Twilight and her family left the castle once everypony was ready to hop on the train to Canterlot. It was a long train ride, and Magic Aura was desperately trying her hardest not to fall asleep. She didn’t have time to make coffee and she had went to bed very late the night before, and now she had to stand still listening to some boring announcement for some reason. She sighed and shifted in her seat, staring out the window. She was glad she at least got a window seat. Maybe she’ll just sneak a quick nap in before they arrive to Canterlot…

Once they arrived, they filed off the train one by one, and Magic Aura had woken up from her short nap. She groaned and hesitantly got up from her seat, gently rubbing one of her temples as she boarded off the train. Twilight gave her a worried glance, and Magic Aura’s eyes met with hers. Twilight glanced away with a shrug making Magic Aura raise an eyebrow. They all made their way to the Canterlot castle.

Princess Celestia greeted them with a warm and gentle smile. Princess Luna was there, along with Twilight’s brother and his family. Twilight smiled and hugged him, then greeted Princess Cadence with their traditional greeting - the Ladybug dance. Magic Aura thought it was cheesy, but she wasn’t going to open her mouth about it. She did greet her cousins, however. She actually liked her cousins. They all took some time to chat and catch up with each other until it was time for the big news that Celestia apparently had.

“Hey Princess, where’s your husband? And the children?” Twilight asked Celestia with a smile. Celestia smiled back.

“Oh, Discord? He’ll be coming soon. He said he needed to get ready and put on some “special” attire. I’m sure that with him, it could be anything. As for the children, well, I guess it’s the same for them.” Celestia said with a chuckle. Twilight frowned a bit and cocked her head.

“Discord is so… unpredictable. I’m surprised you put up with it.” Twilight said. Celestia chuckled.

“He might be unpredictable, but he’s a huge softy around me. He’s also very flirtatious. You could say that I’m fond of it.” She said with a giggle. Twilight smiled as well.

“Well, I’m just glad you’re happy.” Twilight replied. Celestia nodded and sighed happily.

“Thanks, Twilight. Me too.” She said.

They all made their way towards the balcony of the castle. Celestia led everypony outside on the balcony. She took her place on the balcony, and she insisted on Twilight’s family lining up first, so they did. Cadence and her family, along with Princess Luna, stood behind them. Twilight was very excited for this ‘special’ announcement. Celestia hadn’t revealed what it was so Twilight was more than eager to hear all about it. But there was one thing, or rather, one pony, she was worried about.

She glanced at her eldest daughter, Magic Aura. So far so good, Magic Aura stood in place without any hesitation or questions. Twilight was pleased, and smiled then looked away from her. Twilight stood next to her on purpose, just to make sure she stayed awake throughout the whole thing.

Once everypony was in their positions, and Princess Celestia’s children and husband had arrived, along with Princess Luna’s children, Celestia had ordered the guards to announce to everypony what was going on. Soon, a bunch of ponies started flowing in like a river, packing the place and trying to squeeze together to get more room.

After about ten minutes or so, the place was packed. Celestia smiled and assessed the amount of ponies standing before her and the other Princesses, deciding that it was time to begin. She cleared her throat.

“Hello everypony, thank you all so much for coming. I have a very special announcement for you all today…” Celestia exclaimed. Magic Aura could already feel the sleepiness hitting her like a truck. The room around her became blurry, and her eyes were starting to shut. She quickly jerked them back open and tuned into Celestia’s little announcement a little more.

“As you can see, I’ve gathered all the Princesses and our families here today.” She said, motioning her hoof at all of them. Ugh, boring, boring, boring! Magic Aura couldn’t take it. Her wings drooped against her sides, and her eyelids were starting to close again. She didn’t realize it, but there was a little drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. She was having a VERY hard time staying awake. It was as boring as math class, and hell, she was great at math! But doing all these stupid princess duties? Not so great at that.

