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Illuminating Invitation (MLP: FiM AU)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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The Shallow said:
While I love this headcanon, do consider the fact that Discords antics seem to have been centered on Equestria. The notion of seasons working at a lower level at the edges of Equestria, and ponies finding it wierd, blaming it on nature spirits or whatever, is really funny to me.
Like, imagine Pegasi are told not to fly beyond the borders because of The Wild Winds which dominate the skies beyond. Most don't, because there's always a couple people in every generation who've tried and will describe in horrific detail the chaos that rules beyond.
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Ended up rewatching Bridle Gossip randomly earlier today, and there was a moment where its noted that Everfree is "scary" because plants grow on their own(!), animals take care of themselves, and clouds move on their own.
So yeah, that's just another point to this theory of mine, actually.
Hell, there's another S1 episode where they're like "Yeah we accidently missed some rain last week, so we have to have a storm today", which almost certainly confirms that there is 0 natural weather in Equestria.
 
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Chapter 34: An army fights on its stomach
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    • Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @Wordsmith, @Taut_Templar, Jamie Wahls, @Elfalpha, @BunnyLord, @Drcatspaw, @tinkerware, @Lonelywolf999, D'awwctor, @magicdownunder, @Mordred, @Nuew, @Greydrone, and my 18 other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me.

    Author's Note: Beta-read by @ensou. Illuminating Invitation won SV's User's Choice Awards 2023 for Best New Work and Best Ongoing Work. Thank you very much, everyone!


    Perplex​

    Despite being a changeling, Perplex had a routine that she quite liked. Report to work as Garden Lily, stand around all day gossiping and passively collecting love without needing to worry about getting the associated body language right, spend some time on hobbies or on outings with Silver Needle, return home, care for her plants, and discreetly devour love during dinner. That schedule was disrupted a little whenever Silver brought somepony home, but Silver and whomever she brought were usually so happy afterward that Perplex didn't much mind the disruption. More food for her, and then more meals when some of those passing mares decided they liked Perplex more — not that Silver knew about that part, and Perplex delighted in keeping Silver in the dark while hypocritically teasing her.

    It was practically a dream position. Even entering the Royal Guard hadn't been particularly difficult in terms of risk; the Royal Guard deliberately grouped recruits into duos, trios, or quartets depending on specialty, and those groups would subsequently do everything together. Eat together, bunk together, train together, fail together, and so on. Perplex's group had started as a quartet, but two especially pathetic ponies couldn't handle the pressure and dropped out. Their departure meant fewer primary targets for harvesting love, but also fewer ponies that she needed to deceive.

    Perplex was still kept updated and passed along the piece of intelligence here and there, but she wasn't really expected to do much more than provide to the Hive two filled love crystals every six months. She'd sang with the other infiltrators when Sunset Shimmer approached the dais, felt triumphant when Shimmer's improvised illusion wasn't enough to disguise the increasing unsteadiness of her gait—and then realized, quite abruptly, that Silver wasn't going to be happy should Shimmer suffer. For that matter, ponies all over Canterlot would be upset. Why was Perplex rooting for that again?

    Queen Chrysalis's plan hadn't gone as well as She'd obviously hoped; Shimmer neither made a bitter scene by acting ungrateful, nor did she lose control of her magic from furious hatred in general. Shimmer fleeing did still make her and Princess Celestia look weak, so it couldn't be classified as a failure. Perplex couldn't be happy about the consequences, though. Not only did Perplex need to run around searching for a culprit she wasn't allowed to find, but Silver wasn't happy. An unhappy Silver meant missed meals.

    By the time midnight arrived, Perplex had reached the point where she was questioning Queen Chrysalis within the safety of her own mind. Certainly, there was no denying that Princess Celestia deserved retribution for her cursing of the Changeling race; though it did not hurt or kill them, changelings still had holes throughout their bodies countless clutches later. Those holes might shrink a bit if a changeling was particularly well-fed, but they never really went away. Perplex couldn't even stand to look at her 'base form' in the mirror. It was worse when something entered one of those holes. Harmless or not, such incidents made her want to scream.

