>It’s not like you found a particular pleasure in mocking Celestia during a moment of clear distress, quite the contrary, this was the mare that welcomed you into her life with nothing but open hooves. However, after five minutes of observing her walking back and forth across the diner like some sort of mad mare, the whole situation had started to become rather comedic.
>You decided to leave Celestia to her own devices for the time being and simply walked to where Luna was sitting at. By this point, she had already stopped playing with the large scrolls laying on the table, and was instead gulping down her third jar of black and super-charged coffee. 
>Surprisingly enough, she didn’t register your presence despite your best efforts in being as loud as possible in pulling the chair next to her so you could climb it. For some weird reason, Luna’s entire attention was fixed in seeing if there was any droplet of coffee left in the jar.
>A wide, mischievous grin was drawn on your lips as you cautiously leaned closer to her and then poked her wing with the tip of your hoof.
“Hey, lady! Looking for some treasure in there?”
>You couldn’t help but to laugh at Luna’s startled reaction. She let out a short but very high-pitched yelp as she dropped the jar. Luckily, Luna quickly, albeit clumsily caught the jar before it broke on the floor.
>With some mighty shaky hooves, Luna placed the jar on the table. Her breathing was heavy and so was her voice, “Sweet stars, Resonance! Please do not scare me like that again!” She growled as she tiredly rested her head on the table, “Can you not see we are awaiting for…!”

>Luna back on her chair and jolted her head at you. It was really hard to contain your laughter at her wide opened eyes and the way in which she covered her mouth with the jar, “You…” She slowly placed the jar back on the table and sighed in relief, “When did you arrive, my dearest son?”  
“Like ten minutes ago, Cherrywood was here too. I’ve been watching you the entire time! Don’t wanna sound rude, but what the heck is going on here? Why’s Celestia being so…y’know?”
>With the love of a mother, Luna patted your head as she enveloped one of the scrolls with her magic and crumpled it into a small ball, “Those are really commendable questions, my dearest Resonance. Questions whose answers you shall receive very soon” She then threw the ball straight at her sister.
>“AGH!” It was a perfect hit. The ball hit Celestia right in the eye, managing to snap her out of the panic attack and instead placing her into more angered state.
>Celestia quickly adjusted her crown and rubbed her eye, “LUNA, THAT WASN’T FUNNY! Twilight will be here any minute and… Resonance”. 
>Celestia’s mouth adopted a comically perfect O shape once she realized you were comfortably by Luna’s side, and worse yet, that you were trying everything in your power to not burst into laughter. 
>In a botched attempt to save face, she cleared her throat and put this weird grin from ear to ear, “Resonance! There you are! I’ve been waiting ages for you!” She said as her face adopted a subtly menacing expression, “What took you so long?”

 “What you’re talking about, lady? I’ve been here for like twenty minutes. By the way, that dance you were doing around the clock? Kinda weird, but hey I guess you gotta love grandfather clocks big time!”
>Celestia narrowed her eyes and used her magic to levitate your grinning self to her, “Very funny, Resonance. Very, very funny. A timeless joke, really.” Her expression became stern, “But this is no laughing matter”.
>Luna quickly replied in a calm and polite manner, “I will have to disagree with that claim, Celie”. She extended her wings and flew from the chair to her sister’s side, “There is a certain hilarity in this. Especially when we consider that it were your actions that brought these problems upon us”.
“Celestia screwed up? Oh, man! What did she do?!”
>Celestia completely ignored your words. Instead she directed all of her attention to Luna, “IT WAS A MISTAKE, ALRIGHT?! I don’t see the need to keep rubbing it on my face”
>Luna looked at her sister with a completely stoic face and tilted, “Ironic, considering it was you who mocked me for an entire year for mispronouncing the name of the Griffonstone ambassador one single time”.
“Man, that must’ve sucked! But uh… can you tell me what happened here?”
>Still ignoring you, Celestia crossed her front-hooves and arrogantly shrugged, “Yeah, but that was a different!”
>As their argument devolved into petty complaints about the other, you started to feel your left eye twitching. Once they brought up some incident about a cake, your patience reached its boiling point.

