"Sister? Wake up, it's time to raise the sun. You overslept. Again." Celestia groaned, to show her sister she was awake. Luna walked towards the open door, bumping into a bookshelf on her way out. She walked out of the room, cursing to herself. Celestia glanced at the sundial. She was late to raise the sun. Celestia groaned again and stumbled out of bed. As she walked towards her door, her reflection in the mirror caught her eye. It looked... strange. Celestia stopped to look at her reflection. She stared at herself in the mirror.
That can't be me... She thought. The pony in the mirror had dull pink eyes, a color-drained mane and tail, and a pale white coat. I can't be this old already... She looked down at her hooves. Ordinarily, the golden horseshoes made her coat seem brighter and more radiant, but now it just looked pasty.
Celestia sighed, and made her way to the balcony where she raised the sun. She lifted her horn, and pointed it towards the empty sky. Luna had lowered the moon fifteen minutes ago, and had been patiently waiting for Celestia to raise the sun. Celestia frowned to herself, as she realized that it took her more effort than it usually did to raise the sun. She summoned all of her magic, and finally began to feel the sun slowly inching up the sky. Celestia gritted her teeth as she felt the sun slipping out of her grasp. She channeled more energy through her horn, but it wasn't enough power. The sun wasn't going to rise without another alicorn's help.
"Luna!" She called weakly. Luna walked slowly onto the balcony, and nodded to her sister. "I need you to give me some of your magical energy." Luna looked at her questioningly.
"Sister, is something wrong?" She asked, a concerned note in her voice. Celestia scraped the ground with one of her front hooves, embarrassed to tell her sister about her predicament. "Celestia, what spell of yours requires the energy of two alicorns, and is important enough to put off raising the sun?" Celestia's cheeks burned with shame.
"It's... I... I..." She couldn't keep it to herself anymore. "I can't raise the sun!" Celestia cried. "I don't have enough magical energy." Luna nodded knowingly.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of." she assured the white alicorn. "I, too, have struggled to raise the moon in past nights. However, I can lend you enough power to raise the sun." Celestia sighed in relief.
She moved back into her focused state, and focused her magic on the sun. Once she felt the sun being moved by her magic, she kicked the ground with one of her back hooves, signaling her sister to begin feeding her magical energy. Celestia smiled to herself as she felt the sun moving with ease. it rose higher and higher, until the sun was shining over Equestria, providing light for all her little ponies. Luna looked deep into her sister's eyes.
"Do you think we're getting... old?" Luna asked, anxiety creeping into her voice. "We've lived for thousands of years already. If we don't retire soon, we won't get our final lifetime. I want to live a full life, sister. As a normal pony. I want to have a family of my own, and live without having to care for millions of ponies every day of my life. I want-" Celestia gently cut her sister off.
"Luna, You will have a chance for all of that. I promise, you'll have your opportunity for an ordinary life. We will retire in time, and live our final lifespan. It is time we left this land to a new generation. But how can we choose our successors?"
A smile crept across Luna's face. She whispered her idea to Celestia, who smiled back at her sister.
"Sister, I think that might be stupid enough to work." The two sisters burst out laughing. "Let's... Call... a Press Conference... Tomorrow." Celestia said between bouts of laughter. Luna suddenly stood up, looking confused.
"Wait a second... why were we laughing? I suggested we hold a contest to decide who will be the Princess." Celestia stopped laughing as well.
"It's because I, am a master of confusion" Celestia made a weak attempt at a mysterious look on her face, and cast a teleportation spell. To prove her point, Celestia had made it briefly rain shrimp where she had been standing. Luna smiled to herself, and trotted back into her room to go to sleep.
The next day (In ponyville)
"TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled from the living room. Twilight Sparkle jumped, spilling her cereal all over the table. She grumbled to herself as she cast a cleaning spell on the mess.
"What is it, spike?" she snapped. This had better be good. she thought to herself. Spike came running into the room, an excited look on his face.
