Twilight sat glumly at her lone bedroom window. Her chin rested upon her forelegs, which were placed comfortably upon the windowsill. She stared out into the landscape afar. The window’s glass was streaked with droplets of water, imitating the weather outside. It was a cold, dreary evening in Canterlot. Not many ponies crowded the streets, for most were on their way home, closing up shop, or simply trying to avoid the dull weather.
The purple alicorn breathed a small sigh onto the window pane, creating a patch of fog on the pristine glass. She wiped this with her hoof creating various zigzag patterns out of sheer boredom. Even though it may not have appeared so, the princess was in deep thought. It had been three months since her coronation as Princess of Friendship and Equestria. Yet, something still troubled her about the matter. It was overall just . . . boring, to be simply put, and lonely as well. Ponies were always coming to Twilight to complain about matters that she generally deemed lacked significant purpose. She more often than not had a gigantic stack of paperwork to complete, due by the end of the week as well. A large portion of these were additional complaints.
Complain, complain, complain! That’s all ponies do these days. Twilight thought to herself. Just because I’m a princess doesn’t mean that I can fix every problem in the world. Sheesh! . . . And here I am complaining. Great.
Even the papers that weren’t complaints were gruesome to fill out. Worst of all, she barely ever got to see her friends anymore. Yes, there were times when they planned special get-togethers or occasions where she had to travel to Ponyville to do something that they would see each other. But those times were not as many as they used to be and were slowly starting to lessen even further. She often wondered how Celestia had managed this sort of lifestyle. Day after day attending meetings, listening to ponies’ monotonous speeches, addressing their concerns, scheduling more meetings, attending every possible significant event. She was beginning to get sick of it, even though her rule had barely begun.
Why is this so different than just being the Princess of Friendship in Ponyville? Couldn’t things have stayed the same somehow? Why does so much have to change. . .?
On the other side of the room, Spike was dusting some shelves in a corner, a task that was purposefully for their new maid. Nevertheless, he still did this chore and others from time to time. Maybe it was because he missed doing these jobs at the Castle of Friendship, or perhaps he too was beginning to become a perfectionist. On the other hand, he may have been trying to fill in the silence from Twilight’s endless evenings of window-staring after a day completed.
The young dragon paused as he glanced over to where Twilight was slumped. That’s the sixth time this month. . . He thought to himself.
“Hey, Twi,” he said, causing the alicorn to turn and face him. “Don’t you want to start on some of this paperwork?” He gestured to the large stack on the table behind him. “You know those signatures aren’t going to sign themselves, right?”
“And I suppose those 127 documents aren’t going to read themselves either, are they?” Twilight hastily snapped. Spike remained silent. “I didn’t think so.” She paused, sighing. “Maybe later.”
The purple mare’s gaze returned to the window. The drake sighed and continued dusting, albeit over and over again in the same locations.
Becoming even more bored, Twilight decided to play a little color identification game.
Hmm, let’s see. How about red?
Twilight scanned the quiet street below her window.
Red umbrella. Check! Red carriage. Check! Red pony! Check! Huh, who new I was so good at this game?
The bemused princess continued to search for more red objects, but to her annoyance only found red buildings.
Alright, fine. My luck ran out on me. I’ll try a different color. How about blue? Blue park bench. Check! Blue puddles. Check! Blue Rainbow Dash. Check! Blue umbrella, how ironic, another umbrella. Check! Wait, Rainbow Dash?
Twilight halted her game as she homed in on the blue pegasus. The rainbow-maned mare was surprisingly struggling against the strong winds as well as being pelted by the sudden downpour. Was it just her, or did Rainbow sneak a quick glance at her castle? The pegasus’s grip on a lamp post suddenly loosened, causing her to lose her balance and fall into a puddle. The alicorn frowned. What was Rainbow even doing out there in the first place?
She didn’t even stop to think. Twilight thrust open the window and poked her head through.
“Twilight, are you crazy?!” Spike yelled as a gust of wind and water furiously entered the room. “Everything’s going to get wet!” Alas, his screams were to no avail as the window remained open. Spike face-palmed. “You know what, I’ll just. . . go get a mop or something.”
Twilight thrust her head out the window. She was bombarded with more rain and wind and struggled to keep her eyes open long enough to spot Rainbow Dash again.
“Rainbow!” she hollered, trying to be heard over the weather, “Grab my hoof!”
