “I think there is something about her, something…suspicious.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight snapped. “How can you say that? I thought we had passed the whole ‘suspicious of being spies’ thing!”

“And we did.” The pegasus weather pony nodded. “Yet, ever since we have entered this forest, I couldn’t help but notice how our tall friend seemed to be… a little too knowledgeable about the kind of challenges we would meet.”

“What do you mean?” Applejack asked, suddenly interested in what Rainbow Dash was saying.

“Fluttershy, do you remember how she reacted when we met the manticore?” The butter-yellow pegasus nodded timidly. “We were all getting ready to run or fight back, yet she didn’t even flinch! And didn’t she suggest to you how to solve the whole situation? Like she already knew the manticore was attacking us because of a thorn in its paw?”

“Well, now that I think about it, she did act like she knew that something was wrong.”

“Pinkie, when we were in the forest surrounded by trees with those scary faces, wasn’t she the only one besides you not to be scared? We were all screaming in terror, yet I bet she seemed bored!”

“Huh, perhaps she just isn’t very good at showing her emotions?” The Pink Earth Pony suggested. “Just like my sister Maud!”

“And when Rarity cut her own tail to fix the sea serpents’ mustache, she acted like she knew that you’d do such a thing.” The rainbow-maned pegasus turned toward the local unicorn fashionista. “And she seemed to know all those things!”

“Perhaps she simply is well-talented in taking care of her own mane like I am.” Rarity scoffed.

“No, actually, I think Rainbow’s suspicions are not that strange.” Applejack intervened. “Remember back when we were falling from the cliff, and she reappeared from the shrubs? When she told us she jumped through the same rock path I did… I realized she was lying!”

“How can you understand if a pony’s lying just by hearing them speak?” Twilight raised an eyebrow with a look of disbelief.

“Believe me, Ah know when a pony’s lying to my face! And ever since we met her, she’d been half-lying to us!” The farmer pony countered. “She wasn’t lying about knowing where the castle is, or what kind of dangers we may face, but… she wasn’t tellin’ the truth when she told us she had seen it before. And that she was a peddler. Ah’ve met peddlers before, and they all share certain quirks and mannerisms of speech. And Rosetta surely ain’t one of them!”

“But—”

“You know, Twili, now that I think about it, I have noticed a few oddities about Rosetta as well,” Spike interjected. “You remember when we were back at the library, after Nightmare Moon appeared at the town hall? While you were checking all the books, trying to find something about the Elements, I noticed she kept glancing at one specific section. At first, I thought she was just looking aside nervously, but now that I think about it, I realize it was the ‘E’ bookshelf section.”

“The one where Pinkie later found the book about the Elements?!” Twilight gasped. “You’re suggesting she knew about it being there?”

“I’m not sure; could still be a coincidence.” The little dragon murmured. “But it would explain many things.”

“I’m not accusing Rosetta of anything, mind you.” Dash resumed the talk. “I can see she’s quite determined to help us. Besides, if she was a traitor, she had countless chances already to stop us but instead stuck with us and even helped from time to time. What I’m saying is… she knows more than she shows.”

Twilight jerked, perhaps as she prepared to counter, before her mind brought her back to the moment she had been lying on her bed, trying to get herself to sleep amid her worries, when Rosetta had walked her in. A few sentences, and she had managed to calm down her worries, make her feel more relaxed and willing to participate in the party and make friends… was Rosetta just trying to calm her down, or was there something else she was aiming for?

She had said Princess Celestia surely had made plans for when Nightmare Moon would return… was Rosetta part of that plan?

“Perhaps she does,” the purple unicorn replied. “Yet Rosetta so far had been nothing but kind and helpful to each one of us. Whatever she may be hiding, it may be something personal, or, for any possible reason, she simply doesn’t want to share with us. And unless her secret put us, or anyone else, in danger, which so far it HASN’T.” her voice began to speak louder and louder in passion, the petite unicorn not noticing a strange, unknown power was now rushing within her body. 

Meanwhile, far from the spot where the Mane 6 were resting and discussing their doubts and worries about their tall friend, Lauren Faust, former human and author of the Fourth Generation of the My Little Pony series, now magically transformed into her own ponysona, a tall white alicorn with deep red mane and tail, silently sat down (as ponies were depicted to do), watching the stars up in the sky.

Ever since she was a child, Lauren had often wondered if, beyond infinity, there were other worlds like theirs, each with its people, its history, its beliefs, and its societies. And when the idea of Equestria was born in her mind, of a world where ponies, pegasi and unicorns lived in peace and harmony, a part of her had wondered if such a world could exist.

And now, after having had the certainty (through direct experience) that a world like Equestria existed, Lauren looked at the stars, wondering if, among the thousands of lights she saw, one of them was her old and familiar Sun, around which the Earth and the rest of the solar system revolved.

How were things going on Earth now that she was here? The author turned alicorn wondered, a small tear dropping down her cheek. Did anyone notice I was missing? Perhaps they haven’t found out about me yet? Did I perhaps leave my old body behind, sprawlingover some chair after overworking myself to death? Did they have a funeral? And how—

She stopped, a sight quickly turning into weeping as the memory of the two people she held the closest to her blossomed in her mind: a man with dark brown hair and a goatee, dressed in a striped shirt, and a girl no older than eight, with bright eyes filled with enthusiasm.

Her husband, Craig McCracken, and their daughter, Quinn.

Will I ever see them again? The alicorn’s tears dropped copiously into the ground. Will I ever be able to come back to them? Even if Celestia and Luna hear me and believe me, even if Twilight and they manage to find a way to send me back to my own world… will I ever be human again? Or will I be forced into the shape of an alicorn forever? Will they ever recognize me? What if, by the time I manage to get back, Craig’s already remarried and Quinn has already forgotten about me? What if, as soon as I return to Earth, they put me into some kind of top-secret containment base because they mistook me for some kind of alien? What if—

—what if I’d never be able to return?

Lauren stood in silence, as her mind struggled to find other options, anything that could give her a way to return to her family. She remembered how, during the first generation of the My Little Pony movies, three human kids, Megan, Molly, and Danny, were able to travel to Equestria (at the time called ‘Ponyland’) to assist their pony friends in fighting off the various threats of enemies. If Equestria as she had imagined was real, then perhaps even some things from the old cartoon were? After all, both Tirek and Grogar were from there—

“GAH!” Lauren yelled as suddenly, a split headache blew inside her mind, and images and sound began to play inside her own head.

(…)

“…such a pleasure to see you again. Tia was getting all grumpy, and you know I can’t watch over her as I usually would in my… current situation.”

“There is no need to apologize, Laury.” The tall human girl in front of her nodded with a smile, still dressed in her classy cowgirl outfit with blue jeans and an orange short-sleeved shirt, brown boots over her feet, and a matching vest of the same color, her thick blond hair tied in a ponytail. “We’re glad to help, plus Molly and Danny love spending time with Tia. And soon, they’ll have another little pony to pet and nuzzle.”

“Oh, I bet they’ll have fun with this one. She’s a fighter; I can feel her already.” The pony looked down at her enlarged stomach, the filly within her moving, her little hooves slamming against her belly. “And hopefully, having a little sister will help Tia get more responsible.”

“By the way, have you already chosen what her name should be?” The human questioned.

“Well, now that you’re asking, I was thinking about—”

(…)

What—what was that? Lauren thought, her mouth panting, as she struggled to regain her footing, her brain trying to make sense of the explosion of images that had just happened inside her head.

The girl… was that Megan Williams, the main human character of the old My Little Pony n’Friends show?

That couldn’t be, for Equestria to be real is one thing, but to think that even those 80’s old episodes could even have a glint of truth… Megan Williams never existed! Nor were her siblings, Danny and Molly. The Kansas farm where they supposedly lived was never built, no matter how some hardline brony fans with conspiracy paranoia attempted to locate it.

But… why had everything felt so real when she saw them? Why could she remember the sound of her voice so clearly? The warmth of her hands over my mane… I mean my hair! And… why did it feel so relaxing to think back to that scene?

She was so focused on her own inner thoughts, she didn’t notice the starry blue mist moving behind her, intent on intercepting her and the six mares (and one dragon) before they could reach the castle…

Chapter Text

“Here we are!” Lauren announced, as the group traversed the bridge. “Just as I promised, the Castle of the Two Sisters!”

“Huh, this place could really use some maintenance and a splash of color!” Rarity prompted, looking at the sorry state the ancient building was in.

“Well, not all about it.” Pinkie pointed. “Look, the door’s quite new!”

That was true: the grand entrance door, a sturdy blend of wood and metal, stood as a testament to its resilience, seemingly unscathed by the passage of time and the elements that had left their mark on the rest of the castle. The hinges gleamed with polish, and the wood was seasoned and free of holes, as if the door was still poised to ward off any uninvited visitors.

Twilight ventured to the door, eager to open it, but soon realized that the heavy door was bolted shut, and after a few attempts, she had to desist.

“Great, what do we do now?” Spike grunted, only for Rainbow to point to the collapsed roof.

“If we can’t enter the place from the main entrance, then we will bypass it!” She announced, zooming it. “Come with me, Flutts. We just need to unblock it from the other- AUGH!”

“Dash!” The others gasped in shock as they saw their friends repelled back.

“Are you okay?!” Fluttershy rushed to help her.

“I’m fine.” The rainbow-maned pegasus replied, turning her attention toward the still seemingly open entrance. “But just as I was going to get inside, something shocked me, like I had been hit by lightning!”

“Nightmare Moon!” Twilight gasped, realizing there was some kind of spell covering the castle. “That must be one of her tricks, to stop us from reaching the Elements!”

Wait, this wasn’t in the original episode, Lauren thought. Is that yet another change caused unwittingly by my own interference, just like Spike’s presence?

“Isn’t there some other way we can get inside?” Applejack suggested. “It’s a door; doesn’t it have a key?”

“Oh, look, a key!” Pinkie pointed at something to their right, the group collectively turning heads to see a small pedestal with a large, shiny golden key on it.

“Okay, that sounds a bit too easy—” Rarity tried to levitate the key toward them, only for a massive wall of flames to burst around the pedestal. “What the- I can’t pull it out!”

“There must be some kind of enhancement on the pedestal, stopping anyone from pulling it free with magic, so they can do things only by hooves.” Twilight murmured while Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie watched with shock at the flames that seemed to burn on their own, powered by pure magic, stopping each of their attempts to levitate the key. “That means that, in order to retrieve it, someone will have to go inside himself.”

“I have an idea—”

“I’ll go then!” Dash immediately volunteered. “I’m fast and quick; I grab the key and rush out before the flame can hurt me too much, and then Twilight can heal me.”

“But I—”

“No, I should go!” The purple unicorn replied. “I can cast a spell to protect my body from heat harm and—”

“Will you listen to me?” Spike, who until then had been gently trying to get their attention, suddenly shouted in frustration. “I can go in there to retrieve the key, without risk of getting hurt, without the need to be fast, or even having to cast a magical shield to protect myself. I’m a dragon; my scales are immune to fire and heat!”

For a few seconds, Dash and Twilight said nothing, looking at Spike and themselves, while the rest of their friends either tried to suppress a chuckle or looked away in embarrassment.

“Okay, now I feel stupid.” The rainbow-maned pegasus nodded.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Spikey?” Twilight asked with a worried tone. “We don’t know how the trap works. What if there is some more trickery that activates once you’re inside?

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” The petite dragon nodded, looking at the pedestal surrounded by flame. “Besides, your friends already did something to help us in our quest; I want to do my part too!”

“Remember, Spike: if you see something suspicious, or you start to feel strange, get out as fast as you can.” Lauren added. “This is magic fire, and even if dragons may not be hurt by it, there’s still a chance it may affect your mind. Or alternatively, there may be some hidden spell added to it that we can’t detect yet.”

“Hey, you can see me from the outside; if you see something’s wrong, yell.” Spike nodded, taking a deep breath as he watched down the cage of fire. “Let’s do it.”

The small dragon started walking, one step after another, until he was right in front of the flames, ‘poking’ at it with his claws and smiling as he confirmed he felt no pain or discomfort whatsoever, the Mane 6 and Lauren breathing in relief as they saw him walk through the flames and proceed with resolution toward the pedestal. But just as he was going to grab the key—

“Sssssppiiiiike…”

“Who’s there?” The dragon questioned, looking around. Meanwhile, from outside the fire cage, the seven ponies quickly realized something wasn’t going as it was supposed to be.

“What’s happening? Spike, what’s going on?”

“Spike, why are you wasting time? Just take the key and bring it out.”

“He can’t hear us! Something must stop external sounds from going in, including our voices!”

“I knew there was something wrong!” Twilight once again began to panic. “Spike, spike, are you okay?!”

“Why would you ever need that rusty, useless key when you could take something better in its place?” The voice seductively said, as Spike saw another pedestal appear to the left of the first, this one instead holding the biggest, brightest, and juiciest red ruby he had ever seen before in his whole life, his throat feeling sore as he started to salivate, his claws moving to grab both items at the same time.

“Huh-huh, that won’t do!” The voice seemed to tease him, as both pedestals appeared to ‘retract. ’ “Only one for customers. If you want to take that ugly key… you’ll have to give up on the ruby.”

“Don’t do it, Spike!” Twilight called out from the outside, desperately trying to use her own magic to open a passage in the flames, yet neither her magic nor her words managed to reach him. All around her, her friends tried to do the same, Applejack bucking rocks toward the flame while Fluttershy and Dash (mostly Dash) did the same from above, Rarity using her unicorn magic in coordination with Twilight while Pinkie… well, no one could fully grasp what she was trying to do, besides the fact she was trying to help as well.

Only one pony stood where they were, without doing anything to try and stop Spike or break through the flames.

From her spot, Lauren watched, her body standing still, while the greatest storm of thoughts, fears, and conjectures battled within her mind: would Spike be able to beat his own greed and hunger for sweet jewels? Alternatively, would his own weaknesses be too strong for him? She remembered how, during Season 2, Spike would turn into a giant rampaging monster after letting his own greed get the best of him, before Rarity’s stern words (unaware that the horrific monster that kidnapped her was actually the transformed Spike) had managed to snap him out of his greediness.

Yet, that was after Spike had already had many adventures together with Twilight and her friends, not at the beginning of the story, where he was nothing more than Twilight’s sidekick. And while Lauren’s presence had indirectly led to the young dragon coming with them rather than spending the rest of the episode sleeping—

“Here!” Spike announced with a triumphant look on his face as he walked out of the flames, showing off the key to the castle’s door in his hand. “I got it!”

“Spike!” The Mane Six all rushed toward him, ignoring a very dumbfounded Lauren just behind them. “You did it!”

“We tried to speak with you, but you couldn’t hear us!”

“For a moment I feared you would have taken the rock.”

“Oh, so it was a trick!” The dragon nodded with a smug expression. “It looked like a ruby, but the cage told me I could either take it or the key. Sure, it looked tempting, but… if there is something comic books ever taught me, it’s that accepting offers too good to be true by tricky mechanisms never works in your favor.”

Spike just gave us… a lesson on rationality? Lauren mused, realizing how the scene she had just witnessed could have played perfectly within the episode itself, mentally chastising herself for not having thought of this earlier. Such a golden opportunity!

Sadly, the heartwarming moment was ruined when the group heard an evil laugh surround them, and a certain starry mist reappeared, transforming into the very familiar shape of a certain dark alicorn.

“To think that you eight have managed to pass through all our challenges and obstacles!” Nightmare Moon challenged. “We’re almost impressed; I genuinely thought you would turn tail and run with a little convincing. Yet, since I can’t allow for anypony to use the Elements against us, we guess we’ll have to take care of you… personally.”

The Mane Six (and Spike) whimpered, recognizing the threat within Nightmare Moon’s words as they felt trapped between the all-powerful dark unicorn and the still-locked door of the abandoned castle. While they did have the key to open the passage now, they knew that Nightmare Moon wouldn’t give them the chance.

Unless—

Lauren didn’t notice her own body moving until it did. As Nightmare Moon put herself in an attack position, so did her, getting between the corrupt form of Princess Luna and the six ponies she had been with the whole night, the same ponies she herself created a long time ago to act as the main characters for the world she had imagined ever since she was a little girl.

She didn’t know what had pushed her to take such action; perhaps it was simply the rush of emotion she had experienced since arriving in Equestria; perhaps she wasn’t the kind of person (human or pony) who would stand down and let herself or other beings be hurt; or perhaps it was something else, something even Lauren wasn’t aware of, buried deep inside her own psyche she would have never realized otherwise.

She knew the power difference between a unicorn and a full-blown alicorn, the magic of the three main races of equestrian condensed into a single pony. She knew that, without the Elements, the Mane 6 had no chance of surviving a confrontation at this point—

-unless she did what only she could do.

Screw staying on the sidelines, screw not messing the story up, and screw trying to stay unconscious, the transformed author thought as she glared back at Nightmare Moon. This world isn’t just some fantasy; it’s real. These ponies, they’re real. And they accepted me among their ranks, even if they had no reason to do so in the first place, just because they trusted me. And now they’re going to die because of me. I refuse.

Doesn’t matter what will happen to me from now on; I won’t let them down. I refuse.

“Rosetta—”

“Get into the castle, find the Elements, save Equestria!” Lauren shouted back at Twilight, both Dash and Spike both gasping as they noticed how powerful her voice had gotten suddenly. “I’ll hold her back!”

“You, hold me back?!” Nightmare sang with a mocking tone. “A mere unicorn, against the full power of an alicorn?”

“That’s your character flaw: you always underestimate your opponents.” Lauren smugly smiled back, and with a movement of her right front hoof, she untied the cowl she had basically worn all this time, allowing the fabric to drop into the ground and fully exposing her face, her back, and her flank to everyone present, her swan-like wings opening wide, like she was using them as a shield to protect the ponies (and dragon) behind them.

Silence fell on the group, the eyes of everyone moving slowly from the wings departing from Rosetta’s back to her absurdly long unicorn horn sprouting from her head and her long, silky dark red mane and tail. While they had already seen her body shape was much taller and statuesque, compared to other ponies, now her full body appearance could not be disregarded as anything less than a supernatural beauty.

“N-no way!” Dash gasped, her jaw dropped, her brain unable to accept what her eyes were telling it. “Rosetta… is an alicorn?”

“She is an alicorn, a princess?!” Rarity felt on the brink of fainting. “I marched through the Everfree… with a princess?!”

“Well, Ah’ll be a thestral’s aunt!” Applejack gasped in shock.

Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Twilight said nothing, the butter-colored pegasus watching in surprise while the pink Earth Pony smiled wildly.

Twilight stood rooted in shock. The very same friend who had been by her side ever since they met outside the library, the pony who had vanquished her doubts and fears when she was alone and devoured by paranoia, the pony who had accepted to accompany them all the way to the Castle of the Two Sisters… was an alicorn? A royal? A princess?

Until a few days ago, the only alicorns whose existence Twilight was aware of were Princess Celestia, her mentor, and Cadance, her foalsitter and her brother’s girlfriend. When she first found out about the prophecy of Nightmare Moon’s return, Twilight immediately hypothesized she would be an alicorn just like her mentor, a theory that was later confirmed when, during her first appearance, Nightmare Moon showed to have both wings and a horn.

So, the existence of a fourth alicorn was something Twilight had never accounted for, not even as one of her wildest hypotheses. And yet, as Rosetta stood among them and the Mare in the Moon, her wings fully spread, her reddish mane surrounding her horn, there was no doubt she was the real deal.

Even Nightmare Moon, from where she was standing, was taken back by the sudden revelation, all of her previous smugness and self-reassurance having quickly disappeared as she now stood paralyzed in confusion, her eyes wide open, her fang-equipped mouth gaping. Unbeknownst to Twilight and her friends, however, Nightmare Moon’s confusion was caused by something else.

Through the memories of Princess Luna, the Dark Alicorn knew who this strange opponent, with a dark red mane and the cutie mark of an ink bottle and a quill, was.

“R-Rosetta!” Twilight finally spoke.

“Don’t worry about me, just go!” Lauren yelled again, mentally chastising herself, her brain trying to come up with desperate plans to get out of the situation, realizing that alicorn or not, she couldn’t slow down Nightmare Moon for too long with no way to control her own magic. “Remember what you pulled through, the challenges you’ve faced, the bond you’ve shared with each other, the virtue you showcased.” She gave them a few glances. “Applejack, your honesty will always shine through; Pinkie Pie, your laughter brings joy and happiness whenever it is heard; Fluttershy, your kindness is an inspiration for anyone; Rarity, your generosity knows no bounds; Rainbow Dash, you’ll always be loyal to your friends, no matter what! Twilight, you have seen with your eyes what friendship can do, how magical it is. And Spike?” Lauren looked at the small dragon, smiling internally as she realized he was already taking advantage of her distraction (having gotten close to the door and shoving the key into its hole, using his own body to hide it from Nightmare Moon’s sight). “You too carry a great untapped power within you, and you will always be at the side of Twilight and her friends, no matter how dire the situation may be. Now you’re all here, having faced the danger of the Everfree Forest saving all of Equestria, following nothing more than your hearts and a mere myth’s words, passed through countless generations. Find the Elements, not their empty shells; find the TRUE Elements and stop Nightmare Moon! Go, now! GO!”

At that moment Spike opened the door, the six mares rushing inside with him, the dragon closing the door from the inside as they left Lauren alone with Nightmare Moon.

“So… it was you… all this time.” The Dark Alicorn began to speak again, apparently having been so much absorbed in some kind of inner dialogue to hear the words Lauren had said to the Mane Six. “You’ve come back!”

“I am?” Lauren replied, unsure of what to say. “This is actually the first time I get to visit this place.”

“Don’t you try to weasel your way out of this! I know who you are, Lauren Faust!”

So, she does recognize me, Lauren thought, her brain hurrying to keep Nightmare Moon talking, to keep making her waste time and hide her magical weakness.

“Where were you while I was suffering?! Where were you while our sister was stealing all the glory for herself?! Where were you when you were supposed to watch over us?!”

“I had… things to do? You know, lessons to learn, bills to pay, work to do.” And a magical pony world to create, apparently.

“YOU’RE JOKING! YOU DISAPPEARED, ABANDONED US, AND NOW THAT YOU’RE BACK, YOU’RE JOKING?!”

And Nightmare Moon charged against her.

Chapter Text

“So, these are the Elements of Harmony?” Spike questioned, looking at some kind of stone fountain-like structure with five stone orbs on each end. “I was kind of expecting something more impressive than some round rocks. Perhaps they’re in some kind of dormant state?”

“One, two, three, four…” Pinkie counted. “There are only five!”

“Where's the sixth?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“What about the big one in the middle?” Spike suggested. Fluttershy and Dash tried to move it, but to no avail, as they realized it was part of the structure.

“The book said, ‘When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed’.” Twilight explained. “This means we need to produce some kind of reaction with the first five before-”

-Remember what you pulled through, the challenges you’ve faced, the virtue you showcased-

Twilight gasped as the words of Rosetta began to replay in her head, her brain starting to connect them with her other memories of today.

What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth—

Applejack, your honesty will always shine through—

Honesty.

Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness.

Fluttershy, your kindness is an inspiration for anyone—

Kindness.

♫ Just laugh to make them disappear. ♪

Pinkie Pie, your laughter brings joy and happiness whenever it is heard

Laughter.

I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected.

Rarity, your generosity knows no bounds

Generosity.

See? I'd never leave my friends hangin'.

