Chapters Young Again
It was a normal morning In Canterlot for the princess of the sun. She was scheduled to meet with dignitaries from Griffonstone to discuss subsidies for the poor nation. Celestia may have been a princess of ponies, but she still felt guilt when she saw the state the griffons were living in.
They live in squalor while my subjects and I live in paradise.
She shook her head and turned her attention back to the official documents in her magic’s grasp. Paperwork wasn’t her favorite thing to do; in fact, it was her least favorite part of being a monarch. But there was a reason behind this most boring of tasks, for it was through paper and quill that she ruled Equestria.
Celestia furled the scroll and gave it to the earth pony mare waiting patiently by the throne.
“Here is revised budget for Hoofington. Tell them that I expect an answer by next week.” The mare took the scroll in her teeth, bowed and left the throne room.
“Proper Conduct?” she asked a unicorn buck near the throne. He was just one of many servants that she had at her disposal at all times. He bowed low and replied
“Yes Princess, how may I be of assistance?”
“Could you send word to the kitchens, and have them send some tea please?”
“Of course, your Majesty.” He said with another bow. Celestia smiled and thanked him. She sometimes grew tired of the way ponies always curtsied to her, but it was something she had grown used to.
Being the ruler of Equestria for more than a thousand years, it was something she had to get used to it.
While she waited for her tea Celestia was subjected to another half dozen tax forms. The delegates of Equestria’s cities were always arguing about which of their cities deserved the most gold from the monarchy, and it was Celestia’s duty to approve each budget by hoof. Celestia closed her eyes and groaned inwardly. Ten more hours, just ten more hours.
One advantage of controlling the sun was that Celestia always knew the time of day. The disadvantage was that she was aware of every minute as it passed by, seemingly slowing her work day to a crawl. Though she loved the day and the warmth it brought she relished the privacy and peace of mind that came when the day was done. She planned on reading a fiction novel that Twilight Sparkle recommended, that night, and maybe even have a cake sent from the kitchens.
Celestia’s mouth watered at the thought of the delightful confection.
“Your Majesty?” Proper Conduct said timidly, snapping Celestia out of her reverie. “I have your tea.”
“Thank you, Proper.” The stallion held a platter with a pot, teacups, a bowl of sugar and several colorful pastries. “Oh Proper. You always deliver don’t you?” she said with her kind and motherly voice. He flushed and stammered something about it being no trouble.
“Do take your morning break, Proper. I won’t be needing anything for the time being.”
“Are you certain Princess?” he asked.
“I am. And please tell the guards not to disturb me for the next hour and a half. These scrolls are a little more tedious than usual.” Celestia planned to finish the scrolls within half an hour, then relax her frayed nerves and nurse the headache that was beginning to form.
“Your wish is my command, Princess.” He bowed and informed the Royal Guard in the throne room of their ruler’s order. The half dozen stallions in golden armor followed Proper Conduct out the mane doors of the throne room; closing them carefully behind them as they did so.
“Finally.” Celestia put the financial documents down in favor of the tray of sweets before her. Pastries had always been her greatest weakness and she knew it wasn’t the healthiest of habits; but right now she pushed it from her mind and dug into the treats with a vigor she rarely displayed. I’ll have to give Gustav a raise. He really outdid himself this time! Celestia thought happily as she sampled the master pastry chef’s confections. She even grabbed a spare scroll to write an official notice to the castle head of staff.
Once she finished the pastries she returned to the official documents. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I almost forgot.” Her horn glowed gold as she lifted her cup of tea off its saucer. She inhaled the heavenly aroma, and then sighed deeply. Daisy, honey and a hint of mint. She licked her lips and took her first sip…
The teacup shattered on the floor of the throne room, splashing the hot tea and pieces of ceramic over the scrolls.
***********************
“Yes Twilight?” the little purple dragon with green spikes came into the room, holding several scrolls in his arms.
“Is Starlight back yet?”
