Cry for Eternity

by asylum1388


Chapter 6

A/N: Questions directed to Twilight by readers can be found here and are noted as follows: {#}

And while we're on the subject, I specifically stated that no more than three questions would be accepted and anyone who asked more might be publicly shamed. ShadowReign757 was a jackass and asked 5, the last of which was whether he would be publicly shamed. The answer to that is obviously yes.

Editor: Pissfer
Pre-readers: PiquoPie and f0xhole. Nanomight was absent for this one and will probably return for the next chapter.


The political views expressed by Twilight Sparkle in this chapter were chosen based on her personality and actions throughout Seasons 1 & 2. Said philosophies are independent of the views of the author and how certain views may or may not match his own in some respects is mere coincidence. In essence, this chapter is not a political statement, it is Twilight being Twilight.


Twenty-four hours after the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle

Twilight sighed as she felt the last of the tension that had been building between her wings release. Writing to her friends had been oddly therapeutic; it was almost like she was writing to Celestia again. While her mind was still preoccupied with thoughts of Spike’s words, she knew that he was in good hooves, and putting her feelings into writing put her almost at ease. She slurped a bit of soup from a gem-encrusted spoon and put the finishing touches on her fifth, and final, letter with the loopy calligraphy of her signature. As she set her spoon on the table, the quill in the inkpot, and raised the letter to read over it one last time, she mused about how much easier multitasking had become since Celestia's strength had been passed to her.

Dear Fluttershy,

After talking things over with Quill-Pen, I’ve decided to let Spike stay in Ponyville for the time being to let him cool off. As much as it hurts to have him be so mad at me, I think that trying to talk to him myself would only make him angrier.

I’ve heard that he’s staying with AJ, but I’d appreciate it if you could go over and check on him every couple of days so you can let me kn so you can make sure he’s alright.

I have Rarity watching him to let me know when it’ll be safe for me to go over there and apologize, but I don’t want him to get too lonely and I think I know that you’re the best pony for the job.

Thank you for everything and please write me back whenever you want, about whatever you want,

Twilight


“Finished?” Quill-Pen murmured to her, giving a soft smile from over her newspaper.

“...Yeah I think so,” Twilight muttered insecurely. “I should probably bring these to the post office before I start to second-guess myself.” Twilight gave Quill-Pen an annoyed look as her seneschal began chuckling halfway through the sentence.

“Oh, Twilight,” Quill-Pen snickered. “Again, you’re the Princess now. You don’t get to run to the post office anymore, other ponies do it for you. Besides, the palace has its own mail system.” She waved a tawny earth pony stallion over to the table. Twilight took a few seconds to gape at him as he bore what were easily the largest saddlebags she had ever seen before turning back to Quill-Pen so the old mare could gave an eccentric introduction. “Twilight, this is Stamped Post, head of the Royal Mail Sorters.”

The stallion gave a deep bow before speaking. “Your Highness... With Her Highness’ permission, I’d like to take this time to go over the palace’s post,” he said timidly, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Twilight the entire time.

Groaning, Quill-Pen slapped a hoof to her forehead before locking her eyes on the stallion. “Post, remember how much it annoyed Princess Celestia when you didn’t speak to her directly?” she growled. When Stamped Post nodded his reply, she continued, “Double that for Princess Twilight.”

Eyes wide, Stamped Post whipped his head around towards Twilight and made a noise that sounded to Twilight like something halfway between a gasp and a gurgle. “I’m so sorry, Princess!” he shouted with a bow that was even deeper than his first. “I did not mean to vex you, it shall not happen again!”

Twilight gave Quill-Pen a quick glare before cutting off the rest of his apology. “What Quill-Pen is trying to say is that I’d just prefer if you spoke directly to me. I’m still getting used to all of this, so if you don’t mind, just talk to me like you would anypony else.”

“O-okay...” he stuttered, staring at Twilight as if she had two heads. “V-very well... As Madame Quill-Pen stated, I am in charge of the Royal Mail Sorters. It is our job to sort the Princess’ incoming mail.”

