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// Memories of Spoons 
// Story: Royal Duties 
// by biasedeyes 
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	Flinging yourself over backwards using your wings must have some merit as exercise, at least enough to make one sleepy, because Twilight fell asleep right after returning to bed. Her sleep was dreamless, so the next thing she knew she was sitting up in bed to a beautiful sunrise streaming in the castle window. She started to stretch, then abruptly stopped when her wings joined the stretch, the feeling of her upper back splitting in three a bit too novel for her, adaptive as her mind was. Wings folded back at her sides, she slid out of bed and landed on her hooves, then plodded over to the full-length mirror in her room, which faced the window. She looked at herself, illuminated by the dawn’s light, first glancing at her wings and body, then examining her face.
She looked like herself, not stunningly beautiful, but not ugly either, and even, she supposed, kind of cute. She looked more or less like she had the last time she’d stayed in this room, or one like it, five or so years ago, but older, of course, her expression, she thought, much wiser. In fact, turning her nose from side to side just a little, she had a look in her eyes just a bit like...
....
Celestia! Was it morning already? She should get downstairs so that she could breakfast with the princesses! She’d enjoyed that, yesterday. After the coronation the day before, she’d spent most of the rest of the day with her family, after escaping the party that Pinkie had thrown. When evening came, though, she’d decided to accept Celestia’s invitation to stay at the castle for a while, so that the royal sisters might groom Twilight some for her newfound position.
At breakfast the next morning she had sat with the princesses, understandably nervous, eating waffles with them quietly, until Luna, who was eating with her hooves, began complaining about the silverware (though actually it was goldware) after she accidentally brushed it with her elbow, causing it to clatter.

“What purpose do all these implements serve for this meal, since it is served on trenchers? I have breakfasted on this meal with you time and time again, and never have you had occasion to use a spoon.” Luna said accusingly, holding up the offending utensil.
“My dear sister, those spoons are on the table just in case we ever feel the urge to do this.” taking the spoon, Celestia licked it, breathed on it, and stuck it on the end of her muzzle, hanging it over her nose. Luna, not to be outdone, snatched Celestia’s spoon from her setting, and after a little bit of trial and error, had a spoon hanging out over her nose as well. Five minutes later, they all had spoons falling off their nose to various degrees, and as Luna boasted that her superior spoon-nose hanging time was a sure indication that Celestia was unable to properly use her own utensils, Celestia jokingly retorted that her spoon had only fallen off to preserve her face’s extreme royal dignity. She changed her defense when Twilight’s spoon stayed on her nose for three times as long as Luna’s had (as though anypony with some knowledge of surface tension, dynamics of ambient humidity, and the nature of static friction in gold could do worse! Celestia and Luna must not be really trying!), saying that of course she was just tired, having been up late last night teaching Twilight how to spoon-hang like a princess. They ended up laughing and making funny faces at each other from behind spoons as Luna began to recount a feast which seemed to feature Celestia in a somewhat less than royal role, over some feeble protestations by the sun princess.
Then there was a knock on the door, and the spoons were abruptly returned to table (Twilight’s because the noise startled her, causing her to jerk her head up faster than the spoon could follow. She had figured that using magic was cheating, but had found that by feeding the spoon moisture by blowing on it with her tongue she would be able to keep it on almost indefinitely. It had just occurred to her in the past minute that this might be considered cheating as well, which would explain why she had beaten Celestia and Luna). In the silence ensuing the mild (or in the case of Twilight’s spoon, not so mild) clatter, Celestia cleared her throat and called “Come in!”
The brown head and hair of an anxious, hornless pony peered in through the door. “Uhh...” it said. Celestia sighed and looked wearily at Luna. “See you both this evening.” she said, as she stood up and walked to the door. The figure at the door opened it fully and turned to let the princess pass through, and Twilight saw that it was a male pegasus (not like that was important!).
Luna and Twilight ate the rest of their breakfast in relative silence, and when conversation resumed it ended up turning to royal decorum and etiquette. Luna wanted to be sure that Twilight was well versed, but her own knowledge was a millennium out of date. As they finished breakfast Luna began a fairly esoteric anecdote about how she had managed to make some small mishap thousands of years ago and the consequences stemming from that (even though Twilight’s curiosity smouldered to know the rest of the feast story Luna had been telling instead!). This continued as she led Twilight down the halls and through the rooms of the castle, occasionally breaking narrative to instruct Twilight as to how she might need to behave with respect to some function of the room they were passing. It was the sort of story which Rarity would enjoy, and Twilight was disappointed that she lacked the same interest in politics which might make the story interesting to her. Luna was only about 13/20ths of the way through (an educated guess, based on the prespecified ending where Luna managed to remove the courtisain who had become her detractor due to his negative perception of the incident (something, Twilight remembered muzzily, to do with... banana crème pie?) and the amount which had been exposited already) when she begged Twilight’s pardon so that she might retire (obviously, Luna slept through the day. Who could forget that?). The lunar princess handed Twilight off to a unicorn mare with a dark blue coat, darker blue hair streaked with yellow, and a cutie mark which depicted three open books with the text falling out of them. The mare, whose name Twilight forgot already, introduced her to a variety of equally memorable facts about royalty, lineage, and court procedures. Twilight, who was usually eager to do any type of learning, found that she was just about as interested in these political trappings as she used to be, which was not very much. Honestly, she probably would remember them if she ever needed to, but her mind sort of recoiled at the thought of having to.
Afterwards, Twilight met with some of the ponies who helped run the castle, including some she remembered from her fillyhood. When it came time for dinner, Celestia did not show (she gave her regrets and promised to meet Twilight and Luna for breakfast tomorrow through an earth pony with a bright green coat), although thankfully Luna seemed to have forgotten about the interminable tale of a political gaffe, so they ate quietly once again. Twilight was somewhat surprised at the mediocrity of her first full day as royalty.
It was rewarding, however, to be able to talk and even horse around with her mentor on a more equal basis, so Twilight was looking forward to breakfast today.

As she made her way down to breakfast, just as she was on the same floor as the Royal Dining Room, Twilight saw Celestia striding her way. Celestia lips were tight and her gaze seemed focused far away, but she quickly noticed Twilight and her expression melted into a small smile. “Hello Twilight,” she said warmly, slowing to a walk, and then stopping across the short breadth of the hall, “I’m glad I ran into you. Luna and I are going to have a summit with Cadance in the Crystal Empire in a couple days, and I’d very much like for you to come too, and invite your friends.”
Twilight must have looked uncertain, because Celestia bent down, putting her face almost on a level with Twilight’s. “Don’t worry.” she said softly, almost whispering, “I know you’re concerned about your first time going out into Equestria as a princess, but I asked Lane Layer to arrange your escort from Canterlot.” She straightened, hair billowing softly back over her shoulders. “See you in a couple days.” she said, giving a bigger smile, and began cantering down the hallway again.