>Bright light fills your vision as Celestia opens the Gate in her chambers. On the other side of the shimmering doorway you see Boylston Street looking just like you left it.
>She slowly walks up to it before stopping just short of the boundary and looking back at you.
>”Coming?”
>You hesitate. Celestia beckons you closer while she steps through. At once her necklace begins to shine and she's enveloped by a blinding white light. Slowly the light fades and a familiar blonde woman beckons you through.
>Almost automatically you follow her into the Gate. You don't realize until you hear the thrum of magic closing the Gate that you've made the crossing.
>”Y' alright theah?” Celestia laughs.
>The afternoon sun shines into the apartment and catches on her blonde hair. Subtle flashes of color play through it as she walks into the living room.
Still not used ta that...
>”Ah, yuh doin' fine. Jus' look! Di'n' even get dizzy this time!”
Wasn't talkin' about the jump.
>You follow her into the living room and look out the window.
So what's this suhprise, Celly?
>She keeps her gaze pointed out the window for a second before grabbing you by the hand and leading you to the door.
>”We're goin'a the piah,” she says excitedly.
Somethin' theah?
>Celestia whips around and grasps your shoulders, shaking you madly.
>”Half. Awff. Lawbstahs.”
>There are no words...
>You look at the Princess in disbelief.
Lemme get this straight, Celly. You just dragged me through a magic fakkin' pawtal ta anothah fakkin universe -a universe you ripped me outta- because yuh found out theah's cheap lawbstah down th' piah?
>”YES.”
>She stares you in the eyes manically.
>Before you register what you're doing you've pulled Celestia in and planted your lips on hers.
1/7
 
>Almost as suddenly you both pull away, faces bright red.
Uh...I ah...Dunno what jus' happened there ah...
>”...We should go get those lawbstahs...”
...Yeah...Yeah, let's go.
>”Aight, it's uh...'s up the uh....”
Yep. Lead on.
>”Ok.”
 
>The sun hangs low over the skyline when you arrive at the waterfront market. The shops lie below street level, selling their meat and produce from basements with stairs up to the sidewalk.
>Celestia walks a pace ahead of you, looking into shop after shop. Eventually she stops and leads you down through a nondescript doorway.
>”Sheesh, thought I'd lawst th' place. Grab whatevah ya want while I pick out lawbstahs,” she says as you walk in. She heads to the large tank full of the clawed little monsters and sticks her face right up to the glass.
Yuh like a child widdis, yuh know that?
>The Princess looks back at you and pouts. “Quit judgin' me. I practically grew up wit lawbstah...”
>You chuckle and start pawing through a shelf of fruits. Behind you the Princess carries on picking out lobsters. The man behind the counter grabs them out of the tank.
>”You remind me a lot of my daughter, if you don't mind me saying so,” he says.
>”Oh?” Celestia replies.
>”Yep. She's got the same deal with her hair; always mussing around with the colors.”
>”Ah, yeah, I just like a lil variety, ya know?” She sounds almost defensive.
>”Oh I get you.You two together?” You hit your head on the display in surprise.
Ah, we uh-
>”He meant 'are we paying together?' ” Celestia says with a grin.
>You walk up to the counter and put down your things.
I knew that.
>”Sure.”
>Celestia pays for the food and you grab the bag of lobsters to carry out.
2/7
 
>The two of you come up to the street as the sun starts to set and head back towards Boylston Street.
I'm kinda surprised yuh brought me back 'eah affah what happened last time.
>She glances over at you as you both cross Tremont Street and head into Boston Common.
>”Lu would prolly be against it,” she says.
Why ahn't you?
>”Because I trust yuh. Yuh've gawt yer own little place cahved outta Cannalot now'n I don' think yer th' kinda guy who'd just up an' leave that behind. Equestria's yuh home now.” She slows her pace and pauses. “Right?”
'Course. Someone's gotta keep you in line.
>You both laugh passing the Frog Pond.
So waddid yuh mean when yuh said yuh grew up wit lawbstahs?
>”I meant what I said. I ate lawbstah like faw times a week when I was youngah. I actually got sick of it an' stahded getting' pissed awf whenevah we gawt it fer a while, but then it got all expensive an' I couldn' get it anymoah.”
>You knot your brow.
How long ago we talkin' eah? Last time I checked, people wit' apahtments on Boylston weren't exactly poah.
>”Oh yeah, I nevah told you that story, did I?”
3/7
 
>>My sister'n' I grew up in Elysium. That's wheah the Royals of the World lived befaw the Kingdom of Equestria was established. I remembah those days vividly. The gleamin' halls of the Grand Palace, the grounds and Royal Gahdens, it was gawgeous.
>>But there's always a catch. The cawtly life tends to make ponies...detached. My fathah di'n't want that fuh Luna and me. He decided ta bring us on retreats to this world that he had found in his travels; one untouched by any sawt of civilization, aw so we thought.
>>For a while it was perfect. We'd spend weeks at a time in the forests that stretched out across the coast and ah mothah'd teach us ah lessons far away from the privilege that Elysium entailed.
 
So you guys just camped in the woods all the time?
>”Don't innerupt. Just get a big pot ta put these in.”
 
>>So anyway, we spent a good hunnid yeahs theah-
 
Hunnid yeahs yaw time 'r Bos'n time?
>”Equestrian time.”
Aight.
 
