The Last Decree
“Sign there.”
Twilight looked down at the holographic paper in front of her, reading the words but barely processing them.
We, the ponies of New Canterlot, representing the sovereign nation of Equestria, in accordance with the laws and regulations…
The words blurred together, as the legal language went on and on. Twilight had tried to keep up with it, but the law changed so often these days that she could never remember what was new and what was old. The last time she had tried to cite the law to prove a point, she had been informed that the law she was referring to hadn’t been in effect for three hundred years.
Besides, it didn’t matter. Her advisors had informed her that the document was very legal, and had gone through all the proper channels, and really, all that mattered was the line at the bottom.
...do hereby dissolve the position of Monarch of Equestria, stripping it of all rights and privileges, effective immediately.
Twilight touched her hoof to the blinking indicator. There was a hum, and a green ring flashed around her hoof, followed by words flowing onto the page.
Signed, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Monarch of Equestria.
Then, even as she watched, there was a chime, and her signature changed, her title disappearing before her eyes. She didn’t doubt that the system had already updated her signature on every document she’d ever put it on in the last hundred years—it was, after all, very efficient, and had been designed by ponies much smarter than her.
“Thank you, Miss Sparkle,” the bureaucrat in front of her said primly, taking the digital document and dismissing it.
Twilight opened her mouth to correct him, but then stopped, thought about it, and slowly began to laugh. It was strained, desperate, almost crazed. The title she’d held for thousands of years wasn’t hers anymore. It didn’t even exist. Her ponies had decided they didn’t need it. How could she do anything but laugh?
By the time she had recovered, wiping tears from her eyes, she was alone once more.
Twilight stepped out onto the roof of the palace, looking out over the city. She couldn’t see the edge of it anymore, and hadn’t been able to for centuries. New Canterlot stretched all the way around the entire mountain now, metal and chrome as far as the eye could see. Even the mountain was mostly machinery these days, after it and the original Canterlot had been largely demolished almost two thousand years ago. Twilight remembered the monster that had done it, a massive elemental spirit, but she couldn’t remember which Element bearers had helped her defeat it. Sometimes she wondered what that said about her.
She touched the device she wore on one wrist, and after a moment of scrolling, selected a name from the list it displayed. A low hum of magitech greeted her, and a teleportation circle materialized around her. She shivered as the foreign magic latched on to her, encompassing her in a teleportation matrix so complex it was unrecognizable to her. And then in a flash she was gone.
She appeared hundreds of miles away, in front of a three story mansion that was downright rustic by the standards of today’s ponies. She didn’t need to knock; the door scanned her before she even came near, letting the occupant know she was there. By the time she reached the door, it was already sliding open.
“My dear Twilight!” Celestia exclaimed, spreading her hooves and pulling Twilight into a hug. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
Twilight leaned into the hug, and her chest suddenly felt tight. Before she knew it, she was sobbing into Celestia’s shoulder, gesturing vaguely with one hoof and failing to form any words at all.
“Oh dear,” Celestia said. She turned her head and murmured, “Go wake up Luna. We may need her.”
Slowly, carefully, she led Twilight to a couch. Once she had applied the correct amount of blankets (all of them), she touched a hoof to the coffee table and with a press of a button, conjured a steaming cup of tea. “There you are,” she murmured soothingly, passing it to Twilight. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Twilight took the tea, but didn’t drink it, instead just staring at it like she’d never seen a teacup before. Finally, she let out a soft laugh. “They fired me,” she whispered.
Celestia blinked. “I’m sorry?”
Twilight laughed again, but there was no humor in it. “They fired me. They wrote up a law, and they put it through the proper channels - things I helped set up, to make sure I could know what my ponies wanted, and what they wanted… wasn’t me.” She took a slow sip of tea. It burned her mouth, but she didn’t care. “It was all very official. I’m not a Princess anymore. They decided they didn’t need me.”
“Oh, Twilight,” Celestia murmured. “I’m so sorry.” She touched one hoof to Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m sure that must have been very hard.”
The sound of hoofsteps announced another arrival, and Luna stepped into the room. She took one look at Twilight, and a frown crossed her face. “What has happened this time?” she asked.
