Chapter %i%: Canterlot Castle
Chapter 1: Canterlot Castle
Twilight Sparkle smiled internally as she stepped into Canterlot Castle for the first time as official royalty. It gave her an excited rush - it was still difficult to believe that she wasn't dreaming, and just for the fun, she fluttered her new wings gently to make sure it wasn't all a mirage. They were oversized, yes, and she had no clue how to use them for real, but she couldn't help but be proud of the pale mulberry feathers matching her coat, as well as her fancier new mane style and the way everypony would respectfully dip their heads to her whenever she passed. She, the smartest pony in Ponyville, had rewritten a spell that even Star Swirl the Bearded had given up on, and this was her reward. She had certainly done well.
Princess Cadance breathed a sigh from next to her, tugging at the jeweled shoes she'd worn during the coronation. Twilight almost instinctively pulled her's off too, because the older alicorn had just reminded her how uncomfortable this outfit was. Rarity likely would have worn it no matter how itchy the seams were. Twilight's smile drooped as she thought of Rarity and the rest of her friends. Would they miss her? She brushed the thought away with ease. Of course they wouldn't; they'd always have each other to confide in. But what she'd told herself make her mouth quiver with the threat of tears. That would mean they didn't need her.
The new alicorn took in a shaky breath in and held it. There was no reason to worry about the other five. Maybe she would still see them at some point... But until then, she had Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Shining Armor - forget Cadance and Shining Armor, Twilight thought with a sniff, they rule the Crystal Empire - to keep her company. But Celestia and Luna were obviously more distant from her than her old foalsitter and her beloved older brother, which made her the slightest bit wary. Would she be comfortable here?
Celestia interrupted her worried thoughts so suddenly that chills ran down Twilight's spine. "Cassandra, would you mind giving Twilight a tour of the castle, and show her to her room?"
A younger beige mare with a navy mane and tail, dressed in a maid's formal attire, scurried out from behind a pillar and quickly lowered her head to the ground in front of Celestia before looking up at Twilight Sparkle, repeating her bow this time with a slight blush. She looked back toward Celestia for a moment, and murmured, "...an exception... ...West Billiard room... ...Yes, princess." Cassandra then stepped back toward Twilight and nosed her in the direction of the stairs, and Twilight caught the glances of Shining Armor and Cadance and received a wave good-luck from Luna as Cassandra hurried her up the stairs.
"And that's the way to the courtyard... Down that hall," Cassandra wheezed, completely out of breath from spilling both the history and architectural wonders of each room nonstop for, well, for Celestia knows how long. "Uh... And here's your room, right near it, princess."
Twilight stared, amazed, at the large space before her: the walls matched her coat color perfectly, striped with brilliant raspberry pink like her magic aura - and the ceiling exactly imitated the night sky, with stars and nebulae exactly as they should be - with a large but cozy window space with soft blankets and pillows galore. "Who... Who thought of this?"
"Shining Armor, I believe, Princess Twilight." The young pony dipped her head. "It was really a priority for him."
"Really?" Twilight couldn't help but grin. Her BBBFF had certainly done it again - surprised her with something amazing but not being there to see her reaction. "Do you maybe know where he is?"
"By now he's probably down in the throne room, ready to leave, Princess Twilight," Cassandra said softly. "He and Princess Cadance have to take the next train back to the Crystal Empire. Something about a celebration race..."
Twilight's eyes went wide and her wings flapped out. "Are they taking the Friendship Express?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'll be back."
Twilight Sparkle rushed around the castle, hoping she'd remembered well enough what Cassandra had been telling her as they toured the massive building. Passing room after room after room, she started to wonder if she could possibly be lost. And then, after she had been running around for at least three minutes, she stopped... At the entrance to her own room.
She nearly groaned out loud in frustration. The entire floor was one round passageway? She pushed open the door again, still annoyed with herself for not listening well enough to the young maid's directions. Cassandra was still standing just where she had been before, patiently and loyally waiting, except now her eyes were wide with confusion. "Princess, if you, um, if you need help finding your way around..."
"I'm fine." Twilight sat down on the floor, which she now realized was also brilliant raspberry carpet. "I just wish I could have thanked him before he left, that's all." She looked up, only to see that the maid wasn't there but was staring out the window. The slightest bit curious, the young alicorn stood up and stared out the window - and there was the Friendship Express train, about to leave. And there was Cadance and her brother, and they were both smiling... Smiling at her. They'd noticed her from so high up. Well, I imagine it's difficult to ignore a pony with a horn andwings, but that's still nice. After a wave from Cadance and after Shining Armor mouthed to her "Good luck, Twily," the train lurched and pulled out of the Canterlot station heading to the arctic north.
