It didn't take the two sisters/secret lovers long to finally reach Zephyr Heights and arrive at royal castle AKA their old home. After a quick secret kiss to calm their nerves and ready themselves, Zipp and Pipp push open the doors and enter the throne room, briefly exchanging nervous smiles as they do so.

Sitting on her throne and smiling at her approaching daughters was Queen Haven herself. Flanking her were the two thrones they themselves used to sit on, now empty. Though the sight of those empty seats made them feel a twinge of guilt, it was their mother's smile that really made them nervous.

Though she was smiling, the sisters could feel something else hiding behind it. Something they doubted either of them would like.

Also present were Thunder and Zoom, trying their best to look stoic but struggling to look directly at the princess' without blushing. Zipp and Pipp only gave them confused Lois before directing their attention to their mother.

"Hello my sweets!" Queen Haven greeted them cheerfully.

"Hi Mom…" Pipp and Zipp responded with nervous smiles.

"Thank you so much for coming here and meeting me on such short notice." The queen expressed.

"Of course, Mother. You know we always love seeing you and spending time with you." Pipp said. "Right, sis?"

"Y-Yeah, totally." Zipp added.

"As do I, dears." Queen Haven nodded. "Now, I'm sure you're both wondering why I asked you both to come here on such short notice."

"It… came up." Pipp admitted, still sporting a nervous grin.

"But before we get to that, there's something we wanna talk to you about." Zipp interjected. "Something we need to tell you."

"And… chances are… you're probably not gonna like it." Pipp admitted.

"I'm listening." Haven said.

Zipp glanced at the royal guards. "And… maybe in private?"

"Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of them." Queen Haven stated. "You know they can keep a secret."

Zoom and Thunder both nodded rapidly.

"But…" Zipp began before Pipp put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Zipp, it's ok. We can tell her in front of them."

"Pipp…"

"Zipp, please, let's do this now before I lose my nerve"

The white Pegasus sighed. "Ok…" she said. After taking a few slow breaths to calm herself, Zipp finally managed to look directly up at her Mom. "Mom. Yesterday… you asked me if I was seeing somepony… and the truth is… I am."

Her mother seemed pleased. "I had a feeling that was the case,"

"And… there's something you should know about her." Zipp continued as she started to sweat and shake.

"Oh, so it is a mare." Queen Haven remarked with a raised brow and an interested smile.

"Yes, it is…" Zipp confirmed.

"Well, I am very happy for you, Zipp. I hope you didn't think I would revoke your royal status if you told me that you liked mares." Queen Haven expressed. "I may not be as young as I used to be, but I'm not that behind on the times. And I'm sure coming out to me like this…"

"Mom, the mare I'm seeing…" Zipp cut in. When she started struggling to say the next part, Pipp stepped forward.

"Is me," she revealed.

Zipp exhaled deeply. No turning back now, so she might as well confirm it. "It's Pipp," she added. She and her sister held hooves to further emphasize the shocking truth.

After Zoom and Thunder gasped sharply in shock, the throne room was filled with silence. Nopony seemed like they were breathing for that matter, and the blank look on Queen Haven's face didn't give the sisters any clue about what she was feeling.

The tension was so thick that it had started to become cloying. Zipp and Pipp exchanged glances but neither of them had any idea of what to say except…

"Uh… Mom?" Zipp spoke up.

Their mother gestured to one of them and then the other. "You… and you?" she inquired.

"Yes." Zipp confirmed.

"Does that also mean…?" Queen Haven began.

Pipp cringed with rosy cheeks. "Yes…"

Zoom and Thunder gasped again and covered their mouths as they blushes.

"I… I see." Queen Haven finally said.

"You see?" Zipp repeated.

"This is… quite something." The queen remarked.

"We know…" Pipp nodded before lowering her head.

The royal sisters waited for what their mother would say next. But nothing but silence was heard. After a long moment of everything and everypony being deathly silent, Zipp finally broke the silence.

"Uh… Mom? Are you…" she started to say.

"I… I don't know what to say, girls." Their mother finally said.

"We can… only… imagine…" Pipp cringed again.

"Zoom and Thunder told me that you two were… but I had hoped…" Queen Haven began.

"You hoped?" Pipp repeated, hurt.

"Wait… 'Zoom and Thunder told you'?!" Zipp added in surprise as she turned to the two blushing guards. "How did they…?"

"We… may have…" Zoom began nervously.

"We saw the two of you kissing in the sky." Thunder revealed.

