Twilight Sparkle sat on a throne.
However, this wasn’t her own throne, down in Ponyville. No, this was the throne of the Crystal Empire. The throne her sister-in-law had used before she-
No.
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn’t cry. Not now. Later, when she was in her chambers, in private.
‘’Twilight?’’
She looked up to see Spike standing in front of the throne, holding a scroll in his claws. ‘’It’s a letter from the girls,’’ he said.
‘’Thanks, Spike,’’ she said as she took the letter from him with her magic. She unfolded it, then cleared her throat and read it aloud.
Hey Twilight!
Starlight here! After some debate, we decided I should be the one to write to you. Don’t ask me how we decided this; it involves a speed-writing contest that was frankly embarrassing to witness. Maybe I’ll tell you about it someday.
Anyway, things have been quiet here. AJ’s still fussing over Big Mac’s leg, even though it’s all but back to normal now. Rainbow keeps on complaining about her feathers, but she can fly again, so it’s not as bad as when you left. Fluttershy and Rarity have started a charity for veterans who are having problems with money or shelter, and Pinkie is helping them.
I hope everything’s going well up there. The girls and I are planning to visit as soon as possible, but that’ll likely take a couple of months.
Hugs from all of us,
Starlight
Twilight let out a sigh as she folded the letter back up and hooved it to Spike, who put it in his bag.
‘’Nice to hear they’re doing well,’’ Spike remarked.
Twilight nodded, before rising from the throne. ‘’Let’s go to the dining room.’’
‘’Fine by me.’’
Twilight’s first instinct was to teleport them both to the dining room. But she refrained from doing so at the last moment: it was smarter to walk through the palace, to get to know the place and its inhabitants.
She walked towards the doors. Two stallions stood guard next to it. ‘’Excuse me, sirs, but can one of you escort us to the dining room?’’ Twilight asked, just a tad embarrassed that she didn’t know the way.
One of the stallions nodded. He had a blue coat and a vibrant red mane. ‘’Of course, your Highness. Please follow me.’’ He dropped his statue-like posture and opened the doors, before walking out, Twilight and Spike following behind him.
The guard led them through the dazzling hallways of the palace. Twilight looked around and tried her best to memorize the way. If she had to guess, it would take some time, just like with her castle in Ponyville.
‘’We’re here, your Highness, Great Spike,’’ the guard announced as he came to a halt in front of another set of double doors, which Twilight recognized now.
She smiled at the guard. ‘’Thank you, sir. You may go back to your post.’’
The guard saluted, then left.
Twilight pushed open the doors and stepped inside.
‘’Auntie!’’
And there she was. Her four-year old niece.
‘’Hello, Flurry,’’ she greeted, returning the hug the little filly was giving her with equal strength.
‘’Uncle Spike!’’ Flurry broke her hug with Twilight to repeat the gesture with Spike, who - somewhat awkwardly - hugged her back.
Flurry was a strong hugger, Twilight idly mused as the three of them all slipped into chairs. Most likely she didn’t even realize it. Twilight could take it, as an alicorn, and so could Spike, but Twilight had seen her friends - except Applejack and Rarity, strangely - wince slightly every time Flurry hugged them.
Of course, the likeliest reason she hugged people so much - and so often - wasn’t one that Twilight liked to dwell on.
‘’How was your day, Flurry?’’ Twilight asked as they began to eat the food.
‘’I played with some other foals in the gardens!’’ Flurry answered. Twilight smiled; that was good. Flurry had been really drawn-in while she stayed in Ponyville. Twilight knew what it was like to grow up without any friends, and she didn’t want the same to happen to Flurry. Everything had turned out alright in the end, but still.
And it wasn’t really alright, was it? Twilight questioned darkly. She shook the thoughts away. Not for now.
‘’Auntie, are you listening?’’
‘’Sorry!’’ she instinctively replied, looking from her plate to see Flurry was pouting slightly. ‘’I’m sorry, Flurry, I was just thinking about the day,’’ she lied. ‘’’What were you saying?’’
