Princess Celestia was quite tired and exhausted from the night before as she stood in front of a gaggle of ponies, all looking at her with nervous expressions, wondering where she'd been.
Despite every part of her body demanding she not, the princess rose up, eyes visibly baggy and her brain feeling like it was on fire.
She begrudgingly sighed, not really knowing what to say, yet knew she needed to muster up some kind of response.
“Hello, my fellow citizens. I apologize for the late raising of the sun. Due in part to my current state, I had some other matters and other...uh...important duties to deal with last night and...it..um took longer than expected.”
With every word she spoke another dull ache echoed through her skull, and it took all her years of discipline to maintain what composure she still had.
“At the moment, I feel that it would be best to just skip all the formalities and move on with today’s events.”
Sadly, it didn’t seem as though that was enough to satisfy the crowd, some of whom decided to be rather...vocal with their opinions.
“What other matters could you have that required your attention last night?”
“Nothing serious I assure you and nothing to be concerned with,” Celestia said, trying her best to placate the mob. Though it was with little success.
“Forgive us for saying Princess, but it feels like it is serious when it prevents you from raising the sun on time.”
Several other ponies nodded and vocally agreed, some louder than others, which only served to make the Princess’s growing headache worse.
“Well, I understand I’m a little late. But there’s really no harm in a little misstep.”
“Your highness I don’t think you understand the severity of this blunder and, blah blah blah blah blah.”
Whatever the latest commenter was saying was little more than noise to the princess at this point. Still tired and frustrated, her blood was quickly coming to a boil as her temper started to spike.
As the voices only grew louder and more numerous Celestia felt what little patience she had left disintegrate and something inside her finally snapped.
Completely ignoring the continuously complaining crowd, Celestia, with no words or fanfare of any kind, lifted her claw and then snapped, the sun quickly appearing in a blink.
“There! See no big deal!? Everything is fine now,” The Princess of the Sun said, her voice hissing angrily at the visibly stunned crowd, shocked by the abrupt show of aggression.
Rather than expressions of shock, Celestia was instead met with a fair amount of cries and yells from the population of ponies, as their eyes were suddenly assaulted by a massive surge of intense light.
The sight managed to snap Celestia out of her brief moment of anger enough to look at the sky and see what the problem was. The sun was now considerably closer than normal, resulting in it’s already intense rays of light to become practically blinding. However, that wasn’t the only problem.
The ponies who weren’t busy trying to keep their retina’s from burning, found themselves practically drowning in their own sweat, as the temperature had suddenly shot up to alarming levels.
All around numerous ponies began to collapse, perspiration dripping from every pore, some trying to find some source of water in an effort to cool themselves off.
“Oh Faust!” Celestia screamed, her only body already starting to perspire as well as see watched the scene unfold. “Don’t worry I’ll fix it!”
The princess quickly raised her claw to the sky and snapped, mercifully causing the sun to quickly retreat back to its original, safe distance. Immediately, she could feel the difference as the temperature returned to normal and the previously blinding light had faded.
“There we go. Now see, everything is fine!”
Sadly, reality once again decided to be a blunt as a baseball bat as her quick fix only solved one problem. Now instead of ponies screaming and potentially dying of thirst, she now had a court yard full of screaming, sweaty, half blind ponies crashing into each other while also gulping down whatever liquid they could find to avoid severe dehydration.
Feeling another painful headache coming on, Celestia groaned as she rubbed a claw down her face. “I seriously need a coffee right now.”
Seeing there wasn’t much else she could do, the princess flew off, hoping to give the citizens some time to cool off, pun fully intended.
Sadly for the still less than peppey princess, her comfort caffeine would have to wait, as she quickly spotted Bronze Helm heading her way.
Celestia immediately blushed as she recognized that he was the same guard she turned into a toddler a few days before. Hopefully, they could go through today without any further embarrassing situations.
“Go...good morning Captain. I must apologize for earlier, I had a long night and lost control of my magic for a moment.””
“It's fine your majesty,” Bronze Helm said, with his usual professionalism. “However, for now, I would rather we avoid any more incidents. Perhaps we can postpone the photoshoot after you’ve had a chance to properly rest.”
While a small part of Celestia wanted to argue against such an idea, she felt a great sense of relief wash over her. Finally allowed to relax and break whatever facade she was maintaining, her shoulders quickly sag, as her body practically folded over, eyes barely able to stay open.
“I would very much appreciate that...however, I still have an obligation to the foals. Still, a short nap probably wouldn’t hurt...after I get a little coffee in my system, if only so I don’t pass out before I make it to my room. I’d rather not have my guards be required to literally carry me to my room.”
The guard rolled his eyes, more at the somewhat petty concern, especially since with her magic she could easily teleport to her room. Then again, given her current state and what had just transpired, not using any magic was probably the best option.
