It Was Almost Always

Ninety-three years into Princess Twilight Sparkle's reign

“Princess Twilight, are you alright?” Midnight Prism asked, breaking Twilight from her thoughts.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, the sole ruler of Equestria for nearly a century, smiled at her royal aide. “Just lost in thought.”

Midnight smiled back as he made a note on the Day Court ledger. “Well don’t fall asleep yet, you still have another three guests before your Hearth’s Warming break officially starts.”

“I believe it starts on Hearth’s Warming Day, which means that I still have about seven hours,” Twilight said, still smiling but also serious. “And I intend to work until there is nothing left.”

“True,” Midnight conceded. “However, you have not counted on one thing.”

“And what would that be?” Twilight was genuinely curious as to what he had planned.

Midnight Prism was probably the best aide Twilight had ever had. He was skilled, efficient, and fun to talk to. He was a thirty-three year old earth pony and had been her aide for just over eleven years, and he had been trying to make sure that she didn’t do any work on Hearth's Warming Day for ten of those. It was a fun game, and even though Twilight was ten for ten it did help to distract her from painful memories.

“I imagine that you have noticed that Day Court has been busy this past month,” She had. “That is because I rescheduled to make sure that nopony would be on the list over Hearth’s Warming. So unlike last year, you will not be able to open Day Court under my nose.”

Leaning down from her throne, Twilight looked across the ledger’s open pages. It was covered in notes as a matter of fact, but she could also see many of the steps that Midnight had taken to ensure a single day with nopony seeking something from her. Twilight was truly blessed to have as devoted an aide as he.

“I would not have believed that you could find a way to empty Day Court, even for a single day. I am impressed, but it will be wasted effort if we do not deal with those last three. Please send the next one in.” Twilight leaned back onto her throne, but then turned back to Midnight.

“Steel Feather is asking again for her company to have the exclusive right to manufacture armour for the EUP. Sevim of the Changelings is requesting that you repeal the law denying unmetamorphosed changelings from obtaining Equestrian citizenship. And last is Gilded Seal, he would like a subsidy for his mining company so that he can rebuild the ancient mines under Dirtmouth,” Midnight Prism answered her question before Twilight could ask it.

“So this will not take long.”

“I would not imagine so, no,” Midnight said as he gestured to the guards to let Steel Feather in the throne room to make her pitch.

“... And that is why Equestria would profit from Dirtmouth’s mines being revitalised,” Gilded Seal finished his twenty minute speech with a bow to Twilight. Who felt like she could have taken a quick nap and not missed anything important, only rhetoric that she had heard in a hundred other noble’s speeches.

“I understand that your intentions are for the good of Equestria,” Or at least for the good of your pockets, Twilight thought bitterly as she sifted through the stack of official papers he had given her as part of his presentation to find a particular page. Although, given what he put in the stack, Twilight doubted that he expected her to actually read through it. “However, I cannot help but notice that you had the mines inspected by Equestrian Mining and Steelworks Ink., which I recently had to nearly completely restaff due to corruption.”

Gilded Seal puffed up at that, probably both offended for his pride and worried for his hide.

“I am certain that you are simply a victim of said corruption, but even so, I must insist upon a second inspection,” Twilight said, setting the stack of papers down and noticing that Midnight was already preparing what she would soon ask for. “It would be wrong to dismiss your request for something that you were not a part of, so the mines shall be inspected by Pie Family Rock Farms. A trusted employee of Equestria since Princess Celestia. But worry not, the crown shall cover their fee.”

Midnight walked over and gave Gilded Seal the signed and sealed paper, and Twilight struggled not to laugh when she saw that Gilded Seal looked a bit like he had bitten into a lemon. He would never be able to bribe Pie Family Rock Farms, and they would never authorise reopening Dirtmouth's mines due to the ground having been destabilised by dangerous mining practices millennium ago. No, that silver and iron would never be worth the risk.

Seemingly with some effort, Gilded Seal composed himself. “Thank you, Princess.” And then he left the throne room.

Save for Gilded Seal's hoofsteps, the throne room was silent as he walked out. A few moments after the doors shut, Midnight turned to Twilight, this time she answered his question before he could ask it.

“I will not send the Solar Guard to investigate him. Despite his corruption and my personal dislike for him, his mining company and charities do a lot of good for Equestria,” Twilight kept her eyes on the doors to the throne room as she spoke.

Midnight turned back to the ledger and made a few notes. “I understand. You must look at his actions, and not his intentions.”

