//------------------------------//
// Day 7 
// Story: Temporary Rulers 
// by Nineveh Orion 
//------------------------------//

As the latest petitioner left the Throne Room, happy with his verdict but confused to seeing somepony other than Princess Twilight on the High Throne, Celestia sighed and seemed to deflate a little. "I had forgotten how tedious the court could be."

Azure nodded in sympathy. "You are not the only one. Princess Twilight has tried for years to make this more fun. She is the Princess of Friendship after all. But someponies are particularly stubborn. Especially when it comes to friendship-related troubles."

Celestia chuckled. "I would like to think that I have learned a thing or two in my long life about friendship and how to help ponies overcome their troubles. Twilight has always been better at it than me, however. No matter what she might say."

Azure chuckled. "She would more than likely say otherwise. Especially when the time for the Festival of the Two Sisters comes around, she goes on and on about how everything you did far outstrips what she has done."

Celestia nodded. That did sound like her former student. "Do ponies still go to them? I remember they were quite popular for many years. But I stopped paying attention a long time ago."

Azure shrugged. "Some do. Most ponies know your names at least from the history books. But few ever pay them much mind. To most of Equestria, it is ancient history. Few actually believe the events in those windows even happened."

Celestia looked at her, hearing the concern in her voice. "Why is that?"

Azure shook her head. "I do not know. I know that Queen Skystar of Mount Aris has tried to keep the memory of that time alive. She and Princess Twilight have tried for years to get our two countries to memorialize the contributions those days have given us. To no avail so far. Ponies are stubborn, and hippogryphs are even more so if possible."

Celestia winced in sympathy. While Skystar was nowhere near as stubborn and set in her ways as her mother had been, the same could not be said for the rest of her kind. Relations between the two countries remained good. But hippogryph pride was a hard thing to work around.

Azure tapped her chin, as she seemed to remember something. "There is more to the friendship troubles though. I am no expert on it by any means. But it seems to be happening more and more often across Equestria."

Celestia's brows rose. "What do you mean?"

Azure looked out a nearby window, toward east the coast in fact. "Last year, the Mayor of Maretime Bay came with a petition he said was signed by most of the city. To segregate each Tribe back into their own separate areas, with no interaction allowed except under strict controls."

Celestia's jaw dropped in horror. "He what?"

Azure nodded sadly. "That is what we all thought as well. Princess Twilight was beyond angry of course, and flatly rejected the whole idea of course. And for a time, it seemed like it had been a one-off thing."

Celestia didn't like where this was going. "But?"

Azure sighed. "Then all of the mayors of the cities and towns of Equestria started to bring in these. All demanding the same thing, and claiming to be signed by the whole town or the vast majority of the population in them. Sometimes on the same day as well. Only Canterlot, Ponyville, and the Crystal Empire never showed any signs of this."

Celestia tapped her chin. She did not remember any of this from Silver Shoals. There were arguments and fights of course. But nowhere near to this level. She actually liked the mayor of the town.

Azure seemed to guess her next question, for she soon continued. "Princess Twilight finally snapped and called each and every mayor in Equestria to a meeting. No exceptions. I will not repeat all of what she said here. But she called this an act of sedition and treason, and those who bandied about such ideas as traitors to the crown. She put an immediate end to any such ideas by decreeing that any such attempt in the future would be treated as high treason and prosecuted as such."

Celestia winced. She knew the penalty of high treason was death. It was one that she had never thankfully had to use when she had ruled. Even when in the aftermath of the Nightmare Moon incident, when ponies had demanded that all of Luna's guards and those closest to her be put to death as traitors, she had refused. For she knew that those that had followed her sister before her fall had, every last one of them refused to follow her into darkness. "I am assuming nothing happened since I do not remember hearing of anything about it."

Azure nodded. "Being on the receiving end of a peeved-off alicorn was more than enough for most of them. Those that did not were placed on indefinite probation. And to prove her point, Twilight took on her, as she called it, Midnight Sparkle form and burned each and every proposal, and asked if anypony wished to join it? None of them did and took the hint. She took sadistic glee in seeing them squirm. I know she did. She returned to normal after they had left, and so many buckets of sorrow ice cream were had that I think even her old friend Rarity would've been jealous."

Celestia's ears fell. That Twilight had released her Inner Nightmare, a form all alicorns possessed, spoke to how angry her former student had been, and how close she had come to losing control entirely and losing herself to her hatred and anger. "That would explain why the mayor of Silver Shoals was so shaken up last year. He never said why though."

