It was another day, and she was tired...
She couldn't let it show of course, her loyal subjects could never see her tired. She was the pillar that held up, not only their nation, but the world itself. She was the sun, bringing warmth and happiness to everypony, she should be the epitome of energy and power.
Hey body however, disagreed.
There was far more to moving the sun than just a glowing light and a wave of her horn, it did take some effort. Then, at the end of the day, she would have to do the same with the moon. And no matter what, the moon was always...harder. Raising the moon never seemed to...agree with her.
There were some nights where she couldn't help but find herself wishing...no, she knew where that train of though would lead her, and she was in no mood for it.
The fact was, being depressed just got...depressing after a while. It was a vicious cycle that she was tired of following. Shaking her head to try and clear her fatigue away, she walked away from her throne and into the hallway.
"Excuse me, Golden Scroll?" she greeted the bright yellow pony standing outside.
"Oh! What do you need Princess?" her steward replied, quickly pulling out a piece of parchment with her magic.
"Is there anything scheduled for me to do today?" she asked, slightly hoping for something to distract her thoughts.
"Hmm...it would not appear so Princess. There are a few things coming up, most importantly a meeting with an envoy from the Griffon kingdom in the next few days. But until then...nothing," Golden Scroll pursed her lips as she browsed the list. "Is there something you would like to schedule?"
"No thank you," she nodded her head towards the steward. "In fact, why don't you take the rest of the day off? There's no sense in you working if I'm not." A smile immediately appeared on Golden Scroll's face.
"Well thank you Princess! I hope you enjoy your day!" it looked like Golden Scroll was tempted to hug her, but she caught herself and simply bowed. Standing back up, Golden Scroll gave her a quick wave before happily trotting outside.
While she was pleased to make somepony happy, this still left her tired with nothing to distract her. She was tempted to retire to her bedchambers for, what she felt was, a well deserved nap, but an idea popped into her head.
It had been some time since she had checked on her student, Twilight Sparkle.
She'd made sure to get reports from her teachers of course. They had been nothing but impressive. Twilight seemed to absorb every possible scrap of information given to her, and she was able to perform any spell taught to her almost immediately.
Still, it was always important to witness these sorts of things firsthand. So she headed towards the one place she knew she could find Twilight.
The library.
She was proven right even before she walked through the library doors by a voice echoing through the air.
"Okay Spike, now can you find me a copy of Magic Through The Ages?" Twilight's voice was unmistakable.
"Sure thing Twilight, just a second," Spike's voice quickly accepted. The dragon had grown up faster than she'd expected, he was already running around on two legs and cheerfully conversing with any pony that would listen to him.
Gingerly, she opened the doors to the library and peered inside. Her student was surround by a massive stack of books. Each novel so precariously perched it was a wonder that they hadn't toppled over on top of Twilight. Twilight did not even notice her predicament, absolutely focused on the pages in front of her as a pen, held by her magical aura, viciously scribbled onto a scroll.
"Good morning Twilight," she greeted, but the purple unicorn failed to noticed her, so intent on her studies. "Um, Twilight?" A little louder this time.
"Hmm?" Twilight turned slightly towards the noise, one of her legs unconsciously brushing against a stack of books. The stack immediately toppled over, crashing into the stack next to it, which continued in a domino effect until the floor floor was covered with scattered books.
"Ahh! Oh no! How did this..." Twilight's eyes caught sight of her. "Princess? Oh no! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen, I was just trying to study and I needed more books and the-"
"There is no need to worry my student," she consoled. "This is easily fixed, though perhaps now you'll know to be a little more aware of your surroundings." She waved her horn, the books stacking themselves back up into much smaller, sturdier, piles around her student. Walking past the piles, she paused to examine a few of the book titles.
"'Starswirl's Applied Magical Theories'...'Understanding The Basics of Spells'...'The Ten Day Formula To A Longer Horn'..." she looked back at Twilight. "Exactly what are you studying?"
"Well we were assigned a paper on the development of magic over the ages, and I wanted to make sure I had every bit of information possible," Twilight gestured towards a small pile of scrolls next to her. They couldn't be less than ten, and they were all covered with writing.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that most papers need only be three scrolls long," she mused, cocking an eyebrow.
"Oh, you're not wrong Princess. But there's so much to this history that I couldn't stop at just three scrolls. I wanted all of my facts straight," Twilight answered triumphantly, a determined smile on her face.