“I certainly don’t see any harm in that Princess. Though I must insist we make it a short trip and avoid using any magic if at all possible.”
Celestia quickly nodded, showing a bit more energy than before, though now she had something to motivate her. Thus the two proceeded onward to the nearest cafe.
Ever eager, Celestia went inside and quickly stood in line, though many ponies immediately moved out the way, some even bowing before her.
The display quickly made the princess feel more exposed and bashful, yet she proceeded in spite of it. While it was true she didn't like abusing her status,this was one instance she really was glad she was a princess as she walked up to the barista.
“Can I have a caramel latte, grande size please.”
The barista mare at the front practically turned into a statue at the sight of the princess, but had enough muscle control left to manage a nod. “Certainly, one grande sized caramel latte coming right up.”
Celestia quickly fumbled through her purse to get the necessary payment, only for the mare to squeak out , “there’s no need to pay your majesty!”
“No, it's fine, how much is it?” Celesita mumbled as she took out a few bits. While she might be willing to use her position in this instance to get ahead in line, she was still going to pay for it at least.
“Five bits,” the barista responded.
Happy with the answer, Celestia calmly placed the bits down, leaving the barista briefly stunned at the sight of twenty bits, before hesitantly taking five. The Princess however, promptly pushed the remaining bits towards the barista.
“There’s no need to be so modest, please, take all the bits.”
“Bu...but thats way too much for a coffee.” the barista squeaked out loud feeling so embarrassed about accepting so many bits form the princess
“I insist,” Celestia again spoke, her voice growing a little louder as her lack of sleep was starting to catch up with her, causing the poor counter pony to shrink down in fright.
The guard smacked a hoof to his face and came over to the barista.
“I apologize for the Princess, she was very busy last night and didn’t get any sleep. Please just accept the bits and we’ll be on our way.”
With a rapid nod, the barista immediately fled back to make the coffee while Celestia and Bronze Helm took seats at a nearby booth.
The second Celestia sat down, her face immediately planted itself on the tabletop, leaving Bronze Helm to stare at his ruler in dismay.
“Your Majesty, may I be blunt with you for a moment?”
The only response he received was a moan muffled by the table.
“Listen, I know you don’t want to hear this but, perhaps it’s time you ended this contest you’ve made with Discord. Between all the mishaps we’ve had with your Chaos Magic, especially this morning, perhaps it would be in everypony’s best interest to just call it quits.”
In response to this suggestion, one of Celestia’s eyes actually rose up out of her head like a flower sprouting from the ground. Her other eye and mouth quickly proceeded, while her head remained planted.
“I can’t simply give up. Do you have any idea what would happen if I did. I’d have to admit that Discord was right all along and he’d never let me hear the end of it. Do you have any idea what that would be like?”
While Bronze Helm might not have been the most creative or imaginative of ponies, he knew enough about Discord to understand the princess’s point.
“I understand your concerns princess, but even so this is becoming far too risky. At the very least perhaps it would be a wise idea to postpone the photoshoot for at least a day, that way you can be properly rested.”
In a flash the rest of Celestia’s face immediately rose up with her eyes and mouth, which all together looked very distraught at such a suggestion.
“I can’t! I would postpone it if I could, but I have to do this today. I know I messed up hanging out with Luna all night last night but I wanted to make up for banishing her to the moon!"
Bronze Helm’s composed demeanor started to fracture at the sight of his monarch having a breakdown in the middle of the cafe and quickly tried to deescalate the situation. “Your majesty, please try and calm down. If you aren’t careful, your magic may go off again.”
The mention of her magic caused the princess to calm down, at least somewhat, allowing Bronze to relax as well. “Listen princess, while I still believe postponing would be a better option, hopefully as long as you take a nap prior to photoshoot it should be alright. For now, just have your drink and then we’ll head back to the castle.”
“Yes,” Celestia managed to say, now a bit more in control of her emotions again. “I believe that would be a fair compromise.”
With the matter settled, for the moment, the pair thankfully didn’t have to wait long before Celestia was handed her coffee, which she was quick to start gulping down. It only took a couple of sips before the Princess could feel some degree of energy and pep start to return, almost making her forget her prior exhaustion.
“My my, this coffee is quite exceptional,” She paused to take another sip before looking back at the barista, waving to get her attention. “Excuse me, would it be possible for you to make some more coffee?”
Sadly, as the universe had for some reason become accustomed, once again Celestia’s chaos magic started to act up. A faint glimmer of energy shot from her claw and struck the barista. Immediately, the poor pony's eyes turned completely blank, before she started pumping out dozens of cups of coffee and lining the bar many ponies watched, producing them with such speed it looked as though she had twenty hooves instead of two.
“Free coffee for everypony, come get some!”
