//------------------------------//
// S9 E13: Between Dark and Dawn (What If?) 
// Story: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 17 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

Having come to the aid of a panic stricken Starlight Glimmer and her friends after they had learned that a student from Twilight's school: Silverstream, had gone missing, Princess Luna had come to a bit of a realization. She and her elder sister had wanted to go on vacation, but after being unable to agree on what to do together they had decided to go their separate ways. The long separation had given both sisters time to pause, and reconsider what was most important to them.

So it was that Princess Luna, having safely brought Silverstream out of the Everfree Forest and assured that all in Ponyville was well, now set off to find her sister: Princess Celestia. Night was about to pass to day, the sun was due to raise shortly.

As it so happened, Princess Celestia was sitting alone atop a tall mountain, with only the view for company. That is, until she was surprised to see her younger sister and fellow alicorn come trotting up to her almost unannounced. She nervously turned to greet Luna. "Oh!" She exclaimed, trying not to let the uncomfortability of the situation prevent her from being warm and welcoming. "H-hello again, Luna. I thought climbing Mount Filly-mane-jaro was on my list, not yours."

Princess Luna somewhat sheepishly replied. "I'm not copying you! I just wanted to watch the sunrise. That's all."

Celestia replied back. "Ah. I'm, uh, here for the moonset." And she watched as her younger sister sat down next to her.

For a moment, neither alicorn sister could speak. They just sat next to one another, occasionally looking at each other as if daring one or the other to speak first.

Eventually, the sun princess broke the silence as she asked Luna. "So, uh, how was... your vacation? Did you do anything interesting?"

"You... could say that," The moon princess slowly replied. "What about you?"

Celestia nervously and hesitantly stated. "It was... interesting, I guess."

Luna then let out a sigh, looking up at the fading night sky. "This is so beautiful. It must be amazing in the sunlight." She said to her older sister.

The elder alicorn nodded. "Yes. But the night's pretty special, too, you know."

Seconds later, both alicorns saw a faint twinkle in the sky, and in unison they shouted! "Lucky star!"

Princess Luna happily said to her sister. "I remember that you taught me to look for those when I was a filly."

"Hope I wasn't too bossy while doing it." Princess Celestia chuckled in response.

"You weren't," The younger alicorn nodded in a reassuring tone of voice, then added. "You know, being with your sister all the time is hard, but being without her? It's even harder. I know our little... disagreement must've brought back some uncomfortable memories for you."

Celestia reluctantly admitted. "It did. I can't believe we ever agreed to just go our separate ways, even for a vacation," She then added. "After the thousand years we were separated, Luna, I wouldn't trade you for any of the adventures on my list."

"Really? Not even your zip line?" Luna questioned.

"Yes, Luna, not even that." Princess Celestia agreed.

Just then, the two alicorns beheld a rather unexpected sight! The sun was rising into the sky, all the while the moon was not lowering at all. The two objects were together in the sky at the same place.

Princess Luna let out a gasp, taking in the rare sight! "The sun and the moon together? At the same time?"

The elder alicorn grinned. "Now, where have I seen that before?" And she and her sister laughed together at the sight.

The joyful mood soon faded as the royal sisters began to suspect that something might be up. They weren't controlling the sun and the moon, somepony else was. And now the two objects were moving erratically, even though by this point the sun should've fully risen and the moon should've set.

Celestia let out a gulp, nervously bitting a hoof as she stood up. "You think maybe Twilight's having trouble with the amulet we gave her?" She asked Luna.

Luna nervously replied. "Maybe? We should probably go help her, just in case." And she followed her sister in unfolding her wings, before the two alicorns began to fly back to Canterlot.

The royal sisters were indeed right, Twilight was having trouble with the amulet. Little did they suspect that that was only the latest in a long list of problems that the young alicorn had experienced over the past twenty four hours. Twilight Sparkle had come to learn a valuable lesson about just how difficult the responsibilities of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were, as well as what a princess could and could not do alone.



As Celestia and Luna were racing towards Canterlot, Twilight was trying desperately to fix her mistake. She currently was holding aloft a bronze medalion with symbols of the sun and the moon on either end.

Spike came rushing out onto the balcony, carrying with him a tool that had several little circles on it. "Okay, okay! I think I got it!" He shouted as he let Twilight take hold of the tool. "Apparently, it says we can use this to reset the amulet. Just turn the screw on the back-"

But Twilight didn't wait for Spike to finish, she was already following his instructions. And that led to trouble. After turning the screw a little with the tool, she watched in horror as the amulet broke! Springs and gears burst out!

Spike winced as he finished his sentence. "-No more than one half turn."

The young alicorn gulped and whimpered, looking down at the now useless object she was holding. Hesitantly, she asked. "Uh, does anypony have some tape?!" All the while, the sun and the moon were moving up, down, and all around of their own free accord!

Fortunately, it wasn't long before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna showed up. They spoke not a word as they used their magic to set everything right: Lowering the moon and allowing the sun to rise, finally bringing about day proper.

With a sheepish grin and a nervous laugh, Twilight reluctantly turned the broken amulet over to the royal sisters. "Sorry," She tried to apologize. "In my defense, it was only slightly more difficult then when I had to move the sun and the moon entirely with my magic."

Spike then added. "Sorry you two had to cut your vacation short to come back and help us. How was it?"

Celestia let out a sigh while looking across to her younger sister. "It was fine. What time we did have was well spent, although we ultimately felt it best if we both went off on our own to do what each of us wanted to do," She quickly recovered. "But we are rested and refreshed now, and we are ready to take back the throne for the time being."

Luna then saw fit to question. "So... besides the mishap with the amulet we infused with some of our magic, is there anything else that gave you trouble while my sister and I were away? It seems like everything in Canterlot is the way we left it, more or less."