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna called a press conference, and it's on TV Live!" Twilight smiled in anticipation. What was their news? she wondered. She levitated her cereal bowl with her as she hurried to the couch. Spike followed her, at a slower pace. Twilight trained her eyes on the television.
Celestia and Luna stood on a balcony above a crowd of reporters, at the front of Canterlot castle. Each reporter was asking a different question, and all were being ignored by the Princesses. Princess Celestia stepped forward.
"Thank you, everypony, for coming here today. Before I give my news, I would like to tell you some information on the subject. An alicorn is not truly immortal. Each one has a lifespan of Ten-thousand years. An alicorn is only made an alicorn because another alicorn retires, and chooses another pony to be their successor. I am the successor of the alicorn Princess Solis, and Princess Luna is the successor of Princess Nocte. Like all alicorns, they retired, and lived their final lifespan as ordinary Ponies. Over the years, their names were forgotten, replaced by mine and Luna's. Princess Luna and I have reached the age of retirement, and have decided to step down from the throne, leaving it to a new generation. We are confident that you can successfully rule this country. Princess Luna, share your news." Celestia stepped back, as Luna stepped forwards, facing the crowd of reporters.
"Now, many of you may be wondering, how are we going to choose successors? Well, Princess Celestia and I did some thinking yesterday, and came up with a lovely idea: a contest. Every mare in Equestria is welcome to sign up, and the concept of it is fairly simple. We will choose the two ponies based off of five traits: Appearance, Personality, Manners, Talent, and Trustworthiness. Each is important for its own independent reason. Appearance is important, because in order to be taken seriously, the royalty of a country must look regal. Personality, because nopony likes an unkind ruler. Manners, for any addressing of subjects or foreign diplomats. Regal looks mean nothing if you can't act regal. Talents can sometimes conflict with the raising of the sun and moon, and a Princess must be Trustworthy enough to properly rule a country.
Each and every pony will be able to participate in the competition, but mustn't get upset if they are eliminated in the early stages. The majority of ponies are removed during the Appearance section, or the Manners section. That is because only certain ponies can look and act like Royal Ponies. I'd like to personally assure you that the competition is completely unbiased, and any choices made come from the competition only. However, ponies closer to Princess Celestia or I are more likely to be chosen, because those things are already factored in before they are chosen to work directly with either of the Princesses. A table with sign-up sheets have been placed in every town. The mailing address for the sign-up sheets will be posted there. Thank you for your time, everypony, we will now be accepting questions from the press.
The television turned off with a click. Twilight sprang up from the couch excitedly.
"SPIKE! Did you hear what Princess Luna said? I have a better chance of winning that competition than most of the ponies in Equestria! I'm going to sign up, I'll be back in a minute!" The library door slammed behind Twilight. All around her, mares were running towards the sign-up table. If I don't get there fast enough, all the sign-up sheets will be gone! she thought to herself urgently. Oh, i hate to do this, but... she quickly summoned a teleportation spell, moving her to be right by the able. She snatched a form and teleported back to the library entrance. She dashed inside, only stopping to sit down at her desk.
"Spiiiiike! I need a pencil!" The young dragon came running with a pencil in hand. Twilight magically plucked it out of his fingers, and turned her attention to the paper. "Twilight Sparkle... December thirteenth..." she murmured to herself as she filled out the paper. "Ponyville... twenty-two years old... finished!" Twilight looked at the mailing address.
"Spike, I need you to send this letter to the address written on it. Spike nodded to her.
"Okie-dokie!" Spike took a deep breath, and breathed fire on the letter, sending it to the proper address. Twilight stood up from her desk, looking at Spike.
"When you get a reply, listing the date and time of the contest, leave it on my bed, alright? It's time for my weekly dinner outing with the girls." The young dragon nodded dutifully.
"Have a good time, Twilight!" He called after her, as she trotted out the door. Twilight thought to herself as she ran. Okay, it's the second week of the month, so we're meeting at Rarity's house beforehand. She weaved through crowds of ponies, until she finally reached Carousel Boutique. A bell chimed when Twilight pushed the door open. She was greeted by five smiling faces.