“Twilight, you know Trixie’s tour doesn’t end for another three days.” He said tiredly. Twilight had called him into the room every couple hours to ask this, he knew that she just missed Starlight and wasn’t exactly pleased that she was doing a traveling show with Trixie of all ponies, but he was getting tired of it. “Twilight, you shouldn’t be sitting in here waiting for the map to tell you to do something. Why don’t we go to Canterlot and see Moondancer?” Twilight opened her muzzle to retort but ended up saying nothing. She rubbed her muzzle. Maybe it would be good to get out of the castle. She smiled despite herself and Spike wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug.
“That’s my girl. Should I pack a bag?”
“You know what? Yeah Spike. Pack a bag, we’re going to Canterlot!” the purple dragon smiled brightly and jogged towards the door; only to stop halfway and grab his stomach. “Spike, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned. In response, Spike belched loudly, and a cloud of green smoke and fire accompanied by a scroll with a Royal seal erupted from his mouth.
“It’s a letter from Princess Luna.” Spike said, picking up the scroll and unfurling it.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle, I need you to travel to Canterlot immediately. I need assistance in a matter concerning my sister, and you are the only pony I can trust at the moment.
Twilight’s reaction was exactly as Spike expected it would be. She cried put in panic, packed a few dozen books into her saddlebags, and then grabbed Spike with her magic before teleporting to straight to Canterlot.
“Oh thank the stars, Twilight Sparkle you’re here. While I am happy I wasn’t expecting until the next day.” Twilight rushed to the hoof of the throne.
“What’s wrong! Did Tirek escape again? Has Queen Chrysalis taken Princess Celestia? Have the changelings turned on us again? What if…?” Luna, in an unusual act of showing emotion scowled and shouted in her Canterlot voice.
“BE STILL!!!” Twilight stopped mid-sentence, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. Luna took a moment to compose herself before speaking again.
“Twilight, I am happy to see you and Spike, but I have a terrible headache. We are not under attack, nopony has been harmed, and we are not at war with the changelings. I simply need your assistance with a spell.” She stood up from the throne and tiredly waved a hoof for Twilight to follow. Twilight, nonplussed by Luna’s lack of explanation looked to Spike for help. The little purple dragon shrugged and jogged to catch up with the night princess. Twilight followed the baby dragon then in turn, Princess Luna until she turned onto a spiral staircase. As Luna moved Twilight noticed that her movements were forced, as if this short trip through the castle was exhausting her. Twilight noticed that her horn was still glowing.
“Luna… are you alright?” she asked quietly. In response Luna sighed deeply, and shook her head.
“I’ll explain when we get there.” As they trotted down the hall, Twilight began to hear singing. It was a mare’s voice, sweet and vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place it; or the song the mare was singing. The singing grew louder and louder until Luna stopped at a simple wooden door. It was the room that Twilight stayed in when she visited Canterlot.
“What the…?” he stammered.
“You are so young, and you are so free! But you're aimless and I can't help but see!” Discord turned his gaze to Twilight and snickered.
“You know Twilight; I think dear Luna prefers Celestia when she’s not singing. Personally, I find it refreshing.”
Twilight stared at the younger Celestia, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.
“Now, now Twilight. You’ll only catch flies like that.” Discord said sarcastically, one of his eyes still scanning the book in his paws. “Quite undignified for a princess.” Twilight tried several times to speak but her mouth had gone dry. Luna stood by the bed with an irritated expression while the young Celestia danced vigorously, singing at the top of her lungs.
“That you don’t know what you really need! Are we there yet, a-a-are we there yet!?” it was Celestia’s voice, but it sounded so…well, youthful and energetic. She completely ignored Twilight and Luna, but she wasn’t being rude. As she sang she kept her eyes shut and the music was loud enough that Twilight could hear the lyrics and instruments from the headphones. The song was strange enough that Twilight saved her questions about Celestia for a later time.
“Discord?” she asked, keeping her gaze locked on Celestia, who was now shaking her rump energetically. Twilight stifled a chuckle as she shook her flanks much like Fluttershy had when she had seen the Pegasus at the Ponytones performance.
“Yes, dear Princess?” ignoring his snarky comment Twilight asked,
“What is she singing?” Discord laughed heartily and appeared next to Twilight in a flash of white light, as he normally did.