The two sisters gasped in shock. Neither of them could believe their ears. Both of them thought that there were no other pegasi in the sky but themselves, but clearly they were wrong, and more than that, they were careless and it led to two of the ponies their mother trusted the most catching them in the act. They exchanged nervous looks and gulped in unison before looking upon their expressionless mother.

"So… you knew… even before we told you." Zipp muttered in realization.

"Yes." The queen confirmed.

"Wait, but… if you knew… then why did you let us tell you ourselves?" Pipp inquired in confusion.

"I wanted to see whether or not you both would tell me on your own." Queen Haven explained. "I wanted to hear it from my own daughters. To be honest… I had hoped you both would tell me otherwise. That what Thunder and Zoom saw was a mistake… that they imagined it, or… or it was a trick of the light. But to hear that it was true…"

Haven sighed deeply, Zipp and Pipp lowered their heads with sad frowns on their faces. They couldn't bear to look their mother in the eye any longer, both of them could just imagine the look of shame on their mother's face, the disgust in her eyes regarding her own daughter's incestuous relationship.

This mental image brought tears to Zipp's eyes while Pipp started to break into almost hysterical sobs.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, Mom…" she cried.

"We're both sorry…" Zipp added, tears streaming down her face.

"You have to believe us, we didn't mean to fall in love…" Pipp continued.

"But we did." Zipp stated with a solemn tone, while putting a hoof around her sister/lover. "We understand if you're angry and/or disgusted with us. What we have can be considered unnatural… But I… I-I mean we aren't just… fooling around and stuff… I love her. From the bottom of my heart. I love my little sister, Mom. I'm in love with her…"

Pipp sniffled, struggling to stop her own crying, even for a brief moment. "We're sorry you had to find out about this from somepony else. But it's true, I-I love her too. I love her… more than one should love their sister. And I won't give her up, even if you and everypony else tells me to."

"So, if you want to disown us, take away our princess titles, imprison us… Go ahead. But we will not end this relationship, Mother. Never." The older sister declared with a firm tone.

She pulled her younger sister in close as she started to sob, completely overcome with anguish. Zipp tried to hold back her own tears, but eventually ended up crying herself.

"Girls… Girls, please… calm down." They heard their mother finally speak.

Pipp tried her best to stop her sobbing while Zipp wiped the tears from her eyes before both of them looked up at their mother with nearly bloodshot eyes.

"My dear, beloved daughters…" Queen Haven began, taking a moment to collect herself before speaking again. "All I have ever wanted for either of you was for you both to be together and happy."

"But… not together like this." Zipp solemnly guessed.

"Yes." The queen confirmed. "I cannot say that I understand this, because I don't, and probably never will. But even if I don't, even if the choice you both have made has its price, I would never discard either of you. However… if this secret is revealed to everypony, I'm afraid that I won't be able to protect you both as I once did."

"We know, Mom." Zipp nodded.

"But… if you truly do love each other. If being together is what makes you happy, if you truly love each other that much, then I will not oppose it." Queen Haven declared.

The sisters widened their eyes and gasped in shock.

"For… For real?" Zipp commented, stunned.

"Ok. Now I, like, totally didn't see that coming…" Pipp added, just as flabbergasted.

"But… your majesty. Are you sure?" Thunder inquired.

"I mean… they're still sisters…." Zoom pointed out.

"Enough." Haven stated, firmly. The two guards quickly straightened up and kept quiet. "Now, while I'm glad you both have finally found love, you still must be punished for lying to me for so long. Turn around now and raise your bottoms."

Zipp and Pipp gasped sharply as they glanced at each other. "Uh-oh…" They both said in unison as they turned around and lowered their upper bodies while keeping their rumps high in the air.

The Queen flew up from her throne and glided over to her daughters, standing right behind their presenting hindquarters. "Tails raised," she commanded. The princesses blushed and did just that. "The royal paddle please."

Zoom zipped off and soon returned with a ping-pong paddle before giving it to the queen.

"I'd rather not have to do this, girls. But I do not condone lying under any circumstances, and now you must face the punishment that you both brought upon yourselves." Queen Haven stated in a professional tone.

Zipp and Pipp gulped before glancing at each other and holding hooves. They tried to brace themselves for what was coming but the fear still made their rear ends quiver. They could only find comfort in the fact that they were about to go through it together.

The older sister was the first to let out a surprised and pain filled cry when she felt a sharp wooden smack against her bottom. It wasn't long before Pipp received a smack that echoed throughout the throne room and made her grunt in pain as well. After three more spanks each, both Zipp and Pipp started to get teary eyed and moan with pain.