Rainbow Dash, you’ll always be loyal to your friends, no matter what!

Loyalty.

Twilight, you have seen with your eyes what friendship can do, how magical it is.

Find the Elements, not their empty shells; find the TRUE Element—

And—

“I got it!” The purple unicorn gasped, as everything suddenly made sense once again, as she could see the truth that Rosetta had hinted at with her words, as she tried to hold the line against Nightmare Moon. “These are not the true Elements, not anymore at least! These are nothing but their empty shells! The real Elements are in a different place!”

“A different place?!” Rarity gasped, already dreading the idea they had come to the wrong place. “And where?!”

“Here.” Twilight pointed at her chest.

It was then that a loud blast could be heard, and a white alicorn with a red mane and tail was launched through the door they had closed behind them, slamming onto the rocky shelves of the Elements before stopping.

“ROSETTA!” The seven mares and dragon rushed to her assistance while, from the hole caused in the castle, Nightmare Moon marched in, once again laughing smugly.

“I’m… I’m sorry, girls.” Lauren apologized, as she struggled to get back on her feet, yet not feeling hurt as she should have, after being used to open the door like an impromptu ram. “I guess I really am… out or practice.”

"You pathetic little fools!" Nightmare Moon chanted, once again feeling secure about her upcoming victory. “Thinking you could defeat me? I should be delighted that you returned just in time to witness our triumph, but right now, I only feel annoyed! Where is your magic? Why didn’t you try to fight me with your powers, as we surely expect you to do?”

“I never intended to fight you, Luna.” Lauren said, her voice once again filled with determination. “Just to keep you busy, so Twilight and her friends could have the time they needed to retrieve the Elements… and defeat you.”

“Well, then your plan utterly failed! The Elements are in pieces, our defeat is assured, and you won’t ever get Celestia or the Sun ever again! The night shall last forever!”

“That’s where you’re wrong!” Twilight smirked back, the revelation of before filling her body with determination and hope. “You think the Elements of Harmony could be destroyed, just like that? Well, you’re wrong, because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!”

Almost as they were reacting to Twilight’s words, the stone fragments of the Elements of Harmony began to vibrate and levitate.

“What? What’s going on?” Nightmare Moon said in a shocked tone of disbelief. “This-this can’t be happening.”

Oh yes, it can, Lauren mentally added.

“Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!” Some fragments moved toward the Earth Pony and began to orbit around her. Nightmare Moon saw this and tried to regain control of the situation by shooting a powerful blast of magic toward her… only for the blast to bounce off, as some kind of force field seemed to surround and protect the Mane Six, Spike, and Lauren.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight continued, “who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of... generosity!”

With every new sentence from the unicorn, more and more fragments were moving, orbiting around the ponies that were mentioned.

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of... loyalty!”

“You think we’re scared, just because you can do a little speech?” Nightmare retorted, only for Spike to counter immediately.

“You should, because this is the reason why your tricks didn’t work, not even once. Just like you did with me: you tried to sway me with the image of that ruby because you assumed I would gladly take it for myself. But even if I hadn’t known it was a trap, I would have never taken such an offer! For a shiny ruby, while tasteful to eat, is not what my heart longs for!”

As the little dragon said those words, some light siphoned from each of the six Elements aura surrounding the six ponies and began to encircle him as well, the spikes on his back starting to glow.

It was then that Lauren felt something awake inside her. Something ancient, something powerful, started to rise within her body, within her blood, unleashing a surge of energy and strength, making the animator-turned-Alicorn feel a powerful force wash over her. Her wings quivered with anticipation as a sparkle of energy began to form on her long, majestic horn. Suddenly, she felt like she could create entire worlds, pluck stars from the sky, and rearrange them to her heart's desire. She was invincible, omnipotent.

In a flash, Lauren's eyes lit up with a sudden realization. It was magic, pure magic, that pulsed through her body, leaving a trail of sparkles on her wings and horn.

Every trace of exhaustion in her body evaporated, and Lauren felt a newfound strength and energy coursing through her as a fresh sense of confidence and determination blossomed in her mind. She felt unstoppable, ready to face any foe that dared to cross her path.

Ready even to face the formidable Nightmare Moon.

Is this how Twilight felt, whenever she used her magic? There is no way I could have given it proper justice in the show!

“You still don't have the sixth Element!” Nightmare Moon acknowledged. “And without it, you still can’t defeat me!”

“Wrong again!” Twilight quipped, even as the dark Alicorn tried, again and again, to blast them away, the shield surrounding the group easily thwarted her attempts. “I realized it thanks to her words, before she tried to help you back to buy time for us.” She pointed at Lauren. “And just as I was examining the Elements, those words showed me the truth: when she addressed each one of my friends as one of the Elements, I realized it; when she told me to find the real Elements, not their empty shells, I understood why the Elements seemed inert when we found them; and when she addressed me, she also told me how to find the Sixth Element and how.”

Then my little speech did work, Lauren mused as she silently listened to Twilight continuing to show her discoveries. At that moment, a stone orb like the ones that the Elements were encased in before appeared. This one, however, had a carving of a six-pointed star, the same symbol as Twilight’s cutie mark.

“You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic!” She and her friends were quickly lifted in the air; the shards and globe quickly reshaped themselves into five necklaces and one tiara. Even Spike, while devoid of an Element himself, felt a dragon flame form within him, ready to shoot.

Lauren smirked as Nightmare Moon looked at her, the white alicorn appearing even taller and more imposing than before.

“To quote a girl who dreamed of being a knight… we will never serve a false queen!”

And then, all three parties launched their attack at the same time, the Mane 6 releasing the show’s trademark’ Rainbow Beam of Harmony, Spike unleashing his magical fire breath, and Lauren shooting all the magic she had in her body, the three energy forces blending before flying toward Nightmare Moon.

“Nooo! Nooo!” The dark Alicorn screamed in vain as the rainbow-colored energy surrounded her completely, and a blinding flash of light erupted within the castle.

“Unnngh!” Lauren groaned once she started to regain her senses. Dashing away the hopes a part of her mind had, she realized that she wasn’t back to being a human, nor had she returned to her home. Rather, she was lying on the cold floor of the Castle of the Two Sisters, surrounded by the Mane Six and Spike, the little dragon apparently having been the first to get back on his feet and was now checking everyone else.

“Girls, are you okay?”

“I am, all considered.” Rainbow replied. “My head’s killing me, however.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” Rarity gasped, pleased to see the magic had restored her tail to how it was before she cut it off.

“Why Rarity,” Fluttershy said with admiration. “It's so lovely.”

“I know! I'll never part with it again.”

“No. Your necklace. It looks just like your cutie mark.”

Lauren smiled in happiness as the Mane Six quickly acknowledged their necklaces’ (or in Twilight’s case, her tiara) presence, taking a deep breath as a sensation of accomplishment and fulfillment, like one mother attending her daughter’s graduation ceremony. Slowly, taking advantage of the fact nopony was paying attention to her, she moved slowly, careful not to make any noise, as she retreated toward the door.

I’m sorry, Twilight, she apologized in her head, already imagining how Twilight would have reacted as soon as she and her friends realized she had disappeared, but this is where our paths must divide. Believe me, I wish I could stay with you, get to know you for who you are, not simply for the character I created…but it’s better this way. After all, I have a long way to go back home, that is, admitting I can even get back home in the first place, and I really want to get back with my family.

However, her thoughts were soon interrupted as the Mane Six’s (and Spike’s) voices were interrupted by a new gentle and warm one, as light poured into the room from a nearby window, a familiar welcoming magical aura imbued within it.

And then, as in the distance, the sun finally rose beyond the horizon, the night that Nightmare Moon had tried to make eternal put to an end as a new day of hope and opportunities took its place; the majestic shape of a white alicorn with a flowing mane and tail appeared in the room. Immediately, all the ponies and Spike bowed to her while Twilight happily trotted toward her, a happy smile on her face.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight gasped. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Wow, she looks… even more beautiful and ethereal than how I imagined her, Lauren mused from the spot in her room where she currently was. She remembered how, before Hasbro eventually convinced her to change her title, she was supposed to be the Queen of Equestria, with no parent to outrank her; looking at her majestic, regal appearance and friendly yet authoritative expression, she remembered why.

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I was never in true danger: Nightmare Moon ambushed me when I was supposed to appear at the Summer Sun Celebration, trapping me on the Sun as I did with her on the Moon over one thousand years ago. I couldn’t get free on my own power, but… I knew you would prevail in the end. This is something I’ve been preparing for, from the moment I took you under my wing.”

“So, you knew it wasn’t just an old pony's tale.” Twilight replied. “You did send me to Ponyville to keep myself safe, and you asked me to make friends because you knew I couldn’t do this on my own.”

“Indeed. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return years ago, but without the Elements, I couldn’t reseal her prison or even hope to face her off in a fair fight. I knew they were here, but… I couldn’t use them on my own. Not anymore.” The ruler of Equestria looked down with a sad expression before refocusing on her apprentice. “I knew you had the magic inside you to defeat her, but you couldn’t unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Just as I hope somepony will.”

It was then that everyone’s focus was brought onto the spot where Nightmare Moon had stood. In her place was another alicorn with a blue coat, an azure mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a crescent moon on a pitch-black texture.

Ohhh, cuteness overload again! Lauren thought with gleaming eyes. Luna in her ‘Woona’ form is so adorable!

"Princess Luna—”

“Sister!” Before Celestia could continue her speech, the smaller alicorn started looking around with a shocked expression. “Where is she? We hast seen her through Nightmare Moon's eyes, yet—”

And then, Lauren’s expectation of how the plot should go once again went off the rails, as Luna’s eyes found her from the other end of the room, and through her gaze, everyone’s attention moved onto her. Princess Celestia, in particular, gasped in shock as she saw the other alicorn in the room, her eyes widening.

Play it cool, play it cool, play it cool! Lauren repeated inside her head, realizing her chance of disappearing from the plot had now gone down the drain.

“Greetings, Your Majesties.” Lauren took a few steps forward before kneeling down as well, the sunlight coming from the outside allowing the Royal Sisters to clearly see her mane, her face, and her cutie mark. “I know that you may be surprised to see… well, me, but I can assure you—”

“MOTHER?!” Princess Celestia gasped, making the Mane Six jump back in shock while Lauren stopped cold, realizing what she had just called her.

“Huh?!”

Chapter Text

“ MOTHER ?!”

“ Huh ?!” Lauren gasped, as those words escaped Princess Celestia’s lips. Meanwhile, around them, the Mane Six and Spike reacted with shock and surprise, as they realized Princess Celestia herself, the only pony who could raise and lower the sun, an immortal alicorn who had ruled Equestria for more than a thousand years, had just addressed somepony as her mother.

Did she just call me ‘mother’? This cannot be! Wait, Nightmar e Moon seemed to know me before, perhaps she was aware this world was created by my own imagination? Do Celestia and Luna know about it? But then-

Before she could elaborate further on the question, Lauren found herself in a bone-crushing hug as Princess Luna rushed against her, her light-blue mane right in front of her nose as Lauren realized she was crying. Instinctively, Lauren moved to hug her back, her wings wrapping around the princess of the night, pressing her closer, her head nuzzling into the back of Luna's neck.

“Shhh, don’t cry Lulu. I’m here now.” She tried to comfort her, rubbing her back with her hoof. Poor Lulu, always so…so... wait, what am I doing? Her eyes flickered with panic, as she realized what was happening. There she was, Princess Luna, the sovereign of the Night and one of the two Alicorn Sisters… and she was treating her as her own kid?

She pulled back, breaking the hug as she nervously tried to reassert her situation.

“I-I apologize for that; I don’t know what came over me.”

Luna soured, an expression mixed between disappointment, confusion and worry on her face, while Celestia, taking advantage of the time the two were hugging, had moved forward and was now standing side-to-side with her younger sibling, she too shared the same expression of confusion and worry.

“Mother, are you feeling alright?” The Sun Princess questioned.

“I apologize, your majesties, but I think you have confused me for someone else. I’m not your mother. And again, I'm sorry for acting like that, Princess Luna. I genuinely have no idea what came over me.”

Another awkward silence fell onto the room, as the two sisters exchanged a worried glance.

"What art thou saying?” Luna spoke first. “Art thou not Lauren Faust?"

“Well, that is my name.” Lauren conceded. “However-”

Celestia said nothing. Instead, her horn lit, a glowing golden aura surrounding Lauren.

“What are you doing?”

“Do not fret.” Luna replied, “We wrote this spell, it won't do aught but prove thine identity.”

Ok, the Ye Olde English was funnier on the production- wait, did she just say, ‘prove my identity’?

The golden aura surrounding Lauren disappeared as the spell stopped, Celestia’s expression turning into a bright smile. “It is you. The spell confirmed it, you’re Lauren Faust, our mother, and you’re here, alive and healthy! And that means… you are the Queen.”

“ Queen ?!” Twilight, who until now had been silently listening to the conversation, promptly yelled in shock. 

“Oh, right.” Princess Celestia chuckled, only then remembering the six new holders of the Elements of Harmony (plus one young, yet very powerful dragon) were still in the room. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, I want you to meet our mother, Lauren Faust, High Queen of Equestria.”

“ Queen ?”  Spike murmured, his eyes filled with shock as he walked up to Lauren, before dropping to his knees. “ Your Majesty ! I gravel at your feet .” He then grabbed one of Lauren’s hooves and began to kiss it aggressively, making the red-maned alicorn react with embarrassment.

“ Stop it .” Lauren groaned, pulling her hoof free.

“Ok, first, it’s ‘I grovel’ not ‘I gravel’, and second… Spike, what are you doing ?” Twilight started to reprimand him. “You never did that before, not even to Princess Celestia!”

“But Twilight, she’s the Queen! I didn’t even know we had one!”

“So, let me get this straight.” Rainbow Dash interjected as well. “You are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s mother, the Queen of Equestria? And you never told us?!”

“Look, this changes nothing !” Lauren tried to counter. “I’m still the same pony you all met at the library, when you came to join Pinkie’s party for Twilight, the pony who accompanied you all the way here through the Everfree Forest! I’m still me!”

“ But with power! ” Dash pumped one of her hooves in the air. “Also, you didn’t tell us you had wings and a horn! Why did you keep them hidden? We could have had a flying race, on the way here!”

“Well, obviously because I didn’t want for others to learn I had wings and horn, since only alicorns have the full set.” Luna and Celestia snickered in response. “Do you have any idea how the whole of Ponyville might have reacted, if I had shown myself as an alicorn? Moreover, wings are much easier to hide compared to horns.”

“Perhaps, it would be better to continue our little chat elsewhere, don’t you agree, my little ponies?” Princess Celestia spoke. “After all, Luna and I have… a lot of catching up to do with our mother.”

“Huh, before we do that, perhaps it would be better if I inform you of a few more things, for the sake of… honesty,” Lauren said, looking at Applejack for a brief second before resuming her speech. “I can’t possibly be your mother, because I don’t even come from this place. I know this is going to make me sound crazy, but… I’m not even a pony .”

“ You’re not ?” Rarity questioned, obviously pointing out how inconsistent Lauren’s words sounded like, compared to her current appearance. “But then, what are you supposed to be?”

“Well, not sure if you are familiar with the term, but… do you know what a human is ?”

(...)

“-and when I woke up again, I found myself lying in some clearing, already in this body, with no idea how I ever got here in the first place.” Lauren finished her story, looking up from where she was sitting, the two Alicorn sisters, the Mane Six and Spike all listening to her. They were all back in Ponyville, inside the Golden Oak, a small squad of Royal Guards surrounding the library to protect them from the crowd outside.

“So, you claim to be… some kind of monkey?” Applejack snorted, clearly not believing what she was hearing.

“Humans are not monkeys!” Lauren countered. “We are just like them… to the 99.99 percent. But it’s that 0.01 that gives us power.”

“Isn’t that basically being the same thing?” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“I like those percentages!” Pinkie remarked.

“So, you claim there is another world, another dimension, just like ours, and these ‘humans’ are the only sentient species living in such a world?” Twilight questioned, having taken notes of everything Lauren said. “But… aren’t there ponies in your world?”

“There are, but not like here. To start, we don’t have pegasi or unicorns, only Earth Ponies, and we call them ‘horses’ back there. Plus, they’re bigger, taller, buffer, and they’re not sentient, just like any other creature on Earth. I know how that sounds, but-”

“Actually, I can confirm that.” Princess Celestia said, after having listened in silence to Lauren’s story for several minutes. “I knew about the existence of these so-called ‘humans’. In fact, I was once very dear friends with a group of very special humans.”

Wait, is she talking about Molly, Megan and Danny? That wasn’t just some hallucination, what had I seen during the headache? They did exist?!

“Nevertheless, I hope you can accept my apologies again, your highness, but as I’ve explained, I can’t possibly be your mother. I wasn’t even alive over one thousand years ago!”

“Oh, but you were.”

“Huh?” Lauren and the Mane Six all gasped at once as they saw Luna and Celestia smile with a smug, yet heartfelt shared expression.

“The spell mine sister used vanquished any doubt.” Luna nodded. “Thou art our mother, Lauren Faust, with an approximate age of ten thousand years.”

“ Ten thousand years ?!” Lauren gasped, unable to accept such a notion. After all, which female of any species would have been able to accept that they were older than the whole human civilization?

“Indeed! Tell me, mother, can you remember which age you were supposed to be, as a human, before you came here? Or your latest address of residence?”

“Of course I can remember that! I am- I am… wait, why can't I remember my age?! ” Lauren shouted, realizing that Celestia was right: she couldn’t remember any specific detail of her former life. She remembered her studies and going to work as an animator, every movie and franchise she worked on, yet she couldn’t recall what her age was supposed to be, or even where she lived.

“That’s what I suspected.” Princess Celestia continued. “From what you told us, and from what my spell has been able to tell me, the best hypothesis I have is that your previous ‘life’ as a human on Earth was a consequence of some enhanced translocation spell. Somehow, passing from one dimension to another made you restart your whole life from zero, growing up and old as a human before passing away. But when your physical human body died your soul was sent back to its original dimension, ours, so you were returned to your real appearance.”

Wait, but that does mean… I passed away? I was dead?! Lauren’s eyes widened in horror, as she realized the implication within Celestia’s words. Has she lived a long and fulfilling life on earth, before finding herself in Equestria? Was Quinn a teenager now, or maybe she was an adult yet? Was Craig still alive or had he passed over before her?

I hope I did write down my will before any of that, or Tara’s family would have never got that very special ‘gift’ I had planned for them…

“So… you’re saying that I was… this, before even being human?”

“It is only a theory, so far, yet it would explain many things about your story that wouldn’t make sense otherwise. For example, how you knew about everything that was about to happen, and how you knew each one of them.” She pointed to Twilight and her friends.

Lauren mentally cursed herself: when she told them of her life on Earth, she had avoided telling them about her role in creating the fourth generation of the My Little Pony Franchise, so she couldn’t explain why she had recognized Twilight and Fluttershy, back when they met outside the library. Or why she was aware of Nightmare Moon’s return, when only Twilight had the slightest idea about her possible escape. Or why had she been so ready to trust these six ponies, and to help them all the way through the Everfree Forest.

“I suspect your Equestrian nature, alongside the intertemporal difference between our dimension and the humans’ native one, allowed you to see glimpses of our world, either memories from the past or forecast of events that were still to happen.”

Is she implying that the whole Generation 4 was something that would have happened for real, and I somehow predicted it?

But then-

“You mean that… that I really am your mother?” Lauren said in realization, unable to deny the fact in front of her any longer, just as Luna once again lunged toward her, tears dropping down from her eyes, filled with shame and remorse.

“Mother, I-I hath no excuse for what I hath done. I knew mineself should hast restrained Nightmare Moon, yet I could do naught.  I was a prisoner, trapped in mine own body-”

“Shhh, it’s okay Lulu.” Lauren said, her motherly instincts taking over again, moving one of her wings and placing it on the alicorn of the night’s shoulder. “You don’t have to apologize. What Nightmare Moon has done… that wasn’t you , I know. You allowed your own jealousy and your anger to control your mood, and taking advantage of your weakness, the darkness used those negative emotions as the cornerstone to create their own champion. Yet, the same prophecy that was meant to warn about her, also foretold about Nightmare Moon’s defeat and your liberation.”

“F-foretold?” Rarity questioned.

“ On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars shall aid her escape .” Lauren recited. “Don’t you realize, the wording makes no sense? Why would the stars, who had always been loyal to you, help the villain controlling your body to break free? That’s when you should have realized… that those weren’t the stars the prophecy was talking about.”

As she said that last sentence, Lauren looked at Twilight, and more specifically, at the cutie mark over her flank. The lavender unicorn gasped, everyone focusing on her, as she realized what Lauren was trying to tell them.

“The stars… was a reference to my own Cutie Mark?!” Celestia’s personal student said, her voice filled with emotion.

“Indeed, young Lady Sparkle.” Lauren nodded, not realizing she was using a ‘motherly’ mannerism like the one Celestia often used. “You and your friends were the stars mentioned in the prophecy. “Just as I mentioned that Nightmare Moon was the prison, not the prisoner. The prophecy was never about Nightmare Moon escaping, but rather, it foretold about you and your friends, the newest incarnations of the Elements of Harmony, bringing forth Princess Luna’s redemption.”

Luna’s eyes widened as she realized the truth. “Mother, you’re right! The prophecy wasn’t about me at all! It was about Nightmare Moon!”

“That’s correct, my dear.” Lauren smiled warmly at her ‘daughter’, proud of her intelligence. “You see, Luna, sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways. Just like your big sister .”

“Wait, me ?” Celestia chuckled nervously, as Lauren’s gaze moved toward her. “Oh my, I have no idea about what you-”

“You can stop trying to keep the charade up, Tia.” The red-maned alicorn countered. “Do you really think I haven’t noticed? Do you perhaps think it is a coincidence that this library, the library of a small rustic town, would contain a book specifically talking about the Elements of the Harmony, including their full rooster and their last known position, whereas to find them?”

As Lauren spoke, Twilight’s eyes widened even more. She recalled the book Pinkie had found in the library, and that had provided her and her friends key info about the Elements (and that Lauren, obviously, was already aware of before): now that she thought about it, it was weird that such a specific volume had been part of the library’s catalogue.

But then-

“So, Rosetta- I mean , Lauren was right !” Spike announced, walking in from the kitchen, carrying a refill of hot flavory tea and sugar for all ponies, looking at Celestia. “You did set everything up for when we would arrive, so we would find the information we needed to rescue your sister.”

“Well-”

“And let’s not forget how the book with Nightmare Moon’s prophecy just happened to be part of your student’s assigned studies.” Lauren continued, “Or what about the Summer Sun Celebration, with the participation of Princess Celestia herself, being held in a small town that just happens to be the closest to the castle? And what a coincidence that you sent your own apprentice to oversee the preparations, and in doing that, she developed lasting bonds with five other mares who just happen to be the new holders of the Elements, leading her to unlock her own power within herself!”

“Wait, what does that mean ?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Looks like the Princess planned all of this.” Rarity replied.

“You mean she knew this Nightmare Moon would be back, and you let us deal with it?” Applejack gasped in shock.

“Sister, is it true ?!” Luna looked at Celestia with an accusatory look. “You manipulated your own student and these five ponies?”

“ No !” Celestia shouted, as she felt the weight of several inquisitive eyes on her. “I’d never manipulate anypony, let alone my own prized student. But…” she looked down, shame on her face, “you’re right when you say I knew more than I showed.”