At that Twilight gulped and swallowed hard, adopting a rather guilty expression. "Well... sort of. It's... kind of a long story. I guess I didn't fully realize just what you two have to deal with every day. I thought about writing to you and asking for advice, but I didn't want to interrupt your vacation. And Faust knows you two certainly needed one with the way you were acting recently." And she began to flashback to the very event that had set everything else that had unfolded over the past twenty four hours into motion.





The event in particular that had served as a catalyst for Twilight to propose giving the royal sister a vacation had taken place several days prior. Yet the details were still fresh and vivid in her mind, playing back as if it had all happened just yesterday.

Applejack had called all her friends to Sweet Apple Acres for help in dealing with a critter problem. Since it was spring time and school was still in session, Twilight had instructed Starlight Glimmer to stay and keep things in order at the school (and make sure that classes were covered for the professors called away).

Said critter turned out to be a giant turtle like creature, except it had a very sharp beak, a long tongue, and had several large trees on its back. It was stomping and shaking the ground, leaving huge footprints with every step it took.

"Remind me how this happened again!" Twilight had hollered towards her friends, hoping that one of them would have an answer.

Applejack had hollered back as the turtle like creature stuck out its tongue, wrapped it around one of the apple trees, and devoured the whole tree in one bite. "I don't know! It just showed up out of the blue! And now it's eatin' my family's entire crop! We were gonna harvest that for the summer, we just got done with our confluence a few weeks ago!"

Fluttershy had gulped, confessing. "Oh dear. I think this is my fault. Mr. Tortoise-Snap said he was hungry. But he promised me he would only take a few small bites."

Rainbow Dash had then replied. "Yeah? Well I don't think that... thing knows what 'small' is."

"Well, he can't stay here!" Applejack had declared as she stomped a hoof down. "He's gonna eat my family out of house and home if he keeps this up! He's gotta leave, and he's gotta leave right now!"

"Leave it to me!" Spike insisted as he puffed out his chest and unfolded his wings. "I reckon a little bit of flame breath will scare him away!"

"Spike, be careful! You're big, but that tortoise-snap is even bigger. He could eat you alive!" Twilight had nervously warned the dragon. It had been almost a year since the molt that had caused him to grow to the size of Smolder and Ember (and gain wings). But that didn't mean he was invincible.

Spike had just replied. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." Yet he had no sooner spoken those words, when suddenly the tortoise-snap stuck out its tongue and wrapped it around him! It pulled Spike into the air, flipping the dragon onto its back as he then held on for dear life! The tortoise-snap, meanwhile, kept trying to throw Spike off, stomping and shaking all about!

"Spikey-Wikey!" Rarity had shrieked in horror!

Twilight had known right then and there that she and her friends needed to act fast! The situation was rapidly growing out of control. In a firm yet calm tone of voice, she began giving orders. "Applejack and Pinkie, you distract him!" She had instructed. "Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, let's save Spike!"

"Do whatever you gotta do, just be quick about it!" Spike had hollered back as he had shut his eyes! The tortoise-snap was clearly not happy! It seems Spike had underestimated just how aggressive such large creatures could be.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie had then wasted no time in setting up their "distraction". Applejack kicked one of the apple trees, and Pinkie had quickly picked them up and started tossing them at the tortoise-snap's snout.

With the tortoise-snap momentarily distracted, Rainbow Dash had flown up while taking hold of a giant, pink ribbon from Rarity. The brash speedster had proceeded to effortlessly tie the ribbon around the tortoise snap's snout, preventing it from opening its mouth.

Fluttershy had then looked the giant reptile firmly in the eyes, and had said to it. "Mr. Tortoise-Snap, I'm only asking nicely once! Let my friend go! And you better put him down gently, for your sake!"

The tortoise-snap had let out a low growl, but seemed to obey. It had stopped trying to stomp and shake, which had allowed Spike to fly off of the many trees on the giant reptile's back.

Spike had proceeded to breath a sigh of relief. "That was too close!" He had exclaimed.

Twilight had then trotted forward, ready to take care of the problem once and for all. "And now, a simple teleportation spell should easily-" Yet she had then been suddenly and rudely interrupted.

From the sky a thundering voice vaguely familiar to all had bellowed! "Halt, interloper! You shall go no further! Your days of terroizing innocent ponies are over!"

And then, who should emerge from above but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves? It had apparently never occurred to them that the situation they were intervening in was already under control.

Instead, Princess Luna had declared with a smile on her face. "Stay back, friends! There's no need for you to worry yourselves! My sister and I will take care of the beast!" She had then turned to her older sister and had said to her. "Shall we, dear sister?"

Princess Celestia had happily and firmly nodded. "Yes indeed. This shouldn't take long." And then she and Luna had flown up, horns charged and at the ready. A series of magic blasts had then shot out from their horns, striking the tortoise-snap square in the face and forcing it to retreat.

Rainbow Dash had taken the liberty of voicing aloud the thought all her friends had had about the royal sisters' sudden (and unnecessary) intervention. "Seriously? All the times we could've used their help, and they show up the one time we didn't need it?"

Applejack had then gulped. "Y'all think they're gonna be doin' this a lot?"

Twilight had groaned and shaken her head in dismay. "I certainly hope not. I don't need them babysitting us all the time now that we're going to take over ruling Equestria from them."

Neither Celestia or Luna had heard any of this, they'd been too busy enjoying how "helpful" they thought they were being.

"Goodness, sister," Princess Luna had chuckled afterward as the two alicorns had returned to the orchard, expecting to be showered with praise for their intervention. "You were right! That was fun!"

And Princess Celestia had then declared. "No need to thank us. Just doing our jobs," Then she had explained. "To be honest, we've recently realized we like being part of the action instead of always having to sit on the sidelines. We should've been doing this a lot more often, and much sooner."

"Which is why we're making up for it now," Princess Luna had pointed out. "Experiencing life instead of just dreaming about it."

