The Princess and the Private

In the Canterlot Palace throne room, countless numbers of stallions sat to either side of the red carpet placed on the central walkway toward the thrones, where Princess Celestia awaited an impending event with calm, regal patience. Many of these stallions socialized with one another, whether to ease their tension or exchange business cards. Some wrung their hooves together in nervous anticipation and apprehension. Some look collected and cool, as if not really giving a care about whatever was going to happen soon. This event looked to be the entire reason for their being here today, based on the row by row seating arrangement they were situated in.

From one side of the room, a unicorn mare stepped in front of the princess, most likely to give some kind of announcement. The light, lime green of her coat clashed only slightly with a youthfully styled, cascading downward but maintaining  a slight bounce, almost blue-streaked white that was her mane and tail. Her eyes a soft grey, complimenting the metallic shine to her mane. As she cleared her throat to get their attention, they turned to stare at her. It embarrassed her a little, having every eye on her, some checking out her body unashamed of their own behavior, which was troubling to say the least. However, she hovered the parchment with her lines in front of her, and did what she came for.

"Stallions of Equestria, her majesty, Princess Celestia, and all of us here in the palace thank you all for coming. We are pleased to announce that her Highness's niece-in-law, Princess Twilight Sparkle, has requested your presences in order to find a potential suitor for marriage."

A small uproar went through the crowd as the excitement was too much to contain. A princess of Equestria was asking for the hoof in marriage of one lucky stallion? This was only too good to be true for some of them.

"Please . . . gentlecolts," the green unicorn shouted calmly to try and quell the vocal momentum. After a minute they all quieted down and she continued, "Our princess will meet with each one of you, face to face, for individual dates, where you will all be given equal opportunity to prove your suitability as her husband, which she will decide upon at a later interval. There will be a few ground rules to follow on these dates that we will inform you of soon, but without further ado, I am pleased to present to you - Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

As if on cue, a hollow creak came from the double doors behind the seated bachelors. They all turned their bodies and heads to get a better view of what was going on, and whoever had opened the door. A dignified, poised female figure sauntered purposefully along the red carpet toward the green mare. The crowd of stallions were struck silent as they gazed in awe of the gorgeous young mare, her mane and tail swaying gently with her hoof-steps. Her eyes were set dead ahead of her, not wanting to break the regal posture Celestia had suggested she take for this announcement. The intense sensation of holes burning through her body at the stares of the gentlecolts overtook her, but she didn't dare look one way or another. No emotion could be discerned from her face, as she wanted to give off more of an official, royal vibe, instead of her actual self, who would have fainted at the prospect of so many handsome colts vying for her affection.

In contrast to the beauty in front of them, some of the males could be heard giving off soft whistles, while others could barely dampen their appreciative hums at the princess's figure. Physically, they certainly agreed she deserved the title.

Once she had come to the other unicorn mare's side, she turned around and, for the first time, regarded them all with a cordial smile while bashfully waving a hoof to them. In her naturally sweet voice, she spoke with kind professionalism.

"Hello everypony, it is nice to see all of you today. As my assistant here as stated, I am in search of a special stallion whom I can share a loving bond with, and eventually think about making my husband. Today, I would like to take some time getting to know each of you a little bit, so that I can make a more concrete decision on which of you will be considered for the next stage, and which of you I will have to regretfully turn down. One on one, I would be happy to answer any personal questions you might have for me, as long as they are in good taste. Otherwise, feel free to mingle for a little while here in the throne room. We have refreshments set up to the sides of your seating arrangements, and I encourage you to get to know one another just as much as you might want to get to know me."

In a perfect world, that last statement may have worked out better, but as it was, the seated stallions erupted from their seats to speak to the lovely princess after she was finished. The lime-green unicorn from before attempted to calm the rowdy bunch yet again alongside the alicorn, but this would turn out to be a much more frantic soiree than anypony would have predicted. Princess Twilight, was indubitably, quite the catch, and it showed in the mannerisms of every male piling on top of each other to be first in line.

Princess Twilight all but slammed the massive double doors behind her, desperate to get away from the stallions that had constantly bombarded her with questions, comments, and compliments from the first agonizing minute, all the way to the indeterminate amount of time that had lapsed since.

She blew a stray, almost ratty, puff of her mane out of her face frustratedly that had become worse for wear in the stuffy, sweaty environment. She stood there, barring the doors with her body for a second, just in case an over-zealous admirer wanted to break through. She was definitely not up to any more conversation or flirting, of which was usually one-sided, directed at her, at this point.

Sensing no further danger from the gaggle on the other side, Twilight stomped briskly toward her aunt-in-law Celestia, who was seated at a small, round table, enjoying some of the refreshments that had been served in the throne room. Celestia looked up from her snack, humorously noting that Twilight did not look one bit pleased.

"Geez, Princess Celestia, you sure can pick'em!" Twilight was fuming and gritting her teeth lightly to show her aunt-in-law her displeasure with the entire turn-out.

Although Celestia tried to genuine concern for the blunder that had ensued at Twilight's expense, she couldn't help but grin at her niece-in-law's little snarl, "Why, my dear Twilight, I'm not sure what you are referring to! I only brought the richest, most handsome, and most powerful stallions to be your husband. Nothing's too good for my cute, little student."