    However, did the vengeance of the changeling race really need to be so loud? Changelings were perfect infiltrators! They could afford to keep ponies fat, happy, and dumb indefinitely! Undermining Celestia's rule and distressing her subjects might be satisfying, but it also made for leaner meals, didn't it?

    Perplex would never dream of betraying other changelings or Queen Chrysalis, of course. Not due to anything as ridiculous as unquestioning loyalty — that was a pony virtue — but, like practically every other changeling out there, out of simple self-preservation. The Hive helped every changeling reach their current position, and therefore knew who everyling was. Should someling go rogue, punishing them was as simple as leaking that they were a changeling. S.M.I.L.E. would do the rest.

    Changelings could break from the Hive, make their own identities, and attempt to survive on their own, and it was rumored that some traitors occasionally tried. To avoid blackmail, they would need to start over with a new identity, without the Hive's support during the lean months when they first started — a difficult venture, to say the least. If they did succeed at being viewed as any other pony, though, they were viewed as any other pony. In other words, a potential target for replacement or harvest. Should a targeted 'pony' actually be a changeling? The rogue wouldn't last long, and such traitors ensured that no loyal changeling needed to be sacrificed to keep S.M.I.L.E. believing they had matters under control.

    The next morning, Perplex was still tired from last night's search, hungry from a skipped meal, and irritated in general. Yeah, she technically could have taken the day off, but doing so would have made her the odd mare out. Drawing attention was dangerous. Unfortunately, judging by the trio of ponies approaching them, she or Silver had done something to draw attention. It took an effort of will to avoid tensing.

    "Corporal Lily, Corporal Needle," Sergeant Bloom said, nodding to each in turn. "Princess Cadenza is expecting you in the Maple Office at your earliest convenience."

    Perplex internally relaxed even as her eyebrows crept upward. Silver had been summoned the other day for unspecified reasons, and returned an hour later with wide-eyed mortification and a complete refusal to disclose what had been discussed beyond "cultural nuances." Summoning them both probably meant that it wasn't anything related to that side of the Princess of Love's role, though.

    Despite her speculation, Perplex still saluted in sync with Silver before falling in and briskly trotting toward the office in question. The princesses were unreasonably kind, and probably truly meant "at your earliest convenience;" there would be no rebuke from them if Perplex and Silver showed up a few minutes late in order to complete a task. However, everypony around them would consider it an insult to the Crown worthy of punishment detail, long-term reassignment, or demotion. It stood in ironic opposition to the Hive, where changelings might cover for each other so that they might all avoid Queen Chrysalis' wrath.

    Ponies said that Princess Celestia was meant to be a role model while only imitating the parts they liked. Changelings claimed that Queen Chrysalis was the ideal ruler if they knew what was good for them, but did not dare imitate her. Personally, Perplex thought that the changeling version was more sensible. How were ponies supposed to know who was in charge if everypony thought they should be acting like their ruler?

    Minutes later, Perplex and her partner marched into the monument to ages long gone that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had temporarily taken up residence in. Perplex ignored the various antique wooden decorations in the room, having eyes only for the young alicorn sitting beyond a nearby desk. Exhaustion visibly weighed on the Princess of Love, but she was sitting straight and doing a reasonable job of pretending that everything was fine. Nothing that could fool a changeling, but it might be enough for an ordinary pony.

    Queen Chrysalis's presence was eternally imposing and demanded obedience. Princess Cadenza might seem meek, yet her mere attention alone was delicious and enough to provide a meal to complete strangers. Only a fool — or a pony, but that was the same thing — would underestimate the power that Princess Cadenza could bring to bear on a moment's notice. Perplex was confident that given time, Cadenza's power would grow to dwarf Princess Celestia as much as Celestia dwarfed normal ponies. For the time being, Perplex was just happy to have her hunger pangs abate.

    "Thank you both for coming," said Princess Cadenza with well-feigned calm.

    She hesitated a moment, possibly expecting the two to answer, before plowing gamely onward.

    "I think it's obvious that Sunset is going to need her own guards after this mess. Your shared discretion when provided with sensitive information has been noted–"

    If Perplex didn't have Royal Guard training on top of the usual infiltration practice, she might have actually twitched and given the game away. She had, admittedly, told the Hive of Shimmer's adoption at the first available opportunity.

