The Hours of My Guilt (Every Grain of Sand)
Princess Twilight Sparkle sat at a large desk, in the study that used to be Princess Celestia's. The new sovereign rubbed her forehead with one hoof.
Somecreature knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Twilight asked.
"Raven Inkwell. May I speak with you privately?"
Twilight sighed. "Surely. Please come in."
The dark-maned unicorn let herself in, closing the door behind her. "Your highness...I don't like to imply that your new administration might be doing anything inappropriate. I'm sure it's an honest mistake."
Twilight gazed calmly at the bureaucrat-in-chief, and laughed. "Raven, I don't have time to beat around the bush. Please, out with it. I'm sure whatever you need to say is worth hearing."
Raven nodded. She dropped a bundle of papers and books onto the desk. "Princess...a team of accountants has just finished auditing the records of your first year in office. Things mostly seem in order. But there was one discrepancy. A rather strange one, in the Lawns and Gardens budget."
Twilight nodded. "Please go on."
The door burst open, and a light blue pegasus flew inside, looping around the room. "Twilight! I need you to settle a bet!" After a few loops and swoops, Rainbow noticed the tension she'd blundered into. "Wait, is this a bad time?"
Twilight waved one forehoof casually. "Maybe this is a good time. I've been working hard all day, and I could use a little break. So what's this bet?"
Rainbow hovered over the desk. "I bet somecreature you're not the smartest pony in Equestria."
"Um...ok."
"Because I figured out you're not. I mean, sure, you're really, really smart, but you're not THAT smart."
Twilight sighed. "Rainbow, what's the point of all this?"
Rainbow said, "You were the principal of the School of Friendship, right? And you only left that job to rule all of Equestria."
"Yes?"
"But somepony was smarter than you. You had all the power, and she had none, and she still beat you twice. First she took over the School of Friendship right under your nose, and stole most of the magic in Equestria. And after you had her thrown into Tartarus--"
"That was Princess Celestia. I didn't make that decision--"
"She escaped and stole your magic to become an alicorn."
Twilight slowly nodded. "She was very clever. I have to give her that. If I hadn't been helped by so many ponies and other creatures who care deeply about Equestria, she probably would have beaten me. I certainly couldn't have defeated her all by myself."
Rainbow shook her head. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I mean, Cozy Glow was really terrible."
"Yes," Twilight agreed, "she was."
"The amazing thing is, you were outthought by a twelve year old. I mean, isn't that crazy? No offense."
Twilight snorted. "Who did you make this bet with?"
"Oh, just some pony."
"Can you tell me their name?"
"It was just somepony I met in a bar. It isn't important."
Twilight sucked air between her teeth. "It might be important. But I'll tell you what I'd like you to do. How much did you bet?"
"Oh, just fifty bits. It's no big deal."
Twilight's horn glowed, telekinetically opening a desk drawer. Fifty bits floated out of a metal box inside the drawer, landing on the desk. "I'd like you to concede the bet. Here's fifty bits, in case you need them. If the other pony insists that they think they won...pay up."
"What?" Rainbow said. "But I WON. I just PROVED it. You know I'm right."
"Yes, I suppose maybe you did win. But I don't want to...call attention to the fact. I don't want the old Bearers going around betting other creatures about whether I'm smarter or not."
"What's wrong with you? Are you ashamed that she outfoxed you?"
Twilight clenched her teeth. "Let's pretend that I'm ashamed. Or maybe I have a lot of things to think about, and sometimes I can't lavish as much thought upon every single detail as I would like to. Either way, I have to ask you not to go around drawing attention to the question. Pretty please. You don't know how much it means to me, Dashie."
Dashie hovered silently for a minute. Finally, she dove forward, opening her forelimbs to hug Twilight. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. You're right, you have to take care of so many things, and here I was giving you grief about how hard it is to handle a thousand different problems all at practically the same time."
Twilight's wings unfolded, wrapping Dash in a soft, feathery embrace. "Thank you, Dashie. I'm glad you understand."
"Sure! It must be hard, being top princess. It's more complicated than just flying the fastest of anyopony else ever." Dash chuckled. "It's got to be a lot harder than being me."
Twilight chuckled too. "Thanks for being such an awesome friend, Dashie."
"It's easy, when I have friends as cool as I do."
The two ponies smiled at each other. Finally Dashie noticed Raven's impatient look. "Oh, sorry Raven. I guess you and Twilight were doing some important princess work. See you later!" Dashie flew out the open door, waving as she left.