“GOSH DARN IT! WHO CARES ABOUT WHO EAT THAT STUPID CAKE! JUST SHUT UP AND TELL ME WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!”
>That was more than enough to finally make those two to remember that not only you were in the room, but that Celestia was still levitating you with her magic. 
>After rubbing her left ear, Celestia gently put on the ground and sighed, “Sorry about that, Resonance.” She then turned to Luna, “Same to you, sister. I really should know better than this”.
>Luna starred at Celestia for a couple seconds before gently patting her sister’s shoulder, “Maybe, but where would the fun be if you behaved rationally all the time, my dear sister?” She extended her wings and elegantly sat by Celestia’s side.
>A bright smile appeared on Celestia’s face as she gave her sister a quick hug, “Thanks, Luna. I’ll make it up for you some other time”. She then turned to you and sighed. There was something in Celestia’s face that made all of your previous frustration to vanish in an instant. 
>She could try to look like everything was A-OK now, but it was crystal clear how anxious she really was feeling. You rubbed the back of your head and shrugged.
“I mean, I ain’t that clueless. You said something about Twilight’s coming here. That’s the same pony the school council never shut up about, right? She gotta be someone really darn important to get you all cuckoo like that”. 
>Celestia slowly nodded as she lovingly caressed your mane, “One could say that, yeah. Twilight Sparkle is easily one of the most intelligent ponies I’ve ever seen, very talented in magic too. She used to be my personal student”.

“Used to be? That… doesn’t sound good. Did you two have a fallout or something?”
>Celestia shook her head, a melancholic smile was drawn on her face, “No, not at all. Twilight and I are still in excellent terms. It’s just that… How do I put it?  Ah, I know! She… graduated from my courses and went on her own way. That’s all”. 
>With a certain hint of sarcasm behind her voice, Luna continued where her sister left off, “Except that instead of having a ceremony and a diploma to go along, Twilight became a princess a little more than a couple of months ago”.
“What the heck, man?!”
>It really doesn’t need to be said that this revelation came off as an utter shock. Not only this Twilight seemed to live to the hype the council gave her, but there were other princesses in Equestria. What a frickin’ bomb to just drop on you like it was some meaningless gossip.
>That said, you weren’t a giant jerk. While you had an untold numbers of questions related to Twilight and how the heck did the politics in Equestria work, Celestia was way more important to you than all of that stuff.
“Alright, first comes first! Don’t even think I ain’t gonna ask about that princess thing later on, because I’m gonna do it. It’s just that… uh, I wanna deal with the big problem first”.
>Celestia shot a quick glare at Luna before nodding at you, “And you can’t imagine how thankful I am for that”.
“Yeah, yeah! So, lemme get this straight. Whoever this Twilight gal is, she’s a princess, and you two are super close, and…this is sorta a wild guess, but… is Twilight coming here because of me?”

>Luna was the one to reply to your question, but not before giving an odd look to her sister, “That is correct, my dearest Resonance. Celie and the young Twilight have the habit of exchanging letters on a weekly basis. As you maybe already deducted, Celie supposedly wrote about you and how you became her new personal student. However…”
“Then what’s the problem here, ladie? We just do what we always do and don’t tell her that you two are my parents. If you want, I can just go into the city or whatever while she’s visiting. There are like a thousand ways we can deal with this, it ain’t hard”.
>Luna and Celestia exchanged worried looks, with the former motioning the later to step forward. Celestia did just that as her faced adopted an embarrassed expression, “I really wish that was the case, but it isn’t.” She then sighed, “You see, Resonance; I made a slight typo at the end of my letter. I… accidentally mentioned that Luna and I adopted you”.
>You were completely dumbfounded at her explanation. You blinked multiple times and tilted your head as your mind tried to piece together just what the heck Celestia just said.
“I don’t think… I mean… how the heck does that qualify as a typo?”
>“Don’t be so technical, Resonance”. Celestia said in a completely serious tone, “Some mistakes were made, and let’s leave it at that”.
>Your eyes quickly shifted to Luna in hopes for a better explanation. However, she raised her front-hooves and clearly trying to hold back her laugher, looked away from you, “I am sorry, my dearest son, but Celie is the one that you should be querying not me”.

>That pretty much made it clear that Luna wasn’t gonna do anything. A bit annoying, but nothing you couldn’t handle. You rolled your eyes and turned your gaze back to Celestia.
“Yeah right, whatever. So you spilled the whole can of beans, huh? Dang, lady! I thought I was the one who was gonna mess it up. Feels good to be wrong, though!”
>“By accident, don’t forget that!” Celestia quickly replied, “That said, this isn’t any problem that the three of us can’t…”
>She was cut off by Luna, who quickly stood up and walked to the dinner’s hall, “I am sorry, Celie but you can count me out. I have other business to attend to. Like our royal duties, to put on an example”.
>Celestia slapped her forehead and let out a tired grunt, “Agh! I completely forgot about that! There’s a pile of tax documents I’ve yet to review, and there’s also the permits for the carnival!”
>“Correction, you had to do all of that work” Luna replied as she turned to Celestia, “I shall take on your responsibilities for today. Meanwhile you and Resonance can have a hopefully pleasant day with the young Twilight”.
>Celestia let out a sigh in relief and flew to give Luna a big hug, “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”
>Luna patted the back of Celestia before breaking the hug, “Plenty of times, but not enough. Now if you excuse me, I have a long day of work ahead of me and I rather to start now”.
>Celestia nodded and opened the doors of the diner to Luna, "All of the documents are on my desk. There’s a bottle of Sweet Apple Acres cider hidden on top of the white bookshelf. It’s yours”

