Your mother, the Princess of Friendship

It has been twelve years since Princess Dawn Sparkle was born and she couldn't have been any different than her mother had been as a filly, she had a lot of close friends, whilst loving to read, but she was very intelligent and talented with her magic. It was a hot July morning, the sun had just risen, the air was warm and relaxed. The streets were busy with ponies who were getting to work and early appointments, but that was normal
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There was a knock at her door, she woke up with a start and looked at the clock beside her bed, it read 6.30 am,

“You have to get up Dawn, today is your coronation rehearsal remember?” her mom, Princess Twilight shouted through the door. Dawn has never been that close with her mom, she has always really wanted to be but they just have absolutely nothing in common and she was always on royal duties with her friends ‘saving Equestria’, duty had always come first for her mum. So she had spent most of her childhood with the royal sisters.

She was way closer with Princess Celestia and her dad as they all enjoyed watching sports, they had always gone to the Wonderbolts together to watch her Aunt Rainbow who was the coolest aunt ever, apart from her Aunt Pinkie of course who is the funniest pony She knew, Dawn would babysit for Pinkies daughter a lot also.

Dawn may have hated reading, but in her opinion, she had the best teacher, her Aunt Celestia, since she is the current ruler of Equestria and is training her to be the next great ruler. Celestial has always been more of a mother figure than a teacher though, and she surprisingly understands way more than her mother ever has. If Dawn ever needed to ask for advice about anything she always had an answer, they even had nicknames for each other because Dawn could never pronounce ‘Celestia’ as a filly, so she decided to call her Celery and the name just sort of stuck ever since.

She waited about five minutes after her mom had woken her up, it was not intentional but reality sort of hit her as she realised that she was officially becoming a princess tomorrow, and then once she turns of age she will become the ruler of all of Equestria. Finally, after staring at the roof for well over five minutes she jumped out of bed and magically pulled the covers so it was made again ready for her to get into it tonight.

“I still think its too early to get up, but if Aunt Celestia can do it so can I” she said to herself as she walked into her private bathroom. In her opinion she had the best view in all of Equestria, as her bedroom was in the east tower so she would always have front row seats for the sunrise if she woke up early enough. She yawned and got into the shower, washing herself up for breakfast, she could smell the pancakes from here. Her Aunt Celestia usually made pancakes, she always said it was the only thing she was good at cooking. Right she was, I have never known anypony to make better pancakes.

Dawn bounced out of the shower. One positive of her coronation was that she would get to see her best friend of all time! Her cousin Flurry Heart! Together they always pulled pranks and threw the best sleepovers, but as she lived in the Crystal Empire they only seen each other at important gatherings like the Equestria Games.

Once she had finished drying her hair she made her way to the dining hall, she was once again humming to one of her favourite songs and sniffing the air, bacon and pancakes, her absolute favourite!

Immediately when she reached the colossal dining room doors, the two guards stationed there bowed and opened the doors straight away. She nodded her head in thanks and walked in to her family, everyone was there except her Aunt Luna but that was typical as she usually only got to bed around 4am, she would show up around lunchtime.

“Good Morning Dawn” her mom, Twilight said routinely smiling at her daughter. “Did you sleep well last night?” Dawn looked away in thought.

“No, not really” she said quite quickly, hoping no one heard her. Twilight, Solar and Celestia all gave her looks of concern, they all clearly heard her quiet remark. They were quiet for an instant then her father, Solar spoke up.

“How come sweet pea, you’re usually not the one to not sleep well we usually don't see you until lunchtime.” He spoke through laughter.

Dawn frowned slightly, clearly irritated by her fathers behaviour. She stood up, her face turning slightly red. “Maybe it’s because I’m twelve and yet I have the whole of Equestria on my back! First of all my coronation is tomorrow, secondly from tomorrow everything I do will matter, the public will go crazy anytime they see me in public, and Thirdly, as soon as I become of age i’m going to be thrown on the throne for the rest of my days!” She was crying now, but she was glad to get it off her chest. Her parents were stunned, but Celestia wasn’t fazed, she knew how she felt she could see it. Dawn slowly got up from the table. “Excuse me.” She said quietly, just loud enough for them to hear and she ran to her room.

She ran into her room and locked the door, she then jumped onto her bed and began to cry more, she didn’t know why she got angry so fast but she did and it was done. Someone knocked her door unexpectedly. “Dawn, please may I come in?” It was her aunt Celestia and she sounded worried.

Dawn sniffed and swiftly replied. “Yes,” she climbed off her bed and unlocked the door, she let her aunt walk in and immediately locked the door again, she walked towards her balcony Celestia followed.