"And how long, exactly, have you spent on this research?" she asked, though she had a feeling she knew the answer.
"Umm...not that long really, just an hour or two..." Twilight replied, her eyes shifting nervously.
"Here's that book you wanted Twilight!" Spike interrupted, charging towards them with a large book held over his head. Seeing her, he stopped, his eyes growing wide in surprise. "P-princess? Good morning!"
"And it's good to see you too Spike. Perhaps you can answer my question. Exactly how long has Twilight been working on this paper?" Spike smiled, obviously eager to please her.
"No problem. She started early last afternoon and went way late into the night, Then she made me promise to wake her up as early as possible today. I got her up even before the sun rose!" she frowned a little at the answer as Spike failed to stifle a large yawn. Looking closer at her student she was able to see the slight bags under her eyes. Twilight was tired, like her.
"Twilight, there's no need to spend so much time on an assignment like this. It is only one paper, and I'm sure your teachers would rather read through three scrolls...rather than twenty," she reasoned.
"But I can't just do the minimum for this work," Twilight argued, surprising her. "I have to do great, no...better than great! I need to make you proud, I'm your student after all."
"I need to do great, no...better than great!"
A dark blue alicorn with a flowing mane argued with her. She had discovered her poring over an ancient text late into night, almost falling asleep on top of the pages.
"I'm your sister after all. I want to make you proud!"
She paused, the vision of the past burned into her mind. This wasn't the same...this couldn't be the same. Life would never be so cruel as to force something like that on her again.
When had that pride turned to jealously, gnawing forever at her sister's core? Tearing her apart until Luna could look at her and only see hatred, lost in her darkness?
That couldn't happen again, she would not allow it.
"Um...are you okay Princess?" Twilight asked, hesitant. She realized she'd been staring down at Twilight for nearly a minute.
"Oh! Yes...well...that's not what is important here. What's important is that there is something else you can do for me," she replied, putting a smile back on her face.
"Really? What is it?" Twilight was so eager, so ready to do whatever she wished.
"You can stop focusing so much on work...and you can try to focus more on having some fun," she revealed with a grin.
"What?" Twilight and Spike looked so confused that she couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"Get out of the library for once, try to take a break..." focus on making yourself happy, rather than pleasing me. "And maybe let your assistant Spike get some sleep every now and then." Spike nodded eagerly at that, yawning again.
"But um..." Twilight shifted nervously. "How do you think I should do that Princess?"
"Oh dear," she muttered to herself. "Well, come along Twilight. It looks like it's lesson time. As for you Spike, you should probably take a nap, though I do seem to remember our chef talking about a large order of gems arriving last night. I bet he could be persuaded to part with a few..." Spike's eyes lit up at the prospect of gems.
"Really? Thanks Princess!" he rushed out of the room, a purple and green blur. She smiled as he fled by her, then turned back to Twilight.
"Now let's go Twilight, and I don't want to see you taking any notes," she pulled a pen and scroll away from Twilight's magical grasp, who could only grin sheepishly in response.
"Step one, the one thing I've always found that gets my mind off of work or other such pursuits is...sweets," she explained, stepping through a par of double glass doors. "Especially those from the number one doughnut shop in Canterlot."
"Aww, you're too kind Princess Celestia," the tan colored unicorn greeted from behind the counter.
"Joe, I've been coming here ever since you opened up your store. Do you think you could just call me Celestia?" she sighed as Twilight followed closely behind her.
"Tell yah what Princess, you ever take a break from raising the sun and moon over Equestria, and I'll call you whatever you want," he answered with a chuckle. This was a conversation they'd had so many times before, though she did always wish for a different response. "And who's this with you?" He'd finally noticed Twilight.
"Just my student, I'm trying to show her some of the finer points of enjoying yourself," she explained. "I think she'd enjoy one of your specials, and I'll take one as well."
"Coming right up Princess," Joe accepted with a smile, his horn glowing as he prepared a tray of doughnuts. Luckily, it was still relatively early in the morning so the shop was empty. Though she always did enjoy the expressions on the faces of the few ponies who had managed to catch her enjoying a plate of sweets. She took Twilight over to an empty table, though her student only looked confused.
"This isn't some kind of test is it? Where if I don't have fun I fail?" She couldn't believe how worried Twilight was, how nervous she was about disappointing her.