    "–and Corporal Needle, Sunset already seems to like you. As such, if you are amenable, you will both be assigned as the first of her personal guards."

    An occasional shift in the royal dining room had already been a treat; occasional stray bits of attention from Princess Cadenza during a meal were often enough to feed Perplex for the rest of that day. Being allowed to see Cadenza more often? Obviously noling would pass that up.

    "If you have any recommendations for additional Guard groups for which one or more of the members are notably skilled with magic or may otherwise get along with Sunset, I would appreciate those recommendations, but cannot promise to act upon them. I am including earth pony and pegasus magic in this."

    Perplex wanted to snort. She doubted that Sunset Shimmer would actually care to discuss the brute force of earth ponies when she could casually lift attackers with her mind. The Hive hadn't tried to replace Shimmer for some very good reasons; the amount of power she thoughtlessly threw about in her daily life was second only to Princess Celestia, to say nothing of the sheer skill involved. Shimmer might be an ungrateful brat who didn't understand how good she had it, but now that Perplex had realized harming her would harm further meals, Perplex could grudgingly admit that Shimmer would actually be much more tolerable than most ponies.

    "In the absence of further guards assigned to Sunset specifically, we will continue to draw from the rest of the Royal Guard for her protection. You will not be expected to work significantly longer hours than you are already, nor will your pay increase beyond what is normal for your rank. Sunset may be difficult to work with at times, and I cannot guarantee that she will not thoughtlessly teleport away from you when she's in a hurry or simply annoyed by impediments. Some of her guards will be expected to work without armor upon occasion, but you may opt out of such shifts if this that is a problem for you. Similarly, you may overhear quite a bit which you are not allowed to share with anypony ever, especially if it relates to herself, her hoofmaiden, or her friends.

    "I will ensure that you are not punished if you choose to decline this offer; I wouldn't consider it to be 'an insult' or anything similarly ridiculous."

    As if. Perplex didn't even need to examine Silver to know they would be in agreement in this. No pony or changeling in the Guard would turn down such a prestigious post. Even if Perplex never learned anything useful—a laughable idea—she would still have the occasional opportunity to snack on the Princess of Love without actually harming Cadenza at all. Still, Perplex and Silver did glance at each other and nod for Princess Cadenza's benefit. It wouldn't do for her to think that one of them spoke for them both without thinking.

    The worrying part was that Perplex might actually be expected to do something with this position rather than just stand around and look pretty. Not by the ponies; their expectations were fine. The Hive, however, might expect her to be more active.

    "Your Highness," Silver said, saluting. "We would be honored to accept the posting. Is it effective immediately?"

    Cadenza hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding.

    "As much as I would like to give you some time to prepare, she was poisoned last night. Let's say after breakfast; go ahead and take a break until then."

    Perplex remained miffed that 'White Rose' had, if not been caught, then at least noticed. 'Emotional poison' was one step removed from a changeling's emotional drain, and that was far too close. If the ponies couldn't find a suitable scapegoat, security would tighten and life would be more difficult for everyling.

    "One more thing—and I can't believe I'm actually giving this order," Cadenza sighed. "But if Sunset recklessly charges into battle without regard for her own safety, you are to let her."

    Silver, usually so excellent at standing still, twitched.

    "I know how it sounds," Cadenza said sympathetically. "My orders aren't out of anything like dislike, though. The simple fact is that she's already as hard to kill as myself and Princess Celestia, and therefore, you are more fragile than she is. You'll help more by providing support and focusing on neutralizing the enemy or evacuating civilians rather than throwing yourself between her and an arrow. That's not to say I expect you to stop trying to guard her altogether, but if you're given a choice between letting yourself get seriously injured and trying to protect her, please preserve yourselves.

    Cadenza's kindly smile went wry.

    "There's also the part where anything daring to kill us is apparently going to be cursed with inevitable doom; as I understand it, that's much of why alicorn-killers were condemned to the mists of history just the same as their victims. I suspect that injuring us enough would have much the same effect, and that might be enough to win the fight and prevent further harm altogether."