“You see Twilight, I was sitting in my chaos dimension, watching three or four dust bunnies fight off a particularly nasty chuppacabra, when my musicorinominatorerer picked up a bunch of songs by some Gryphon. I thought they were rather good, so I threw them in those headphones I…borrowed from that mute unicorn in Ponyville.” She pointed at Luna, whose eye was twitching as she listened to Celestia’s now shrilly loud voice. “Luna summoned me and demand I fix Celestia, but alas, I didn’t and she was rather annoying before I gave her the headphones.”
“She was annoying… before the headphones?” Twilight asked disbelieving. While Celestia’s voice wasn’t bad but her perpetual giddiness was starting to grate Twilight. It was no wonder Luna looked so irritated, if she had been dealing with this for any length of time…
Finally, it seemed, the princess of the night had enough. “TIA, STOP SINGING!!!” She screamed in the royal Canterlot voice, shattering the window of the room and causing the very floor to shake. While Twilight had jumped a few feet in the air and landed in Discord’s arms out of sheer surprise, and even Discord looked startled by Luna’s explosion of rage; Celestia simply looked at her sister, opening her bright purple eyes and removing the headphones from her ears.
“Lulu! Where have you been? The music in these things is awesome! Can we play it on the castle’s stereo?” Luna’s eyes twitched and Twilight thought she might actually strike her out of pure annoyance.
“Tia, this is Twilight. She is here to fix you.” She pointed a hoof at Twilight. When Celestia…or Tia, turned her gaze to Twilight, her eyes grew so large that it made Twilight very nervous.
“OH MY GOSH!” she rushed forward with a flap of her wings and wrapped Twilight in a rib cracking hug. “Lulu! Why didn’t you tell me we have more family? Is she your daughter, did you finally get with Echo or what?” Luna blushed brightly, turning her normally midnight blue coat dark red. Twilight vaguely remembered that Echo was the name of one of Luna’s bat pony guards.
“N-no! Tia, this is our cousin, Twilight Sparkle.” Tia’s eyes widened further and she hugged Twilight even tighter.
“Oh my gosh! Hiya cousin, we’re going to be best friends you and I! Let’s go hit the town; we’re going to have so much fun!”
“Tia!” Luna said sharply. “You are not leaving until we fix you…”
“Fix? You’re the one who needs fixing.” She lunged towards Luna, strapped the headphones onto her head then cranked up the volume. Then Tia’s horn glowed brightly, and a bunch of tape wrapped around Luna’s head.
“What the.?!!” Luna spun as another song with the same voice blared out from the earphones.
“Come on cousin! Let’s hit the town, uncle Discord! if you would?” she gestured to Discord who smiled mischievously.
“Where to Tia?”
“Surprise me!!!” with that, Discord snapped his claws and Twilight and Tia disappeared in a flash of light; leaving Princess Luna struggling to remove the headphones that were duct taped to her ears.
Manehatten Sound
Twilight reeled as she, Discord and Tia landed in the midst of a crowd of dancing ponies. The flash of light was missed by the ponies around them due to the strobe lights and lasers flashing around the room. A very energetic dance remix was playing, there was magical smoke in the room and the moment they touched down on the floor, Tia started dancing.
“Awesome spot Discord!” she shouted over the music as she and Discord brohoofed. Twilight Sparkle simple sat down in the middle of the dance floor dumbfounded. Upon noticing this, Tia rushed over and pulled Twilight to her hooves and spun them both in a circle. “Come on Twilight, let’s boogey down!” Twilight laughed at her words as Tia forced her into dancing. While Tia moved vigorously, once again shaking her rump, Twilight couldn’t help but look to Discord.
“Did…you…do…this?!” she asked desperately as Tia grabbed Twilight by the hooves and the two began spinning again.
“Oh no, it wasn’t me.” He said as he moonwalked above their heads. “But I must remember to find the pony that did and thank them. Tia is so much more fun than drab old Celestia, and Luna was being such a sourpuss.”
“Lulu was being kind of a downer!” Tia shouted happily, letting go of Twilight and grabbing hold of a mare nearby. Once Twilight’s head stopped spinning she flew up to Discord.
