Royal Duties

by biasedeyes

A Hasty Reunion

It turned out that Morning and Misty had made their way to Canterlot to find that Luna was only recruiting a small contingent of guards, arranged in militaristic style. As neither one was all that keen on becoming a soldier, they passed on that possibility, but their inquests at the castle happened to fall on the ears of some head of ceremony. Impressed by their devotion to royalty and willingness to serve, she asked them if they would be willing to fill some of the ever difficult to recruit for spots on Celestia’s honor guard, which was currently severely understaffed. As the primary requirements were simply a willingness to dye one’s coat and a decent head on one’s neck, they readily agreed.

By the time the train reached Ponyville, Twilight felt that she knew the two mares across from her much better. Although Misty had struck her as quiet and polite at first, she reveled in positive attention, and had an ego. In contrast, Morning would generally brusquely state whatever was on her mind, but was much more reserved overall. There was obviously a deep friendship between the two mares, and Twilight wondered if that was why their personalities seemed so complimentary.

As they stepped onto the Ponyville platform Twilight stumbled (out of sheer clumsiness? It wasn’t that large a step) and was immediately caught in a press of feathers and barrels as Morning and Misty moved in to catch her between them, almost before she realized she was falling. Once she got her hooves again, they stepped back after making sure she was steady. Twilight looked to either side, and felt uneasy when she saw the white faces of the two, looking to her for guidance, their manes styled just like one of her friend’s.

“So...” she said, stepping out from between them and turning to face them. “Why don’t you stay here while I go and round up my friends?”

“Princess... aren’t we supposed to guard you?” asked Morning Dew

“Well, gathering all my friends will take a while, and I hardly need a guide around Ponyville.” Twilight smirked, “In fact, getting them all together will mean that I can’t give you a tour of Ponyville, so you’ll have to do that yourselves. How about you take a while to explore and be back here in an hour and a half?”

“Okay.” said Morning, at the same time as Misty said “Alright!” They turned towards Mane Street, Misty guiding the pair towards the nearby cafe. Twilight turned the other way and hurried towards the giant, hollowed out tree which was the Ponyville Library.

The inside of the library was mostly the same as Twilight remembered, but much... cleaner. Usually there were some books unshelved, or some of the general clutter that was a result of making the library the home of a pony and a baby dragon. But now there was hardly a speck of dust to be seen and the books were all shelved, and, Twilight saw from peering at the spines, properly alphabetized.

“Spike?” she called, wondering if her charge had stayed as interim librarian as she’d told him he could, or managed to finagle a way to turn her absence into an extended stay at Fluttershy’s or Rarity’s, leaving the library unused.

“Twilight!” The dragon in question rushed from an adjacent room, hugging her front hooves with his claws. Twilight saw a bit of perspiration in the corner of his eye.

“Hey, what’s up?” she said softly, extricating one of her hooves to run it over the green crest atop his purple head. “How was the library while I was gone?”

“Oh, you know,” said Spike, stepping back from the hug and giving her one of his sardonic glances, “I cleaned everything up, helped Ribbon find a book. Things were just starting to get boring.”

“Well I’m glad you kept things in order” said Twilight, stepping forward and taking a book she had wanted to reference yesterday off the shelf, then flipping it open. Before immersing herself in reading the desired section (about traditional modes of Pony Humour), she took another look around the library “Even cleaner than usual, actually.”

“Well, it’s a bit easier when somepony isn’t leaving books lying around all the time.” said Spike, rolling his eyes. Futilely, as Twilight was buried in her book.

“Oh, please,” said Twilight as she finished reading, rolling her own eyes, and beginning to search the shelves for related passages. She soon found a promising one and hooked it down with her magic, flipping through it as she levitated it onto the table next to the one she had just read. “It’s not as if it makes all that much...” she said absently, scanning the section she wanted. She grunted appreciatively as some small intricacy of Luna’s story was revealed to her, then straightened and walked back toward Spike. “Anyway!” she said, “I actually came back because I need to talk with all my friends, could you go find Applejack and Rainbow Dash and tell them to meet me at the train station in an hour?”

