It's Always The Fall

Celestia wanted to get started on the research right away, but nopony was awake at this hour and she didn't want to disturb anypony. She settled down in her favorite chair and opened the box again, removing a sheet of paper at random. This wasn't a letter. It wasn't even a note. It was a reminder.

"Your name is Enigmatic Insanity. You live in Canterlot, with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Your box is under the pile of clothing beside the bed, --" The sheet continued listing other details for that day, obviously written the day before. It closed with, "-- and the milk is expired. Don't try drinking it. Live to love, even if you forget the moment after. Yours, Princess Twilight Sparkle".

Twilight had written up this agenda? It dawned on Celestia how much she had missed by simply not paying enough attention. Enigma had gotten trapped in the present by her sickness, and she had done nothing to help. What else hadn't she saw? What else could have been helped, or heavens, even prevented if she had looked at the fine details instead of the big picture?

World-destroying tyrants? Those, she would always notice. Her friend slowly losing herself to a void in her memories? That was like a grain of sand on a beach. She couldn't be expected to see everything! She had bigger issues to deal with!

Even though her words remained unspoken, their deceit was audible. There were no big issues to lose herself in. Discord was reformed, as was Nightmare Moon. The changelings had been repelled. The elements of harmony, restored. She hadn't a thing to think about.

Was she really that conceited?

She returned the schedule to its box and draped herself across the chair, content to mope with unshed tears in her eyes. If she hadn't noticed this, what else had slipped through? Her sister's jealousy?! Could she have prevented Nightmare Moon entirely if she had just paid her sister some much needed attention?!

Celestia got up, kicking the chair over in her haste. Yelling incoherently, she swept her hooves over a display, smashing several priceless relics to pieces. Her fit continued in this fashion for a long while. Eventually, she collapsed to the floor, exhausted, and cried herself to sleep.