“Yay!” The ponies cheered as they swarmed the counter, while Bronze Helm saw the frantic scene and immediately turned his gaze to the princess, who was currently looking at her claw, wide eyed.
“Not again!” The princess practically shouted at the scene of caffeine based chaos, and immediately made a move to take some kind of action, only for Bronze Helm to immediately grab her claw.
“That’s enough princess, more magic isn’t the answer here.”
“No, please I can fix this quickly just let me.” Ignoring his further calls, Celestia let loose another burst of magic, which managed to stop the barista’s fast hooves...mainly because in her place was now a large conveyor belt rapidly launching cups of coffee in every direction.
By now Bronze Helm, desperately ducking to avoid being hit by one of the projectile beverage was on the verge of losing it. “PRINCESS! PLEASE!”
Now frustrated to the point of ignoring logic, Celestia roared as she tried to change it, Bronze Helm immediately smacked her hand down, glaring at her with visible anger all over his face.
“Princess, Stop! You’re only managing to make things worse. No more magic, of any kind. We’ll leave it to the Royal Guard to handle this situation. We are leaving, now.”
While Celestia wanted to argue, the sight of so many of her subject either being pelted with coffee or being soaked in it, made her decision for her.
“Fine..perhaps that’s for the best.”
Having escaped from the disastrous coffee house, the two arrived at the schoolhouse, though Bronze Helm was still less than happy about it.
“Princess, please. I thought we agreed you would get some rest before the photoshoot. And after what happend at the coffeehouse…”
“I’m well aware of my misstep Bronze Helm,” Celestia’s tone now had an edge to it, visibly tense after what had just occurred. “However, at this point I doubt a nap is going to help me. Best to just do the shoot and be done with it. Besides, as long as I don’t use my magic we should be fine.”
Bronze Helm again made an attempt to argue only to quiet himself at the sight of the countless young foals outside the school, all of whom seemed to have been waiting for Celestia to arrive.
Quicky adopting her usual practice smile, the princess moved over to the foals who all gathered around her, many smiling eagerly.
“Hello children, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”
“No way Princess.”
“We’re just happy you’re here.”
“Wow, you look way different from all the other times I’ve seen you princess. Are you sick?”
The earnest and honest questioning from the children managed to make the princess’s smile shift into a real one, as she happily patted the head of the one who asked the last question.
“No, I’m perfectly fine I promise. This is just a part of a little game I’m playing with a...acquaintance of mine.”
Somewhere in the distance she could’ve sworn she’d heard a bizarre sounding sneeze, but opted to pass it off.
“Now then children. Let’s take that photo shall we?”
To the amazement of both Celestia and Bronze Helm, the photo managed to go off with any major issues. The children cooperated about as well as you would expect a group their age would, though the princess had to endure several sad looks when she had to decline a request to perform some magic. Really if it wasn’t for Bronze Helm’s stern glare she very likely would’ve given into temptation.
“Nicely done Princess Celestia. You showed a good amount of restraint out there,” Bronze Helm said, mentally breathing a sigh of relief that they are finally done.
Celestia let off a light huff at the comment. “I’m willing to admit my own faults these past few days, I’m still perfectly capable of showing restraint.”
Bronze could only chuckle at the comment, though opted to keep any further jabs to himself. “Well, now that the photo is all settled, let’s get you back to the castle so you can rest. I imagine the coffee from earlier will likely be wearing off soon.
“Yes,” Celetia muttered, feeling a yawn start to come on along with a desire to finally rest. However, as she prepared to leave, she felt a tug on one of her legs and found one of the foals was the culprit.
Bronze Helm seeing there was little harm in letting Celestia handle what was probably a minor issue, decided to give the pair a bit of privacy and walked a short distance away, just out of sight.
“Oh, hello there,” Celestia said, quickly putting her professional mask back on. “Is there something else you need?”
Despite the fairly simple question, the young foal seemed nervous to ask whatever she wanted. “Well...there is, but I know you’re busy and it’s not that important.”
Celestia quickly shifted to the more caring side she often showed Twilight and kneeled down to the young child, softly patting her head to try and put her at ease.
“My dear filly, the concerns of my subjects are my concerns, no matter how small they may seem, they are always important to me. So please, what’s wrong.”
That seemed to do the trick as the young filly finally relaxed. “Well you see, we were supposed to go on a fieldtrip after the photo, but all the money we saved up was stolen.”
Celestia’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, “what!? What do you mean stolen? By who?”
The filly quickly pointed to an older stallion not far from the school and already Celestia felt ill just looking at him. At a glance he seemed normal enough, with grey fur, light silver mane, blue eyes and a coin shaped cutie mark. However, what started to set her off was his attire, which mainly consisted of an extremely expensive looking purple suit jacket and blue tie, matched with what looked like buttons made of solid silver along with matching cufflinks. And to top it off, was a smile that practically reaked of smug arrogance, one she’d last seen on her nephew, Prince Blueblood.
