//------------------------------// // Ugh! Nobles! // Story: The Coronation (Discontinued, Rewrite soon) // by SpellBinder //------------------------------// Today was the day. Starlight was alone in her room, pacing back and forth; Tears in her eyes. Even though she could physically feel her wings and knew what they meant, it still made her nervous knowing that after today, she would officially be a princess. Another big part of her current state was that Twilight, just the week before, had confessed her feelings to Starlight. She wanted to stay behind and live with Twilight. What if Celestia didn’t know?! What if she made Starlight go and rule over a random village halfway across Equestria!?! There were so many ‘ifs’ that it made Starlight a lot more nervous that she should be. She didn’t want to be away from Twilight. More and more thoughts entered Starlight’s mind, and she likely would have had another panic attack, had it not been for the knock at her door. “Starlight? Are you in there?” It was Twilight. “Your coronation is at noon today, we need to head over to Rarity’s to get your dress before we head to Canterlot.” “Alright, I’ll be right out Twilight. I’ll meet you in the castle lobby, just give me another minute to freshen up.” In truth, Starlight wanted more time because she had to clean up, not freshen up. After spending the past few nights with Twilight, everything had hit her at once, and she broke down in tears. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her mane was disheveled, her coat was stained with her tears. Starlight looked like a nervous wreck. She sighed. She wouldn’t have the time to get anything, but her mane fixed before they had to leave. She walked out into the hall, and just started looking around. Even through the tears in her eyes, she could make out the paintings and sculptures decorating the walls. As she looked around, she started to remember all the good times that she had in the halls of the castle. It made her smile slightly. Starlight wanted to stay and continue to make memories, but it was more than likely that Celestia would send her off elsewhere to rule. She was so lost in her memories that she didn’t realize she got to the lobby. The only that that told her where she was, was the loud gasp that came from Twilight. “Oh, My Celestia! Starlight, are you okay? What happened to you?!?” Twilight was jumping around Starlight, looking at her all over with concern, trying to make sure that nothing was physically wrong with Starlight before they went out. To Twilight, Starlight looked as if she had tumbled down a mountain then promptly thrown in a river. Starlight tried to respond, but the only sound that came out of her mouth was her choking up. Seeing how much Twilight cared about her only drove her fears further into her heart. “Starlight?? Please. Answer me. What happened?” Starlight collapsed to the floor, her emotions hitting her harder than ever before. She just couldn’t hold in the tears anymore. She cried. Twilight stood there, unable to comprehend what was going on. Her best friend, and now Marefriend, was lying on the floor, tears in her eyes, looking like she had been in a fight. “I don’t want to leave.” Twilight wasn’t sure she had heard that correctly through the tears, but then Starlight said it again. “I don’t want to leave.” That’s what this was about? Starlight was afraid of leaving? “Starlight, why don’t you want to leave? Please talk to me. I want to help you.” Starlight looked up into Twilights eyes. They were filled with genuine care and concern. “I want to stay here with you. After last night, I can’t leave you. I don’t want Celestia to send me away to rule some random village!” At that, Starlight broke down in tears again. When Starlight got like this, Twilight knew that she wouldn’t get Starlight to move, so she did the one thing she could think of doing. “Starlight, stay right here, I’ll be back soon. I just need to let Rarity know to bring the dress here, ok?” Starlight nodded lightly. Twilight kissed the top of Starlight’s forehead. “I’ll be back in about 10 minutes. Please try and relax, would you like to go to Canterlot early when I get back so that we can talk to Celestia? I’m sure she’d gladly listen to your worries.” Again, Starlight just nodded. With what seemed like a confirmation, Twilight teleport to Rarity’s boutique so that she could be aware of the situation. Twilight returned to find that Starlight was no longer in the lobby of the castle. ‘Now where could she have gotten to?’ Twilight thought. It wasn’t like Starlight to act the way she was, so it concerned Twilight a lot more than it normally would have. As she walked through the castle, she heard some soft sobs coming from her room. Why would Starlight go to her room instead of her own? “Starlight are you in there?” After a short pause, Twilight heard a soft “Yea” come from in her bedroom. She really had to calm Starlight down before her coronation in 4 hours. “I’m coming in Starlight, and when I do, I want you to tell me what has you so upset. This isn’t like you. Answer me Starlight, why are you so upset?” Starlight sighed. “Why? Because I’m afraid Celestia is going to take me away from you! I don’t want to rule over some random city or village! I want to be with you! After last night I can’t simply just leave here! I love you too much for that!” It looked like Starlight had stopped her rant, but after a short pause, she continued. “I don’t think Celestia understands! I want to rule here! With you! Not a random village! I don’t want to have to make scheduled visits just to see my Marefriend! So why am I so upset? Because I’m afraid of losing you!” Twilight stood there, speechless. Starlight really cared that much? “But, then why are you in my room?” “Because it might be the last chance I ever get to see it. To see this castle. I’m scared Twilight. I don’t want to go.” Starlight looked like she was on the verge of another breakdown. Twilight knew that if she didn’t do something now, Starlight WOULD break down again. “Get your coronation dress from the lobby and meet me at the train station. We’re going to see Celestia and get this fixed now. I hate seeing you upset, and the sooner we get an answer, the sooner I get to see you smile again. Now come on!” 2 Hours later When Twilight and Starlight arrived at the Canterlot train station, they had been expecting a short, quiet walk to the castle. The reality of the situation however, had guards already posted at the station, ready and waiting for their arrival. They looked at each other quizzically, hoping one of them had the answer as to why there were so many guards posted at a train station. “Ahem.” Twilight and Starlight looked over to their left and saw a Unicorn stallion wearing different armor than the others. His coat was an inky black, and his mane a dark purple, unlike the white and blue of the other guards, and what troubled the pair the most, was that his cutie mark was that of a single eye. “Apologies your majesties, but Princess Celestia had us posted here hours ago.” It was almost as if the guard had read their mind! “Please, follow me to the castle. We’ve had a few issues in the city as of late, hence the increased presence.” The princess hadn’t said anything about trouble during the celebration. What exactly had happened? “Pardon me, ummm.” “Captain Prophet.” “Oh, Thank you.” Twilight responded. “What exactly—” “There are some ponies in the city that seem to dislike the idea of another princess. There have been a few riots over the course of the week since the celebration. They were docile at first, just simply speaking in large crowds, but recently, they’ve gained violent tendencies. We were posted hours early to ensure your safety should you have decided to arrive early. The orders came from Celestia herself considering the tendencies of her student to arrive early for anything important.” Twilight blushed lightly at the last statement That cemented their feelings about the guard. It was almost if he had read their minds. They were sure of it! Question was, how did he know what they were thinking? “It’s my talent.” “What’s your talent?” Twilight asked. Starlight decided not to speak because of the situation that she was dealing with in the form of her emotions. She had to try and keep them under control so that the guard captain wouldn’t know why they were early. “My name almost has a literal meaning. I can read the minds of others. Sometimes intentionally, while others, not. I’ve had years with it, but I’ve never been able to master it, even though I may have gotten better with it.” Twilight stood there slack jawed. This pony could actually read minds. “What did you say your name was again?” Twilight asked hesitantly. “Prophet, Captain of the royal guard, daylight division.” “Right, well. Lead on Captain.” Thankfully, the walk from the station to the castle was relatively uneventful. There was a short incident with a noble saying that Starlight didn’t deserve her status, but that was quickly fixed by said noble getting thrown across the street by Twilight’s magic. The noble promptly ran away afterwards, not wanting to invoke the wrath of Celestia’s student again. “We’re here your majesties. Please let any of my guards know if you need anything while you’re here. We’re here to help in any way we can.” “Thank you, Captain, but I think we’ll be all set from here. just make sure everything is going okay for the coronation later. I would like to avoid confrontation, if at all possible.” Prophet bowed in respect and replied with a very simply “Thy will be done.” Twilight chuckled at this display of theatrics. She looked over to Starlight who seemed oblivious to the whole conversation. She frowned. “Starlight, come on, we need to talk with Celestia now before it’s too late.” She then turned to Prophet once more before they went inside. “Thank you again Captain. I hope the rest of your day goes well.” She said this with a smile. “You as well princesses.” He bowed once more before leaving to secure the castle courtyard area and to make sure nopony was lurking around. After a short walk through the castle halls in silence, Twilight decided to finally