Heart's Desire

Chapter 1

Had it been a long day or was it just one long week? She could no longer tell just by simply looking at her own reflection. The week showed, it showed in her once gorgeous magenta eyes, which were now very bloodshot and had very dark circles beneath them. The week also showed in her once glorious rainbow ethereal mane as well, which compared to other days seemed unusually unkempt and frizzy. Even the once beautiful alabaster coat she had was an absolute disaster. As she gazed at the mirror, she would wonder she hadn't collapsed from exhaustion yet, using a hoof to take a closer look at her eyes.

Looking deep into them, she could just see the events of the past week weighing heavily in them, before finally dropping her hoof. She then extended her wings briefly, which was a strain in it of itself. They ached, she could feel the dull pain coursing from the nerve endings at the base of her wings; this however, was mostly due from underuse throughout the week however, leaving them rather stiff. Even her horn had the very same dull ache, unlike her wings however, the ache had been caused by overuse of her magic. She sighed softly in defeat, before turning from the mirror and heading to the door.

She would glance back one final time, her eyes narrowing at the image she saw reflected in the mirror. 'What have I become?' she asked herself in the confines of her own mind. Even her mane, her ethereal mane, had been affected by the events of the past week. How was that even possible? Considering that it was composed more of magic rather than hair. Then again, she had seen stranger, especially over the course of this week.

The alabaster alicorn trotted quietly from the bathroom, being sure to hit the lights as she left. The room before her was rather large, with the ceiling painted a light blue, gradually growing into an orange as it spread onto the walls, leading all into a dark red carpet beneath her hooves. Even her bed matched this aesthetic, having an orange comforter and dark red pillowcases, about the only major difference compared to the rest of the room was, they had gold trim tassels on the edges. About the only thing that seemed out of place in the room however, were the pink curtains that lead off to the balcony. She would only glance in the direction for a brief instant, before continuing to the place she desired most right now. Bed.

From the tip of her horn to the base, a golden aura would appear, enveloping the crown she wore before it was causally, yet very gently set aside on the nightstand, along with her gorget as she reached the edge of the bed. Without a single bit of effort she also slipped from the golden horseshoes she wore, which was a relief for her hooves in that very second. That was, before she finally flopped onto the soft bed.

The true relief was instantaneous as she flopped onto the bed, her head landing square on the pillow, while she struggled nestled her exhausted body into a comfortable position on her side. Today, a comfortable position would be her entire body resting on its side, her wings fully extended, yet limp. One hoof beneath the pillow her head rested on, while the other on top. How she was able to find comfort in a matter of seconds was beyond anyone, except for her. For, this bed was the only place right now, that she wanted to be and no where else.

Bliss soon overtook her mind as she lied on her bed in total silence. It would be the first time she had gotten any peace and quiet in nearly a month and the first time she had actually been able to get any rest in close to a week. As she slowly closed her eyes, she felt her consciousness beginning to slip from her, finally, she would be able to find much needed peace, maybe even a wonderful dream or two?

The alabaster alicorn drifted ever-so-slowly from reality, her body's aches and pains faded, vanishing into the corners of her mind. As they would, her mind would begin to float and wander, her vision grew blurry as her consciousness faded. With each passing second, she became less aware of her surroundings, less aware of the uninvited guest that slowly crept into the room from the main door.

It wouldn't be a normal guest either, in fact, it was a rather small guest that silently crept into the room. Moving on just the very tips of her hooves, the guest was very quiet, yet rather out of place against the colors of the room, her cobalt blue coat contrasting the red of the carpet and her shimmering silver mane contrasting the rest of the colors of the room. She would quietly sneak up onto the bed, using her wings to help her climb the covers, somehow managing not to disturb the resting alicorn. Once at the top, she would continue to creep right up next to the pillow and the alicorn's head in an almost childish manner, before inhaling very deeply.

“Auntie Tia!” the filly cried out, before beginning to bounce up and down on the bed; the alabaster alicorn's eyes snapped open very quickly, faster than they ever have, and she virtually leapt out of her coat at this point. With her heart pounding in her chest and a scream of utter shock, she rolled right off the bed and onto the ground, thankfully face-first instead of back first.

“Starlight!” she snapped, “How did you get in here?” This was a curious question she would ask, as she had even ordered the guards not to let anyone in, no matter who they were. Yet, here bounced an energetic alicorn filly, but not just any alicorn filly either, her favorite four year old, very adorable niece, Princess Starlight Crescent. It was right then and there that she realized just how the little filly had gotten in, as she gazed into the large, greenish-brown eyes. It was something nopony could resist or ignore, a look that she had inherited from her dear sister.