Chapter %i%: Gravity is Dead to Me
Chapter 2: Gravity is Dead to Me
In her new room, Twilight sighed, wondering why she was suddenly so lonely. Rain had started to steadily pour in Canterlot, and the nagging feeling of longing hit the young alicorn hard. On a dreary day like today it was likely that she would have been at the Carousel Boutique, Rarity styling everypony's manes to pass the time, Applejack shying away from the manecare products she didn't completely understand or want to understand. But here Twilight was, lying alone. There were no books in this room yet. Apparently some were going to be brought from the library by royal guards, although she secretly wished she could have brought them here herself to have a reason to go back to her old library to visit Spike -
The thought hit her as hard as a brick wall. She had left Spike in Ponyville. She started to breathe heavily as she hopped up and practically ran to the door, and was thrown back across the room when she found that she had locked the door and forgotten, the ripped-off doorknob now lying in her hoof. This was getting very complicated, and Twilight was getting desperate. She'd left her #1 Assistant back in Ponyville in the pouring rain, and she was locked into her room with no way of escape except... The window.
The window! Brilliant, Twilight. She threw her cloak over her flank and trotted back over to the windows, and began pushing on them. If only... I could get this thing... Open... Finally the window creaked loudly, and cold and humid air started flowing into the room as the space between the window and the wall grew. When she was finally able to stick her head out into the damp outdoors, she did, and swung her body through the window, thinking only of Spike and the fact that she didn't know what she would do without him - before remembering that her room was nine floors high. Now, as she clung to the windowsill, her only wish was that she knew how to use her wings as well as lifelong pegasi. It didn't look hard at all, but she was afraid she would mess something up... But she put on a brave face. For Spike.
And with that, she started flapping her wings, and noticed that, yes, they were helping to keep her from falling to her doom. After a couple of seconds she let go with her hooves and used them instead to gently close the window, and flew off to follow the Friendship Express tracks to Ponyville.
It wasn't long before Twilight Sparkle could see the train tracks through the damp haze. Her wings were rewarding her well - it now felt more like hovering than before, but it didn't make a difference, as long as she could retrieve her closest friend. The tug in her gut grew stronger with guilt, and she sped faster along the tracks to distract from her internal nagging. You idiot... Idiot... You left Spike... You left Spike, idiot... Twilight clenched her teeth so hard that she heard the grind through the pouring rain - because it was all true, what her conscience was screaming at her, and she knew she deserved to feel this way for what she had done. As she flew, she practically forced herself to think about it, as if she was a filly who had been sent to her room for drawing on the walls.
She hung her head, shutting her eyes tightly. Maybe, if she was going to be so irresponsible, she didn't deserve her baby dragon at all.
Unexpectedly, when her eyes blinked open and before she knew it, there was the Ponyville station straight ahead, and the young alicorn contemplated how she was going to arrive at the library if she hadn't yet been shown how to land. Well, I'll just have to learn now. Holding her breath slightly, she ever-so-slowly headed towards the ground, and landed softly at the station with a still-cautious shiver. She folded back her wings and shifted her cloak so that they weren't visible and wouldn't attract as much attention. That was the very last thing she needed at that particular moment, a distraction from her current mission. So, throwing the hood over her head as a final touch, she set out through the familiar rain-flooded streets towards the library.
The streets and houses were the same as they used to be and had been for so very long, but for some reason Twilight couldn't identify, everything had a different feel to it now that the rain was falling hard. It usually didn't flood this high in Ponyville, not with Rainbow Dash around to clear the clouds before anypony could say "ten seconds flat." Twilight shrugged to herself. Maybe Rainbow wasn't feeling up to it today? Wait, she'd be up to it even if she was sick... the alicorn realized with a jolt, but quickly pushed the thought that this was the very least of her problems, reminding herself that the pegasus could handle it for herself and everything would be fine. After all, everypony looked normal - scratch that, Twilight thought - nopony was outdoors. Likely because the waters were up to the doors, and it was near impossible to walk around without getting drenched in water. Twilight Sparkle, on the other hoof, was hoof-deep in water and wet all over, and she didn't care at all, as long as she could make it back to the library.
And right now, the floodwaters were carrying her in the direction of Rarity's boutique.
Chapter 3: In Ruin
Drifting aimlessly through water towards the library, Twilight gave a shiver as rain trickled through a hole in her raincoat to her wings, running chills through the feathers. She wondered, for a minute, why they were so sensitive to temperature, but she knew she would have to get used to this, because who'd ever heard of an Equestrian ruler without wings? Dealing with them, with both the pride and the discomfort, would be just another challenge to easily overcome with her new power.
` Interrupting her brief faraway thoughts, through the mist, the young alicorn could soon see the faint outline of her library, and began instinctively paddling towards it with the small amount of energy she could summon until she was very close to it, where the water level was lower than behind her. She was now in a depth where she could once again walk, and moved her hooves against the current until she was finally out of water and at the doorway of the library tree.
Relieved, Twilight shook the water from her front hoof and pulled the doorknob open. And what was once her home was now pure chaos.
She was unsure how long she'd been standing there, her heart dropping, words caught in her throat. Tears blurred her vision so that her home almost, for a moment, looked like normal... But when she blinked them open again, she saw the world as it was: books torn and scattered across the floor, the loft ripped to the ground.
TO BE CONTINUED...