Celestia turned. “The bureaucrats seem to have taken the final step in making alicorns obsolete,” she said quietly. “They removed Twilight from power.”
Luna blinked, then snorted. “About time.”
“Luna!” Celestia hissed. “Twilight is very upset.”
Luna rolled her eyes, stepping forward and leaning on the back of the couch. “Tell me, Twilight, were you happy doing what you were doing? Were you making difficult decisions, weighing the lives of your ponies and everycreature else? Were you using your fantastic abilities to save the realm from your foes?”
Twilight looked up, her eyes red. Slowly, she shook her head.
“As I thought. The world has moved past us. Do not be sad because it has only now decided to tell you this.”
Twilight nodded mutely, taking another sip of her tea. It tasted of salt.
Celestia sighed. “Luna, while you may be right, now isn’t the time. Come, Twilight, say something. We are both here for you.”
Twilight put down the tea. “You’re probably right,” she said dully. “I should have seen this coming. I mean… I did see this coming. It’s not like I didn’t know about it. But I thought… I thought it was just a few ponies, ponies who were discontent, or who didn’t want to follow my rules. I thought if I just let them be, they would see that life was just fine without my intervention, just like they wanted, and everything would be fine.” She shook her head. “I never… I never expected it to pass.”
Celestia sighed. “It is a hard thing, to see your people outgrow you,” she said softly. “But it is a natural part of life. Mothers watch their children grow up, teachers have to let their students graduate…”
Luna stepped in, “And rulers must let their people decide how they wish to be ruled. You are lucky that they informed you with rules and law, rather than violent rebellion.”
“Hey!” Twilight protested. “There hasn’t been a violent rebellion in Equestria in my entire reign. My ponies were happy. I helped them be happy. And this is the thanks I get.”
“Your thanks is that they no longer need you,” Luna said. “That is a noble end for any leader to look forward to.”
“It doesn’t feel noble.”
Luna smiled softly. “Perhaps not. But it is, nonetheless.”
Celestia stepped in. “Twilight, you were a good leader. You’re wise, and kind, and honest and loyal and generous. You’ve done so much for Equestria. Your legacy will live on forever, just as ours did. Surely you have never thought less of us for stepping down when Equestria no longer needed us?”
Twilight shook her head.
“Then do not think less of yourself. You did all that you could.” She paused, then smiled slyly. “Besides, there’s plenty of perks to retirement. You’ll have time to travel the world—”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Oh, not this again.”
“You haven’t even heard—”
“I do not need to.” Luna turned away. “I am going back to bed. Twilight, if you want my advice: Run, while you still can. Otherwise, the guest room is yours.”
“Hey! We are going to get you to… come back here!”
Twilight watched the two of them run off. Finally, she giggled. A real, genuine laugh, for the first time today. Maybe she could live with this after all.
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I wonder what's going to be the common pony's reaction to this when they realize how much it hurt her
A fine coda to Twilight's reign... though I can't help but imagine that ten years later, they'll come crawling back, either hilariously or tragically.
Probably not going to happen; the opening made it clear that Twilight's been disconnected from modern governance for centuries at this point. But still, some wicked little part of me can't help but think about subverting the message here. Ignore the imp; you did a fine job.
Brillient :)
I'd love a sequel about what Twilight does with her free time
Who will raise the sun?
10353022
Quips aside, I really liked this story! My compliments to the author.
10353045
Shes not relevent in their goverment anymore- her function as day-night manager was covered in the final episode. By this point they've likely automated the process using that device...or they could just assign someone to handle it.
Regardless, the cycle doesn't require a princess, device or not.
10353022
I'm surprised they fully removed her position. If she isn't relevant, wasn't she just a figurehead/historical postion? Maybe they'll bring her postion back with her placement and power properly verified.
Basically: just give the poor girl something similar to the Queen.
Where's my sequel, where Twilight spends the rest of her life dealing with the two sisters being ridiculous???
It's not like I need a comedy now, to patch my poor heart. Dammit zontan, why must you give me a heaping dose of the honey-nut-feelios? I just woke up!