"And making a difference outside the throne room." The sun princess had added, before both alicorns began to giggle and laugh heartily. They had seemed very pleased with themselves, much to the dismay of everyone else.





Any hope of the ordeal with the tortoise-snap being just an isolated incident was quickly dashed when the royal sisters began appearing in Ponyvillle much more frequently in the days that followed. They had seen fit to help out in every little situation they possibly could, regardless of whether they'd been asked to or not.

Naturally, Twilight and her friends had eventually gotten quite fed up with such intrusive behavior. So they all gathered one day at Twilight's castle, and within the confines of the throne room they all took turns voicing their griveances about the alicorns' recent behavior.

"And then they carried Granny Smith across the street. There wasn't even any traffic!" Applejack groaned. "Besides, she could easily cross the street herself if she wanted to. They didn't even ask her where she wanted to go!"

"And they totally just barged on in and started making cupcakes when I had a big order to fill," Pinkie Pie pointed out. "I had everything under control. If they'd asked nicely, I would've been happy to let them bake with me. But they took over and did everything themselves. They took all the fun right out of it!"

Fluttershy sheepishly and nervously added. "Well, it's not like we don't appreciate them trying to be helpful. I'm sure they mean well."

Rarity then frowned, bitterly complaining. "But suddenly, Celestia and Luna seem to think we can't do anything on our own. It's ridiculous, treating us like we're little fillies who need constant supervision! We're all full grown mares for pony's sake!"

Rainbow Dash saw fit to ask the nagging question no one else in the room had yet brought up. "How are we supposed to learn to be rulers of Equestria with them fixing every teensy problem for us? You know them better than anypony else, Twilight. Why are they doing this now? Is this seriously just because soon they won't be on the throne anymore? It's not our fault harmony's changing!"

Twilight gulped, nervously confessing. "I don't know what's gotten into them. They haven't sent any notes or called me for any royal meetings. This is a very odd time for them to be having a mid-life crisis," Then an awful thought struck her. "Maybe they've changed their minds about stepping down. Maybe they don't think we're ready after all, or maybe they don't think I'm ready."

"That's ridculous!" Spike protested as he put a claw around Twilight. "You've handled so many things almost flawlessly over the years, Twilight, even before you became an alicorn princess. And if harmony is changing, there's nothing they can do to prevent it," He then suggested. "I'm sure if we just talk to them, they'll understand. They're probably under a lot of pressure themselves, seems like everypony in Equestria knows now that they're going to be stepping down before long."

As if having heard what the dragon had said, the royal sisters came barging in in dramatic fashion! The throne room doors swinging open before them!

"Oh! What's this? A strategy meeting?!" Princess Celestia asked. "How exciting!" And without bothering to see how anypony else felt, she demanded. "So, what's in danger this time? How can we help? Is it a rampaging beast? An evil spell? A friendship problem?"

Princess Luna added with an eager smile. "We're ready to do whatever we can. We're itching for action."

Twilight let out a sigh, looking her fellow alicorns deep in the eyes. She really didn't want to hurt their feelings, but she knew that what they were doing now couldn't continue. Ponies were starting to complain. "Celestia, Luna, is there a reason why you two are constantly trying to help us? I know you two aren't going to be on the throne for much longer, but don't you still have some ruler-y responsibilities you need to tend to?"

The sun princess scoffed at the suggestion, waving a hoof to dismiss the concern. "Please. Everything in Canterlot is just fine without us around. The only time anypony ever needs us is when there's some big disaster going on. And before Luna and I can ever do anything, the problem either solves itself or we get taken out of commission."

"Have you forgotten the time you fought the Frozen North and its harsh blizzards? And what about battling that changling army Chrysalis sent as a distraction while she captured Twilight and Flurry Heart?" Spike pointed out. "Those have to count for something, right?"

"I would expect my favorite dragon that I used to dragonsit for to know better," Luna frowned. "Just about anypony could've done what we did in those situations. We really didn't make that much of a difference. Everypony else were the big heroes in those situations, not us. And you saw how easily we were defeated the last time Canterlot was invaded. Now ponies are reacting to the news of our impending retirement by saying 'What took you so long?'."

A realization struck the studious young alicorn as her eyes went wide! "Wait, that's what this is all about, isn't it? You're sick of being princesses. You think that you haven't done enough just by managing the day to day things in the kingdom, all because you've never truly been able to stop any big threat by yourselves."

Celestia let out a sigh. "Is it really that obvious, Twilight?" She lamented. "I suppose we can't hide anything from you. And it's not like we don't appreciate what you and your friends have done for Equestria over the years. We're sure you'll make fine rulers eventually. But..." She trailed off in hesitation.

"But what?" Twilight questioned with concern.

The sun princess was slow to answer, it seemed like it was a struggle for her to get the words out. Her tone of voice was heavily tinged with guilt and regret. "-What good is it to be princess when your subjects look you to protect them, and you constantly fail to do that? It was one thing when it was just Nightmare Moon or Discord, even Chrysalis could be said to just be an isolated incident. But after what happened with Tirek, I started to realize just how little Luna and I have truly done to protect Equestria. Yes, things have been peaceful. But harmony wouldn't be changing if what Luna and I were doing was responsible for that peace," In a somewhat more confident and optimstic tone she added. "Battling the Everfree Forest alongside Starswirl made us realize what we've missed out on being stuck on the throne. So, instead of spending the day ruling..."

"...And the night patrolling dreams..." Luna was quick to add.

Then Celestia concluded. " ...We wanted a chance to do the things you do. Save the day! Have adventures with friends! Just be helpful!"

Rainbow Dash immediately protested. "Yeah? Well there are waaaay more fun things to do than follow us around all day and night."

Applejack added with a firm nod. "Besides, you ain't exactly bein' helpful tryin' to help us when ya really don't need to."

Pinkie Pie then proposed. "Ooh! You should both make a list of all the stuff you've never tried but always wanted to! There's a lotta little things out there to do!"