Twilight looked towards the doorway, still smiling. "So," she said to Raven Inkwell. "You had something important to talk to me about."
Twilight's horn glowed, and the door shut.
"Yes," Inkwell agreed. "The discrepancy in the budget for the Palace grounds. The ledgers say, well over a hundred thousand bits were spent on a new statue last month, and twelve thousand more for installation."
"Oh?"
Inkwell opened her bundle of papers, and pulled out a wide book, which she opened. "Yes. It's right here." She tapped a page.
"Hmm. This is terrible. Completely inappropriate."
"I agree. That's a lot of bits for something that never really happened. Because I KNOW the Palace gardens have exactly the same number of statues as they had last month, and the month before that."
"That's not what I meant. What I meant is, I really didn't want all the Palace accountants to know, or even suspect, that a new statue might have been installed."
"What? But I CHECKED. No statue was installed. It didn't happen. Nothing happened!"
"Good." Twilight smiled grimly. "That exactly what I want everycreature to think: that nothing happened, as you just said."
Raven blinked. "Your highness...I don't understand. What are you trying to tell me?"
Twilight sighed. "Raven Inkwell...I know Celestia always trusted you completely. And I trust you as much as she did. And trusting you...I'm afraid I have to ask you to keep a secret."
"So...what secret do you want me to keep?"
"I don't know exactly how we can 'clean up' the accounting records. Maybe we'll need to have an extra statue installed, and we can pretend there was a scheduling error, that an extra payment was sent out early by mistake. But it's very important that nopony ever know a statue was installed in the Palace gardens last month."
"A secret statue? What possible reason could there be for these...strange goings on?"
Twilight sighed. She gestured at one of the shelves on the wall, upon which a small hourglass sat. With a telekinetic glow of her horn, she turned the hourglass over.
Inside the glass, falling sand hissed softly. The sound was faint, barely brushing against the edge of awareness. If a pony was distracted, or simply didn't care, she might never notice it.
"This," Twilight said. "This little glassful of sand, and so much more. Maybe I shouldn't have this here. Or maybe I should keep it here forever, as a reminder. I really don't know. Maybe I'll never know for sure."
"What are you talking about, princess?"
"Do you know, I'm scheduled to visit Mount Aris and the hippogriffs next month? I really look forward to visiting the beaches there, and...relaxing, ponies might say."
"Ponies might say?"
"Aris' beaches are covered with more grains of sand than anypony could ever count. So much sand. Who would ever notice another ounce or two? Not that Mount Aris is the only sandy place I expect to visit during my reign. I plan to travel a great deal, between official business and casual 'relaxation.' And on each trip, in so many different places, I plan to leave a little more sand behind me than there was before."
"My Princess? Why would you travel around the world...sprinking sand behind you? What possible reason could you have--" Raven stared out the window, at the statue garden.
Raven said, "You COULDN'T have. The Equestrian government does not kill ponies, not even the very worst. As terrible as Cozy Glow was, I cannot believe that you GROUND UP that little filly into fine sand, a billion tiny pieces. And had her statue replaced with a duplicate, to cover up your crime."
Twilight slowly nodded.
"But Twilight! You should...just lock her up. Confine her, so she can never hurt anypony again."
Twilight shook her head. "Cozy Glow has already escaped from confinement before. Once from Tartarus, and once already from petrification as a statue. And each time Cozy escaped, she attacked Equestria, and hundreds or thousands of ponies died. Pegasi losing their flight magic and falling out of the skies...other ponies crushed or impaled in the little wars her schemes created. And those were her first two tries, as a young filly. Imagine what more she might achieve, upon reaching full maturity. Adult ponies are generally more cunning than foals."
"You...I don't know what to say. How monstrous."
Twilight snorted. "I suppose you could say 'thank you.' But it's better if nopony ever knows anything happened, to thank me for."
"I see." Raven Inkwell eyed the little hourglass. "Do you expect to enjoy visiting the beach?"
"Yes and no. I don't know if I'll ever see sand again, without it reminding me of the terrible choices I've been forced to make. But after I've traveled widely enough, maybe nocreature will be able to simply walk across a beach or a desert, without the likelihood of trampling some of Cozy Glow underhoof." Twilight took a deep breath. "It's no worse than she would have done to them. I suppose it's justice enough."
I've been working on this one since at least June. I hope it was worth the wait.
Well...ok, the story spent most of that time just sitting somewhere as rough drafts while I did other things.