"This is a happy outing Twilight. Where, hopefully, I can show you that school isn't everything," she tried to console. "Now try some of the doughnuts and hot chocolate." She finished as Joe brought their order over. It was two large cups of steaming hot cocoa with three doughnuts, each covered in bright pink frosting and evenly covered with a healthy layer of chocolate sprinkles.
"Oh wow!" Twilight exclaimed, the meal almost seemed to exude a sugary radiance.
"There's no need to hold back on my account, feel free to help yourself," Twilight immediately dug in with gusto. She felt tempted to join with the same enthusiasm, but such actions were not allowed in her position. She had to satisfy herself with small bites from each doughnut, daintily dipped into the hot chocolate before being placed in her mouth.
Just another thing that made her tired.
"So what do you think Twilight?" she asked, more to distract her won thought than anything else.
"It's perfect! It's just like when mom and dad would take me and Shining Armor out together," she paused, a doughnut halfway to her mouth. "I wish I could see him, do you know how he's doing in the royal guard?"
"I'm...afraid not Twilight," she admitted. She had known her brother had joined the guard, but she couldn't keep tabs on everything. "Have you tried sending him any letters?"
"A few times, but the mailmare said he wouldn't be allowed to answer then, at least, not until his training's over..." a gloomy look covered Twilight's face, and that just wasn't allowed, not on this outing.
"Well how about this, I could personally check with the captain on how he's doing. I bet he misses you, you are his favorite little sister after all," she said. That managed to bring a small grin back to her student's face.
"Yeah, he is the best brother I could ever hope for," Twilight swallowed the last bit of her meal. "So...now what?" Her own meal nearly finished so she quickly drained the last of her cocoa.
"Hmm, exactly how much of Canterlot have you seen Twilight? Outside of your classrooms and the library that is," she asked in return.
"Umm...well, does the outside of the castle count?" she replied meekly.
"Not quite. How about a walk then?" she offered.
"Sure, where to?" a tone of excitement crept into Twilight's voice.
"You'll see," she replied, intentionally vague.
The two of the stood outside of Canterlot now, before a beautiful pond created by a powerful waterfall. Twilight took the amazing view in, than narrowed her eyes a bit in puzzlement.
"This place is amazing Princess...but why are we the only ponies here? You'd expect everypony to be here to enjoy this," she wondered aloud.
"Because those ponies are too caught up in their work to try and enjoy the world around them," she chided. A small smile grew on Twilight's face as she understood the comparison.
"Still, this is just so amazing Princess Celestia. I get to walk around Canterlot with you, the Princess!" Twilight paused. "But it is a little...strange. I keep expecting an..order or something." She understood that feeling from her subject very well. While it was useful when it came to diplomatic negotiations, it was very difficult for her to make any connections with any 'normal' ponies.
"There's no need to think that Twilight. But I think I know a way to make things a bit easier," she nestled down into the grass to relax. "Let's pretend that I'm not a the Princess, and that you're not my student. Ask me any question you can think of, anything you'd be worried to ask me otherwise, and I'll answer it." She told her, hoping this would alleviate some of the tension between them.
"Any question at all?" she nodded towards her student. "Well...um...how did you become the Princess? I mean, I know that you have to be the daughter of a king and queen...but where are they?" Twilight trailed off in to silence.
Now that was a tough question, not because the answer would be painful or difficult to explain, but because it would be boring.
In the end, it would just be a long discussion on politics, on why the title of Princess" was just the right level of power. "Queen" was too intimidating and made diplomatic negotiations more difficult, but just "Ruler" was too vague and made it sound like she had less power than she truly did. "Princess" managed to reach the real balance. But saying that all would just be so dull...
However...just because she had promised to answer any question...didn't mean that she had to answer it truthfully.
"Actually, it's all in the crown," she gestured with one hoof at the golden headpiece resting on top of her mane. "Anypony who wears it is automatically declared the ruling princess." Twilight could only stare, unconvinced, in response.
"That's a joke...right?"
"Oh no, haven't you ever wondered why I never take it off? I have to be constantly on the watch, for if anyone were to take it they'd be the new ruler! They could be-oh no!" she yelled in mock horror as she levitated the crown off of her mane. It floated swiftly though the air until it hovered over Twilight's head. "Twilight! You traitor!" She released the spell and the crown settled neatly on her student's head.
"Alas, I have been dethroned!" she bemoaned, throwing her head to the ground in a terribly over dramatic fashion. "All hail the new Princess Twilight!" Her powerful announcement echoed across the water, Twilight's head sunk slightly in embarrassment.