    This time, Perplex was the one to twitch. That was very important information. Oh, Perplex was pretty sure that the plan had never been to kill Princess Celestia anyway, but Queen Chrysalis might have happily pummeled the pony princess a bit more than would be necessary to subdue her.

    "May I have permission to speak freely?" Silver Needle requested.

    "Always," Cadenza promised. "I understand that your expected behavior is a matter of tradition, and I do genuinely respect the discipline it requires. However, I don't like the stress it places on you."

    Perplex rather liked it, actually. By pony standards, her body language apparently came across as menacing all too often. It was easier when she could just stand stock-still and not worry about more than the right tones of voice.

    "Thank you, Your Highness," Silver said crisply. "However, I dislike the idea of relying upon some kind of blood curse to do our jobs. Not only that, but Duchess Shimmer is not yet an alicorn; if this curse becomes or is already well-known, outside parties may wish to harm her before ascension would turn it into a risk."

    And now Perplex was torn regarding sharing her new knowledge with the Hive, because that sounded all too plausible. Queen Chrysalis might let Shimmer go should she prove too much trouble, but the threshold for 'too much' would increase dramatically if it was to prevent an even bigger problem. Perplex would need to stay quiet if she was to maintain access to the feasts unconsciously provided by the Princess of Love and the more modest meals from Silver. A failed Royal Guard wouldn't be posted anywhere nice.

    "Well," Cadenza said thoughtfully. "You aren't exactly wrong. It's a good thing you'll be there, isn't it?"

    "And our orders to preserve ourselves first?" Silver pressed.

    Cadenza's smile widened, and Perplex basked in the second-hand affection from the Princess of Food. She envied whoever would ultimately replace Cadenza's paramour — not that Perplex knew of any such plans, but it would obviously be done should replacing Cadenza herself prove untenable.

    "Corporal Needle, I understand your concern and sympathize, but the entirety of Canterlot Castle could fall on her and she would walk away from it alive. Anything trying to kill her is in for a very rough time."

    That had to be hyperbole, right? That much falling stone would kill practically anything, even an elder dragon or sea leviathan.

    "That's not hyperbole," Cadenza added as though reading Perplex's mind. "I suppose I'll amend my orders: if you believe prioritizing her safety to that extent will improve your odds of winning the battle or allow her to escape from overwhelming odds, feel free. But don't worry about defending her life at the cost of your own, because she can take it."

    ...Perplex was starting to think she might be on the wrong side. In hindsight, Princess Celestia's resounding defeat of Queen Chrysalis in ages past should probably have been a warning sign. It wasn't as though Perplex had a choice, though; ponies viewed changelings as soulless monsters, and starvation was an awful way to go.

    "If that is all, you may consider yourselves dismissed."



    Two minutes later, Perplex glanced at her partner. She knew what Silver's perfect march meant.

    "You're still sticking with normal protocol, aren't you?" Perplex asked quietly.

    "Spellcasting is very difficult while one is injured, and Duchess Shimmer is a far better spellcaster than I am," Silver said with a completely straight face. "Therefore, prioritizing Her Grace is always the right choice."

    Perplex sighed. Then again, considering what insane self-sacrificing idiots you ponies are, maybe I don't need to be so worried about raw power after all.

    Still, it wasn't comfortable to realize ones' Queen was weaker than the competition by that much. It would take far less than a castle to squish Queen Chrysalis like a bug. No wonder so many ponies worshipped the princesses as goddesses; they might actually properly qualify. Queen Chrysalis was immensely powerful, certainly, but not to that extent.

    ...Queen Chrysalis is the only changeling who knows the identities of every other changeling, isn't she? There are a few who know of me, but I know where to find them.

    But no, Perplex wasn't a kinslayer. The standards might be a bit looser when Chrysalis Herself spawned almost every changeling, but Perplex still didn't want to injure another changeling.

    How much power would it take to make everyling forget one little infiltrator, I wonder?

    Quite a lot, since that would involve beguiling the Queen Herself and somehow escaping alive afterward. But it was a nice dream.


    Princess Cadance​

    Cadance stared blankly at the wood of her desk and thought about the half-lie she'd almost told before guilt took over.