“Grab what?” Rainbow screamed in return from below.
The window shutter forcefully smacked Twilight’s muzzle, but the alicorn shoved it aside and tried not to think about bleeding noses. “I said grab my hoof!”
The blue pegasus fought her way upward against the downpour before finally arriving at the window. Twilight reached outward and took hold of Rainbow Dash’s forelegs. She then used all of her strength and body weight to drag the pegasus inside. The two mares tumbled head over heels and fell in a wet heap of purple, blue, and, well, all the colors of the rainbow. Spike sprinted over to close the window shut, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
Rainbow Dash shoved Twilight off of her, causing the alicorn to stumble backward a bit.
“Hey,” the offended purple mare exclaimed. “What was that for? I saved you from the rain.” She paused, noting how stupid that sounded.
Rainbow scoffed. “Saving a pegasus from rain? Seriously? We were made for this weather!”
“Well, you were the one who decided to fly up here in the first place!”
“I thought you had something important to tell me! Not that you were going to be my new superhero. It’s not like I haven’t saved Equestria enough times to take care of myself.”
“For your information, I was right by your side saving Equestria, thank you very much.”
Spike watched the scene unfolding before his eyes. He could tell this wasn’t going to go well. “Um,” he said scratching the back of his head, “I’ll be in the kitchen if anypony needs me.” His statement apparently went in one ear and out the other as the bickering mares paid no heed. He sighed and trotted out of the room.
“. . . And are you crazy? Your floor is soaked! Who opens their window when its raining cats and dogs?”
“Well, you looked like you could’ve used a little help sliding around in puddles like that,” Twilight smirked. “Very amusing, by the way. So, I decided I would be a good friend and lend a helping hoof. But I guess SOMEPONY doesn’t appreciate that.”
“I – I was not sliding around in puddles! It was just a slippery sidewalk. . . Anyway, maybe you should try minding your own business for once! I’m actually very busy and you’ve wasted all my time,” Rainbow growled. “You know what? Maybe more ponies would like you as a princess if you did that, sheesh.”
Twilight froze, dumbstruck. Rainbow’s eyes widened as well, realizing what she had just said. Twilight trembled, a few tears starting to stream from her eyes.
“Well. . . if you think that. . .” her voice was small and broken. She wiped her face with a hoof. “Then, I’ll respect your decision and leave you alone.” The alicorn slowly rose and trudged over to a small closet in a corner of the room. “You can go home now,” she said with her back to her friend. “You know, since you never needed me.”
Rainbow sat back on her haunches, already feeling guilty. She rubbed her temples forcefully and exhaled.
What kind of friend am I? Rainbow thought. Insulting my friend like that when she's just trying to help me out. Well, not like I needed any help. . . but still!
The pegasus gradually made her way over to where Twilight was pretending to be busy searching for something in her wardrobe.
I shouldn’t have said that. . .
Rainbow inched closer to Twilight until they were sitting side by side. The cyan mare nudged Twilight with a wing.
“Hey, Twi, you know I’m sorry, right?”
Twilight just sniffed in response.
Maybe I should try to be gentler?
“Look, I really shouldn’t have said that. You’re a great pony, and I’m sure mostly everyone loves you.” Rainbow smiled.
Still no sufficient response from Twilight.
Oh brother. . .
Rainbow wrapped her wings around the alicorn, which got Twilight’s attention.
“I thought you weren’t that fond of hugs.”
“I’m not really, but I figured this would be a good excuse.”
Twilight smiled a little bit. “I know you’re sorry. You would never mean something like that. It just. . . hurt.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ll make it up to you though.”
The two mares sat in quiet for a few moments.
“So why were you so riled up in the first place?” Twilight asked.
“Well, to be honest, I’ve been kinda stressed lately,” the cyan pegasus replied, fidgeting with the corner of Twilight’s bed sheet.
“Stressed?”
“I know, totally out of my element. Yeah, I have this huge report for the Wonderbolts due in, like, three days. It’s about my progress since becoming a Wonderbolt about three years ago and has to be fifteen pages long.”
“Oh,” Twilight said, rising to all fours, albeit, still with red eyes. “How much do you have done?”
Rainbow did the same. “A paragraph or two?” She said sheepishly.