>>So hunnid yeahs pass 'n my fathah stahts ta notice people movin' in on the coast. He di'n' tell us, a'caws, just moved us inland ta avoid any confrontation.
>>Couple yeahs a that 'n it stahts gettin' hahd ta make up excuses fuh Lu and me. On toppa that, They had ta take care'a the situation back home. When Discawd appeahed aftah the Great Unification, my parents stahted bringin' us ta the woods more 'n more ta keep us safe.
 
What yeah was this, my time?
>”I dunno, like...1640ish?”
...What?
>”What? I told ya this was a while ago.”
Right, yeah.
>”The watah boilin' yet?”
Almost.
>”Aight, where was I?”
Summin' about Discawd.
4/7
 
>>Ok, so a couple maw yeahs go by 'n my parents pull outta Equestria entiahly, retreatin' back ta Elysium causa' Discawd. The cawt life stahts getting' maw an' maw detached from the every-day pony an' my mothah finally decides she's gotta do summin' drastic ta keep us outta it.
>>One of ahr last vacations ta Earth she gives me this necklace. I was just a filly then. I'd gotten my cutie mahk like a yeah befaw that. She gives me this necklace and she says “Celly, the world can be a dark place sometimes. It's up to you to bring the light back when the time comes, but I want you to be ready. Go down to that city there. Make your own way. Don't let the life of a princess make your forget the lives of the citizens.”
>>Then she gave me a buncha' papahs and a sack a' coins an' she was gone. My fathah took Lu down ta New Yawk a little while aftah that.
 
She just transfigured ya inta a human an' left ya theah?
>”Pretty much.”
No magic? How'd ya manage ta do anythin'?
>”Did I say it was easy? I spent furevah gettin' used ta hands. Not like tryin' a control 'em, but they just feel weahd. Mum's spell made it pretty intuitive, but still...”
Anyway, go awn.
 
>>Aight, so I finally went down ta the town 'n got a room at some inn. Sawt of milled around fer a while aftah that until the money stahted ta run out.
>>Luckily, I'd met a couplea people who set me up as a seamstress in a little shop right on Common Street. It took a little while, but by about 1650 I was pretty well established in town.
5/7
 
>>I sent lettahs ta Lu every so often, but the oppahtunities wuh few 'n fah between. Plus Bos'n was still  pretty hahd inta the whole Puritan thing at the time, so I di'n' get much down time once people knew me.
 
>Celestia pulls the lid off the pot and drops the lobsters in.
So ya grew up workin' class?
>”Pretty much. We alicawns age way slowah than the resta' the ponies. I was a filly longer'n mosta my subjects've been alive.”
Huh.
>You take a pan and drop a stick of butter in with some garlic.
 
>>So I spent a long time in Bos'n; senny-five yeahs at least just workin' an' livin' amongst the people. I moved around and took different jobs around town ta keep people from catchin' on that I wasn't agin' as fast as them. Then finally I got a visit from Mum and Dad.
>>It was wintah, around New Yeah's, and they came knockin' on my daw. They looked a mess when innkeepah let 'em in. Apparently Discawd had messed things up so bad that they hadn't been able ta open the Gates aftah they left us in the cities.
>>That's when I realized how long it'd been. While I'd spen' a lifetime in that city, it'd been three hunnid yeahs fuh my parents. They told me about how the world had changed. How Discawd had knocked on the daws of Elysium and fawced the Royals a the World ta scattah.
>>Then they gave me a choice: stay in Bos'n an' adopt the city as my own, or come back and stand up against that monstah. They told me that Lu and I were the only ones who could.
 
How did you choose?
>Celestia looks into the lobster pot and smiles.
>”I di'n't.”
Huh?
6/7
 
>>I'd spent so long in the city by then that I'd grown attached. I'd stopped callin' Elysium 'home' yeahs befaw 'n' so when they wannid me ta choose I looked 'em in the eye and said 'No.'
>>I remembah my fathah just smiled befaw leadin' me outta town ta the Gate. Lu was theah waitin' faw me. The rest's history: we stood up ta Dascawd an' used th' Elements ta trap 'im in stone. Then Lu and I took the throne.
 
>”Funny coincidence, actually. That was the same yeah King George the Seckind became King a' England,” Celestia muses.
What happened aftah that?
>”We ruled Equestria togethah fer about a yeah befaw we came back ta this world. Mum an' Dad decided ta go back ta Elysium and we all thought it best not ta mention where we'd gone durin' Discawd's reign, if only ta keep it frum bein' used against us.”
How'd ya manage runnin' a kingdom an' livin' in Bos'n?
>”We had ah ways. Usually one of us'd be in Equestria and one'd be in the city. 'S hahd ta balance two lives, but we didn't have the haht ta abandon eithah place.”
So ya juggled th' two?
>”Pretty much. It was a good setup fuh th' most paht, Lu and I kept ah lives in ah cities an' Equestria got an age a' Hahmony.”
>The Princess lifts the lid off the lobsters again and takes the pot off the stove.
>You brush the garlic butter on the bread and throw it in the oven.
...So you wuh theah fun the Revolution?
>Celestia's face falls.
>”Yeah...yeah we were,” she says softly.
What's wrong?
>”I'll tell ya about that anothah time, aight?”
Why? What's up wit' you-
>”Another time,” she interjects sternly.
Aight, Celly. Anothah time.
7/7