Chapter 3: It's Going To Be So Special
Heading out of Sugarcube Corner, Twilight felt like she was bursting with excitement. This was finally going to happen! Celestia was here, and the two of them were finally going to spend some time together without any distractions! She had to consciously put an effort into not bouncing around giddily.
At the same time, some part of her couldn't help be irritated and somewhat upset that it had taken this long. Surely Celestia could have freed up time before this? And she still knew so little about her mentor.
Well, that was about to change, at least. She shook her head to clear her mixed emotions. Looking around, Twilight realised that she'd gotten a bit ahead of Celestia. She hadn't realised quite how fast she was going. She slowed down to let the princess catch up.
As the Princess caught up, Twilight noticed various ponies Celestia passed kept dropping to the ground and deferring to her. She hadn't thought much about it, but it must be difficult to take time off when everywhere you go, everypony is genuflecting at you. She saw that the Princess was trembling a bit once she reached Twilight's side.
Twilight stopped for a moment, and steadied her with one hoof. "Don't worry about it. They don't see their princess very often, and can be a bit awestruck."
"I know, Twilight. I'd just hoped to get away from all that for a bit," Celestia replied wearily. The two of them were just about to the library at this point. As Twilight entered, she looked back and was startled to notice the princess stumbling for a moment, looking totally exhausted, before going back to her normal poise.
Suddenly, several things began to add up for her mentally. Celestia's problem with her great granddaughter had been in the Griffin Kingdoms, several days away from Canterlot. How could she possibly have gotten here in time?
Celestia's eyes seemed rather puffy, looking closer, and the fact that Celestia's mane was currently completely pink had somehow slipped by her earlier in her excitement. Her normal multihued mane was actually an artifact of her magical power, as was Luna's. She was pretty sure she knew what its absence meant.
"So, you've resolved your business in the Griffin Kingdoms?" Twilight struggled to keep her voice normal.
"Yes, and I gave my great granddaughter quite a lecture." Celestia smiled a bit, not noticing Twilight's tension.
"As I recall, the Griffin Kingdoms is several days flight from Canterlot. And even further from Ponyville." Twilight said, a sharp note in her voice.
"Well-" The Princess looked startled, as she realized where Twilight was headed.
"The only way I know of travelling that far that fast is teleportation. And for most ponies, teleporting those distances twice would kill them." Twilight said bluntly.
"I'm hardly most ponies, Twilight." Celestia replied gently.
"No, but you are magically exhausted. All the signs are there. It just took me a while to notice them. That was incredibly risky! You could have ended up unconscious or-" Twilight's voice broke.
"Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said softly. "I do know my limits. I also know how important this trip is to you, though, and was not about to let you down."
"And I appreciate it, but what if something happened to you? Who'd raise and lower the sun?" Twilight paced nervously. "In fact, who will lower it tonight and raise it in the morning? There's no way you'd have enough magic for that right now!"
"Princess Luna will be taking care of that for the next few days." Celestia reassured Twilight. "Before leaving, the two of us agreed that she would raise the sun as well as doing my other duties while I am gone. It is good practice for her."
As she said that, Philomena flew in the front door, Peewee on his back. The two phoenixes sang a series of reassuring trills. Despite the situation, Twilight found herself starting to relax.
"All right. In that case, since you're clearly exhausted, let's get you comfortable." Twilight and Celestia continued up the library stairs. On the way up, Celestia heavily leaned on Twilight's side, now that she didn't need to try to conceal her exhaustion.
Twilight guided Celestia to her couch, and her mentor collapsed onto it with relief.
"Now, just rest here for a minute, and I'll be right back." Twilight headed back to the kitchen area, mentally dredging up everything she knew about magical exhaustion.
Magical exhaustion happened when your magical reserves were severely depleted, usually from having used too much magic in too short of a time. She remembered having gotten it herself not long after her magic exam, once the adrenaline rush both from what she had done and getting her cutie mark had worn off.
She'd become magically depleted a few times since then as well, when she had overestimated her limits when experimenting with spells. Of course, usually Spike was right there at the time and would take care of her when that happened. She had familiarized herself with what to do if it happened when he was gone, though.
The first thing had been getting Celestia settled somewhere comfortable, since magical exhaustion is normally accompanied by physical exhaustion. Taking it easy and resting would be the best things for her right now.
She did have something else here that would help, though. She put some water in a tea kettle and put it on the stove while hunting in her cupboards. After a minute, she found what she was looking for.
Zecora had a special tea blend for helping recover from low magical reserves, and she had insisted on Twilight always having it in stock. Not that Twilight minded much.The two of them had actually become fairly good friends, and she appreciated Zecora looking out for her.
Besides the tea, chocolate would also help replenish Celestia's magical reserves, but she wasn't sure how much she had home. As she waited for the tea to come to a boil, she unpacked the baskets Pinkie Pie had given her.
