Centenary

I could feel the sun beating down on my back, the warm spring air bringing out the crowds from their homes and into the streets after a long cold winter. Especially cold in Canterlot being so high up in altitude. Perhaps I should have the Pegasi weather teams start recording temperatures across Equestria all year long, the scientific data could prove invaluable. Maybe I could have the Royal institute carry out a study on ponies' habits and health throughout different seasons of the year and see what correlations I could draw.

I was pulled from my musings at a quiet shy Question, I turned my head and looked down to the small azure Unicorn with long flowing pink locks looking back up at me with her sapphire eyes, I could feel my face heat up a little as I realised I had been so lost in my musings I had completely ignored my Students question.

“I’m sorry Ice Lilly, could you repeat that?” I smiled encouragingly to her as I felt the hard cobble stones we trod on under hoof giving way to golden gilded chariot, my young charge jumped up as well and soon the sound of the wind whistling past us filled my ears as the two Pegasi guards flew us to our destination.

“What was it like living during the war?” Her question was one of innocent curiosity; she had no intention of causing me any distress. It did not change the fact it was a part of my long (okay short by comparison to certain other Princesses) Reign that I did not like to think about.

“Well we’re about to find out aren't we?” I plastered a smile onto my face and tried to push back the memories of reading the casualty lists, of the sickening worrying pit in my stomach…

Perhaps I should have sent her with a tutor today to these events. Helping to get them organised and set up had been no problem. I could separate them from educating the ponies of Equestria about their past and my own experiences during the war.

But now? I was going to have to face some of my own experiences during those miserable bleak years. My ears wilted at the prospect.

I did not want our chariot ride to become one of stifling silence but my thoughts were increasingly trapped in the past and I could feel the crushing silence stretch on and on.

The quiet was eventually broken by her excited squealing.

“It's the friendship castle! Look, look!”

I felt the dark mood that was beginning to envelop me begin to lift at the sight of the grand palace and of the many far better memories I held within its walls I had to stifle a slight giggle.

“Lilly, I have taken you to the castle before.”

“Yeah but that was before you told me about the time…” She continued on telling me about one of my adventures followed by the next on and on as I gave her a slightly embarrassed smile, hearing what I thought was just the crazy wacky times with my friends told as grand stories was one of the things Celestia hadn't warned me about happening as I got older and older, I think she thought it was funny to turn the tables on me after I probably did the same thing with her stories and adventures.

The chariot landed with a slight thud and squeal as the wheels connected with the ground and the guard ponies brought it to a halt. I beamed a smile at them as we alighted the chariot.

“Thank you Storm chaser, Whirlwind. Enjoy the rest of the day off. I hope to see you at the festivities!”

I smiled at them as they nodded to me and flew off with the chariot towards the castle of friendship presumably to store the chariot and unarmoured themselves in the barracks. I don't imagine running around in heavy ceremonial armour all day would be all that fun.

I smiled as I felt the impacted soil under hoof, the smell of fresh produce and baked goods wafted into my nose, I loved every opportunity to come back to Ponyville in 100 years it felt the town had hardly changed at all ponies were still friendly and welcoming it maintained its rustic appeal and most appreciated by me ponies never scraped and bowed for me here, while I had gotten used to it didn't mean I had to like it.

My beaming smile never left my muzzle as I took in the sight at the town square, I had worked closely with the EEA, Royal guard, royal archives, Royal broadcasting service and countless other organisation to set up events just like this one all across Equestria to let ponies both young and old learn about such an important part of our history even if it wasn't one I liked to remember personally.

Watching other ponies take joy in learning about the past though did make my jaw start to hurt from smiling as Lilly galloped off ahead of me to the first stall that took her interest. With my long strides it didn't take much to keep up with her and I chuckled.

“Don't run off Lilly we’re here to learn together” I placed a wing on her back briefly and pulled us to walk side by side before retracting it and following her gaze to the first activity that had taken her notice as she beamed at me.

“Let's go to the cinema first! I want to see what it really looked like!”

I let her lead me into the Ponyville Cinema, when I had the archivist staff pulling what footage we had of the great war somepony had the great idea to not only colorise the footage to the best of modern technologies ability but a director known as Plot device had heard about it and requested to be involved and work with the governments broadcasting service to create a film. I was worried he would attempt to make some sort of spectacle of the whole thing however the early cut version I had been privy to my fears had been assuaged, they had done a great job bringing the creatures to life on the screen, modern technology had done a wonder of bringing colour to the footage, and the addition of voice overed interviews of creatures who were there was a nice touch I hadn't thought of myself it really was a marvel of documentary filmmaking.