Twilight frowned. “That’s not good.” She began to pace. “Assuming your deadline is 8:00 a.m. Friday morning, you only have 61 hours left to finish, since its Tuesday evening. That’s not even counting the time you would use to sleep, which accounts for about 24 hours.” Twilight halted and spun to face Rainbow. “Maybe you shouldn’t sleep?!”
“Yeah, no thanks,” the pegasus said, crossing her forelegs. “That’s out of the question. I’m sleeping no matter what.”
“Fine, suit yourself. You’ll have 37 hours then.”
Twilight and Rainbow Dash both pondered for a few moments. It wasn’t long before the cyan mare spoke up again.
“So, what’s up with you?”
“Huh?”
“You’ve been kind of. . . distant for the past few weeks.”
“Oh, yeah. That.”
Silence took over the room once again.
“So?” Rainbow questioned again.
Twilight grimaced. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, I guess. About the villains, my coronation, the princesses’ retirement, ruling over Equestria, everything!” She paused. “It’s a lot to handle, and it feels so different than how it used to be. I get bored a lot more easily now. I can’t even read a book for over 20 minutes at a time!”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow to that. “Woah, I can’t imagine that.”
“Yeah,” Twilight buried her face in her hooves. She gestured to the stack of papers on her desk without looking up. “And of course, there’s always that. The paperwork, it never ends, Rainbow. Never. I don’t know how Celestia kept up with it. I don’t know how she kept mentally sane! It’s the same thing, day after day after day. . . I’m gonna lose it, Rainbow.”
“Then talk to her.” The response came immediately without any hesitation at all.
“What?”
“Talk to Celestia, you know, your former mentor and ruler of Equestria. Like you said, she’s done this before, and for a long time too. I’m sure she’ll know of some way to help you.”
Twilight blinked. “Huh. . . I guess I’ve never really considered that before. Well, you see, I don’t want to ruin her retirement with questions about something she not supposed to be thinking about. . .”
“But, she wants you to be happy! I know she would. She said it herself at your coronation: ‘We’ll always be here if you need us.’ Don’t worry about bothering her. She probably misses you anyway.” Rainbow Dash smiled warmly and was rewarded with a smile from Twilight.
The alicorn took a deep breath. “You’re right, I guess I should talk to her. Maybe she’ll teach me how to read again.”
Rainbow couldn’t help but snicker.
Twilight rolled her eyes, but her expression returned to a smirk. “And hey, who knew you were so good at giving advice?”
“Well,” Rainbow said while stretching out her wings, “I do have a little bit more life experience than you, you know, since I’m older.”
“Just by seven months,” Twilight protested.
“Still older,” Rainbow grinned.
Twilight strolled over to her desk and tapped out an arrhythmic beat with her hooves. “Say,” she said, turning back toward Rainbow Dash, “what if I help you with your report? It’s not like I’d rather be doing that.” She flicked her wing toward the papers, narrowly avoiding knocking over the tower.
“That’d be awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, hopping into the air. “But, wait. Doesn’t that mean you won’t be able to do your work?”
Twilight eyed the stack once again. She clicked her tongue. “It’s due by Friday anyway. I just have to. . . um, go through them.”
“Twilight,” Spike said warily, suddenly walking into the room. “Remember what happened last time?”
“Shush, Spike. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Okay. . . Just warning you.”
“What, what happened?” Rainbow said eagerly.
Twilight stared daggers at Spike, alas, he ignored them. “She put it off until like 9:00 p.m. the night before.” He chuckled. “Stayed up all night till 6:59 in the morning, precisely one minute before they were due. I sent them to the office with my fire breath, and she was out like a light afterward. Didn’t do anything other than sleep the whole day.
“It was so funny. Ponies were out protesting and none of the new complaints were addressed. Celestia and Luna themselves had to raise the sun and moon, and a little filly missed out on a princess attending her birthday party. Most ponies in the castle call it ‘The Day Discord Wasn’t to Blame.’”
Rainbow looked to Twilight, barely able to contain her laughter. The alicorn was red-faced with embarrasment. “At least I sent the filly a belated birthday present,” she mumbled under her breath.
Rainbow had a good, long laugh, which only made Twilight’s face turn redder.
“Thanks a lot, Spike,” she murmured. “Okay, I get it Rainbow, but it is not that funny.
“Okay, okay. . . I’m. . . sorry,” Rainbow managed to squeak out between laughs and breaths. “I just, whew, The Day Discord Wasn’t to Blame! Ha ha!”
