Sunlight glistened upon a large tree, casting a shadow that reached the center of the town it stood in. Though this tree stood above many of the buildings in this small village, it was as much a home as any of the other abodes in the area, and as such had a door and windows in where one would expect them to be. Through one of those windows the light of the sun pierced through, shimmering through to the inside, which held a small bedroom on the upper section of the tree. Near the corner of the room held a bed, everything around it in a neat order. On the bed laid a young alicorn mare, snuggly wrapped underneath the covers. Her lavender coat shined a bit as the light approached further into the room, while she snored gently, her head and wings bobbing in rhythm with her breathing. As the sun reached her face, she began to squirm. She opened her eyes, stretching her wings and forelegs as she gave a bellowing yawn. She sat up in the bed, looking around the room as her face began to take a smile.
“Another beautiful day…”she said, excitement beginning to overtake her exhaustion. Her horn began to glow a purple aura and her blankets soon took that glow as their own, and they moved to the front of the mare’s bed. She stepped onto the ground, all four hooves on the floor. She began to slowly but happily trot, moving towards a towards a small basket. Reaching it, she gave the basket a tiny kick. “Come on Spike! Time to get up!”
Inside the basket, a small purple dragon squirmed and groaned. “Come on Twilight…” She said in an exhausted and rough tone, “Five more minutes…” He began to drift back into sleep.
“No way!” the mare said in a joyous yelp, causing the dragon to jolt slightly into the air. “We have a big day of studying ahead of us, and we’re going to start early.” She began to walk down the stairs, her excitement making her look almost as bright as the sun itself.
Spike rubbed one of his eyes, slowly trudging to his feet. “What’s this “We” stuff?” the he asked. “I’m not the new princess around here, you are…” He groaned as he began to follow Twilight down the steps.
“Oh come on Spike,” Twilight said, “I couldn’t do this without my favorite study partner.” She smiled and chuckled at the small dragon, as she reached a desk with a mirror, and looked at the reflective glass.
She stretched her wings out wide, analyzing each feather in the mirror. “New princess…” the words vibrated in her mind, her excitement increasing more every time she had the thought. It had already been two weeks since Twilight had gotten those wings, two weeks since she had been made an official princess of Equestria. At first, she had been beyond nervous at the prospect of royalty. Nearly her whole life, she had been a student to the great Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, but now Twilight herself was royalty, perhaps (though very unlikely) in equal status to Celestia herself. It was almost too much for her to handle. But with time to think about it, the prospect of royalty made her nothing but eager. With this new position, there were now hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of new things for her to learn so that she would be prepared for this new path. The thought of her gathering all these new details about Equestria brought her to a near euphoric feeling.
Before losing herself completely in thought, she took a brief look at her deep purple mane. In was mangy and disarrayed from her sleep. “We can’t be having that now, can we?” she said picking up a brush with her magic. Using it, she brought her mane to a neat bobcut. However, as she was about to put the brush down, part of her mane frazzled out to its initial mangy state. Puzzled, she tried to brush it down. Though that section came down, as soon as she moved the brush away, the rest of her mane frazzled out. Twilight took a face of irritation, and began to brush again, but as soon as she did, her whole mane poofed and curled in a burst of air. “What the-“ before she could finish her sentence, air burst once again, and her mane was tied into buns. More bursts came, rotating her mane through various hairstyles, from spikes to Mohawks, to crew cuts and pompadours. Finally, her mane settled in an afro like state, resembling the wig of a clown. “What the hay is going on!?!” Twilight shouted, her voice shaking with anger. She tried to brush away this anomaly of a look, but her progress amounted to naught.
In the steam of her anger, her ears perked. She could swear that she had heard something. The sound was muffled, but was most definitely the cacophony of a snicker, combining the sound of a young colts laugh with that of an energetic and eccentric older stallion. Twilight quickly deduced what was occurring, and grinded her teeth in anger. Her face fuming with rage, she gave a mighty shout into the air-“DISCORD! I know you’re the one doing this!”
Out of seemingly nowhere, a large creature made of the parts of various animals appeared, and those snickers that Twilight had heard quickly transformed into cackling laughter. “Oh Twilight!” the creature shouted, levitating in the air, “The look on your face was absolutely priceless!” The creature rubbed his eye, removing the tears brought on by his laughter.
As the creature’s laughing died down, Twilight’s anger rose. “Discord, fix my mane, right now!” she demanded, eyes red with her moment’s avarice.