break it as they neared their destination of the throne room. “Starlight, you’ve been awfully quiet. I know this is hard for you right now, but can you smile? For me at the very least?” Starlight put on a small smile. “Alright, Twilight, for you.” Twilight beamed. “Good! I’ve missed the smile of yours! Your energy, similarly to Pinkie’s, can be so contagious sometimes. Seeing you down like that has made me feel the same, and then I feel worse because I know that I’m part of why you’re upset. So, keep that smile!” “The princess is ready for you your highnesses.” As the pair walked into the throne room, they could feel the tense atmosphere. Starlight looked up at the thrones and saw Celestia holding a hoof to her face. “For the last time, no I will not exile her, nor will take away her status. She has more than earned her title.” Celestia looked up and spotted the two younger princesses and smirked. “By the way, you may want to hurry this up. I have guests.” Celestia knew this would get the group of nobles in the throne room riled up. “Guests? We don’t care! That Starlight is a lunatic! You’re supposed to be helping your subjects, not sweeping their needs under a rug! If you don’t do something, then we will!” Suddenly, they felt their blood run cold. The nobles started shivering, it felt as if the temperature had dropped dramatically. “What kind of trickery is this? Plummeting the temperature just to get us to leave? As if.” “leave.” The nobles looked behind them for the source of the new voice and found it in the form of Twilight Sparkle. “Why would we do that? You hold no authority here.” “Why? Because if you don’t leave right now, you might find yourselves falling off a large mountain. As for authority, I hold plenty. I am a princess, and you would do well to listen to me the same way you would listen to Celestia. Oh, and also. I may be the princess of Friendship, but I have more than enough magic to fry your hides!” Twilight was more than just upset, she was pissed beyond belief. “You cannot speak to us that way!” “What makes you so special? Why are you allowed to speak in such a way to a princess, but we cannot retaliate? No, you speak and treat others one way, you get the same treatment in return, and quite frankly, I don’t like the way you were talking about one of your future rulers, and my marefriend. The way I see it, is you have two options. Either leave, still in one piece, or stay, and I make you leave, in pieces.” Twilight’s mane had become a rather dark orange at this point, almost as if it was on fire. Her horn was also aglow, indicating she was serious. “Leave. Or face the consequences.” “We will not just simply leave you –” Whatever they were about to say was cut off by a flash of light as well as a scream, and suddenly, the nobles were gone. Starlight stood there in tears, with her horn aglow. “Starlight where --?” Twilight began before she was cut off. “I don’t care. They can rot for all I care.” She turned to leave and felt a wing atop her back. Looking back, she saw Celestia with a worried look on her face. “Come Starlight, let us go to my study, you too Twilight. I can tell there is much to talk about. We can deal with the nobles when they inevitably show up again later.” “You wish to remain with Twilight, is that it?” “Yes! I just want to stay with her! I don’t want to be off in the far reaches of Equestria! I want to be here! With the one I love.” Starlight had waterfalls coming out of her eyes at this point. She couldn’t contain herself anymore. Everything she had felt that day, anger, guilt, doubt, sadness, it was all hitting her again, but this time, much, much harder. Celestia sighed. “Before we talk about this matter further, I must apologize for the noble’s behavior earlier in the throne room. They are all upset with me because they all think it should have been them to ascend. They feel entitled to it because of the ‘services they provide the city with’. As for their idea of exile, as well as their anger, it was because they found out about Starlight’s deeds in the village where you found her Twilight.” Celestia wrapped a wing around Starlight. “I would never do such a thing to you Starlight, you’ve proven yourself to be a wonderful pony.” Celestia spoke in a motherly tone that seemed to soothe Starlight and ease her negative emotions. “I know how much you love Twilight, I may have stayed behind to make sure you were both ok after the celebration last week. I had decided this then, and my decision has not changed.” Celestia spoke with resolve and certainness in her voice. “You will rule alongside Twilight in the Friendship castle. As the princesses of Friendship, and Magic, you will compliment each other in ways that Luna and I will never be able to. Friendship is Magic, so having you rule together is only fitting.” Starlight was just about speechless. “Really?” she asked shakily as she looked up at Celestia. Celestia smiled at Starlight. “Really.” Starlight could hardly believe it. Celestia had planned to have them rule together all along. “Come on, lets get you ready for the coronation ceremony.”