So the first item on Twilight's list was as follows:
[ ] Confirm water pollution levels in the moat are safe with the waterworks and sign off
She took a look out of her office window and admired the moat, mostly hidden behind the city walls. It looked okay to her, but that was from a distance, there can be problems when you take a look at things below the surface.
Taking in the image of the waterfall flowing over the edge of the city gates, she smiled and turned back to her office door.
She trotted down the corridor to the stairs and then made her way to the ground floor where the Captain of the Royal Guard's office resided.
As she approached the door, the two guards stood to attention and opened the door in her path. As she passed through they closed it politely behind her.
The room was long, with two windows on one side looking out onto the courtyard. At the far end of the room stood an empowering mahogany desk, behind which hung a large portrait of General Firefly, the founder of the modern E.U.P. (Earth pony, Unicorn, Pegasi) guard system that operated today.
Between the portrait and the desk stood General Spitfire, she had been the best suitable candidate for the job once Shining Armour officially resigned his post in Canterlot to focus on the Crystal Empire. Next to her stood Captain Gallus, a griffon, one of Twilight's first students from her school of friendship, and an eternally loyal colleague. Gallus had proved himself more than once, earning promotion after promotion.
"Well Princess Twilight, good morning, busy day ahead by the sounds of it." Spitfire called from the other end of the hall.
"Indeed General, and an early start at that. Good morning Gallus, how are you today?"
"All's good here Twilight, how did you sleep?" asked Gallus, his raspy griffon voice not too dissimilar to the husky tones of General Spitfire's. He ruffled his long gray feathers, neatening himself up as he stood to attention.
"Like a dream," Twilight replied, "thank you." She turned her attention to General Spitfire behind the desk. She suited her leather bomber jacket. It was decorated with medals from her days flying in the field with the Wonderbolts, complimenting Spitfire's orange feathers, gave her a commanding gusto.
"So what's the plan for today then General?" Twilight inquired.
"Well I assume that, as always, you've seen the list, so I'm going to send you out with two guards-ponies today. We've had no signs of any kind of threats across the land, and the sky is supposed to be clear all day, so no clouds to hide in for ambushes. Never-the-less there are guards patrolling the wall section around the moat filtration plant, and there will be two more guards posted at the gates to the primary school,
"I'm sending Captain Gallus here to escort you for the day, as long as that is okay with you, along with Officer Cadet Mirror Blaze. The courts and palace are patrolled as normal, so once you return from your morning visit, Gallus and Mirror Blaze will take lunch in the mess hall."
"Thank you Spitfire, sounds absolutely perfect." Twilight thanked. Spitfire never lost her touch. She thought about mentioning her dinner in Ponyville later. But in the interest of the rebellious streak she had developed in more recent years, she decided to keep that part of her day private. Sometimes she just needed a cheeky escape or two from the relentlessly organised life of being a royal.
"I'm ready when you are Princess." Gallus said, still stood to attention. "Mirror Blaze is at the front door with the other sentries."
"Well I've got my bag ready, so let's get going then." Twilight gallantly commanded.
The two of them left the room and headed out to the front door of the palace.
Outside, they met up with Mirror Blaze, a white unicorn adorning the traditional night-guard armour. Gallus pointed her out and Twilight went up to greet her.
"Good morning, I'm Twilight Sparkle." She said with pride. Mirror Blaze turned around and was shocked by the Princess' presence. She immediately bowed. "Please, no need for that now, are you new here?"
"Mirror Blaze just moved up from the junior ranks. Here." Gallus offered a claw to help the bowing unicorn up. Mirror Blaze accepted it, a little confused on how to treat her social status around here. Twilight then realised that she recognised the unicorn from the school of magic only a few years ago. Mirror Blaze, if memory served Twilight well, as a very talented pony in counter-spells.
"Oh yes, Mirror, I remember you from the school of magic. I take it you used to be on a night patrol somewhere?"
"Y-yes, yes, I was stationed on the train track boarders, but they haven't issued me with my new armour yet, I was only promoted last week."
"Ah I wouldn't worry about that. The princess is awesome to work with." Twilight blushed, "I'll give you your palace induction this afternoon. Until then, stand to attention Cadet Blaze!" Gallus ordered, "You take the left side and I'll take the right. Keep your focus and remember your royal etiquette training."
Mirror Blaze stood to attention and scanned the surrounding area. Twilight gave a muffled chuckle and turned her attention to the task at hand.
"After you Princess." Gallus officially offered.
Off they went through the bustling morning streets of Canterlot, making their way to the water filtration plant, where, no doubt, there would be a team of press ponies waiting to hear what the princess had to say. Which were the main reason Twilight needed an escort. Interviews could be complicated to get out of without a royal escort.
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Twilight had been stood outside the small concrete building for fifteen minutes now.
There really was nothing to this particular task. The ponies in charge of keeping the waters around Canterlot knew what they were doing and never faulted, however there was always concern from the elite about the environmental impact of Canterlot's activities.
Concern was good, but it did mean that if there ever were concerns raised, Princess Twilight would have to make her way down to the small rectangular pumping station to ensure that it and the ponies who worked it were operating reliably.
Half an hour ago, Twilight had gone into the concrete bunker with cameras flashing and blazing behind her. Gallus and Mirror had kept the door behind her secure as she spoke to the ponies who worked here. Everything seemed in order and all the the water purification monitors showed clear, clean mountain water flowing through the tall glass monitoring tubes.
Satisfied with this information, she then made her way back out, thanking the ponies who worked there for their consistent work.