The elder alicorn put a hoof to her chin. "That does sound tempting," Yet she then hesitated. "Only... it's much harder to justify a vacation from the castle when it's not an emergency we're responding to."

Rarity was quick to point out the contradiction. "That hasn't stopped you from coming here to Ponyville every day this past week now. And there certainly hasn't been any sort of emergency to justify it."

"Even so, we can't just leave on a vacation," Luna nervously commented. "Somepony will have to keep an eye on things in Canterlot, and raise the sun and the moon while we're away. If my sister and I were to go on vacation, I imagine we'd be away for several days while we explore all the things we want to see and do."

Twilight quickly settled on what she thought was an obvious solution. "Well, my friends and I can cover for you. I'll have to check with Starlight first, seeing as school is still in session. But I'm sure she won't mind taking over my duties as headmare, it's almost the end of the quarter and spring break is coming up. Once I have that taken care of, though, I'm sure the rest of us can cover whatever palace duties you need us to cover for you," A bright smile came onto her face as she proclaimed! "Yes! That's totally a good idea! This way, we'll get in some much needed practice for when you step down for real. And you two can spend a week or even longer just relaxing, enjoying some down time."

Luna and Celestia looked across to each other, somewhat hesitant if the quick glances they gave each other were any indication. Even so, they seemed sorely tempted by the idea of getting to have a vacation. So Princess Luna eventually said. "Well, if you're sure you don't mind the extra effort, Celestia and I will be glad to go on vacation."

Twilight scoffed and confidently boasted. "Please! I know what I'm getting into. You've both been preparing me for the inevitable for months now. My friends and I, we can handle this. I can handle this!"

The royal sisters were thus convinced. And the sun princess trotted forward, wrapping her former student in a big hug. "Thank you, Twilight! You don't know how much this means to Luna and I," Though she added. "However, I should warn you that you'll be stepping in at a busy time. Not to worry, though. You've convinced me that the Royal Swanifying Ceremony is in good hooves."

Hearing the words "Royal Swanifying Ceremony" caused Applejack to blink. "The what now?" She and her friends didn't know at the time what that was, let alone why it was important.





It had taken a little bit of persuasion to get Starlight Glimmer to agree to step in as acting headmare of the School of Friendship again. Once that matter was taken care of, there was nothing that stood in the way of Twilight and the rest of her friends going to Canterlot to fill in for the royal sisters.

The two tall and slender alicorns soon got all packed up and ready for what they anticipated would be a long vacation (they had no way to know at the time that it would be cut short), even down to wearing flower-print t-shirts and heavy backpacks. Once they had done so, they prepared to depart. But not before leaving their stand-ins with a few last minute instructions and guidelines.

Celestia levitated over a large scroll, saying to Twilight in a tone of voice not unlike a mother speaking to her child. "And here are instructions on how to prepare for the Royal Swanifying Ceremony."

Twilight used her magic to levitate the scroll over to Spike, while saying in reply. "If it's written down, I'm sure we can handle it," And to the royal sister she then added. "Have fun, you two!"

"We will," Luna insisted with a wave of her hoof, and gave a whistle. "Come on, sister. We'd best get going," Then she suddenly remembered. "Oh, one more thing. We were thinking about how you would raise the sun and the moon in our absence. Fortunately, we reached out to Sunburst. And he had an idea."

Celestia proceeded to levitate over the very same amulet Twilight was unintentionally going to break in the span of about a day or so. "He crafted this amulet, and we enfused a small amount of our magic into it. You can activate it with your magic at any time, Twilight. Heck, you could even let somepony else try it if they're magically gifted enough. But if possible, try to have the sun and the moon raised at dawn and dusk respectively. No need to make ponies panic."

Pinkie Pie eyed the amulet, and looking to Twilight as it was bestowed upon she said. "Ooh! That's not a terrifying level of responsibility or anything!"

Twilight simply took hold of the amulet with her magic, holding it close to her chest as she reassured her fellow princesses. "We won't let you down, princesses. Have a good vacation. See you when you get back," And she and her friends waved until the two alicorns were out of sight. Once they were, Twilight somewhat nervously turned to Spike and said to him. "Please tell me that scroll says what the the Royal Swanifying Ceremony is and how we do it."

Spike looked over the scroll, examining very inch of very carefully. "Apparently it's a celebration of all the swans in the royal lake around the castle," He explained. "It says here that we round them up, parade them through the streets, and finish with a party in the castle." As soon as he'd finished speaking, the sound of a swan squawking could be heard far off in the distance.

Immediately, Rainbow Dash saw fit to ask. "One question. Why?! Do we seriously have to have a celebration for swans?"

"If it says to do it on the scroll, then that's what we'll do!" The young alicorn princess firmly declared. "This is our chance to show Celestia and Luna we'll do whatever the job requires. If they can take care of all this themselves, then I know we can. Together. How hard can it really be?"

A nervous Spike whispered. "You're definitely not reading the same scroll I am." But his comments were ignored, everypony else was thoroughly convinced by Twilight's reassurances.





A short time later, Twilight and her friends were still trying to take stock of everything they would need to do while Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were on vacation. The Royal Swanifying Ceremony was but one event, after all. And with it being nowhere close to the time when either the moon or the sun needed to be raised, that meant there was a lot of time for any unknown or unexpected problems to rear their ugly heads.

Suddenly, and with much fanfare, the throne room doors were swung open in dramatic fashion! And who should come strolling in but Prince Blueblood himself? Accompanying him were two ponies Rarity recognized at once as being Jet Set and Upper Crust, the very couple who had looked down upon her once upon a time for having been from Ponyville.

Prince Blueblood and his accompanying companions seemed just as shocked and surprised as Twilight and her friends were to see him! "My word! What is the meaning of this?!" He furiously demanded as he lifted up his head and locked eyes with Twilight. "What are you... you... civillians doing here?! Where are my aunts?!"

