Princess Celestia stood tall on one of the many balconies of the royal palace, looking out past the rooftops to the horizon beyond.
It had taken a great deal of effort to schedule this brief respite. No matter how much she delegated to various nobles, appointees, and elected officials, Equestria always found more work to fill the void. There were some things she just couldn't get out of her hooves. Ponies liked to meet with her personally, even on matters where she technically wasn't the final word anymore. Constitutional monarchy or not, nothing reassured a foreign diplomat, business magnate or politician quite like an audience with her. And nothing quite swayed opinions like her word.
Would that she had somepony to share that burden with.
She ruffled her feathers against the winter chill. All in good time. Equestria had been at peace for so very long, a few minor incidents not withstanding, and it was due for a bit of upheaval. The world tended to turn in cycles and many of them were coming around for their next pass. A thousand year prophecy was rapidly approaching its conclusion, to whatever end. Soon after that the Dragon Lord would make his summons, and there was no telling who would rise to the challenge. Perhaps a new era of friendship, perhaps a burst dam. Who knew what else would shake loose once one calamity got the ball rolling?
Still, she had options.
Young Cadance was shaping up to be a fine mare and princess. She was strong and compassionate, with a heart big enough for all Equestria… and eyes for a certain young guard. A smile pulled at Celestia's mouth at that thought. She couldn't fault the younger princess's taste. A charming young stallion to be sure. A bit of a nervous goofball in private but charming all the same. It was adorable how they thought nopony else had caught on. The two of them would play a big part in the next couple of decades, that much she was sure of.
Then there was little Twilight. Celestia was at a loss when it came to how one family had produced two spell casters of such power at the same time. Shining Armor's focus was narrow but his sheer strength was incredible. Already he could conjure a barrier large enough to encompass a small city and strong enough to protect it. His little sister looked to be even stronger if that little outburst during her test was anything to judge by. All the more reason that this time in her schedule was so important.
Twilight was proving to be a challenge. Very clever, very eager to please and very, very much in need of help. The other teachers and tutors thought that her worries for Twilight were overblown. Plenty of overly anxious youngsters mellowed out with age so why should Twilight be any different? And even if she didn't, anxious, obsessive and antisocial basically summed up many of Equestria's greatest theoreticians. So she wanted to lock herself away in a library forever. Where was the harm?
How quickly ponies forget history. Celestia saw in Twilight many of the same warning signs she'd missed oh so long ago. Her anxiety and desperation for approval and validation spoke to her loneliness even if she couldn't see it in herself. Twilight was a pony who needed other ponies around her to stop her falling into her own worst habits. One need only see the way she lit up at the sight of her big brother or her former foalsitter to know that she wasn't nearly as antisocial as she let on.
Celestia had tried to push her towards her fellow students to no avail. Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette were all delightful fillies who would make wonderful friends. Twilight barely seemed to notice them, even when Lemon Hearts had somehow gotten her head stuck in an Erlenmare flask. She'd even tried putting her and Moon Dancer together in lab activity after lab activity in the hopes that birds of a feather would finally flock together. Thus far both of them kept their muzzles in their books as if they were glued there.
Celestia allowed herself a quiet sigh and tore her eyes away from the view. She'd spent more than enough time staring at distant mountains. It was high time she checked on her latest plan.
This one had to work. Someone had to get through to Twilight and Spike was her best hope. It would be good for him as well. The little dragon adored her and, well, Twilight wasn't the only one who needed friends. Twilight was at least a pony in a nation of ponies. Spike was a dragon. A sweet, kind, and friendly dragon, but still a dragon. There would always be a gap between him and Equestria that needed bridging, but Celestia was confident that it could be bridged. Would be bridged.
She kept her head high and favored passing servants with a genuine smile. She had a good feeling about this.
“Your Majesty?”
Celestia paused and looked over her shoulder at the approaching stallion.
“Ah, Final Draft. How did things go with Twilight?” Years of practice in the face of angry politicians kept her smile from faltering at the frown on Draft's face but only just.
“Yes… about that.”
“This is bad! This is really bad!”
Twilight paced back and forth across the back of Celestia's sitting room, just in front of the cold fireplace. Spike sat on the floor between her and the fireplace, half wrapped in a fluffy, white towel. His worried expression and nervous fiddling with the end of his tail was completely lost on Twilight. So far as she was concerned, she had bigger fritters to fry.
“Celestia could be back at any minute! The bathroom is a mess, you tracked ink all across the sitting room, and the study is a disaster area! What were you thinking!?”
“Uh-”
“Flooding the bathroom is bad enough, but what you did in her study!? I can't believe it! What could possibly justify that? Do you have any idea how bad this looks? Celestia ordered me to look after you and the moment I get here I find out that you've already wrecked the place! It looks like a tornado made of ink ran through it!”
“Twi-”
She paused her relentless pacing to fix Spike with a glare. “How did you get it on the ceiling? Just... how!?”
“I slipped.”
Twilight's glare narrowed to a laser point. “Slipped?"
“...On some ink?”
Blunt teeth clenched, ground and glinted pink in the light of the sparks crackling off her horn. A particularly loud sizzle snapped her out of her moment of fury by way of anxiety.