"I'm trying to be serious here, Princess!" Twilight stamped a hoof to reiterate her mood, "Those stallions were nothing but thieves, hot-heads, and pigs! One of them even rubbed up against me!"

"Oh, one of them was feeling frisky, was he?" Celestia chuckled, "If only I had been there to see it . . ."

"Princess Celestia!"

"Now, now, Twilight," the alicorn became a tiny bit more serious, "they were simply hoof-picked based on the criteria you gave me. I can't be held responsible for their actions, or . . . personal hobbies when I was simply doing what you had asked of me."

Realizing her possible mistake, Twilight huffed slightly in defeat, softening her glare just a tad, though she was no less angry. "I guess . . . money, brawn, and prestige just aren't the things I am looking for, well, not the only ones at least."

She shifted a little closer to her aunt-in-law who had partially resumed her midday snack. "I want to marry a stallion who is caring, generous, somepony who loves things like art and poetry. You know, I talked to each and every one of those colts in there," she demonstrated with her hoof to the doors, "and not one of them could recognize any classic poems I recited, even a little bit!"

"Well to be fair to them," Celestia tried to speak through eating, something she would only do in front of family . . . and maybe not even then most of the time, "they didn't make their millions, billions of bits becoming poets and pondering the wonders of the universe. They worked hard through various trade and business schools, climbed company ladders, and proved to the world that their products and services are worth investing in. If emotional sensitivity was something you were looking for, most of those stallions out there are not it, as it really didn't fit with their career descriptions."

The purple alicorn pondered that for a moment, her anger simmering into disappointment, "I guess business-ponies aren't really my type, though being a princess, I'm assuming the public expects me to marry into money, fame, and not much else . . ."

Celestia gave her a wry smile, understanding Twilight's disdain for being in the public eye all the time, " . . . It would appear that way, unfortunately, Twilight. If it were completely up to me, I would allow you to date and marry whomever caught your fancy. In this case, I cannot promise that there would be ill consequences should you not be wedded to a stallion of noble or wealthy birth."

As much as Twilight wanted to hotly object to such nonsense, she could certainly see it all now. 'Princess Twilight Sparkle marries local wino! Her only reasons being he makes great trash sculptures and philosophically mulls over "the meaning of life"!' The very thought made her plop down into a nearby chair and put her head in her hooves with exasperation. Why was it that the mentally stimulating were also such . . . commoners? Could she ever find what she was looking for in somepony who was strong, yet kind, noble, yet charitable, a stallion of action, yet a sensitive thinker? The more she dwelt on it, the more impossible such prospects became to her. She did not mind having high standards, but so few ponies actually fit that elusive bill.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight didn't bother raising her head, still in her forelegs.

"What is it dear?" the princess sipped her tea quietly.

". . . Is there any, any possibility that I could find somepony else that would fit the description I just gave you? . . ."

Celestia set her teacup down lightly, thinking about the multitude of requirements Twilight had set forth for her future husband. It was not an easy task bringing the bunch that were still probably wandering the throne room, or heading home now, as they had more or less been the most fitting for her niece-in-law in all of Equestria. Why did the young mare have to have such strenuous prerequisites?

There was one more candidate that Celestia had neglected to bring, mostly cause the young stallion's father had been uneasy about marrying him off so soon. They weren't of a noble family, though their service to the crown had been exemplary, and his father had been under-confident in his son's ability to be the perfect husband he felt Twilight deserved. However, it seemed that it was the right time to pull out the big guns, since she was running out of options. She would try to make it up to his father later.

". . . There is one other I did not wish to mention before, but I feel I should now. You do remember my second-in-command, Captain Broadlance, do you not Twilight?"

Twilight vaguely remembered the old Captain of the Guard. He was always pretty stuffy, and was a pony of very traditional convictions.

"Somewhat . . . why?"

Well, I was thinking that his son, Flash Sentry, would be a fine candidate. He's strong, brave, and from what I have been told was afforded a classical education, in which he received honorable mention for his projects. Furthermore, he is a fetching young colt. He may not be of nobility, but with the efforts and loyalty of his family, he may as well be."

"Hmm . . . " the purple mare put her hoof to her chin in thought, ". . . I suppose I could give him a shot. Can't be any worse than these suitors were."

"That's the spirit," Celestia giggled at Twilight's lack of optimism, "I think you'll really like him. I have met him face to face before, and although he can be a little . . . intimidating, sometimes, I'm sure he'll be more than grateful for the chance to win your affections."

"That sounds just fine then," Twilight was still skeptical, but didn't question her teacher's wisdom as desperate times often call for desperate measures, "would we be able to meet him right away?"

Celestia was more than happy to oblige, "I don't see why we couldn't meet him down in the training grounds , where he usually is this time of day I hear."

She rose from her seated position, motioning with her hoof for the other alicorn to follow close by, "Come, I think you'll be delightfully surprised!"

Twilight also jumped out of her own seat to walk by Celestia's side. They started making their way outside, Celestia holding the door for her niece-in-law. Although eager about the thought of finding "the one", she was still mildly suspicious, and she still kept telling herself,

"What's the worst that could possibly happen?"