“Can’t you change her back?” Discord chuckled heartily and shook his head.
“Now what would the fun in that be? Besides, I don’t know what made her younger, if I made her older and the other spell wears off it might kill her or something.” Twilight thought about that for a moment before silently agreeing. Whatever magic had made Celestia like this, it must have been powerful. She looked down at where the white alicorn was dancing and noticed her lack of a cutie mark, and a new, dark thought crossed her mind.
“Discord! What about the sun?!” once again, Discord just laughed.
“Princess Luna is taking care of it. Why do you think she was being so cranky? You know, besides Tia here.” Tia took to the air with a couple Pegasus ponies and began dancing in unison with them. “You have to admit though, she has some moves!” Discord flew other to the trio and joined in their dancing. Twilight watched the quartet as ponies all over the club cheered them on. She noticed Vinyl Scratch bobbing her head in approval as the four of them strut their stuff above the dance floor.
“I hope Luna’s okay…” she wondered aloud.
-Meanwhile in Canterlot-
Luna rolled on the floor of the suite trying to pry the magically enhanced tape out of her hair. Spike sat on the floor nearby, trying his best to stifle his laughter. She tried using her magic but it wouldn’t work, likely a trick of Discord’s, so she used her forelegs to slowly pull the headphones off her ears.
“Ow…ow…ow…ow!OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!” with one final yank Luna ripped the headphones off her head; the tape taking far more than a few of her hairs along with it.
“TIA WHEN I GET MY HOOVES ON YOU!!!!”
********************
“Another cider!” Tia and Discord slapped their respective hoof and lion paw on the bar of the nightclub, and in a few seconds two more mugs of apple cider in front of them. The pony behind the counter offered one to Twilight but she refused. She was never much of a drinker and she needed to figure out a way to return Celestia to normal.
“Come on Twilight! Loosen up a little.” She said, bumping her rump against Twilight’s. “Seriously cousin, you’re kind of being a downer.” She floated the bubbling mug of cider in front of Twilight and gave it a shake.
“You know you want to…” Twilight knew she shouldn’t, she had to focus, but there was something about Celestia’s voice and demeanor that just shouted ‘trust me, it’ll be awesome!’ that and the fact that Twilight didn’t have access to any of her books… That’s it! She took the drink (if only to get Tia to stop hitting her in the head with it) and turned to Discord.
“Discord, can you take us to Ponyville?” the spirit of chaos looked at her suspiciously.
“So you can turn her back into boring old Celestia? I don’t think so.” Twilight scowled at Discord but she knew that she couldn’t just change the draconequus’ mind. Instead, she changed tact.
She swallowed the cider in one gulp and threw a foreleg around Tia’s neck.
“Hey Tia, I know a super cool Pegasus named Rainbow Dash who knows all the best party spots in Equestria. Why don’t we go see her?” Tia’s eyes brightened as she gulped down her fifth cider.
“Really!?” she turned to Discord. “Take us to Rainbow Dash!” Discord scowled at Twilight darkly, but the look of total excitement on Tia’s face allowed for no argument.
“Fine.” And with that single word for a response, Discord snapped his fingers.
A Little Bit of Dash
Rainbow Dash was having an overall, pretty boring day. The Wonderbolts were on a week long break before an airshow over Hoofington. The cyan Pegasus was practicing loops around the star on the top of Castle of Friendship when Twilight, Discord and a white unicorn she didn’t recognize appeared in a white flash by the castle door.
“Rainbow Dash!” the lavender alicorn called up to her. Rainbow Dash thought of pretending she hadn’t heard, but something about Discord and the white mare drew her attention. She flew down to the trio and opened her muzzle to greet them when the white mare flew up to greet her and wrapped the cyan Pegasus in a rib cracking hug.
“Hiya, I’m Tia! Twilight said that there was a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash who loved to party and you’re the only pony around with a rainbow mane so you must be that super awesome pony!” Whatever curiosity Rainbow Dash had for Twilight and Discord dissipated almost instantly.
“Aw yeah! Of course I’m awesome and love to party!” Rainbow Dash was so enthralled by Tia’s praise that she hadn’t even noticed Twilight calling her.