"If this is the princesses' idea of a joke, it's not funny!" Jet Set snorted.

Twilight cleared her throat. She wasn't about to be intimidated by such rude manners. "For your information," She said firmly and seriously, keeping her gaze locked onto the three nobles. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are away."

"Yes, they are enjoying a well deserved vacation," Rarity chimed in. "And I must say, you all have quite some nerve to come trotting in and talk to us like that! Don't you know you're addressing the friends of royalty? Surely, you're aware of the fact that Twilight is an alicorn princess, and has been for many years now."

Upper Crust humphed and shook her head in disapproval. "So what? You think that makes you special? It doesn't. You and your friends are all still Ponyville ponies by birth and blood. Princess Twilight has some nerve to come here and try to take over from the princesses. They haven't officially vacated the throne yet, Princess Twilight has no power here."

Prince Blueblood snarled. "I quite agree. I can't believe I was snubbed and past over for the throne by this lowly ex-librarian and glorified school teacher."

Spike flapped his wings and flew forward, locking eyes with Blueblood, Jet Set, and Upper Crust. "Did you all seriously just come here to insult Twilight and her friends? We haven't even been in charge for an hour, yet."

Blueblood coughed into a hoof, clearing his throat. "Ah yes, please do forgive me. We did come here on official important business. After all, the Royal Swanifying Ceremony is due to begin soon," He bowed his head in a very stiff and forced fashion. "And my associates and I just so happen to be the heads of the Royal Swanifying Committee."

Jet Set saw fit to add. "And unlike you, we didn't need the princesses to do us favor in exchange for these positions. We actually earned them through our own hard work."

Blueblood nodded. "Quite right," The next few words were slow to leave his mouth. It was clear that he hated having to say them. "...Therefore... we... await your... commands. What... are your... orders, your... majesties?" He delivered the last line with noticeable venom and resentment.

Twilight wasted no time in bluntly and firmly telling the three stuffy, snobbish unicorns. "For your information, we don't want your help and we don't need your help. We have everything firmly under control."

Blueblood blinked his eyes, seemingly more in surprise than anything else. "Really? Are you sure that's a wise decision on your part, princess? Do you and your friends seriously think you can manage the Royal Swanifying Ceremony without the aid of the committee?"

The young alicorn gave an affirmative nod. "Thank you for making your thoughts known. I assure you, if I need help from the likes of you, you'll know. But I think we both know that's not going to happen," She gestured a hoof to the throne room doors. "So I suggest you leave. Be thankful I don't have the royal guards escort you out."

Upper Crust snorted and turned up her snout. "I fear you're making a terrible mistake, Princess Twilight. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would never treat us so coldly."

"Yeah? Well we're doing things our way!" Rainbow Dash growled. "So why don't you royal pains get lost already?! Don't you have fancy parties to go to or something?"

For a moment, it looked as if tensions might boil over into more than a war of words. But the moment passed, and tempers appeared to cool. Prince Blueblood again stiffly and awkwardly bowed his head as he declared. "Very well, if that's really the way you want to play the game. We will reluctantly respect your wishes," He turned to Jet Set and Upper Crust. "Come, we've wasted enough time here. No sense letting them waste another second on us. Let us leave," As he turned to depart, he said to Twilight. "You and your friends will regret this. You're going to wish you'd accepted the help of my associates and I."

Jet Set and Upper Crust proceeded to follow the prince out of the throne room, the doors audibly slamming shut behind them!

With the throne room now ominously quiet, Spike looked down at the scroll held in his claws. Then he looked to Twilight and asked her in a nervous tone of voice. "Are you sure that was wise, Twilight?"

Twilight firmly nodded. "We can't let them push us around. I know they don't like us, but that's no reason to be so rude. Besides," She then asked. "How hard can throwing a swan party be?"

Pinkie Pie took hold of the scroll from Spike, reading it aloud. "Well, it says here that all we have to do is: Polish the armor, bubble the punch, glitter the carpet, puff the pastry, float the floats, and carpet every road in Canterlot!" She paused, somewhat hesitantly asking. "Should I keep reading?"

The eyes of Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all turned towards Twilight. And they all conveyed looks of disbelief and frustration that she had chased away the help they were clearly going to need to pull off the Royal Swanifying.

All Twilight could think to do in reply was give off a nervous laugh.





"So you just turned away advice from an official royal committee?" Princess Celestia asked Twilight when the flashback ended. "Twilight, how could you make such an obvious mistake? I thought you were better than that."

Twilight blushed. "Believe me, I came to realize how much of a mistake it was almost immediately," She somewhat nervously laughed. "Never thought something like a Royal Swanifying could be so complicated. If that's what you and Princess Luna have to put up with every day, no wonder you desired to get away from it all."

Spike then questioned the royal sisters as he and Twilight continued to stand on the balcony. "So, what exactly did you two do while we were busy doing your jobs?"

Princess Luna briefly explained. "We already told you that we decided it best to go our separate ways on our vacation. My sister went off to do the things she wanted to do, and I went off to just relax and have a little me time. Although, I did end up having to step in and help with a little emergency back in Ponyville."

Twilight was briefly alarmed by the statement! "An emergency?! What kind of emergency?! Is it something I should've heard about?!"

The night princess immediately protested and motioned a hoof to calm the younger alicorn down. "No, no, it's nothing like that. No one got hurt, nothing went wrong that couldn't be undone in the end. But you might wanna have a little talk with Fluttershy about assigning projects that encourage students to venture off into the Everfree Forest."

"Not surprised you'd get involved in helping one of Twilight's students," The sun princess said with a smile. "You always do like helping young ones in need, Luna," She chuckled. "And to think, I thought I was having the more exciting vacation doing zip-lines, bungee jumps, and skydives. I'd never felt more alive!"

