*Knock Knock*

Twilight grumbled as the sound reverberated through the house, burring her head under Luna’s leg to hide from the noise.

But the knocking persisted, though eventually it stopped, only to be followed soon after by knocking on her bedroom door. “Twilight, some guards came by earlier with a letter for you, it says princess Celestia wants you and the girls in Canterlot for some important business.”

Grumbling over the fact that she would not be able to get back to sleep do to this, Twilight quickly told Spike that she was on her way, before making the attempt to get up.

This was thwarted however by Luna, who proved to be quite the cuddle bug, thus latching onto her and nuzzling her in an attempt to lull her back into sleep. This however would not work, so Twilight simply threw cation to the wind and teleported Luna out of bed, causing the mare to yelp a bit before she fell flat on the ground.

The elder mare grumbled, which only caused Twilight to smile, “I’m sorry Luna, but Celestia apparently needs me up in Canterlot, and you were keeping me in bed.”

“I would have let you go eventually,” said Luna with a huff, before getting up and making her way out of the room. “Well I may as well get myself ready, for it would be nice to see my sister again and let her know about the friends I have made.”

*

It took them a while to get ready, but eventually they both found themselves on the train heading towards Canterlot, and joining them for the ride were Twilight’s new friends, along with Blueblood, who was sitting with Applejack discussing plans for their wedding in between whispering sweet nothings into her ear, causing her to giggle and blush.

Rarity, who was still peeved buy Applejack having landed herself such a stallion, kept shooting them glares while huffing in disappointment, till finally Rainbow Dash got fed up with it.

“Will you knock it off Rares, your ruining this trip for the rest of us.”

Rarity shot a glare at Rainbow Dash, but stopped with the huffing, though she would still shoot the occasional glare towards Applejack once she was sure Rainbow wasn’t looking.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Luna were discussing the days paper, for after boarding the train they had heard about the news regarding Celestia’s surprise sacking of over two thirds of the nobility, and as such it had sparked a bit of a discussion between the two mares.

“I still cant believe she finally did this,” said Twilight, “I mean something like this hasn’t been done in like…well centuries.”

“Then it is no wonder these nobles were so corrupt, for back when I ruled along side my sister she would never have tolerated this sort of behavior, and I would have insured they would have not been able to become so insidious behind her back.”

“I don’t see how,” said Twilight, “I mean if I’m right the only reason the nobles were finally caught is because one of them finally slipped up and said something that the palace maids could hear, for they are royal guard just like the ones who stand around in armor.”

“While I would love to share with you those secrets, I am afraid it is not something am at liberty to discuss right now, at least not without the permission of my sister.”

Before Twilight could try and needle any information out of her, the conductor of the train announced over the intercom that they were pulling into Canterlot station, and so everypony started to get ready.

When they left the train, they saw that a large carriage had been brought for them, all of them piling in and taking seats before the drivers began pulling them towards the Castle.

As they traveled, they could not help but notice that all the ponies they passed were talking amongst themselves, talking which would increase as soon as they saw Twilight and company being taken towards the palace.

“These ponies sure do seem interested in us mom,” said Scootalloo, who Rainbow and Fluttershy had decided to take with as none of her extended family could take care of her while they were gone.

“Well we are a bit famous kid,” said Rainbow with a smirk, “after all we did save Celestia’s sister.”

“For which I cannot thank you all enough,” said Luna with a smile.

“Still though,” said Rarity, “while I do appreciate the attention, I do hope it does not cause problems later on, for I have heard many a horror story about how celebrities have no privacy.”

Silence reigned through the carriage after this statement, only to be broken by Blueblood. “Well I can confirm from experience that such privacy is hard to find, but I don’t think you will have to worry about that outside of the big cities, especially given the fact that you all live in Ponyville, which from what I have heard from my contacts within the various media sources is one of the worst places for paparazzi to work in.”

This seemed to calm the girls down, which insured that they were all smiles once they reached the palace, all of them fallowing the guide as he lead them through the vast halls of the palace on the way to the throne room.

As they traveled, Luna could not help but compare this palace to the one which had served as their home within the Everfree, especially when it came to the tactical differences. “Of course this would reflect you more then me sister, for I always took a more cloak and dagger approach to defenses, while you favored confusing and tiring you opponents.”

She could see the tactical befits in it for both peace and war time, for while yes the castle layout was far more open then their former home, she could sense the subtle magic woven into the halls which would send any invaders head spinning, making it so that if they ever reached their intended target, they would be to tired to put up any sort of fight.