“ Princess ?”

“Twilight Sparkle, my dear student,” the princess once turned her attention to the purple unicorn. “It’s true that I knew you were the next Element of Magic, ever since you managed to pass a test that was supposed to be unpassable. That’s part of the reason why I choose to take you as my disciple.”

“Wait, unpassable ?” Spike jerked. “But the exam… was that when my egg- I wasn’t supposed to hatch at all ?!”

“To be completely honest with you, Twilight, my hopes at the beginning were to locate all six of the next holders of the Elements, so I could teach them and prepare them for what they would face. But… unfortunately, I can’t see everything happening in Equestria, so I wasn’t able to locate any of you besides Twilight.”

“You mean we could have been the Princess students too?” Fluttershy blushed, thinking how her filly self would have reacted if she received such an offer.

“Growing up in Canterlot, surrounded by the cream of the crop of the society… oh my !” Rarity spoke with delight, starting to daydream.

“I always assumed the bond you shared with the Elements would eventually draw you together, so this is why I granted my royal permission to a certain family to settle on this land.” Princess Celestia looked at Applejack, the Earth pony farmer gasping as she realized what she was referring to. “But without knowing your identities, nor having any way to recognize you, my best hope was to keep my eyes onto Twilight and see her develop bonds with the ponies around her, hoping that at least one or more would be the next holders of the Elements. For a while, I assumed I had successfully identified them, in her own study mates.”

Twilight stuttered, thinking back to her own friends in Canterlot, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, Lyra, Moon Dancer- what would have happened, if they had come with her? Ah, what it might have been…

“You have no idea how many of my plans to deal with Nightmare Moon relied on hope, hope I could successfully identify all the Elements before the time had come, to train them and prepare them. But, as the years went by, nothing seemed to happen: you were so engrossed in your own studies you barely paid any attention to anything else. Part of me even wished I could tell you the truth, to explain to you why it was so crucial for you to make friends, but… I was afraid. Afraid I would have ruined it, by trying to force you into making friends… just like I did, back when I was forced to exile my own sister. This is why I couldn’t use the Elements myself after so many years.”

“Sister…”

“ The worst day of my life . I lost my own sister due to being shortsighted and unable to see beyond the admiration everypony bashed onto me every day. The Elements knew, and while they allowed me to win on that day, they’ve refused me ever since. And without them, I knew it was only a matter of time before Equestria was doomed. This is why I sent you to Ponyville: it wasn’t a plan, but rather, a contingency.”

“ Contingency ?!” Everyone gasped at the same time.

“I sent you here, on a small quiet city far away from Canterlot, so you would be safe when Nightmare Moon took over the throne; I personally inserted the book about Nightmare Moon on your studies, so you would be aware of the threat, and thus you would have time to get prepared for the challenge ahead. And I even hid a key book of my own making in this very library, so you’d learn about the Elements, and where you would find them. I hoped that, eventually, you would be able to gather the other holders, and you would find the Elements and defeat Nightmare Moon.” Celestia explained, tears falling down her cheeks. “I even had a premade scroll to be sent to you, with a magical delay, telling you the whole truth and to stay safe, set to teleport to your location as soon as the Sun failed to rise the next day.”

“Failed to rise?” Luna gasped in horror, realizing what her sister meant. “Thou don’t mean-”

“Yes, I was mentally prepared to spend the next few years, perhaps even decades, trapped into the Sun, just as I had done to you for over a thousand years. I expected to be liberated only to find Equestria in ruins or worse! I surely wasn’t expecting for… for…”

Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and Alicorn of the Sun, looked at her own student and apprentice with teary eyes of joy, the smaller unicorn in shock to see her in such a state.

“Twilight Sparkle, you have rendered outstanding service to us today. Once again, you have exceeded even my best expectations, like on the day of your exam. You and your friends… not only have you saved all of Equestria, not only have you rescued me from my imprisonment, not only have you saved my sister and restored her to her true self… but you also allowed us to rejoin our mother, who we had deemed lost forever millennia ago.”

Lauren shivered, as Celestia’s gaze moved toward her, and with an abrupt move, pushed her face onto her chest, filling her nostrils with the familiar smell of Lauren’s mane, the red-maned alicorn right wing covering her while Luna moved to her left side.

It was then that Lauren’s motherly instinct took hold completely, pushing any doubts from her mind with the force of a freight train.

“It’s all right, Tia. It’s alright. I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.” I don’t know if I’m really your mother or not, but if you see me as such, I surely won’t step back.

“Your majesties!” The unicorn captain of the Royal guard deployed outside entered. “The crowd’s getting restless, the rumor about- oh.” He stopped as he saw both alicorn princesses holding their supposed ‘mother’ in a heartfelt hug, Lauren giving him her best ‘don’t ruin the moment’ look. “Huh… I guess I should get back outside. Yeah, that’s better.”

“Mother, we can’t stay here any longer.” Luna peeked from under Lauren’s wing. “We need to get you back and introduce you before the nobles get word about your return.”

“Indeed, it’s a pity we have to stop such a moment, but it’s time for us to get back.” Celestia nodded. “I must warn you; things have changed a lot since you left, and even more while Luna was away. Many things you were used to… you may have some problems re-adapting to them.”

“That’s not a problem at all!” Lauren replied. “As long as we’re going to have a roof over our heads and warm food to eat, it won’t matter where we’re going to live.” Plus, I am curious to see what Canterlot looks like in real life .

It was then that Celestia, just like canon, noticed Twilight’s sad expression. “Why so glum, my faithful student? Are you not happy that your quest is complete, and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?”

“That's just it.” Twilight replied. “Just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them.”

Celestia smiled. “Spike, take a note please! I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville.”

“Huh, Tia?” Lauren piped in. “If I’m allowed…, can I suggest a few changes? First off, does your student have to send reports weekly, or just whenever she or her friends learn something new?”

“It may be whenever they learn something new!” The princess of the day replied. As Twilight gasped, covering her mouth with her hoof.

“Also, before that, I would like to invite Twilight and her new friends back into Canterlot, in a week or two from today.” Lauren added, the rest of the Mane 6 and Spike gasping like Twilight had done. “You did a great service to all of Equestria today, so it would only be proper if you were to receive a reward appropriate to your success. And… in confidence, perhaps it would be better if you were to set your duties in order in Canterlot, before relocating here permanently, Miss Twilight. I remember you told me your family resides in the capital, so it would be better to tell them you’re moving. And while the bond you had with them wasn’t as strong as the one you have with each pony currently in this room, I think your former school mates deserve to salute you one last time. Especially a certain pony, who I heard she was supposed to hold a party yesterday, and she really looked forward to see you-”

“Oh my, Moondancer !” Twilight gasped, as Lauren’s words helped her remember. “I have to go and see her, and apologize I couldn’t go to her party!”

“She was having a party, and you didn’t go?!” Pinkie Pie said with an irked expression. “That’s mean!”

“Well, she was a bit busy saving the whole of Equestria and befriending each one of you, so I think her behavior was excusable, considering the circumstances.” Lauren continued. “I guess I should come with her and hopefully clear up the misunderstanding. Besides, your friend’s not the only ‘unsolved business’ you have in Canterlot: I recall you borrowed a book from your local library, titled ‘ Perfection: The Impossible Pursuit’. And… it’s overdue since yesterday!”

“ WHAT ?!” Twilight yelled, as she once again began to go Twili-nanas. “ I’m tardy?! But I can’t have an overdue book! My title as best book borrower! I've never turned in a book even a minute late! And this one-”

“I’m sure the library staff will understand, if you explain your reason behind your lateness. Besides, it’s not like you’re not going to return to Canterlot, at least once a while: you did promise me you would help me get the hang of my magic, did you?” Twilight’s fear of finding out about her overdue book was stopped cold, as she remembered her promise. “Oh, by the way, Miss Rarity, since now you know my secret, I have no more reason to refuse your offer, so I shall be glad to model for you… that is, if the offer still stands.”

Rarity stuttered, as she was forcefully reminded she had asked the mother of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the one and only Queen of Equestria, to be the model for her clothes and outfits.

“And the same goes for you, Miss Dash. Since you now know I have wings like you, I guess I’ll be more than happy to accept your… challenge …”

So, this is Canterlot , Lauren gasped as she looked down, the Royal Chariot flying through the sky, pulled by several pegasi Royal guards at once, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing at her sides as the author-turned-alicorn queen finally saw the city she herself had created for the series.

Once again, the show’s depiction didn’t give the capital city of Equestria justice: nestled on the slopes of a towering mountain, a breathtaking city of concentric circles unfolded before the eye, encircled by rivers and waterfalls that cascaded from the mountain, flowing through the city's canals and waterways, and culminating in grand waterfalls that plunged into the basin below. A vast, circular section of the city, encircled by water on three-quarters of its circumference, boasted a grand square at its heart, also circular in shape and adorned with a small patch of vibrant green trees. Further down, another section of the city, nestled between the inner circle and the walls, housed several grand structures, including what appeared to be a Roman-style amphitheater. Higher up, other concentric sections of the city connected to various platforms, where airships, airplanes, and other lighter-than-air aerial transportation were docked. And at the very edge of the grand city, almost perched on the plain below, stood the Royal Palace of Equestria, a majestic fairytale castle with purple roofs and golden decorations, reaching for the sky.

It was here that the chariot, carrying the three alicorns, was headed.

“Sister, is this where you live now?” Luna gasped, looking with amazement at the city down under. “Is this the city of Canterlot you were talking about?”

“Many things have changed in one thousand years; this is our home now.” Celestia turned her head toward Lauren. “And yours as well, mother.”

The pegasi soldiers landed right in front of the entrance to the castle, allowing Lauren and Luna to notice that quite a large crowd of ponies, including servants and guards of the castle, but also several functionaries, had gathered and were now watching them. Among the crowd, Lauren could recognize Kibitz, the gray-haired unicorn pony with bushy eyebrows and a long mustache who was also Princess Celestia's royal scheduling advisor in the comics, staring with wide eyes as three alicorns stepped down from the carriage. Meanwhile, in front of the crowd-

“ Auntie !” A pink alicorn with bright purple eyes, curly mane and tail and an image of the Crystal Heart as her cutie mark rushed forward, accompanied by a unicorn in purple uniform, symbol of the Captain of the Royal Guard.

“You’re safe! You have no idea how worried I was! When the sun didn’t rise, me and Shiny immediately rushed to return to Canterlot. We didn’t find you, but-”

“Princess, where is my sister?” Shining Armor questioned, his voice betraying his panic. “ Where’s Twily ?”

“Fear not, my little pony. Your sister’s fine .” Celestia replied. “She had made new friends and requested to stay in Ponyville for the foreseeable future. I have agreed with her request, and she will use her time to study the magic of Friendship and send up a report about her findings. However, you should not focus on her absence, but rather on her achievements: Twilight Sparkle not only had become the new holder of the Element of Magic, but together with the next generation of the Elements of Harmony, she had returned to me some ponies I thought I had lost forever.”

It was then that Luna and Lauren rejoined Celestia, the former human internally smiling as she saw the surprise in the pink alicorn’s face.

Yeah, that’s the same kind of expression I did when I found out those executives at Hasbro changed you from a simple unicorn to a full-blown alicorn . At least with Luna, I ended up agreeing with the idea.

“Everypony,” Celestia continued, “this is my sister, Princess Luna!”

Several ponies among the crowd, while surprised, immediately bowed down, Luna smiling proudly as they showed her the respect due to her rank. Lauren, meanwhile, stood behind her two daughters still unsure if she had to say something and what.

“And this,” Celestia now turned toward Lauren, everypony turning with her, their gaze falling onto the red-maned alicorn, the former human gulping as she realized they were staring at her, “is our beloved mother the one and only Queen of Equestria Lauren Faust!”

“ Queen ?!” Lauren heard several ponies gasp among the crowd, many trying to keep their voice under check, but a few, especially those in the rear of the crowd, shouting with disbelief, uncaring about the emotions they showed.

“But… we never had a Queen!”

“Actually, yes, you did, only you weren’t aware.” Princess Celestia apologized. “It is my fault, for never mentioning it before, but she was away, and my sister and I were ruling in her place. However, she is now back, and ready to rejoin us!”

Lauren took a few steps forward, mentally amused by the various reaction her presence was causing, before deciding it would be better to address them as well:

“Greetings, my little ponies,” Lauren Faust, former creator of the Fourth generation of the My Little Pony franchise, and now High Queen of Equestria, said in a gentle voice, the same one she used whenever she had to deal with pre-teen audiences. “It brings me so much joy to see how much Equestria had developed ever since the last time I saw it. It makes me happy to see all pony tribes, Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorn and other races working together to build a better future together, rather than squabble and waste time and opportunities by quarreling over petty issues. And it makes me even happier to see what you all have achieved.”

“Y-your Majesty?” Kibitz nodded, slowly approaching Lauren, his head so lowered the mustached unicorn was staring at the ground. “I’m-”

“Kibitz, I know you.” Lauren replied, shocking the unicorn and several other ponies in the attendance. “You’re my eldest daughter’s most trusted advisor and day consultant. I wish to thank you for your service, as well for everything you do each day to help her with her schedule.”

Lauren hadn’t planned anything too big when she said those words: she simply wanted to thank him for his hard work and treat him with kindness. Yet, as Kibitz listened to her, she saw his eyes widen, her mouth open before he bowed even more, basically slamming his forehead on the ground.

“Your Majesty! There are no words that can describe the emotions you made me feel with those gentle words. I was already willing to serve and assist you simply because you were our beloved Princess’ mother, but now- I swear fealty to you, to our only and true Queen! For as long as I live, I’ll serve you and your majesty, just as I have served and I will continue to serve your daughter!”

“Me too!” One of the Royal guards who had been on guard when the chariot landed dropped down. “I swear fealty to you, our beloved Queen!”

“I swear fealty-”

“-Our graceful and kind queen-”

“-may Harmony forever bless her and give her endless happiness-”

Lauren felt embarrassed as the whole crowd of guards and servants lowered down, all swearing fealty to their newfound queen while Cadance, Shining Armor, Luna and Celestia watched.

“You still have got it in you, right mother?” Celestia said with a chuckle. “Five minutes since you’ve met your new subjects, and you’ve already started to win their sympathies.”

“That wasn’t my intention!” Lauren replied. “I was just being kind! Come on, get back on your feet! You don’t have to bow in front of me!”

“Nonsense!” Luna countered. “They’re simply showing their respect to their legit sovereign! In fact, I think they didn’t bow fast enough!”

“It’s fine, Lulu.” Celestia replied, just as Cadance and Shining Armor walked toward the trio, both with low heads in respect.

“G-greetings, Your Majesty.” Cadence said in a low tone. Britt was right: she is adorable ! Lauren thought in her head, seeing the pink alicorn of love up close. Oh, this is a too-good chance to pass this up.

“So,” Lauren turned head toward Celestia, speaking with a teasing voice. “Do you have something to tell me? And who is the lucky stallion?”

Princess Celestia gasped in shock, Cadence blushing furiously, while Shining Armor stuffed, trying to hold back his laughter.

“It’s not like that-”

“Indeed!” Luna spoke as well, before Celestia, Cadence or anyone else had any chance to clear up the misunderstanding. “She is an alicorn like us, and since both mom and I were unavailable, she can only be thy child! Lest you’d crave to say to me there are other alicorns in Equestria, and thou forgot to mention it till now ?”

Ok, note to self: if I must start issuing royal degrees, my first one shall be to give Luna a proper teacher of modern dialect.

“I’m not her daughter, I’m her niece !”

“ What ?” Luna seemed to get angry to hear that. “Sister, would thou reject thine own daughter ?!”

“I didn’t-”

“ ENOUGH !” Lauren shouted, her Royal Canterlot Voice making her voice echo through the whole courtyard of the castle. “I think it is time we get inside so we can discuss… this privately and civilly. Captain?”

“Your Majesty?”

“Please escort me and my daughter, plus Miss Cadence here, inside. It’s been a long day, I’m quite tired and I’d like some hot tea and some sweets to rest my mind.”

“U-understood!” Shining Armor saluted, rushing inside with a sprint.

“Now,” Lauren turned again, looking at the other three alicorns with authoritative eyes, “shall we go?”

(…)

“So, you aren’t my sister’s foal?” Luna murmured; her voice filled with embarrassment.

“No, I’m just her niece by adoption.” Cadence explained. “I was born a pegasus, but after I faced some evil enchantress called Prismia, who tried to steal all love from the ponies in the village I grew up, not only did I earn my cutie mark, but I ended up in some kind of weird place and became… well, this .” The pink alicorn pointed at the horn on her forehead, while opening her wings a bit.

“So, you weren’t an alicorn by birth, but you ascended after proving yourself worthy?” Lauren said, pretending to be interested even if she knew Cadence's supposed backstory. “And then Tia chose to take you in and adopt you as her niece?”

“It was all for her own protection.” The Alicorn of the Sun replied, taking another sip off her tea. “You must understand, it had been centuries since you were gone, Lulu, and many ponies assumed that I was the only alicorn at all. Do you have any idea how those nobles would have reacted, once they found out a small pegasus filly who had grown up with Earth ponies her whole life, had suddenly become one of us?”

“You know, it’s almost comforting to hear that the nobles are still the same bunch of paranoid, incompetent, ever-scheming opportunists they were a thousand years ago.” The Alicorn of the Moon smirked. “After seeing how many things have changed ever since, to find something has stayed basically the same is… reassuring .”

“So, if you’re auntie’s mother,” Cadence questioned, looking at Lauren, “then that makes you… my grandma ?”

Urgh , Lauren felt like her heart had just been stabbed as the word ‘grandma’ reached her, kneeling forward and almost slamming her forehead on the chocolate cake slice in front of her.

“Mother, are you alright? Do we need to recall the medic?”

“I’m… fine, Lulu.” Lauren took a deep breath, trying to control her own emotions. “It’s just… it has been so sudden… to find out I’m supposed to be over ten thousand years old when my mind still doesn’t feel beyond forty, my daughters are all grown up and have been taking care of things in my absence and being called grandma.”

“You don’t want me to call you grandma?” Cadence asked, a shadow of sadness passing over her face. “Isn’t that correct?”

“It is! Only… I don’t think my heart is ready to have someone call me their grandmother. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you to do that, only… can I get some time to get used to the situation, and perhaps call me something else?”

“Then, how about Gruntie?” Cadence teased; her momentary sadness replaced by a sly smirk. “That’s short for ‘great-aunt’ since you are aunt’s mother.”

“ That’s perfect !” Lauren nodded before moving on to the next point. “Ok, I know that you probably have a lot of questions that you want to ask me, and I too have questions that I’d like to ask, so… how about we make a deal? You ask one question, and I’ll try to answer it to the best of my abilities, and then I ask you one question with the same manner.”

“If that’s not a problem, can I be the first to ask?” Cadence suggested. “I am curious: you said you spent all this time in another world, one populated by some weird kind of monkeys.”

“They weren’t monkeys, they called themselves humans.” Lauren mentally groaned, wondering how long it would be before she started to hear monkey jokes going around. “And what do you want to know about it?”

“Well, you spent the equivalent of a whole life among them, yet they didn’t seem to be bothered by your appearance?”

“Oh, I wasn’t like this. In their world I was one of them.”

“You were a monkey?”

“ Human , and yes, that is exactly what I was. I have some difficulties explaining what they look like, but perhaps, you could ask Tia: she had known some humans, back when she was a filly.”

“Uhm, that would be a story for a later time, mom.” The princess replied. “However, I must admit I am curious about what kind of life you had among them. I must guess that, since you had no memories of Equestria, you weren’t aware of your royal status.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“But then, how did you manage to survive among them?” Luna wondered with a puzzled look.

“It wasn’t easy, I admit it.” Lauren replied, thinking back to her own childhood. “But either I was lucky, or harmony protected me, because I was blessed with a good family, loving and supporting parents, and a chance to follow my dreams in order to get myself an occupation that I loved.”

“And what kind of employment did you hold among them?”

“I was… a storyteller.” The red-maned alicorn explained, juggling as she tried to find the right words to explain her previous life without risking telling too much. “I liked to create stories for children.”

“ Children ?” Cadence questioned.

“That’s their equivalent of foals.”

“ Oh !”

“Yes, mom always had the greatest talent for creating and narrating stories, ever since Tia and I were small fillies.” Luna said with a heartfelt voice, as her memory brought her back to those far away happy times. “And everypony loved the stories mom would make for us.”

“Well, luckily I was able to keep my dreams going, so little by little, I managed to further my own career with them. I started developing stories with authors, but after a while, I was able to pitch my own ideas as well to the studios-”

“Wait, studios?” Celestia gasped, a tone of excitement. “Don’t tell me… you were able to make your stories into plays? Actual theatrical plays?”

“I… suppose so?” Lauren spoke, realizing she had just made a faux pass, yet willingly let Celestia draw her own conclusions. She knew it wasn’t honest, but… how was she supposed to explain the whole concept of the internet and cartoons to one of the most popular cartoon characters of all ages?

Celestia giggled happily, tip-toeing on her hooves before starting to prance around, to Lauren’s confusion, Cadance’s shock and Luna’s miffed amusement.

“Celestia?”

“Auntie?”

The Alicorn of the Sun stopped, reassuming her royal proper appearance and behavior. “I…. I apologize for having got so excited. It’s just, ever since I was a little filly, I always loved plays. Our friends used to put them on all the time, and they were always so wonderful! Everypony comes together to create a magical experience to share with others.”

When did I write that into Celestia’s character? Lauren gasped at her supposed daughter’s confession. I don’t remember adding it when I first defined her: is that something I decided to change later, just like when I agreed to make her a Princess rather than a full-blown queen? Or perhaps, is it still something else those guys at Hasbro decided to add on later season?

But then, just hearing it makes me feel so… happy, and proud?

“I've always believed theater brings out the best in us,” Celestia concluded, “and forges a special bond of friendship.”

“I didn’t know you used to be an actress!” Cadence gasped, only for Luna to shake her head.

“She didn’t.” The Alicorn of the Moon clarified. “Oh, she would have loved to…”

“I was always too busy with my own magical lessons to be part of any plays myself.” Celestia nodded, her expression turning sour for an instant. “You must understand mother, it was barely after you were gone. Lulu and I at the time were under the care of a powerful unicorn wizard called Starswirl the Bearded-”

“I know about him,” Lauren replied, before remembering she needed a reason for that. “Your apprentice, Twilight, was very vocal about her idol.”

“Oh yeah, Twily’s always been quite… enthusiastic about Starswirl. Considering the feats he achieved, that’s quite understandable.”

Would you still say that, once you met him? Lauren thought, thinking back to the episode where Twilight and her friends would eventually rescue Starswirl and his companions, only to unwittingly release the Pony of Shadows as well. The saying ‘never try to meet your heroes’ didn’t even describe the emotional rollercoaster the lavender alicorn went through.

Perhaps, I could try to smooth things over? Warning Luna and Celestia about Starswirl, gather a bunch of Royal Guards, have everything set so we can vanquish the Pony of Shadow as soon as it’s freed, rescue Stygian and have the whole plot solved without so much unnecessary drama? But would that be enough to convince Starswirl, or without the episode’s events, he would maintain his ‘evil-doers cannot be redeemed’ view?

“Well, he did watch over my daughters while I was away.” Lauren nodded, trying to keep her tone of voice neutral. “I guess I should be thankful for that, at least.”