“Oh! I asked the guards to let me in!” Starlight said cheerfully, much to the alabaster alicorn's dismay.

'Mental note; punish those two after I get some sleep,' she thought, 'If I ever get any...'

“Is something wrong, Auntie Tia?” she asked, even for such a young alicorn she was quite perceptive, even if it was obvious at just how exhausted her aunt was.

“Oh...nothing,” she lied, unable to even show any form of frustration or anger around the little filly. In truth though, while she was absolutely exhausted, this was something that lifted her spirits quite considerably, seeing her niece actually made her smile. Brightening her day---or evening as it were. Yet, that raised an important question, why was she even here? “Shouldn't you be with your parents though?”

“Mom and dad...well, they said something about...Blueblood causing trouble with...um....a...” Starlight didn't even need to finish the sentence, because it was obvious what she was going to say at the end.

'Not today, not now Blueblood if you really are causing trouble with foreign dignitaries--namely one certain King—I'm not going to save you from Lulu's wrath...' she thought, letting go a sigh, as if her day couldn't possibly get any longer, it had. From past experience, in dealing with this particular king, it required a precise art, a certain way with words. Things needed to be phrased right and that was often left up to her, which is why this week had been so rough. Trouble had risen in the negotiations with the Griffin King, namely one by the name of Blueblood. 'Least it wasn't Silver...'  Without a second thought, she waved her hoof.

“Starlight, you don't need to finish that sentence, all you needed to say was Blueblood was causing trouble,” she clarified with a sigh as she climbed up to her hooves finally. “Looks like I--”

“Mom said that she and dad could handle it,” Starlight interrupted, “They just wanted me to stay in here, where it's safe.” Which was actually rather smart of the two of them, considering whenever the Griffin King went on a rampage he would leave quite a few guards injured at the very least. Thankfully no one ever died from one of them either, otherwise he might've had something far worse to deal with.

'With Luna and Emerald attempting to restrain him on top of the guard, their should be fewer injuries this time...' she thought, 'And with this, the treaty will have to be subjected to change...great.' It was disappointing to hear about a king loosing his temper so violently and quickly, but then again, it was over Blueblood, so it was to be expected. “I'll have to lecture Blueblood in the morning...”

“No need,” an elegant voice called out from the balcony and for the second time in the past ten minutes, the alabaster alicorn would jump right out of her coat with her heart racing extremely fast. “I already took care of it for you.” Right away, she recognized the voice, she knew it from various occasions. The voice was that of one of her dearest friends, often a pony she respected greatly, not just for her wisdom, but for her sheer beauty.

Slowly, she turned her head in the direction of the voice, her head locking onto the flowing pink curtains around the balcony door. From which a pony trotted in carefully. She was a very elegant pony, one unlike any other she had seen before in her life. Was it the color of her coat that she loved? Was it the beautiful forest green hue that she had in her coat? Or was it her mane that she adored most? The flowing silvery color, which in it of itself seemed to flow much like her own ethereal mane. Yet, it wasn't ethereal, but a trick of the wind and style imposed on it.

“Ivy!” snapped the alicorn, pressing her chest to feel her own heartbeat, “You need to start announcing your presence...you're going to give me a heart attack one day!”

“My apologies, Celestia,” Ivy replied, with a small snicker, in truth, she loved doing this, she loved showing up unexpectedly before the princess, before her friend, Celestia. “I merely just came to inform you fully of the situation...and pick up my granddaughter.” This was sweet relief to Celestia's ears the moment she heard it. While she simply adored her niece, now wasn't really the best time for her to be watching over her. She actually needed rest, unlike the filly, whom was still bouncing with energy.

“Then please do, what exactly did Blueblood cause?” Celestia asked, still a bit on the curious side of the situation.

“Well...he...” Ivy began to explain the entire situation from start to finish, first starting with his arrival to the dining hall just after dinner. This is where she explained that he had simply bumped into the king, whom had actually removed his royal attire because it began to grow a bit uncomfortable for him. This is where things took a nosedive in a minute, where the foolish prince actually proceeded to let out a flurry of terrible insults, quite a few were actually rather racist against the entire griffin race. “As you can well imagine, it didn't sit too well with the King...and...well...he kind of lost his temper.”

“I don't blame him,” Celestia added, “Anypony who can tolerate Prince Blueblood, is well...a saint.”