Darn... this was pretty sad, but in a good way. But that bureaucrat that gave her the document, acted like an a-hole
10353054
She did that for years before having an official position.
10353055
Did that happen in the episode covering the sun and moon because I never saw the finale and don’t want to
10353157
I highly recommend watching the last episode. Its not the two-parter finale, its a epilogue and the true final episode. It's got the future as a framing device for the story of Twilight's coronation party. The device used in a previous episode(between dusk and Dawn) is now going to be always used for sun-moon movement.
10353162
I know what finale episode you are talking about but like I said I have no intention of seeing it
I saw the dusk and dawn episode and don’t remember the device at all
10353162
Thanks for letting me know
10353165
Wonder why....its pretty good.
10353175
The plot never sounded much interesting to me, plus personal opinion but not wanting him to see straight as headmare and what I heard of the final song is just meh
Just personal preference and all
How about a comedy sequel where there are a whole lot of powerful villains waiting for twilight to step down from the throne to invade and the citizens are ill prepared since they never actually had to fight against threats before and are as effective as the police of san angeles from demolition man
10353162
That's a bit much to infer from the final shot.
In any event, wasn't it confirmed that Twilight's crown (the one made from Celestia's and Luna's) was what let her control the sun and moon?
10353194
I might be misremembering but I recall them giving her the device again, during the ending of the coronation party.
Was it her crown this time? Either way, I do remember her talking about the ending of the summer sun celebration before giving Twilight her sun/moon raising tool.
10353189
"We're the Equestrian Army! We aren't trained to handle this kind of violence!"
Wonderful little story! I quite enjoyed it!
There is something wrong with this. I could see them making the Princess-ship ceremonial, but to just remove it from history essentially seems inequine. Knowing Twilight, she probably hasn't even stored 1/100th the amount of equity that most ponies would think a pony in her position would have. Not that she is necessarily bitless but I have a funny feeling she'll actually have to go to work in an immortal's eyeblink.
A lovely story about the end of Twilight's reign
, but considering Equestria's history of ancient evils periodically sprouting back up from the dead, I'd always imagined Twilight's reaction to being forced off the throne would probably be taking after George III 
:
"You'll be back, soon you'll see
You'll remember you belong to me
You'll be back, time will tell
You'll remember that I served you well"
Great story notheless, bittersweet but pleasantly hopeful.
Oooof, like a major punch to the gut there. But yeah, from the sounds of it, even as much of an asshole the bureaucrat was about it, Fan summed it up. It's clear Twilight's just that disconnected from her actual job, and maybe it is for the best. Maybe it isn't. We'll probably never know.
10353057
She herself says she wasn't intervening, that she built up the systems so she wouldn't need to. While the story is nice as a short piece of fluff, we can actually point to the only real life monarchy who ever did something even vaguely like that, and see how it ended for them.
Oh, a maintained position of wealth and influence because they're seen as a cultural touchstone and symbol for their entire nation. And they didn't even save the world multiple times.
If it was simply them stripping her of her last powers and duties, that'd be one thing, but people don't get tired of the immortal symbol of their nation who saved the world multiple times and built their democracy from the ground up remaining in a position of prestige. I'd expect a violent rebellion from the people who fear that removing her from power is an attempt to create unchecked power from the bureaucrats, more than anything.
Woah.
10353461
Interesting concept, wanna write it?
10353461
Just give your immortal grandmother a cushy honorary spot, Equestrians ;(
The story is good, feels almost a little too light though.
Need ms a sequel of the entire system falling apart without Twilight. And the Ponys not being able to find her, and Celestia and Luna. And when they do, they dont want there jobs back!
10353517
True, I was debating just now weather this goes to my Masterpiece's list. I mean this story has the potential to punch a hole through my heart, but it didn't. Perhaps if it had something deeper.
I mean imagine if when her title dissolved and she was left with nowhere to go. No Celestia, Luna, or friends. Ruling her kingdom had been all she had for thousands of years. And they don't want her. Not even a thank you for your service. Merely thanks for signing the paper. And now she's truly alone.
Something like that wouldn't have broken my heart. It would have left it broken. If a story can fill me with strong, emotions, keep me interested, has characters you can truly emphasize with, has an amazing story/plot I enjoy, or has something really unique(Unique NON-story/plot wise) I consider anding it to my MasterPiece's list. Anything thing with those.