“Anyway, I am happy to learn you had a chance to be part of such a wonderful world, while you were living among the humans.” Celestia nodded, trotting back to the table and looking at Lauren with excited glee. “Perhaps you could tell me more?”

“Well, I can say you’re not wrong when you say it’s a world filled with magical experiences.” The former human chuckled, a part of her happy that she got a chance to share her passion with one of her ‘children’. “In fact it was there that I- OH !”

“Mother?!” Luna gasped, seeing the red-maned freeze where she stood, as her mind brought back to her one of her best memories, the day she met Craig. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay, I was just reminded of something that I really need to ask you.” Lauren took a deep breath before continuing. “Tell me, do you perhaps remember if I was… married , before disappearing?”

Both Luna and Celestia jerked back, their faces blushing and their eyes widening in shock.

“ No, you weren’t .” Celestia quickly replied, looking aside. “Not that we remember, of course.”

“Wait, but then, you and Aunt Luna-” Cadence began to say.

“Mom wasn’t with anypony when I was born,” the Alicorn of the Moon. “She obviously was with somepony at some point, otherwise Tia and I wouldn’t be here, but you never introduced him to us. At least, not to me.”

“Nor me.” Celestia nodded. “As far I remember, you were the only parent Lulu and I ever had. After you… ‘disappeared’, a few stallions came forward to try and claim to be our biological father, but in the end, all of them turned out to be scammers, who only wanted to exploit their so-called blood connection with the new princesses of the whole ponykind.”

Lauren let out a huge breath of relief in response.

“Does this sadden you, mother?” Luna raised an eyebrow “Are you mourning their loss?”

“No, to tell the truth, I am feeling glad to learn that I don’t have somepony I was married to, still waiting for my return. After all,” she continued, taking a sip of her tea, “it would be quite awkward to try and explain this to my husband.”

(…)

“YOUR WHAT?!” Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voices could be heard throughout the castle and Canterlot itself, causing ponies and other beings for mile to turn their heads at the same time, looking in direction of the castle with eyes a faces full of apprehension, wondering what could have caused such reaction…

(…)

Back in the room where the four alicorns were gathered, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked at their mother with eyes filled with shock, their mouth wide open, their bodies barely moving as their minds tried again and again to assimilate the information the red-maned alicorn had just told them, only to fail at every turn. Meanwhile Cadence was now smiling wildly, her eyes shining while she looked at Lauren eagerly waiting for more information, her Love-sense already starting to activate.

“ We have a father ?!” Celestia said once again.

“ Step father, actually. But yeah.”

“While you were living among those humans… you ended up marrying one of them?”

“His name’s Craig, Lulu. We both met each other while we were working on a common project. Since we both liked to work on children’s stories, we eventually hit it off, and one thing led to another and… well, we got married.”

“And,” Cadence dared to ask, “how is he?”

“Craig? He’s such a sweetheart, always making sure I am okay and I wasn’t straining myself with work. In fact, I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t met him.”

“Huh, mother?” Luna interjected, a new question popping in her head. “Did you perhaps you, you know… do we have step siblings ?”

“ One .” The former human giggled, unaware of how much more shocked Luna and Celestia had become or how much wide Cadence's smile had gotten. “We called her Quinn, and she’s the most adorable, energic and over-enthusiast child any would-be parents could ever hope for. I had to take time off to watch over her when she was born, but I didn’t regret doing so.”

“A sibling… you mean a younger sister ?” Celestia repeated, her eyes lost in the void. “We have a little sister somewhere?”

“That’s excellent news indeed.” Luna replied, a small smile blossoming on her lips. “I’m not the younger sister anymore!”

“So, about this Craig… what can you tell me more about him?” Cadence popped out a notepad and a pen, getting ready to take notes. “How did your first date go? Which day was it? Did he take you out for dinner, or did you do something else? What kind of interests do you share? How many-”

“Cadence!” The Alicorn of the Sun seemed to shake off her astonishment to reprimand the younger Princess of Love, the latter blushing and retreating to her initial spot.

“Sorry, I just tend to get a bit overenthusiastic when it comes to love. And I really want to see how compatible you and him are.”

“Oh, I can tell you we were quite compatible.” Lauren chuckled. “There was one time, he brought me to-”

Suddenly, Lauren’s laugh died in her throat, almost like her happiness and cheerfulness had been ripped away, and an awful sense of depression befell onto her. She saw herself standing with her husband and her daughter, doing family things together, having fun at conventions or going places together…

What would become of them, now that they had been separated forever? Would her memories of such happy times forever torture her, reminding her of who she had lost? Or perhaps she would eventually forget about them?

“Mom?”

“Excuse me,” Lauren said, trotting toward the door, “I just need… some fresh air …”

(…)

The Royal Gardens of Canterlot were widely considered to be one of the greatest wonders of Equestria. Established a little after the founding of Canterlot city itself, the Gardens were currently divided in two sections: the public and private sections.

The public section, available to guided tours and most of the diplomatic staff of other nations, hosted the large hedge maze, at its center a tall oak tree planted by Princess Celestia herself when Canterlot became the new capital city of Equestria; the Animal Sanctuary, where animal species that were endangered and considered ‘protected’ by Equestrian laws found a safe haven; and the different lifelike statues of great heroes and characters of the past, such as Starswirl the Bearded, commander Hurricane and Princess Platinum. Only the princesses knew that, among the genuine statues, one was in fact the Lord of Chaos Discord himself, imprisoned in a rock prison over one thousand years ago through the combined powers of the Elements of Harmony.

The private section of the Garden, meanwhile, hosted specimens of the most exotic flowers and plants of the world, with bushes, trees and other plants imported from countless far-off lands and nations, some not even existing anymore. This was a place that, besides the royal gardeners tasked to keep such wonders of nature in pristine state and the guards tasked to patrol the area on their daily shifts, only a few token ponies were allowed into.

Had Lauren been in a different mood, she would have probably taken her time to fully explore the gardens and marvel at such triumph of gardening skills, fully taking advantage of her new alicorn status to explore them.

Instead, she galloped forward, barely looking at the flowers or the artistic topiaries, her mind too much in turmoil to care, tears falling down her cheeks as the memory of two most important people of her life plagued her mind, haunted her, tortured her.

Should I really hope to forget about them? The red-maned alicorn thought as her body refused to stop, the unconscious part of her mind allowing her to move on all four hooves without tripping. I don’t want to; I never want to forget them! But… to be forever tortured like this? To never again see them? To never know what had happened to them after I was gone?

Lauren Faust stopped, her head moving forward, looking at the Moon and the stars that were now filling the sky. That too was a wonder of art, a part of her realizing why Luna had been so angry that no one seemed to care about it: the Alicorn of the Moon clearly took great pride in her work.

The stars in Equestria are stunningly beautiful , she mused, there are even more than I ever saw on Earth. When I was with Twilight and her friends, marching through the Everfree forest to reach the Castle of the Two Sisters, I was so busy that I couldn’t give them more than a few glances, but now… the more I look at them, the happier I am to be here.

If only-

Lauren didn’t realize at first, but as those thoughts began to form inside her head, her magic began to self-activate once again, a faint glow beginning to surge in the area where her chest was supposed to be.

If only you could see this with your own eyes, Craig. If only you and Quinn had come here with me. If only we hadn’t been divided, perhaps forever.

The glow continued to grow, enveloping more and more of the alicorn’s body, mane and tail, making the latter two flow just like Celestia’s own mane and tails did. And yet, the human-turned-alicorn was so focused on the starred sky above her, her mind so trapped in her thoughts, that she didn’t notice, even as the air around her began to tingle and small sparkles of white and golden magic started to appear.

I don’t want to be forever separated by you, I want to see you again. I want to hold you both in my arms, well, my front hooves perhaps. I want to have you close to my chest, I want to hear your smell again, I want to hear your voices again-

The sparkles continued to multiply by the second, filling the area around Lauren in less than a minute, the alicorn’s mantle starting to glow as well, the magic energy surging from within her body and gathering on her horn, on her wings and on her cutie mark, making all three of them shine.

It was then that Lauren, feeling her body tingle, noticed what was happening.

W-what is this? She gasped in silence, her wings starting to flap, her horn cracking with electricity, her Cutie Mark tickling. This warm, overflowing feeling… what’s happening? Is this… my magic? I can actually do magic? Could it be that… right now…

Lauren closed her eyes, her mind focusing once again, the magic energy surging from her starting to change, concentrating on her horn, before releasing a blast of pure white-gold energy on the ground a few steps from where she was, all the particles of magic she had unwittingly generated before being absorbed by it, until-

A powerful blast erupted from the area Lauren had hit with her magic, forming a tall pillar of golden light launching itself to the sky, lasting for several seconds before depleting, the alicorn responsible falling on her knees, her eyes closed to protect them from the flash. And when she opened them again, her mouth opened in shock, as she noticed, on the spot the column of light had appeared, two equine figures, one smaller than the other, yet both showing horns and wings, and she could hear their voices.

“What-what happened?” The first figure, a tall alicorn with cyan fur covering its body, sapphire blue mane, tail and goatee around his mouth and chin, a cutie mark representing a typewriter on his flank, questioned with a young male voice, looking around with shock. “Where am I? And- what happened to me?!” He yelled in shock, realizing he had become a pony, the shock making him lose all unconscious control over his new body and making him fall flat on the grass.

“ Dad !” The smaller figure, this one a female alicorn filly (from appearance alone, around the same age as the Cutie Mark Crusaders) with light pink fur and red mane and tail, similar to Lauren’s ones, and aquamarine eyes, rushed toward him. “You’re a pony! Like me! Is this my birthday? Best birthday present ever!”

“Quinn, is that you?” The alicorn stallion said, his voice broken by emotion as he looked at his daughter, unaware of the third figure who was standing motionless and in broken silence, gazing at the duo with jaws wide open, tears of joy starting to drip from her eyes and onto her cheeks. “W-what happened to us?”

“ Craig? Quinn ?”

Both alicorn turned head as they heard someone pronounce the adult male’s name, their eyes widening in turn as they saw the majestic, ethereal alicorn moving toward them in small steps, a pony they had seen countless times before in their life as drawings and small artworks, but never as an actual living being.

“ Laury ?”

“ Mom ?”

Lauren Faust, former animator and creator of the Fourth Generation of the My Little Pony franchise, now transformed in her own ponysona, couldn’t control her own emotions anymore and rushed toward them, holding her husband and daughter in an heartfelt hug, her wings moving according to her desires and enveloping their bodies, just as Craig’s own feathered limbs did the same, the small pink alicorn amid her parents and showing off the happiest smile of the world. 

“You’re here… you’re actually here !”

“My love, I can’t believe I can see you again!”

“Mommy’s become a true pony now, and so is dad!” Quinn was visibly the most enthusiastic about them, snuggling and nuzzling her parent’s fur, breathing their smell and listening to the sound of their heartbeats. “ This is the best day of my life !”

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you again, even if it’s when we are all like… this.” The stallion nodded, suddenly remembering about the elephant in the room (or rather, the new equine bodies he and his family were), surprise dawning upon him once again as he looked past his wife, and saw the grandiose architecture of Canterlot. “B-but… where are we?”

“It’s a long story,” Lauren chuckled, her mind frantically trying to come up with the best way to ‘break’ the news to her formerly human family. “I don’t know how to tell you, but-”

“ MOTHER !” A very familiar voice shouted as Princess Luna, Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance landed around the trio, Shining Armor just behind them, leading a crack squad of unicorns, pegasi and Earth ponies all dressed in Royal Guard armors. “We saw the flash of light, and we heard a big explosion! Are you safe? Did someone dare to attack Canterlot? Who-”

The Alicorn of the Night’s aggressivity quickly evaporated, as she, Celestia and Luna noticed the plus two alicorns standing with their mother, realizing instantly that one of them was an alicorn stallion, the guards behind them dropping jaws in shock as they struggled to assimilate that information. Just like Craig and Quinn gasped, seeing the Princesses of Equestria with their own eyes, in flesh, blood and magic.

“My little ponies,” Lauren began to say, chuckling nervously as she tried to come up with something smart to say to solve the situation, only to fail miserably, “I think some introductions are in order. Honey, these are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, rulers of Equestria, and daughters of mine too, as well as my… granddaughter (ugh!) Princess Cadence. Cadence, Tia, Lulu, let me introduce to you my husband, Craig McCracken, your stepfather, and my other daughter Quinn, your… stepsister.”

  This is going to be so awkward…

Chapter Text

Alicorn Family Reunion

“So, let me get this straight.” Craig looked at his wife, trying to keep his emotion in check. “Apparently, the world of My Little Pony, the world you dedicated yourself to creating ever since you were a little girl…exists for real.”

The three 'original' members of the Faust family (Lauren, her husband Craig, and their daughter Quinn) were now in a large octagonal-shaped room, carved out of a floor of one of the multiple towers that made Canterlot Castle. From what little Lauren knew about the room in question, which she had learned from the guards who had escorted them there, this room was often used for diplomatic meetings with representatives from all over Equestria or with consuls and/or ambassadors from other nations: the floor was composed of tiles of a pleasant ochre color, the walls were blue, and the ceiling was stained a creamy white. Several small circular tables and upholstered armchairs made up the furniture, as did several blown-glass lamps and, on the wall opposite the entrance, a small sofa on which Lauren and Craig were seated.

“Believe me, I was as surprised as you are when I found out,” the red-maned alicorn murmured with a chuckle. “I bet the 8-year-old me would be thrilled to know this.”

“And you ended up appearing just before the series’ events even began.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“And not only did you end up meeting all the main characters of your story, but you also accompanied them in the quest that started the whole group.”

“Defeating Nightmare Moon, yes.”

“And after that, you also met Princess Celestia and Princess Luna… who, it turns out, not only knows you, but apparently they’re your daughters?!”

“I didn’t cheat on you, if that’s what you’re asking. Apparently, it happened millennia ago, and neither Lulu nor Tia have memories of ever having a father; I guess I was a single mom back then-”

“And now, somehow, you managed to use your own magic to summon me and Quinn here too!” Craig waved with his front hooves, pointing at the room around them, with no servants nor guards who could eavesdrop on their conversation. “Moreover, since you’re the mother of their ruling princesses, everypony thinks you’re their Queen- wait, does that make me some kind of consort, like Prince Albert was for Queen Victoria? Are we royalty too now?”

“I’m a princess!” Quinn gleamed for the nth time today, jumping wildly around the room with so much energy she could perhaps keep up with Pinkie Pie herself. “Look at me! Horn, wings, alicorn! I’m an alicorn; that means that I’m a princess now! And Mom’s a queen and Dad’s a king-”

“Sweetie, please, calm down!” Lauren cautiously spoke to her youngest daughter. “We are in a big castle now; there are a lot of ponies in there who have worked the whole day and who may be trying to sleep now. I understand that you’re all excited, but please, try not to bother them.”

“Sorry, Mom…”

“So… this is what it feels like to be ponified?” Craig looked down at his own hooves, a part of him missing his fingers, his wings flapping on his back. “I have to admit, it doesn’t feel so bad… or at least, it won’t once I’m able to figure out how to walk on four limbs rather than just two without tripping every step!”

“It takes a while to get the hang of it, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out in the end. Besides, we’ve all got flying lessons and magic lessons in our future: perhaps we could learn… together?” She glanced at her husband with a teasing, flirtatious expression. Craig had always looked good to her, but now that they were both ponies, he was gorgeous.

I’d say, turning him into an alicorn did wonders to his physique, the former cartoon animator mused, noticing how her husband’s fat had been replaced by muscles. Wait, what am I thinking?!

Just in time to save Lauren from her own embarrassing thoughts, someone knocked on the door. “Mother? Are you there?” The voice of Princess Luna came from the other side. “Can we talk?”

“Don’t worry, we are totally not shocked by the fact we got to meet our stepfather.” Princess Celestia’s voice added. “Ok, perhaps we are, a bit, but I’m sure we can find an agreement.”

“Huh, Auntie?” This one sounded like Cadance. “Your wings are moving; are you being nervous?”

“I’m not nervous at all!” The Alicorn of the Sun replied, her tone of voice shriller than usual.

Lauren sighed, while Craig grimaced and Quinn smiled with glee. “Enter,” she said, preparing herself for another migraine.

As the door opened, the three ‘official’ Alicorn Princesses trotted inside, once again their glances meeting with Craig’s. The alicorn stallion felt judged, just like when he met his future wife’s family on Earth; Celestia was looking at him with a puzzled expression; Luna was seething under her breath, perhaps assuming him to be some kind of threat to her loved parent, while Cadance was smiling wildly.

“Woona!” Quinn didn’t even wait for the door to close before darting toward Luna, slamming her face into her chest and hugging her, the light-blue alicorn gasping in surprise. “You’re real, you’re real! You’re actually here! I always said you were the best princess! I did!”

“Thank you… young one?” Luna murmured back, yet she let out a weak smile, her expression softening, as the words ‘best princess’ kept sinking into her heart, a warm feeling spreading from her chest and into the rest of her body.

“So, you’re the famous ‘Craig’ Gruntie was talking about?” Cadance spoke to the only alicorn stallion in the room.

“Gruntie?” Craig looked at his wife with a grimace.

“That’s for great-aunt, honey.” Lauren was quick to explain. “You know, since Celestia and Luna are my children and Celestia adopted Cadance as her niece-”

“Does that mean I’m your grand-uncle too?” Craig quipped with a smirk. “I guess she did talk to you about me: Craig McCracken, nice to meet you… Princess Cadance.”

“And you must be our new youngest sister.” Celestia lowered her head to look at Quinn, the small, pinkish alicorn turning her attention from Luna for a few minutes.

“Sister? Right, if you’re Mom’s daughter just like me, this means that we’re sisters! I’m the sister of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia! That’s so cool! But I still like Woona the best!”

Luna didn’t say anything, yet she gave Celestia a smug smile, the glance in her eyes sending her a silent ‘she has spoken’ message.

“To tell the truth, I wasn’t expecting for this to happen,” Lauren half-apologized, even if internally she wasn’t sad that her family was now being reunited. “I was just walking over the garden, trying to distract myself from my own sadness. I was thinking about how I missed them, and then-”

“-Somehow, you ended up creating some kind of summoning magic, of a magnitude and power that I have never seen before,” Celestia nodded. “Don’t worry, Mom: I’ve inspected the garden myself, and I’ve had a few spellcasters check if there would be side effects or anything that we should be wary of. Nothing, except of course,” her gaze turned toward Craig, “the chance you gave us to meet our newest father.”

“Huh, technically, I am your stepfather,” he countered, “and that’s only if you want it. I mean, I know how shocked you are probably feeling right now to find out not only that your mother’s still alive, but also that she was married, and-”

“Don’t apologize.” Lauren interrupted him. “Today was full of surprises for every one of us, but you don’t have to apologize for being my husband. Rather, I should be grateful you’re here.” She leaned toward him and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

“Eugh!” Quinn grimaced, like any kid would do whenever their parents would start to get lovely-dovey in their presence, Luna and Celestia sporting similar expressions.

“Blegh.”

“Yuck.”

“Awww,” Cadance cooed, the Princess of Love being the only one not to feel put off by Lauren and Craig’s romance.

“Anyway,” Princess Celestia was the first to recover. “It was a long day for all of us. How would you like to have a nice dinner together so that we can replenish our strength and, perhaps, continue the discussion in a quieter, more familiar setting?”

“To tell the truth, I don’t mind the idea of dining at all.” Lauren nodded, a timely growl from her stomach telling her she needed fuel after going almost the whole day without eating. “If that’s not too much trouble, that is.”

“Trouble? Fear not, mother!” Luna immediately quipped, as Quinn still held dearly onto her, the smaller alicorn too busy comparing her own tiny wings to Luna’s fully grown set to pay attention to the conversation going on around her. “Our power among ponies is absolute! If you and your…husband” her gaze passed over Craig one more time, the alicorn stallion taking a step back “are feeling hungry, just say so and we’ll have the royal cooks prepare for you a feast like nopony had ever seen before!”

“Thanks, but we don’t need anything too lavish,” the red-maned alicorn shrugged, trying to come up with a good excuse. “Even just some hot soup will be enough-”

“A mere soup, for the one and only Queen of all Equestria?” The Alicorn of the Night gasped in disbelief. “Nonsense! Guards!”

Two pegasi in uniforms of the Royal Guard, hearing Luna’s voice, rushed inside. “Your Highness?”

“Go to the Royal Kitchen and inform the cook that our mother, Queen Lauren Faust of Equestria, and her extended family members, wish to dine. Tell them to have a meal worthy of her tenure prepared!”

The guards saluted sharply. “At once, Your Highness!” they said in unison before turning and rushing outside, their golden armor clinking with each step.

“Was that really necessary?” Lauren asked with a wry smile.

Luna stood tall and proud, her chest puffed out. “Mother, you have returned from the folds of myth itself. Anything less than a royal banquet would be an insult to your stature.”

Cadance leaned in toward Craig and whispered, “You might want to prepare yourself. Royal meals can involve more silverware than food.”

“Great,” Craig muttered with a faint smile, “can’t wait to pretend I know which fork to use… Wait, how are we supposed to use forks with hooves? Do we have to use magic?”

(…)

A simple bowl of soup would’ve been more than enough, Lauren thought, her eyes wide as she took in the extravagant banquet laid out before her, a dazzling array of carefully arranged dishes that seemed to stretch down the long table like a royal tapestry of flavor.

The six alicorns had gathered in a grand, sun-drenched dining hall. Tall stained-glass windows lined the walls, each one a masterpiece of pastel artistry. Some panels depicted celestial motifs, the Sun, the Moon, and various constellations, while others showcased stylized visions of Canterlot and lands unknown.

In the center of the room stood a long banquet table, nearly groaning under the weight of the feast. Dozens of waiters moved back and forth from the royal kitchens, delivering steaming trays and delicately plated dishes. There were so many, in fact, that two side tables had been set up near the doors to hold the overflow, a parade of gleaming silver containers, each housing something more decadent than the last.

Of the six ponies, Celestia sat at the head of the table, on a golden throne-like chair, with Luna to her right and Cadance to her left. Opposite her, Lauren sat at the other end of the long table, with Craig seated to her right (and thus a short distance from Cadance), while Quinn, acting on her own volition, had taken a seat next to Luna.

Lauren couldn’t help but marvel, or maybe flinch, at the royal excess she was subjected to. Was this what Celestia and Luna were used to? Her gaze drifted from the chandelier above to the golden-edged plates before her. She felt a little out of place… and yet, strangely, at home.

“Mr. Craig, is everything alright?” Cadance asked, noticing him struggling with the fork and knife, the utensils slipping again from his untrained hooves, trying (and failing) to make them stick to itself, the former human groaning after the latest failure.

“I’m fine, it’s just… I’m not used to eating like this.” He replied, giving a quick look at Quinn and noticing his daughter had foregone both cutlery and table manners altogether and was now simply filling her mouth with her own hooves without too much apparent difficulty.

“Yes, we are aware this is not the form you’re most used to,” Celestia countered, taking another bite from her own plate without apparent difficulty, levitating both the silverware and the cut food to her lips. “Your human bodies, they had hands and fingers, isn’t that right?”

“You told them about humans?” Quinn gasped and looked at her mother, who seemed to be the most adaptable of the three and had been able to use her right hoof to carry a small cup of flavored juice to her mouth. “Mom! I was hoping to be the one to tell them!”