“Even I wonder how you put up with him!” Ivy snapped, before leaning in out of pure curiosity, “How do you put up with him?” That was a serious question for Celestia, in fact it actually silenced her for the first time in quite a while, making her ears drop a tiny bit, while she attempted to figure it out.

“He's....family?” she finally said, simply shrugging almost as if she didn't know.

“Not the kind of family I'd want,” Ivy added, “He needs to learn some manners.”

“Its not his fault really...he was so sweet when he was a colt...and cute too!” Ivy wanted to speak out and lash the supposed prince further, but she lowered her hoof when her eyes shifted over to Starlight, whom had been rather quiet as she listened to the conversation. Mostly, for the sake of her granddaughter's young ears, she restrained herself.

'Only for Star's sake...' she thought with a soft sigh, before actually turning to her. “Star, dear...don't you ever grow up to be like your cousin, Blueblood.” The little filly only smiled in response to this, before giving a small nod. This made Ivy herself smile, “Good, now how's about we go get some ice cream! I'm sure your parents won't mind.” Celestia's eyes narrowed when she heard this, she knew a bit differently and her eyes even stated this. At the very same time, Ivy didn't seem to care, knowing full well what doing this could bring about.

Starlight's response was to resume bouncing up and down on the bed before dashing straight to the door. With a grin wider than any Celestia had ever seen plastered on the little filly's face, she only smiled as well. It indeed brightened her evening with this turn of events, just seeing the joy on her niece's face. That alone made the day well worth it, well worth everything that had happened, regardless of the issue she had just heard about. Even with that though, Celestia's glare at Ivy didn't change in the least. That was, until she leaned in a bit closer to the alicorn with a small grin of her own.

“Grandmother's privilege,” Ivy whispered jokingly, “We've earned the privilege to spoil our grandchildren.” That single line was enough to break the intimidating glare she had been sending at Ivy and actually worked to make her laugh rather loudly and it was a much needed one too as she would be laughing hard enough to be brought to tears; just from one remark too.

As it would die down, Celestia placed her hoof on her chest again, in attempts to catch her breath. Wiping the tears from her face and eyes, she giggled still. “Thanks Ivy, I really needed that,” she pointed out, her smile a bit brighter than it had been before.

“We all need a good laugh now and again,” she said, “And, sometimes even the best of us need a break too.” This is where Celestia found herself, for the first time in over a thousand years, confused.

“What do you mean?” a bewildered Celestia asked, climbing slowly back onto her bed.

“What I mean is, don't be afraid to take a day or two off!” Ivy snapped, “How long have you been running Equestria without a break?” This hadn't ever been the truest of statements she heard in her life, in fact, looking back on it. It was always an issue here and an issue there and just when she thought it was solved, a third party would bring up an issue. Most of which were just fairly obvious situations, not even considered political, others were a bit more complicated but nothing she couldn't figure out. Yet, all these issues took their toll on her. Without a single word she flopped back onto the bed before finally speaking again.

“Far too long...” Celestia admitted, sighing very deeply.

“When was the last time you actually did something for yourself too?” Ivy asked, “The last time you put a little selfishness into what you wanted?” That's what really got the princess thinking, lifting her head very slowly as she reflected further on the issue.

“Last time...I did something selfish was when I...” Celestia tried to speak, but her thoughts wouldn't let her, she couldn't even find an instance of when she actually just thought about her own personal desires, aside from a lover or her desire for the sweet and delicious cakes she often indulged in. Most of these were only actually short lived desires, often in the heat of the moment, sometimes resulting in her having to pay the price for it a bit later.

“See?” Ivy continued, “Think about it...think carefully...then if you really want it...seek it out.”

“But, what about--”

“Don't you worry about Equestria this time, its in good hooves,” Ivy added, “Namely, Luna and Emerald...I'm sure they could handle things while you're gone.”

“But...what if--”

“Now, you don't have to go on vacation if you don't want to, its your choice,” Ivy continued, “But, you do look like you need one, desperately.” the unicorn mare's attention shifted fairly quickly as the little filly would begin to tug on her rather long mane, as if to pull her grandmother out the door. There were a few small arguments and complaints, but Ivy never stopped smiling the entire time. “Now I must attend to my granddaughter...take care Celestia.”

“Thank you, Ivy,” Celestia smiled, which changed the instant the door had closed behind the two. Tears began to flow in that instant, while she remained silent, the pain was no longer able to be ignored. Just seeing those two was enough to make her realize what she had wanted most in her life. It was something that, above all else, her heart desired. It would weigh heavily on her mind throughout the night as well, even as she would cry herself to sleep that evening, the desire would remain as it stood, unfulfilled.