“Nononono, not right now!” She sat on her haunches so she could press her forehooves to her temples. “Step 1: Focus on your horn. Step 2: Prepare a spell.” She screwed her eyes shut and focused. Gradually the sparks and fizzles sputtered and sizzled into a full, if somewhat erratic, corona of raspberry magic. “Step 3: Hold… hold… and… haaa...” The light faded away to nothing. “… cancel.”
“Are you okay?”
Twilight opened her eyes and picked up her glare right where she'd left off, albeit with less tooth gnashing.
“Go to your basket.”
“But-”
“No buts! Go to your basket right now. I have to figure out how I'm going to clean all of this up before the Princess gets back, and I don't need you making any more trouble.”
“But-”
She sprang to her hooves. “I said GO! RIGHT! NOW! And for once in your life don't ruin anything!”
Spike shrank under her glare. For the longest time he just sat there, staring up at her with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to order him to get his tail moving but it proved unnecessary. The moment her lips parted, tears sprang up in the little dragon's eyes. He scrambled over the bulk of his towel and scampered towards the bedroom on all fours like she'd shot lightning at his feet.
Twilight sighed heavily. Now she could get started on fixing this--
“Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight wasn't a medical student so she couldn't describe what cardiac arrest felt like off the top of her head with any degree of accuracy.
Even so, it truly felt like her heart had just stopped.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Twilight met her mentor's eyes with no small amount of mortal terror. The princess was, logically speaking, always the same size. She didn't actually get taller when she was angry. She certainly didn't loom overhead in exactly the same way a smoldering volcano loomed over a blissfully unaware village. Her eyes didn't turn into portals straight to the depths of Tartarus, and her shadow, when cast over a filly, definitely didn't actually weigh several hundred pounds.
Every leaden fall of those gold shod hooves rang like a judge's gavel as Celestia stepped over the threshold to her chambers. Her abyssal glare took in the trail of inky foot prints, the catastrophic checklist plainly visible through her open study door, and the trembling filly standing stock still in front of the cold fireplace who was desperately trying to string a sentence together.
“I-- He-- Spike--” Twilight swallowed the driest saliva she'd ever felt and tried again. “Spike made a mess b-but I can clean it up! I just need-”
“A mess,” Celestia traced the line of prints from the study to the bedroom, “Yes, I can see that. How did this happen on your watch?”
“It didn't! I just got here a few minutes ago. I couldn't have--”
The princess turned her eyes back on her student. “I sent for you more than two hours ago.”
“I was, er, studying…?” Twilight tried a nervous smile but it withered before it ever had a chance to take root.
“Professor Draft? If you wouldn't mind stepping inside?”
Twilight's heart was now somewhere in the vicinity of her hooves. Final Draft took a few measured steps into the room, stopping a respectful distance away from its owner.
“Might I ask you to repeat what you told me on the way over?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I went to the library to retrieve Miss Sparkle at exactly a quarter to one, as per your instructions. However, when I attempted to bring her to your chambers she… objected.”
“Is that so?” she asked as though she were hearing this report for the first time.
“Er, yes, Your Majesty.”
“And what form did her objection take? In your own words, please.”
Final Draft glanced at Twilight rather uncomfortably, clearing his throat before asking, “In… my words, Princess?”
“Yes. The way you related them to me minutes ago. How did you put it…?"
“Miss Sparkle… erm, objected like…,” he paused and gave Twilight what was almost an apologetic look, “'a spoiled brat who has had their candy taken away'. Your Majesty.”
“So she threw a tantrum.”
“Yes, majesty.”
“For how long?”
“The better part of two hours.”
“How many guards did you say it took to corner her?”
“...Five.”
By this point the rest of Twilight's body had joined her heart down by her hooves. The disapproval coming off her mentor was almost visible.
“I do not know,” Celestia began with an ominously steady tone, “if I should be impressed or dismayed by that. You may go, Professor. And, please, if you wouldn't mind calling some of the cleaning staff? I believe this is a job suited to Mr. Clean's talent. Thank you.”
The sound of the door clicking shut might as well have been the clanging of a cell door.
“I am very disappointed in you, Twilight.”
Twilight tucked her tail against herself in her latest effort to become as small as possible. She couldn't remember the last time Celestia had looked so angry. Even after the portal incident she'd been more concerned than irritated.
“Not only did you ignore my request to look after Spike, not only did you persist in your research over my explicit objection, but you also made a scene in the library, wasted the time of Professor Draft and five of the Royal Guards, left Spike unattended, and then attempted to blame him for the results of your negligence and take your frustrations out on him.”
Twilight cringed at how that all sounded laid out like that. She'd felt justified at each step but hearing it delivered like a list of charges turned all those feelings on their heads. What had she been thinking?
“This behavior is...” The sound of sniffling caught the Princesses ear. A brief flicker of confusion darted across her face. Twilight was cowering but her eyes, while wide and terrified, were dry. A second sniffle drew her ears towards the bedroom.
“...Wait here. We are not finished discussing this, Twilight.” With that, Celestia turned away from her student.
Twilight nodded as much as she could with her head pressed to the floor.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” she whispered.