Zoom and Thunder glanced away with red faces, flinching each time the queen gave her daughter's rear ends a thwack with the paddle. After a couple more times, a burning redness started to spread across both their rumps. The queen made sure to give her daughter's an equal number of spanks, so that neither had a redder rump then the other.

Lowering the paddle at last, the queen let out a sigh. "Now, what do you two have to say for yourselves?"

After sniffling and letting the tears fall down her face, Zipp finally spoke. "L-Lying is wrong," she said.

"We're-We're sorry, Mom…" Pipp whimpered.

The spanking resumed, but at a much slower speed, making the guards feel even more sorry for the two.

"Oh, I know you are, my dears." Queen Haven assured them gently with a few harsher spanks in-between.

"Ah! We're sorry, Mom! We're sorry!" Zipp cried.

"Yeah! We… We won't lie to you… or keep secrets from you…! Ever again!" Pipp cried.

"That is all I ask." Their mother said.

A few more spanks and both sisters were turned into a pair of blubbering messes.

"Are we done now…?" Pipp whined.

The queen spanked them each one more time, making the guards jump a little.

"There. Now you are done." The Queen declared. Zoom and Thunder both sighed in relief.

Zipp and Pipp groaned as they stood up straight, their asses burning with redness and real blisters all over. Their mother turned them both around and embraced them both, tears forming in the corners of her eyes just like her daughters.

"I'm sorry I had to do that to you, girls," she told them sadly. "I hope you both understand exactly why I had to do it."

"Y-Yes… Yeah, Mom." Zipp sniffled.

"We're so sorry for lying…" Pipp expressed, still crying.

Haven nuzzled them and stroked the backs of their heads, gently shushing them until their light sobbing had finally ended.

"I know darlings, I know…" said the queen. "I wish something like that wasn't necessary, but I don't want either of you making a habit out of lying. I don't want there to be any secrets between us. No matter how… awkward it is, you can always be honest with me."

"We know, Mom." Pipp smiled.

"And… just to be clear… you didn't spank us for being a… couple, right?" Zipp inquired slowly.

"Of course not! Well I… don't exactly… understand it… And I would be lying to myself if it didn't make me a little uncomfortable…" Queen Haven confessed, which disheartened her daughters a little. "But I would never punish you girls for falling in love, even if it's with each other. It's actually quite incredible that the two of you have been living with each other's soulmates and never even knew it until recently."

Zipp smiled. "Tell us about it," she said while sharing a loving look with Pipp.

"I'm also very interested in how this all came to be and what the two of you have up to since it started." Queen Haven admitted.

The royal sisters/lovers blushed as they exchanged looks, then turned bright red as they looked at their mother. Zoom and Thunder also blushed with wide eyes the second it dawned on her.

"You mean…?" The older sister began nervously.

"You wanna know the… details?" The younger one continued, growing more uneasy and flustered.

At first the queen was in the dark about why her daughters were acting so oddly. Then, when it finally hit her, her face also turned beet red.

"Oh! No, no, no! Not every detail, especially not those details. Not at all!" Queen Haven assured them, quickly. Zipp and Pipp sighed in relief as their faces returned to their normal color. "Why don't we discuss the less intimate details over a nice meal?"

"Sounds great." Zipp said before groaning in pain. "And maybe some ice too? My rump's really burning…"

Both the older and younger sister reached back and rubbed their hindquarters while wincing in pain. To both of them, it felt like they just sat on a burning fire and the pain had not subsided, like they were still on fire.

"Oh! Of course! Zoom, Thunder? Fetch me some ice packs for my daughter's red bottoms." Queen Haven ordered.

"Yes, your majesty!" Both guards said before they hurried off.

"Come dears, let us go to the dinner room." The queen declared as she trotted ahead.

"Coming!" Zipp and Pipp responded as they started following. Both grunted and winced with each step they took thanks to the burning pain in their reddened and sore rears.

Some time later, with ice packs under their red tushies, the princesses sat at the dinner room table with their mother, the queen. With plates of food before them, the royal family ate and laughed together just like a regular family would.

"Alright, alright, now tell me, how did the romance between the two of you start?" Queen Haven inquired, curiously.

Zipp blushed in response. "Uh, well, it's a little embarrassing but… See, we were in the hot tub together and…" she started to say.

"Zipp kissed my butt." Pipp cut in bluntly. "Literally."

"What?!" Haven commented in shock as she and her eldest daughter blushed.

"Pipp!" Zipp exclaimed, embarrassed.

"What? You did!" Pipp pointed out.