“She didn’t tell us everything, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Luna snickered, trying to do her best to protect the mood of her new half-sister. “Mother only told us she was forced into such a form for many years, and she had to make a life for herself in this world you call Earth. And… she told us about you. That apparently, we had a stepfather and a very adorable younger sister.”

“I for one am very interested in learning more about this so-called ‘Earth,’” Cadance nodded, “the world you say is inhabited by the hummuses.”

“It’s humans.” Craig replied, a part of him feeling the need to protect the honor of humankind even after he no longer belonged to such a species. “But, I guess I can help answer your questions as well. What do you want to know?”

“The first question I have,” the pink pony princess of Love continued, “is how different is magic on Earth? I see you’re not used to it, so I must guess you didn’t have many chances to practice it back when you were a human?”

“Well, the thing is…”

“Magic doesn’t exist, back on Earth.” Lauren shrugged, deciding that ripping off the band-aid was the best long-term solution. “While humans have an idea of what it is, they never had it on their own. It is something they simply imagined, and while there are some people who claim they can use it, they are just performers using clever tricks and sleight of hand to entertain crowds. However, magic as you know it doesn’t exist on Earth.” At least, as far as we know, she added mentally, with a faint ache she couldn’t quite explain.

“No magic, like, at all?!” Luna seemed to be the most shocked. “No wonder your skills have got so rusty, and you can’t even manage to use the telekinetic spells unicorn foals learn in their first years!” She looked at both Lauren and Craig, the latter feeling mildly offended by the comparison.

“Fear not, Lulu, I already took action to… ahem, solve the situation.” Lauren chuckled, turning her gaze toward Celestia. “I’ve already asked your protegè, Twilight, if she could be interested in teaching me magic. Maybe Craig and Quinn could join us too? As the Embodiment of Magic among the Elements of Harmony, I do not think there should be anyone better suited for such a role.”

“To tell the truth, I would rather help you relearn on how to use magic myself, or alternatively, assign you a royal tutor.” The taller princess replied. “Twilight’s an excellent student, but she tends to over-dramatize such small details. Would you believe she has a schedule for making schedules?”

Believe me, there is no need to imagine it, Lauren added in her brain, for I was the one that developed her like that.

“Huh, I’m sorry, Princess.” Craig raised one hoof, gathering all attention onto him. “Not that I’m ungrateful about the idea of learning magic, but just to clarify, we never felt the lack of it back when we were… humans. For what humankind may lack in magic, they more than make up for with their advanced technological level.”

“Oh, do tell?” Cadance questioned with a curious expression. “What kind of wonders does human civilization have, compared to Equestria?”

“Well, first of all, have you ever imagined how it would be to be able to travel among the stars and visit foreign worlds? Humans are learning how to do that; they have already visited the Moon of their own planet. Several times, in fact.”

“Humans are able to travel to their own Moon?!” Luna raised an eyebrow, Craig’s words having now gotten her full attention. “That sounds… interesting.”

“It is!” Quinn chirped in. “Humans have all kinds of stuff Equestria doesn’t — like cars, which are like carriages, only nopony has to pull them! They have super-fast trains, flying machines called planes… even devices that let you talk to someone far away instantly!”

Driven by her own enthusiasm, Quinn started to list as many details as she could remember about humans’ civilization and society, while Luna, Celestia, and Cadance listened with interested expressions. It was clear, from the shining glow in their eyes, that the three princesses were clearly surprised by how a magicless society could have developed.

“Wait, so…” Celestia questioned suddenly, “Who moves the Sun in the human’s world?”

“No one, for there is no need to.” Lauren explained with a chuckle. “It moves on its own. Same as the Moon.”

“Oh… that surely would be nice to have here too.” The Alicorn of the Sun smiled, imagining how restful it would be if the blazing sun didn’t need her guidance each day. “I have to admit, it was quite nice to learn that humans still exist. And that they’ve progressed quite well ever since the last time we heard of them.”

“Wait, still exists?” Craig was quick to notice. “You mean-”

“Oh, sorry, I believed I had told you already?” Celestia apologized before continuing. “Humans used to live in Equestria, many ages ago, just like the Troggles, Goblins, and other races who they shared their humanoid form with. Alas, they all disappeared millennia ago, long before Equestria was even founded, and they were assumed to have become extinct like countless other species who used to share the world with ponies. “Though I’m happy to learn we were wrong.”

“Humans used to exist in Equestria?” Craig whispered to his wife, his eyes wide open in surprise. “You mean-”

“Yeah.” Lauren nodded with a sheepish expression, careful that no one else could hear her. “Do you remember those old cartoons I told you about, the ones I used to watch when I was a kid that also helped me imagine my own work? Turns out that was real too.”

“Of course,” Celestia continued, her voice now becoming somber as she took a deep breath, “this world has changed so much since your… disappearance. You may find out that, just as many races that you were familiar with, so many nations, cities, and places of the past have disappeared, and new ones have taken their place. The same works for you, Lulu: In the years you were trapped on the Moon, Equestria has changed, just like the ponies living in it, and so have all other nations. Before you start taking steps to reassume your role as queen, it would be wise for you to learn as much as you can about what happened since then.”

“That…surely sounds like a good idea.” Lauren nodded as she exchanged a complicit glance with her husband. Under the excuse of ‘getting up to speed’ on Equestria’s history, it was the perfect chance to learn more about the world — and maybe gather some less public information too.

“Mother, if you want to study about how many things changed since you left, would you be willing to join me?” Luna proposed, a euphoric glee in her eyes. “While my knowledge of the world may be limited to what it was a thousand years ago, I think it could be helpful to allow you to learn everything that has changed in your period of absence. Especially about the threats we must remain watchful against.”

“While Equestria strives to be peaceful, we faced countless enemies in the past.” Celestia nodded, closing her eyes and thinking back to the time she and Luna faced Discord, or when they stormed the Crystal Empire to take down King Sombra. “Moreover, such learnings are necessary in order to… prepare you to reassume your proper role as sovereign and main leader of our nation.”

“When I became an Alicorn,” Cadance continued, thinking back to her first days post ascension, “Canterlot’s nobles almost had a freak out: no one knew that other ponies could become alicorns, and thus Auntie had a hard time convincing everyone that yes, I was the real deal – and I was going to be a princess just like her.” She glanced over atCraig and Quinn, the adult male looking back at her with apprehension, while the petite filly was looking at her own reflection in the silverish dish. “And when word spreads that the long-lost Queen has made her triumphant return, accompanied by her husband, the first and, so far, only alicorn stallion in Equestria’s history, and her latest daughter, Princess Celestia’s brand new half-sister… Yeah, they are going to lose their collective minds. Again.”

I’m sure Discord would appreciate that, Lauren added mentally as she felt a strange flutter inside her, like excitement and dread mixed together. It was one thing to dream of Equestria, but… to actually rule it, alongside Luna and Celestia? To sit on the throne and listen to petitioners coming all day long? To make decisions that would influence what people thought of her? To be exposed to their judgment, no matter what she did, alongside her family? To live, for the rest of her life, through all kinds of craziness?

The more she thought about it, the more the whole thing reminded her of the various ‘Brony-cons’ she had attended in the past, back when the show had become popular. The crowds, the expectations, the nerves right before stepping onto a panel. Everyone wanted a piece of her — her opinions, thoughts, and blessing. Only now, instead of fans, was she going to deal with courtiers and nobles, and the stakes were terrifyingly real.

“Of course, we know how… bothersome the nobles can be.” Celestia quipped. “And so, it would be better to take it slow so you can gradually readjust to the throne’s responsibilities. That said, should you choose to refuse-”

“No, it’s fine.” Lauren waved, feeling her migraine from before returning. “After all, it can’t be worse than… the time I met face to face with King Arantigos Featherin of Sparleos himself...” The words left her mouth before she could catch them.

Her blood ran cold. Who? What did she just say?

“Mom?” Quinn questioned.

“Honey, what are you talking about?” Craig asked, alarmed, his brow furrowed as Lauren’s head snapped up, unable to understand what she had just referred to. Did she-

“Mom, you do remember!” Luna rushed to her and tackle-hugged her, a joyful expression on her face. “Your memories are coming back, even sooner than we expected! That’s wonderful!”

“Mother, you actually remember that?!” Celestia gasped before her shock turned into happiness. “This is good news indeed!”

Lauren stuttered, her thoughts scrambling to make sense of what had just slipped from her lips. Were those words unconscious fragments from a past life—echoes of when she had truly been Celestia and Luna’s mother? King Arantigos… who was that? She certainly didn’t remember creating such a character, not even as part of any background lore for the show.

“Okay, so… Can someone please explain what just happened?” Craig chimed in, clearly unsettled. “Lauren, who exactly is this Arantigos you mentioned?”

“King Arantigos Featherin of Sparleos,” Luna clarified gently, “was one of the very first diplomatic figures Luna and I met when we were still fillies, back when our mother was laying the foundations for the nation that would one day become Equestria. He was an exceptional strategist and used that brilliance to lead his griffon army in uniting most of Griffonia under one banner, but, unlike many other kings of his time, he never let power cloud his judgment. His humility earned him respect from both allies and enemies, far and wide.”

“He even visited our old castle,” Celestia added, her eyes softening with the memory. “He came seeking food provisions for his people and to propose a non-aggression pact between ponies and griffons. He was a clever negotiator—we always thought he hoped to gain more than he offered, in true griffon fashion—but… I think he underestimated who he was dealing with.”

“You mean… I was a better diplomat than him?” Lauren asked, more to herself than anyone else, trying to wrap her head around the image. She couldn't help but compare it to her time dealing with boardroom talks and executive egos back at Hasbro.

“Always the best,” Luna and Celestia said in perfect unison, beaming at her. “Both as a queen—and as our mom.”

“Hey!” Quinn huffed, her small wings flaring in mock outrage as she watched the two elder alicorn sisters nuzzle their way into Lauren’s embrace. “I’m her daughter too! Move over!”

For several long moments, Lauren said nothing. She simply let herself breathe and feel the warmth of her daughters pressing against her, their presence, their acceptance. It was a strange comfort, both familiar and brand new. Off to the side, Cadance gave a soft “awww,” clearly tempted to join the cuddle pile as well.

And then, Craig gave an exaggerated cough, just loud enough to break the spell and draw everyone’s attention back to him.

“So, uh… I’ve been meaning to ask,” he began, rubbing the back of his neck. “This whole ‘Queen of Equestria’ thing—you know, being royalty and all—it’s amazing, really. And I’m happy for you. I mean, I think I’m happy for you.” He paused, glancing from Luna to Celestia, then back at Lauren, trying to find the right words. “But here’s the thing: you’re the queen. And we’re married. So… does that make me…?”

“The King Consort,” Celestia answered smoothly, a teasing twinkle in her eye. “Or Prince Consort, if you prefer. Sadly, the title of ‘King’ has fallen out of favor in Equestria over the centuries. It tends to… unsettle ponies.”

“Why?” Craig asked, furrowing his brow. “Sounds pretty respectable to me.”

“Because,” Celestia continued, her tone growing more serious, “the last few monarchs who claimed that title were… well, tyrants. Rulers like—”

“Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra.” Lauren interrupted quietly, her gaze distant but steady.

The room went silent. Luna and Celestia both turned to her in surprise, eyes wide. “You… you know of them?” Luna asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Lauren gave a small, knowing smile. “Yes. We know what they did what they tried to do. We’re not as out of the loop as you might think.”

“But how…?” Celestia blinked. “Those events happened long after… you were gone.”

“Long story,” Lauren replied with a wave of her hoof. “Much too long for right now. What matters is that we’re aware of them—and everything they put this world through.”

Luna’s eyes darted from Lauren to Craig, realization dawning. “She told you?” she asked, incredulous, staring at the stallion beside her mother.

Craig offered an awkward shrug and a sheepish smile. “Well… I am her husband. When she had questions, I helped her find the answers. It was kind of my job to support her, right?”

“Huh… excuse me?” Cadance spoke up, raising a delicate hoof with a confused frown. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but… who exactly are Sombra and Chrysalis? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Wait, what?!” Cadance shouted, her eyes wide with horror as the story sank in. “You mean there’s an entire race of shapeshifting bugs that mimic innocent ponies… ruled by an evil queen who’s destroyed countless nations and civilizations… and they feed on love?!”

“Yes, they do,” Celestia confirmed slowly, closing her eyes with a tinge of regret. “The Changelings are emotivores. They survive by feeding on the emotions of others — especially love. Usually, they impersonate someone dear to their target, harvesting the love directed at them and returning it to their hive. But under Queen Chrysalis’s rule, their actions became far more coordinated… and far crueler.”

Cadance’s jaw dropped further. “And you’re telling me I’m related to the royalty of some place called the Crystal Empire? That some evil sorcerer-king named Sombra conquered it—forcing you to intervene—and then the entire Empire just… vanished?”

“The Crystal Empire didn’t vanish,” Luna said gently, her tone calm and measured. “It was consumed by a powerful curse. When King Sombra realized he was losing control, he cast a final spell—one that tore the Empire from time itself. For a thousand years, it simply ceased to exist. As if the world had forgotten it ever was.”

Until it reappears, Lauren thought, her mind flashing to the pilot of Season 3, when Twilight and her friends are sent there under the guise of a ‘test’ to end Sombra’s reign and restore hope to the Crystal ponies… And you, Cadance, are destined to become their ruler.

“And when were you planning to tell me?!” Cadance asked, eyes sharp and curious. “That I’m the heir to some vast, crystal-based empire up north, and that I’ve been raised to one day claim its throne?”

“I-I thought you knew?” Lauren stammered, clearly embarrassed. “I mean… your Cutie Mark resembles their most important relic—the Crystal Heart—so I assumed it was obvious…”

“It was my decision not to tell you,” Celestia interjected, her voice calm but tinged with guilt. “But I didn’t keep you in the dark out of neglect. I wanted to wait until you were ready.”

“And what about Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings?!” Cadance’s tone was sharp, almost panicked. “You mean there’s an entire race of shapeshifters out there, and you didn’t think I needed to know?! That means anyone I’ve met… could’ve been one of them in disguise! What if—”

“Chrysalis and her children are no longer a threat—to Equestria or anyone else,” Celestia replied firmly, her voice radiating authority. “I defeated them personally, years ago. After they tried to seize the city of Trot, I sealed them away in the heart of a dormant volcano. Broken. Powerless. There was nothing left to fear.”

“…Unfortunately, that’s no longer true.”

Celestia froze. Her words caught in her throat as she turned sharply toward Lauren, whose red-maned form now stood tense, her eyes seeking reassurance from Craig before she continued.

Both Luna and Cadance leaned in instinctively, sensing the gravity of what was to come. Luna moved protectively closer to Lauren, while Quinn, picking up on Cadance’s unease, pressed against her flank in quiet solidarity.

“I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Lauren said softly, her tone grave. “But I know for certain: Chrysalis and the Changelings have escaped. We’re not sure how exactly,” a dragon shattered the volcano’s outer shell, and Chrysalis, being the manipulator she is, found a way to slip free without being devoured.

Her voice wavered, but she pressed on.

“Since then, they’ve been rebuilding. Regaining their strength, growing in numbers. Quietly. Patiently.”

Celestia’s expression turned to stone—her lips parted slightly, her eyes wide with horror. “Chrysalis…she’s escaped?” She whispered, her voice barely audible, as if speaking the words made them all the more real. A flicker of fury and disbelief crossed her regal features—an expression rarely seen by anypony.

Luna stepped forward, her eyes narrowing in thought. “Sister, if what Mother says is true, then there’s no time to lose. We don’t know how far Chrysalis’s influence has already spread, how many Changelings have infiltrated Equestria… or how much their numbers have grown in the shadows.” Her voice sharpened, urgency brimming beneath her calm. “The fact that they can shapeshift means even Canterlot could be compromised. We need to act swiftly—to identify infiltrators and root them out before they realize we’re onto them.”

Celestia didn’t speak, but the solemn nod she gave her sister spoke volumes. The resolve in her eyes returned like a rising sun, steady and commanding.

Meanwhile, Cadance stood trembling, her violet eyes darting across the room—perhaps imagining a swarm of changelings bursting through the doors, Chrysalis at the lead, there to snatch her away into some dark, hidden lair where she’d be forced to feed their endless hunger. Sensing her distress, Quinn padded over from Luna’s side and brushed her mane against Cadance’s leg. The contact was light but enough to pull her from the spiral of fear. “Don’t worry, Candy!” the smaller alicorn chirped, wings fluttering. “Even if that ugly bug queen shows up, we won’t let her near you. You’ve got Tia and Lulu to protect you—and me!”

“Quinn’s right,” Lauren added firmly, stepping forward with new strength in her voice. For a moment, Cadance saw her not just as a mother or mentor, but as a queen in her own right. “Even if Chrysalis is free and plotting revenge, our situation isn’t hopeless: we still have the advantage of knowledge. If changelings have infiltrated Canterlot, we can expose them. We know their tactics, their behavior. They can’t steal memories or talents—just appearances. And that gives us room to fight back.” She looked at Cadance directly. “Your fear is valid. But you’re not alone in this. We are four adult alicorns—”

“Five,” Craig cut in, and all eyes turned to him. “Look, I might not know much about changelings and their creepy queen,” he said, stepping up with a defiant lift of his chin, “but you’re still my grand-niece. And there’s no way I’m going to just stand by while some bug monsters threaten you.” He puffed out his chest slightly, spreading his wings. Lauren blushed and looked away, though the faint smile tugging at her lips betrayed her admiration. “And if there’s one thing I do know about shapeshifters,” he went on, “it’s that they can’t fake everything. They might copy how someone looks, sure—but they’ll mess up a story, forget a detail, and fail to act like the real pony. That’s how we catch them. You press their cover, poke holes, and their lies fall apart.”

“They can’t replicate memories or magic,” Lauren added with a knowing smirk. Craig, Quinn, and Luna all mirrored the same satisfied expression.

Celestia finally spoke again, her voice low and commanding. “Then tomorrow we will start our investigation. Quietly, but decisively. We’ll conduct magical scans across the palace, begin discreet background checks on key personnel, and strengthen our wards. If Chrysalis is watching… we’ll make sure she sees we’re not unprepared.”

Cadance inhaled slowly, the fear still there—but dimmed by the presence of those around her. Whatever happens next, she thought, I won’t face it alone.

“On that account,” Lauren said, raising her hoof, “I’d recommend summoning Captain Shining Armor and having him checked first. As Captain of Canterlot’s security, he’d be the primary target for—”

“You think even Shiny might be compromised?!” Cadance gasped, eyes wide in disbelief. The idea that the pony she loved most could have been replaced without her even noticing struck her like a bolt of lightning.

“Perhaps,” Lauren replied, her voice firm but gentle. “Shining Armor isn’t just the commander of the Royal Guard—he’s also critical to Canterlot’s defense. His shield spell could protect the entire city if needed. The Changelings would have every reason to try and weaken or neutralize him in advance.” She hesitated, then added gravely, “And… from what I’ve learned, replacing ponies isn’t the only danger the Changelings pose. Queen Chrysalis possesses potent magic—including the ability to control minds. If she can bend a pony’s will, even without replacing them, then the threat becomes even more insidious. Does Commander Shining have any protection against mind control?”

“Sadly, no.” Celestia nodded, realizing the issue. “Not that I recall, at least. And neither does most of the castle’s staff and guards.”

A tense silence fell over the room, as if every pony present could feel the invisible web of danger tightening around them. The idea that the very ponies they trusted might already be compromised was a cold dagger to the heart.

“Then it is imperative that we address this weakness without delay,” Luna interjected, her voice steely with conviction. “We must begin by verifying the identities of our essential personnel—those with access to classified information or proximity to the royal family. We cannot afford to assume anything.”

She stepped forward, wings slightly unfurled, the tension in her posture mirroring the anxiety churning inside her. “We are fortunate to possess a variety of spells that allow us to confirm identity or detect foreign magical interference. They were designed for war, but now, they may be our only protection.”

“Testing every guard and servant will take time,” Cadance said thoughtfully, her voice quieter now but no less resolute. “But I think we should start with a few key ponies besides Shining Armor. Like Raven Inkwell and Kibitz—they’re loyal, experienced, and if cleared, they can help us coordinate efforts without causing panic.”

“Agreed,” Celestia nodded, her expression serious but grateful for her niece’s clarity. “But even with all the alicorn magic at our disposal, there’s the problem of scale. Most detection spells are either unreliable when used by unicorns—or simply unusable. Only we alicorns can cast the more sophisticated ones. That limits us.”

“Maybe not entirely,” Lauren spoke up, raising her hoof with a small, hopeful smile, as all eyes turned to her. “During my… travels,” she began, glancing sideways at Craig for a heartbeat before straightening, “I got words of somepony who might be able to help. She lives in a small hut on the edge of the Everfree Forest, near Ponyville. Her name is Zecora—a zebra shaman of no small wisdom. She’s… unconventional, yes, but she possesses a deep understanding of natural magic and ancestral remedies. I’ve seen her work wonders with ingredients ponies wouldn’t even touch.”

Celestia tilted her head. “A zebra?”

“Yes,” Lauren confirmed. “She speaks only in rhyme, which can be… confusing at first. But I also heard about an ancient ointment used by her tribe to reveal shapeshifters. Not by breaking illusions, but by interfering with their ability to maintain disguise. It reacts to certain magical signatures—ones that changelings can’t suppress.”

“Fascinating,” Luna murmured, visibly intrigued.

“Of course, we can’t ask every citizen of Canterlot to smear goo over their faces,” Lauren added, half-smiling. “But if we study the mechanism behind it, we might be able to synthesize something more… palatable. Perhaps a spell with the same magical principles, or an airborne version. A starting point, at least.”

“The zebras…” Celestia echoed softly, her eyes lighting up with inspiration. “Of course. Their traditions diverge from ours, but their enchantments often operate on similar frequencies. I still have contacts in Zebrica—elders who may be willing to share their knowledge, especially if they understand the severity of the threat.”

Zebrica? Lauren echoed in her mind, eyes widening slightly in surprise. A strange pressure tightened in her chest. Suddenly, memories began to clash in her mind—two timelines, like overlapping reflections in still water.

On one side, her human memories: the version of Zecora she had created—meant to be a sage, a mystic guide for Twilight, maybe even a second mentor figure before the concept was scrapped. But on the other… new memories, sharp and vivid. She could see herself—not her human self, but her alicorn form—standing before a great assembly of zebras and ponies under a vast canopy in the jungle. There were colorful garbs, tribal drums, and chanting in a language both familiar and foreign. She was speaking—about alliances, about unity, about the looming threat of something dark and shifting. And then-

“Mother?” Luna’s voice cut gently through the haze, her eyes filled with concern. “Did you remember something?”

Lauren blinked, returning to the present with a soft gasp. “I… I think so,” she whispered. “It’s hazy, but I feel like I’ve been there before. Long ago. Maybe another life... or another version of this one.”

Silence hung over the chamber. The others exchanged wary looks, trying to process what she might mean.

It was Cadance who broke the silence. Her tone was steady but laced with urgency. “If I may… I’d like to formally request Twilight’s assistance.”

Celestia turned toward her, thoughtful. “Twilight?”

“Yes.” Cadance nodded firmly. “She’s the most knowledgeable unicorn when it comes to advanced magic. She could help us develop a spell to detect whether anypony has been tampered with or influenced by changeling magic. And…” she hesitated, lowering her voice, “she’s Shining’s sister. That alone will drive her to take this seriously.”

