Sunset’s life was anything but normal. Being raised by Princess Celestia herself, a literal goddess, ensured that. For the most part, this ensured that Princess Sunset Shimmer had a relatively good life growing up. A loving mother. An aggravating but still lovable little brother. Everyone listened to her. Life was spectacular. However when it came to being special, she knew full well that it wasn’t always so good. Which had led up to this moment.
She was currently patching up the mess that had occured recently with the local griffon. That had been a bloody mess, literally in many cases. She sighed. It was just so frustrating. If it wasn’t one thing, it was something entirely different. Some of them weren’t even about the disasters that had been taking place as though they were just as important. How her mother did this for thousands of years she would never know. ‘Guess that comes from the perks of being a goddess.’ She thought to herself.
Right now she was happy to say that she was dealing with the last loose end of the griffon debacle. Sunset Shimmer smiled over the table at Trixie de Lis. The two of them were sitting in her private study in her beloved Tree home. It made her feel warm and comfortable in this building. Trixie was currently reading a scroll that Sunset had given her. It hadn’t taken her long and the sour look on Trixie’s face meant that she had done a good job.
Sunset brought her hooves together and gave her companion a smirk, “Now have you read through the contract?”
Trixie huffed and nodded, “Yes, Princess.”
“And do you agree to go along with everything I’ve written on it?”
Trixie nodded again. It was obvious she wanted to shout her own arguments against it but she was adamantly loyal to the crown. Sunset was rather glad. It meant she could very easily boss her around and get her to do whatever she wanted. ‘Hey, I might be trying to learn about friendship, but that doesn’t mean I can’t abuse my power now and again.’
Sunset herself smirked and hefted a pen over to her with her magic, “Now sign it. After that, you will not be able to perform any major action in this town without my consent. As well, you will defer to Time Turner as a superior. I know the Inquisitors wanted you to be equals, but at this point, I think we both know that’s not going to happen.”
Trixie sighed and nodded, “Yes, My Princess.” With that she signed it and gave it over.
Sunset was relieved it was over. The paperwork and everything leading to this had taken a few days given that she had to bend the forelimbs of a number of Inquisitors to get them to even consider her paper. That and a threat of her mother’s involvement. The Inquisition may have a lot of power, but when it came to Celestia, they were spineless. Helped that she would occasionally ponder restricting some of their powers. She had done so in the past but given that rogue chaos cults and changeling covens would spring up now and again, they were still necessary.
“You may go,” Sunset was glad to see her leave and let out a relieved breath. “It’s over. It’s finally over.” The moment of relaxation was tarnished the moment a pointed finger tapped her shoulder. She yelped and turned around, only to glare at her brother. “What is it?”
“Oh just checking up on you,” Spike turned his head to the door. “I’m guessing you’ve gotten Trixie all straightened out?”
Sunset huffed and nodded, “More or less. She’ll be loyal to me if that’s what you’re worrying about.”
“That is what I’m worrying about,” Spike deadpanned. Sunset punched him in the shoulder. She knew it wouldn't do anything to him given he was an Earth Dragon, but it still made her feel good. “So any plans to go out with your friends?”
Sunset quirked an eyebrow, “What are you on about?”
“Well mom did task you with learning as much as you can about friendship,” Spike pointed out. “As well, you’ve been cooped up in your home or the Mayor’s office so much these days. You needed to get out more.”
Sunset huffed, “Fine, I’ll go spend some time with them.” She stood up from her chair.
“Good,” Spike smiled. “And don’t worry, I’m free this afternoon so we can read some of your favorites together.”
Sunset’s cheeks flushed slightly as she glared at him, “We’ll see about that… It’d better be Moby Dick or so help me…” She left the threat in the air. In all honesty, just reading with her brother was the best thing she could think of to do beside her other hobbies and points of interest. She wouldn’t want to jeopardize that but she liked to remind him who was the older sibling.
Spike chuckled and mockingly raised a hand to protect himself, “I heard you loud and clear, sis.” Then his cheeks puffed out before he let out a green breath of fire. It wasn’t the type that would burn her house to the ground, thankfully. Just the type of magical fire their mother had taught him so she could message him directly. A scroll had been opened up.
“Spike,” Sunset turned around to face him. “What’s that about?”
