Because it is right

“Here.” said Foster. “Take a cup of tea.”

Celestia took the cup with her magic and drank a sip or two before replying:

“You do realize that we are both in a cell in a dungeon, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” said Foster, who was also enjoying the tea that Celestia was keeping warm.

Celestia looked at the steel bars that were preventing her from escaping and sighed. She didn’t care that much about her freedom, but she had hoped she could have accomplished more for the children of the orphanage. And somehow, she was feeling like blaming that weird stallion that could only think about drinking tea while he should be at the children’s side.

There was really something Celestia couldn’t understand there.

“You still owe me six questions, don’t you?” said Foster with a smile.

The princess had almost forgotten about that, but she had, in fact, said something amongst those lines.

“Then first question. And please answer honestly.” Foster said. “What do you think of the tea?”

Celestia looked at him, but he seemed very genuine and serious about wanting to know her opinion about the tea.

“You mixed two types of leaves, put way too much of them anyway and I usually like to add a bit of sugar with that kind of bitter tea. But altogether it is fine.” she responded with as much calm as she could gather.

“Great!” he replied. “Second question: what color is the sky?”

Celestia was about to ask a loud “What?”, but she found the strength to stay calm and collected. She had nothing better to do than play that weird game anyway. But at least she could play it with her own rules.

“Your question isn’t complete. You didn’t mention at what time of the day, under what perspective, from whose eyes and under which circumstances. Also, we might differ on the name of the colors depending on the culture and slight perception differences.”

And she took a sip out of her cup of tea after that response.

“That is correct. So third question: why were all those ponies acting so weirdly around you like you were some sort of deity or something?”

Celestia patiently took another sip out of her cup, as she didn’t want to show how frustrating those senseless questions were feeling.

“They acted that way because they recognized me as the princess of the sun they swore to obey.”

“That makes sense.” remarked Foster trying to understand it all. “So fourth question: why don’t they obey you anymore then?”

“Because I couldn’t move the sun.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sens! But then... hum... Fifth question: why did you leave Canterlot?” Foster asked.

“Because I couldn’t move the sun.”

“Right…so, huh... sixth question: why is it so important that you move the sun again?”

Celestia lost it. Against her own will to her defense. But Foster’s naivety, or ignorance to such basic knowledge was just too frustrating when coupled with a subject as painful as this one:

“Because it is my purpose in life!” she shouted. “I was born to control the sun, it is the only thing that was asked from me. And I spent every single second of my life preparing for that sole duty, working as hard as I could to make sure I wouldn’t let anypony down. But I did!” she burst out of rage.

“I did let them down. When the time came, I couldn’t make the sun rise. I tried, and I tried again and again but he never came. I failed. I’m not the princess of the sun. I’m no princess at all. I’m nothing anymore.”

Crushed by the weight of her memories, Celestia went into a corner of the cell to mourn.

“I still have a question.” Foster told her.

“I answered to the six questions I owed you. Leave me alone.” the princess replied.

“I just wanted to know if you still have the bit I gave you…” Foster asked with a sad face, as he had never wanted to upset the princess. "I think I would like to have it back. I'll need it."

Celestia still had it. She took it and gave it back, hoping it would make the stallion shut up and leave her in peace.

And then she heard the sound of the cell’s door opening.

She turned back and saw Foster leaving the cell.

“Are you coming?” he asked her.

She hesitated for a second, but decided to follow him for the better or the worst. They both went through the different passages of the dungeon, passed in front of the guards’ post without much problem as they were all playing a card game and finally arrived to the front gate of the dungeon where a guard was posted.

“Excuse me.” told him Foster, startling the poor guard. “But her majesty Celestia, princess of Equestria, wishes you to open that door.”

The guard looked at the weird stallion, and at the alicorn at his side. He had heard the rumors about the fake princess, but now that she was in front of him, he felt like she wasn’t as fake as the rumors were telling.

Understanding the guard’s hesitations, Foster decided to speak once more:

“You have two ways of seeing this matter.” he said. “Either you decide that this isn’t the princess of the sun, in which case you have to admit we just passed all the bars of the dungeon and defeated the whole garrison, which would be a good reason not to oppose her majesty’s will, or you decide that this is the princess of the sun, in which case you swore to obey her will and serve her to the best of your abilities. In both cases, the best course of action is to kindly open that gate and stand aside.”