Which made it all the more strange. I tried to do anything but watch it. I could have claimed it was because I had already seen it before but it would be a lie. No, I just didn't want to look at the ponies running across open fields where I knew they would meet their demise. Or ponies living and smiling singing a song as they sheltered in a trench. I found myself trying to do anything but think about the fact that the pony on the screen probably perished in a very unpleasant way not too long after.

I found myself thinking back, sitting every morning reading the casualty reports. The worst part was I was looking for several names in particular, the rest of them becoming mere statistics until a Dragons claw shook me from my stupor…

“Princess? Hello? Princess the movie finished”

I gave myself a shake. No it wasn't Spike it was Lilly. It was just a bad memory. Spike was in the dragon lands and I was in Ponyville. Right.

I gave myself a shake trying to regain my faculties before looking down and smiling trying to reassure her.

“Sorry Lilly, I was lost in thought. Did you enjoy the documentary?”

As I looked down at her she looked a little pensive in thought as she digested it. None of the movie was inappropriate for a filly her age I was sure of it but perhaps it was maybe a slightly heavy subject for a young teenager. As I was about to ask her again she spoke up her voice a little more subdued than her normal self.

“I enjoyed it, yeah… Just. I dunno. I think I'm just struggling to get my head around it. It's so big you know.”

I suppose when it was portrayed on such grand scales it might be hard to make hoof or tail of. However one of the many other activities was a way to look up the archives of your own relatives! I smiled at her.

“Well let's bring it down to the pony level then. Come on, I know what we should do next.”

We trotted out of the theatre and it took my eyes a moment to adjust from the darkness to the bright spring day. The weather team had done a great job for the fair. We trotted the impacted dirt road, I could tell my shoes were getting dusty and I’d need to add cleaning and polishing them to my to do list.

We soon arrived at the archive displays, several other fillies and colts were already looking up their great grandparents or great great grandparents to see what they did.

The wonders of modern magic truly were something else, we could write in a name and through some complex webbing of several spells together we could display on the parchment the full records of the name of the pony we searched up. It really was a marvel.

I nodded and smiled trying to encourage her, using my big wings to push her towards the scrolls.

“Go on, put in the name of a relative, let's see what it says.”

She wrote in the name of a relative, I think on her father's side and after a moment a copy of their records appeared in front of us.

The details of Emerald Gloom's time serving in the Royal Navy appeared before us. Decorated for bravery twice for her actions in the Luna bay aboard HMS Sisterhood before eventually being discharged following a crippling injury.

The enthusiasm to learn that I so loved from Lilly returned and we spent the next 30 minutes looking up both sides of her family tree, some of my own joy returning. I loved to learn and I loved to see other ponies love.

Once we had exhausted all her options she asked me the dreaded question.

“What happens if we put your name in Princess?”

I honestly didn't know. What would it say?

“Lets try it”

I took the enchanted quill from her and put my own name and… Nothing.

It just flashed before blanking itself out again. I wasn't sure if I was relieved or not before I heard her whining.

“Aww that's no fun.”

Chuckling I moved her along to the next activity to give another filly and colt the chance to research their own family.

Much of the rest of the day passed in a blur as I tried to keep up with her boundless energy to learn her enthusiasm brightened my mood considerably. As we were trotting our way to the friendship castle enjoying some rocky road she pipped back up.

“Princess, I do still have one question about the war?”

I nodded my ascent as I continued to enjoy the sweet tasting treat as she continued on, she sounded almost cautious to ask the question although when it left her lips I understood why.

“You were there during the war right? What was it really like?”

Ah I should have known an inquisitive pony like her would not be satisfied with my attempts to dodge the question. I sighed and my ears drooped slightly.

“The war was an awful time for me Lilly, so many ponies were hurt or worse killed. I struggled to face it. I spent a lot of my time helping with the research teams and burying myself in work, when needed I would visit ponies in hospitals or a safe distance away from the front lines.”

I swallowed and tried to block out the memory of the smells of the field hospital in my memory.

“It was the worst ponies and Changelings could do to each other. Many of my friends came home badly hurt. Or my BBBFF didn't ever come home.”

When I thought tears should be flowing however a happier memory did float to my mind and I perked up a little.

“It was also the best of ponies. It was the greatest test of the magic of friendship in the end and it won. Ponies would save those they had never even met before just because they shared the trench with them”

Some of the stories Pinkie pie, AppleJack and Rainbow dash had shared with me started to come to mind.

“Let me tell you some of the nicer stories at least about what it was really like when ponies stepped up to help their friends. Well let's start with…”