    'Princess Celestia equates divinity to infallibility, and therefore argues that she is not a goddess. Sunset and I respectfully disagree. As long as love and magic exist in the hearts of ponies, we cannot truly die.'

    The idea didn't feel like such a lie after all, even if it also wasn't quite right for Sunset.

    As long as love exists in the hearts of ponies, I cannot truly die, Cadance thought, and twitched as the idea weighed of Truth.

    Either sleep deprivation was making her imagine things, or she had accidentally stumbled upon a secret of the universe. It was almost certainly sleep deprivation, though. Alicorns had died before in the distant past. Voice might have changed Cadance, and love-based undying status would be on-theme for the Alicorn of Love, but love didn't feel like a force that Voice should be able to manipulate.

    Celestia loves Sunset, Cadance tried.

    She paused, then huffed and shook her head at the distant lack of weight to that thought. Definitely hallucinations, then. No more caffeine for her.


    Sunset Shimmer​

    Something stroked somewhere to the left of my barrel, yet I still felt it. One leg twitched, and a giggle broke through my happy haze.

    I'm not dreaming, I realized.

    I hastily gathered my limbs from the undignified sprawl I'd apparently been dozing in. Pain started to shoot through me when I tried to roll upright, and I stopped the motion, suddenly realizing that I also had temporary wings currently in need of corralling. Those took several seconds longer, and I heard a plaintive awww of disappointment from my living pillow. I jerked my head to stare wide-eyed at a pouting Princess Celestia. She dropped the pout a moment later.

    "Good morning, my dearest daughter," she greeted me, smiling radiantly. "How are you feeling?"

    Calling me her daughter successfully bought Celestia a moment as I remembered my overnight realizations: that Celestia might actually love me after all. However, an orange barbule stuck in Celestia's teeth ruined the innocent act. I harbored a horribly humiliating suspicion of what that pleasant brushing sensation had been: preening. Pegasi usually used brushes and oil for wingcare these days. As far as I was aware, only the odd traditionalist still resorted to using their teeth—but Celestia was indeed very old, so I supposed that I shouldn't be too surprised that she stuck with tradition.

    "Much better," I curtly acknowledged, "but isn't preening supposed to be for basic wing maintenance? My wings are temporary. I don't think they need to be preened unless I get to the point where they're sticking around for a while."

    Celestia's smile shrank, but became all the more genuine for it. I could definitely identify mischief now.

    "Well, I did not want to risk waking you by moving your wings aside to brush beneath," she said mock-thoughtfully. "So, as I was set on making your slumber as comfortable as possible, preening seemed like a good solution. It may not be required, but it was certainly quite enjoyable, was it not?"

    I felt fairly confident that my embarrassment could be used to spark a fire. After Celestia had refused to change her behavior initially, I began to doubt that she would start to treat me with the lighthearted touch she so often provided to Cadance. Now that she had officially adopted me, however, it seemed as though she was fully intent on exploiting the parental prerogative to embarrass her offspring.

    In contrast, I was now less than confident that the wings actually signified further progress toward ascension. Celestia's I-really-hoped-it-was-truly-genuine love might fulfill requirements for raw magical might, but I thought I'd already covered those. Combine this return to earlier steps with Voice's mention of needing to "affix" the feat, and it stood to reason that complementary components would be necessary for me to stay ascended. This hypothesis even fit with that whole mention of "Harmonic requirements"; 'Harmony' in this case might not refer to whatever the word meant to Celestia, but of components working in concert. Outsiders might be known for many things, but a delicate touch wasn't one on that list.

    My wings were unstable, but present, and Voice's affixation had apparently provided me with at least some power from the three major tribes of ponykind. Ascension might be so difficult simply because each benefit would be fleeting in the absence of completing every other requirement so that they might all stabilize each other. This hypothesis might even explain why ascension might become more difficult if I learned of the requirements I had yet to complete: to spend enough time examining something was to alter one's own magic in order to enable it, but in this case, ascension might be delicate enough that introducing an affinity to certain components might unbalance everything.