Most of it looked like the same groceries Spike picked up every week. There were also several pieces of different types of cake, including chocolate cake. And, to her surprise, a large supply of chocolate was included. Had Pinkie noticed Celestia's condition before she had? Or did Pinkie just assume that Twilight craved chocolate as much as she did?
She shrugged. You never knew with Pinkie Pie.
When the water came to a boil, Twilight started making tea. She poured a cup of Zecora's medicinal tea into one cup, and also made some chamomile tea, to calm both their nerves.Twilight arranged the tea, chocolate, and some slices of cake on a tray, and levitated it over to where Celestia lay.
"Ah, perfect. A cup of tea is exactly what I need right now." Celestia said, trying to levitate her tea to her. The cup started to move up weakly, then started to fall. Twilight caught it with her mind and levitated it into position.
"Remember to minimize your magic use right now. Even minor things like levitation will be problematic." Twilight scolded Celestia. "This is one of Zecora's special blends, but it's medicinal, so may not taste the best. Zecora swears by it for helping recover your mana reserves, though."
She held the tea up to Celestia, who sipped at it, making a bit of a face at the taste.
"I'm sorry to be such a burden, Twilight. I'm afraid I haven't been much of a mentor to you." Celestia said apologetically.
Twilight wanted to deny it, but remembered what she had been thinking about earlier. "You've had your reasons. I know you've been very busy."
"Yes. I have been busy." Celestia sighed. "There are ever growing mountains of paperwork awaiting my signature back in Canterlot. Add the petty squabbling between nobles that I always end up having to straighten out personally, as well as everypony in Equestria with a problem appealing to me for help, and I barely end up with enough time to sleep. The trip here may have magically exhausted me, but I was well on the way to exhaustion before that."
Thinking back guiltily, Twilight realized that while she had known Celestia was too busy to spend time with her, she had never considered the root cause. Her mentor was trying to take the weight of all of Equestria on her back, and shouldn't have to. Twilight's analytical mind switched into overdrive.
"Celestia," she said, trying to phrase this delicately. "You have many loyal, dedicated ponies who would lay down their lives for you in the palace. Surely you could delegate some of your workload to them?"
"If I delegate my workload, what happens if paperwork gets approved that shouldn't have been, or appeals that should have been heard never get taken care of?" Celestia frowned. "The way things are now, I know everything is being taken care of properly, at least."
"And if you sign the wrong papers because of fatigue, or dismiss appeals you shouldn't have because you weren't thinking straight?" Twilight continued. "There will be mistakes either way. The key is to make sure to minimise them by choosing ponies you trust."
"And if I'm mistaken in who I think I can trust?" Celestia said, thinking of some of her past decisions that had backfired on her.
"Anypony who you delegate to would need to write reports summarizing and justifying what they've done with their position, and you would periodically check up on them." Twilight said.
Princess Celestia mulled it over. She didn't really like it, but she could see the benefits. "How could I possibly give anyone else this heavy of a burden, though?"
"The point, really, is that you wouldn't be giving it all to one pony." Twilight stated. "For example, give Luna the job of dealing with the nobles and their politics. They are half-afraid of her, anyways, so that shouldn't be too difficult. Appoint a secretary to read the paperwork coming in, and give you summaries of anything that needs your attention. And give some other clever pony a fancy title like 'Chancellor' to hear all the appeals, and limited authority to act in your name. Their job would be to deal with as many of the appeals as possible themselves, and give you the ones that absolutely need your direct attention."
"Perhaps. I'm sure Luna would be thrilled. She's been urging me to do something about the nobles for ages. I'll discuss this with her and a few members of my court on my return to see what can be delegated." Celestia popped a chocolate truffle in her mouth. "I apologise, though. I really didn't mean to dump my own personal problems on you this visit."
"Who better to confide in then your personal student?" She thought a moment. "Well, I suppose there's Luna. And maybe this granddaughter of yours. How is it that I've never heard of her?" Twilight leaned forward, interested.
"I suppose I haven't told you about her before. It's a long story, though, and the two of us aren't at all close. Are you sure you want to hear it?" Celestia smiled.
"YES! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Twilight started jumping around the room in excitement, before catching herself. Blushing, she turned back to her mentor. "Yes?"
"I suppose, if you really want to. Could you get me another cup of tea first, though? Preferably something relaxing." Celestia examined her empty cup, and shivered a bit.
"Right! I'll also light a fire in the fireplace. Then we can move in front of it, and be a bit warmer." Twilight gathered everything back up and went back towards the kitchen. She made them both some more chamomile tea, and lit a fire in the fireplace.
Bringing some bedding over by the fireplace, she helped Celestia over to it. Then she curled up next to her mentor in front of the fire. It was time for a story.