I lay on my back in my darkened room and stared up at the ceiling on my plush purple bed and thought long and hard about the events of the day…
I thought about Twilight actually loving me! ME! The horrible filly who took over Equestria!
Maybe I should get rid of her? I suddenly thought to myself again as I frowned at the ornate upper surface of my room, now dimly illuminated by the small light near the bed.
I blink and wonder to myself, On what grounds? I mean, sure I’m an evil tyrant, but even I’d want a good reason! Before shutting my eyes and rolling over on my right side…
I pout while snuggling the enormous violet pillow to the side of my face, That rotten Twilight! How dare she be nice to me! And then, I cuddle my dolphin plushie to my chest and close my eyes as I begin to drift off…
<*****>
I open my eyes and I’m sitting on my haunches at a wooden school desk. I’m wearing my crown, but I also see Twilight Sparkle near the front desk 10 feet from me as she smiles and says, “Okay, so for our lesson today…”
I cut her off, “What do you mean lesson? Wasn’t I the Empress of Friendship?”
She nods courteously, “But of course, Empress Cozy Glow!”
I frown, “So then WHY are you teaching me lessons?” before widening my eyes.
She smiles, “Because you came here to learn about friendship, remember?”
I’m silent for a moment, “You know, I think I’d remember something like that?”
She nods again, “Indeed! Now, as you’ll recall, yesterday, we were talking about sharing and we had that exercise where you shared the power of my friendship and used it to make Chrysalis go away!”
I stare back at her mortified. “N-no it didn’t! That never happened!”
She broadens her grin to me, “Oh, but it did, don’t you remember? We’re friends now and we worked as a team to make the threat go away!”
I suddenly open my eyes while laying on my back on the bed. The blanket now only half-covers me and the dolphin is thrown off to the right side of the bed as I stared up at the ceiling in the darkened room that one fateful morning. I whispered emphatically, “I gotta get out of here!”
<*****>
I’m honestly not sure how long I had been flying? I think I was heading north, which means I’m going towards the Everfree… I also know the sun was just now starting to peak out over the eastern horizon at my right and I saw the long shadows of the trees below in the pastures in the early morning sunlight…
The forest will be perfect because it’s a nice quiet place to clear my head! I think to myself as I suddenly notice a treeline come into view in front of me. I lower my gaze and begin to flap faster… The sooner I reach the woods, the faster I can relax! It’s so stressful around Twilight right now! Just the thought of being around her makes me uneasy! I think as I furrow my brow and flap forward with all of my might.
I finally see the trees get closer and eventually fall underneath me as I continued to flap forward into the forest… You know, I have no idea exactly how far I went? I was starting to feel cramped in the Friendship castle and I just needed to get away! Away from Twilight and the other servants! Away from everything!
I landed just shy of a wooden shanty about 20 feet in front of me as I stared up at it over a pond… I huffed in and out of my mouth… I haven’t flown THAT far in a long time!
I just kept breathing in and out of my snout, in and out, in and out, while the shanty came into view and I saw that it was on a front with a wooden railing protecting it from the pond before it…
I saw marshlands all around me as I caught my breath and began to breath slower... I eventually raised my neck as my breathing grew shallower and turned my ears to the shack, because I suddenly wondered who lived there?
“Haven’t seen you ‘round here!” I suddenly hear a grizzled masculine voice from behind me!
This startles me and I scream, “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!”
“EEK!” The voice starts and I turn my head to face it behind me and witness a brown earth stallion with a thatched straw hat, dark blue eyes, light wavy tan mane and tail, and quite a few wrinkles on his face! “Sorry bout that young’un! I didn’t mean to startle you! Name’s Bayou Billy Clops! Most ponies call me Bill!” his gaze lowers as his brow furrows. “Who are ya and what’re ya doin’ here?”
I turn my body to face uh, Bill and widen my eyes, “I shall call you Bill then!” I nod. “Well, Bill! If you really wanna know, I just uh, needed to get away! You ever need an escape?”