When they finally reached the throne room, they found Celestia in discussions with Twilight’s parents, causing the young mare to look confused and speak up. “Mom, Dad, what are you doing here?”

“That would be my fault Twilight,” said Celestia as she turned her gaze to the gathered group, the older mare smiling before continuing to speak. “Unfortunately the entirety of my advisory staff was among those nobles I imprisoned, so I have had to take on some new advisors, two of them being your parents.”

She then spoke to the group at large, “Now I know all of you are wondering why you have been summoned here, which I shall now get to. As you no doubt have heard by now, I have been forced to remove a little over two thirds of my nobility from power, which has left quite the power vacuum, one that cant be easily filled due to my re-instating the old laws when it came to accession into the ranks of the nobility.”

“It has also been brought to my attention that due to those laws, you, as the ones who saved both Equestria and my sister from Nightmare Moon, qualify due to your actions that night. Also due to my actions in regards to the former royals, you under the old laws are required for the good of the realm to step up to help fill the void I have left in Equestia’s Nobility.”

The princess then sighed, before walking forward and spreading her wings to their fullest extent as several ponies filed into the room, before speaking once more. “So, buy the power vested in me as Princess of Equestia, and before all witnesses within this holy chamber, I now dub you Lady Twilight Sparkle, Lady Rainbow Dash, Lady Applejack, Lady Rarity, Lady Fluttershy, and Lady Pinkie Pie, as High Royals of the kingdom of Equestia!”

The gathered audience began stomping their hooves in thunderous applause, while Twilight and the gills all looked flabbergasted, as did Luna, Blueblood, and Scootaloo.

Once the applause had ended, Celestia bade them all to follow her, the noble mare leading them off to a side room before turning to them all and speaking. “I am sorry if this all comes as a shock, but I am afraid where the laws are concerned, the needs of Equestia come before your own. For what it is worth, I am sorry for my part in forcing this upon you, if I had been thinking more clearly I may have done things differently.”

“I…it is perfectly alright princess Celestia,” said Rarity, being the first one to recover from this shocking news. “However, I think I speak for all the girls when I ask…well…what will our responsibilities be now that we are High Royals.”

Sighing, Celestia headed over to a table, indicating that they should all gather around it, before using her wing to point to the top of the table, upon which they saw a map of Equestia laid out before them. “Your responsibilities will be in the form of baronesses, who act as protectors, judges, and leaders to the lands they hold sway over. Currently, the baronies of Manehatten, Filly Delphia, Baltimare, Las Pegasus, Vanhoover and Clouds Dale are now devoid of their high rulers, along side the baronies of The Everfree and The Macintosh Hills, as they have yet to be claimed.”

“Wait, but I thought The Everfree barony was under the control of Canterlot,” said Twilight, looking at her mentor in confusion.

“Canterlot is its own independent Barony my student,” said Celestia, “though I can understand why you would assume that The Everfree barnony would be ruled over by Canterlot. Regardless, these are the baronies available to you, but please feel free to ask me any questions before making your decision.”

“I have one,” said Rainbow, drawing the princesses attention before speaking. “Are we going to be required to live at these baronies, because I’m married and have a kid, and I’ll flat out give this title up if it breaks my family apart.”

Celestia smiled at that, “No Rainbow, for while yes the barony does come with a residence that you can stay in while visiting, you are not required to live there.”

“What about duties,” said Rarity, “for while I understand the roles you mentioned before, surely their are other duties we will be required to perform.”

Nodding, Celestia spoke further. “You will be required to visit your barony at least once a month to meet with the local governors and other officials to go over matters within the your barony, such as finances, how the local guard is faring, that sort of thing.”

She then headed back towards the throne room, before turning back to them all and speaking. “I fortunately have other matters of state to attend to, so deliberate amongst yourselves, but once you have made your decision feel free to return to the throne room and let me know.”

She then left the room, leaving the girls as well as those they brought with them to look over the map as they began speaking amongst themselves.

“Well I would be lying if is said I wasn’t expecting this,” said Rarity, drawing confused looks from the rest of the girls which prompted her to speak further. “Well girls, with the fact that we saved the world from eternal knight, I am honestly surprise something like this has not happened sooner, especially where the common pony is concerned, for we would be national heroes in their eyes.”

“Actually a petition came from the house of commoners demanding that you be elevated to the station of high royal,” said Blueblood as he looked over the map, “but as you can imagine, it did not get wide support amongst the old nobility.”

