The Path of a Princess
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Me and my sister walked through the park. With small clusters of trees, and fields of grass going on for miles. Canterlot Park was truly a wonder to behold. It was a beautiful day for a walk. I had been wanting to go and rest somewhere quiet after the hassle I had with the merchants today, but Luna just had to insist we go on a walk instead. She gave me those puppy dog eyes, and no matter how old I get, nor what defenses I put up, I simply could not defeat them. So I caved in and joined her on this walk.
The smaller ponies walked around us, giving us a wide berth. I couldn’t blame them, not only were we royalty, but I was a giant amongst all ponies. Luna was at least short enough she didn’t have much trouble doing most things, while I on the other hoof had trouble trying to fit through the front door of the average ponies home.
“Dearest sister,” Luna said joyfully. “Look there, I have found a squirrel friend.”
She trotted off before I could say or do anything. I watched as she approached the small creature. It scampered away on her approach, it might have been swift, but my sister’s magic was even swifter. She lifted up the tiny animal and brought it up to her face while smiling at it.
“Luna, put it down. Would you like to be picked up and dragged around at the whim of somepony else?” I asked her.
Luna frowned at me. “If something did that too me, I’d sting them with my magic. Do you forget, we are alicorns, and nothing would be so foolish as too- argh.”
The squirrel it seemed, took my sister's advice and clawed at her unprotected face. She dropped it as a line of red appeared on the tip of her muzzle. The squirrel didn’t waste any time before fleeing with great speed. My sister rubbed at the tiny scratch and I smiled at her.
“Would you like to go find a cat next? Or perhaps a raccoon?” I teased her.
She glared at me. “That rodent will regret messing with a princess.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “If you start speaking with the royal Canterlot tongue, and take away its rights, I’m sure that it will plead for forgiveness.”
Luna trotted back onto the dirt path and flicked her tail at me. Choosing to ignore her rude behavior, I followed after her. Maybe I hadn’t wanted to go on this walk earlier, but after seeing her interaction with the squirrel I believed this entire trip had suddenly became worth forgoing a nap.
We continued on for some ways, small ponies avoiding us, most smiling or waving. I waved back to a few, though after so much time, fur coats and manes tend to blend together. I was having difficulty actually recognize any of them. There were few ponies that I could remember without much trouble, and those I had to etch into my memory lest I forget.
My sister was still young mentally, so she had no trouble recognizing our subjects. She would wave to the ones she had spoken to during her night shift, and even shared a few small sentences with ones she was closer too. Being trapped in a coma while an evil spirit possessed her for a thousand years had preserved her mind.
I envied her ability to tell them apart so easily. Though I finally found at least one pony that I recognized easily enough. I trotted up the stallion and with the monocle and a handsome tuxedo.
“Fancy Trousers,” I said. “How wonderful it is to meet a familiar face here in the park.”
He looked back and a sly grin spread across his face. “Oh, Princess Celestia. Have you come down to mingle with the commoners?”
Celestia smiled. “Truthfully I am here on a walk with my little sister. She wanted to see the park with me today.”
“Hmm, yes. She and I still have a game to finish,” He said.
Luna trotted up, she had two ice cream cones floating next to her head. Each held an impossible number of scoops on top, each one was wildly different in color. She was grinning.
“Look at what I have found,” Luna said. “I could not decide between the flavors, so I got them all!”
I smiled. She pushed one toward me, and I held it with my telekinetic grasp. It was nice of her to think of me. “Thank you, Luna.”
“You are very welcome. Oh hello, Fancy Pants, do you feel up to another thrilling bout of chess later today?” She said.
I looked at the stallion I had been talking too. I felt my face begin to heat up as I realized what I had called him. That was not the high point of my day. He and my sister talked for a bit before we walked onward. We quickly worked at eating our ice cream cones as we walked further down the park.
Though saddened by the fact that we were quickly reaching the end of the park road, I took pleasure in the fact that I had enjoyed myself today. My sister seemed to agree, at least judging by the smile she wore. It had been far too long since I had slowed down and simply enjoyed some time with my sister like this. I missed the days of old, when the kingdom was new, and we both had the time for each other. That time was long since gone, but maybe not forever.
My mind turned back to Twilight Sparkle, and how capable she had become in recent years. Sure, she had made mistakes, but she always tried her hardest to make up for them, and that was the what really mattered. She was learning, more so every day, about how being a leader. One day I may leave her in charge and relax with my sister, surely not forever, but for a time.
“Sister,” Luna said, her voice had grown quiet.
I looked to her. “Yes?”
“You were lost in thought there for a minute. Are you okay?” She asked, there was a little bit of concern in her voice.
“I was just thinking about how much I enjoyed this walk with you today. Maybe one day we could take a vacation and relax,” I replied.
She smiled. “Oh and who would lead the kingdom in our stay? Surely not Twilight Sparkle.”
I raised an eyebrow.
She gulped. “You cannot be serious. Twilight has made so many disastrous mistakes. We would come back to a kingdom in ruins for sure.”
“She is not ready for such responsibility yet, but I do trust that she will be ready one day.” I smiled and looked up at the sun. “And think of the things we could do then, the places we could go, the lands we could explore together. I’ve missed our old days together so very much.”
Luna followed my gaze. “I remember how we traveled the land, attempting to build a nation. It was hard and full of trials, but I believe those are my favorite memories. I was an adventurer, not a princess. I was never meant for the slow day to day activities that this position has given me.”
I nodded. “Me neither, but they needed a leader, one who could help guide them along until things were safe. After that, they became reliant on me. You know I’ve tried to leave in the past.”
“And how did that turn out?”
“Poorly. Without an alicorn to guide them, the leaders I had chosen had either vanished or fallen to corruption. I decided then that I would train a successor, and one day that pony would take over my place and I could be free again,” I explained.
“And you chose Twilight? I suppose that one day she might be able to handle such responsibility. Though it wouldn’t be fair to leave her all that responsibility on her alone, don’t you think?” Luna said.
I agreed, we wouldn’t leave everything to Twilight forever. “We would just leave her for a while, and after we’d rested and recuperated, we would return.”
Luna frowned. “I’m not sure that I’d want to return.”
“Hmm?”
She gave me a serious look. “If I was away for that long, I do not think I could come back to this. It would be too hard to lose all of my freedom a second time. At least the first time I did not notice until my freedom was already gone.”
That was a grave train of thought, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t simply dismiss her words. It was true that if we left for long enough it would be very difficult to return to all the responsibility and work. “But if we don’t get freedom eventually, if we don’t have that goal to strive for. The pressure would eventually break us.”
Luna nodded. “That is also true. I suppose all we can do is continue moving and see what happens. Maybe your plan would work out without problem, maybe we won’t even get that far. We can’t exactly see the future, despite what some ponies think, we are not omniscient.”
I looked back toward the castle. “Shall we return?”
“Not yet,” Luna said. “I’d enjoy finishing our walk.”
I smiled at her and nodded back to the path. “Let us go then. We shall walk this path together.”
The End