Twilight glanced over at her as Celestia continued talking. She let out a small gasp and saw Magic Aura’s awful state. She gritted her teeth and held her hoof up in surprise. Magic Aura was totally going to make an embarrassment of her, but more importantly, herself. Twilight swore she could hear some ponies mumbling and staring at them. Flash glanced over at his wife and daughter, and a concerned look grew across his face. He knew when Twilight was upset, nervous, angry, or sorry. Right now, she was nervous and upset. He kept his calm for now, since they were currently being watched by 4,000 or more sets of eyes. Twilight’s ears twitched listening to Celestia talking, and also trying to figure out if anypony was saying something. Magic Aura, at this point, had completely fallen asleep. The drool in the corner of her mouth was now dripping down her cheek and almost onto her neck. Twilight gulped.

“…So as you all know, the gala will be coming up in the near future. Well, this gala is going to be a special one. Myself and my family and my lovely sister and her family will be attending, and we will be there to greet anypony who’s interested in talking to us, but this time, Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight and their families will also be attending and joining us. This will be a huge event since there are so many ponies joining us at the gala this year.” Celestia said, motioning her hoof over to them again. She glanced at them all, and noticed that Magic Aura was sleeping, and that Twilight was trying not to freak out and have a mental breakdown in front of all these ponies. Twilight’s eyes got wide once she realized that Celestia had seen the commotion they were causing. Celestia raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, then glanced away and continued talking some more. Twilight froze in place and she swore that her hair was sticking up on her back. That look that Celestia gave her did NOT look good at all. However, Magic Aura’s sleeping coma had ended when she heard the words “Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight and their families will also be attending and joining us.” She quickly snapped back into reality once she took a couple seconds to process it. She was going to be talking to other ponies? Touching other ponies. She shivered at the thought of this. She didn’t want to go, but her mom most likely was going to force her to go anyways. Maybe she could sneak off with Soft Aloe or something…

“This gala will take quite some time to set up. It most likely won’t be held for quite a few years. We will have to do some expansions to the ballroom to make it bigger and better for everypony. Until then, we will continue to have smaller and shorter galas in a temporary ballroom until ours is finished. Yearly.” Twilight was finding it very difficult to listen to Princess Celestia without thinking back to the face that she just made at her. Was it a look of disapproval? Anger? Disappointment? Concern? Confusion? Sadness? So many questions reeled in her head, and she felt like she was about to pass out. She felt her husband grab her hoof, which knocked her out of her trance. She glanced at Flash who had a soft smile on his face. Twilight smiled gently towards him.

“Thank you, everpony, for joining us here today. I realize that this was short but I hope that you’re all excited. I know that all of us are!” Celestia said with excitement. The ponies in the crowd cheered in excitement, and they all left one by one. Celestia turned to the others and motioned for them to go into the castle. Twilight’s goal was to get her family out of there as quickly as possible. They all chatted together some more (of course, Twilight being very antsy during it). She gave a big, awkward grin to Princess Celestia.

“T-Thanks for having us! It was really nice being able to come and visit you again. I-I hope that we didn’t cause you any trouble.” She said with fear escaping her. Celestia smiled.

“Of course, Twilight. It’s always a joy having you and your family here. You didn’t cause any harm, so please, don’t worry yourself over it.” Celestia said with a surprisingly gentle and sweet smile. Twilight stood up and chuckled awkwardly, then nodded.

“Okay, Princess. Thanks again! We’re going to be… heading off now. Take care! See you again soon!” Twilight quickly said, rushing to get her family out the door. Celestia shook her head once Twilight disappeared.

“Oh, Twilight. You worry too much. Your daughter is just like you when you were her age.” Celestia said with a sigh. She wasn’t mad at Twilight or her daughter. She had expected to see Twilight’s old self come out in at least one of her children. She was worried on the effect on Twilight’s daughter, though.

Twilight and her family boarded on the train once again. They were silent, minus Magic Aura’s younger siblings, Bright Glare and Galactic Spark. Magic Aura got a window seat again and was glancing out, watching the scenery pass by in streaks of color. She felt different though. She felt like she was going to get a stern talking to from her mother. She almost felt her eyes on her. She felt tense, and she felt a very tense presence around her. She didn’t like it at all. She knew it was going to lead to some trouble… but she couldn’t help it. It was so boring and boring things make her sleepy. That’s just how it is. Especially without coffee. Now that was just asking for her to fall asleep. But, still… it was a strange feeling she had, but it was a bad one…