"Good evening, Twilight." Rarity said. "I was thinking we might leave town this evening. There's a lovely Italian food restaurant in Canterlot, and you all simply must try it!" Fluttershy's smile faded a bit.
"Oh, I'm sorry Rarity, but i can't afford to go to a restaurant in canterlot." She whispered. Rarity shook her head with a smile.
"Oh, nonsense. I sold some of my most expensive dresses this week. I'll pay for the meal." The other five mares looked at her in delight. "However," Rarity added. "Twilight, darling, I'll need you to teleport us to canterlot." Twilight smiled.
"Of course i will, Rarity! But i need to see the restaurant on a map." Rarity nodded, and showed her the location. Twilight smiled. Suddenly, Rarity remembered something.
"Oh! This is a formal restaurant, you'll need dresses. I have your dresses from the Grand Galloping Gala in my back room, go put those on. After you have the dresses on, I'll use my magic to fix your hair." The five mares trotted to her room to get their dresses. Rarity trotted up to her bedroom, and slipped on her own dress. She magically curled her mane, then placed the tiara neatly on her head. She peered at her reflection in the mirror, and lightly dusted some powder on her face. Rarity smiled to herself, and trotted back down the stairs.
There, her friends stood before her, wearing their own dresses. She was shocked to see that their manes were already styled. Twilight was standing a bit apart from them, a look of pride upon her face.
"I saw a hairstyling spell in a book i read." She explained. Rarity nodded briskly.
"Well, then, shall we go?" Twilight nodded. She gathered her friends around her, and cast the teleportation spell. A few seconds later, they were standing in canterlot. Twilight took a moment to catch her breath, then the six entered the restaurant. The Host nodded to them when he saw their formal attire, and showed them to a large booth.
As the five sat down, Pinkie Pie beamed at her friends. "Omigosh, you guys will never believe what happened today! Did you see the press conference?" The other five mares nodded.
Suddenly, all at once, each of them shouted:
"I signed up for the competition!"
A cutthroat competition: Stage One
"You WHAT?" They all shouted simultaneously. Each of them glared at each other, even Fluttershy (which is surprising, even though Iron Will had made a large impact on her life). Rainbow Dash crossed her front hooves.
"Don't even bother with the competition. Everypony in Equestria knows that I'm going to win, and become princess of the sun. Applejack turned her angry gaze towards Rainbow Dash.
"Being a princes, requires actual work, Rainbow. You can't fall asleep during work like you always do." She commented. Rainbow opened her mouth, but was cut off by Rarity.
"Applejack, you can forget becoming the Princess of Equestria. Equestria doesn't want to be represented by a hick. They need a pony that knows better than to track mud all over the floor." Rarity sneered.
Pinkie Pie chimed in with her own obnoxious remark. "Well, Equestria can't live under the rule of a stuffy 'oh so dignified' meany-pants!" Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Pinkie Pie, how do you think you can rule Equestria? Throw a few parties, spend the entire nation's budget, and let everypony starve? Not on my watch. I'm going to win, and become the Princess of the night, to make sure the sun princess doesn't screw up everything." Fluttershy Glared at twilight.
"Well, what is an Egghead shut-in supposed to contribute to this nation? We have plenty of smart ponies. There's not gonna be any need for one more, ever!" she yelled. There was a long, icy silence. Rarity tossed a few bits on the table, and Twilight teleported them all home.
"I don't want to see your faces again until after I win the competition!" Twilight yelled, and stomped back to her library. Once inside, she teleported into Rarity's workroom, took a mannequin, and left some bits on the ground, then teleported back home.
"Spike! I'm Home!" Twilight called. Spike came running into the room.
"Wow," he commented. "You're home way early. How was dinner?" Twilight scowled and crossed her front hooves.
"Terrible," she said shortly. "My friends entered the contest too, and now we're competitors. I'm going upstairs." She trotted up the stairs with Rarity's mannequin, and began to work on her dress.
A few incredibly boring hours later
"Finished!" Twilight and Rarity chorused at the same time, each unaware of the other's statement. Each were staring at their dresses with looks of absolute delight.