"You coulda put it a little more gently…!" Zipp said through clenched teeth.

"Sorry…" The pink pegasus winced.

Queen Haven cleared her throat and tried to calm herself, despite her rapidly beating heart. "And… What about lip contact? Who initiated the first kiss?"

"I did." The younger sister replied proudly, with Zipp nodding in confirmation. "It was just after I confessed that I also had feelings for her."

"Took me my surprise too." Zipp admitted.

Pipp giggled. "I'll say, you actually tried to fight me off,"

"Hey, I didn't see it coming!" Zipp said defensively. "By the way, you are shockingly strong."

The pink Pegasus flipped her mane with a proud smirk. "You know it," she smirked before giving her sister/lover's side a playful smack with her wing. Zipp smirked and pulled Pipp in closer with her wing. The two giggled as they nuzzled and snuggled together.

Queen Haven smiled sweetly at her daughters as they continued being physically affectionate with each other. Despite how strange the love between her daughters had become, she couldn't help but think to herself how adorable the two of them were together. And it was clear how deeply in love they were.

"Aw, are you two always this romantic with each other?" The Queen inquired with interest. "In a… slightly non-physical way I might add."

"You better believe it." Pipp confirmed almost giddily as she looked up at Zipp with a big smile, Zipp gave her a flirtatious smirk in return. "Like, not too long ago, Zipp found us the perfect little hideaway for us to be alone when we need to."

"It was actually a place we got stuck in on Royal Portrait Day." Zipp revealed.

"Oh! So, that's what happened." Queen Haven remarked with an amused smirk. "And… are you friends aware that you're in love?"

"Uh, sort of." Zipp shrugged.

"Sort of?" Haven repeated in surprise.

"Well… We haven't exactly been as subtle as we thought." Pipp admitted with a blush and a bashful smile.

"Everypony confronted us about if we were… intimate and… let's just say I wasn't that happy about the whole 'intervention'." Zipp confessed. "But after Pipp got me to calm down, we decided to come clean."

"Only for them to tell us that we don't have to tell them everything. Like, they all have a feeling about what's going on, but they're not gonna dig into it." Pipp explained.

"Ah! Plausible deniability." Queen Haven realized.

Zipp nodded in confirmation. "Yep, that's what Hitch called it."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that none of them are pressuring you in any way." Queen Haven said. "Tell me, do you think one day you might actually confirm their suspicions?"

The sisters exchanged looks and seemed to know exactly what each other was thinking. They smiled and turned back to their mother.

"Maybe one day." Pipp replied.

"But only if Hitch isn't in the room or if his ears are covered." Zipp added. "Guy's a stickler for the rules, and the only way he won't arrest us is if he doesn't see or hear what we're doing."

Their mother nodded understandingly. "I see," she said. "And what other sort of romantic things have my daughter's been up to?"

Zipp laughed a little "Boy, I never thought I'd hear you ask that,"

The queen let out a laugh of her own. "Oh, believe me, I never thought I'd hear myself ask such a question!" she expressed.

The royal family all shared a laugh together. Even though things had changed between them, in ways they never thought possible, it was nice that they could laugh, eat and spend time together like they used to.

"Well? Go on, give your mother some details." Queen Haven insisted eagerly. "I want to hear everything about the beautiful romance between my daughters. Within reason, of course."

"Ok, calm down, Mom." Zipp urged her mother gently before turning to her girlfriend/sister. "Pipp?"

"Well, obviously we've been on dates, mainly lunches and dinners. We've also gone stargazing, dancing, left little notes for each other, watched the sun rise, saw a romantic comedy…" Pipp revealed. "We were even thinking of re-play our first date or even how this whole thing started."

Queen Haven blushed a little. "Does… Does that include the…" she began nervously.

"Butt kissing? Yeah. Except she's kissing my butt next time!" Zipp stated with a smirk.

Pipp scoffed. "Yeah, right! Like I'd kiss your raunchy rear!" she remarked in faux disgust.

"Says the pony who just called it raunchy." Zipp commented in amusement before she and her incestuous lover shared a laugh together.

While greatly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken, it still warmed Queen Haven's heart to see her daughter's looking, touching and talking to each other with tender love and affection. She thought back to her date with Alphabittle on Mare's Day, and how her daughters were so clearly against it.

It felt as though things between them had been reversed, only she actually had a good reason to be against her daughter's relationship.

But despite how wrong it was and how much she knew she should be discouraging it, she just didn't have it in her to tear such a precious love apart. So what if it was considered 'unnatural'? She still loved them. They were still precious little girls, and they always would be to her.