Night had already settled on the Crystal Empire for a few hours now. Most ponies were asleep at this time, but one window of the Crystal Palace was illuminated by the light coming from the room behind it. Said room was of rather generous size, which also translated to the interior design. A large bed, large window, large desk, and everything was not only of a large size, but also of high quality. If one was to trot into the bedroom, he would inevitably believe it to belong to nobility, or perhaps even royalty.
Sure enough, on the gigantic bed lay a lavender alicorn. She was resting on her side, eyes fixated on a book lying in front of her. On the nightstand next to the bed stood a candle, the flame providing light and warmth. Shadows danced on the walls while the tiny fire was eagerly fighting to stay lit.
Twilight was browsing through the book’s pages, but the words bled into each other, creating a blurry mess of incoherent ink salad. She wasn’t able to focus properly, and had given up actually reading the pages a while ago. Her mind was occupied with something else.
During the morning hours of that day, she had arrived in the Crystal Empire to fulfill her duties as princess and greet dignitaries. She had also hoped to be filled in on the exact details of why they had visited, and what they had discussed with the other princesses, but alas, all she was allowed to do was smile and wave.
It made her feel redundant, which, to her dismay, wasn’t an unfamiliar emotion these days. Ever since her ascension, she didn’t really do a whole lot of… princessy things. Disregarding her new ability to fly, her life really hadn’t changed. At all. Now, she wasn’t ungrateful or anything, far from it in fact. However, she would have still loved to be able to realize her full potential as a leader to support Equestria and it’s citizens as best as she could. Right now she felt like her potential was… wasted.
The Princess let out a heavy sigh and decided to avert her eyes from the book. It’s not like she was going to get any actual reading done anyways. She was about to call it a night when a knock could be heard coming from the door. The sound took Twilight slightly aback, she wasn’t expecting any visitors, at least not at this late an hour.
“Come in.” Was her simple response.
The door slowly creaked open, letting an ethereal blue mane filled with what seemed like the night’s sky itself flow through the opening. Shortly after, the door was fully open, and Princess Luna herself stood in its frame.
Twilight rose to a sitting position at a staggering speed, intent on looking dignified with the lunar princess in her vicinity. Granted, her mane, which had become slightly frizzled from the long time spent lying on her bed, and the small bags under her eyes caused by the late hour didn’t exactly help her achieve that goal.
“Princess Luna!” The alicorn’s voice was slightly higher pitched than normal due to the surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you. What gives me the honor?” Noticing that Luna was still idly standing in the door frame she quickly added, “Oh, excuse me. Please come in.”
The Princess of the night took Twilight up on the offer and entered the room, steadily closing in on the purple alicorn before coming to a halt a few feet in front of her.
“I wanted to talk to you, Twilight.”
The pony in question felt herself getting slightly nervous. What would Luna want from her? If it was just something arbitrary she wouldn’t disturb her this late into the night, so it must bear at least some importance.
“Really?” She responded.”About what?”
Twilight shifted slightly, unable to sit idly, anxiously awaiting clarification.
“About the aspirations you voiced earlier today. About your desire to be of more importance as a Princess.”
Twilight’s uneasiness grew. That topic had been keeping her from resting so far, to the point where even reading wouldn’t help her relax. The lilac princess told herself over and over that those ambitions were caused by a simple desire to help Equestria as best as she could, and nothing more. For the most part, that was true, but no matter how much she tried to shun it, how much she tried to suppress it, a small portion of her being simply wanted to experience the full extent of her newly acquired title. She was ashamed to feel that way, and it made her question herself and her integrity. Sure, the part of her bearing those wishes was miniscule, unable to command any of her actions.
But what was to come out of it? Greed and desire for greater acclaim had consumed others before her. She herself had quarreled with them before. A perfect example was the very alicorn currently standing in front of Twilight.
That’s when she could feel realization flood her head. Wouldn’t that mean that Luna, who had experienced corruption before, was the perfect figure to talk to and hopefully rid herself of such emotions?