“Rainbow Dash!” Discord scooped Twilight into his arms and held her muzzle shut. “Discord!” she tried to shout, but with the draconequus holding her muzzle shut…
“You wanna do something awesome?” Rainbow asked Tia. The alicorn mare’s eyes brightened and widened almost disturbingly.
“Of course!!!”
“Then follow me!” rainbow Dash turned on the spot and flew off like a missile. Tia flapped her wings, and darted after her almost as fast as Twilight had the Princesses gave her their magic. After a few minutes of struggle Discord released the lavender alicorn and she turned on him at once.
“Discord! Why did you do that? I’m trying to fix Celestia!” the spirit of chaos chuckled deeply and pointed at the castle of friendship.
“Oh Twilight, it’s just an age spell, I'm sure you have some books in there that can help. If you want, I can send word to Trixie that you need her expertise, but otherwise you should let Celestia have her fun.” In a snap of his claws Discord disappeared in his trademark white flash; leaving Twilight steaming. Find an age spell. Find an age spell. Find an age…
“Seriously! Trixie!” she shouted angrily.
It was going to be a long day.
*********************
Rainbow Dash watched in awe and excitement as the white alicorn kept up with her despite her massive bursts of spee. The cyan Pegasus had dismissed her alicorness by assuming that she was another student of Celestia that ascended. Or perhaps Celestia had a child she hadn’t told anypony about for one reason or another.
“With that coat…” she thought aloud, watching the alicorn do barrel rolls alongside her with little effort. She didn’t think that Tia could have been Luna’s daughter with her coloration. But the only thing Rainbow really cared about was how fast she could fly. Twilight wasn’t nearly this adept at flight when she first became a princess, but then again, she still wasn’t. “I should take you to the Wonderbolt’s Academy, you’re amazing!”
Tia smiled brightly at the compliment and, inspired by Rainbow Dash, flapped her wings as fast and hard as she could. “Woohoo!” she rocketed past the cyan Pegasus and Rainbow Dash could only say one thing.
“Oh it is on!” the two ponies shot across the sky as fast as shooting stars. Leaving pink and rainbow contrails respectively in their wake. The mares vied for first as their contest increased in speed and boldness. They from Ghastly Gorge all the way to Appleloosa, and after some time Rainbow Dash began to tire.
She had learned time and time again that her hubris could get her into trouble. But the thought of losing to some random alicorn grated her. She was a Wonderbolt! She should be able to win a race against a novice. “You’re going down Tia!” she yelled, putting on a massive burst of speed.
The Sonic Rainboom erupted into being less than a minute later, leaving Tia in awe of the massive shock wave that rippled across the sky like rainbow fire. Inspired by this Tia replicated Rainbow Dash’s action before hoof. Rainbow Dash stared in disbelief as a cone began to form around Tia’s extended hoof. “No way!!!” Way it was.
Tia burst into a massive shock wave of pink energy as she broke the sound barrier. The ensuing ripples across the sky bathed the land underneath them in an almost garishly pink hue, that demanded the attention of everypony with at least twenty miles. As Rainbow Dash watched Tia come to a stop to hover just a yard or two away, she could only think one thing.
I can top it.
Cruisin' With The Crusaders
Rainbow Dash slumps down on a patch of grass by the Apple Family's barn, panting and sweating heavily. How can she keep going!? Tia meanwhile continued to fly in a circle directly over her saying, "Come on Dashie! Best out of a hundred!"
Jeez. I need to get her a foal sitter...or, maybe three... Rainbow Dash smiled devilishly. "Hey Tia?"
"Yes Dashie?" she said brightly.
"You wanna go somewhere fun?" her response was as predictable as it was immediate.
"Totally! Where is it?"
"Uh..." Rainbow Dash looked around quickly and spotted the small tree house in the nearby trees. "Right over there..."
**********************
"You're doing it wrong!"
"Am not! You are!"
"That doesn't make sense! Apple Bloom isn't even touching it Sweetie Belle."