“You mean the Palace’s mail,” Twilight corrected.

“Erm... No, Princess,” he squeaked, looking terrified at the thought of contradicting his ruler. “The post office does that, we just sort your mail. There’s actually two sets of Mail Sorters, one each for Princess Luna and yourself.”

“Wait, there’s an entire department dedicated to sorting just my mail? Why does my mail even need to be sorted?” Twilight gasped, looking back and forth between Quill-Pen and Stamped Post in complete bewilderment.

“Well, Your Highness,” Stamped Post muttered, cringing at Twilight’s outburst. “Yesterday alone you received fourteen-hundred seventy-nine items, and that was a slow day. Princess Celestia instated the sorters centuries ago when she realized that she’d never have the time to read every single missive she received, and while we’re a very obscure and little-known department, we consider our work vital.”

“Wait, that was just yesterday? How many letters do you ponies have waiting for me?” Twilight gasped, not quite sure if she believed him or not.

“Well, not including the ones we disposed of for various security reasons...” he began, furling his brow as he started ticking off the number in his head. “You have received approximately twenty-five thousand messages since Princess Luna announced that you would be fulfilling your new role as Princess of the Sun.”

“Twenty-five thousand..?” Twilight choked, barely able to get the words out of her mouth. “What did you do with them all?”

“Since sorting the royal post requires us to open and read each piece of mail, and we lacked Your Highness’ permission to do so, we simply stored them in a nearby warehouse,” he replied proudly with a bow of his head. “We now await your command.”

“Ummm, okay...” Twilight murmured, still taken aback by the situation. “Well what exactly did Celestia have you do with her mail?”

“Really? Your Highness truly wants to know about our work?” he stammered.

“Well, yeah!” Twilight replied, once again giving in to her inner student. “I’ll admit that it doesn’t sound like the most glamorous job, but it still sounds interesting!”

“Oh! It’s... I’m sorry, Princess, but I never thought that you’d be even slightly interested in hearing about us!” he gasped, trembling with excitement. He took a few deep breaths to compose himself, then began to explain through a wide grin. “As her old student, you know that Princess Celestia had her own methods for handling personal correspondences from ponies such as yourself, Your Highness, so we never handled those particular notes. However, anything that was sent to Her Highness through the postal service went through us. First, our unicorns scan each parcel for any hostile spells or substances and send anything that fails to pass inspection to the Royal Guard for investigation.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Twilight muttered, prepared to take mental notes on the whole process. “What about the rest?”

“We sort them into four categories. The first and, I personally believe, most important category of letters is made up of petitions, funding requests and other political notes, including diplomatic missives, though they tend to be delivered directly to you by the ambassador of whichever nation is sending the communique. We catalogue and copy each of these, then send them to the relevant Ministries to be handled by more qualified ponies than ourselves, while the diplomatic letters are given directly to the seneschal so that Your Highness may deal with them at your leisure,” he said with a respectful nod towards Quill-Pen.

“So I’ll probably see some of those in court or cabinet meetings. That makes things easier, I think,” Twilight chirped, picking up a quill and roll of parchment and jotted down a couple lines of notes before looking back towards him. “What’s the next category?”

“The next category is my least favorite: threats to Equestria and Your Highnesses. We don’t receive many of those, thankfully,” he said with a shiver. “When we do though, they’re dealt with as soon as they are found. Threats to Equestria are immediately sent to Minister Ironside, while threats to Your Highness are sent directly to Captain Shining Armor, where I assume they are investigated appropriately.”

“Good to know that you take my safety seriously,” Twilight quipped back with a mischievous smirk.

“Of course we do! We would never— Oh! You were joking,” he snickered. “But yes, we consider the security of our nation and our Princesses to be of the utmost import. We’re not soldiers, but we do what we can. Which brings us to our next category: marriage proposals, courtship requests, and solicitations. I’m sorry to say that I’m actually not surprised by just how many of those we get. Princess Celestia had us send such things to the palace’s furnace.”