‘’I was telling you what I did today!’’ Flurry said, somewhat accusingly. ‘’We built snowponies and had a snowball fight! It was lots of fun!’’
‘’Good to hear,’’ Twilight said with a smile. ‘’I had to meet with important ponies and do paperwork all day.’’
‘’Mostly the latter,’’ Spike interjected without looking up from his bowl of gemstone noodles. Twilight shot him a cross look that he didn’t see.
‘’Yes,’’ she demurred, ‘’mostly paperwork.’’
Sombra hadn’t left many important ponies alive, after all.
‘’Mommy did lots of paperwork too,’’ Flurry sighed quietly. Twilight’s heart stilled, and she could hear Spike’s slurping stop as well.
Flurry glanced at her food, which she had only sparingly eaten from, then looked at Twilight and Spike both. ‘’Can we have a snowball fight tomorrow?’’
‘’Flurry,’’ Twilight began, only to catch both Flurry’s pout and Spike’s glare. ‘’Yes, of course,’’ she relented. ‘’After lunch?’’
‘’Yay!’’ Flurry cheered. ‘’Thanks, auntie! You’re the best!’’ She beamed at Twilight.
A soft smile crept onto Twilight’s muzzle. ‘’Anything for you, Flurry,’’ she whispered so softly there was no way the foal could hear. And if Spike, with his dragon hearing, did, he didn’t show it.
After dinner, Twilight took a bath with Flurry, while Spike went off to do… something, Twilight didn’t know what. Two hoofmaidens had approached her as soon as the two alicorns had entered the bathing rooms, but Twilight had dismissed them with a wave of her hoof. Now she sat in the warm, large bath, Flurry in front of her. It was really more like a spa bath than a normal bathtub, Twilight idly thought.
‘’Mane or tail first?’’ Twilight asked the foal.
‘’Mane,’’ Flurry decided after a few seconds of thought.
Twilight nodded, and pulled out the bottle of shampoo with her magic. She poured some of it onto her hoof and then rubbed it out over Flurry’s mane. It was curly, far more so than her own, but over the past month and a half Twilight had gotten rather skilled at washing it.
The Crystal War had upped Twilight’s paperwork by a lot, but from that first day that Luna, escorted by no less than twelve of her Lunar Guard, had brought a crying Flurry to Twilight, she’d taken time off her schedule to have a bath with Flurry, directly after dinner. It wasn’t a very long bath - Flurry was a young filly after all, and she needed her sleep - but it was always nice and warm.
‘’Thanks, auntie,’’ Flurry chirped after Twilight was finished, before plunging her head underwater for a minute. When she came up, gasping slightly for air, she slid over and huddled against Twilight’s side.
‘’Shall I do your tail?’’ Twilight was loath to disturb a cute scene like this, but she did need to wash Flurry’s tail, especially after today’s alleged snowball fight.
‘’’kay,’’ Flurry agreed, and she slid away from Twilight again, before sticking her tail out of the water. Twilight used shampoo on it again, and Flurry spent another minute underwater.
After resurfacing, the two of them spent a few more minutes in the bath, before Twilight checked the clock. ‘’Alright Flurry, it’s time for bed,’’ she announced.
‘’Aww…’’ Flurry pouted, but she nonetheless climbed out of the bath and shook herself dry.
‘’Flurry, we have towels,’’ Twilight dryly reminded her as she climbed out of the bath.
The filly just giggled, and Twilight didn’t have it in her to be even slightly annoyed at Flurry for how she dried herself. It was a touch of innocence in her, and Twilight would do anything to protect what innocence she had left.
After properly drying both Flurry and herself, Twilight walked with Flurry to her bedroom. However, Flurry seemed to be trying to drag it on as long as possible. Finally, they arrived at her bedroom, after five minutes of walking when the bathrooms were only two minutes away.
‘’Flurry, what’s wrong?’’ Twilight asked as she stopped in front of the door.
‘’I don’t wanna go to sleep,’’ Flurry muttered, sitting down on the floor.