    A brush dragging itself down the length of my spine drew me out of furious thought. I blinked and turned to find Celestia smiling mischievously again, her horn lit so that she might telekinetically brush between my wings. The urge to demand that she stop that died in my throat. It did actually feel much nicer than the automatic brushes Cadance had given me months ago — and had I ever properly thanked her for those? At the time, I'd felt resentful and as though ensuring I looked vaguely presentable was more for her sake than mine, but they had still saved me quite a bit of time. I still didn't want to actually thank her, but perhaps a reciprocal practical gift would do.

    Still, Celestia's cuddling had been an escalation all on its own. Going further went into the realm of how I'd hoped she would act when she first said that she wanted to adopt me. Announcing it to the world shouldn't have made this much of a difference.

    "You—do know the wings are temporary, right?" I ventured.

    Some of the mischief faded from Celestia's smile, and she nodded more seriously. She didn't stop brushing, though, which made it somewhat more difficult to focus on the conversation at hoof.

    "I am aware, yes," Celestia confirmed. "Ascension is not something either of us could possibly sleep through. Temporary or not, your wings do seem to be plenty functional, and I consider time spent exploiting them for pampering purposes to be time well spent. I may be utterly inexperienced and even inept at acting as a proper parent, but this much I can do."

    Her trying to compensate for her earlier treatment of me might make sense, I supposed. The problem was that she'd so often apologized for her actions without actually making any changes, and the timing was beyond suspect. Last night's official adoption, my poisoning, my wings; any one of those factors could contribute, consciously or not, to her treatment of me. Remove the urgency introduced by any of them and today's treatment might turn this into a passing whim.

    "Also," she added, levitating a camera from the other side of her body, "you really were very cute."

    Sheer mortification seized control and compelled me to launch a small magical missile at the offending machine. My red bolt passed right through without making contact, breaking Celestia's illusion into motes of gold light and continuing its path to splash and singe the far wall. I couldn't decide if I should relax or not. Her using an illusion might mean that she had been teasing me and hadn't taken any photos after all, but she could just as easily have anticipated such backlash and kept the actual evidence safely out of sight.

    "That's a nostalgic reaction," Celestia mused, neither batting an eye nor halting her brushing.

    Nostalgic how? I thought you were supposed to be new to this.

    Then again, Celestia had been mortal once. She might not have had any surviving family when she was crowned — her lack of family was supposed to be part of why she'd been the most politically palatable option, if I remembered correctly — but that didn't mean much. Equestria used to be a much more dangerous place even without the unpredictable dangers introduced by a God of Chaos.

    "You didn't actually take any photos, right?" I asked hopefully.

    Nopony would ever take me seriously if they saw me acting like a young filly. It was very difficult for me to grow angry while this close to her, but that didn't mean I wanted Celestia to think that humiliating me would be acceptable. It was bad enough that humiliating one's offspring was socially acceptable.

    Celestia raised one hoof to cover an exceptionally concerning chuckle.

    "I do not want to lie to you," she selectively did not answer. "In the hypothetical situation where I did decide to solidify a treasured memory of my adopted daughter acting adorable, I would reassure her that any such photographs–"

    She stopped both speaking and brushing as my horn lit, a search spell already forming. I might not have known that she even owned a camera, but I could remember what the illusory camera looked like and use that to search Celestia's chambers for any matches. A pulse of red light soon swept forth, yet returned only the skittering feeling of metaphorical static. That might mean there were matches in range, but were hidden from a casual check.

    Of course. It wouldn't do for any intruders to have an easy time finding what they sought.

    Further search efforts were stymied by virtue of a levitated pillow lightly impacting the side of my head. I blinked, my concentration broken more by the novelty of Princess Celestia hitting me with a pillow rather than any distraction from the impact itself. This issue was only exacerbated when she followed it with a momentary nuzzle that I had to fight not to push into.

    "Sunset," Celestia said, smile significantly shrunken. "There is nothing wrong with being cute. I was delighted to see that you had relaxed to that extent, and a photo would help me remember your happiness. If it makes you uncomfortable, I can destroy the 'evidence,' but I truly would like to keep it. I intend no harm, and indeed, would not mind reciprocation or even escalation."