"This will definitely pass stage one!" They both exclaimed.
The day of the competition...
As it turns out, almost every mare in Equestria showed up for the competition. They all stood in the throne room, and even with every unicorn in the audience casting a space expansion spell, including the alicorn princesses, there was barely enough room for all the ponies.
Princess Celestia and Luna stood before the large crowd, looking stunned by the large mass of ponies gathered before them. Once again, Princess Celestia gave the opening line of the speech.
"Thank you so much for coming here today. I wasn't expecting to have so many entries, so we don't have enough rooms in the castle to house only two or three ponies in each room, as we'd planned. Fortunately, there were plenty of extra beds, so each castle Suite will have to house ten ponies. The groups have been Pre-chosen, and I'm afraid we can't have ponies moving rooms. So, look for your name on the room listings on your way out. Luna will explain the first competition."
Princess Luna stepped forward. "The first stage of the competition is fairly simple. On the entry form, one of your needed materials was an elegant dress. There will be a stage set upon the castle grounds, and one at a time, each mare will come forward and show off her dress. Now, since there are so many ponies here, we will have the first contest in groups of ten, with the same ponies as the ones you room with. Now, this is the contest where the most ponies are eliminated, so five ponies from each group will be removed from the rest of the competition in the first round. That is all, check your room number on your way out, and thank you."
Twilight smiled to herself and trotted over to the listings. She pushed through the crowd, and quickly scanned the papers. Suite eighteen, she thought to herself. I remember that room. She quickly teleported herself in, and looked around. There were five bunk beds in the room. Twilight chose the bed closest to the window, and climbed up to the top bunk. She cast a small force field spell on her duffel bag, and and flopped down on her bed.
Just then, she heard the crowd of ponies rushing towards the door, fighting to be first inside. the door burst open, and the other nine ponies trotted in. Twilight giggled to herself as she saw the looks of shock on the other mares' faces. A golden unicorn with a bright orange mane trotted over to twilight's bunk bed and took the bed below hers. She, too, used her magic to change the mattress and guard her belongings. Twilight's smile faded as she saw five of her roommates. Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were all staying in the same room as she was. They were joined by a gray earth pony that twilight remembered as Octavia, a white unicorn with a blue mane known as DJ-PON3, or Vinyl Scratch, and a white pegasus with a mint green mane. They each chose their own bunks, and introduced themselves to their bunk mates.
Twilight's friends stayed silent and picked up a deck of cards or a book, while the other mares talked amongst themselves. The golden unicorn looked up at Twilight and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Sunny Daze. What's your name?" she asked. Twilight smiled at her and climbed down from her bed to sit by the golden mare.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, Nice too meet you." She replied. Sunny smiled and gave a small gasp.
"You're THE Twilight Sparkle? Personal Student of Princess Celestia and wielder of the element of magic?" She asked. Twilight nodded.
"I don't like to brag about it much, but yes, i am." Sunny let out a small squeal.
"Oh my gosh, Princess Celestia told me all about you!" Twilight tipped her head confusedly. "I'm one of the unicorns that assists with the changing of the seasons," she explained. "I help Princess Celestia change the season to summer." Twilight smiled as she realized she had something in common with the unicorn.
"Have you seen the redecorated canterlot library?" Twilight asked excitedly. Sunny nodded eagerly.
"I love the new chairs." she said. "They make it so much easier to focus." Twilight beamed. Sunny Daze is awesome!! she thought to herself.
"Yeah, i know, I-" Twilight was cut off by the doors being opened.
"The Princesses request this room's presence for the first stage of the competition! Be ready in five minutes! Her brother, Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard, called. Twilight opened her duffel bag and pulled out the plastic dry-cleaning bag she kept her dress in. Each of the other Ponies took out their dresses too, and followed Shining Armor down to the stage. He motioned for them to enter the dressing room area, and just as rarity was about to enter a room, twilight teleported inside and locked the door. Sunny copied the spell with applejack.
