Immortal Rest

"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!"