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// A Royal Favor 
// Story: The Princess of Equality 
// by Summer Knight 
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Starlight Glimmer reappeared a short distance outside of town and stomped off into the surrounding hills. I'm not scared, she privately fumed. Was she? No, of course not. How dare Twilight bring that up? How dare Twilight even come here! What did Starlight have to be afraid of? Nothing.
Well, nothing except a possibly-eternal life of standing above other ponies, telling them what to do, keeping them in line—
No! She bit off that line of thought before it could go too far. She wasn't that pony anymore. She wasn't a tyrant. She was just a rightfully angry pony trying to come to terms with her new life. Or, well, maybe she wasn't really trying to come to terms with it. In fact, she'd done everything possible to avoid coming to terms with it, hadn't she?
She moodily kicked at a pebble and watched it skitter away. What was there to come to terms with? She, who was so committed to equality, couldn't possibly come to terms with alicornhood. She might as well ask a bird to come to terms with being a seapony.
Only, she didn't have much choice, did she? Unless she wanted to spend the rest of her life living a lie—a lie that would get uncovered sooner or later—she had to accept it. There was no sense in worrying over something she couldn't change. So what was she afraid of?
Gah! I'm not afraid!
She sat down heavily while her thoughts ran in useless circles. She dug a hoof aimlessly into the dirt, wondering how her seemingly-perfect life had once again gone so far off the rails. For a moment she came dangerously close to wishing that she could go back to being Twilight's student, that things could go back to the way they were before she had these wings. Had that really only been a couple of weeks ago? It felt like a different lifetime. In some ways, she supposed, it was.
Finally, frustrated at her own brooding, she snapped herself out of it with an irritated shake of her head. Obviously running and hiding wasn't the answer here, and neither was driving herself crazy with impossibilities. Only, every option she saw was impossible: reversing the transformation, pretending to still be a unicorn, and embracing her new self. Nothing was acceptable. 
Starlight sighed. For better or worse, she had been the Princess of Friendship's student. One of the first lessons she'd learned from Twilight was how to ask for help, and if she'd ever needed help, she needed it now. But not from Twilight Sparkle.
Starlight charged her horn with magic and prepared a long-range messaging spell, something she'd discovered when she got sick of borrowing Spike to send letters. It allowed her to talk to somepony else as if they were standing next to each other. She knew exactly the pony she needed to talk to: one who was an expert on alicorns, princesses, and Twilight Sparkle. One who already knew about Starlight's situation.
"Princess Celestia?"
A pulse of magic went out from her horn, seeking its target and attempting to connect the two of them. Starlight waited impatiently for the short time it took to get there, then let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she felt an answering pulse. 
"Starlight Glimmer," Celestia's elegant voice carried a hint of surprise. "I was not expecting to hear from you. Certainly not in this manner."
"Sorry I can't make it to court, Canterlot is kind of far away," Starlight answered. "I, uh, I have a favor to ask. Can we talk privately?"
Celestia chuckled. "I assure you, we won't be disturbed." Her voice was accompanied by the sound of splashing water and... was that a rubber duck? "What would you like to talk about?"
Starlight flushed as she realized that she had interrupted the royal bath. She cleared her throat. "So," she began awkwardly, "I'm a princess now, huh?"
"Technically, no, you haven't been crowned," Celestia replied. "But you have earned the right to be."
"By becoming an alicorn."
"That's right."
"Why?" Starlight asked bluntly. "What do wings have to do with ruling Equestria?" She twitched her own wings as she said it. They were stiff and weak from lack of use.
"It is not about the wings, it is about what the ascension represents," Celestia answered. "Didn't Twilight explain it to you?"
Starlight swallowed hard. That question seemed a little too pointed. "She... she tried," Starlight admitted. "But I wanted to hear your take on it." 
It wasn't much of a recovery, but thankfully Celestia didn't press the matter. Instead she hummed thoughtfully.
"I would say," Celestia said after a moment, "that an alicorn is a pony who has fully realized her destiny. Your ascension is a sign that you were completely in tune with Harmony, if only for a moment."
"What does that even mean?" Starlight asked in frustration. "What exactly is Harmony?"
"Nopony understands it perfectly," Celestia said, "but Harmony is like the guiding force for all of Equestria. It makes sure that everything happens as it should. We believe that everything from ponies' destinies to their names are influenced by it. The map in Twilight's castle is an instrument of Harmony and, if you embrace your new role, you will be one too."
"And that means I should have a castle, and servants, and... and all that royal stuff?" Starlight asked skeptically.
Celestia was silent for a minute, and Starlight worried that she'd gone too far. Finally the princess of the sun answered her, though not in a way she'd expected.