Come to think of it, that would explain why she would seek to talk to Twilight. Perhaps she recognized Twilight’s inner state of disarray, having experienced it before herself. Maybe she also realized that she could help. The thought helped to put Twilight at ease, at least for the moment. She felt her body relaxing, finally stopping to shift about. She could also feel her heartbeat slowing down. Apparently it had been beating at a surprising pace, something she hadn’t even notice until it stopped.
Having her thoughts sorted out for now, Twilight realized that she had been silent for a while now, and peeked her head back up to Luna. The dark Alicorn had used to moment of silence to come closer and sit beside the princess of friendship. Something Twilight failed to notice until now, which startled the princess of friendship. This whole thing was apparently stirring her up a lot more than she wanted to admit.
She could feel a hoof softly laying down on her shoulder, and Luna started to speak in a soft voice. “It’s ok Twilight. I know perfectly well how you feel. I have been there, remember? You bear no ill-intentions, or, at least you don’t believe you do. You want to attain more power in order to bring greatness to Equestria. I had the same thoughts back then. But they swiftly turned to jealousy, envy and bitterness. You must not let yourself be corrupted, Twilight. Do not let your emotions betray you.”
The world around the lavender mare suddenly seemed awfully quiet. After hearing those words, she once again fell into her own thoughts. Surely her feelings wouldn’t turn to more sinister ideas? Surely she, being the princess of friendship and an element of harmony, would never become twisted enough to plunge Equestria into a state of discord, like Nightmare Moon had back then?
Twilight could once again feel her body trembling. Surprisingly, she could also feel anger take over her mind, which soon prompted her to erupt in a rant, directed to nopony in particular, although of course, Luna was there to listen.
“It’s just, I don’t think I really am a princess, or at least, nothing in my life would reflect it. Other than a few formalities, there has hardly been any change in my life! Don’t i deserve a bit more now!?!” Something inside Twilight cried out to her senses. This wasn’t herself. She would never demand any form of higher treatment because of some title she so generously received, would she? The feelings of reason and humbleness inside of the alicorn tried to regain control, but the pent up frustration she had been harboring up until this point was much more powerful. “I have done so much for this land,so much for the ponies that live in it and also so much for you and your sister. How come I am still treated basically the same way as before!?! Why am I denied the true power and authority a princess should possess!?!
I would be able to put it to good use! I believe I have proven that I am nothing but beneficial to this country!....”
Her outburst was brief, but still, she suddenly felt unspeakably exhausted. Her body almost collapsed down onto her bed, her head held low in resignation. Now that she had been able to vent, immediate regret and disbelief took over.
She didn’t mean any of it. Not the way she said it. Her only intention was to aid Equestria in staying prosperous, and that would never change. She was sure of that, so how come those words had escaped her? ...How come they felt so right and heartfelt when she spoke them?
Twilight noticed her vision becoming blurry, and soon a light tickling sensation was felt on her cheeks, caused by tears running down them, leaving behind trails of darkened and wet fur.
Her ears perked up once a familiar voice ripped her out of her thoughts yet again.
“Feel better now?”
Surprisingly, after the first shock was over, Twilight did indeed feel better, so she nodded in response. Luna continued talking to her.
“You are right in that you are one of Equestria’s most valuable assets, but know that if corruption was to befall you, you would be unable to carry out any of your noble intentions. Instead, you would wound this land you want to protect. Do you understand?”
the purple princess’ voice was but a whisper when answering. “I do. I have no ambitions to take power that isn’t meant to be mine. And I understand that I have to be patient. I was just… so frustrated. It was a huge relief to finally let all of those emotions out though. I am no threat, really…”
After she was finished, Twilight let out a startled gasp. She suddenly found herself wrapped in a warm embrace, and Luna resumed talking in a warm, almost motherly tone.
“I know that you aren’t. And if you ever have feelings like these again, please talk to me. I know what they can do to you first-hoof. My past experiences shall never be repeated, neither by me or by you. And do not worry, Twilight Sparkle.
You’ll play your part.“
Upon hearing those words, Twilight felt her body relax. Her muscles loosened up, and tears stopped rolling down her face. Her state of being immensely tense was over.
Sharing her innermost thoughts did take it’s toll however. Under the moonlight gently shining through the windows, and under the wings of the night’s princess, she could slowly feel herself drifting into the land of sleep, Luna softly humming a lullaby all the while.