Azure nodded. "I don't blame him in the slightest though. It took Twilight a few minutes to calm down to any degree, and nopony dared to get near her while she was still in that form. We did not know if she would lash out at us or not. Or worse. Spike can usually calm her down. But he is deep asleep for many years yet."

Celestia nodded. This had given her much to think about, and something that she and Luna needed to discuss this evening.





Luna didn't say anything as her sister finished recounting all that she had learned earlier that day. It did not bode well at all. "I do not like this. Ponies should know better than to try something like this."

Celestia nodded, sipping her tea. "I do not like it either. Democracy is a sham to me. Giving power to the few, even if others put them there. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But now I question why I ever thought so."

Luna nodded. It was a feeling that she knew well. The idea of democracy as it existed now in Equestria had not existed when she had been banished. It had confused her to no end on her return when she had learned of it.

Why some ponies had ever thought she would ever get behind it or would try and form her country with it in mind, was beyond her. She had not laughed so hard in a long time when she had first heard of the crackpot travesty called the New Lunar Republic. Almost as crackpot as the Solar Empire for her sister in fact.

But that was beside the point. "So what is Princess Twilight doing about it? I doubt it will be that easy to sweep away."

Celestia nodded. "From what I understand, she has placed the most malcontent ponies under surveillance. If they try anything, then she will know of it. I do not know what she would do if it came to that."

Luna snorted, finishing off her banana. "If it were up to me, I would sweep them all away and throw them in the dungeons, or worse. She is too nice to them."

Celestia sighed. "Twilight will not do that, Luna."

Luna gave her a look. "Why not? Princess Twilight has the full power and authority to do so. Or have you forgotten what she did to Klugetown?"

Celestia winced. "I remember, Luna. To this day, I regret teaching her that spell. The Rain of Colorless Fire is something that never should have existed. I also know how much it destroyed her to cast it. She hated herself for doing so. Twilight swore that she would never allow herself to become that angry again."

Luna's ears fell. That was something that held true for them all in fact. Only the alicorns knew of the Forbidden Ultima spells. The Invoked Devastation and the Rain of Colorless Fire. Magic that was so powerful and destructive, that any who cast them risked ripping reality apart if they missed just a single piece of the complex spell weave necessary to cast them. And only an alicorn who had cast aside all restraint on their anger stood even a chance of surviving the backlash from casting one.

Celestia shook her head sadly. "Twilight will not risk doing that again. Not unless there is literally no other option. She risked too much by unleashing her Inner Nightmare as she did. I fear what might come of this becomes more. Has there been any news from the Human World?"

Luna shook her head. "Nay. I asked Sci Twi before I came here. Nothing is out of the ordinary. No more than usual anyway. 

Celestia's eye twitched. "Luna. How many times has she asked you to stop calling her that? She is no longer your student."

Luna rolled her eyes at the thought of the human-turned-alicorn. "Trying telling her that. I seem to remember a certain student of yours who was not much better," she smirked. "How long did it take Princess Twilight to stop completely treating you like that again?"

Celestia shifted uncomfortably. "A few centuries."

Luna nodded triumphantly. "And she had the benefit of seeing you all the time. Mine does not. Unless she ever moves to our world, I do not think she ever will see me as anything but her teacher. Sunset Shimmer was good. But she never taught her enough. Nor could she in that world." She shook her head. "Do not mistake my tone for unkindness. I love her. But our relationship will never be the same as yours and Princess Twilights was."

Celestia conceded the point. This was nothing new to think of, and many a night had been wasted on thinking about it. She soon turned to something less down. "And what of Twilight's project? Have you made any progress on it? I know she would be happy for any good news."

Luna shook her head sadly. "There is none. Her theories are fine in principle. But putting them into practice is altogether different. We do not have the technology, and if such a fuel source does exist, we have not yet found it. I doubt that it even exists on Equus. If it exists at all."

Celestia sighed. She had been afraid of that. While she didn't understand most of what Twilight was working on, the goal was a noble one. Unlimited energy was something worth looking into. All of Equus would benefit greatly from it for far longer than however long Twilight would rule.

But if Luna, who had a love for this kind of thing, could offer nothing new. Then she could see why Princess Twilight was having so much trouble with it. Maybe she should look into it more. It could not hurt anyway.

Something for tomorrow, however. For now, Celestia yawned as she excused herself from the dining table, she was ready for bed. Today had been too long, and sleep was exactly what she needed.