A faint snicker escaped the studious young alicorn's lips. She coughed into a hoof and tried to recover when Celestia looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Sorry. It's just... you reminded me a lot of my mother. She's a very big thrill seeker too," She explained, and then quickly changed the subject. "So, may I ask what caused you and Luna to decide to vacation away from each other? Wasn't it lonely?"

Celestia willingly admitted. "It was... though we didn't realize it right away. But we at least started our vacation together." And now it was her turn to get a flashback.





The royal sisters, as it turned out, had something of a disagreement about how they should plan their vacation and what exactly they should do. It had started out back when they'd just been in the planning stages, which is what they were still doing as they left the confines of the castle and then Canterlot itself.

"This is perfect!" Princess Luna had said with a smile. "The chance to do whatever we want! And you know what that means!"

Princess Celestia had nodded. "Indeed I do, sister," And without waiting for a reply she shouted! "Adventure!"

Luna, however, had shouted at almost the same time! "Relaxation!"

The two alicorns thus quickly found themselves having to explain to one another why they wanted to do what they wanted to do. The night princess reluctantly and nervously went first. "Sorry, sister, it's just that I... I spend each night in everypony's intense dreams. So I could use some real-world downtime. You should know that fighting off nightmares is very taxing. Thank the maker for coffee, I don't know what I'd do without it."

The sun princess let out a sigh as she responded. "I understand where you're coming from, sister. But the thing is, for me, every day is real-world. Especially since I haven't taken on any more students after Twilight, it feels like my life is nothing but meetings and decrees and meetings about decrees and decrees about the meetings... I crave excitement!"

Princess Luna thus became rather worried, pacing back and forth. "I'm not sure how we can both be happy. Unless..."

Celestia then proposed with a gasp! "We take turns doing what we like!"

And the two alicorns had proceeded to shout in unison. "Sister trip!"

"I hope you don't mind if I go first," Princess Celestia had immediately insisted once the deal was reached. "After all, relaxation is always better after an exciting adventure."

The younger of the alicorn sisters had shrugged her hooves, saying. "I suppose I won't object, sister. But try not to make it too exciting."

The elder alicorn had nodded back. "I'll do my best, Luna," Then she'd seen fit to advise. "Now remember, we're just regular, carefree ponies from now on! We're not going to start signing autographs or pose for photographs. We're just two ponies going on vacation, like everypony else."

Luna had smiled, proclaiming. "We're leaving the princess life behind, and we're not even going to fly!"

Celestia was momentarily taken aback by the suggestion, but quickly recovered and chuckled. "Of course. How new and exciting," Lightly touching her sister on the nose with a hoof, she'd then stated. "It's just like Pinkie Pie said."





As the flashback ended, the happy expression on Princess Celestia's face faded. Far less pleasant memories were now crowding her mind. "Luna and I thought taking turns would solve everything," She explained to Twilight and then sighed. "It didn't. So after we each did one activity together that the other wanted to do, Luna and I decided it best to have separate vacations: I would do all the exciting things I'd been longing to do, and she would just explore and relax to her heart's content."

Princess Luna then admitted. "Eventually, however, it seems we both came to the same conclusion: We simply couldn't be apart from each other for long, not even if we really wanted to. So it was that we met back up again."

Twilight looked down at the ground in shame and guilt. "And that's when you saw me struggling to raise the sun and lower the moon. I'm sorry I had to force you both to come back to Canterlot so soon."

"It's alright, Twilight," Celestia reassured her fellow alicorn. "We probably should've had you practice with the amulet more before Luna and I went on vacation. Aside from that, however, it looks as if you and your friends managed well for the brief time you were filling in for us."

Twilight sheepishly grinned and tried hard to stop the raging blush on her cheeks from deepening. "Well, not exactly. The Royal Swanifying Ceremony wasn't the only thing that we ran into trouble with."

"Oh dear, I had a feeling we were forgetting something," The night princess commented in realization. "There were some other issues that my sister and I were supposed to take care of. But we got so swept up in planning for our vacation that it must've slipped our minds."

The youngest alicorn in the group nodded back. "Yes. A fact I learned all too soon. And as a result, I ended up learning something else: The importance of accepting help from others, even if they're kind of rude about it." And more memories started flooding back to her. Memories she would not be forgetting anytime soon.





Having now realized just how much work was to go into the Royal Swanifying Ceremony, Twilight and her friends (along with Spike) were frantically scrambling to get everything ready! Considering they'd just turned away what could've been valuable help, they could only hope that somehow they could get the ceremony underway without too many complications.

Yet as everyone was rushing to and fro, trying desperately to finish up the last minute preparations of decorating the castle ballroom and thus having it ready to host the ceremony, the doors swung open suddenly! All eyes turned to look, and upon seeing Prince Blueblood come trotting in, they didn't know whether to be annoyed that he had surely come to lecture them, or be grateful that he might be willing to offer his services after all.

"What do you want now?!" Twilight grumbled to the prince. "Can't you see we're busy?!"

Prince Blueblood coldly replied. "Busy making a mess of things," And as he spoke Jet Set and Upper Crust appeared at his side. "My fellow commitee heads and I have learned that you don't intend to serve watercress at the Royal Swanifying Ceremony. Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

The young alicorn groaned. "There's not enough in the castle kitchens for us to-"

But Blueblood interrupted as he gestured a hoof. "Don't tell me. Tell him." A swan he had been pointing out let out an angry squawk but a second later.

Fluttershy immediately tried to apologize. "I'm sorry. We'll try to get some watercress, but you'll all have to share."

The prince then prattled on, voicing another complaint of his. "And you really must do something about the garbage piling up on the streets outside. The street sweepers are on strike, and the royal carpeters can't do their jobs until you get rid of the rubbish."

Applejack turned to Twilight, nervously asking the alicorn. "Did you even know there were royal carpeters?"