“The train station?” said Spike, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, tell them there’ll be a couple of Celestia’s honor guard there too.” said Twilight, “they’re there to take us to the Crystal Empire for the Princesses’ Summit.”

Twilight and Spike split up, Spike heading to Sweet Apple Acres, and Twilight to Fluttershy’s Cottage. It had been a while since Twilight had heard much from Fluttershy, as she wasn’t the sort to talk a lot when there was anyone she didn’t know well around to hear. This meant that more or less the last words she had heard from Fluttershy were “Wow, you look just like a princess.”

Twilight wondered, actually, about her quietness on the train ride to Canterlot. She hoped Fluttershy didn’t see her too differently. This was Fluttershy after all, she should know how wings weren’t necessarily all that integral...

And with that, Twilight had arrived at Fluttershy’s. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the bridge and knocked on the door.

A few moments later, there still wasn’t an answer. Fluttershy was usually pretty prompt about opening, well, cracking open her door and peering at whoever was outside. Twilight looked in through the window, but didn’t see anypony. She could hear some noises, but given the number of animals which Fluttershy’s house hosted it was always somewhat noisy. Twilight knocked again.

After a minute without an answer, Twilight was fairly certain that Fluttershy wasn’t home. With a sigh, she turned and headed toward Carousel Boutique.

A short walk later, Twilight steeled herself, and knocked on the door of Rarity’s buisness/residence, Carousel Boutique.

“Co~oming!” Rarity’s voice sang from inside.

A few moments, and the door opened to reveal a smiling Rarity. She seemed surprised to see Twilight, both her eyebrows shot up, and her smile broke into a grin.

“Oh, Twilight!” she said, throwing open the door and guiding her inside, “I didn’t expect to see you back so soon! Fluttershy and I were just working out a new line for my boutique. It looks amazing, if I do say so myself. It may be some of my best work yet!”

Stepping past some racks of clothing into the main room on the bottom floor of the boutique Twilight was greeted by a rare sight on the stage in the center, a happily smiling Fluttershy in a dress.

Twilight didn’t see Fluttershy smile openly very often, as she didn’t seem too comfortable with large groups of ponies, even when it was just her friends. As dresses were generally worn only for social occasions involving large groups; the only other time Twilight could remember really seeing Fluttershy smile in a dress was when she had been bursting with excitement on exploring the Canterlot gardens.

“Well, what do you think?” asked Rarity, studying Twilight’s expression.

As far as the dress itself went, Twilight was a bit out of her depth. She had never really attended to fashion, and though she liked to think that she could tell if a dress was ugly, well... she’d thought that the dress a mean-spirited, power-mad Trixie had summoned to make Rarity faint looked just fine. Rarity had shown it to her after the fact one afternoon and then looked expectantly at her for commentary, just as she was doing now. Luckily it was easy to tell from context what sort of reply was appropriate.

“Oh, uh, looks great Rarity! I bet it would fly off the shelves in Canterlot!” Twilight remarked. Rarity beamed in response. The last bit, about Canterlot, was a nice touch. Though Twilight hadn’t been into fashion much there either, it was generally considered the fashion capital of Equestria, and Rarity still seemed to think Twilight had some sort of secret knowledge of it.

“In any case, what brings you to my humble abode?” asked Rarity “Did you need anything? Why are you back from Canterlot so suddenly?”

“Oh.” said Twilight “Actually, I came to ask you if you could come down to the train station in an hour or so. Celestia invited you both to the Princess Summit, and her honor guard are there to take us to the Crystal Empire.”

Rarity’s and Flutershy’s eyes both widened.

“Princess Celestia?” asked Fluttershy. “Why does she need us for the princess summit?”

“I don’t know,” said Twilight, “she just asked me to tell you you were invited.”

“Well” said Rarity, “we’d be glad to support you, if that’s what you want.” Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement.

“Yeah...” said Twilight scratcing the back of her head with a hoof, “that’d be nice.”

“Besides,” continued Rarity, “a Princess Summit! I can’t imagine anything more sophisticated! Just give us a few moments to finish up, and we’ll be right with you.”

