A long time had passed since the public opinion storm in Canterlot. Canterlot had returned to its former peace, and few ponies were still harping on a topic that had lost its heat.
In the eyes of Aurora, Celestia's handling of that public opinion incident met public relations standards perfectly.
At the time, she did not respond directly. Instead, during a meet-and-greet, she avoided the sensitive core issues and chose to address the matter of appearing alongside Aurora at the Grand Galloping Gala, thereby responding to the public opinion indirectly.
She then smoothly steered the topic toward education, while remaining tight-lipped about sensitive subjects related to the right of succession.
The main strategy was neither to deny nor to confirm, leaving everyone to guess the meaning for themselves.
Such a hesitant and ambiguous attitude weakened the undertones of power struggle in the public discourse and also prevented those with ulterior motives from making an issue out of it.
Soon, the public lost interest in the controversy. After all, The Grand Princess had sat firmly on the throne for thousands of years; they had nothing better to do than to worry about a regime change, especially when the subjects were three Foals still in school.
Besides that, Aurora's family had also made some little efforts behind the scenes.
Later, Aurora noticed some changes in the daily newspaper; for instance, the column dedicated to gossip had been permanently removed. Moreover, the staff, from reporters to editors-in-chief, were no longer the names she used to be familiar with.
What happened? It's so hard to guess.
However, the layout and content of the Canterlot Daily had become much more authentic and rigorous, and it was more comfortable to read, which was, all in all, a good thing.
Life seemed to have returned to its best days, but the only thing that made Aurora uneasy was Sunset Shimmer.
Aurora noticed that she was spending less time coming and going from the cottage, and there were days every week when her whereabouts were uncertain.
What was even more frightening was that she had even started, quite casually, to chat with Aurora about topics related to humans.
Although Sunset Shimmer's understanding had not yet reached the point where she could call these mysterious creatures humans, it wasn't hard to guess from her descriptions that she was already coming into contact with forbidden knowledge from beyond this world.
As expected of the senior student, she had easily accessed the restricted section of the library that Aurora dared not enter. It made one's blood boil with excitement and admiration!
However, the fact that she could still discuss such things that would get her in trouble with her mother so nonchalantly perhaps proved that the senior student still trusted her.
Such a thought brought Aurora some measure of emotional comfort.
Yet, as the days went by, the uncomfortable feeling in Aurora's heart intensified. Anxiety and unease were accumulating, as if she were about to lose Sunset Shimmer.
She felt she should take action quickly instead of waiting for death like this, pretending as if nothing would happen.
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