Twilight gulped. "I didn't. I'd never seen them anywhere, how was I supposed to know?" Then she added. "And how are the striking street sweepers supposed to be my problem? I didn't do anything to them!"

"You're a princess," Jet Set pointed out in a bitter tone of voice. "You're supposed to be aware of what's going on in the city. If something's wrong, you're supposed to try and fix it. We shouldn't have to tell you how to do your jobs," He sighed, putting a hoof to his forehead. "If this is what we can expect when the princesses step down from the throne, maker have mercy on us all."

Upper Crust, meanwhile, was eyeing the ballroom. The quality of the decorations did not impress her, and she made that fact known in no uncertain terms. "What sort of amateur hour decorating is this?! Streamers?! Balloons?! Party games?! Are you kidding me?! Please tell me this is not your best! The Royal Swanifying Ceremony is far more elegant and refined than a birthday party."

"How rude!" Rarity snapped. "Pinkie Pie and I are doing the best we can under our unfortunate circumstances! Did you all come here just to mock us?"

Prince Blueblood snorted. "I came here to see if you were willing to admit you were wrong. You clearly need my help, whether you realize it or not," He lifted up his head. "My offer still stands. If you ask nicely, I might just be willing to overlook our... differences."

But Twilight swished her tail and turned her back to the trio of snobbish unicorns. "Forget it! I already told you we can manage just fine without you! Thank you for your 'constructive' criticism, but we're far too busy to waste time with the likes of you. All this chatter is distracting my friends and I from our very important royal duties. The door's open, so I suggest you leave."

Blueblood, Jet Set, and Upper Crust reluctantly did so. Yet Blueblood couldn't resist declaring. "We'll be back, you can be sure of that. So either clean up your acts and starting acting like rulers, or swallow your pride and let us do what needs to be done." Then the ballroom doors slammed shut!

Rarity could only groan and shake her head in dismay. "What did I ever see in that anything but charming prince?"

Rainbow Dash only replied. "We've got bigger things to worry about!" She looked to Twilight. "Are you sure we shouldn't be calling for help right about now? It feels like we're in way over our heads! I'm starting to think us being rulers after Celestia and Luna is a mistake."

"We can't ask them to cut short their vacation for us. We promised we could take care of things!" Twilight nervously protested as she tried to take a few deep breaths to calm herself. "Let's focus on getting everything ready for the ceremony, then we can deal with the striking street sweepers and the royal carpeters."

"Well we'd better be quick!" Spike pointed out as he looked at a stained glass window. "The swans don't look like they're going to give us a lot more time."

"Then maybe we need to break up the tasks a little," Twilight decided, and motioned for all her friends to stop what they were doing and come close to her. "Listen," She told them once all were huddled around her. "Here's what we're gonna do. If we all do our parts well, I think we can still pull this off."





Sometime later, however, even Twilight's carefully crafted plans for who would do what began falling apart. Things seemed to be piling up left and right, and the chaos and confusion showed no signs of stopping.

Try as they might, the group of friends was starting to realize that Celestia and Luna's jobs were harder than they might have anticipated. What bad luck to have unintentionally thrown themselves into the deep end without fully knowing what they were getting themselves into.

"Hey, Pinkie!" Applejack desperately called out from the kitchen. "You got those appetizers yet?! The guests will be here any minute!"

A desperate Pinkie Pie covered in flakes, crumbs, and other assortments of food related mess simply replied. "Still mashing the guacamole!" And she was furiously working on exactly that task, making quite a mess of the kitchen in the process. "This is nothing like helping the Cakes bake at Sugarcube Corner!"

Spike, meanwhile, yelped as he was frantically pulled by Rarity's magic off a table he'd been trying to decorate!

"Sorry, Spike," Rarity sincerely apologized as she hastily drapped sparkly pink coverings over the table. "We're going to have to go with sequins! I have no time to use anything else! I just hope the swans won't mind."

Fluttershy then flew in, nervously telling her friends. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the courtyard is full of swans waiting to get in! They're ready to party, and they're not going to wait another minute!" As she finished speaking, it was possible to hear the sound of loud, angry squawking coming from the doors to the castle's foyer.

Rainbow Dash then flew down from the ceiling where she'd been busy hanging decorations. "What?! But we're nowhere near ready!"

"Twilight," Spike declared above the drama. "I think it might be time to face the facts, we can't handle Celestia and Luna's responsibilities. Not like this."

Twilight could only look at the ground in shame. How had it all ended up like this? How were she and her friends doing this bad of a job of running Canterlot? It hadn't even been a day. "I just don't get it," She lamented while hanging her head. "How do Celestia and Luna do this all the time? How is it that they can run a kingdom and get all this done by themselves every year?!"

Yet just then, the sound of pompous laughter made the group of seven stop what they had been doing. To their surprise, sitting at an unoccupied and undecorated table were none other than the three heads of the Royal Swanifying Commitee. They seemed to be smirking, delighting in the misfortune of the stand-in rulers.

Twilight looked up and trotted over to them very slowly, growning and gritting her teeth. "Okay, okay, I admit it. We need help. You can rub it in our faces all you want later. But for right now, we'd..." The next words left her mouth very slowly. "Appreciate it if you'd work with us to get things back under control."

Prince Blueblood's smile grew wider. "See, now was that so hard? I'm surprised it didn't occur to you sooner, princess," And he explained. "Everypony knows my aunts can't possibly do everything all by themselves. They certainly can't be called away from their important royal duties to manage things like this."

"Wait, they don't?!" Twilight gasped in disbelief, her wings popping out to either side of her!

Blueblood threw back his head and laughed heartily. Then, when he'd recovered, he explained. "Of course not. That's what the gala planning committees are for. Nopony could handle all of this by themselves," He was quick to add. "Despite what you may think of me from that Grand Galloping Gala of many years prior, I have earned my way onto these planning committees by my own merits. That is why I was most surprised to learn that my aunts didn't think I could be trusted to take over the throne when my adopted sister Cadence declined."

