Ten minutes. No more above that, but very preferably much below it. Canterlot Court was an incredibly busy place and its rules had to be strict to accommodate that fact and allow everypony their audience, provided they'd given the proper permits, reason, and plenty of processing time. Apparently, the number of Equestria's problems was neverending, as day by day, the waiting line was well-filled and remained so until closing hours, when the rest was sent away with an empty request to return the next day. Ponies liked to say that, once you'd find yourself before the princess, convincing her of your plea was by far the easiest task. Even more disheartening than the procedure required to propose something was that getting that done would often prove to be the hardest task, against folkspeech. Every day, many ponies left the throne room with low hanging heads, shamefully walking past the lines of those who hoped to fare better than those before them, but, to their and their princess' disappointment, were likely to be equally refused or put off with an empty promise.
Through the stained glass windows, the Sun dispensed its blessed warmth inside with almost a certain degree of cruelty, as if it knew the desires of those inside and was set on mocking them. Too briefly had she been allowed to pierce the sky as never before, too quickly had she been tied into royal duty. Still, she couldn't complain. Literally. Being a princess brought rules with it as strict as appealing to one. There could be no emotions, no recognition, nothing but business as always. Not that she'd find herself able to bind too strongly in the ten minutes before one subject was rotated off and another came before her with an entirely different situation, nevertheless all expecting care and concern. Even if the current audience was somepony she knew from before, which already felt as distant as if from another life, ten minutes didn't allow for anything more than request and answer.
She could convince herself to get on with it,lull herself into thinking it was a desirable life after all. At least she could have anything she'd ever wanted, and literally being a co-ruler of Equestria had various other perks, among the more pesky of which was the respect she neither wanted nor felt that she deserved it. Within the throne room, in business, when she only met complete strangers from across Equestria, that was tolerable, but there were also occasions where she wished curses on all of it, like just that day, when she saw the front of the line reveal a meek pegasus who carefully walked forward towards the usual range for audiences. The butter coloured pony looked tiny in comparison to the overdrawn luxury around her, which simultaneously seemed to intimidate her into an even smaller frame than usual so that, when she bent down for protocol, her head could barely move further downwards. There was trust hidden somewhere in the so far silent confrontation, she wanted to jump to that pony's side and reassure her, but such an action would go against anything that held the court together.
"Good morning, Princess," the pegasus said, still avoiding her gaze, so quiet that she was in danger of being oversounded by even the sounds that the disciplined crowd made.
The ten minutes were ticking. She needed to act quickly, as a friend and as a princess. She put on her most genuine fake smile and beckoned, "Fluttershy, why don't come closer, I don't want to have trouble understanding you," telling off the hesitant guards with a single commanding look as her former friend complied, slightly brightening up. However, she couldn't tell if the reduced distance was for better or worse. Fluttershy certainly looked paler once she was up close, and Princess Twilight Sparkle had to tell herself out of thinking that the pegasus' eyes looked slightly puffier than usual. "Now, what can I help you with?"
Fluttershy cleared her throat and began, "We were wondering if perhaps You could sometime make a visit to Ponyville, Princess, it'd be-"
"Call me Twilight," she intersected, hoping her friend would catch that her murky tone was aimed at the system dictating such needless etiquette, not at her.
"Uh, yes, Twilight. As I was saying, it'd be," she paused, seemingly to swallow, "much appreciated by everypony."
"Hmm." She turned aside to one of her various assistants, "Time Turner, how does my schedule look?"
The adressed pony flipped through his noteblock before replying, "I'm sorry, Princess, but it seems that you are a piccy stocked up."
"That is bad, I'd like to," her eyes switched back to Fluttershy, who looked to have taken the news far worse than herself. "I feel like there's more than the obvious reason why I should come. Is that so?"
The yellow mare had never been particularly far from expressing her emotions, but it was nevertheless always a new tier of heartbreaking to see her lose the struggle against escaping tears. "It's Pinkie Pie," she stuttered through the rain that already caused rolling eyes in the cleaning staff, "she's been having some insomnia lately, and when we let her sleep over, we heard her talk in her sleep, pleading... she begs for you to come back, Twilight."
Princess Twilight sighed, once again addressing the same servant as before, "Well, when do I have time? Are the other appointments that important?"
He leafed through far too many pages, responding only when she was already prepared to give up hope, "Three weeks, Your Highness."
"You can't," she paused, wrestling with herself to not lose her royal façade before continuing, "and what would be the consequence if I was to take a day off?"
The room collectively gasped as though she'd just spoken a death threat. In place of all, a guard answered, "You cannot mean to do this. Remember the consequences which..."
"Yes, Flight of Duty, the spell which granted me those," she interrupted him, extending her wings for effectual inspection. "Raised to command, enchanted with flight, servant of many, prosperity or blight," she recited. How meaningless those words were. "What could be the consequences? A few hours of not having to listen to rabble's problems. Missing a few ambassadors. Political consequences. Standing to responsibility. Perhaps they won't call me princess any more." She breathed through with her eyes closed, trying, but failing, to wipe from before her eyes the image of the meek little pegasus that still stood before her, drops of hot liquid spilling into the darkness of her mind. "So be it."
Twilight stepped down from the throne, filled with vigour she'd thought lost, picked up her sobbing friend, and left, arm in arm with the pegasus, the only trace of her to be seen in the throne room being sparks of excited magic. The clock began to ring, announcing that ten minutes had passed. Ten minutes which sometimes could be all that was needed to change an entire empire for the good of somepony who deserved it.
