Watching You

Princess Celestia slowly lowered the sun until it sat just below the horizon. Satisfied, she turned to her sister Luna, who nodded silently and stepped forward to begin arranging the night. Tired from her day's duties, she began to trot into the castle.

"A word of warning, sister," Luna called. "Twilight Sparkle is particularly talkative this evening."

Celestia groaned. "You mean more than usual?"

Luna nodded solemnly.

Sighing, Celestia left the balcony and entered the castle, and, as she expected, she was immediately cornered by the recently-coronated Twilight Sparkle.

"Princess Celestia! There you are. How was your day? Did you decide to try out any unusual astronomical differences in the sun's movement today? No? Well, we have time for that later! I have so many more questions about being a princess! See, today, I was talking with some subjects about some produce-trafficking policy, and I was wondering, is it an economically sound decision to allow for a resdistribution of the sales of all units weighing less than one-half a pony-weight through local non commercial delivery services? That's what I was planning but I was worried that the labor costs might outweigh the benefits of—"

I can't take this anymore! Celestia thought wildly to herself. For three weeks, it's been nothing but questions and anecdotes! Why won't she just shut up?!

"And then there's the matter of the costs associated with the production of inclement weather for recreational events or commercial promotions! Lately, I feel such actions have been putting a tiny amount of unnecessary strain on our budget for pegasi activities governed under royal decree. It might be in our best interests to place some regulations on such activities, at least temporarily, until we can extrapolate whether or not the modifications are having any statistically significant impact on our spending for—"

"Hey Twilight!" said Celestia very loudly, cutting her former student off. "Would you like to see something really cool?"

Twilight's eyes became huge. "Of course, Princess! You always have the coolest cool things to show me!"

"Yes I do, don't I," Celestia said brightly while gritting her teeth. "Why don't I take you to see the cool thing right now!"

"Yes please!" Twilight chirped.

Celestia's horn lit up, and she and Twilight vanished in a flash.

The light dimmed and Twilight looked around in wonder. She and Celestia were standing in an endless void lit with a soft bluish glow.

"Hey, I remember this place!" she said gleefully. "This was where I turned into an alicorn!"

"That's right," said Celestia. "And do you remember what else is here?"

Twilight thought about it. "Um... all those little magic screens that had pictures of me on them?"

"Right!" said Celestia, as the very screens Twilight had mentioned materialized out of nowhere. "This, Twilight Sparkle, is the hall of a Hundred Screens. Throughout the eons, I have used it to keep an eye on certain ponies of importance, and now I am permitting you to use it."

Twilight beamed. "That's amazing! Thank you so much, Princess Celestia!"

Her smile shrank a bit. "But... use it for what?"

"Whatever you want!" Celestia said with a laugh. "Being in this room is like watching reality television, except there are one-hundred different shows on at all times and there are never any reruns unless you want there to be. You can see what's going on anywhere in Equestria."

"Oooooh," Twilight oohed. "Can I try it out right now?"

"I think this is a great time for you to become familiar with it," Celestia said. "Use it for several hours so I don't have to listen t— I mean, so you know for sure how it works, in case you need it later."

"Will do, Princess!" Twilight replied, saluting.

Celestia smiled, mumbled something inaudible about a few moments' peace, and teleported away.

Twilight turned her attention to the hundred screens. "Anypony in Equestria, huh? But... who should I look at? I don't know which pony would be most relevant to my princessly duties."

She pondered in silence for a moment.

"I suppose, for a test run, I could see what my friends are up to. They wouldn't mind, would they?"

"...would they?"