A long pause followed. No one disagreed. But the weight of what they were implying—that Shining Armor, one of the most trusted and beloved ponies in Equestria, might no longer be himself—lay heavy in the air.

“We don’t know yet if Shining or anypony else had been compromised.” Craig intervened, trying to soothe everyone’s fears. “So far, we’re only discussing checking him to make sure. But if he is not under any kind of mind influence, then we can explain to him the danger looming over Canterlot and have the defenses ready should something happen.”

“That’s right!” Cadance nodded, her wings flapping as she found new determination. “He trusts me, just like Twilight! If I speak to him carefully, he’ll listen. If there’s even a shred of doubt in his heart—if something’s wrong—I’ll feel it.”

Lauren gave her a slow, approving nod. “And if something is wrong, we’ll be ready. We’ll need Zecora’s help preparing the unguent spell and Twilight’s expertise to refine it. If the changelings are hiding in plain sight, we must expose them before they can strike.”

Celestia looked down at the floor, thoughtful. “Twilight will want answers. She’ll want to understand why she wasn’t told earlier… and she’ll be furious if she learns we kept this from her.”

Luna raised her head. “Then let her be angry. Her anger may be the spark we need. She is loyal, and her magic is second only to yours, sister. If there’s a threat against Equestria, she’ll stand against it.”

Craig, who had been silent until now, stepped forward. “We have our plan, we have the resources, and we know who has the expertise we require; the only thing left is time to prepare. And if the changelings really are planning something…” He paused, glancing toward the window where the distant lights of Canterlot shimmered in the dark “we may not have much of that left.”

“Then let’s not waste what we have,” Cadance nodded. “I’ll inform Twilight herself… after we’ve checked on Shiny and we have secured Canterlot.”

“So…” Craig said softly, his voice a mix of awe and hesitance as he turned in place, eyes wide with wonder. “This is our room from now on.”

Lauren nodded slowly, as if even that simple motion took effort. She stood frozen just a few steps into the chamber, her gaze wandering across the expanse of their new quarters. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed, though the word barely scratched the surface of what she felt. “Too beautiful. It feels… reverent.”

The room was vast and warm, its milky white walls shimmering with a soft iridescence, as though infused with gentle magic. Crimson and gold embroidery danced in sweeping patterns along the ceiling’s edges—flames, wings, crowns—and everything glowed faintly in the late afternoon sunlight pouring through tall arched windows.

In the center stood a grand bed, large enough for two alicorns to sleep comfortably. It was shaped like an elongated oval and draped in regal purple. Six marble columns encircled it, forming a canopy from which hung tall cream-colored curtains, heavy and soft. They rippled ever so slightly, as though reacting to the presence of magic.

But it wasn’t the comfort or elegance that struck Lauren the hardest. It was the stories the room whispered—the care taken to reflect her. Her essence, her legacy, her image.

On the far wall hung a massive painting, gilded in gold leaf, depicting her in a moment of fierce valor. Her wings flared wide, mane streaming like wildfire in the wind, her horn glowing with raw magic. Beneath her, huddled behind a protective wing, were two small fillies—Luna and Celestia, unmistakably young, their eyes wide with trust and fear. The monster she battled was shrouded in shadows, indistinct—but irrelevant. The focus was her: defiant, divine, maternal.

Lauren took a step forward, her breath caught somewhere between awe and confusion. “I can’t believe my eyes,” she whispered. “When did this happen?”

Craig joined her, resting a comforting hoof—still so odd to him—on her shoulder. “I guess you were always a loving and protective mother,” he said gently, offering a half-smile. “Whether you remember it or not… they do.”

Lauren stared at the painting, lost in its colors and its implications. “But I don’t remember being that… that powerful. Or that loved.” Her voice wavered, and she glanced away. “All of this—” she gestured at the room, the tapestries, the little glass sculptures on the shelves depicting scenes from some myth or memory she couldn’t fully grasp “—it feels like a shrine. Not a bedroom.”

“Well, according to what they told us, you disappeared back when they were still young.” Craig murmured, glancing at the two fillies in the painting and noting how feeble and defenseless they looked compared to the two ethereal alicorn sisters he had met at dinner earlier. “Many kids who either lost or were forcefully abandoned by their parents at such an age end up with a strong desire for family, especially if their parents used to be sweet and good ones. And Celestia and Luna… as alicorns, they’re immortals, over a thousand years old, right?” He swallowed. “They didn’t just admire you. They needed you. Maybe still do.”

Lauren said nothing for a moment. She walked to the bookshelf, brushing her hoof across the spines of ancient volumes. Some were spellbooks. Others, story collections. One was titled Songs of the Dawnmother. Another bore the sigil of an eclipse and her name written in a long-forgotten script.

“I used to be a storyteller, long before I was a human I was already creating stories.” she said, almost to herself. “I… seem to remember writing all these stories. To Celestia, to Luna, to Equestria herself. I remember standing up at night reading them my creations, sitting around small fires, narrating them to anyone who wanted to lend me their ears.” She turned to Craig, eyes shimmering. “But now I’m not sure if I imagined it all—or if I was remembering something I once lived.”

Craig moved closer, his own thoughts tangled. “Lauren… even if it’s both, or neither—does it matter?” He reached for her hoof, clasping it in his. “You’re here now. And this world clearly remembers you. Maybe more clearly than you remember yourself.”

She looked at him, vulnerability in her gaze. “Aren’t you overwhelmed? Or terrified? I know I should be feeling strong, in control—but instead I feel like I’m walking through someone else’s dream. A dream that loves me, but that I don’t remember dreaming.”

Craig hesitated before answering. “Of course I’m overwhelmed. I was a cartoonist, not a king! I don’t understand half the things happening here. And the body—” he gave a sheepish chuckle, lifting a forehoof “—still not used to walking without tripping.”

That earned a faint smile from her.

“But none of that matters,” he continued. “Because I’m here with you. I don’t care if you’re a goddess, a forgotten queen, or just the same woman I married, stumbling through this world with questions. You’re still you, Lauren. And I’ll stand by your side—hooves or hands, world or worlds.”

Her heart ached with gratitude, and she leaned her head against his. For a while, they said nothing. The silence was filled only by the faint rustle of curtains, the scent of wildflowers on the breeze, and the presence of so many quiet memories watching them. And then, without any previous warning, she trotted toward him and planted her lips onto his, the two alicorn sharing a deep, passionate kiss of warm love and eternal bonding.

“This is why I love you, Craig McCracken.”

“And this is why I married you, Lauren Faust.” Her husband nodded before continuing. “Though, I do have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

“What kind of questions?” Lauren replied, suddenly alert.

“About us, and what we should do since we are in the story now.” The alicorn stallion looked aside, trying to recall everything he could about his wife’s magnum opus, more specifically, the various seasons’ bad guys. “From what you told me, we are at the series’ beginning. Do you think we should stay on the sidelines or-”

“-or interfere?” Lauren realized what he was implying; the word hung between them like a half-cast spell.

“I mean, is that the question now?” Craig continued. “We know what’s coming, everything Twilight and her friends are going to face, every threat and menace they’re going to face and defeat, many of those barely; every enemy who could pose a threat to Equestria and the pony races, as well as everyone else in this world. Nightmare Moon had been dealt with; As for Chrysalis, now that Celestia, Luna, and Cadance are aware of her threat, she and her subject will have a harder time infiltrating Canterlot, even if the whole wedding plot goes as planned. However,” and now Craig’s voice started to turn darker, “they are not the only bad guys of the franchise, am I wrong? There’s Sombra, an evil king who managed to conquer the Crystal Empire all by himself, turning its whole population into an army of slave soldiers; then we have Cozy Glow, a small foal who managed to manipulate her way to the point of subverting Twilight’s own lessons, and she almost got away with destroying all of Equestria’s magic! Then there is Tirek,” Craig’s voice tightened further. “He drains magic, Lauren! We’re alicorns now, Laury. Think about how much power we’re carrying—and what he’d do if he sensed it. And then, there’s Discord, who I may remind you, not only is a freakin’ reality warper and can turn everything into chaos just with a snap of his talons, but he is also able to brainwash others, just like he did with the Mane 6 minus Twilight on his very first appearance in the show? Tell me, what’s stopping him from doing the same to you, me… or one of our daughters?”

Lauren said nothing, standing in silence as the cold truth of Craig’s words sank into her. While she knew that Discord was still safely trapped within the castle’s own garden (and just like with Chrysalis, she could put in a word with Celestia and Luna to make sure he wouldn’t escape as soon as he did in canon), she also knew the dragonesque’s overpowered abilities and his penchant for chaos would make him a truly dangerous threat. In the series, he was eventually redeemed by Fluttershy’s friendship, so perhaps she could try skipping waypoints and try and move this earlier?

“I have thought about this.” She finally said, looking outside of the window and at the starry night Luna’s powers had created, her wings shifting uneasily at her side, clearly telling of her inner turmoil. “To tell the truth, my first intention was simply to stand back and let the plot unfold as it did: after all, Twilight and her friends always come out on top, again and again, no matter what kind of threat or enemy they face, what challenge they endure, what dispute may threaten to split them out. But… I never expected for us to be right into this. All of us.”

“And maybe that’s the problem,” Craig replied with a gentle tone. “We’re not spectators anymore. We’re not sitting in our home, trying to figure out what could happen in the next episodes, creating new plotlines and new villains for the heroes to vanquish. We’re inside your story now; we’re actively interacting with the characters; we’re influencing the events just by being present.”

Lauren exhaled slowly, walking to the painting above the bed. Her own likeness stared back at her—powerful, noble, and fierce. She barely recognized it.

“They love me here,” she murmured. “They’ve turned this room into a shrine to my memory, a monument to their missing mother. They remember me as some ancient, wise guiding figure that could never be wrong. When I started writing about… Equestria,” she exhaled, thinking back on her early days, back when she was still trying to pitch the show idea, long before she became the exalted artist and author the crowd of fans adored, “I wanted to give my characters a world that was both beautiful and safe, but now? Now I’m terrified of breaking it, that any action I may take or any word I might say could ruin it.”

“But what if staying silent makes it worse?” Craig brushed his shoulder against hers. “I was there with you when we ended up mentioning Chrysalis. Would it have been better to say nothing and leave Celestia and Luna unaware of the threat looming over their subjects? Let Cadance be kidnapped and Shining Armor be brainwashed into almost marrying their evil queen, just because we didn’t want to upset the status quo? Laury, I was with you when the episode came out; I saw what would have happened had we said nothing. What if our actions could help prevent countless suffering instead? Warn peo-ponies of the danger they might face so they can be ready for it, moving things so the bad guys won’t be able to cause as much damage as they did canonically. You have written this story, so you know what will happen: those events will happen, regardless of what we do; do you really want to stand back and do nothing as tragedy strikes this world, again and again?”

Lauren didn’t answer right away, her eyes drifting toward the bookshelf, the flowers, and the little comforts that helped remind her of the show’s innocence. And then, the image crumbled, as she was reminded of Queen Chrysalis and how she had almost successfully taken over Equestria on more than one occasion with nothing more than her shapeshifting abilities and her lies; of Sombra, enslaving entire cities; of a red centaur draining the world dry of its magic.

Her breath caught as her eyes lifted once more to the painting—her own regal image, captured in strokes of reverence and memory. But this time, she didn’t feel like an imposter looking at a stranger.

This time, she saw purpose.

She saw the same hands—now hooves—that once sketched ponies on paper in late nights with sore fingers and too many deadlines. She saw the mind that had carefully balanced whimsy and wonder, who once whispered stories into the ears of the world.

But now, she was in the world. And those stories could no longer be safely tucked into a storyboard.

They were real. And they could break.

Lauren turned toward the window again, looking down at the sleeping rooftops of Canterlot. The stars shimmered in Luna’s sky, tranquil and distant. Somewhere beneath those constellations, innocent ponies slept, blissfully unaware of the monsters that would one day try to unmake their world.

Her world.

She thought of the fillies in Ponyville. Of Cadance and Shining Armor. Of the desperate battles yet to come. And of the throne room, the reverence, the way their eyes had filled with tears when they saw her—her, returned.

They believed in her.

And it was time she lived up to that belief.

“I won’t let it happen,” she whispered, voice steady and resolute. “You’re right, they will come, whether we act or not.”

“And when they do…” Craig added, standing next to her, his image reflecting on the polished marble floor just like hers, two former cartoon writers, now turned into immortal alicorns, who had just realized they didn’t have to follow the script anymore. “They will either see us as targets for their thirst of conquest, or worse. What if Chrysalis decides to change her plans, and instead of Shining Armor, she tries to mind control me?”

“Are you perhaps suggesting I’d let you cheat on me, even unwillingly?!” Lauren teased him, using the same ‘calm yet angry’ tone she often used whenever she had to politely threaten her husband. “But yes, we will have to be ready. Alicorns or not, all the raw magic power in the world isn’t going to help us unless we know how to use it: we need to learn so we can be ready when the time comes.”

“I remember Celestia mentioning something about joining Luna’s lessons.” Craig quipped. “I’d say it would be a good occasion to learn as much as we can about Equestria’s own story and the other nations of the world, as well as everything useful we can find in those old texts.”

“That’s a smart idea.” Lauren nodded, as a small smile began to form upon her lips, her hopes for the future feeling rejuvenated. “We have no idea what kind of threats we might face. The good news is, we know who the bad guys we need to be wary of are: since Nightmare Moon’s out of business permanently, our first priority should be Discord. Then, we must keep in mind both Queen Chrysalis and her swarm, as well as Tirek. Then there is Cozy Glow, but she’s a child whose strength mostly relies on manipulations. Then we have Sombra, and then there’s the Storm King-”

“The Storm King is that generic doomsday guy from the movie, the one that turned the Royal Princesses into stone, yet only because they couldn’t dodge?” Craig murmured, getting a look from Lauren as he did. “Are we throwing him in too? Is he even supposed to appear in canon?”

“Well, I never rejected the movie from the continuity, so as far as it is, it is still part of the canon. And even if he’s not, it’s important we play safe and be ready for whatever threat may come to us.” Lauren gave a small, satisfied sigh, the gears in her mind already turning with a sense of newfound purpose. “At least,” she said, lifting her chin slightly, “we know who the bad guys are going to be. That gives us the upper hoof. No surprises. Just proper planning and some clever rewrites of fate. We’ve got this.”

Craig opened his mouth, then slowly closed it. “You do realize that every time someone says something like that, the universe immediately takes it as a challenge, right?”

Lauren waved a wing dismissively. “Craig, please. I created this world. I know the threats. We’re not going to be caught off-guard by some unknown villain hiding in the shadows!”

(…)

“And so, Lauren Faust has returned.”

Far from Canterlot, in one of the most remote and untamed regions of the continent, stood a grand castle—lonely and proud—perched on the edge of a steep, jagged mountain. The terrain was wild and treacherous, carved by time and untouched by ponies for centuries. Its location afforded a sweeping, near-mythical view of the valleys and sky beyond… but it also made access nearly impossible. No roads reached it. No carts climbed its paths. Only those with wings, teleportation magic, or some other rare means could hope to reach its heights.

The castle itself, once a beacon of vibrant colors and radiant banners, had long since been left to decay. The once-golden spires were now dulled and blackened by age and weather; its walls, cracked and moss-covered, were wrapped in thick, creeping vines that clawed at its stonework like the fingers of time itself. The hues of joy and life had faded, replaced by the somber palette of abandonment—ashen greys, rotten greens, and the occasional glimmer of forgotten gold.

Many centuries ago—long before the founding of Equestria, before the petty rivalries of the three tribes, before even the birth of the alicorn sisters—this castle had not been a ruin. Back then, it was a fortress of learning, a sanctum for the most brilliant magical minds of the age. Within its halls, wizards and sages devoted their lives to study, to experimentation, to unlocking the deepest secrets of the arcane.

But like all things touched by pride and power, that age ended. Their society fell—whether to hubris, war, or time itself, no one could say for certain. Their teachings faded, their libraries were forgotten, and the castle that once held the promise of limitless knowledge was left to the mercy of the wind and wilderness.

Until a new occupant found her way there.

“The ancient queen of Equestria… the mother of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna…”

Once, she had been respected. She had been admired. She looked at herself with pride and arrogance, to the point she had assumed she could simply waltz in front of Luna and Celestia, and the two of them would simply want her to be their friend.

That had not happened. Instead, they had simply trotted away, leaving her with a serious blow to her own self-esteem and the growing desire for retaliation and revenge surging from her bones.

So much time has passed since. Skyros was no more, gone and forgotten from the minds of anypony, except those few survivors who still lived: Celestia and Luna, the royal sisters of Equestria, once envoys of the Alicorn Kingdom, now ruling as sovereigns of the greatest nation in the world.

And now, their mother, the Storyteller, had returned. What’s more, she wasn’t alone: she had found a new husband. A consort. Another alicorn. Another wildcard. And together, they had produced another offspring. Another alicorn filly, just as the Royal sisters and their adopted niece were once.

Opaline paced slowly across the cracked marble floor of her throne room, her hooves echoing like war drums in the silent dark. The flames from her hooves crackled violet and blue, casting eerie shadows that danced along the walls like restless ghosts.

“It seems like my plans need to be changed, and I’ll get into action much earlier than I expected.” She said, an evil smirk blossoming on her lips, as her eyes once again gazed upon the image of Lauren Faust, surrounded by her family, comprised of the very last alicorn of the world.

That is… the ones the world still remembered.

Chapter Text

As the days passed, the new members of Equestria's royal family began, albeit with difficulty, to get used to their new life. Luckily for them, the royal staff at the palace was more than willing to keep their mouths shut and maintain the secret about their sudden appearance, so for now, news of their presence hadn’t spread outside. And Celestia wanted to make sure things would stay this way for as long as possible.

Each day, the family would have their own rhythm. After waking, they gathered together for breakfast, where, between bites, they discussed their daily commitments and little plans. Quinn was the one who had adapted best: for her, life in Canterlot was a dream come true, a veritable paradise she intended to enjoy to the fullest. She spent her days darting through the palace corridors, playing hide-and-seek with the guards, pestering the castle servants for stories, and exploring the labyrinthine foundations of Canterlot. She had also developed an alarming sweet tooth, feasting on sugar-crusted oat bars and crystal-glazed candies at every opportunity. But then again, as Celestia had explained with a wry smile, one of the many advantages of being an alicorn was complete immunity to weight gain, tooth decay, and most mortal frailties. Quinn had taken that fact as a personal challenge.

For Quinn, every day was an adventure; for her parents, however, it was often a blur of discovery tinged with the quiet weight of responsibility. Lauren and Craig spent most of their time in the Royal Library, trying to absorb as much as they could about this strange, enchanting world they now called home. They poured over The Story of the Three Tribes by Wise Scholar, tracing the hard-won unity of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. They studied the regional customs of Equestria: the thundering jousts of Stalliongrad, the flower festivals of Trottingham, and the rich cuisine of Maretonia with its spiced grains and jewel-like pastries. Beyond that, there were shelves devoted to the griffons’ martial traditions, the dragons’ ancient hoards, the zebras’ cryptic proverbs, and even rumors of changelings whose shape-shifting magic unsettled them more than they cared to admit. The more they learned, the vaster and more dizzying the picture became, like trying to piece together the stars in an unfamiliar sky.

Luna, meanwhile, often kept her own schedule. She would vanish for hours at a time, wandering the gardens or spending long stretches of quiet thought upon Canterlot’s balconies. Yet in the evenings, she would join her family again, her presence grounding them. And though she seldom said so aloud, she took a quiet pleasure in watching her mother and stepfather grow more accustomed to their new world, even as she wrestled with her own desire to prove herself once again…

(…)

“So, this is Equestria.” Lauren murmured, looking over a large map depicting the continent of Equus. Equestria was the light green nation that covered more than two-thirds of it, from its southern borders to the northern regions. Of the remaining parts of the continent, over half of it was drawn in a pale white color with the words ‘the Savage North,’ indicating those areas weren’t claimed by any nation of the world, and thus they were left to themselves, bordering with Yakyakistan to the east and to the Kingdom of Olenia to the south, the latter sharing a small border territory with Equestria, near the city of Vanhoover.

Olenia… I don’t remember creating such nation for the show’s lore, Lauren thought as her eyes fixed on the shape of the strange nation, yet feeling like the name was familiar. Perhaps she visited it in the past? Or was it founded long time after her supposed disappearance?

“We’d say, Mother, so many things have changed in the last one thousand years.” Luna replied, busy with her own studies. “Equestria has grown since the time I- Nightmare Moon was banished to the Moon.” The Alicorn Princess of the Moon quickly corrected herself, noticing the glance Lauren was giving her. “Sorry, I know you told me that I shouldn’t blame myself for her doings, but—”

“Don’t apologize.” Lauren gave her daughter a gentle smile, to try and reassure her as she had done, again and again, for countless times in the last few days. “She wasn’t you, and you’re not her. It fed on your pain, but she was never you to begin with. Never forget it.”

“Wow, the archives of the Royal Library sure are accurate!” Craig murmured, emerging from a pile of books stacked haphazardly on top of each other, a scroll of parchment in one of its hooves. “Check it out honey: this paper details the foundation of someplace new ‘New Mareland’ on the shores of Griffonia, over 500 years ago. It’s basically half a millennium!”

“New Mareland, yes, that’s one of the various changes Tia had told me about happened while I was… away.” Luna walked up to Craig and snatched the paper from his hooves, beginning to inspect it with a heartfelt expression. “So many things I have lost, all because I couldn’t control my own jealousy.”

“Hey, you’re here; that’s all that matters. Plus,” Craig intervened, “we can all learn this stuff together. After all, we have a lot of time and nothing else better to do.”

The three of them chuckled until they were interrupted by a sudden sound. More specifically, a loud growl coming from Lauren’s own stomach.

“S-sorry!” The red-maned alicorn pre-apologized, putting a hoof over her stomach. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Mother, are you hungry?” Luna asked softly, her ears perking as though she was ready to spring into action at once.

Lauren’s cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. “Well… maybe a little. I suppose I haven’t exactly eaten much these last few days. I got a bit too caught up in…” She waved a hoof toward the piles of scrolls and maps stacked around them, “…all this.”

“You needn’t apologize,” Luna said, smiling with the kind of patient gentleness only she could muster. “Knowledge feeds the mind, but the body must be nourished as well. Come—let us set aside these dusty tomes for now and find something to eat.”

Lauren tilted her head, her expression brightening just a little. “Actually… I was wondering if we could go for something simpler this time, something that has not come out of the Royal Kitchen. I’ve been curious about what ponies eat outside these castle walls. Perhaps we could try to go outside and find ourselves some place to eat, either in the city itself or close by?”

“You know what?” Craig blinked, his stomach giving a small growl in agreement. “That doesn’t sound half bad. I’ve been running myself ragged too, and I can’t remember the last time I had a proper meal either. Studying Equestria’s history is great and all, but… sampling its food firsthand? That’s research too!”

Lauren chuckled, rolling her eyes but clearly amused. “Of course you’d find a way to call lunch ‘research.’”

“Hey, it’s fieldwork!” Craig replied, puffing his chest like he was making an official proclamation.