    Indignation wavered. Celestia's image as a perfect princess might bar me from showing such material to anypony save Cadance, but that threat might still serve as enough of a deterrent to keep Celestia in check. More importantly still, photographs might be helpful for ensuring that she didn't forget about me.

    "Speaking of adorable displays, I assume that your new jewelry was intended to imitate my own?" Celestia asked, clearly trying to distract me from further search attempts. "It may not have been what I expected, but it does suit you."

    I reluctantly let myself be drawn away from the subject of possible blackmail material.

    "It's deliberately not finished yet, but Flighty did do a great job," I agreed. "We're planning to have it be much more functional — and knowing her, we'll be adding 'poison detection' to the enchantments. That wasn't something we'd considered before, but we really should have."

    I could still barely believe that somepony had actually poisoned me. Oh, last night's symptoms certainly matched, but the situation still didn't feel real. Canterlot Castle was supposed to be the safest place in Equestria, with nosy intruders regularly repelled. That somepony had managed to bypass all that to attack me, however mildly, was immensely disturbing.

    Celestia's smile finished fading, and flickers of fiery heat hinted at well-concealed anger.

    "You can rest assured that nopony is going to be trying that again," she promised darkly. "I care not what they thought they were trying to accomplish, or how mild they thought the consequences would be. Harm to ponies is never an acceptable means, and I do believe a pointed reminder of that fact may be necessary."

    My wings vanished with a flash of red and the odd tingling of my nervous system returning to normality. The timing made me stiffen. I had assumed that my wings previously disappeared because Cadance had drawn me away from Flighty Flame, but I was still speaking and cuddling with Celestia. There was one culprit consistent to both incidents, though: anger. It made entirely too much sense. Anger was inherently destabilizing to most magic, and it seemed reasonable that ascension would be included. Even if it made sense, though, I couldn't help but be irked by the requirement. Anger was useful and one of the few threats that ponies respected. Anger being anathema to ascension would make it much more difficult for me. Such inconvenience was itself supporting evidence, in my opinion; if ascension were easy, far more ponies would have managed it by now.

    Celestia shook her head and masked her own anger behind a fake smile. At least her example showed that the need to refrain would only be temporary; once I ascended, there was no going back.

    "Do not let their disappearance bother you," Celestia tried to reassure me. "Truthfully, I am shocked that your wings lasted this long. I have previously seen ordinary ponies temporarily manifest alicorn traits, but never for longer than perhaps two minutes at most."

    I pulled one hoof out from under Celestia to wave dismissively. I was a bit surprised that she hadn't gotten up, actually. Was she still intent on keeping her promise to not leave until I wanted to get out of bed? If so, I was torn between testing that claim and actually getting up for breakfast.

    "I don't especially mind; I was actually thinking of placing a permanent illusion over my back to make sure they don't distract anypony when they do appear. They showed up for a bit while I was working with Flighty yesterday, too—and speaking of which, Cadance formally appointed her Court Enchantress. I'm not sure if that will actually be effective at getting ponies to leave Flighty alone, but I thought it might be a good start?"

    "I have already been informed, and do not object," Celestia confirmed. "There is usually more ceremony associated with court appointments, but she would be younger than most appointees and I am reluctant to expose her to the long-term attention such a ceremony would bring. If I am not mistaken, she also seems like the sort who would prefer to forge a masterpiece before being publicly acknowledged in such a way?"

    Her last words lifted inquisitively, and I nodded in agreement.

    "There are gaps in her education that will keep her from living up to her full potential until they're remedied," I noted. "Her existing work is impressive, but she can definitely do better and she knows it. Anything she does now is just a placeholder."

    Celestia hesitated and took several conspicuously long moments to marshal her response.

    "I hope that you are not planning to hold her to my standard," Celestia said carefully. "I may be out of practice, but I do still have the memories of a grandmistress's explanations and an alicorn's power to call upon."

    If my wings hadn't vanished already, my flash of irritation might have banished them all on its own.

    I'm not you.

    Celestia's continued cuddling did ensure that my reaction couldn't progress into full-fledged anger, although annoyance did linger.