"Let me ask you a question, Starlight Glimmer," Celestia said. "Do you believe that my sister and I should not have this—" she chuckled, "royal stuff?"
Did she think that? Starlight couldn't picture herself having her own castle, but somehow she couldn't picture Celestia and Luna without one. "No," she answered slowly, "I guess not." 
"And why is that?" Celestia asked. "Don't those royal trappings make us unequal to other ponies?"
But you aren't equal to other ponies. That's what Starlight wanted to say, but it didn't get to the heart of the matter. "Well, you're certainly richer than a lot of ponies," she said. "Most of us don't live in castles and have golden horseshoes."
"That's true," Celestia said, "we have more wealth than some. But then there are others who have more money still, or who own more land than we do, or whose skills in some areas surpass ours. Does that mean we are inherently better or worse than they are? Do we seem to hold ourselves above the rest of the world?"
Starlight scuffed a hoof uncomfortably. "Not really," she admitted. "Honestly, I was surprised at how down-to-Equestria you both were. Some of the nobles have their noses way higher in the air than the two of you do. Besides, equality is different from sameness; I realized that a long time ago."
"Yes, and it was a wonderful lesson to learn," Celestia replied warmly. "Now you have to apply it. If it's not the wings or the gold, what is it about being a princess that is making you so uncomfortable? What makes you feel unequal?" 
"Well, it's right in the title!" Starlight answered. "A princess is someone who rules over other ponies. It's not about the stuff that you have, it's just who you are. Luna, too. Ponies bow to you wherever you go, and do whatever you say. If I accept my role as a princess, then by definition I won't be equal anymore. I'll be... well, I'll be like you."
"Would that be a bad thing?" Celestia asked. 
Starlight exhaled heavily. She hadn't meant to imply that, just... "It's not right. It's not who I am."
There was a thoughtful silence before Celestia spoke again.
"Starlight Glimmer," she said, "I am sorry to bring up a painful memory, but I'd like you to think back to when you ran your town." 
Starlight's chest tightened. She had to clear her throat before she could speak again. "Why?" she croaked. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything, I think," Celestia replied. "You founded that town because you thought you could make ponies' lives better."
"Yeah," Starlight answered flatly, "and look how that turned out."
"Your methods were... flawed, yes, but your reasons were good. You thought you knew of a way to help ponies, to make them happier and to keep them from fighting. And you did. You brought ponies together from all over Equestria to create something brand new, something that still exists today. You have a natural gift for leadership, Starlight Glimmer."
"I was a tyrant and a bully," Starlight said bitterly. "That's supposed to be a gift?"
"As I see it, you had two major problems back then," Celestia said. "You've already fixed the first by understanding the difference between being equal and being identical."
"And what's the second?" Starlight sneered. "Realizing that I shouldn't mind-control ponies into doing what I think they should do? I've had that one come up a few times already."
Celestia laughed. "Something like that, yes. I was simply going to say that leadership often requires a gentle touch. You hadn't yet learned to guide others to your vision instead of forcing them to it."
"Okay, fine," Starlight answered. "I see your point, but why bring it up now?"
"What do you think a princess does?" Celestia asked. "All we do is guide our subjects. We are not above them; we are merely in front of them."
"In front of them?" Starlight repeated. There was something to that image, something she couldn't quite grasp. A seed of an idea, a spark that needed a bit of kindling.
"Yes," Celestia said. "We lead the way, but do not force anyone to follow. We look ahead and try to choose the best path for our charges. And, if need be, we are the first to face anything that may try to hurt them."
Stand in front of them... It was like a torch flaring up in Starlight's mind. In front of them! 
A leader wasn't necessarily better than anyone else. She wasn't somehow more than other ponies, she was just someone who knew where they needed to go. She had pictured herself standing up on some grand pedestal, ruling from on high while ponies cowered at her hooves, but that wasn't right. That was the old Starlight's way. She only needed to stand ahead of others; in front of them, not over them. And her wings... well, her wings were just a symbol, just another bit of royal stuff. They didn't make her any better than anyone else, they just showed that she'd caught a glimpse of what Harmony had in store.
That torch in her mind seemed to be moving into her chest, filling it with a warmth that spread all the way down to her hooves. She pranced a few steps, something she hadn't done since she was a filly. It could work!
"I'm afraid I have to go, Starlight Glimmer," Celestia said. "I have a meeting I must attend soon, and my attendants will be wondering if I've drowned in here."
Starlight giggled at the mental image of a waterlogged Celestia. She hadn't giggled in what felt like years. "Okay," she practically chirped. She felt nearly drunk with the joy of realizing that her life wasn't over, that she could be this pony and still be herself. Then the warmth inside her died down a bit as she realized something.
"Actually..." she said more soberly, "I have somepony I need to meet with, too."