>Without anything else to say than a simple “Understood”. Luna left the diner and used her magic to close the doors behind her. Now you were alone with a calmer, yet still stressed Celestia.
>Considering this was the first time you’ve seen her in this state, you didn’t really know what to do other than simply walk to her side and lean your comparatively miniscule body against hers.
“C’mon, lady. Don’t be like that! We can do what we always do and play some game. Hey! Maybe I can finally teach you how to play blackjack!”
>Celestia slowly shook her head, an air of defeat exhaled from her face, “We can’t do that, Resonance. Twilight has me in a particularly high standard. I can’t simply break those expectations”.
>Your heart was pierced by the implications behind her statement. How stupid you were, Twilight’s supposed to be like the ultimate pony, someone even Celestia seems to look up to. Of course a street game like blackjack would be an idiotic idea. 
>That’s probably why Celestia was so nervous, she simply didn’t want some stray dog that she adopted out of pity to embarrass her.
“Oh… ok. Don’t worry, lady. I ain’t gonna make you look lame in front of Twilight. I’ll just… y’know, not do anything. You won’t even know I’m there, I promise”.
>Celestia gasped in shock at your response. She frantically shook her head and placed a hoof on your back “Oh, no, no! Resonance, that’s not what I meant!”
“It’s cool, lady. I get it, I’ve been there before. Twilight’s a princess and I’m just… well, me. I ain’t good enough for someone like that”.

>With tender care, Celestia placed her hoof under chin and gently raised your head to look at you straight in the eye, “Resonance, you got it wrong! Twilight is…” She then pondered for a moment, “She’s like everypony else”.
“Sorry, lady but… I don’t get what you mean”.
>“When Twilight and everypony else look at me”. Celestia said as she stared into the distance, “All they can see is an ideal of perfection and nothing else. Like I’m just some doll to be put on a pedestal, and I know they don’t mean any ill will but it’s disgusting to me”.
“So that’s why you always act so weird when there’s someone else around! I mean, it kinda makes sense? But I mean, have you tried to tell them about how you actually feel?”
>With a deep, melancholic breath, Celestia slowly nodded, “I have tried a thousand different ways across a thousand years, and the result is always the same. It doesn’t matter what or how hard I try”. Celestia pulled you in for a hug as her voice started cracking, “It’s like they can’t understand that I’m a pony like them”. 
>Celestia then broke the hug and wiped a couple tears from her eyes, “I’m sorry, for getting so emotional Resonance. It’s just that I… I thought Twilight would be different. It didn’t happen, I’ve no idea why I thought it would. I guess nopony wants the real me”.
“Hey, lady. Didn’t you say that I shouldn’t downplay myself? Besides, that ain’t true! You still have me. I frickin’ love you for who you are! I know I ain’t much but that still gotta count, right?”

>A tearful smile appeared on Celestia’s face as she took you into another hug. One that was as warm as a summer afternoon, “To me that’s worth more than all of the bits in Equestria”. She then started to caress your mane and whispered into your ear, “I know we haven’t been family for too long, but you’re simply the best thing that could’ve happened to me. That’s why I told Twilight the whole truth, I got too excited about you being in my life”.
“Well, what can I say to that, lady? I feel the same about you and Luna, seriously I love the two of you and this Twilight is dumb for not seeing how frickin’ cool you actually are, and… wait when the heck is she coming?”
>Celestia tapped her chin as she took a quick glance at the clock, “She’s late, that’s very rare from her. What do you say if we go to the entrance hall? Maybe she’s waiting for us there”.
“I mean, sure but uh… You think I can grab something to eat along the way? I’m kinda starving here”.
>Celestia slapped her forehead and groaned, “I forgot to make your breakfast.” She then clapped her hooves together and levitated you to her back, “I’m sorry Resonance, but you’ll have to do with an apple for now. I’ll make up some excuse later so we can all have lunch”.  
>After making sure that you were safely placed on her back, Celestia levitated the brightest and reddest apple in the kitchen to your hooves and walked out of the diner.
>By this point, it really shouldn’t come off as a surprise that, whenever a pony greeted her, Celestia quickly changed her personality and attitude. However, where you previously found this behavior to be nothing less than an annoyance, now you were starting to despise it with all your heart.