“What was that about Dawn, you just all of a sudden got angry when your father asked how come you didn’t sleep well.” Celestia asked with an uneasy look.

Dawn didn’t say anything, but she ran towards her aunt and hugged her, Celestia put her wing over her like a blanket. She sniffed then responded, not to her aunts question, but with her own question. “How did you do it?”

Celestia immediately knew what she had meant, how had she held it all together, she looked down at her small niece, “to be completely truthful Dawn, I struggled just like you did with becoming a princess and ruling, but it gets easier once you get used to the idea of it.”

Dawn’s eyes widened, “you did? But how did you manage?” She asked bewildered, she had always seen her aunt as a regal ruler, she never imagined that she felt the same way.

“Well Dawn, I simply trusted myself, I knew that I knew everything I needed to know about my role, and that I had people such as my sister, family and friends to guide me, much the same as you will have. You’re more similar to your mother than you’ll ever know.”

“Yeah, I look up to her so much buy I just wish her duty wasn’t more important than her spending time with me, she is always away ‘saving Equestria’ or she’s in a meeting with her friends, and she’s never here to spend time with me, the only reason she is here at the moment is because she has to be for my coronation.” She said quite rapidly.

Celestia looked right at Dawn, “I know it may seem that way to you, but trust me she loves you more than anypony, she just wants to make sure Equestria is safe for you, believe me I know she loves you.” Celestia said whilst smiling.

Dawn hugged her more, “you’ve always been the best with making me feel better, Aunt Celery.” She said whilst laughing.

Celestia rolled her eyes, “I still don’t understand how that name suits me, I hope it’s because I don’t smell of celery.” She said, Dawn was now trying to speak through fits of laughter but couldn’t, “why don’t you come back down and finish breakfast, and then if you up to it we could have a lesson or two before the rehearsal.” Celestia queried

“What if my parents are angry with me, it wasn’t very civil or me to lash out.” She spoke while circling her hoof.

Celestia smiled down at her, “I can tell you that they are not angry in the slightest, but they were worried about you.”

Dawn looked up at Celestia, “can you keep our conversation between us, I don’t want to sound like I’m craving their attention.” Celestia smiled back at her,

“Ofcourse, I can, after all you’re old enough for us to not have to tell your mother everything, but that does not mean you don’t tell her things,” Celestia said in a stern tone, “anyways, let’s go and finish off breakfast.”

Dawn and Celestia began walking back down to the dining hall, but Dawn was still worried that she had let her parents down by her sudden outburst, when she reached the dining room she was met with smiles, they almost looked fake. They both sat down and finished breakfast, it was not as nice as usual because it was lukewarm but that was her fault. After breakfast it was time for her teleportation lesson, she had been studying the subject for just less than two weeks so she had the gist of it but she had to put it into practise. Since the sun was shining and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky Celestia had decided that they could practise in the Royal Gardens.

“Remember what I’ve taught you, think exactly of the place you want to teleport, picture it very clearly in your mind.” Celestia said sternly, teleportation could be a dangerous thing, you could teleport anywhere and it could take days if not weeks to get back home if something were to go wrong.”

Dawn smiled, “you think I can't handle it Celery?” she said jokingly.

“Oh I know you can do it, but you may be slightly off on the first try, but that's always expected, it took your mother about three tries but she was a unicorn at that point.” Celestia replied. “Just as long as you don't teleport out of Canterlot ill call it a success, when your Aunt Luna was learning I'm pretty sure she ended up in the Crystal Empire.” Celestia laughed, “I think today as we are slightly behind schedule you may only get one attempt in, but who knows, your very intelligent so it may only take you one try, attempt to teleport beside me,”

Dawn nodded, she began to charge up her horn, and thought of where she wanted to teleport just like her books had said, she then charged her magic as much as she could and she popped out of view, a few seconds later she emerged beside Celestia. “No way I did it first try!” She said jumping in excitement. “I cannot believe it!”

Celestia smiled brighter than she had in years. "Well, I'm impressed. I never thought anypony would be able to teleport perfectly on their first try, nevermind at twelve. I am so proud of you Dawn, but I think we should start heading back for the rehearsal.”

The pair walked up laughing, Dawn was finally accepting becoming a princess and eventually ruling, but in the back of her mind she was still worried, what if a war happened, what if a rebellion happens, what if she says something wrong at a gathering? The what if game is dangerous when it comes to being an over thinker, if you think about it what of isn't a game but a possibility.