Heavenly Glow despised having her weekly sermons interrupted. In her dedication to the God Mother, she had no time for frivolous concerns. Those ponies didn’t understand how serious her life’s work was, it wasn’t just a little filly’s game that could be put on hold at any time. The God Mother paused for nobody, and neither would she.

But this time, the interruption was from her parents, so the young princess supposed she must follow this order. She wasn’t happy about it, though.

The guard led her into a separate room, bowing before the hippogriff and alicorn that stood waiting.

“Dowager Queens Celestia and Novo, I present your daughter, Princess Heavenly-“

He noticed the filly’s glare.

“I mean, Grand Matriarch Princess of the Celestial Church Heavenly Glow: Bishop of Equestria, Vicar of Celestia, Successor of the Queen of the Sun, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Seaquestria, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Equestrian Province, Sovereign of the State of Canterlot, Servant of the Servants of Celestia.”

Usually Celestia and Novo would have followed this with a joking quip and a scolding respectively but today it seemed as though they had bad news. It was practically written across their faces.

Bad news? What could they possibly have to be unhappy about on a Gaia-given day like this?

The two mothers looked between themselves and with that mom telepathy they seemed to have, communicated through traded glances that Novo should be the one to break the silence. So she did. She sat beside the young princess, quickly being joined by her wife, and reached for her daughter’s shoulder.

“Heavenly dearest, you’re getting older and I think you’re intelligent enough to understand some grown creature concepts. As you know, as the royal family we have to sacrifice a lot for the good of our kingdoms. Your mother and I both know that you’ve always had ambitious plans, but now it’s time for you to do your part.”

She then looked to Celestia, knowing her wife could soften the blow of the news much better.

“This will be a big opportunity for you, dear. You’ll get to help our kingdom. You see, our relations with Saddle Arabia have been tense lately. Our dignitaries have a lot of…disagreements, and they’re getting worse, but we have a solution. And you get to be part of it.”

Celestia smiled halfheartedly, trying to lighten the mood and out it in terms that the filly would understand.

“Think of it as a duty from the God Mother. She would want you to do this.”

Novo gritted her beak nervously as she knew her wife was only trying her best, but there could be no beating around the bush with this.

“You are going to get married to the Princess of Saddle Arabia. You’ll learn to get along and work as a team. For the good of our kingdoms.”

This was where Celestia would be much better suited but she waited a moment, afraid that sugarcoating it any further might make her daughter more nervous. So the pair patiently awaited their daughter’s response. Feelings, emotions, anything.

Heavenly only stared at them blankly.

“Okay.”

Celestia wrapped a comforting wing around her.

“We know this is very big news for you, dear. It’s okay if you’re feeling upset or confused, we are here to support you through this. But you have to do this.”

Heavenly shrugged.

“Alright.”

Celestia was perplexed by this blunt, emotionless response, so she decided to push further.

“How are you feeling?”

Heavenly scowled, making her mothers think she was about to dump out a load of frustration over this announcement, but instead she said,

“I’m mad that you’re making me miss my service.”

Novo sighed and gave Celestia a knowing nod. She suddenly used her talon to ruffle up Heavenly’s mane before giving her a swat on the backside with her wing, pushing her up on her hooves.

“Get back to it, you. Don’t make that face to your mother, you look like you bit into a lemon. Your congregation doesn’t want to look at a sourpuss when they’re listening to your riveting stories. We love you.”

Celestia let out a sigh of relief and chuckled as she leaned into her wife’s chest.

“What are we going to do with that one, Novo?”