The guard hesitated a bit, but the presence of the alicorn was more than he was ready to handle. He opened the gate and let Celestia and Foster pass.

“Thank you. Here, it’s for you.” Foster said with a smile, giving the guard the bit he had obtained from Celestia.

And seeing that the princess was looking at the bit like something else was supposed to happen, he added:

“Well, any service well done deserves a good tip, don’t you think?”

It was both logical and completely absurd. Celestia sighed and, for her sanity, decided to ignore it and they both went away from the dungeon.

“So… what is your plan?” Foster asked the princess.

“My plan?” she asked back.

“Of course. How will you deal with the corrupted mayor, help the orphanage and win the day?”

That was a lot to expect from her. But at the same time, she felt a relief in knowing the weird stallion was ready to stay at her side to help her in her task. Not that this stallion alone would be sufficient.
But that thought gave her an idea. One that was simple enough to work.

“Your majesty?” realized the apple merchant, as he saw Celestia arrive in front of him.

“I need your help.” told him Celestia.

He agreed to help her. Not because she was the princess of the sun. Well, not only because she was the princess of the sun. But because he had realized the mayor had never answered about the orphanage and that wasn’t right.

And two hours later, almost the whole town gathered in front of the town hall, demanding for the mayor to explain himself. He tried to elude the question, but Celestia appeared once again to face him and prevented any of his rhetorical tricks to work, as all she had to do was to demand to see the accounting books.

The guards refused to intervene against the whole town and soon the mayor had to comply, but of course fled the town with his accomplices before the proof was made that he had in fact corrupted the system for his own profit.

“Do not worry, your majesty.” said the merchant, who had become the head of that little revolution. “We will find him and make him pay for what he has done.”

“A judgment in a neutral and fair tribunal would probably be just as good if not better, don’t you think?.” Celestia indirectly corrected him.

“Of course your majesty.” the merchant agreed, realizing that vengeance wasn’t going to solve anything.

Celestia let him go back to the other ponies, as he had quite a lot of work in front of him as everypony was considering him as the new mayor. Which was a good thing, as he was indeed a good pony. A bit quick to jump to conclusions, but his heart was in the right place for certain.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Foster asked. “Back to Canterlot?”

“I wish I could stay in the orphanage. I felt more at ma place there than ever in the palace.” Celestia replied.

“You would be very welcome. In fact, you could probably take my place there. The children love you!” Foster said with enthusiasm, as if it was already done.

Celestia smiled. The idea was very tempting. Taking care of little children, guiding them through life, helping them make their own journey, their own choices.

A whole year passed, during which the little town found a new peace. And at the orphanage, the children were waiting for miss Sprinkles, the new town employee, to kiss them goodnight. But this night, along miss Sprinkles, another pony came. A tall white alicorn with a stellar flowing mane and a sun shaped cutie mark.

A second later, all the children were out of their beds to properly greet the mare.

“You’re huge!” noticed Toothy.

“We missed you.” said Sampion, who had strongly hoped to see the mare again one day.

Celestia smiled and gave him an apple she had kept hidden, which made the foal blush like a filly for the hilarity of the other children. But Sampion wasn't feeling ashamed about it. He was just grateful for the sun to have given him some light in the darkness.

As for the others, they had begun to play a bit with Celestia’s mane, because it was very funny and smelled like morning dew in the forest.

The little Gold Renette grabbed one of Celestia’s front legs and asked:

“Is it okay if I still pretend you’re my mother?”

Celestia smiled.

“Of course you can.” she told her, receiving a warm smile in return.

“Why did you come back?” asked Moonlight, with more hopes in her voice than she could hide.

“I promised I would tell you how I happened to create the sun.” she told her.

And at those words, all the children gathered in front of her in a circle, sitting, waiting for the story. Celestia smiled and sat too. From all that had happened, the most important memory for her was the smiles of those little children that had brought more light in her life than the sun had ever done.
And more warmth too.
This was going to be a great night.

“It all began as I was travelling.” Celestia said. “I didn’t really have a goal at that time, because as far as I knew then, the world was only composed of me, my little sister Luna, the ground under my hooves, a lot of water and the huge blackness all around…”

THE END