Luna’s eyes widened as she realized the implication. “That would be a good idea; however, there is an issue. I remind you that, while ponies in Canterlot are already aware of my… return,” the Alicorn of the Moon looked aside, “your own existence is still a state secret. If we were to trot among our citizens, just your appearance alone might be enough to cause widespread panic and shock. Perhaps it would be better if we go back to Tia and we ked her—”

“No, I don’t want to bother her.” Lauren shook her head. “Celestia’s busy ruling all of Equestria without any help, since Cadance is away on a diplomatic visit once again; we can’t simply barge into the throne room and request her attention. And besides, if she’s holding the Day Court, just showing ourselves unannounced would be enough to reveal our existence to other ponies.”

“Then, how about we go incognito?” Craig suggested, raising a hoof, quickly getting the attention of both his wife and his stepdaughter.

“In cognito?” Luna raised an eyebrow, with a curious expression. “I wasn’t aware of the existence of such a term. What does it mean?”

“It’s incognito, and it means going while also making sure you are not recognized.” Lauren explained to her daughter. “Just like when I first approached Twilight and her friends, I was hiding my wings and pretending to be someone else in order not to cause chaos with my mere presence. What Craig is suggesting is to disguise ourselves as normal-looking ponies to avoid being recognized.”

“That’s… an excellent idea,” murmured Luna, thinking about it. “To tell the truth, Tia and I used to do the same thing, a long time ago. I should still remember the spell—”

“Spell?” Craig questioned, tilting his head.

“A simple glamour,” Luna explained, straightening her posture as her horn glimmered faintly. “It bends light, hides wings and horns, and shifts colors. Nothing permanent, but enough to pass unnoticed among the crowd. Tia and I used to sneak out this way whenever we wished to mingle with our subjects… or simply escape the suffocating weight of court life.” Her voice softened, touched with nostalgia.

Craig’s ears perked. “Wait—so you’re telling me you had the equivalent of royal princesses’ slumber parties outside the castle all along… and nopony knew?”

Luna blinked at him. “Slumber parties? What—no, that is not what I said—”

Lauren chuckled, nudging her husband’s shoulder. “She means you had a chance to breathe, to live as normal ponies once in a while. Something I think we could use too.”

Craig rubbed his chin, though a sly grin crept onto his muzzle. “Well, I’m in—though I warn you both, if the spell turns me neon pink or makes my horn vanish halfway through dinner, I’m blaming Luna.”

“You wound me, stepfather,” Luna deadpanned, though her eyes sparkled with amusement. “Have faith—I have had many centuries to practice.”

Lauren smiled warmly. “Then it’s settled. We’ll go incognito, get something real to eat, and for one day, we’ll be just three ponies out on the town.”

“Fieldwork,” Craig corrected with a smirk.

“Dinner,” Lauren countered firmly.

“Research,” Craig shot back.

Luna rolled her eyes with exaggerated exasperation. “You two are insufferable.” But a small, genuine laugh escaped her lips, the kind that spoke of long-forgotten happiness. “Come on, let’s prepare ourselves. Canterlot City awaits for us…”

(…)

“Well, I have to say, I don't feel much different than before,” said Craig, looking at his reflection in the mirror. With his wings and horn no longer visible, he now looked like a perfect Earth Pony, his coat light blue, his mane and tail jet black. Even his Cutie Mark had been camouflaged by magic and now depicted a bright star above an open book. “I mean, compared to going from fingers to hooves, being without wings and a horn doesn't seem like such a big difference.”

“That's because you're not used to using them, as a former human,” replied his beloved wife, trotting into the room, she too having undergone a radical change in her physical appearance: she was now a pegasus with a yellowish coat, her hair, tail, and wing tips an inviting golden color, and a Cutie Mark representing a rainbow rising above a generic mountain. “But for the ponies who inhabit this world, those who were born with wings or horns, to suddenly be deprived of such elements is like suddenly being deprived of a limb. To give an example, how would you feel if, as a human, you lost a leg?”

“This isn't permanent, is it?” Craig asked, suddenly sounding concerned. “It's just part of the spell, right? And we can undo it whenever we want.”

“I think so, at least, that's what Luna said,” Lauren replied, glancing toward the room where the Princess of the Night was still busy changing her appearance. “The spell will last six hours, or until our lives are in danger, or until one of us says the secret word to undo it. Obviously, it's an emergency solution, so let's try not to use it until we're back at the castle or unless we're in a situation that requires it.”

“I'm ready!” Luna's triumphant voice announced the arrival of the former alicorn princess, now a beautiful unicorn with a black coat and a slender, sinuous figure, like her mother's, with a Cutie Mark representing a constellation. “Mom, Dad, meet Starry Shadow.”

“Nice name,” Lauren replied with a smile. "I, on the other hand, have decided to call myself Golden Wing. What do you think?

“And I, until we return to the palace, will be Paper Worker. If anyone asks, I'll say I'm a schoolboy working at the palace and that I recently started a new job in town.”

“Perfect,” Luna nodded. “So, are we ready to go?”

“Just remember, Lulu,” Lauren added, like a last-time recommendation a mother would make before going public with her family. “We are supposed to be common ponies, just enjoying some family time together. That means no royal proclamations, no use of the royal ‘we’ or Canterlot voice, and if something ends up annoying you, you cannot blast them into oblivion.”

“Hey, I never blasted anyone who annoyed me!” The Alicorn of the moon replied with an offended tone… before pausing. “At least, not anymore.”

“Alright, let’s recap our cover story once again, just to make sure.” Craig interjected. “We are a simple family enjoying a free day in Canterlot. I’m the dad, Lauren’s the mom and you are… our daughter.” He stopped for a brief second, as his mind reminded him that the ‘play’ was the truth, and Starry Shadow, aka the alicorn diarch princess Luna of Equestria was actually his daughter, before continuing. “Just three perfectly normal ponies enjoying a perfectly normal day in Canterlot.”

“Perfectly normal,” Lauren repeated, nodding.

“Perfectly normal,” Luna echoed, though her tone sounded more like she was rehearsing a dangerous spell.

And with that, the three slipped out together, hearts beating a little faster, disguises shimmering faintly under Celestia’s Sun. None of them would admit it, but sneaking out incognito felt a little like they were foals again, ready to explore a world that, despite everything, still had surprises in store.

Meanwhile, in the throne room, Princess Celestia, Alicorn of the Sun, sat on her golden seat, wings tucked neatly at her sides and her face carefully composed into the serene mask of a ruler. Before her stretched a long line of ponies—nobles, merchants, petitioners—all waiting to plead their cases or present their requests.

“…and therefore, Your Majesty, it is clear that the placement of a new fountain in the Upper District would not only increase the beauty of Canterlot City itself but also raise the property value of my estate—ah, I mean, the estates of all who live there.”

Celestia’s violet eyes blinked once. Slowly. A trained, polite smile remained in place as she listened, though inside she was fighting the urge to sigh. This was the fourth “urgent matter” concerning fountains today, and the Day Court was not even half over.

She allowed the noble to continue rambling, her mind wandering briefly. If only Luna was here to share these duties. Or Cadance, if her diplomatic tour didn’t keep her away so often. Instead, she bore the weight of it all, as she had for centuries.

“…and of course, my humble contribution to the project would be most generous, provided the crown were willing to offer its blessing and perhaps a modest subsidy…”

Celestia’s ears twitched. For a heartbeat, she wondered if anypony would notice if she simply vanished in a puff of magic and escaped to the kitchens for a slice of cake. She did not, of course. The Princess of the Sun never abandoned her duties. Instead, she nodded with the same graceful patience she always showed, her voice calm and regal:

“Thank you for your… thorough explanation. The matter shall be considered with care.”

Behind her, a guard struggled to keep himself from yawning.

Another petitioner stepped forward as the noble bowed out, this time a stout earth pony with a scroll nearly as tall as himself.

“Your Majesty, I bring to your attention the grave injustice of the current grain tariffs imposed by the eastern provinces, which have unfairly—”

Tariffs. Again. Celestia forced her expression to remain serene, though her mind recited the arguments she was certain she was about to hear. By the cadence of the pony’s opening statement alone, she could already predict the next five minutes word for word.

She let him speak, her horn glowing faintly as she signed another document levitating to her side, her quill never missing a stroke. Multitasking had become second nature to her long ago: listening, responding politely, and keeping the endless machinery of governance turning without pause.

But beneath that mask of composure, a quiet ache lingered.

When was the last time I truly walked among them? Not as their ruler, but simply… as a mare?

She remembered distant centuries, when she and Luna—carefree and curious—would slip through the streets of Canterlot or the countryside in disguise, tasting simple food from market stalls, listening to local bards, and laughing with commoners who never guessed they were speaking with royalty. Those days felt impossibly far away.

The petitioner droned on, and Celestia’s smile held steady. But her eyes, for just a fleeting instant, seemed distant, focused not on the scroll before her but on the joys of life that she no longer had the time to experience.

A soft cough from Kibitz brought her back.

“Your Majesty, shall I add this to the list for review with the treasury?” the unicorn aide asked discreetly.

“Yes,” Celestia replied smoothly. “Mark it for tomorrow’s session.”

Her voice never wavered, calm and composed as ever. But as the line of waiting ponies stretched on, the Princess of the Sun silently wished for something—anything—that might break the monotony of the day…

(…)

“So... this is Canterlot?” Luna said, her eyes glittering with wonder and awe as she looked around, and she caught a glimpse of the city that was now the capital of all pony races.

Over a millennium ago, before she allowed her jealousy and her resentment for her sister to take over, before her banishment to the Moon, when both she and Celestia lived in their old castle, there was nothing comparable in the surroundings. The castle itself was far away from all pony settlements, and barring the two alicorn sisters, their mentor Starswirl, the servants, and the guards, the only ponies who lived in the area were a few farmers and a small number of nobles who believed that living close to their rulers would benefit them in some kind of upper value. This city, on the other hand, was teeming with life.

Everywhere she looked, she saw a large number of ponies going about their daily business: unicorn scholars with books and scrolls in their saddlebags or lifted into the air by simple levitation spells, some of them reading even as they walked, heading for schools and courts; winged pegasi darting through the air, carrying packages or other objects; Earth ponies trotting confidently through the main streets, pushing carts and wheelbarrows loaded with fruit, fabrics, fragrant flowers, or other items; foals laughing as they played chase through the crowd, their giggles carrying above the chatter and the clatter of hooves.

Luna slowed her steps, almost overwhelmed by the sight. “So many…” she whispered. “So many ponies, living together, their lives interwoven like threads in a great tapestry. In my day, such harmony could only be dreamed of. And now… here it stands, real and bright before me.”

Her eyes shone as she turned her head, taking it all in. The way a baker called out his daily specials, the sparkle of a jeweler’s wares displayed in the window, the musicians at the plaza filling the air with cheerful tunes—it was a symphony of ordinary life, and to Luna it was nothing short of miraculous.

For the first time in what felt like centuries, she smiled without reserve.

“Indeed. Quite a wonder, don’t you agree?” Craig said, noticing her expression.

Lauren couldn’t help but grin at the sight. “You know, Lulu… you’re staring like a tourist who’s seeing the big city for the first time.”

“I am seeing it for the first time!” Luna shot back, though her voice carried more excitement than annoyance. She spun in place, her eyes darting from one bustling street corner to the next. “Look at them: thousands of ponies living atop a mountain, in a city larger and brighter than anything I ever knew. When I last walked this land, such a place was but fantasy!”

The fake Pegasus chuckled warmly, watching her daughter’s ears flick this way and that at every new sound. “Well, just make sure you don’t give yourself away with that wide-eyed look. Normal ponies don’t usually walk around acting like they’ve just discovered civilization.”

“Oh hush,” Luna muttered, trying to school her expression into something more composed—though the glimmer in her eyes betrayed her. “I am blending in perfectly well.”

“Sure you are,” Craig said with a smirk. “Perfectly normal. Just a perfectly normal unicorn mare gawking at every fruit stand and lamp post.”

That earned him a playful glare, but even Luna couldn’t hold back a laugh. She inhaled deeply, letting the scents of fresh bread, roasted chestnuts, and blooming flowers wash over her. For the first time since her return, she felt almost… free.

As they moved further down the street, the trio blended into the steady flow of ponies going about their day. At least, they thought they did, until a small voice piped up from below.

“Wow… you’re really tall for a unicorn!”

They looked down to see a little Earth pony filly with a sky-blue bow in her mane staring up at Luna with wide, curious eyes. She had a small basket of flowers strapped to her back, petals bouncing as she tilted her head.

Luna froze, caught mid-step like a deer in torchlight. “I… am?” She asked, her ears twitching as if she had been accused of some great crime.

“Uh-huh!” The foal chirped. “And your mane is super shiny too! Are you somepony important?”

Craig suppressed a laugh, quickly stepping in. “Important? Nah, not at all. She just, uh… eats her vegetables.”

“Huh-uh!” Lauren bit her lip to hide her smile. “Lots of them.”

 “Ohhh… that makes sense.” The foal nodded solemnly, clearly accepting this wisdom as fact. “My mom says carrots make you taller too.” She leaned closer to Luna, whispering as if sharing a secret. “Do you like carrots?”

For a moment, Luna didn’t answer. Then her lips curved into a soft smile, the kind she hadn’t worn in centuries. “Yes… yes, I do.”

“Good! Then you’re okay.” The foal beamed, then scampered off toward a nearby stand, basket bouncing, leaving Luna blinking after her.

Craig chuckled, nudging her side. “See? Perfectly normal.”

(…)

“—and thus, in order to strengthen the foundation of our nation—” the well-dressed unicorn droned on, completely unaware of the utter boredom he had inflicted upon the princess with his speech.

Celestia’s face was a mask of serene composure, the kind she had perfected over centuries. Her eyes, half-lidded, betrayed none of her thoughts. To the court, she looked regal, attentive, and wise, but in truth, she was silently counting the minutes until it was time to set the Sun, wondering if even her celestial duties were less exhausting than enduring another pony debating tariffs on imported hay.

If I hear one more speech about “economic stability,” I may abdicate on the spot, she thought dryly.

At that moment, one of the room’s many doors creaked open, and a royal guard trotted inside, his polished armor catching the light as a few petitioners who were standing in line turned their attention onto him, watching in silence as the guard bowed.

“Your Highness, forgive the interruption,” he said, in a formal tone of voice. “But your attention is requested… by someone most insistent.”

The unicorn speaker frowned indignantly at the interruption, but Celestia’s ears perked. She knew that phrasing, and she knew exactly who it meant.

For the first time all day, a spark of genuine delight lit her face. “My little ponies,” she said, rising gracefully from her throne, “I’m afraid I must adjourn our session early. Matters of urgent importance require my presence.”

“What? But that’s ridiculous!” The next petitioner in line exclaimed, clearly scandalized. “I've been waiting here all morning just to present my brilliant proposal to the Princess—to showcase the value of my estate—I mean, of the district of Nova Solis—with a magnificent ornamental fountain, and I have no intention of—”

“Her Highness has already apologized for the interruption, Lord Gled,” Kibitz cut in smoothly, stepping between the noble and the throne, while the guards shifted at once to form a protective cordon around their sovereign. “The Princess has made it clear the Day Court must close early, for matters of state more pressing than your… project.” His tone hardened, the faintest smile playing under his mustache. “Unless you wish to suggest that your fountain is more important than the princess’s duty to the entirety of Equestria?”

Lord Gled rolled his eyes, his mouth opening and closing like a fish's, yet no word escaped his mouth as he watched Princess Celestia trot away from her throne and disappear behind closed doors, before admitting his defeat, the noble looking down with a sore expression as he followed the rest of the petitioners outside the throne room, a few like him grumbling about having ‘wasted their time’ or wondering what kind of emergency could have required the High Princess’s focus.

As for Princess Celestia herself, she was now feeling giddy, her smile wide open as the guards around her moved aside, finally allowing her to see what, or rather who, had just rescued her from spending another three hours in complete boredom. For waiting for her in the side chamber, bouncing on her tiny hooves with the enthusiasm and excitement that only an over-happy pony filly could have, was-

“Tia!” Quinn loudly said as she jumped toward her half-sister, her petite wings flapping wildly as she buried her face against the white alicorn’s chest, the ruler of all Equestria smiling and lowering her own head to nuzzle the little filly in return. “I’m so happy to see you again. I didn’t interrupt anything important, I hope.”

A few guards chuckled, yet they all wore sincere, heartfelt smiles as they kept watching the two alicorn half-sisters embracing each other. A few, who were in turn brothers and sisters of younger siblings, made a mental note for when they returned home to seek them and embrace them, just like Quinn was now embracing Celestia.

“No, don’t worry about it!” The Alicorn of the Sun chuckled, giving a side glance in the direction of the throne room, her eyes glinting with relief and amusement. “You didn’t interrupt anything important!” In fact, I think you may have either spared me a slow death by boredom, she added mentally, or spared them from witnessing my patience snap. “Now then, how was your day, little star?”

“It was great!” Quinn chirped happily before continuing. “First, I tried helping in the kitchens, but the soup boiled over, and then the head chef said that I was ‘a disaster waiting to happen’—but I think he meant it kindly. Then I went playing in the garden—”

Celestia chuckled, her laugh rich and genuine as she kept listening to all the shenanigans Quinn had gotten herself into while she was busy with her own royal duties. To her, the presence of her younger half-sister was a breath of fresh air sweeping through her soul, quickly undoing all the fatigue and weariness she had accumulated from listening to the nobles’ whinings.

For a brief moment, Celestia’s mind was transported back many years ago, when Equestria was newly formed and both she and Luna were young and enthusiastic fillies, under the supervision of Starswirl the Bearded. Quinn, the way she bounced with questions, the way her laughter filled the halls, the way she rushed headlong into things without a trace of hesitation… it reminded her so much of Luna, back in those days.

She remembered Luna’s midnight giggles echoing through the stone corridors, when she should have been asleep hours ago. The way she had darted after fireflies in the castle gardens, declaring each one her “loyal subject.” The endless stream of questions she had peppered Starswirl with—half of them clever, half of them utterly ridiculous, all of them asked with wide-eyed sincerity.

Celestia smiled faintly at the memory. She remembered herself then, too, trying so hard to be the “big sister,” composed and proper, though she had been scarcely more than a filly herself. And Luna, bold and bright, had always tugged her along into mischief despite her protests.

Looking at Quinn now, Celestia felt the same tug on her heart. That fearless spark of curiosity. That stubborn insistence on joy. For all the centuries that had passed, for all the burdens that now rested on her withers, she could still see the little sister who once chased fireflies by her side.

“—and after that, I decided to go back in the library to spend some time with Mom and Dad, but they weren’t there and so—”

“Wait, what did you say?” The white alicorn gasped, the playful warmth vanishing from her eyes quickly replaced by a flash of alarm. “Mother and Father… they weren’t there? And what about Lulu?”

“She was nowhere to be seen too.” Quinn nodded. “I tried looking for them, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I even asked some of the servants if they had seen them, and they just told me they all went somewhere together. But… I searched the whole castle, and I couldn’t find them.” She added, a sour note over her usually ever-cheerful expression.

They aren’t in the castle? Princess Celestia thought, her brain immediately starting to worry, remembering that, outside of the castle, no one was aware of Mother and Father’s presence. But then… where did they go? What happened to them? And what are they doing right now?

“Welcome to The Heart and the Hay!” A young unicorn with chestnut-brown fur and a cutie mark of two stacked dishes greeted the trio as they stepped inside. She wore a neat waitress outfit and carried herself with the kind of practiced cheer that came from greeting dozens of guests a day. “Would you like to sit down at a table, or are you just here to browse the menu?”

“Actually, we’d like to have lunch, if possible,” Lauren replied with a polite smile. She glanced up from the menu posted at the entrance—where she’d been studying the prices and dishes just moments before—and met the mare’s eyes. “Is there a table available?”

“Of course there is!” The waitress nodded warmly, moving aside and making a sign to follow her. “This way, please!”

As they walked in, Lauren, Craig, and Luna couldn’t help but glance around curiously, taking in every detail.

The place wasn’t luxurious or dripping with wealth like the Canterlot palace, but it radiated its own kind of charm. The long bar counter was polished oak, behind which a unicorn in a crisp black vest worked with quiet precision, levitating a cloth to shine the glasses until they gleamed. A cluster of ponies sat at the counter, laughing over mugs of cider and swapping stories about their workday or the latest neighborhood gossip. Above the bar, strings of dried flowers and fragrant herbs hung from the beams, giving the air a faint, earthy perfume. Beyond the counter stretched rows of round and oval tables, each wooden and sturdy, where ponies of all kinds had gathered. Earth ponies and pegasi chatted easily with their unicorn neighbors, though unicorns seemed to make up most of the clientele. Families shared steaming plates, friends leaned in close over lively conversations, and foals fidgeted in their seats, noses pressed toward dishes yet to arrive. Weaving expertly among them, three unicorn waiters floated trays of food and drinks with glowing horns, swapping empty plates for full ones in a seamless rhythm.

It was just ordinary life in Canterlot—yet to the disguised trio, there was something extraordinary about its simple harmony.

“We’ll be fine here,” Craig said, sliding into one of the seats the waitress was pointing at, before he glanced up with a curious smile. “Just out of curiosity, what’s the dish of the day?”

“The dish of the day is oatcakes with honey and berries,” the unicorn waitress replied promptly, her horn giving a tiny flick as she levitated a menu to the table. “Only five bits per serving. Have you ever tried it?”

“Actually, no.” Craig’s tone was polite, almost apologetic. “I’m sorry, but both my wife,” he nodded toward Lauren, “our daughter, and I have arrived in Canterlot only recently, and we were hoping to try the local cuisine. Nothing too fancy, though—something simple, to start off on the right hoof?”

The waitress’s ears perked at that, her professional smile warming into genuine pride. “Oh, then you’re in luck! If you want to experience Canterlot in a single bite, I’d recommend our signature: the Canterlot Truffle Soufflé. It’s simple but refined—light, fluffy, with just enough truffle oil to give you a taste of the capital’s… flair.”

 “That sounds promising. I’ll take it.” Craig chuckled. “What about you two?”

Lauren tapped her hoof against the table, glancing at the menu. “I think I’ll keep it light. A fresh garden salad will do for me. Nothing against the cuisine,” she added quickly, “but I’m not very hungry, and I’d like something simple.”

“And you, Lu—” Craig caught himself and smoothly corrected, “—Starry Shadow?”

Luna hesitated for a moment, scanning the menu as if it were a map to an alien land. Finally, she nodded, lowering her voice in a way that felt both careful and regal. “I believe I shall try these oatcakes you spoke of. With honey and berries. It sounds… delightful.” Her tone softened into genuine curiosity. “I trust it does not take long to prepare?”

The waitress giggled softly. “Not at all, ma’am. They’re one of our fastest dishes. You’ll have them in no time.”

As she trotted away, the trio was left with the gentle life of the restaurant: the clink of mugs, the low hum of conversation, and the scent of warm bread and herbs drifting in from the kitchen. Luna let herself relax, a small, private smile tugging at her lips. How strange—and yet delightful—it felt to sit unnoticed among ordinary ponies, none the wiser of who she truly was.

“You know,” Craig said, leaning back with a faint grin, “this feels almost… normal. No guards, no titles, no ceremonies. Just us and a plate of food on the way.”

Lauren chuckled, adjusting herself in her chair with a touch of awkwardness but managing a proper equestrian posture in the end. “Normal is good. I think we could all use a little of that.”