For this story, I felt it trying to punch a hole in my heart but was more a slap to the heart.
Wait, how do you get second place for the "A Worthy End." contest? It started and ended in 2019? It's not even in the "A Worthy End." folder for the group.
"Finally, Twilight. You'll have time to visited my island: For-Oh-Won Cay! "
To be honest,
This is the kind of story that I would have expected to be a multi chapter length story. It just has that potential. Like, the citizens of Equestria had decided that they no longer needed Twilight. But what are the consequences? Good? Bad? Ugly? Would it be so bad that the ponies of the nation would want to rip up the bill that was passed and Twilight take charge again?
It's clear that this occurs many centuries in the future where Technology has advanced the world of Equestria in a positive way, but ofc, the negatives are there.
Idk, this is just my opinion on it. It just disappoints me to see such an idea only be put to short use. Cause lemme tell you, I can see where this kinda thing could lead to and honest to Celestia how good of a story it could be if it went that direction. But that's just me.
Other than that, I did enjoy this 1 shot. :)
10353538
The ending talk couldn't have suffered from the addition of a few more words.
10353615
I take this as our world, it's not a government, it's a faceless company.
10353538
No, leaving her completely alone is the obvious thing to do. Its cliche and kinda boring, leaving on a more positive note makes this story better. It shows growth in Twilight and not the obvious despair that you want. However, I do admit that this story had something to be desired. I like it, but it could have been more.
10353544
Contest 100 (which this was written for) used a number of older prompts that people could pick from. A Worthy End was one of them.
10353461
The UK also makes a SHIT ton of profit over what they effectively tithe to the monarchy. Both in money from the lands that the royals effectively lent to the UK government, tourism, and just off the strength of their image.
Also WWZ had one story from someone who had survived inside a castle and met the Queen. She refused to leave Windsor, and was "in for the duration". He said that the symbology of castles and the royalty kept the british people alive through the War as surely as guns and stone walls did.
Damn liberals
One does not need to get rid of a king for a society to advance, as demonstrated by Juan Carlos, who brought democracy back to Spain after the Franco years.
This is a good drama. A tale of how the fall from power is always bittersweet. But it seems a bit excessive.
At that point, Twilight incorporates a company that charges her services of raising the sun and moon, and becomes capitalism's wet dream... Ultimate power, held forever. Equestria learns benevolent monarchy with socialised daylight is better than three ponies holding the power of the sun and moon alone.
10353528
Its made clear she wasn't really needed. Its not gonna collapse without her. She raised them well...
10353700
Ah, I see, thanks!
10353645
Cliche or not, I thought up on the spot. Either way, I find it a little sad.
I give it twenty years. Twenty years, then windigoes.
I would love to see this story where when they claim she has her title taken away she just goes ok and goes on vacation. Of coarse the sun and moon doesnt rise and all the nations come together to ask the ponies why they arent raising the sun and moon. The other nations then force the ponies to take twilight back und3r the threat of total war.
10353162
thing is, that device was made with twilight in mind, a comon mage alone would never be able to understand how it functions.
whats more it does have to be recharged likely periodicly by the two sisters, as they imbued it with there power, so basicly the quip about a power company analog right there all over again
whats more theres no real viable reason to remove twilight from her post, if as they said shes been disconected from the ACTUAL governence for nearly a century...then that basicly means that shes not bothering anyone either, so striping her of her position was an act of spite more then anything in my eyes...someone in power didnt like that there was someone who had a tittle that "IMPLIED" more authority then they had and they made a stink about it
to me thats what this story says
As far as ends to a monarchy go (both IRL and in fiction), this was downright tame. And something tells me that for a ruler like Twilight, she will still have the respect and love of the people, even if the bureaucrats thought of her as an obstacle. Still, this is a good lesson to learn.
I really enjoyed the first draft of this on QnS, and as expected, not much needed to be changed. Also "the correct amount of blankets" for a woobie is indeed "all of them."
This was so nice and wholesome. All it's missing is a PARTY!!!!