Celestia sighed as she lowered the sun and raised the moon. For the last few hours, she had heard a voice in the back of her mind telling her that she was forgetting something.
But she couldn't remember what.
"What could it be?" she muttered to herself. She trotted back into the throne room as a guard appeared.
"Is something troubling you, your Highness?" he asked, noticing the concern on Celestia's face.
"It's nothing important," Celestia replied as she sat down on her throne. "I'm just getting this awful feeling that I've forgotten to do something. But I can't for the life of me remember what it is."
The guard nodded. "I get that sometimes," he said with a small chuckle. "Usually it's something small, like I've forgotten to put my weapon back on the rack. Or I've forgotten to clock off."
Celestia shook her head. "No, I don't think it's anything like that..." she trailed off wistfully while the guard stood still, shifting his weight from hoof to hoof. "I'm going to go for a walk." she said as she stood up. "Just to make absolutely sure that I've double checked everything."
"Would you like some help?" the guard asked.
"No, thank you," Celestia waved her hoof dismissively. "You may take your leave, guard, I'll be fine on my own."
"As you wish, your Highness," the guard replied, bowing deeply before leaving the room. Celestia followed, closing the doors behind her. She looked around and began thinking about all the places she'd been that day.
"Hmm, let's see," she said to herself. "I was at that meeting with my advisers earlier, so perhaps I left something in the meeting hall. I was also in the kitchen making sure we have enough provisions for winter." She tapped her chin with her hoof, lost in thought. "I okayed a few new proposals at my desk and the Wonderbolts were showing me their latest moves." She sighed. "I guess I'll start at my desk. Although who knows what I could have forgotten there?"
She walked down the hall and into a small room which was full of shelves groaning under the weight of rolls of parchment. Celestia rolled her eyes and lit the candles on the walls with her magic, before she went over to her desk and sat down. She then began rummaging through the many drawers, searching for anything that shouldn't be there. A whole minute passed, and she slammed the drawer shut with a groan. "There's nothing here," she muttered. "Very well, I guess I'll try the meeting hall."
Extinguishing the candles, Celestia left the small office and walked further down the hall into a large room. In the middle of it was a large circular table, which she walked around towards an ornately designed chair which bore the same design as her cutie mark. Next to this was a smaller chair. She held out a hoof and rubbed it gently, her sister's absence still too much to bear.
She lay down on the floor and looked around for loose objects, but all she found instead were a couple of dust bunnies. With a soft sigh, Celestia stood upright.
"By my sun, there's nothing here either!" she said out loud. "I'll try the kitchen."
***
"No, your Highness," the head chef said timidly. "You didn't leave anything here."
"Are you sure, Flour Pot?" Celestia asked. "Because I'm fairly confident that I've forgotten something."
Flour Pot nodded as fast as he could. "I'm sure, your Highness!" he replied. "I always conduct checks for stray items, for health and safety purposes!"
Celestia sighed again, the hot air escaping from her mouth causing Flour Pot's mane to rustle.
"I guess I'll try the stadium then," she said. "Thank you for your time nonetheless, Flour Pot."
"I-i-its no problem, Princess," Flour Pot whimpered as he offered a shaky bow. "I understand what you're going through. I often find myself thinking I've left one of the ovens on, or the fridge open. B-but I hope you find whatever you've forgotten!"
"Me too, Flour Pot, me too," Celestia smiled and left the kitchen.
***
"Lost items?" the pegasus asked, rubbing his chin. "Sorry, Princess. But anything that gets lost up here tends to fall down there, what with this being clouds and all." He pointed towards the ground. "We have a team to collect lost items, but they've not picked up anything which could belong to you."
"I see. Well thank you anyway, Horse Power," Celestia sighed. "I guess I must have been imagining that I forgot something. My mind was probably playing tricks on me."
"Probably," Horse Power said, laughing weakly. "But you're absolutely sure that you've retraced your steps for today?"
Celestia nodded. "I have," she said. "I've been to my office, the meeting hall, the kitchens and here."
Horse Power looked at the Princess with a raised eyebrow. "Nowhere else?" he said, making a circular motion with his hoof.
Celestia looked at him blankly. "What are you getting at?" she asked. "I'm not quite sure I understand."
Horse Power groaned and pondered his best choice of words. "Aside from your normal duties as Princess..." he said eventually. "What else do you do?"
"Well apart from my duties as Princess, I also..." Celestia trailed off as her eyes widened in horror.
"I think you get it now." Horse Power said with a sly smile.
With a mighty leap, Celestia propelled herself into the sky, flying at breakneck speeds. "Of all the things you could forget!" she scolded herself. "This has to got to be the worst possible thing!"
Landing on the balcony of her throne room, she ran through it into another room nearby. Lighting the candles the Princess nervously looked around, her eyes soon falling on the cause of her concern. Celestia went over to the corner of the room where a unicorn filly was fast asleep, slumped against the wall. She shook her gently. "Okay, Twilight," she said in as motherly a tone as she could muster. The little filly rubbed her eyes and yawned as she was woken up. Upon seeing the Princess, she smiled sheepishly.
Celestia gave Twilight an apologetic look and put on her biggest smile, her eyes shining with compassion. Motioning towards the filly's bedroom, Celestia spoke to her again.
"I think you've learned your lesson."
Author's Note
This is probably the cutest story I've ever written.
Filly Twilight is just so damn adorable!
