Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, lay with legs tucked beneath her in the middle of the library. A dusty, leaf-bound book hung in the air before her, glowing with the purple aura that accompanied the use of her inborn magical powers; the natural gift of all unicorns. The aura rippled as she turned the last page, savoring the moment with a deep breath of satisfaction before returning the book to its spot on the shelf.
She stepped back to admire the sight of a half-dozen shelves, laden with books of all sizes and colors. The thing that Twilight missed most about Equestria-that-was was having any number of libraries at her disposal, like her treehouse library and the Great Library of Canterlot. Limitless amounts of knowledge at her hooves on any topic she could think of. For Twilight, libraries were as good as a second home. They were places of familiar comforts, where she could rest body and soul while exercising her mind.
Which made the literary desert of exile in a strange land all the more challenging for her. She took another deep breath, relishing the smell of so much paper and ink, before turning away. There were duties to attend to, after all. She wandered out of the room and down a narrow hall, passing colorful crystalline structures that wove intricate mosaics in relief along the walls. At the end was a crystal door propped open with a box of books Twilight had yet to sort through.
Spike, her purple-and-green baby dragon companion, stood just outside with eyes wide and mouth agape.
Twilight gasped, her horn flashing as she cast a spell of levitation to lift Spike. She swept out of the hall and kicked the box of books inside, causing the library door to swing back into place.
The seams were nearly invisible when the door was closed. It looked just like any another unadorned wall in the throne room of Twilight's crystal castle.
“Twilight?” Spike said. “What was that?” Still small even for a baby dragon, he floated in a hazy purple cloud of magic just in front of Twilight's nose, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
Twilight grinned sheepishly until she squinted from the effort. "Well, Spike.... You see, I modified the layout of my castle when the crystal seed was growing with a few carefully placed growth and inhibition spells. I may have added a room or two, and ..."
"I can see that," Spike said. "If you want a castle with secret rooms, that's your choice. Where did you get all those books?"
Twilight ended the levitation spell, dropping Spike to the pearlescent floor in a heap. "Would you look at the time? I need to go meet up with the girls!"
"But we don't have a clock," Spike called after her. She galloped away, out of the throne room and through a series of hallways to the mezzanine overlooking the foyer, taking the spiral staircase to the ground floor. Halfway down the steps she noticed that somepony was already waiting for her.
“Lily Blossom,” Twilight said with a genuine smile. “What a pleasant surprise.”
Lily bowed deeply, a half-saddlebag swinging by its straps at her side. The violet Pegasus did not return the smile. “Princess Twilight, I have news from the perimeter.”
"More ponies from the Crystal Empire?"
Lily nodded. "The ones in this group were from several small villages on the outskirts. I sent guardsponies with them to find living arrangements and work to do. There were several carpenters and masons in the group—they've already been sent to help with the boundary fortifications."
"Excellent work," Twilight said, barely restraining a frown. Her brother Shining Armor and his wife Princess Cadance had fallen out of contact since the northern reaches were first besieged by the Draconequus. It was hard enough to sneak around the highlands of Equestria; traveling that far north across open heathland, slate fields, and tundra would certainly prove deadly for any ponies she sent. So Twilight had no choice but to wait, wonder, and worry.
"No word from Shining Armor yet," Lily said. "We asked the new arrivals, but they haven't seen him either."
Twilight sighed, then offered Lily a thin smile. "Thank you, Lily. You've proven to be most capable as my Captain of the Guard."
Lily scuffed the crystal floor with a hoof in reply.
"How is your sister doing?" Twilight asked.
Lily grinned. "Derpy found a job she really likes, helping Zecora with her potions. I think she's really taken to it."
"She always seems eager to learn. Maybe one of the newcomers is an herbalist as well."
Lily's smile faded as quickly as it had appeared, her gaze dropping to the floor. "Your highness," Lily said, "should we be taking in so many?"
This gave Twilight pause. She considered her answer a moment before replying. "Is there somewhere else for them to go?"
