Celestia is a happy mare in her life, she is loved by thousands, respected by many, and feared by others, she has a rewarding job, both as princess of Equestria and at her school for young unicorns, her home is literally the most ostentatious castle in the world with hundreds of servants and guards eagerly awaiting one of her orders to carry out with a smile.
Truly the life of the monarch of the sun is envied by all the ponies of her beloved nation, and she loved every one of them back as a thank you.
Today was the tryouts for the new students entering her school, of all the days this was one of the least pleasant because she knew that after the tryouts some parents would look for her in the halls to try to convince her to accept one or another little unicorn that failed the acceptance test, personally, it didn't bother her to do it, but over the years it was something that became a little more and more tedious.
Most of the tests were over and the princess managed to slip away and take refuge in her office from the army of parents who were still searching for her in the halls of the school.
"Did you manage to escape from the parents princess?" Asked the assistant standing next to the princess's desk, she had prepared a cup of tea with lemon and a couple of chocolate muffins.
"Today was much easier than previous years, I know I could use my magic to teleport here, but it's become a tradition to chase me through the halls of the school, I just would have liked to warm up a little earlier, my body is exhausted." Replied the princess stretching her six limbs and using a spell on her body to relax her muscles. "Hmmm... much better, that tea is for me?, what flavor is it?". The monarch asked with a smile as she approached her desk.
"Chamomile and honey, excellent for relaxing the body, and some chocolate muffins for flavor and to restore energy."
"Sometimes I feel like I would be lost without you."
"Your job is very complex and stressful princess, and my job is to help you in any way I can."
"I think sometimes you do too much-."
A hoof tapping on the door interrupted the sun princess and made her assistant come to the door to see who was knocking.
Celestia from her position could not hear the voice of the pony outside, but she could hear what her assistant was saying.
"Good morning... Do you have an appointment... I'm sorry but the princess is busy now and cannot attend to you without an appointment... Please do not insist... Ma'am, I ask you once again in a calm manner to leave or I will have to ask a guard to take you out of the school." The attendant's voice sounded increasingly loud and commanding in tone, something that was ruining the princess's cup of tea.
The princess thought it was probably another one of the parents looking for her in the halls and couldn't find her, now she was in no mood to attend to anyone and preferred her assistant to settle the matter.
"Who is at the door?" Asked the monarch as she tried to enjoy her tea.
"It's one of the parents princess."
"Please tell her that I am very sorry that her son or daughter could not attend school, but that if he or she studies hard and tries again he or she will be able to enter next year without a problem, I am now very busy with other matters." The sun monarch's voice sounded loud and demanding, intending that whoever was outside would hear her and finally understand that she would not see her.
"Try telling her princess, but she says her name is Twilight Velvet and she insists on talking to you, but don't worry, I'll call one of the guards to escort her out of the school." Replied the pony as she made a gesture with her hoof calling to a guard standing at the end of the hallway.
"Twilight Velvet?" Said the princess somewhat surprised to hear the name. "What is she doing here?"
"I don't know princess, but don't worry, a guard is coming to escort you out."
"That won't be necessary, I'll talk to her." The princess cleared her throat. "Let her in."
"Are you sure princess?"
"Completely, it will only take a few minutes of my time, besides your job is not to question my decisions, let her in."
The attendant nodded her head and stepped aside allowing a light grey unicorn with a white and purple mane and a purple three-star Cutie Mark to enter.
"Good morning my little pony, can I offer you a cup of tea or something to eat?". Asked the princess with her warm smile.
"Good morning princess, thank you for having me, and I do not wish anything to drink, but I will accept one of your muffins, I would just like to exchange a couple of words with you." Replied the unicorn approaching the regent's desk and sitting on the chair in front of it.
"Well, I'm all ears, what is it you wish to talk about?".
"It's about my little girl, Twilight Sparkle."
The princess's look was known to be serious in less than a second, which quickly returned to a smirk that she directed at her assistant.
"Could you make me another cup of tea?, but let it steep a bit before you bring it to me, the flavor is better preserved that way."