“Ha ha! Yeah. I know, right?” Twilight said sarcastically. She waited for Rainbow to finish amusing herself.
“Okay, wow. Thanks, I needed that. If you want, I could help you with your paperwork after you help me?”
Twilight pondered the idea. “I appreciate it Rainbow but its lots of reading and my signatures. I’m not sure how you would be able to help.”
“Well, I’ll just speed through some of the less important stuff. Then, you can just sign ‘em off, and boom, just like that you’re done.”
“I guess. . . but I’ll have to make sure the documents really aren’t that important.”
“Come on Twi, give me a chance. You’re gonna do me a favor and I wanna show my, my. . . um, what’s the word?”
“Gratitude?”
“Yeah, that’s it! Gratitude. Besides, I said I would make it up to you.” A grin spread across her face.
“Oh, alright. Just stop looking at me like that.” Twilight scanned the room for an extra chair and spotted one near the window. She levitated it over to her desk. She and Rainbow both took their seats there, Twilight in her comfy office chair and Rainbow in the spare wooden one. The purple mare cleared the desk.”
“Okay,” Twilight said. “Let’s start that essay, shall we?”
“Yeah, let’s do this thing!”
“I love your enthusiasm, but let me tell you that you’re going to lose after a few hours.”
“So, what? Let’s enjoy the party while it’s happening.” Rainbow pulled her paper from her saddlebag. It was crumpled, soaked, and was covered with ink stains. “Uh, it’s a little wet.”
“I see,” Twilight replied, unamused. She raised an eyebrow and levitated the paper to her eye level. “Let me just do a quick copying spell, and then I’ll ask Spike to bring us a clean one.”
Twilight soon finished her spell and called Spike into the room.
“Should I get some quills too?” he inquired.
“Mmhm.”
“Oh, and snacks. Lots of snacks,” Rainbow added.
“Snacks? Seriously?”
“Hey, I’m not working without anything to eat.”
“Fine. Bring snacks too, Spike.”
Spike began to trot out the door to retrieve the items but stopped as Twilight called out his name once again.
“What?”
“He he, sorry. But, can you make coffee as well?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”
It was a long night for the two mares. Spike had attempted to stay awake but had succumbed to sleep around 11:00 p.m. By then, Twilight and Rainbow Dash had gotten through three pages of writing.
“How do you spell anticipate?”
“How do you spell initial?”
“How do you spell ascertain?”
These types of questions were asked repeatedly throughout the night by Rainbow Dash. Although, Twilight answered them without complaint. She was always eager to help a friend improve their literacy.
The night was a sort of relief for the both of them, a way to relieve any tension between them. Although for the majority of the time, the two were working on the essay, they still managed to fight over snacks, share jokes, and tell stories. Darkness may have enveloped the kingdom of Equestria for the night, but the light of the two friends shone brightly within that castle bedroom.
It was at 4:20 a.m. when Rainbow finally passed out.
Twilight had been finding another match to light the sole candle in the room when she returned to see the cyan mare sprawled out over the table, snoring peacefully.
Twilight chuckled. “Looks I won this battle.” She stacked the papers they had worked on thus far together and set them to the side. “Ten out of fifteen completed. Not bad for an all-nighter.” The alicorn failed to suppress a yawn and rubbed her eyes, which were also starting to fall subject to sleep.
“I’ll just read over it one more time. That way we won’t waste any time doing further corrections in the morning.” Twilight sank into her chair once again, almost immediately falling asleep. Yet, she caught herself and shook her head furiously to try to clear the quickly oncoming feeling of weariness.
“Stay awake, Sparkle. Don’t give in to temptation. There’s more work to be done here. . .”
Alas, not even a minute after she uttered those words had Twilight Sparkle too fallen asleep.
Spike arose later in the morning to use the bathroom. It was not quite sunrise as it was only 5:37 a.m. As he walked sleepily to the bathroom, he stopped by the two mares sleeping on the table.
He smiled. “I guess everything worked out okay after all.” The drake was about to continue his trip to the bathroom, but hesitated and sighed. “Better send a letter to Princess Celestia so she can raise the sun again.”
As soon as Spike returned from the bathroom, he grabbed Twilight’s bed sheet and the blanket from his bed. He used these to cover each of the sleeping mares.
“Good night, you two."