"Yeah? Well just because you're good at running a committee doesn't mean you're good at running a country!" Twilight pointed out as she tried to salvage some pride and dignity.

Blueblood just replied. "And clearly, you having saved Equestria multiple times with your friends and running your own school doesn't make you anymore qualified to run a country. It's clear there's still much you have yet to learn about what being a leader is really like."

Twilight then reluctantly turned back to face her friends. "I don't like it any more than you do, but he has a point. We'll have to delegate to him and the committee." And so, a new plan of action was put into motion.

Rainbow Dash immediately flew over to Upper Crust and said to her. "You take over food duty! And clean up the mess while you're at it!"

"If I must," Upper Crust snorted as she trotted away. "But I expect to be well compensated for my services."

Rarity then approached Jet Set, saying to him. "I need your best gemstones and I need them now! And if it isn't too much to ask," She floated over a piece of paper. "Take this to Canterlot Carousel. Tell Sassy Saddles I'll need purple stain ASAP!"

Jet Set nodded back. "Consider both tasks done, Miss. Rarity. Your gala decorating alone leaves much to be desired, after all."

Fluttershy took the liberty of asking Prince Blueblood. "Tell all the ponies and swans waiting at the gate there'll be a slight delay on the gala!" She hesitantly concluded her statement by adding. "Oh, um, if it's not too much trouble, I mean."

Blueblood rose from his place at the table, telling the pegasus. "It most certainly isn't. Perhaps I was wrong about you ponies. Maybe you will make adequate rulers someday, but not today."

The Royal Swanifying Ceremony thus seemed poised to go off without a hitch, but there was still the issue of the striking sanitation workers. And it didn't look like that could be resolved so quickly. Applejack saw fit to ask. "Now, who can we get to clean up all this garbage?" She gulped. "Unless... we'll have to do it ourselves."

But there was no need for that. Instead, with an audible stomp, Pinkie Pie came riding in on the same giant tortoise-snap that had earlier terrorized Sweet Apple Acres. "I think we'll let this guy take care of it," She giggled, steering it through the streets and letting it pick up the trash bags with its tongue. "I'm delegating!"

With the streets eventually cleared of garbage, the royal carpeters were able to lay down lush red carpeting. And then, at long last, the Royal Swanifying was ready to begin.

Twilight smiled and breathed a much needed sigh of relief. "So this is how you rule Equestria!" She said to herself, before she started mentally preparing herself for the task of having to raise the moon in a few hours.





"And that's how the Royal Swanifying Ceremony was saved from utter disaster," Twilight Sparkle concluded to the royal sisters as the last flashback ended. "Raising the moon actually wasn't that difficult, though I think I might have raised it a little too early. Unfortunately, raising the sun with the amulet was... well, you saw it for yourselves."

"Indeed we did," Princess Celestia declared as she and Princess Luna exchanged glances of concern. "And having heard of what occurred while Luna and I were away," She paused, her lips quivering before she hesitantly said. "Maybe we were wrong to think about stepping down from the throne so soon. Maybe you and your friends aren't ready to take over for us after all."

Twilight immediately protested! "No!" And she desperately pleaded. "Look, I'm sorry we didn't do as good a job as we promised we would. I don't think my friends will be ruling by my side when I take the throne. They have their own lives, I can't uproot them from those lives just to help me. I'm sure I'll still have a use for them somehow, just not as co-rulers."

"To be honest, that's not what has me worried the most," Celestia confessed. "I'm concerned that you, Twilight, might not yet fully grasp the limits of your authority. Being ruler of an entire nation is a lot harder than merely being a princess or a headmare. You do have limits. Organizations such as the EEA and the Royal Swanifying Commitee exist for a reason, after all."

Luna nodded. "Indeed they do. And regardless of your prior experiences with the heads of those organizations and committees, Twilight," She added. "You must be able to put aside such past griveances. You must not allow your emotions to cloud your judgement. Doing so will lead you to rash decisions, such as the ones you made just yesterday."

The youngest alicorn of the three glumly admitted. "I admit it, I messed up. But I still learned my lesson in time to avert disaster. Nopony got hurt. I promise, I won't let it happen again," Then she pleaded. "Please, you must give me another chance! If I fail again, I'll understand if you think I'm not ready. But I'm confident I won't! Give me another chance to prove myself! To prove I can be trusted to take over from you when you two do step down from the throne."

The royal sisters were silent for several minutes, appearing to be deep in thought as they were contemplating something. All Twilight could do, meanwhile, was sit there in silence and await whatever decision they would come to.

At last, Princess Celestia looked her former student in the eyes and said very slowly. "I... suppose it's only fair to give you a second chance, Twilight. I didn't give up on Luna when she became Nightmare Moon, or Sunset Shimmer when she first started to disobey me. I can't call myself a good princess or a good pony if I wasn't willing to extend the same courtesy to you."

Twilight smiled and happily threw herself into the sun princess' arms! "Oh thank you, Princess Celestia! I promise, this time I really mean it when I say I won't let you or Princess Luna down!"

Princess Luna nodded, even as the expression on her face conveyed a somewhat skeptical attitude. "Well, we shall see how well you do with the Summer Sun Celebration," She informed Twilight. "It's going to be held in Canterlot again this year. And since it's during the summer, you won't have to worry about it intefering with your school. If you can manage the celebration without too much difficulty, my sister and I will know that we can trust you."

Twilight firmly nodded. "I understand. I'll do my best. And I'll make sure to delegate authority to other ponies and other creatures as necessary."

"Good," Celestia said with a smile. "For now though, you and your friends can go back to Ponyville. When the Summer Sun Celebration draws closer, you'll need to start coming to Canterlot to prepare." Then she and Luna watched as Twilight (along with Spike) departed.