“Okay.” said Twilight. “Ah, I haven’t told Pinkie Pie yet, so, see you at the train station?”

“Absolutely!” Rarity called. She had shifted her focus to helping Fluttershy out of her dress, and the other mare seemed to be pointing something out in her quiet way. As Twilight left, they seemed to be already deep in discussion over the dress.

“Oh, Twilight, there you are!” said Mr. Cake as she entered Sugarcube Corner.

“Here I am? Were you expecting me?” asked Twilight.

“Well, a minute or so ago, Pinkie was helping me bake cupcakes, when all of a sudden she shouted ‘Twilight’s here!’ and shot out the door. And here you are!” replied Mr. Cake. “Where is she, by the way?” Mr. Cake asked, craning his neck to peer behind her, but not seeming otherwise perturbed at the sudden loss of his employee.

“I don’t know!” groaned Twilight, a bit irritated at Pinkie’s tendency to know things she had no business knowing, “I haven’t seen her since I got back.”

“Oh.” said Mr. Cake. “Well, if you do see her, tell her that she doesn’t need to come back here right away. We’ve done baking for today, so she can take the rest of the day off if she likes.”

“Right.” said Twilight, already exiting the shop.

Where could Pinkie be? Twilight would like to say that her range was limited by the fact she had only left Sugarcube Corner minutes before, but Pinkie could travel fast, and had a habit of popping up in unexpected places. She paced back and forth in the street a few times before deciding to head down to the train station early, hopefully some of her friends would be early as well, and they might have seen Pinkie.

As she approached the station though, Twilight saw Pinkie herself, a bright pink pony between two all-white ones, talking with the honor guards, who were just finishing lunch.

“Heya, Twilight!” called Pinkie, jumping up and waving when she got close. “I knew you were back in town, and my Pinkie Sense told me that there were ponies from Canterlot at the cafe, so I thought, it must be you! But these mares are Misty Rain and Morning Dew! Turns out they’re part of an honorable guard, escorting a new princess from Canterlot! You guys must have been on the same train! Isn’t that... Oh!” Pinkie’s eyebrows shot up and her pupils shrank as she worked it out, though whether from simple logic or the embarrassed glances between the three ponies Twilight would never know. Behind her a waiter presented a check to the table, and one of the guards counted some bits out of her saddlebags onto the table. Pinkie trotted around the table, then vaulted the fence that kept the cafe separated from the street, landing right in front of Twilight.

“Sooo... Twilight” she said, sticking her face right under Twilight’s nose, “Why are you back so soon? Where did you get a guard? Are you out on princess business? Is it a secret? If it is, you can tell me, I Pinkie Promise not to tell. Are... ?”

“Actually,” said Twilight, cutting Pinkie off while she could still answer all of her questions, “I’m here because Princess...” Twilight broke off, coughing, as a cloud of dust rose up right beside her.

“Hey Pinkie, Twilight.” said Rainbow Dash from within the cloud of dust as it settled. “What are you doing back here Twilight? I thought you were still learning how to be all princessy.” grinned Rainbow.

“Yes, well, I’m here because Princess Celestia asked you to invite you all with me to the Princess Summit” said Twilight, repeating what she had meant to say before she was cut off. “I’ve already told Rarity and Fluttershy, and they’re coming, and hopefully Spike has managed to tell Applejack by now. We’re meeting at the train station in...” she craned her neck around to look at the town clock, “...six minutes?! We may have to wait a bit.”

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash just looked at each other and grinned, as though sharing some silent joke. Twilight had half a mind to ask what it was, but she was distracted as the gate to the cafe banged shut behind her and her honor guard came out to stand beside her. As she turned back to look at her friends she saw Spike riding atop Applejack, both of them making their way down the street to the train station.

“Spike! Applejack! Over here!” she called, waving a hoof.

As Spike and Applejack started to make their way over, their group was joined by Rarity and Fluttershy, who quickly greeted Pinkie and Rainbow. Soon Twilight was surrounded by seven ponies, all looking to her for direction. Was it because she was a princess, or because she was their only common point of contact?

