Twipocalypse

by heidi666

Underestimations

It was several minutes before Twilight could bring herself to stop her sobbing and move. She lifted her head and realising she wasn't presentable in this state, with red-rimmed eyes and a blotchy snout, decided to return to her room and wash up properly. She dropped her half-eaten toast on a plate and swept out of the hall, having lost all her appetite.

As she stormed back to her room, she thought back on what had gone wrong with her friends. True, she'd perhaps been a little careless with her choice of words, but such a reaction wasn't characteristic of them at all. She forced herself to put the matter out of her mind, at least for the time being, as she entered into her quarters, took off all her regal apparel, and threw herself into a scalding hot shower. Perhaps it would help her to clear her thoughts and ask herself more clearly about what to do.

For a few minutes, Twilight felt only bliss as the hot water cascaded over her coat and wings, washing away her worries as easily as the dirt on her body. But she knew that all good things must come to an end, so reluctantly, she first turned the temperature down to an invigorating cold, then shut off the water and got out of the shower. As she prepared a drying spell, she thought about what to do – Celestia had seemed busy this morning, and Luna was most probably asleep... she still wanted to think about how to deal with her friends, so she made up her mind to go and visit her parents at their home in the city. They would probably want to celebrate with her in a more intimate fashion, and while she was there she could probably rely on them for some advice regarding her situation.

She surprised herself at how easily the drying spell came to her. Usually it was quite a complicated operation, concentrating on a heat spell and spreading it evenly over her whole coat. She had to heat the water enough so it would dry quickly, but if the heat spread to her fur, it would leave a myriad of unsightly marks, if not burn her skin. Twilight sighed as she remembered finding out the hard way how difficult, and sometimes painful, learning a seemingly easy spell could be. This time, it seemed, she only had to to think of the magic and she was already completely dry.

She put on the crown, necklace and ponyshoes, then made her way towards the palace exit, passing by the Great Hall the celebration had been in the evening before. All the guards she met as she passed by gave her a crisp salute, and the servants gave a deep bow, interrupting their cleaning, dusting or whatever else they might be doing. Twilight was slightly disconcerted by all the attention she was receiving, but if they were used to acting that way around Celestia and Luna, then Twilight didn't feel she should tell them to behave any differently.

Finally coming out of the palace door, she paused for a moment to take in the bracing midnight air. She knew that she could probably ask one of the guards standing at attention at the main door to accompany her, or fetch her a carriage, but she worried it might seem slightly presumptuous of her, giving orders to Celestia's guards only the day after her coronation. Having made up her mind, and with a mental picture of what direction to take, she set off, trotting down the pebbled avenue that led to the towering golden gate admitting entrance to the castle grounds.

As she reached the gate, two burly guards swung it open for her as an even more imposing pony came out of the little hut nearby, walking towards her. By his more elaborate golden armour and the plume that came out of his helmet, Twilight recognised him as an officer of the guard and paused to let him reach her.

He gave a salute and said respectfully, but in a gruff tone, “Good morning, Princess Twilight. My name is Lance, and I hold the position of Lieutenant of the Royal Guard.”

Twilight responded to Lance's salute with a nod. “Good morning, Lieutenant. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Yes, Princess. I must ask whether you intend to go out into the city.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and answered, “Yes, of course. Why?”

“Naturally your Highness, you may do as you wish, but it is most unusual for the other princesses to go out to the city without a carriage.”

“Thanks for your concern, Lieutenant, but I feel like a walk.”

“At least let me give you a detachment of guards to accompany you, Princess!”

“No thank you, Lieutenant. I only intend to visit my parents, and I don't want to create a scene.”

The officer half-opened his mouth, and for a moment it seemed as if he was going to say something else, but then he composed himself. With another salute, he said, “As you wish, Princess. Good day.”

Twilight answered, “To you too, Lieutenant,” and set off down the road into Canterlot proper.

As she wandered into the high quarter of the city, she mused upon why the officer had wanted to give her an escort. There had been no dangers in Canterlot since the changeling invasion, which had long since been repelled, and the whole city had been rejoicing the previous evening at her coronation – how could anyone want to harm her? He was probably just being overly cautious as part of his job as a Guard officer.

Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted as a pony across the street called out to her, “Good day, Princess Twilight!” He must have been a noble-pony, as his mane was elegantly coiffed and he sported a white lily cutie mark on his light blue coat.

“Good day,” she replied amicably, and continued along the broad avenue. It was lined on either side with magnificent mansions, all quietly ostentatious. A couple had elaborately carved porticos, while others had marble statues of their ancestors on pedestals in the garden, representing their noble line to all. Most of them had impeccably maintained topiaries – hedges in intricate patterns or trees forming shapes like birds or other animals.

Hardly anyone was in the residential street, being rather late in the morning, but all those whom she passed gave a respectful nod or called out to her, giving her compliments or their respects. At first she responded to each with a friendly rejoinder, but as she walked the constant greetings began to grate and she limited herself to a simple nod or smile.

Eventually she turned and proceeded down the main road which led to her parents' house. They were both unicorns, scientifically minded and very intelligent. Her father was a highly respected engineer, so the family lived in a decently sized house in the middle of one of Canterlot's more respected areas. The room she had liked the most was their library, in which she had spent countless hours reading whatever book she could lay her hooves on.

