"Mommy, I had a bad dream last night." Scootaloo said with a slightly apprehensive tone to her voice as a vision of her previous nights experience flashed into her mind. Celestia, who was currently sitting across from her at the table where they were currently enjoying breakfast, almost immediately moved from her seat to envelope her adopted daughter into a hug.

"You poor little thing, would it help if I slept with you tonight?" Celestia spoke in a soft calming voice that seemed to have its desired effect on Scootaloo who almost seemed to melt into a type of putty within her embrace. Of course for the third pony at the breakfast table this simple action seemed to have the opposite effect.

"You pervert. She's just a little kid!" Luna yelled as she slammed her hooves on the wooden table, Celestia turned her head to glare at her sister while Scootaloo turned her head upwards to face her mother.

"Mommy, what's a pervert?" Scootaloo asked with naive childhood curiosity that caused Luna to snicker slightly and Celestia's face to turn bright red.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Celestia said to the child who pouted for a short period of time before turning her attention back to the task of eating the food on her plate.

"I didn't appreciate your outburst earlier." Celestia whispered to her sister with a stern expression on her face as she walked down the hallway beside her toward the castle balcony where the two of them were supposed to give a speech for all of the ponies in the land to hear. Such an event happened on a bimonthly basis and occurred for the sole purpose of making the two deities more personable and likeable to their subjects.

"Well you deserved it, what kind of pervert asks to sleep with their own daughter. That's kind of sick." Luna commented as quietly as she could so that her message would not be overheard by the guards currently escorting them down the hall.

"You know full well that's not what I meant." Celestia whispered harshly in answer to her sister's wrongful accusation as to her earlier motives. Luna turned her down toward the ground as a reaction to the verbal chastisement.

"I'm sorry big sister, but you have to understand that I love you and . . . "

"I love you too sister, but that doesn't give you the right to be as overprotective as you are. You have to trust that I will be faithful to you, much like I have to trust you to be faithful to me." Celestia explained to her sister, who's eyes seemed to have moistened during Celestia's diatribe.

"But what if I can't?" Luna asked in a depressive voice that came out as somewhat of a desperate plea. Celestia sighed as she leaned in toward her sisters' ear.

Then I'm afraid that we'll have to end our relationship as lovers." Celestia whispered into her sister's ear so as not to pass on their secret to their current armored escorts. Luna's eyes widened as she turned her head to her sister and opened her mouth as if to protest her sister's previous words. Of course she never got the chance because at that precise moment one of the guards turned around and signaled to the two sisters that they had reached their destination.

"Which one's Celestia? Fluttershy asked one of her friends who stood beside her in the crowd as the twin princesses of Equestria gave their bimonthly speech. Her friend, Twilight Sparkle, turned to her with an almost shocked look painted upon her face.

"Really Fluttershy? You're about to start work as a servant for them and you can't tell which is which." Twilight stated with the same shocked looked on her face that had begun to fade as soon as she caught a glimpse of Fluttershy's embarrassed face as she gave a pathetic little nod. Twilight sighed and pointed to the much older-looking princess on the right who was currently delivering the first half of the speech.

"That one right there is Celestia." Twilight explained, then she pointed to the princess on the left who was much shorter and seemed nervous about giving her half of the speech, as evidenced by the fact that she refused to take her eyes off of her hooves as Celestia gave her speech. Fluttershy looked up and smiled slightly at how different the sisters appeared to be, her eyes lingered upon Celestia for a few seconds before she turned to her friend.

"Is she scary?" Fluttershy asked with childish naivety that contracted quite harshly with her current age. Twilight chuckled slightly before shaking her head.

"No, Celestia's not scary at all. She has to be one of the kindest and gentlest creatures in all of Equestria, her sister on the other hand . . . "

"Is she mean?" Fluttershy asked a little louder than she probably should have in the big crowd. Twilight gave a nervous laugh as a few ponies turned their heads to give the pair quick judgmental looks before turning their heads back to the balcony where coincidentally Luna had started to give her half of the speech.

"I wouldn't call her mean, but she does have a tendency to be a little . . . odd at times." Twilight explained, pausing slightly as if she were searching for the right word to describe the younger princess.

"She looks kind of sad." Fluttershy commented as she watched the younger princess giving her speech while possibly ignoring Twilight's earlier words. The purple pony sighed as she took a glance at the princess before turning to her friend.

"Yes, I guess she does."