“Right. Everypony, meet Misty Rain and Morning Dew” she said, waving her hoof at both of them. She was embarrassed as she realized she couldn’t actually tell them apart without them speaking. They smiled as the attention of the group shifted towards them. “They’ll be taking us to the Princess Summit.”

“Right now?” asked Applejack, “Begging your pardon, but ahm not packed yet. Is there any chance ah could nip back to the farm and grab ah few things... ?” She looked back and forth over Twilight and the honor guards.

One of the honor guard stepped forward. “Princess Cadance will be putting you up in the Crystal Palace, so you shouldn’t need to pack anything.” said the voice of Morning Dew.

“Um...” Misty’s said, looking to her friend.

“Oh, actually,” said Morning, catching her friend’s meaning, “the summit isn’t until the day after tomorrow, so Cadance won’t be prepared for you until tomorrow. We can stay the night and escort you to the empire tomorrow, princess, but we’re not going right away.”

“Oh, no, that’s fine” hurried Twilight, “you don’t have to stay here, I’ll be fine with some of my friends as escorts. I guess you can just... give me whatever information I need?”

“Okay. Well, Princess Celestia wanted you to know to bring your element, but don’t worry about your friends’.” said Morning, opening her saddlebags and hoofing the aforesaid element to Twilight.

“Also, we’ve got money to purchase tickets for you and any of your friends that want them!” put in Misty.

After a chorus of affirmatives, Twilight offered to accompany Misty and Morning down to the train station so they could buy six tickets to the Crystal Empire as well as return tickets for the Express back to Canterlot, but Rarity quickly gainsayed this idea.

“Don’t worry yourself darling, we’ll do it!” she said, indicating Fluttershy, “Besides which, you need some rest, you look awfully tired!”

And so the group split up, everypony giving quick goodbyes, leaving Twilight walking to the library, Spike plodding along beside her.

***

Twilight groaned as a claw poked her. There was something hard and flat near her head. A second pillow...? No. A book on turbulence and hydrodynamics. Several pertinent equations came to mind. The claw poked her again.

Twilight groaned and opened her eyes. The remains of last night’s study were strewn around her bed and over the floor of her room, and Spike was poking one of her hooves that was sticking out from under the covers.

“Spiiike...” she moaned, trying to shut her eyes once again.

“Come on Twilight! The train to the Crystal Empire leaves in an hour!” said Spike. “You’re not even packed yet!”

Twilight’s eyes opened again, much faster this time. “What? How is that even possible? I’ve overslept!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have stayed up so late last night reading.” said Spike drily.

Twilight leaped out of bed and proceeded to brush her teeth, have breakfast, and throw a couple books and a crown which represented the element of magic into a bag. Spike took the bag and wheeled it out of the treehouse as Twilight trotted along beside, and they made their way to the train station.

All her friends were already there, as was the train (it was still five minutes before departure, though). As they boarded the train, and as the train steamed toward the empire ruled by Twilight’s old babysitter, they talked and complained, filling Twilight in on all the things that had (or hadn’t) happened in her absence. In return, Twilight told them about seeing Celestia do a wingblade routine, which drew some surprised comments. Rarity, in particular, was pretty close to almost flatly disbelieving her.

All in all, a journey which was close to half a day seemed to fly by, and soon their train had pulled into Crystal Station and everypony was disembarking.

Twilight checked her bag to make sure the crown was still there, then checked her seat to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. She turned back to her bag to see that Spike had already taken it and was rolling it off the train.

They walked toward the stunning arches of the Crystal Empire in awed silence. As they entered the city Applejack finally turned away from the cityscape towards Twilight.

“Hoowee, your very first Princess Summit! You must be over the moon, Twilight.” she said searchingly. Twilight almost didn’t hear her, caught up as she was in her own thoughts.

“Oh. I am excited, but, to be honest, I’m a little nervous too.” replied Twilight.

She and her friends talked as they made their way up to the palace, Pinkie introducing the word ‘nervoucited’, and Rarity fussing over Twilight’s new royalty, unusually unsubtly, for her, but earnest all the same. Twilight smiled. Everything was going just fine.

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