"She's still doing it wrong!" CCCCCCCRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! The exploded into splinters as a single white mare came barreling into the clubhouse. She landed on her rump right in the middle of the three fillies, her head spinning from the impact. "You sure it will be fun?
"Oh Yeah...Race you there! Rainbow Dash had said. Now Tia was wondering where her pegasus friend had gone. Hadn't she followed her?
"Hello, do you need help?" Sweetie Belle asked kindly, choosing to ignore the fact that their 'guest' had just crashed through the ceiling of their clubhouse.
"Help?" Tia asked dumbly. Her head was really hurting.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo jumped in and placed a hoof on her flank. "We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We help ponies find their cutie marks and you don't have one." Tia's ears drooped, her lips forming into a pout.
"I...I don't..?" Apple Bloom, sensing that their new friend's feelings were hurt, covered her friends mouths with her hooves.
"But that ain't bad!" she said encouragingly. "A very good friend of mine once told me that that just means you got limitless potential. And...you're an alicorn! You must have a an awesome special talent." Tia considered this for a moment before speaking.
"Y-you really think so?"
"Of course!" the three fillies shouted out once. Apple Bloom trotted over to Tia and hugged her tight."Time to get out the drawing board!"
************************
"I think I've found it!" Twilight exclaimed cheerfully. She had spent the last two hours looking through every book in her library trying to find a way to return her old mentor to normal. And she finally did it. "This spell will undo whatever magic made her young again. We'll have Celestia back as soon as we find her." Discord, who had been lying in a hammock floating above her since she began reading, rolled his eyes.
"Why? Celestia is boring . At least when she's like this she isn't so serious. I swear I can still hear Luna screaming about that tape." Twilight shook her head and flew up to the draconequus. "Princess Celestia has royal duties that must be attended to! Who's going to raise the sun when Luna's too tired to stay awake!?"
"Not to point out the obvious or anything," Discord said sarcastically. "but you could. Or, you know, I could. I'm the freaking Lord of Chaos! I could make the sun sentient and give it a smiley face! Why don't you just let Celestia have some fun?" Twilight shook her head once more and floated Discord out of his hammock. He could of teleported away, she knew this, but he didn't even try. He just sat there in her magic's grasp while she flew out of the castle in search of Tia.
"Where is she Discord?" She asked the sulky Lord of Chaos. "And don't lie!"
"She's at Sweet Apple Acres." He told her, his voice surprisingly somber.
"Then let's go."
"Yes. Let's. " Discord hissed quietly. It was a short flight from Twilight's castle to Sweet Apple Acres. Discord didn't try to escape or warn Tia or resist in any way. He just sat in Twilight's magic and scowled. This bother Twilight. It wasn't at all how she expected him to act. Twilight thought he may be plotting something but her gut told her that her wasn't. She stopped to hover above the farm and looked around for her former teacher, and it didn't take long to find her. The alicorn mare was sitting atop a small tree house, surrounding by the three little fillies she had taught many times. Twilight watched fascinated as Tia slowly hovered off the top of the tree house and raised her hooves above her head. The sun began to set at once and in a flash of white light a small sun appeared on Tia's flanks.
"There you go Twilight," Discord said tiredly, his voice ringing with defeat. "I tried to give Celestia one good day, and now she'll remember everything. I need to remember to give those fillies a noogie." Twilight blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Celestia is over a thousand years old. She's spent nearly all of that time being a princess. Being a ruler. She deserved to have a nice day where she could relax. Instead of having the affairs of state to deal with the only thing she need concern herself with was what tavern she was going to go to. What she was going to have for lunch. Now that she remembers who she is she'll have to let you turn her back to normal. Boring old normal." Twilight paused. Part of her wanted to yell at Discord for making Celestia the way she was, but the rest of her felt something unexpected. Guilt.
Discord was right. Princess Celestia had spent more than a thousand years caring for an entire nation. It must be exhausting, and it made Twilight cringe. One day she might have responsibilities exactly like Celestia's. How long would it be before she wanted a break. She rubbed her chin for a few moments before turning back to Discord. "Can you make it last a little longer?" Discord smiled brightly and hugged Twilight.
"I think I can."
Author's Note
Hey! Look at that, its over!