>It started to remind you of those ads the company liked to do for everything. They were everywhere, and every single one of them had these perfect plastic models with their perfect plastic smiles.
>That’s basically how you saw that faux personality of Celestia. The smile she gave to bypassing ponies was nothing but plastic, her demeanors were plastic, even the fire in her eyes was replaced with the same plastic look that plagued your old world.
>Once the coast was finally clear, Celestia turned to you with eyes that felt like were looking into your very soul. A small sigh escaped her lips, “Please don’t take it on them. I know the feeling, trust me I do, but this is my fault and nopony else”.
>You chuckled almost by instinct. The fake personality in itself was what made you feel sick, not Celestia or anyone else. In fact, you’ve come to like a lot of the castle’s staff. They were genuinely good guys.
“Wasn’t planning to. Think Twilight’s really gonna be there, though?”
>“Only one way to find out”. Her horn glowed with a golden aura as you were levitated from her back to the floor. A half-smirk appeared on Celestia’s face as she playfully said, “Think you can walk all the way there?”
“You mean I gotta walk down a couple hallways on my own? Gee, lady! That sounds tough… but I think I can pull it off”.
>Celestia chuckled at your little sarcastic comment and patted your mane, “That’s my boy”. After giving you a little wink, she then continued walking, with you happily following right by her side.
>As the two of you got closer to your destination, you started to think about something you had come to notice about the entrance hall, and more specifically, about the couple of gigantic and beautifully decorated front doors of the castle. 

>For some weird reason, they were open all day, sometimes they remained like that well into the night. This was an aspect that you had always found kind of weird, and considering the circumstances, this was probably a very good chance to ask about.
“Hey, lady. Can I ask you something? Why the front doors are always open? Kinda seems like a dangerous move if you ask me”.
>Celestia looked into the distance, eyes filled with that fire you loved so much. Her voice adopted an aura of great wisdom with every word spoken, “You see, Resonance. This castle is much more than just brick and wood, it’s a symbol. One that represents hope, unity and harmony to everypony in Equestria.” She then turned to you with that disarmingly warm smile on her face and continued, “I know it’s dangerous, but hundreds of years ago I realized that to close its doors would be to deny these things to the kingdom. That’s why I keep the doors open as much as it’s logistically possible.” 
>You stood silent at those words. There’s nothing you could really say to a powerful message like that, but that’s to be expected from Celestia. No matter what, you were always reminded of how lucky you were for being adopted by her. 
>Despite your meditative thoughts, you also came to notice that your surroundings were really quiet. This is something you found especially weird when considering you could see the side of the grand staircase that served as the central piece of the entrance hall. 
>The reason for this is because, probably more so than most parts of the castle, the entrance hall has always been brimming bursting with activity. There were days where you spent a couple hours at the end of the grand staircase just watching the many visitors come and go through the imposing front doors. 

>In fact, after leaving the diner you thought that the best way to know if Twilight was here would be to look at any pony surrounded by a crowd of admirers or something similar. That’s why it came as shock to find out that, besides you and Celestia, the only other souls at the entrance hall were the couple of guards on their patrol duty. 
>Maybe there was a reason for this oddity. Maybe it was a holiday, or everyone got some horrible stomach complication. The possibilities were many, but the important bit is that diarrhea or not Twilight wasn’t here, and you were starting to feel pretty annoyed about it.
“Hey, lady? I think this Twilight ditched you. What do you say if we do something else? Like I dunno, go to the city maybe? I really wanna see if I can find some working tools there”.
>Celestia’s answer was to immediately shake her head, and to reply with a polite yet concerned tone, “I’m sorry, Resonance but it’s just not like her to cancel an appointment without any notice. I’m starting to get worried about her if I have to be honest”.
“Oh, c’mon! She’s a princess, ain’t she? I bet she’ll be fine! Why can’t we go to the city? She’s already late as heck, we can make her wait too!”
>Celestia rolled her eyes and gave you a stern look, “Resonance, I know how you’re feeling but think how you would feel if somepony else did the same to you. I’m sure you’d think that it’s simply not right to throw anypony away for what was most surely a simple complication”.