It made Twilight glad that Midnight Prism accepted her decision as the best thing for Equestria. She didn't need him to, but was reassuring to know that he had.

Snapping the ledger closed, Midnight stood up. “It will not be long now until your meal is prepared, I will make sure that everything is set up for it.”

At Twilight's nod, Midnight left the throne room towards the kitchen. Twilight left through the other side, heading to her study.

The Hearth's Warming Eve dinner was always one of the most extravagant meals of the year. Twilight had come to the conclusion that it was because the Royal Chef and the kitchen staff wanted to compensate for not being there the next day, and that was really the only reason she didn't stop them.

The meal was so large however, that she usually invited the kitchen staff and her aide to join her. It took a few years before they were comfortable with it, but as a rule everypony joined her for the informal Hearth's Warming Eve feast. It would be fun, but also a reminder of the distance a princess had to keep from her subjects.

The vast majority of Canterlot Castle's staff went home the night before Hearth's Warming, which made the morning of seem rather eerie to Twilight. Walking through the empty halls of Canterlot Castle after raising the sun, only seeing a few members of her Honour Guard in a thirty minute walk.

Hearth's Warming Day was the only day of the year that Twilight's only responsibilities were to raise and lower the sun and to be prepared to deal with an emergency if one arose, which meant that the normally bustling castle was nearly empty. In the entire castle there were two Royal Guard units patrolling the outer sections, Twilight's Honour Guard patrolling the castle proper, and the Princess herself. At least, that was all there was supposed to be.

For the past ten years, Twilight had spent Hearth's Warming trying to distract herself from her memories to minimal success. However, Midnight Prism had slowly but effectively made sure that all of her official responsibilities were dealt with for the holiday. She had opened Day Court as a desperate last attempt, but it wouldn't work again and she didn't have any ideas what to do with that option shut down.

When Twilight rounded a corner and the door to her study came into view, Twilight Sparkle stopped suddenly. Sitting beside the doors to her study, probably not inside only because she kept it magically sealed, was Midnight Prism. He had a notebook and pen as he usually did, and he had not yet noticed her.

“You do know that you have the day off, right?” Twilight Sparkle asked as walked closer, unlocking her study with a quick spell.

“Something told me that you might forget the same is true for you,” Midnight answered easily, standing up and tucking his pen behind his ear. “And anyway, I left my pen here by accident.”

“I see that you have what you came for then,” Twilight paused after she opened the door to her study. “Actually, I was just about to make a cup of tea. Would you care to join me?”

“Thank you, Princess,” Midnight said with a bow before following her through the door.

Twilight’s study included a small second room with the singular purpose of making tea. It was one of the changes she made to the castle soon after becoming Equestria’s Princess, and she had never regretted it. Twilight made them a kettle of tea, and then brought it out to the balcony.

For quite a while neither of them said a word to each other, simply sitting next to one another and appreciating the sight of the city below them. Their quiet was broken suddenly when Twilight asked a question that struck Midnight as rather random.

“Do you have a very special somepony, Midnight?”

“Princess?” Midnight turned to look at her in confusion, both because of the question and the somewhat juvenile term she used. Twilight simply took a sip of tea and continued looking out across the city.

The question had caught Midnight wholly off guard, but he decided that the best response would be to answer it honestly. “No. I have never had a marefriend. May I ask why?”

“Simply curious. I realised that I do not know much about you outside of your role in this castle,” Twilight said, setting her cup down. “I suppose I realised that I must be keeping you from spending time with ponies close to you.”

They once more fell into silence. But it was Midnight who broke it the second time.

“Princess, do you mind if I ask a somewhat personal question?”

Twilight looked at Midnight Prism out the corner of her eye, and nodded to give him permission. She had just asked him something quite personal.

“Why do you try to work through Hearth’s Warming?” Midnight asked hesitantly. “You’re normally glad to rest when given the chance, but you go to great lengths to stay busy on Hearth’s Warming. I simply have to wonder why.”

After a moment of considering, Twilight asked a question of her own. “I trust that nothing I say will leave this room.”

It was not exactly a question, but Midnight reassured her that he would not repeat anything that she told him.

Twilight went to take another sip, but found her cup empty. She picked up the kettle and filled her cup before continuing, apparently satisfied with his answer.

“It was decades before Celestia retired, I will never forget it,” Twilight started her story. “Hearth’s Warming Day was the day that I lost the pony I loved most.”