‘’Why not?’’
Flurry didn’t reply. She just looked down at the floor.
Twilight brushed her wing against Flurry’s back. ‘’Flurry, tell me what’s wrong, please.’’
Flurry looked up, hesitated, then burst forward and wrapped herself around Twilight’s leg. ‘’I’m scared,’’ she admitted, as she looked around fearfully. ‘’I don’t wanna be alone.’’
Twilight wanted to tell Flurry that everything would be fine, that nothing would happen to her. But she couldn’t say that and feel good to herself. So she wrapped a leg around Flurry and smiled down reassuringly. ‘’You can stay with me tonight.’’
‘’Really?’’
Twilight bent her head down and nuzzled Flurry. ‘’Of course, Flurry.’’
‘’Thank you thank you thank you!’’ Flurry squeezed Twilight’s leg even tighter.
‘’Come on,’’ Twilight said after a moment. ‘’Crawl on my back if you want to.’’
Flurry flew up and nestled herself on Twilight’s back, but not before she got Whammy from her bedroom. Twilight gave herself a second to adjust to the slight difference in weight, then walked down the hallway and through the palace until she reached her chambers.
Her chambers, which had been Cadence’s and Shining’s.
‘’You redid it,’’ Flurry realized softly. Fuck.
‘’It was all destroyed,’’ Twilight said just as softly. ‘’I’m sorry, Flurry. We can go sleep somewhere else if you want to.’’
‘’No,’’ the filly shook her head, ‘’no, it’s okay, auntie.’’
Twilight wished so desperately that she could turn back time, that she could prevent this all from ever occurring. But she couldn’t, not after she’d destroyed Starlight’s spell. So, she did the next best thing: she got into the bed together with Flurry, the little filly cuddling up against her. Normally they’d read a story now, but Twilight was tired and she could see Flurry was too.
Twilight pulled the covers over them both with her magic. ‘’Good night, Flurry.’’
‘’Good night, auntie Twilight,’’ Flurry replied as she finally nestled herself in the position she apparently found the most comfortable.
The filly closed her eyes, and a few minutes later she was fast asleep. Twilight placed a soft kiss under her horn again, and then let herself drift off to sleep as well.
‘’Twilight Sparkle?’’
Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes. She was still in the Crystal Palace, but the bed was gone and instead she was sitting on a throne. Luna sat opposite her, on a replica of her throne in Canterlot.
‘’Hello, Luna,’’ she greeted the older alicorn. ‘’How’s Canterlot?’’
Luna sniffed. ‘’The nobles are still as insufferable as ever, but we have found that people are more eager to support our reforms now.’’
Twilight couldn’t help but think that might be the only good thing to come out of the Crystal War: Equestria’s stance on thestrals. Luna’s campaigning had done wonders, but it wasn’t until the news of how thestral militias had saved lives all over northern Equestria by hiding ponies in their colonies reached the average pony’s ear that public opinion truly shifted. Now the thestrals were being hailed as heroes.
‘’That’s good,’’ she said with a smile. ‘’Right?’’
Luna nodded gracefully. ‘’It is. But that is not the reason we are here tonight.’’ She leaned forward. ‘’How are you settling in?’’
‘’It’s going… well,’’ Twilight couldn’t help but sigh as she said the last bit. ‘’The city is still being reconstructed and with so many ponies d-dead it feels, I don’t know, kind of empty? But we’re doing alright.’’
‘’That’s good to hear,’’ Luna said. ‘’We noticed Flurry was in your bed this night.’’
Twilight nodded. ‘’She… didn’t want to be alone.’’
Luna hummed. ‘’Understandable.’’ With that said, she gracefully rose from her throne. ‘’We are afraid there are still other duties that require our attention, Twilight Sparkle. But do not hesitate to call on us if you are ever in need of our assistance.’’
‘’I’ll do that, Luna. Have a nice night.’’
Luna inclined her head. ‘’You too.’’ And she vanished in a burst of starlight.
Twilight closed her eyes, and darkness took her again.