The mare nodded with a smile and left the office closing the door as she did so, as a precaution the princess kept a few seconds of silence to make sure her assistant wasn't listening.
"What do you want Velvet?." Celestia asked seriously as she took a sip of tea.
"I already told you, I want to talk about my little girl."
"I would like you to be more specific."
"What do you want from Twilight by making her your protégé?."
"Hmmm, you've always been a straightforward mare, it's a quality I've always stressed to you."
"I'm a busy mare and I have a lot to do today."
"Not as much as I do, but I still manage to make myself a couple of minutes a day to enjoy a cup of delicious tea and exchange words with one of my... subjects." Celestia didn't bother to hide the venom in her words.
"Surely having unlimited magic, living in a castle of gold, and being surrounded by servants doesn't help." Velvet's response was quick and with just enough sarcasm to make the princess uncomfortable.
Celestia managed to hide the annoyance she felt as she took another sip of her tea, but this time much slower and enjoying every drop of it, she wanted the unicorn to see how she enjoyed it.
"You do know that this cup of tea is more expensive than your little house?".
"Surely, since you paid for it with our taxes, at home we drink regular tea in regular cups and enjoy it the same way or even more than you do."
"I doubt it."
"Then will you answer my question about what you intend to do with Twilight to make her your protégé?"
"True, you want to talk to me about little Twilight, I had forgotten, when you've been in such an important position as the princess of an entire nation for years you tend to forget the... little details the ponies tell you." Celestia replied with a fake smile.
"Don't worry princess, I know that when one lives as many years as you have, memory tends to... fail a bit." Celestia's smile quickly faded.
"Little Twilight is a unicorn with exceptional magical power and she's going to need personalized magical training so she can reach her full potential."
"Other little ones have also had personal tutors within their school and it has always been teachers from the same school who choose them, my question is why you if you have never had a protégé decide to start now by specifically choosing Twilight."
Celestia rested her front legs on the table and brought her hooves together to rest her head on them before flashing a smirk.
"Little Twilight has raw magic far superior to any unicorn her age or that of many adult mares I know personally and you know perfectly well as well as I do that is a trait she could only inherit from her... biological mother." If Celestia could have she would have shown a viper tongue as she said the last two words.
"You want me to believe that you were just wandering the halls during the trials and happened to see her and decided to turn her into your protégé to help her control her magical power?"
"That's exactly what happened, she needs someone to help her bring out her full potential and... I know you couldn't do that, Velvet."
"I know I don't have the ability or the financial resources to give her the education she deserves, it was a big effort for us to be able to pay for her schooling, that's why I told her to agree to be your protégé, you can open more doors for her than I can, but I'm not going to eat that crap about you doing it just for that, I'm not that stupid Celestia." Twilight Velvet raised her voice as she answered that last part.
"Watch your tone little pony, remember who you're talking to."
"I know perfectly well who I'm talking to Celestia, I know you're doing it with other intentions and I'm telling you it's not going to work, you can't magically make her love you."
"I guess time will tell if she loves me or not."
"Remember we both voluntarily made this decision and if you fight I will too."
Celestia picked up her cup again to continue drinking its contents only to realize it was empty.
"I think our little chat is over, I have a lot of work to do."
"Yes, I have a lot to do too." Velvet used her magic and took one of the muffins from the plate before getting down from her seat and heading for the door. "I'll take one of these muffins to Twilight, she gets really hungry after using her magic."
The unicorn's words touched another of the solar regent's red buttons again, causing her to set the cup down on the table and stand up.
"Velvet, remember that through Twilight's veins runs my blood and not yours, she is my daughter and I am her mother, and that is a fact you will never be able to change." Celestia said raising her head to look at the little unicorn with disdain from as high as possible, imposing her presence and regal bearing on every word.
"That's true and it's something I can't change." Twilight Velvet replied, causing the princess to flash a smirk full of arrogance. "But I'm the unicorn she says *Goodnight Mommy, I love you* to every night, before tucking her in and kissing her forehead."
Twilight Velvet exited the office closing the door behind her just before a cup of tea crashed against the fine wood of the door, hurled by an angry solar princess.
