Somewhere in the cozy confines of a small bar, a fuzzy blue hoof pounded into a well-worn table.
“We need solutions, everypony!”
A pink hoof bounced down next to the blue one, vibrating with excitement.
“Gotta get that mare some satisfaction!”
A white hoof daintily joined the others, doing its best to avoid the questionable stains.
“Don’t forget a spot of romance, darling.”
An orange hoof suddenly slammed down so hard a few cups toppled over.
“Don’t need no frou-frou romance; I’ve got a barrel of the hard stuff!”
Lastly a butter-yellow hoof gently slid into place, almost unnoticed.
“Well… I just think Twilight needs to go get her brains bucked out.”
The rest of the ponies all turned and looked at the slightly drunk pegasus.
“Eeep!” Fluttershy eeped adorably, hiding her beet-red face behind her soft wings.
The colorful group of mares continued to argue excitedly before a loud voice cut them all off.
“Well I think you all need to get the buck out of my bar! We closed 20 minutes ago!”
The sun had started to lower on Ponyville as Twilight Sparkle meandered her way back to the crystal tower which sat sparkling in the quickly fading sunlight. The massive tower served as her seat of power, her home. My escape. Twilight thought as she shivered slightly in the cool evening air.
The young alicorn’s stressed posture relaxed slightly as she moved deeper into Ponyville’s center. It was ironic, how a town that she’d been so reluctant to settle down in all those years ago was now more homely and comforting to her than her childhood home of Canterlot. She was always welcomed into Ponyville by a flood of the happier memories born here; the adventures, the triumphs, the friendships. Nearly ten years of incredible experiences that had helped turn the anti-social bookworm into Equestria’s appointed, “Princess of Friendship”.
She did still have to work on the “being social” aspect from time to time though, especially as of late. But was she really to blame for avoiding her friends and family for these past several weeks? Who could blame her after the things she’d witnessed back in Canterlot?
Even Spike, her ever-loyal, dragon assistant had begun to notice her gradual decline back to being a shut-in. She knew he meant well, so it broke her heart to remember how she had exploded at the little dragon this morning.
“I SAID NO!”
“But Twilight, it’s been over 3 weeks and you haven’t left the castle even once! If you won’t go out with your friends or go see your parents, why not at least go to the Canterlot bookstore?”
“You don’t know the things I saw back in Canterlot, Spike.” her face took on a haunted look.
The dragon shook his head frustratedly. “No, I don’t because you won’t talk to me or anyone else about it!” he walked over to a nearby table and took up a handful of scrolls.
“You never even read or answered back to any of the scrolls Celestia sent you. She’s sent you dozens of letters Twilight! Dozens!” his angered look softened into one of concern. “in all the years I’ve known you, you've never not written back to Princess Celestia. I’m- I’m worried about you, Twilight.”
He was met by silence as Twilight Sparkle marched back to her room.
Eventually the poor Drake had given up and left later that morning for a weekend-long camping trip with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Despite their argument earlier that day, Twilight had taken Spike’s suggestion to visit Canterlot. She had tried to treat herself to a long, relaxing day of book shopping, but unfortunately the mobs of nobles pressing her for favors or asking her pointed questions about Celestia and Luna’s recent “activities” had made the search miserable. Worse still, she hadn’t even found a new book to read!
Now only a few minutes away from the entrance to her home, Twilight did her best to hide her embarrassed face behind a wing as a familiar pegasus stallion suddenly appeared. An out of uniform Silver Bar happily waved to the alicorn as he approached, no doubt heading towards his home on the outskirts of town after a long day on duty.
“Princess.” Silver Bar said, giving a small bow as he came to within a polite distance.
Twilight pushed down her embarrassment and her wing as she gave a friendly hoof-wave to the handsome stallion. He doesn’t blame you for what happened in Canterlot last month. Twilight thought; repeating the mantra several more times to calm her nerves.
“Good evening Silver Bar. How does the guard captain of Ponyville fair this evening?” Twilight focused on keeping her tone and words professional and friendly.
“Please just call me Silver, your majesty. And it went well, though Ponyville certainly is a lot more boring without its Princess around.” He gave a sly wink after that last part.
Ok. Maybe he still blames me a little. Twilight thought, fighting down a blush. She covered her efforts with a gentle cough, clearing her throat as she awkwardly fluffed her wings in the cold air.
“Yes, well I think it’s always nice to return to the quiet life of a small town. I should get back to the castle; I probably have a lot of letters and requests to catch up on.”
A cool breeze blew between them, rustling their feathers and fur.
Silver Bar’s features downturned slightly at her response, and he gave a curt smile and nod. “Of course your majesty, have a safe and pleasant evening.” with that he continued his short walk home.
The princess let out a wistful sigh. She certainly didn’t mean to be so cold to the poor stallion, after all his response during the supposed “Calamity in Canterlot” (as the papers had come to call it) from a few weeks back, had been exemplary. Still, after such a frustrating day, Twilight just wanted to go home and read.
Upon reaching the castle, Twilight grunted as she pushed open the heavy wooden doors, only to be hit by a wall of pungent odor. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she slowly started to walk through the spacious castle searching for the source of the offending stench. As she trotted into the expansive throne room the smell grew incredibly thick and somehow familiar, but then the sight before her made her stop in her tracks.
Celestia and Chrysalis were currently occupying Twilight’s crystal throne and they certainly weren’t sitting on it.
“COME THE BUCK ON!” Twilight shouted angrily, her ears splaying back as she stared at the two entangled rulers.
“It’s so good to see you again, Twilight Sparkle, I hope you’ve been doing well!” a happy looking Celestia said as she pulled out of another kiss with Chrysalis.
“I suppose with little miss narc here we’re going to have to continue the ‘The Throne and Crown Pound-Down’ someplace else- OOH! Let’s try Hive Behemoth next! We can really rub it in Queen Tyran’s smug face.”
“‘Throne and Crown...Pound-Down’?” Twilight couldn’t hide the disgust and incredulity in her voice as she glowered at Chrysalis.
Celestia nodded excitedly, leaning to one side of Chrysalis’s lap she lifted a hoof in a spinning motion. “It’s where you go around Equus and try to make love on every throne you can.” She paused seeming to reminisce on a happy memory. “Luna and I got through about 12 kingdoms, but then there was that one incident in Gryphon Stone-”
Chrysalis finished for her. “Miss-flanks-a-lot over here, apparently ended up breaking their throne; guess it was made of ancient wood carved generations ago by some gryphon hero.”
Celestia let out a cute giggle.
“That was you?!” Twilight's voice was shrill, forcing Chrysalis to start massaging her temples with her hooves.
“What did I tell you?” Chrysalis gave a disappointed look toward Celestia while pointing a hoof accusingly at Twilight.
By this point, the small alicorn was holding a silver bowl in her magic, readying to toss it at Chrysalis’s stupid face.
*Flash!* *Clunk!*
A bright light and the fading echoes of laughter were all that remained as the now dented bowl missed its target and rolled to the floor.
A flustered Twilight stomped upstairs to her bedroom chamber. She certainly was worked up now, and she certainly wasn’t going to open that ‘special box’ underneath her bed to work things out. Even if Spike was out camping with the Crusaders all weekend. Which meant the castle was empty now...
With an angry huff, Twilight pulled out her ‘special box’ from beneath her bed and jumped onto the mattress. Levitating the box with her magic she opened it... Only to find the contents of the box had been replaced by a single note that simply read: “IOU” with a little doodle of a smiling changeling underneath.
Twilight raised her hooves to the heavens and screamed,
“CHRYSAAAALLLLIIIISSSS!”