Then she faced the press.
She had no problem with the press, philosophically speaking. She knew all the major reporters in the area too, she had met them on multiple occasions.
But interviews like this made her sigh in desperation whenever she finally escaped. The questions were all very similar, and the answer was so simple that she never really understood why there was more than one question.
"In three months time will the water pollution levels rise Princess?" One rather noisy reporter yelled from behind a flashing camera.
"No, there is no natural rise in water pollution levels and the staff here are doing a wonderful job." Twilight replied, getting exhausted by the relentlessly pointless questions. She couldn't even see outside the ring of flashes surrounding her now. But luckily enough, Gallus gave her three discrete claw taps on the ground.
"Thank you so much for your interest, but I assure you, this plant is still as efficient as it has ever been. I have to leave now, but you can leave any further questions with Heavy Splash here. Thank You." And with that Gallus took the lead and parted a corridor through the crowd in front of Twilight. Mirror followed behind her. And two thirds of the press conference dispersed too.
'Shows who was only interested in me, and who was actually concerned with the water' Twilight thought. It upset her still that many of the press ponies never cared about the stories they reported on, only the ponies they were about. She had grown used to it. It wasn't her place to meddle in ponies affairs like that, but it was a shame.
However that was the end of her brief thought. There was no time to reflect in this job. Make good decisions and move on was about all she had to do. So she turned her mind to the next item on her list as she followed Gallus through the streets of Canterlot:
[ ] Meet head of Canterlot Primary to discuss next year's School of Magic intake students
This was one of her favourite tasks to do. It only came about once per year, but she loved it. Learning about the new students who might be coming to her school that year, or helping the school to find suitable placements for other students to give them the best future was exciting. The young foals were Equestria's future.
As they reached the outskirts of Canterlot, the tall wooden gates appeared before them. The school was a lovely place. A quaint, two story building with a large courtyard and plenty of grassy areas for playtimes. Outside the gate stood two royal guards in golden dawn-guard amour and the head of the EEA - Equestria Education Association - which this particular school was still regulated by.
The bronze EEA medallion fiercely adorned the official black overcoat of the unicorn. As she approached, Twilight adopted a formal stature to prepare for her greeting. Gallus moved to her right as Mirror processioned to Twilight's left side. Then, merely a few feet away, Twilight swung down and gave the unicorn a big hug.
"Oh Moondancer it's so good to see you again!" Twilight cheered, embracing her old friend. Moondancer reciprocated the affection.
"You too Twilight, preparing for exam season has been an absolute nightmare this year. How have you been?" Moondancer exited the embrace to face Twilight, who was slightly taller than her nowadays. She pushed her glasses back up her face and moved her hoof back to check the ponytail holding her red mane in place.
"Oh busy as always. If you ever want to have a catch up just give me or Spike a call and we'll make time to go out some evening."
"Oh thank you, I would like that once I've finished the organisation for the new specs of next year's syllabus. How did the Friendship Regulatory Body cope with the new changes?"
"Well Governor Sandbar had a bit of a breakdown in January but eventually between him, Ocellus and some of the school of friendship professors, they managed to get it sorted. I'm looking forward to your specifications for ancient magical artefacts next year, really exciting."
"Oh thank you, it took a lot of research to get that syllabus right, there are some really great discoveries from the last ten years that aren't evening being taught in universities. I'm even going on a holiday to see the Kirinlands next year to see some of the ancient sites that had been hidden away. There are some really interesting connections between them and us that I can't believe have only been discovered in the last few years."
"Such as the Hearthlight of Tempus?" Twilight chuckled. It was great to see her friend so enthusiastic about her job.
"Yes.. aha." Moondancer half-heartedly laughed as she realised how enthusiastic she had been and got embarrassed about it. "Yes, just like that."
Mirror had been observing the scene. She had been shocked at how close Twilight had been to the EEA chancellor. Trying to stay neutral and alert was becoming difficult, she was taking in a lot of new information.
Gallus was used to it and looked over to Mirror, giving her a simple nod and returning to observe the surroundings of the school, checking constantly for signs of danger, and leaving the princess to her official duties.
Moondancer glanced over to Twilight's escort, noticing the contrast in the shimmering golden armour of the dawn-guard pegasus and the deep blue armour of the night-guard unicorn. "Travelling with a night-guard today Twilight?" Moondancer inquired. Mirror felt herself get a little embarrassed about being singled out.
"Ah, This is Officer Cadet Mirror Blaze. She's new to my dawn-guard and hasn't been issued her armour yet. But I remember teaching her at my school and she was an absolutely brilliant student and will make a fantastic member of the day-staff I'm sure. Hopefully you'll get a chance to work with her at some point." Twilight chirped in and Mirror Blaze felt warmed and calmed by the compliments.
"Well, I look forward to working with you then Cadet." Moondancer assured her.
"Thank you Chancellor." Mirror replied.
"Shall we go in then Princess?" Moondancer offered.
"Indeed Chancellor." Twilight amused. With that Moondancer raised a hoof to her EEA medallion which sent a thin sliver of magic energy to Moondancer's horn. Then she fired a bolt of energy into the air which opened a deep black portal in front of her.
"After you Princess." Moondancer offered. Twilight nodded and with Gallus and Mirror she entered through to appear in the teacher's staff room of the school. Eight soft chairs, a coffee table and a sink and kettle surrounded her. Moondancer then appeared in the room with her and closed the portal behind her.
"This way to the headmare's office Princess." She said with a more formal approach and lead Twilight out of the staff room and down the hall.