"Well, no. But all these new ponies—they're putting an awful strain on already limited supplies of food and other resources. Not to mention that the Earth ponies are predicting lower than normal yields of staple crops. Fall isn't far away. Our food stores might not even last through the winter."
"Lily..." Twilight said softly. The truth of Lily's words touched the immaterial burden on Twilight's shoulders. She was well aware of the situation, but what other choice did she have?
Despite everything, Twilight straightened her back and mustered another smile. "Do you remember when I asked if you would be my Captain of the Guard? Do you remember what you told me?"
Lily blinked, then nodded slowly. “I told you I would love to, but I wasn’t sure I could do it.”
"Oh, you said a little more than that. You said that you would love to do it, at least until you gave it a second thought. What was it you said? That you weren't 'leadership material'?"
“Every morning, I wonder if this won’t be the day that you come to your senses.”
“That day isn’t coming,” Twilight said with a smile. “You’ve exceeded my expectations. But you doubted yourself in the beginning. You still do. Perhaps your doubt drove you to reach higher than you might have otherwise. I've been very impressed with what you accomplished these past few months. And you know what else? I think your sister's proud of you, too."
Lily didn't meet Twilight's eyes. She blushed slightly, tinging her violet coat pink and making her yellow mane seem to glow by contrast.
"You don't deserve your doubt, but neither do your fellow ponies. Your skepticism and caution are both deeply rooted in who you are. They can be strengths or weaknesses, depending on whether you control them or they control you.
"While your duty as captain is to the townsfolk," Twilight continued, "my duty as Princess is to all of ponykind. We will continue to welcome wayward ponies into our town as long as I rule. If we have food, we must share it. We will make it work. We have to keep hope alive for everypony."
Lily nodded thoughtfully. "For everypony." The look in her eyes told Twilight that she wasn't entirely convinced, but she bowed anyways. "Wise words, highness. I will remember them."
"I know you will. And I know that you want to set a good example for the other ponies, but really—you don't have to call me 'highness'. You're a friend. Plain old 'Twilight' will do."
"If it's all the same to you," Lily said, "I think it's important I keep the habit going so they see that somepony's in charge. Especially now that there's a castle watching over everypony again. It makes things feel more normal. More like they used to be."
They walked together down the length of red crystal that ran from the staircase to the wide double doors at the castle's entrance. Deep down, Twilight knew that Lily was right. While living as nomads in the Everfree Forest, Twilight believed that she could lead the ponies best if she led from among them. After all, she didn't even have her Alicorn Aspect anymore, and she had never been particularly fond of the stiff, formal nature of royal titles. But now as they worked to rebuild, having a princess leading again felt like a natural part of restoring life to the way it used to be. Uncomfortable as it was for her, Twilight knew that it was familiar and reassuring to the ponies in her care, so she accepted her role.
As possibly the last standing Princess of Equestria.
Twilight shuddered. No, Luna was still around, sent back to the moon in a last-ditch effort to protect her from the attack on Canterlot. She made herself known by raising and lowering the sun and moon, assuming control of the former after Celestia was taken captive by Dissonance. Although, as the days rolled on, it became increasingly obvious that Luna was growing tired. The sunrises came later each day as her power waned. No one princess was meant to handle the passing of day and night by themselves. The fact that she kept it up for this long was a testament to Luna's place as a living legend of Equestria. But she couldn't keep it up forever, and Twilight lacked the knowledge, training, and skill to provide any assistance.
The sun and moon continued to dance across the sky thanks to Luna, but as far as Twilight was concerned, she was alone. Her responsibilities didn't seem as magical or exciting by comparison, but even so, Twilight felt crushed beneath the weight of her duties. She would have to find a way to help Luna and bring her back.
“One more thing, highness,” Lily said. “I know about the trips you’ve been taking back to Canterlot.”
Twilight paled. “You do?”
“Even if I didn’t, it’s obvious how often you're up all night.”