Discord rolled his eyes, then pulled up on Twilight’s mane, restoring its bobcut state. “Really now Twilight,” he said, with a bit of a smug tone, “You must learn to laugh at these things. They’re just tricks! Why, I’ve even gotten Celestia to laugh at a bit of my mischief!” he gave this whole monologue while circling Twilight.
“I swear Discord” Twilight said, “You’ve gotten more annoying since you’ve reformed…”
“OH! Princess Twilight, you’ve wounded this jester with your hateful words!” Discord took an over dramatic bow backward, as the garb of a clown was brought onto him, with a tear painted under his eye.
Twilight looked on at this in annoyance. “…why are you here Discord?” she asked.
Discord returned to his standard look, and put his to his chin in an attempt to remember. “Ah yes! I remember!” Quickly , Discord took on the costume of a king’s squire, holding a brass horn to his mouth and pointing it into the air, playing the tune of royal entrance. “Here ye, Here ye!” he shouted after the completion of his tune. “Princess Twilight Sparkle is hereby ordered to report to Canterlot, and take temporary watch over the castle, as mandated by her royal highness, Princess Celestia!” At a snap of his fingers, a scroll landed in front of Twilight. Twilight took a face of curiousity and she opened the scroll. It read-
My Most Faithful Student,
I know that this request has been given to you on very short notice, giving very meager time to prepare for what I ask of you. Despite this, I ask that you put aside your doubts in yourself, and do your best to lead while I am away. Though I do not wish to put you through this, my sister and I have urgent business to attend to in Saddle Arabia, and are forced to trust you to take care of things well enough. Should you find this work too stressful, feel free to ask Discord for help, he is a faithful and effective vassel, despite his mischievous ways.
With great faith,
Princess Celestia.
“….” Twilight had to reread that last part. Discord faithful? Discord effective? She may have been there when she he reformed, but such a positive reception towards him was impossible for her to believe. “Discord must have added that last part…” Twilight thought to herself.
Suddenly, Discord grabbed the purple mare, “Oh this is fantastic Twilight!” he shouted, intensifying his hug. “Just you and me, taking care of all of Equestria for Celestia knows how long! Oh, I am so excited!” at a snap of his fingers, , confetti dropped down on Twilight. Twilight knew that with Discord by her side, whether this temporary rule last one day or 100, it would be a very unpleasant experience.
Walking into the throne room, Twilight was in total awe. She had, of course, been in this room many times before, being where nearly all of the mission given to her and her friends were given to them. But she was seeing this room with new eyes, with a perspective she had never seen before-Not as one of the ordered, but as the one passing the orders. This new perspective gave her a new fear of where she stood, the room’s size seeming more like a monster than a place. She felt a thousand emotions at once, looking down at her hooves in terror of the steps she must take. “…Well….here we go…” she uttered those words with more cracks than with her actual voice. She shook as she stepped closer and closer towards the chair on the altar, every particle of dust floating up around her as each hoof hit the ground. As she finally reached the throne, she took a deep look at it, feeling a pounding fear as she stared at it. She still couldn’t believe that Celestia had asked her to take this position, temporary as it may be. She wasn’t ready for this. She’d never be read for this. What was Celestia thinking, making her , the young, neurotic, imperfect Twilight Sparkle true honest to goddess royalty?
Twilight quivered and took a deep breath, her eyes closing as she took a seat on the large chair. Adjusting her flank, Twilight’s body began to relax. “Hey…this is pretty comfortable…”She opened her eyes and looked out on the room from atop this new view. Suddenly, all the discomfort that had accompanied her on the way to the chair vanished from her body, forced out by new, more powerful emotions. She felt proud, excited, hopeful, hopeful that this stint as ruler, as difficult as it’d be, could teach her many great things, and help her to understand this new part of her life. The feeling was amazing. So amazing in fact, that it almost made her forget about…
“BZZZZZ!” Discord played a comically large kazoo in Twilight’s face, forcing her out of her enamored state in a single, swift jolt. “Hello Twilight!” He yelled in a flamboyant shout. “Are you getting used to this rickety old block of a chair?!”He laughed a bit, circling the air around her. “Princess Twilight…Princess Twilight Sparkle…I’m not quite sure I’ll ever get used to saying that…”
“Discord!” Twilight scolded loudly, her voice seething with annoyance. “you just ripped me out of my train of thought!”