Eyes still trained on the smug stallion, her lips extended downward till they were next to her little informants ears. “Is that the one who stole your field trip money?”
The filly quickly nodded. “Yeah, that’s one of our school’s founders, Mr. Silver Dollar. He said the money was needed for “repairs” to the school, but when we asked our teacher he said he didn’t know anything about any repairs. And when we asked the principal about it, she just said the bits had vanished.”
While it was likely there was more to the story, Celestia had heard more than enough and looked about ready to go on a warpath. However, the fury quickly turned into an inferno of hatred as Silver’s carriage appeared. The reason being is that the carriage itself looked beyond extravagant, with jewel encrusted wheels, a solid gold frame with high quality wooden walls, what appeared to be silk curtains and an equally gaudy looking gold handle.
Needless to say, Celestia now knew exactly what the field trip funds had gone towards. While a part of her would’ve loved nothing more than just to oust the pony right then and there, she felt her inner chaotic spirit start to stir as a mischievous grin formed on her face.
“Not to worry my little filly. I’ll make sure to get those bits back for you and teach Mr. Silver Dollar a little lesson about stealing. ”
Preparing her claw, she immediately started thinking about what she was planning to do. Granted a small part of her was reminded of her promise to Bronze Helm and the sun incident. Yet, she felt that for once she had a proper grasp on what exactly she wanted and a feeling in the bit of her gut that her magic was on her side this time. Thus she was prepared to risk it.
Taking a breath and forming a picture in her mind she snapped, her eyes closing as she waited. It was only a moment before she was rewarded by the loud screams of her target.
To her amazement, the once garishly flash carriage made from ill gotten gains had now been replaced with what could best be described as a fancy princess carriage akin to a young fillies’s toy. And as if to add to the enjoyment of the situation, the carriage seemed as though it was alive as it started to shake and buck around quite violently.
This finally ended after a few moments when the door opened and spat out Silver Dollar, now clad in a dress so pink, frilly and lacy, it almost reminded her of something Rarity would’ve designed for a fashion show.
Regardless of how it looked however, Silver Dollar’s expression only read shock and embarrassment as many other ponies couldn’t help but gawk, smirk and laugh at the display before them. The laughs from the foals were especially boisterous which helped bring a smile to the princess’s face.
However, the moment of enjoyment ended when she caught sight of Bronze Helm approaching, a look of disappointment on his face.
“I told you not to do it and you do it anyway!” His tone did serve to bring Celestia down from her brief high of enjoyment, though she tried to remain resolute.
“I know I promised, but he stole bits from the foals. I couldn’t just let him get away with that.”
“I agree.” Bronze nodded, even showing a hint of a smirk at the panicking Silver Dollar. “However, there are less pardon the pun, chaotic, ways to accomplish that and as our ruler you have a duty to hold yourself to a higher standard and not be so quick to act on a whim. Not to mention the possible risk with your magic.”
Given recent events Celestia was not in a position to argue with Bronze and it was ultimately thanks to sheer dumb luck that her magic hadn’t gone out of control again. Even so, she couldn’t deny the sense of satisfaction it’d brought her and even Bronze agreed it was justified. Still…
“Very well. Make a note to have Silver Dollar investigated regarding embezzling school funds. We should nip this issue as soon as possible.”
That actually brought a satisfied smile to Bronze’s face, happy Celestia was finally thinking less with her magic. “I’ll get on it right away, your highness. Though I do think we should still get back to the castle.”
Letting off another yawn, Celestia nodded. “Agreed...just one more little thing.”
Quickly letting loose another snap, a large, jiggling bag appeared next to the chaotic princess, who happily levitated it over to her little filly friend.
“I know it’s not the money you originally raised. However, I think this should more than cover your field trip.”
The eager young filly quickly pulled open the bag and found it to be practically brimming with bits, the light reflecting off the coins actually creating enough of a signal light to draw more of the class to the bag. In mere moments, the small group was erupting with cheers of excitement and joy, leaving Celestia looking quite proud and Bronze Helm calmly smiling.
“You did it again.”
“Yes, yes I did,” Celestia said without even a hint of shame. “And nothing bad happened. Besides, helping a group of sad foals in need of money strikes me as the kind of thing a good ruler should do, right?”
Bronze simply sighed, knowing full well he had no kind of argument for such a claim, and decided just to give her that one. “Very well your highness. Now then, shall we go?”
Taking one last look at the group of smiling foals, some eagerly waving in her direction which she returned in kind, Celestia nodded, now feeling more at peace.
“Yes. I think I’ve tried my luck more than enough for now. Let’s go.”