"That could have gone better." Celestia sighed under her breath.
Passing through one of the many hallways of canterlot castle, Celestia had just returned from what would be considered one of her worst meetings of the year.
Her usual regal posture and friendly aura that was hand in hand with the solar princess seemed hampered, almost lacking the fire it typically had. Her eyes had a slight gloom and tired feeling to them, her smiles seemed to have some effort put into them, and her voice quivered from time to time if she was careless enough.
Normally days such as this did not have as much of an impact on her. However, it would seem that the powers that be today was taking great pleasure in testing Celestia’s patience to the fullest.
Some poor soul had mixed up the castles routine organization, the misprint caused all of the castles daily activities and several of the planned meetings to be fast forwarded by several hours ahead of time. To make things worse, they were also clumped far closer together, leaving the castle in chaos trying to keep pace with the demanding timeline.
Ironically, Celestia was not a morning pony. Having had to wake up three hours earlier than what she was used to didn't go over too well with Celestia's mood. Nearly forgetting to raise the sun, and almost forgetting that she put on her clothing backwards, which she still cannot figure out how she managed to do.
A mood that did not improve much once she began her duties and assignments for the day. It would seem that all of the most trivial and maddening meetings and discussions were all clumped into today. The highlight of them being the most recent one she was just now exiting.
Celestia rolled her eyes at the memory, the two nobles were arguing about the legal rights they had over which land they could put up statues of their family's heritage. Nearly two hours of the meeting down the drain was spent translating what each noble was shouting over the other.
"Why is it that the nobles always seem to find something to bicker at one another about?" She silently mused to herself. Her ears were still slightly ringing from the heated conversation the nobles had.
Taking a sip of coffee and letting the heavenly elixir release her of some of the evil of mornings, a slight sigh escaped her at the enjoyable feeling of warmth it gave. Using magic, with a bit of focus and a slight popping sound, the horn on her head began to glow its signature golden glow, and a moment later Celestia summoned her list of duties that remained.
Through weary eyes Celestia opened the source of her pain to find out what task she had next. To her great surprise and even greater relief, luck had decided to show her mercy, for in her sleep induced stupor Celestia had not noticed her progress through her requirements, an act of kindness by fate has left only one more duty for the day.
A simple advertising discussion was all that was left. Praising every god she could think of for this mercy, and taking another sip of the hero's elixir, Celestia began her journey through the castle to where the meeting was taking place.
Several doors and hallways later of relative silence, Celestia got to see the results of this unfortunate accident. Dignitaries, serpents, guards and maidens were rushing through the hallways in what was one step away from becoming a full-on stampede. Tails were crushed under hoof, panicked shoving followed by brief apologies. The chaos was so thick one could almost cut it with a knife.
Celestia's ears dropped slightly at the sight, feeling pity for her subjects for having to endure this madness just as she had.
Navigating through the chaos with relative ease due to years of experience, Celestia made it through relatively unscathed, however the same could not be said for some of the other poor souls.
The sight of their princess attempting to pass through had spurred even more chaos at trying to let her through, which led to all the more infuriating mess that crowds are known to cause get increased tenfold. Almost comical in a way, but Celestia kept her laughs to herself.
Having made it through the madness, Celestia let out a sigh of relief before resuming her pace down the hallways towards her destination. For some odd reason, whoever decided to design the castle took great pleasure in making the nobility and commoner’s government rooms as far as possible.
"Guess some mindsets never change." Celestia sighed sadly.
Despite her best efforts to make Equestria better, it would seem no matter how hard she tried there were some things that she could never change. The nobles were always snobby, the public was always freaking out over something, an obscure law leading to disarray and debate in the senate. Celestia admitted it took its toll from time to time. While justified, it didn't make it any less tiresome.
To break her out of her bleak mindset she looked up to find out where exactly she is. It would seem that even in deep contemplation Celestia still knew this castle like the back of her hoof, getting lost was never a concern for her in this castle. In mere moments she mapped out where she was and, to her happiness, she recognized the hallway in a way only she could, the tiny little details in her castle was like her own little map.
Okay, just one more turn left and down the next hallway Celestia thought, relieved at the news.
Making the final turn, she smiled at the sight that greeted her.
It would seem she had led herself down the path that would take her though the appropriately dubbed 'era of the sun'. Massive stain glass windows decorated in such patterned to capture beautiful images of history for all to see. One of the many hallways that was, as the name suggested, of Celestia's reign as the single ruler of Equestria.
The old name of the past era sparked a sense of happiness and sadness, for while during that time Equestria was in a time of greatness, it was also the loneliest she had ever felt, with Luna being banished to the moon. Her ears dropped at the memories.
To derail her mind from the dark places it went, Celestia distracted herself by recalling each event as she passed through the final hallway. Nostalgic feelings were being brought back at the familiar images before her.
As memories of many glorious battles flowed into her memory, a slight smile crossed Celestia's muzzle, her ears perking in tandem with her mood. The rush and freedom of each victorious battle felt like a rush like no other. Things were much simpler back then. Celestia complained to no one in particular. A strange feeling grew inside her as she continued down literal memory lane.
Celestia's thoughts soon evolved into mutters. "Everything was so much simpler during that time, ponies could do what they needed to do with no doubts or restraints.” Celestia let loose a smirk on her muzzle. “Now everything is a mess, no one can do what's right unless it makes more money or pleases some agenda."
The odd feeling within Celestia grew with each silent whisper and stain glass picture she passed. She focused so much on the rather heated debate in her head that Celestia almost missed the room she was heading to. A faint blush spread across her cheeks at her almost clumsy mistake.
Approaching the door the two guards situated on either end gave her standing attention followed by a picture perfect salute, giving their princess the utmost respect they could muster.
Celestia smiled, at least the guards are the same.
Returning the gesture with a polite nod, the guards instinctively began to open the door. Steeling herself with what she believed to be another typical triviality, a final sip of her now cold coffee and a poof of magic, it was gone, and Celestia began her final meeting of the day, expecting the familiar boredom to follow.
She couldn't have been more wrong.