“Oh, you were thinking? About what princess? A stallion? A jewel? The absolute and limitless power that comes with being Equestrian royalty?” Twilight did nothing but look at the creature in absolute irritation in complete silence. Discord rolled his eyes at this. “Well, if that last one was on your mind, I think it only right to remind you to partake in your primary role in this position-“ On his wrist appeared a large clock, , which he nearly shoved into Twilight’s face.
Twilight read what the clock said-8:48 PM. A glance out a window showed the sun blaring at its full force. “Oh No!” Twilight jumped from the throne, all those feelings of discomfort she had cast away returning to her almost instantly. “I have to bring the night!” She sprinted towards a door behind the altar, which led to the bedroom of Princess Celestia, and through that, Twilight ran to a door that led to a balcony outside. Braking hard, she stopped, then looked out from the view of the balcony. She cringed a bit, the sun’s rays overpowering her eyes. The mighty ball of flame cast over Twilight, wrapping her in its light and heat, making her feel every bit of power the star held-the power her teacher controlled with ease-the power that Twilight now had to master herself. The mare gulped in fear, then took a firm stance into the sun’s glare.
Magic built around her horn, its purple aura shimmering as Twilight focused here eyes directly onto the sun. It remained motionless. The light of Twilight’s horn grew, her face gaining an expression of intense determination. The sun still kept its place in the sky. Sweat began to drip down from her face, the aura around her head beginning to dissipate. In a fight to regain control, Twilight grinded her teeth, and grew her horn’s light larger than ever. Despite all her persistence to force otherwise, the sun did not move, and those rays that once warmed her now seemed to taunt and shame the purple mare. In almost an instant, the light disappeared from her horn, and Twilight jerked her head to a hanging state, panting viciously and sweat dripping from her like water flowing from a faucet.
“Exhausted?” Discord asked with a sense of sarcasm. He sipped at a glass of juice he was holding, while he lazed on a lawn chair, large sunglasses blocking out the irritation of the light. Twilight only gave a spiteful look towards the prankster, her eyes shouting an unbelievable rage. “Would you like some help with this? I could easily do those tasks of Celestia’s that are far above your current abilities…and you do have a great many things to prepare for tomorrow….” At the snap of his fingers, a large book appeared in the air, the cover presenting the title as “The Princess” , the name Marecheavelli written shortly below those words. “Here, take the book, begin to ready your mind for tomorrow’s affairs, and I, the faithful servant to the crown that I am, will tend to this tedious transition of time.”
Twilight looked at the book and at Discord, her expression a compounding of annoyance and utter depletion. Discord gave a small charming smirk, forcing a groan of submissive anger from Twilight. “Fine. You do it.” She grabbed the book with magic, and trudged off ward, back into the Celestia’s room. She looked at the fireplace, seeing where she would decide to rest during this reading session. Next to the fireplace was a red rug, which held a large, round, red pillow near the front of it. Twilight laid herself on the rug, adjusting herself until she finally felt comfortable. She opened the book, and began to read. Outside, the light of day was fading away, the black of night dominating it. Twilight gave a sigh of relief, satisfied with how Discord seemed to be fulfilling his word.
Hours passed as Twilight read, barely even getting through a fraction of it. “This is a tough reaaaaa-“ She gave a loud yawn before she could finish her sentence. “Wow…I’m tired….” With magic, she grabbed a blanket and draped it over herself, and rested her head on the pillow. Suddenly, Discord appeared in front of her.
“Oh Twilight, sleeping already? “ He rolled his eyes again. “Pathetic. Dear, Celestia is turning out to be far more entertaining than you…” Twilight ignored him, closing her eyes, and falling into a deep sleep. “Ugh! No fun at all…” Discord smiled a bit. “I suppose I’ll just have to fix that tomorrow, won’t I?” He chuckled, flying out of the room, his brain beginning to concoct schemes of grand unmitigated chaos.
__________________________________________________________
The whole world was shrouded in darkness, blocking the vision of what day would be. In the distance, over hills and fields and miles, a dark figure stood atop a patch of dark and foggy clouds, looking at the far off Canterlot Castle in envy. But that look of envy soon transformed into one of anticipation, with a smirk of sinister accomplishment. “The Princesses are gone…the inexperienced mare is in control….All is going according to plan…” Her evil grimace grew more foul and craving. “the next phase will begin tomorrow…”
Author's Note
Welp...here's chapter two...hope you all like it..