Her parents had never censored what she could read, merely limiting themselves to placing the saucier books on the high bookshelves, but that soon became little object to Twilight as her telekinesis emerged earlier than expected. That room, coupled with her parents' willingness to answer any curiosity she may have had, ranging from the absurdly silly to the deeply introspective, had forged Twilight into the inquisitive mare, hungry for knowledge, she was now – and for that she was eternally grateful.

As she walked along, she marvelled at the celebration which must have gone on the previous evening. Brightly coloured streamers were everywhere underhoof, and unlit lights were strung from tree to tree on both sides of the road. She saw a few ponies who were cleaning the street up, but it would probably be another couple of days before the signs of the city-wide party were gone. Further down along the road, there was a market filled with ponies ambling about, doing their shopping at any one of the multitude of stalls by the side of the road. The air began to fill with the cries of salesponies pitching their wares as she approached.

As the ponies further ahead noticed her, the assorted cries of “Fresh vegetables, the best you've ever seen!” and “Bread just come out of the oven, 5 bits a loaf!” became shouts of adulation.

“Look, over there, Princess Twilight!”

“All hail our Princess!”

Twilight suddenly found herself surrounded by ponies of all colours, jostling each other to stand next to her and shake her hoof, or stare at her wings and horn. Slightly unnerved and unsure of what to do, she smiled haltingly and paused every so often to shake a hoof that was proffered to her as she walked. The constant greetings and introductions merged into a wall of sound, and Twilight found herself becoming more and more annoyed.

“Princess, here, try my bread – I guarantee you it rivals the best loaf at the palace!” came the booming voice of a large earth pony wearing a white baker's hat and apron. He barged his way through the circle of ponies surrounding her, holding a thick piece of crusty bread, still steaming.

Stunned, Twilight could do nothing else but accept, lighting up her horn and levitating the slice to her mouth. Her mood changed as she took a small bite, and she beamed as she took in the flavour. The baker was right: it really was the best bread she'd ever tasted. The pony walked with her while she ate the rest of the slice, creating some space for her through the confusion of the market, and smiled when she finished.

Raising her voice slightly to make herself heard above the ambient noise, she complimented him. “Well done, that was absolutely delicious. What do I owe you?”

He roared with laughter, and explained, “Why, nothing, my Princess. Your approval and smile is all the reward I need. Good day, now!” He waved to her as he waded resolutely through the crowd back to his stall. Twilight pressed onwards through the packed market and the circle of ponies closed round her again, pressing inwards.

With a start, she felt a tremendous bump on her hind legs, and turning, she saw a grey pegasus sprawled on the ground. Irritated, she asked him, “Do you mind?”

The pegasus quickly scrambled to his hooves and bashfully stammered out, “I-I'm sorry, Princess... I was pushed.”

Suddenly, she looked around, and, seemingly for the first time, saw a huge crowd of ponies right in her face, snidely pushing each other without care merely to get closer to their new princess. When she looked back at the pegasus who had fallen on top of her, and who cringed at her glance, she felt anger rise up within her.

Closing her eyes, she thought back to the previous evening, when Luna had lent her her royal Canterlot voice for her little speech. Concentrating, she examined how the magic had felt as it connected with her and amplified her words. Trying to match that feeling, she channeled magic to her horn, lifted her head up and shouted, “Ponies, you should be ashamed of yourselves! Look at this pegasus, who you've trampled just to get closer to me – this is disgraceful behaviour, unbecoming of Canterlot citizens!”

Only when she lowered her head and opened her eyes did she realise just how powerful her voice had been. A couple of ponies were sprawled on the ground in front of her, curled into a ball with the front hooves on top of their ears, and the rest of them looked at her, horrified, staggering back instinctively with pain in their faces. Bewildered, she decided there was nothing she could do that wouldn't make things worse and decided to press on the few streets more to her parents' house.

The ponies in front of her immediately scrambled to get out of the way, launching fearful looks over their shoulders as they retreated from her path. Head down, Twilight stalked onwards. There went her plan to not create a scene.

Comments

[hamcon]

I have to admit, this is good. And to say what I think about Twilicorn (No idea why I keep saying that), I don't care anymore, in maybe 5 years time, the fandom will disappear, and everybody will forget that the series even existed. Hell, I forgot that Batman: The Animated Series even existed until I watched a review by the Nostalgia Critic.

[heidi666]

2064023
I know what you mean. I try and keep every pony true to their show characterisation, but keep juuuust a little something off which unnerves you. Intentional? No, just bad writing.

2069769
Thanks for your comment and compliment, but you best get those heretical thoughts outta here before I get my wooden stake and holy water.

[hamcon]

Okay, I'll try, but are you talking about the Batman comment, or the MLP comment?

[Sketchy Markks]

It would make the ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE a whole lot more noticeable if you made if you made it loud.

GRAND WORK CITIZEN! I HOPE I SHALL SOON BE PRIVY TO MORE OF YOUR WORKS!

[heidi666]

2069832
MLP shall be eternal.

2071091
Ehh... I guess, but I prefer description to formatting.