Soon, all the ponies were wearing their dresses, and they moved on to the makeup tables. Luckily, there were ten makeup tables, and each mare set to work on their hair and makeup. Twilight cast a spell on her mane to make it shimmer and glow, to mach her dress. Each mare was still wearing a cloak over her dress, so they had no way of knowing what the competition was. Twilight stood in line behind the curtain, behind Rarity and ahead of Sunny.
Suddenly, the music began to play, and Applejack removed her cloak, then walked out onto the stage. She was wearing her dress from the grand galloping gala, and had braided her mane into a beautiful twist, but it was still unoriginal. Applejack walked back into the waiting area, a confident smile on her face.
Next was Rainbow Dash. She had been first in line at the cloudsdale dressmaker's shop, so she had a new dress, a cyan slightly lighter than her coat color, with a magic effect that sent a cascade of rainbow glitter flying around Rainbow when she twirled. Her mane was shiny and flat against her head. Twilight nodded to herself. Not bad... she thought to herself. Twilight heard a round of applause from the stage. Rainbow walked back into the waiting area beaming.
Then, Vinyl Scratch was up. she removed her cloak, revealing a neon dress, enchanted to change colors. There was a gasp, then murmurs of approval, and Vinyl walked back in, looking unsure. Then, Octavia walked out, her mane unstyled, wearing an elegant black dress. There was some small applause, and Octavia walked back in, with the same look as Vinyl on her face.
Fluttershy gave a small squeak, and removed her cloak. She had hand-sewn a lovely yellow dress, with pink ribbons threaded in, and some small gems to give it a sparkly look. Twilight had never understood why she could sew so well, but she didn't question it. Fluttershy trotted back in, looking nervous, as always, but Twilight knew she had done well, from the cries of delight onstage. Twilight heard the voice of Photo Finish. "That, is da magics!"
Pinkie Pie bounced out onto the stage, wearing her grand galloping gala dress with cupcake scent all over it. a few seconds later, she bounced back into the waiting area, and Twilight knew Pinkie had forgotten what she was doing.
Just then, the white pegasus with the green mane walked out onto the stage, wearing a mint green dress with clouds at the hem of the skirt. There was some polite applause, but not much else, and the pegasus mare walked back out, a neutral expression on her face.
Rarity beamed, and removed her cloak. She was wearing a beautiful white dress with blue diamonds on the skirt, and her mane was styled with an intricate twist, and a silver tiara with blue diamonds on it. There was a gasp of delight, and the audience went wild. The whole time, Rarity kept her look of grace and poise as well, she walked back into the waiting area, beaming. She cast a smug look in twilight's direction.
Next, it was Twilight's Turn. She took a deep breath, and removed her cloak. She walked out onstage, with a perfect example of grace and poise. There was gasps of awe and delight, and a large round of applause. She was wearing a purple dress with gems that shimmered like the stars when the light caught them. it was a fairly simple dress, but the audience loved the stars projected into the sky by her dress. Twilight gracefully walked back into the waiting area, and smiled smugly at rarity, who was seething with rage.
Finally, Sunny Daze was up. She removed her cloak, and walked gracefully onto the stage. She was wearing an orange dress that faded to yellow, covered in golden gems, making her shine like the sun. Sunny was greeted with the same response as Twilight was when she was onstage. Sunny stood before them a few more seconds, then walked back into the waiting area. The lights dimmed and the music stopped.
Princess Luna's voice called to them. "Would each of the models please all step out onto the stage! All ten mares hesitantly stepped outside. Princess Celestia and Luna stood right in front of the stage.
"Princess Luna and I have discussed this matter carefully," Princess Celestia began. "And have decided which ponies will stay, and which will leave. Luna will call five names, and those are the ponies that will stay here in canterlot. The rest of you are welcomed to watch the rest of the contest, or may go home."
Princess Luna looked carefully at each of us. "Now, before I call the names, I want you to know that each and every one of you is special in her own way, no matter what happens today. The ponies that will be staying are: Rainbow Dash... Fluttershy... Rarity... Twilight Sparkle... and Sunny Daze. Congratulations to all of you, and good luck in the next competition.