    "Flighty doesn't need me to push her," I barely did not snap. "I'm confident that she'll push herself just fine. I don't expect perfection, or works that would require years of trial and error with more resources than she previously had access to. I'm sure that she'll sometimes mess up if she experiments as much as she should, and I might need to step in to make sure she knows those mistakes are acceptable, but Flighty isn't somepony motivated solely by wealth. She loves her work and that's enough for her."

    I huffed and started to drag myself out of bed. One outstretched hoof blocked my path before Celestia's wing dragged me back against her. At least I managed not to squeak this time.

    "You almost collapsed yesterday," she reminded me. "While I am glad that you are feeling better, there is no reason to push when I can have breakfast brought to us."

    I almost pushed her away before pausing. While under any other circumstance, I might rush in order to avoid showing weakness, somepony had apparently poisoned me yesterday. It might be a good idea for them to think their efforts had hit harder than the truth. Voice might guarantee that their efforts couldn't kill my body, but I would still prefer for future attempts to utilize unicorn-sized doses rather than those needed to adversely affect earth ponies. Plus, staying in bed would give Voice something to///

    I blinked and tried to remember what I had been thinking about. Right, breakfast. Maybe I was still recovering after all.

    "Fine," I huffed, then hesitated. "…If you have today off, could we spend the day learning more pegasus magic? I managed to make a cloud a few days ago, but it was somewhat sad and soggy."

    "That is still excellent progress," Celestia acknowledged. "If that is truly what you wish to do today, I would be more than happy to help."

    She was holding me too close for me to see her smile, but her tone was enough. I preened and settled back down. Even if I desperately wished that I could have more than just today to spend with her, one whole day was still much more than she'd previously provided. Cadance's efforts showed that Celestia could afford to allocate extra time for me after all; I just needed to demonstrate that I was worthy of the extra effort.
     
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    • Hmm, can other creatures become embodiment of concept? 🤔
     
    My belief was that since both Celestia and Sunset were, together, inside of a room explicitly enchanted to block scrying and other forms of remote viewing, and said enchantments were probably cast by Celestia, it was an effect where one alicorn's "Nobody shall spy on this place" beat another alicorn's "I know the truth of love". Celestia's power could make for some particularly fitting defenses against spies - looking directly at the sun tends to blind you, after all.
     
    buli-buli said:
    I am worried about the Cadence scene which implied Celestia does not love Sunset.
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    buli-buli said:
    So, her Truth-o-meter only applies to facts about Herself?
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    Could just be that it only applies to fundamental truths. Celestia loves Sunset, but that's a fact about Celestia, not a fundamental facet of the universe.

    If Celestia had made different choices, she might not have loved Sunset. There are likely timeliness where she doesn't. So it's not a fundamental truth.
     
    buli-buli said:
    So, her Truth-o-meter only applies to facts about Herself?
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    I think maybe it's more tuned for matters of Love, capital L. Nothing anybody does will change her relationship with Love and how that affects her, but Celestia and Sunset's relationship isn't the sort of fairy tale "true love" that can never be broken or anything. It's much less developed and they're still working out how everything is.

    Basically, Celestia loves Sunset, but I'm not sure that she can currently be said to Love her.
     
    buli-buli said:
    It was pretty cute. Sometimes it is easy to forget Sunset is a child, then there are scenes like this.

    I also liked the insight into the Changelings and into the Guard.

    I am worried about the Cadence scene which implied Celestia does not love Sunset.
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    I think it's more that she just can't pull the answers to any question she wants from the aether
     
    Andre Chaos said:
    Hmm, can other creatures become embodiment of concept? 🤔
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    Enthusiast#117 said:
    Could just be that it only applies to fundamental truths. Celestia loves Sunset, but that's a fact about Celestia, not a fundamental facet of the universe.

    If Celestia had made different choices, she might not have loved Sunset. There are likely timeliness where she doesn't. So it's not a fundamental truth.
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    My thought is that the only reason she received confirmation at all was because she basically asked about her own place within Equestria's Harmony, and she instinctively knew the truth because it's a fundamental truth about the nature of her own existence as literally the ponyfication of a concept that makes up Harmony.
     
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