He smiles down at me, “Well, yeah! All the time! The real trick is figuring out what ta do!”
I blink, “Uh, of course!”
“If ya don’t mind me askin’, what were ya tryin’ ta git away from?”
I sigh to the side, “Well uh, it’s my friend!”
He frowns, “Oh?”
I smile dimly and giggle nervously at him, “Yeah, she’s uh, a really good friend and I just don’t know if I like that?”
His eyes widen, “Now, why in Equestria would ya not like that, little un?”
I adjust my body and say to him, “Well I uh, did some things and well…”
His eyes narrow, “Look! It don’t matter what ya did and it don’t matter how ya feel about it! We’re not talkin’ bout that! What’s truly important is your relationship with this friend, y’hear?”
I frown, “Oh? Uh, hey listen, “I shake my head. “I’m just not sure who I am anymore?”
His eyes normalize, “Y’know, friends can help with that sort of thing? Uh, what should I call you, anyway?”
My eyes widen as I think on the fly, “Call me Annabelle!”
He nods, “Alright Annabelle, look! It seems to me that any friend that can make ya travel this far out must be some friend… And it also seems to me that y’truly care bout this friend cause yer not sure if you deserve her…” his view enlarges. “Y’think maybe thems all the answers y’need?”
I gaze at Bill with enormous eyes, “Oh, golly Bill! You’re right! I mean, she might be in an awkward position, but we still have a connection of some sort and I need to nurture that!”
He frowns, “Say what now?”
I turn and begin to gallop away from the shanty in the distance, “Thanks Bill!” before I quickly begin flapping my wings and take off out over the milder forest further back towards Ponyville…
<*****>
I must’ve been flying for hours! Gee, is the Everfree Forest really that far from Ponyville? I finally saw the towers of my castle in the distance as they sat in the view just beyond the small townscape of downtown Ponyville.
I kept flapping as the towers got larger and larger in my view… I knew which towers I’d want and I knew what area of town my castle was in! Just a matter of getting there…
I then thought about Bill… To him, I wasn’t empress of anything… He saw me as a small pink filly and nothing more, and so he gave me solid advice… I care about Twilight and it’s probably better that I deal with that?
As I flapped through the air, I witnessed many pegasi and a lot of them stopped and gawked at me while flapping in mid-air! You know, I’m just the Empress of Friendship, the single most important pony in Equestria, after all!
As I continued to fly over the town, I suddenly thought that I did care about Twilight and she cared about me… That our situation is just scenery and that I need to come to terms with that… Uh, somehow?
I also knew that it was well after 9 o’clock and she’s probably wondering where the hay I am?
I saw the tall spire of my castle’s main keep! That’s where I want to be, because it’s secure! I flap hurriedly that direction as another pink and blue pegasus ponies on my right stop to stare at me…
I see it come into view and I witness the platform of the awning come into view over one section of the tower...
I land on the old wooden platform with a clack noise as my hooves make contact… You know, I really should have them replace this deck later? I blink and stare at the door in front of me… Ponyville town is sprawled out behind me in the morning sun, and I just stood there, staring at my door and thinking to myself…
I care about her and she cares about me! That’s it! We’re friends! Uh, how should I handle this?
Suddenly, it bursts open to the left to reveal a wide-eyed purple alicorn with a blue mane, “Empress Cozy Glow! I’ve been looking for you all morning! Where were you?”
I stare at my assistant and decide I wanna be tough, “Twilight Sparkle! I order you to hug me!”
She frowns, “W-what?”
“Hug me! Right now, servant!”
Her face straightens as she slowly trots towards me, one step, then another, and a third, before her forehooves both come over me and I feel her warm embrace and her body close to mine…
“I love you!” I whisper while burying my face in her chest floof…
“What was that, Your Majesty?” She asks…
“Nothing!” I reply while still happily being held in her hooves… I think I might be smiling right now, actually? I’m probably smiling?
(To be continued…)