The Mysterious Case of Twilight Sparkle

by Buckseed

Time Off

Author's Note:

Here's the first chapter for the new story, enjoy!

“What?! Why? Did I do something wrong?” Twilight exclaimed, her wings nervously spread outwards.

Princess Celestia, the ever kind mentor to the younger princess, smiled and shook her head. “No, not at all Princess Twilight. Princess Luna and I have come to an agreement is all.” She looked to her side, where her younger sister sat patiently. The two nodded in agreement. “You and your friends have done so much for the land of Equestria, even before your coronation where the safety of its citizens became your responsibility. You have brought understanding to the citizens on my sister and her actions, you have reformed the spirit of chaos himself, fought an Ursa Minor, saved Canterlot and possibly all of Equestria from the likes of Chrysalis and Tirek. You have earned a vacation, at the least.”

Twilight had the decency to look sheepish as she listened to her role-model list the accomplishments of her and her friends, but she needed to prove her worth. “It was always my duty, as one of the element bearers.” she said, watching as Celestia stood up from her throne and slowly walked to her. “Now that I am a princess, I need to do more. I can’t just take time off.”

Celestia leaned down so that her muzzle was near her former students ear. “Take the time off, believe me, it doesn’t happen very often.” she whispered, before taking a step back and giving Twilight a soft smile.

Twilight looked up at the princess of the sun and saw the sincerity in her eyes. Not far behind was Luna, the princess of the moon, nodding her head in agreement.

The young princess sighed and bowed her head slightly. “Well, I guess some time off couldn’t hurt.”

Celestia rose her head and a smile graced her face. “Good, then it’s agreed. You will take a month off from princess duties and enjoy the time you have with your friends.”

Twilight nodded slightly. “I understand.” she perked up a bit “I’m sure the girls will be happy to hear, and now I can catch up on some personal experiments I’ve been meaning to run!” she bowed quickly and quickly ran to the window, muttering out a quick “Thank you, Princesses!” before spreading her wings and flying away towards her home.

Five ponies and a small dragon sat around in a crystal castle, each sat in a chair customized for them specifically.

“I’m so bored!” came the annoyed voice of Rainbow Dash. “Why are we waiting around here for Twilight anyway? Who know how long this princess business is gonna take!” she exclaimed, flaring out her wings in annoyance and waving her tail back in a huff.

“Rainbow Dash, do calm down.” Rarity said in response to her friends brash outburst. “As you said, we’ve no way of knowing how long this meeting will be, or what matters are being discussed, but what we do know is that Twilight was summoned with urgency and we have to be here for her in case she needs us upon her return.” she said, using her magic to lift a file to her hoof.

“If you’re so bored, you can leave. But you’ll miss Twilight.” Applejack said, raising the hat that was covering her face.

Rainbow sighed. “Can we at least do something?” she asked.

“Oh oh oh, games! Let’s play a game!” Pinkie exclaimed, jumping out from behind Rainbow Dash, almost giving the poor mare a heart attack.

“Oh, that sounds fun. Um, what game did you have in mind?” came the soft voice of Fluttershy who was silently curled up on her seat.

“Yea, sounds like fun. I finished reading my comics so I’ll join in too.” Spike said as he hopped down from his mini-throne.

There was a collective group of nods and murmurs of agreement from each of the rooms inhabitants as they all agreed that they needed to do more than just sit there, for the sake of their sanity.

“So what game do you have planned?” Rainbow asked as she turned towards Pinkie Pie who had a huge, and disturbing, grin on her face.

She tuned and began to rumble through her tail, searching for something in the tangled mess of pink hair. It didn’t take long for her to turn back around with a glass bottle in her hooves. “Spin the bottle!” she exclaimed.

A silence took over the room as the other 5 inhabitants quietly stared at their pink friend.

“Uh, Pinkie, not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I’m pretty sure none of us here wants to make out with another mare.” Applejack said, not catching the dual blushes from both Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

“Oh, don’t worry about that! Here!” she said happily as she put a small magnet into the bottle and put the cap back onto it. “Spike, hold this!” she exclaimed as she gave the young drake a matching magnet to hold. “There, problem solved!” she said happily.

“I, you, what?” Spike asked as he tried to comprehend what was happening. The dragon let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he saw the doors open and in walk a purple alicorn princess that was like a sister to him. “Twilight! You’re back!” he said as he dropped the magnet and ran to his oldest friend.

“Hey Spike, hi girls, what are you all up to?” she asked as she saw all of her closest friends sitting in a circle on the floor.

Pinkie jumped up, standing on her two hind legs and hiding the bottle behind her back. “Just playing a game, hehehe, so, how was your meeting?” she exclaimed.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her friends antics, but wrote it off as Pinkie just being Pinkie.

“Turns out that the princesses just wanted to check up on me and tell me that I earned a vacation. I’ve earned a month off it seems.” she said with a sigh.

“Well, you don’t seem very excited about it darling.” Rarity observed.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have earned a break. Especially since it seems like something happens to us every week, but I’ve never seen any of the other princesses take a break.” she said with a sigh, her head and wings drooping slightly. “It makes me feel like I’m not as important.”

“Twilight, we’ve been through this already, you know you’re plenty important as a princess.” Applejack said as she walked over to her friend and placed a hoof on her back. “Plus, look at it this way, Princess Cadence is pretty important, but none of us knew she even existed until the wedding.”

Twilight let a small giggle escape from her. “You’re right Applejack, thanks.” she said with a voice light with laughter brimming around it.

“So what do you plan to do with your time off? Flying lessons?” Rainbow asked with some hopefulness. Twilight was a pretty good flying companion. Better than Fluttershy at least.

Twilight shook her head. “Maybe later Rainbow, I have something I’ve been meaning to get to for a while now.” she said, then turned her attention to Pinkie Pie, who was still hiding the bottle behind her back. “For now, if you girls will excuse us, I need to speak to Pinkie Pie alone.”

The pink pony in question stood still as sweat began to pour from her body. Her friends made their way out of the room, and she could only think of why she was in trouble. Twilight walked up to her friend and sat down in front of her, ignoring her antics and getting down to business.

“Pinkie, I need you to tell me everything about what happened with the mirror pond.” she said sternly, scientist mode activated.

Comments

[Mooncalf]

Hmm... too early and too little to form a full opinion on this, though the description and artwork seems to hint to something potentially interesting. Personally I would have extended the chapter to incorporate some more definite action in order to hook readers more readily, but it's your work to do with as you decide. And the breakoff point worked fairly well.

I'll wait until the next chapter to make an opinion.