>While you hated the idea of waiting even further, it was hard to argue against Celestia. Something about how she explained things, and the bigger-than-life aura she expelled while doing so, were more than enough to make you concede the argument.
>That didn’t mean you liked it. You crossed your front-hooves as you shrugged and pointed at the guards by the front doors.
“Whatever, it ain’t like I had any bits to spend at the city anyway. Why don’t you ask the guards if they’ve seen her?”
>Celestia lovingly patted your mane, “Thank you for understanding, Resonance. Please wait here while I go ask the guards if they have…”
>She was abruptly interrupted by a distant yell coming from beyond the front doors. You and Celestia quickly turned your attention to see the two guards pointing with both wonder and confusion, at a small purple object flying in the sky in the most erratic way possible.
>You had to squint your eyes to tell, but it was undeniable that the purple thing wasn’t doing random movements on the sky, it was actively trying to reach the castle. The closer the purple object got to the castle, the more it started to resemble a pony.
 >Mere seconds after the purple pony-thing made a rough U-turn that defied all laws of physics, it nosedived at terminal speed and went straight into the castle’s doors, and to be more exact, it was going on a perfect collision route towards you.

>What happened next was something that took your mind a few seconds to process after it was over. As you embraced for impact, Celestia used her magic to pull you out of the way, and to also cast a weird golden bubble that surrounded the two of you.
>Next, and in the spawn of a mere fraction of a second, she casted another spell. Unlike the others that simply came from that rippling aura from her horn, this new one was born from what you could only describe as a golden shock wave that rippled through the entire hall.
>Once your mind was finally able to form coherent thoughts, you turned to Celestia with pure awe. She was standing tall and proud, her gaze was powerful, more than anyone you’ve ever met. At that moment, Celestia looked, at least for you, like the coolest pony who ever lived. 
“Holy blazes, lady! That was frickin’ awesome! YOU ARE FRICKIN’ AWESOME! I just… I mean, how did you…?”
>Snapping back into reality, Celestia blinked a couple times before turning to you with a little smirk on her face, “I’m a box filled with a thousand years’ worth of surprises, my little son”. She winked at you “I’ll teach you a couple of them some other time. For now, I want you to meet Twilight Sparkle.”
>Before you could say anything in response, Celestia raised her hoof to point at something behind you, something that made you gasp in shock. It was a frickin’ pony and a young dragon floating in mid-air a few meters away from your position. 
>Both of them were completely static, kind of like statues. Heck, the only reason why you knew they were alive is because their eyes moved frantically, as if they were trying their hardest to understand what was going on.

“I-Is that Twilight? Can I see her before you undo whatever the heck that spell is?”
>You turned to Celestia with excitement in your eyes. She nodded to you in approval and even used her head to push you towards them, “Just be quick. I don’t want to keep the poor Twilight hanging like this”.
 >After taking a small gulp, you did just that and give the pair a quick inspection. Both Twilight and the young dragon were carrying saddlebags. Same that miraculously enough, were completely closed, almost like they were sealed shut. 
>Besides that, the first thing that grabbed your attention was that Twilight had the same weird traits as Celestia and Luna. That is to say, she possessed both wings like a pegasus and a horn like a unicorn. Unlike your parents however, Twilight didn’t have a crown, collar or any jewelry like them.
>Other than the fact she was slightly overweight, Twilight’s physique and size were fairly normal and also very purple. Her entire coat was of a light mulberry color which was complimented by a couple of actually cute violet eyes. 
>The mane style was surprisingly humble for what was supposed to be a princess, even “nerdy” as Eris would put it. You still liked it, though. Similar to your own, Twilight’s mane and tail were composed of a base color and a couple of streaks. In her case however, the main color was a sapphire blue that went nicely with the purple and raspberry streaks.
>When it came to the dragon, he was a young one, maybe around your age. He certainly was about your size. You already wanted to meet this guy, there was something in his pistachio eyes that reminded you of all the baby dragons you met, and sometimes fought, back at the slums.
>Funnily enough, most of his scales, with the remarkable exception of the grayish green of the chest and underbelly areas, were the same color as Twilight’s coat. 
>You read somewhere that the spike patterns for each dragon were different, kind of like how hoof and frog prints were for ponies. For this particular dragon, the sap green spikes on his head looked like a puffy Mohawk.
>Once your quick, yet thorough inspection was over, you glanced at Celestia who in turn gave you an understanding nod. Act later, her horn glowed with that rippling golden aura and both Twilight and the dragon plummeted head first onto the floor.