Spike shrugged, “Beats me.” He opened it and let out a little whistle. “Seems like mom wants us to go to the Grand Galloping Gala.” He held up two golden tickets.
Sunset’s eyes widened. She never really got the chance to go to a Gala before. That was mostly her fault. If it wasn’t one burning or another, she was usually banned from the Gala for causing an incident or far too busy to go. This was her chance. Her chance to finally spend some good ol’ relaxing time with her mother pushing the nobles around. She did that already, but not in a prestigious place like the Gala.
Sunset moved closer and snatched the two tickets with her magic. She grinned and chuckled, “Oh this is the ticket, Spike. We’re finally going to get to go to that Gala. I’ve been denied too many times to go but this is my chance.”
“Granted, you did do a bunch of stuff like burning some nobleponies robes and whatnot that barred you from going.” Spike idly commented.
Sunset snorted, “They deserved it. This year I’ve been a very good girl so obviously I am being rewarded. It’ll just be us two.”
“Sorry about that,” Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Moondancer already sent me a ticket just yesterday. Didn’t think to mention it to you just yet.”
Sunset snarled before collecting herself, “Fine, fine. I’ll go just ask a friend.”
“Which one?”
Sunset paused for a moment as she tried to think of who to choose, “I have six friends and only one spare ticket…” Her eyes widened. “Which means I have to choose between my friends.” A smile started to grow on her face.
Spike nervously held up a finger, “Ummm, Sunset? I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
“Pfft, says you.” Sunset looked fervently at her tickets. “These tickets are a test.”
Spike blinked a few minutes before tilting his head to the side in confusion, “A test?”
“Mom is testing me about this whole friendship thing,” Sunset reasoned. “Yes, that must be it. I just have to figure out who is the best one to take with me and I will pass.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Spike said. “Maybe mom just forgot to send more tickets.”
Sunset rolled her eyes, “Mom is not that scatterbrained, Spike. She knows what she’s doing.” She turned to leave with a confident swagger in her steps. “Now if you will excuse me, I have a friendship test to pass.”
Spike sighed as she closed the door behind her, “This will not end well.”
___________________________________________________________________
*earlier*
Celestia let out a little groan as she fell onto her bed. She had to deal with a number of issues this day. They were mostly the same, but the griffon and human ambassadors wanted to talk to her on the same day? That was grueling. Both of their empires were serious contenders with Equestria and also the most annoying to deal with. That meant she had to be extra nice to them to avoid a full scale and costly war. It was aggravating and it didn’t help that she had to deal with the goblins later. That was a mixed bag if there ever was one.
Then came the Grand Galloping Gala. Oh that was an even worse event. It was just so boring, but she had to attend every year. It was so repetitive and dull. It was partially why she had discouraged her children from going and gone out of her way to keep them out. That and Sunset’s bad behavior certainly didn’t help.
This year though, she couldn’t think of a reason to bar them from going. They had saved Equestria and brought back her sister, not to mention the events that had taken place in Ponyville over the last while. Sunset would be hounding her about it and she would have no excuse. Sunset had been as good as she could be. So she magicked up her quill and parchment and went to writing. Then she tied it up with two tickets and sent it off to Spike.
‘There, that’s taken care of. Now I can finally have some shut eye before I have to deal with the griffons.’ Celestia smiled before she frowned, ‘Wait, doesn’t Sunset have-’ Celestia’s train of thought was interrupted when she heard one of her crystal messaging balls ring. It was one of her godly contacts as she recognized the tone. She went over and activated her side.
“Hello~” Amaterasu’s furry and beautiful face called out on the other side. The nine tailed Kitsune goddess was radiant as one would expect from a fellow sun goddess. “I’m so glad I could contact you.”
Celestia gave her a relieved smile, “As I am I.” Now this was a pleasant surprise if there ever was one. Amaterasu was one of her oldest friends.
“Yes, but it’s not all idle chit chat I’m afraid.” Amaterasu spoke. “I have a few things I wanted to discuss.”
With that, Celestia focused her entire free time with discussing politics and whatnot with Amaterasu. At the back of her mind, she thought she was forgetting something but she pushed that pesky thought back down. There was no harm in it and she had a lot on her plate.