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// Heavy Weighs the Crown 
// Story: Rebirth of Magic: Royal Approval 
// by The Blue EM2 
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The day of the Royal Celebration had at last arrived, and truth be told I approached the day with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Nervousness as I would be expected to speak in public (I was yet to try it so I had no clue how well it would go), but on the other hand I knew the sorts of festivities that came with this sort of celebration. I had no doubt that they would be excellent and splendid, but that still meant I had to be cautious and stay on my guard for what was probably coming down the road.

The first task of the day was arguably the most important of all. We proceeded through the palace to find our way to the styling room, where the experts got to work on ensuring that we looked orderly and were presentable. Several hours of various treatments and different body washes later and we were ready to go. This may just be me being biased, but I thought that we looked pretty good.

Zipp didn't seem to share the same sentiment as she removed the last of the cream from her face. "What is this stuff, anyway?" she asked, looking a little annoyed.

"It's supposed to clear wrinkles from the skin and produce a positive shine," Pipp explained.

Zipp facehoofed. "We have fur, Pipp. Nopony's gonna notice. Besides, we get enough stuff shoved in our manes on a daily basis."

"This day will be remembered for all of time, Zipp! Don't you want to look your best?"

Zipp rolled her eyes. "And what bit of this do I want to remember, exactly? What are the public expecting, Strictly Come Prancing?"

"The public," I said, taking charge of the situation, "expect you to do your duty. Which means looking and acting your best during the day's events. You can start by removing that frown from your face."

Zipp complained, though not without protest. That was that stage tackled at the very least, and it would shortly be time to move onwards to the next series of events and special festivities.

After a special state banquet (yes, another one) which had hours of speeches and many, many rounds of applause, we moved onwards to the next big section of the events unfolding that day. As we looked up from the Palace plaza, the whine of engines came in overheard and attracted our attention.

Approaching at speed was the Air Force's aerial display team, which I had subsequently learned were called the Yellowjacks. Before long, the aircraft began looping and diving about, leaving smoke trails and forming shapes with their moves. They formed up above and below one another, turning and spinning like gymnasts in mid flight, whirling in such a manner I was amazed they didn't get dizzy.

Once the series of incredibly elaborate moves was completed, it became clear what had been spelled out before us. The smoke and aircraft spelled out the number 25. Clever, I thought. Formation flying truly is an art.





Evening fell, and preparations began for the main performance of the night. Much of the floor of the Throne Room had already been cleared of objects in order to allow the public to fit in, and height clearances were installed to ensure no objects were present that Pipp could bump into or get the wires snagged on. That would be an awkward end to the night.

Myself, on the other hand, was currently seeing to other security arrangements. Considering the actions taken by Misty a little while back, I suspected that we might need to make some alternate arrangement for the crown, in case anypony else attempted to steal it. It was for this reason I had hatched a cunning plan. A plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.

This consisted of me going into the safe (where all the paperwork was) and putting the first crown into it. Once this task was completed, I then took the other crown that I had had made at the Jewellers and then placed that atop my head. As before it fitted perfectly.

"Let's see any potential thief figure that one out," I said to myself as I locked the safe shut. I have to admit I did feel something slightly odd about the other crown I put into the safe. It somehow didn't feel heavy enough, as if it were made of the wrong materials. Still, it was good enough to fool anypony looking, and the one atop my head was exceedingly convincing, so there was that.

Having finished in the room, I made sure to set things to be well and proper when I got back, and then headed out of the room towards the main corridor. I was checking all around for different events, as the serving staff were once more hard at work. They were busy trimming lights and adjusting the objects in the corridors. I wasn't quite sure why everything was being darkened, but then again this may just be standard convention before concerts. I didn't really have much of a way of knowing the answer to that one.

Once I was finally through the corridors, I had entered the Cable Room and noticed the security guards were in position at either side of the room. "Are you meant to be here?" I asked. "I thought you two were allocated to the bedchambers today."

"Apologies, Your Majesty," said one of them. "We appear to be lost. This way!" The two of them then left and made their way in the direction I had come from. This entire matter just continued to get stranger in my opinion.

I trotted over to the nearby dressing table, which was set up not far from the controls for the cables. I took a look in the mirror and noticed my stage makeup was starting to slip a bit. "Hmm. I could do with touching that up a bit."





Technicians came to fit both me and Zipp with our harnesses and cables whilst I was doing that. I continued to apply stage makeup as Zipp simply looked awkward. To this end I decided to spark up a conversation.

"Pipp told me you've been with the others a lot," I said, making some further adjustments.

Zipp looked at me in surprise. "She told you that?"

"She tells me everything. I wish you would speak with me more." I sighed, as I saw both of us reflected in the mirror. "I won't be here forever, Zephyrina. We need to make the most of the time we have available, and one day you will need to understand your duties. This crown is a lot heavier than it looks."

Zipp looked down in the mirror. "There is something I wanted to talk about," she said, looking like this was rather important and urgent.

I smiled. "See? That's a good start."

Zipp took a deep breath and then began to speak. "The other races don't have magic," she said. "We all lack it. We have to do something or else me may well find oursel-"

That was quite enough of that. I turned around so suddenly that Zipp visibly recoiled in surprise.

"Zephyrina!" I snapped. As I knew from life, full name ultimatums usually had the desired effect. "I don't know what ideas that Earth Pony or those Unicorns have been putting in your head, but you cannot trust a word they say. They could be spies, for all we know. Besides, you have a comfortable life here in Zephyr Heights. Why would you want to risk that?"

I'll admit I'm not quite sure what prompted me to say that apart from the fact a similar sentiment is expressed in the film, but I felt awful almost immediately.

"Because it's a lie!" Zipp retorted. "The populace should know the truth about what's going on."

I sighed. "It keeps the people safe and happy. Sometimes living a happy lie is better than enduring a horrible truth."

What Zipp said next caught me off guard. "Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth, mom. Sooner or later that debt is repaid."

Did she just quote Chernobyl? I thought to myself. If I had needed a clue that something wasn't quite right with Zipp that was it. I tried to counter as best I could. "Don't concern yourself with things that will never happen, Zephyrina."

But it seemed that Zipp had turned the snark machine on as well. "Don't concern yourself with things that will never happen. They should put that on our pound notes."

Just then, Pipp was wheeled in on her cable rig. Curiously, she had been suspended from the cables rather than left on the ground.

I smiled. "Ah, there she is! Your sister understands the importance of maintaining the status quo."

As Pipp performed her vocal exercises to ensure her voice was in tip top condition, I pushed a button on a nearby control panel, which indicated that we were ready to go. "Showtime!"

I felt a familiar pull as the winding gear engaged. Well, here we go. Time for what I thought would be the easiest night of my life.

I had no clue how wrong I was.