“Well good riddance to them,” said Applejack, walking up to the side of her betrothed and looking over the map before speaking. “Well there’s no doubt in mah mind what Ah’m picking, the Macintosh Hills area has been beggin for some sort of leader tah help manage the big pony problems for a while now, and though Ah’m reluctant tah do it, that’s the whole point ah being a noble, or at least that’s how Big Macintosh said it was supposed to be.”

“I’m sure you will do well,” said Blueblood as he nuzzled her, before looking to Pinkie and speaking, “your friend Pinkie Pie however I think will cause quite the stir within the nobility.”

“Could not have said it better myself Bluey,” said Rainbow as she looked over the map, before looking to Fluttershy and speaking. “Well you know what I’m taking, but I think you should take Baltimare, for from everything I’ve read a lot of the projects you support originate from their.”

Fluttershy nodded at that, giving Rainbow a peck on the cheek, before leaning against her while the others continued to look over the map.

Near the very front of the table, Luna was standing beside Twilight, who was looking over the map with some concern, forcing Luna to speak. “I think it is quite obvious what barony you should be in charge of Twilight, for I think you will do the most good there.”

“I know Luna, its just…I don’t know it feels wrong that it is not under the control of Canterlot.”

Luna sighed at that, “I can understand that Twilight, but my sister an I always intended for Canterlot to exist outside the Baronies, to act as both our seat of power, as well as a place we could gather the nobles together in brotherhood in a place that was considered neutral ground. It was always intended for the Everfree Barony to become its own thing, however I don’t think my sister accounted for the fact that it would go abandoned for so long.”

Twilight nodded her head at that, “I can see your point, and of the ones available I think The Everfree would provide the most challenge for me.”

More discussions followed, till finally it was decided, and they all returned to the throne room to tell the princess their decisions.

Rairty had taken the Barony of Manehatten, for it was the heart of the fashion industry, and she knew it would be a place where she could flourish. Rainbow had of course taken the Barony of Clouds Dale, for it was her home, and thus she felt obligated to help lead it. Pinkie had taken the Las Pegasus Barony, which came as no surprise to anypony there, given that it was considered the party capitol of Equestria.

“These are all excellent choices girls, and while I would love to send you all home so that you can adjust to your new stations, I am afraid the needs of the realm come first. Thus, I will need you all to board the train to head to your perspective baronies so get yourselves introduced, and I shall be sending a letter ahead to let them know of your appending arrival.”

The girls bowed and began leaving the throne room, but Celestia stopped Twilight before she could leave. “Twilight, a moment if you would, Luna you stay to.”

They all waited for the girls to leave, and then Celestia spoke. “Twilight, The Everyfree Barony is going to be quite troubling to handle, for as you know what we now know as the Everfree Forest used to be much smaller, and much of the area surrounding the old castle was once a vast city state. Ponyville technically lies at the very edge of The Everfree Barony, but they have for a long time acted on their own, so you may meet some resistance once you return once you introduce yourself as their baroness.”

“I understand Princess,” said Twilight, “but as you once told me long ago, change comes to all nations, and while I know they may not like it, I know from my studies that there a probably a lot of things that Ponyville has had to forgo due to lacking proper representation within the nobility, things I can help provide.”

Celestia smiled once more, before looking to Luna and speaking, “Sister, I know you went to Ponyville so that you could learn of friendship, but I am afraid I must add more to your plate as it were, for though you are out of date as far as the laws of the realm are concerned, you can help Twilight when it comes to mastering the skills necessary for leadership…can I trust you with this task?”

“Of course you can sister,” said Luna as she gave her a hug.

Celestia returned it in kind, before shooing them out of the throne room, the old mare sighing in relief and returning to her throne, for the work of ruling the nation, as hard as it was, was never done.

Author's Note

Not originally how this chapter was supposed to go, but I have temporarily lost access to all my stories so I was unable to access the original beginnings of this chapter, though I think I like what I have written better.

The next five chapters will be interludes featuring the girls visiting their respective baronies, Applejack of course accompanied by Blueblood while Rainbow will be accompanied by Scootaloo. Once those chapters are done though, will be focusing back on our lovely little couple though that chapter will also include a little politiking as Twilight is now the Baroness of the Everfree.

So till next time, if you guys have any questions or comments feel free to drop them on by, I love hearing from you guys.

---P.S.
In regards to the fact mentioned above worry not, my stories have not all been lost, I just accidently broke the device that allows the memory card holding all my stories in it to talk to my computer, and I wont have enough money to replace it till next moth, so till then all my stories save for this one are on hiatus.