"Princess, you don't need-" she started to complain.
"But you're the Princess now Twilight," she interrupted. "But that means you've inherited all of my duties. You're the one who has to constantly be on guard now. Always on the watch, prepared for any challenge." With each word she slid a little closer towards Twilight. Her student finally giggled and began to play along.
"Okay P...Celestia. As your new Princess I ask you, what challenges do I need to prepare for?" Twilight asked.
"Usurpers!" she replied, completely serious. "They can appear at any moment, ready to use any underhanded tactics to try and take power away from you. In fact...I think I see some now!" she pointed one of her hooves towards the horizon and Twilight immediately followed it with her eyes.
And that was exactly what she'd been hoping for.
With Twilight distracted, she focused her power towards a simple spell an with a wave of her head, telekinetically shoved Twilight into the water. With a startled gasp, the purple unicorn vanished into the water. She quickly walked over to the pond's edge, soft laughter escaping from her lips. She expected her student to burst out of the water at any moment.
Any moment now....
In just a few more seconds...
Nothing happened, and then she started to worry. Had she used too much power in the spell? Had she hurt Twilight badly enough so that she couldn't swim? She had to go in after her! She needed to pull her out and apologize immediately, it was only meant to be a silly prank, oh how could she had been so foolish?
She took a step into the water...and immediately felt the grip of a telekinesis spell around her head.
She could have easily resisted the spell, such an action would have been trivial for her, but where was the fun in that? She smiled and let herself be yanked into the water to join her student.
Sputtering, both of them rose out of the water, silly grins plastered on their faces.
"Well done Princess Twilight!" she congratulated. Twilight had somehow kept the crown situated on her head throughout the encounter. "How did you manage to stay under the water for so long?"
"It was a new spell I had just finished researching. I used telekinesis to gather the air bubbles under the water so I could breath. I just needed to wait for you to step into the water," her student explained proudly. "But, I think I've had enough of ruling over Equestria. I don't think I'll be able to handle all the plots against me. I humbly return your title back to you, Princess Celestia." Twilight took the crown from her head and settled it back on Celestia's mane.
"And I humbly accept it. Of course, you do realize I have to get you back for that prank right?" she swiftly raised a wave of water and sent it crashing into her student's surprised face.
"Two can play at that game Princess!" Twilight raised her own, slightly less impressive, wave, and sent it towards her teacher with as much gusto as she could.
Soon, she guessed their cries of mirth could be heard all the way into the city.
Time seem to pass so quickly for the two of them. And before she knew it, it was time for her to begin lowering the sun.
"I'm sorry Twilight, but it looks like that that's all the fun we can have for today," she apologized.
"Oh, that's all right Princess," Twilight replied, lying down in the grass next to her. She was clearly exhausted, well, both of them were. Slowly they stood up, stretching their legs, and made their way back into Canterlot.
What a sight they were, the Princess and her student walking through the streets, completely soaking wet. A few gawking stares from other ponies followed them, but she didn't care. There was nothing for her to be ashamed of, she had spent the day making sure her student had fun, and it couldn't have gone any better. Soon, they had come back to the library.
"Now, I believe that you have a paper to finish my student," she reminded. "And I do hope you learned something today."
"Of course Princess! I can't always be focused on work, I need to take a break every now and then with some fun!" Twilight replied proudly.
"Very good. But I have one more thing to tell you Twilight," she lowered her head down and affectionately nuzzled Twilight's cheek. "I will always be proud of you, no matter what." Twilight simply smiled, and that was enough. She smiled back and walked away, leaving her student to her work.
She returned to the castle, walking out onto a lonely balcony that overlooked Ponyville. Focusing all of her magic, the sun slowly sank below the horizon, covering the land in darkness. With that done, she focused again, bring the moon up into the sky behind her, and with it, the ever dark presence of the monster that resided in that celestial prison. Her sister...no, not her sister, she could never allow herself to think that, it was Nightmare Moon.
She stared up at the moon, its weak radiance bringing some light back to the land, and felt so tired.
She knew that today did not make up for all the mistakes she had made with her sister, all of her transgressions. But part of her hoped it had helped...at least a little.
"I miss you Luna," she whispered into the night air, so cold now.
Then, far up into the sky, behind the blackness, the anger, the pain...a weak voice whispered back.
"I miss you so much...big sister..."
