The rulers of Equestria were still rubbing their ears at Twilight's earlier outburst when Celestia spoke up again. "Twilight please calm down."
"How can I!? You all want me to become the Queen of Changelings for the rest of my life!"
"And to marry Thorax," Luna added.
"Luna, you are not helping," Celestia hissed.
"I don't believe this!"
"Twilight we wouldn't be asking you to do this if we didn't feel like you couldn’t handle this."
"But... but... but..." Twilight was panicking and thought of the first thing in her mind to get her out of this situation, "Why not have Starlight do it then? She can handle it. I can testify to that."
"Don't drag me into this!" Starlight said, getting up from the floor, "I already have a love life."
Twilight looked back at her student who started to stutter, “I...I... I mean that I am not interested in marrying Thorax at all. Hehe.”
"Twilight, please. We are not forcing you to do this," Celestia clarified, moving next to her friend, "We are simply asking you if you would consider it. Remember, the mare we must find has to be a willing one."
"I know," Twilight said, looking down at the floor before looking back to her mentor, "It’s just that I have never failed any mission you have ever given me before. And I feel like this might be the first."
Celestia then hugged Twilight. "Twilight if you don't want to do this then you don't have to. I won't hold it against you if you don't. You were just our first choice in finding a mare to handle such a responsibility," she pulled away from Twilight to look into her eyes, "Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand," Twilight said, going quiet for a few seconds before speaking up, "Can you give me a day to think it over?"
"Of course, Twilight. Take all the time you need,” Celestia gave Twilight a soft smile. “But don't take too long."
"Thank you. Can I be excused?"
"Yes, Twilight."
Twilight then left the room with Starlight following close behind her. Once they left, Ember then started up the conversation again.
"What was that, Celestia?" Ember said, standing up from her seat, "You gave her a way out. Why did you do that?"
Celestia then gave a stern look at Ember. "We cannot force her into loving somepony that she doesn't want to love. Our only hope is that she will want to give it a try. If not, we’ll start looking for another suitable mare."
"But the changelings can't wait forever." Grampa Gruff said.
"I know that, but if I know Twilight, she will come around. In the meantime. Thorax."
"Yes," Thorax replied.
"How capable are you at courting a lady?"
"We are doomed." Pharynx said.
"HAY! I resent that."
"Need I remind you of the time you tried to get a girlfriend only to end up in the trash?"
"You didn't have to bring that up!"
"I’m assuming then that you don't know how to woo a female properly?" Ember asked.
"No," Thorax said, sinking in his chair.
"Then we’ve got some work to do," Celestia said, "Even if Twilight accepts the offer, we need to make sure that you can woo any mare you set your mind to."
"But then why did Cadence leave?" Prince Rutherford asked.
"She went to get reinforcements to help motivate Twilight's decision."
"She just wants to see her sister in law get married, doesn't she?" Luna said.
"Does there need to be any other reason?"
"Are you okay, Twilight?" Starlight asked her mentor as she looked out of a window at the buildings down below the castle.
Twilight then let out a heavy sigh as she looked at her student. "No Starlight. No, I am not," They then begin walking down the hallway. "You see Starlight. Whenever something important happened in Equestria. I have away found a way to get through it with the help of my friends. Like when Nightmare Moon or Discord returned. It was hard, but together we pulled through. And then there are times when I had to do things on my own. Like when Tirek took my friends away. And I had to give up the magic of four Alicorns to get them back. But no matter what has happened, we always found a way to beat them. But this is not the case anymore. There is no villain to beat this time. For once in my life, I must make a life-changing decision, and the entire changeling race is relying on my decision for their future."
"But you heard Celestia. If you don't want to do it, then they will find somepony else to do it. You don't have to put this all on yourself."
"That’s just it, Starlight! What if the pony they find can't handle it? What if she turns out just as bad as Chrysalis, or worse? Or what if they can't find another mare that is willing to do it?"
"Then they will keep searching. Celestia is not going to sit around when an entire species needs her help."
"And that’s the thing. I know she wouldn't sit around. She would do it herself if she could. But the relationship with the changelings won't be the greatest if ponies start thinking that they only joined us in order to turn our leader into a changeling."
"I see what you are getting at, but what does that matter to you? After all, you’re going to decline their offer."
This caused Twilight to stop in the middle of the hall and look at her student. "What?"
Starlight looked back at Twilight, confused by her actions. "You are going to say no, right, Twilight?"
"Well," Twilight started, only to look away.
"What!? You’re considering it?! Why?"
"They are counting on me Starlight."
"Twilight! nopony is forcing you to do anything!" Starlight started shouting at her, "And alright, I should probably be the one they asked for help with this since I was a big part of getting rid of their Queen in the first place!" Starlight then calmed down and looked away, "But I’m not."
"Would you do it, Starlight?" Twilight asked her after a moment of silence.
"What?"
Twilight looked Starlight in the eyes. "If they asked you to become the new Queen of Changelings. Would you do it?"
"No," Starlight said, shaking her head, "No, I wouldn't. I care for the changelings very much. They are my friends. But I already have somepony in mind that I want to spend the rest of my life with. I just can't bring myself to tell him how I feel about him."
"I see. Then let's go see how the girls are doing. I need some more advice."
"That’s a good idea."