Luna’s gaze wandered once more across the room. The laughter of foals, the ring of cutlery, and the rich aroma of roasted vegetables from a passing tray. Here, nopony bowed, none whispered her name in reverence or dread. She was simply another guest among many. Leaning forward slightly, she let her voice slip out, quiet enough to almost vanish beneath the murmur around them:

“I find joy in this. To sit here, unnoticed. To see my subjects living so freely… it is a balm to the heart.”

Craig nodded softly, but before he could answer, a conversation from the table just behind them caught their ears.

“—I’m telling you, it’s true,” said a unicorn stallion in a hushed but excited voice. “Word came straight from the castle guard. Princess Celestia’s sister has returned. The same one who became Nightmare Moon.”

“Nightmare Moon?!” gasped the mare across from him, nearly spilling her cider. “You mean the old foals’ tale? That was real?”

“As real as it gets,” the stallion said, lowering his voice even more, which only made it carry farther. “They say she tried to plunge the world into eternal night. Banished for a thousand years! And now she’s back, walking the halls of the palace itself. Some ponies are already whispering that she’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Another mare at the table scoffed. “If Princess Celestia forgave her, who are we to question her decision? Still… after what happened, I’d keep my foals close until we know for sure.”

Luna froze, her faint smile fading into a tight line. She kept her gaze fixed on her untouched glass of water, as if its reflection might swallow her expression before her companions noticed. But her ears betrayed her, twitching at every word spoken just behind them.

Craig shifted uneasily, darting a glance at Lauren, who reached across the table to gently touch Luna’s hoof under cover of the tablecloth. “Ignore them,” she whispered softly. “They don’t know you.”

But Luna’s heart began to beat faster. She had wanted to be anonymous, to melt into the crowd like any other pony… and now she was, overhearing their judgments as though she were a ghost at her own trial. Her ears still twitched at the whispers drifting from the nearby table, even as the conversation there shifted to other, safer topics.

“So that’s who I am to them,” she murmured, more to herself than to them. “A shadow, a cautionary tale, a threat whispered to foals in their cradles…” Her voice trailed off, but the sadness in her eyes spoke volumes.

Lauren leaned in, resting her elbow on the table. “Luna. You can’t expect ponies to forget a thousand years of legend overnight. To them, Nightmare Moon is still fresher than you are. But legends fade, and ponies learn. They’ll see you, the real you, not that distorted image made out of rumors and wild gossip, sooner than you think.”

Craig nodded, offering a small, supportive smile. “Besides, I think you’ve already won half the battle. You’re here, sitting in a little restaurant in Canterlot, just being yourself. That’s more powerful than a dozen decrees from the throne.”

Luna blinked at them both, as if their simple words were a light breaking through clouds. Slowly, she allowed herself to exhale, the tension easing from her shoulders. A faint smile curved her lips again, fragile but genuine.

“You are right,” she admitted softly. “I cannot erase what has been written, but I can write anew. In time, they shall see me not as a monster, but as their princess. I swear it: when I return to my duties, I shall not falter. I will earn their trust—every last one of them.”

Her gaze hardened with determination, a fire glinting in her eyes that reminded Craig of Celestia’s regal poise—yet with a raw edge that was entirely Luna’s own.

Lauren squeezed her hoof gently, smiling. “That’s the Luna I believe in.”

For a while, silence settled comfortably between them, filled only by the low murmur of the restaurant and the occasional clink of cutlery. The air felt warmer now, lighter, as if Luna’s vow had restored something not just in her but in all three of them.

But that peace did not last long.

“Well, what do we have here?” A loud, swaggering voice interrupted.

Lauren, Craig, and Luna turned to see two unicorn stallions strutting toward their table, both broad-shouldered and sleek-coated, their manes oiled back with a glossy shine. They walked like they owned the place, smirks plastered on their muzzles.

“Now this,” said the first, his eyes sweeping over Luna with the subtlety of a spotlight, “is a rare sight indeed. Canterlot’s already full of fine mares, but you, sweetheart, outshine them all.”

“And your friend too,” added the second with a slow wink toward Lauren, his voice dripping with forced charm. “Two dazzling beauties, sharing a table with… well…” He gave Craig a long, disdainful glance, chuckling under his breath. “Every gem is wasted when set in dull stone.”

Craig’s jaw tightened. Lauren’s brow arched. Luna, though she kept her expression carefully neutral, felt her patience thinning by the second.

The first stallion leaned closer, lowering his voice to what he must have thought was a sultry drawl. “Why don’t you ladies ditch this Earth Pony waste of space, and let us show you what real stallions are like? Canterlot has… delights you’ve never dreamed of.”

“Yes,” said the second, puffing out his chest. “We’d be delighted to… broaden your horizons.”

Lauren exchanged a look with Luna. The alicorn’s lips twitched, though not with amusement, more with the cold sharpness of a mare utterly unimpressed.

Then Luna tilted her head, her voice calm but edged with cutting grace. “Pray tell, gentlecolts, did you rehearse these lines before a mirror, or do they simply flow so naturally foolishly?”

Lauren smirked, resting her chin in her hoof. “Either way, I think the kitchen just served something we’ve all had quite enough of.”

The two stallions froze, their grins faltering. Craig’s expression brightened, barely suppressing a laugh.

It was at that moment that the waitress returned, carrying the dishes the trio had ordered. As soon as she noticed the two stallions, however, her expression darkened, her eyebrows furrowed, and pure anger appeared on her face.

“You two!” the mare growled, her tone devoid of her previous kindness. “What are you still doing here? We've already told you that you can't bother the customers! Leave immediately, before I call the guards!”

“Oh, beat it, babe!” The first one—who had tried to woo Luna—snapped, rolling his eyes. “We were just talking!”

“Yeah, why don’t you focus on your own work instead of ruining the good time of ponies like us?” the second added, his voice tinged with arrogance. He puffed out his chest, as though the whole restaurant was his stage. “Do I have to remind you who I am? Who my father is?”

“I think your father would be quite disappointed to hear that his son was harassing innocent mares again,” the waitress replied with a deadpan expression, clearly not intimidated by the implied threat. “Especially after being told countless times to be more mindful of the company he chooses to waste his time with.” She shot a sharp glance at the other stallion, who shuffled awkwardly but quickly recovered his smirk.

A murmur rose through the restaurant. Customers turned from their meals, ears flicking, frowns settling on their faces.

“She’s right, get out!” An Earth pony mare called from the back.

“Yeah, nopony comes here to watch foals pretending to be stallions,” another chimed in, to a wave of laughter.

“Leave them alone, you blockheads!” Added a Pegasus, slamming his hoof on the table for emphasis.

Within moments, nearly the whole place was buzzing with disapproval, voices overlapping in support of the waitress.

The smug look on the two unicorns’ faces faltered, only for Craig to lean back casually in his chair, looking at them with what was clearly fake pity.

“You know,” he said, his voice calm but cutting, “if you’re going to waste everypony’s time harassing my wife and daughter, at least try something original. I mean, really, ‘outshine them all’? ‘Broaden your horizons’? Come on.” He smirked faintly, tilting his head. “You might actually get farther if you borrowed a book of pickup lines from the library.”

The restaurant erupted in laughter. A couple of unicorns even whistled mockingly.

The first stallion’s ears flattened, his face flushing with rage. “You little—!”

“You think you’re funny?” The second stepped forward, his horn beginning to glow dangerously. Let’s see you laugh after we teach you a lesson!”

Craig tensed, getting ready to defend himself, but before either stallion could make a move, a cold shadow fell across the table.

Less than a second later, both Casanova wannabes were lying on the floor, Luna standing over them, magic sparkling from her horn as she looked at them with cold eyes of fury.

“You dare raise your hooves against him?” She asked, her voice low, trembling with restrained anger. As she spoke, the glow around her horn flared brighter and darker, her magic resonating with a power the arrogant stallions had never felt before.

The unicorns cried out, writhing in pain as Luna’s magic pressed down on them like the weight of a storm, their smug grins gone, replaced by wide-eyed terror. Yet, Luna’s anger did not subside, the air around her table shimmered as if the very fabric of her illusion was unraveling. With a sharp crack of power, her disguise shattered like glass, fragments of false color falling away to reveal the truth beneath.

The small unicorn mare known as “Starry Shadow” was gone. In her place stood Princess Luna in all her midnight glory, wings unfurled, her mane blazing with ethereal starlight. The restaurant gasped as one, everypony frozen in awe and fear.

And the revelation did not stop there. For in the flare of released magic, Lauren and Craig’s own disguises dissolved as well, both revealed once more as alicorns, radiant and unmistakable.

“Huh-oh!” Craig couldn’t help but exclaim, his wings flapping out of control as he watched around, seeing the shocked expression in everyone’s eyes.

“Huh… we can explain?”

Silence fell over the restaurant as the patrons, the workers, and even the two stallions currently pinned on the ground all looked at the trio with a mix of wonder, amazement, surprise, and horror (especially the two stallions) as their eyes kept moving between the horns and wings the three of them spotted.

“Remember this lesson, fools,” Luna’s voice continued, looking at the two mongrels with a glare as cold and cutting as the wind of the night. “Equestria had not been built by those who mistake cruelty for strength and who think their connection entitles them to harass others.”

In silence, the two stallions whimpered, slowly nodding with their heads, at this moment only wishing they could leave as fast as possible.

For a few more seconds, nobody moved, the only sound being the faint crackle of Luna’s magic, dancing over her horn, like she was expecting someone to try and challenge her. And then—

Chairs scraped and mugs clicked as everyone dropped what they were doing and bowed onto the ground, lowering their heads to the floor in reverence, many whispering hurried apologies as they did. Even the ponies who, until a few minutes ago, had been gossiping and badmouthing Luna without knowing of her presence wore shame and fear on their faces, lowering themselves more than the others, clearly understanding the implication of their own actions.

“Princess Luna…” someone whispered in awe.

“She was here, among us all along…” murmured another.

The waitress, wide-eyed, recovered quickly and bowed too, though she shot a smug glance at the squirming stallions still pressed to the floor.

Those stallions, once so puffed-up and arrogant, now whimpered like frightened foals. Their ears flattened against their heads, their bodies trembling as the truth of what they had done and what they had said settled in. The one who had bragged about his father stammered: “P-P-Princess… i-it was a misunderstanding, I swear! We didn’t mean—!”

His companion nodded so quickly it was almost comical. “We were just… j-just joking! Please, spare us!”

Luna glared down at them, her wings half-unfurled, the glow around her horn casting long shadows across the room. For a moment it seemed as though she might not relent.

“Lulu…” Lauren’s voice broke through the heavy silence.

Luna blinked and turned, her eyes landing on her companions. Both Craig and Lauren were staring at her—not with fear, but with quiet insistence. Craig raised a hoof and gestured subtly at her sides.

Only then did Luna notice the stares, not just of the stallions, but of everypony in the room. She glanced down, following Craig’s gesture—and realization struck her like a bolt. Her wings. Her mane. Her true form.

Her disguise had fallen.

Lauren offered a small, sympathetic smile. “I think we’ve been… found out.”

Luna’s breath caught. Her heart pounded as she looked once more around the room, at her bowing subjects, at the reverence in their eyes. Reverence… and something else. Hope. Respect.

And suddenly, though shame still prickled at her chest, the princess of the night stood taller.

“Rise, my little ponies,” she declared, her voice calm but resonant, carrying to every corner of the restaurant. “I did not mean to reveal myself at this time… nor was I planning to expose my mother and her husband.”

A ripple passed through the crowd like a gust of wind in a wheat field. Heads turned, eyes widened. At once, every gaze swung toward Lauren and Craig. The stunned silence thickened as horns and wings came into focus—unmistakable signs of what they were.

Alicorns.

The word was not spoken, but it weighed heavily in the mind of every pony present. For years, all Equestria had known of only three: Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Yet here, in this simple restaurant, stood two more—unknown, unrecorded, impossible… and yet undeniable.

Lauren shifted slightly under the tide of stares, though she held herself with quiet poise, wings tucked neatly at her sides. Craig, for his part, reached for her hoof beneath the table, squeezing it reassuringly.

Luna gave them a fleeting glance, just a heartbeat, a daughter’s quick check to make sure her family was safe. Then she turned her eyes forward once again, her gaze steady, her bearing regal.

“Look upon me, my little ponies,” she said, her tone steady, resonant, yet warm. “I am not the shadow you once feared. I am not Nightmare Moon. I am Princess Luna, guardian of the night, and though I am not my sister, I swear to you: I shall protect you, as is my duty, as is my honor.”

She let the words sink in, and the weight of them seemed to draw the ponies a little closer, their fear slowly shifting into cautious trust.

Then, with a small, proud tilt of her head, she extended a wing toward Lauren, who stood composed despite the eyes of the entire room upon her.

“And you must also know this truth: the mare who stands beside me is no stranger nor a mere pretender. She is my mother, Queen Lauren Faust, the rightful sovereign of Equestria, long hidden from you. And by her side is her chosen consort, Craig McCracken.”

The restaurant was utterly still. Every patron, every staff member, even the two fallen stallions, stared as if the ground itself had shifted beneath them.

“You will hear tales, you will hear doubts,” Luna concluded, her voice softer now, though no less commanding. “But know that Equestria’s future shall not be guarded by one princess alone. My mother has returned. And with her, I shall stand—not as a nightmare, but as your protector.”

Her words lingered in the air like thunder after a storm. Luna swept her gaze across the room, searching for a challenge—for somepony to question her claim, to stand up as Twilight Sparkle and her friends once had against her when she was Nightmare Moon. But no challenge came. Nopony dared even raise their head. Instead, backs bent lower, muzzles pressed closer to the floor. Even the chatty waitress, who only minutes ago had bustled happily with trays of steaming dishes, was now frozen mid-bow, her plates abandoned on the nearest table.

The silence stretched.

“Mmh.” Craig cleared his throat and, as if nothing at all had just happened, sampled a bite from his own plate. “Not bad! Really—pretty good, actually.” He gave an approving nod, as though rating the food instead of sitting in the middle of a political earthquake.

Lauren buried her face in a hoof. Around them, ponies doubled down on their bows, as if Craig’s casual remark was another divine decree. Great. Just great. She could almost hear Celestia’s unimpressed sigh already. Something tells me Tia won’t be too happy when she finds out we’ve been… well, very thoroughly found out.

(…)

“WHAT? What have you done?”

Lauren sighed, unable to meet her daughter’s eyes. She, Craig, and Luna were back in the castle now, gathered in one of its smaller council chambers—the kind reserved for private audiences or quiet discussions. The room was warm and softly lit, centered around a plush couch with three matching armchairs arranged around it. Lauren sat with Craig and Luna on the couch, Luna closest to Celestia’s chair. The Moon Princess kept her head lowered, her gaze weighed down with shame and self-reproach.

Off to the side, Quinn sat half-curled on a pillow, her little wings twitching in barely contained frustration. Her pout was nearly audible. They all went out… and they didn’t even bring me? She glared at the adults with all the silent reproach a filly could muster.

“It was supposed to be a simple lunch, nothing more,” Craig said at last, breaking the tense quiet. He cleared his throat. “Nothing extravagant or dangerous. Just the three of us, outside the castle walls, sharing a meal like anypony else.”

Lauren nodded, her face caught between apology and wistful fondness. “We only wanted to experience a small piece of Canterlot as ordinary ponies. No guards, no titles… just a chance to breathe.”

Luna finally lifted her head, her voice steady but her eyes heavy. “Sister, what transpired is mine to bear. It was my decision to strike at those stallions, no matter how base their behavior. The fault lies with me, and me alone.”

“No, Lulu, the fault is mine.” Lauren interjected quickly, leaning forward. “When those ponies began to harass us, I should have spoken up and should have shielded you instead of hesitating. My silence let the situation spiral, and that is what led us here.”

“No—this is on me.” Craig cut in firmly, shaking his head. “I should’ve stepped between you both and put an end to it before things got ugly. I failed to act, and that’s why it came to blows.”

“Craig, please,” Lauren sighed, her wings twitching with exasperation. “You weren’t the one who let things spiral. I was standing right there, and I froze. That’s on me.”

“Nay!” Luna shot back, stamping a hoof hard enough to rattle the teacups on a nearby table. “I struck first! ‘Twas my blow that made all eyes turn upon us. The shame belongs to none but myself.”

Craig opened his mouth again, finger raised. “But if I had—”

“You didn’t!” Lauren snapped, pointing at him.

“And you shouldn’t have!” Luna countered, her wings flaring.

Within moments, all three were talking over each other, voices climbing in a ridiculous crescendo of self-blame—Lauren insisting she should’ve acted sooner, Craig claiming he should’ve played the gallant protector, and Luna adamantly declaring that her rash temper had doomed them all.

Quinn rolled her eyes dramatically from her pillow. Honestly… grown-ups.

Finally, Celestia lifted one hoof and let it fall against the marble floor with a sharp clack. The chamber fell silent.

She drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. “I am not blaming you for defending yourselves,” she said at last, her tone calm but edged with steel. “Nor am I angry that you went outside. Truthfully…” Her lips curved into a faint, wistful smile. “I am only disappointed that you did not invite me.”

Craig blinked. “Wait… that’s what—?”

“But,” Celestia continued, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly, “the problem, dearest sister, is that you chose to reveal yourself with such… theatrics. The moment you let your temper flare, you cast away our secrecy. And now? It is only a matter of time before the whole kingdom knows about Mother and Father.”

Silence pressed in again. Luna bowed her head. Lauren reached for Craig’s hoof. Quinn’s wings twitched as she sat up straighter, her pout vanishing in the gravity of Celestia’s words.

Lauren opened her mouth, then closed it again. “So… “It’s really that bad?” she asked softly. “That one moment could undo everything?”

“My dear Mother,” Celestia replied, gentler now, “you must understand: Canterlot thrives on whispers. If three unfamiliar alicorns stride through the city—one of them defending herself with a very public display of magic—do you think the nobility will sit quietly? No. By sunset, every salon and drawing room will hum with speculation. By dawn, the rumors will swell into a frenzy.”

Craig rubbed the back of his neck. “So, what do we do? Hope it blows over?”

Celestia gave him a look equally fond and pitying. “If we do nothing, the narrative will spin out of our hooves. No: tomorrow morning, we will seize control of it. I shall call a press conference at the palace. The nobility will be invited to witness what the rest of Equestria will soon learn: that our parents have returned and that they walk among us once more.”

The weight of her words settled on the room. Craig looked as though someone had just dropped a stone in his stomach. Lauren exhaled shakily, her feathers rustling.

“I will stand by your side, sister,” Luna said suddenly, rising with a quiet dignity. Her shame had not vanished, but her eyes now held determination. “If I brought about this storm, then I shall help you weather it. Let me share the burden.”

Celestia regarded her for a long moment—then nodded. “Gladly accepted.”

“Uuugh!” Quinn flopped onto her pillow with all the drama of a foal denied dessert. “You all went out without me, and now you’re going to have a big fancy meeting without me too?!” She buried her face in her hooves. “This is the worst day ever.”

Despite the tension, a ripple of laughter moved through the adults. Even Celestia’s lips quirked upward.

“This is not going to be the kind of ‘fun’ meeting, sweetie,” Lauren said to her daughter. “Rather, it’s going to be quite boring.”

“Indeed.” Luna nodded, her starry mane shining. “There will be little fun to be had at such a meeting. It will be long and… not at all enjoyable.”

“Wait, what?” Quinn replied, scrunching her nose as she had trouble understanding the meaning of such words. “So you’re saying you don’t even like those meetings? But then, why are you going?”

“Because this is something we ought to do.” Celestia explained with soft eyes, yet her voice became somber. “After today, sadly, your existence, as well as Mom and Dad’s, cannot be kept a secret anymore. We must act swiftly, before the gossipmongers have time to get going.”

Quinn blinked, wings giving a twitch. “So… it’s going to be boring on purpose?”

“Oh, yeah.” Craig chuckled under his breath, approaching his daughter so his mouth was close to her ear, whispering something to her that only the small filly could hear clearly. “You remember back home, when Mom used to go to all those conventions? Speeches, questions, more speeches and even more questions? It’s basically going to be the same thing, but this time, for a longer period of time and even more boring than that. And since it’s going to be about all of us, we’re all going to be part of it.”

“That sounds awful!” Quinn threw her hoof in the air and groaned, already regretting her previous reaction. “Why would anypony ever want to do that?”

“Because,” Lauren leaned forward, her voice gentle but steady. “Sometimes, ruling means doing things you don’t want to do. Things that are uncomfortable, or tiring, or even frustrating. But we do them because they are the right thing to do, because they matter, for everypony else’s sake, not just our own.”

Quinn tilted her head, frown softening. “So… like when you and Dad make me eat my vegetables?”

That made Craig laugh outright, and even Celestia’s shoulders shook with mirth. “Yes,” Lauren admitted, smiling now, “exactly like that. You don’t do it because it’s fun. You do it because it keeps everypony healthy. And in this case, it’s Equestria that needs to stay healthy.”

Luna gave a small, approving nod, her eyes shining with pride. Celestia did not interrupt either, for her silence, calm and thoughtful, was its own agreement.

Quinn scrunched her nose again, clearly unconvinced. Her wings sagged, and she pawed at the cushion with one hoof, ears folding back as she mulled it over. “But… that sounds bad. I thought being rulers was supposed to be fun and good, and we would help a lot of ponies. But now… it sounds like it just makes you sad. And I don’t want you to be sad. I just want you to be happy.”

“We are going to be happy, sweetie.” Lauren reassured her, trotting up to her daughter and lowering down so their muzzles were now touching. “Sure, we are going to face a lot of hardships from now on, but there is no challenge we can’t face together. As a family, we will help each other through anything.”

Quinn blinked up at her, her small wings trembling slightly. “Really?” she whispered, a hint of hope creeping into her voice.

“Really,” Craig said, stepping closer and nuzzling the other side of her face. “You don’t have to worry about us being sad. We’ve got each other, and that’s what matters.”

Luna moved to stand behind them, draping a protective wing around both Lauren and Quinn. “And I will stand by all of you,” she said softly, her voice steady but warm. “Whatever comes, we face it together. No shame, no fear.”

Celestia, watching the tableau, felt a swell of pride. The little filly, the mortal parents, her sister—all of them together. She allowed herself a rare, relaxed smile, letting the warmth fill the room. “Yes,” she said finally, her voice gentle yet full of authority. “Together. That is how we endure, and that is how we thrive.”

Quinn’s frown melted, replaced by a tentative, radiant smile. Slowly, she scrambled up, hugging both her mother and father tightly, while Luna leaned down to nuzzle her head. Even Celestia moved forward, resting her chin lightly atop the little filly’s mane.

For a long moment, the chamber was filled with quiet, perfect harmony, the kind that comes from trust, love, and the unspoken promise that no matter what storms may come, they would weather them as one.

A soft knock at the door made them all flinch slightly, breaking the reverent stillness. One of the guards poked his head in, eyes widening at the sight of five alicorns tangled in a family embrace. “Uh… I’ll, um… come back later,” he muttered hastily, retreating with a sheepish shuffle.

The laughter that followed was quiet, tender, and full of relief. Quinn wriggled out of the hug just enough to giggle, wings fluttering happily. “See? Being a family can be fun too!”

Lauren smirked, brushing a stray lock of mane from Quinn’s eyes. “Exactly. Hard work, yes. Serious matters, yes. But there’s always room for moments like this.”

And with that, the five alicorns, now family in every sense, settled back into the warmth of the chamber, letting the calm wrap around them as the day outside carried on.