They stopped at the end of the room before the doors. Twilight looked at her reflection in the ruddy floor. "I haven't made as many trips as I've had sleepless nights."
"Look, Twilight—" Lily came up beside her, placing a wing over Twilight's back. "—all this ceremony and royal hubbub aside, if you're not feeling yourself, you can tell me. Not that it hasn't been any to see anyways."
Twilight met Lily's eyes briefly, then looked toward the windows set in the wall high above the door. She nodded almost imperceptibly.
"You're the only princess we have left," Lily continued. "I wouldn't dare to tell you what to do. But as your friend, I'm worried about you. If something happened to you, all of the ponies would be completely lost. It seems like you're the only thing keeping us together out here in the Badlands. We need you. Your wisdom, your guidance, and your leadership. It's an awful lot to risk over scavenging books from what's left of Canterlot's Royal Library."
Twilight's shoulders drooped as she sighed. "You're right."
“Besides, you could have just told me you wanted books.” Lily dipped her head to the saddlebag, coming back with a book held between her teeth. Twilight plucked it away with magic, levitating it in between them as she gawked with wide-eyed, reverent wonder.
"Quilliam Inkhoof's Histories of Equestria," Twilight read breathlessly. "I've been searching for this everywhere. Where did you get it? How?"
"I had my scouts pick up a few books on their last scavenging expedition. This one's from an old bookstore outside Fillydelphia."
"Thank you, Lily," Twilight said. She was grinning from ear to ear. "You're a good friend, and an even better Captain. I mean that."
Lily blushed again.
“Keep an eye out for Shining Armor and Cadance, won’t you?” Twilight asked.
Lily nodded solemnly. “Your brother’s tough, Twilight. And so is Cadance. They’re out there somewhere. I’m sure of it. And I won’t rest until they’re safely here, in—well, I guess we haven’t settled on a name for the town yet, have we?”
“I was going to bring that up at the next council meeting, actually,” Twilight said. She threw the double doors open wide with a burst of magic.
Outside, the sun shone brilliantly in a cloudless blue sky. Grass rolled away from the crystal veranda, blanketing the hill that had been crowned with Twilight's castle. The ochre soil of the Badlands, dry and cracked, contrasted sharply with the verdant, velvet carpet of grass.
A wide, lazy river meandered through the low places of the valley that skirted the central hill. Dusty paths wove between homes and shops along both shores of the river, stone bridges crossing the gap between them, the water beneath sparkling clean after being magically purified where it entered the town.
Amidst the wooden skeletons of new construction were burst of color; flowers, shrubs, and fruit-bearing trees from the Everfree Forest had been transplanted here in the rocky soil, making the ponies' settlement a defiant patch of life surrounded by the bleak, barren, and wind-swept hills of the Badlands. Pegasi and Gryphons passed overhead between the town and Cloudsdale which had been relocated for safety, now looming over the town like a mountain peak made of cloud.
Though they could not be seen, Twilight could sense the presence of the Anti-Chaos fields she and the other Unicorns had woven over the town, keeping them safe from the sudden appearance of Draconequus through the use of Chaotic Magic. According to ancient lore, the fields would even mask the magical signatures of the town's inhabitants, making it difficult for the Draconequus to detect them and buying valuable time as they worked to establish their new home. The Anti-Chaos fields also hid Cloudsdale from a distance, rendering it invisible to Chaotic beings until they were close.
“There were some good suggestions,” Twilight said, “but only one that feels right to me. I'm going to cast my vote for Phoenixfire Town. Because no matter how bad things have been, we always keep going. Even from the ashes."
"I think that sounds perfect," Lily said, looking out over the town beside Twilight. They stood together in silence for a moment, before Lily dipped into another bow and took her leave.
Twilight watched from the veranda as Lily descended the hill, passing five ponies walking up toward the castle in single file. Even from a distance, Twilight would recognize her five closest friends anywhere. Together, they were the Elements of Harmony, guardians of Equestria, and they had much to discuss.
Today Twilight would tell them that she was leaving.