“The furnace... seriously? Celestia had you burn them?”

“Erm... yes,” he replied guiltily. “I asked her why she had us do such a thing myself when I was first promoted to my current position and she told me that she had grown tired of receiving so many requests over the centuries. She said that the only ponies who sent her notes like that were those who saw her as a sacred object, rather than a pony. She then said that the thought of having the letters burnt amused her. I confess that after reading several thousand of the things, she was probably not incorrect in her assessment.”

“Well, for me do you think you could have that category recycled?” Twilight asked softly. “I won’t lie, the thought of receiving letters like that isn’t exactly comfortable, but having them burned just seems... spiteful.”

“I’ll make sure to implement the change right away,” he replied with a quick nod. “Just to add though: some of the more disturbing love notes are sent to the Guard. Some ponies out there are just... unhealthy with their affections.”

Twilight felt herself go numb for a few seconds as her brain processed this new fact. The thought that... No, she was not going there. “Moving on! What’s the last group?” she said a little too enthusiastically.

“The last group is my personal favorite: fan-mail!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Fan-mail actually comprises the bulk of what we receive. Princess Celestia had us send a small thank-you note to anypony who sent her fan-mail, and had us add in a photograph of her when the writer was a foal. She then had us keep a small portion of those written by the youngest colts and fillies, while recycling the rest. It’s my understanding that Her Highness enjoyed reading the encouraging letters she received from her youngest subjects when she was depressed or unsure of herself.”

“I like that,” Twilight murmured, more to herself than anypony else. “Keep doing that! Keep doing all of that! You’ve got my permission to continue sorting as always; I’ll make sure to set something up with my friends and family to make sure I get their messages directly. Is there anything else?”

“No, Your Highness. That comprises the entirety of our duties. Now, with your leave, I’d like to run your letters to the post office immediately so I can let my ponies know that we’re back on the job. Unless you have any special requests?” he asked as he scooped up the letters Twilight wrote to her friends and gently slid them into his saddlebags.

“No— Yes actually! Could you send anything that comes from Ponyville directly to me? I made a lot of friends there and I’d rather personally go over anything they send me,” Twilight said with a smile.

“I’ll see to it,” he replied with a short bow before trotting off.

“So, may I continue?” Quill-Pen whispered into Twilight’s ear, causing her to jump and whip her head towards the older mare.

“Ohmygosh! I’m so sorry, I forgot you were there!” Twilight squealed guiltily.

“I’m just teasing you,” Quill-Pen laughed and gave her a friendly nudge. “I learned years ago that it was impossible to pull you away from new information. Anyway, are you ready for your next appointment?”

“No,” Twilight moped. “I understand why I have to talk to the nobles, but that doesn’t mean I want to.”

“No use dragging your hooves,” Quill-Pen replied in a light tone.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with,” Twilight grumbled as she stood up to lead the way out. The pair quickly trotted to the Throne Room, where they found a crowd of sharply dressed ponies already assembled and waiting for her and several of her Ministers lined up next to the throne, a low murmur permeating the air as they gossiped amongst themselves. Twilight briefly glanced towards Quill-Pen, who nodded towards the throne with an encouraging smile.

Tepidly, Twilight climbed the stairs to the golden seat, oblivious to the fact that the buzzing in the room had grown to a dull roar with her arrival. In all of her time under Celestia’s tutelage, she had almost never seen the Princess using it; her mentor was almost always seated in front of it.

It only took a second for Twilight to make up her mind. Stopping a few hooves in front of the chair, she turned to face the crowd and sat on the floor at the top of the staircase. If I want to be like Celestia, I might as well start now.

“This session of the Royal Day Court will come to order!” Quill-Pen bellowed louder than Twilight expected. The shout echoed around the room until it was the only sound remaining, before fading into the distance. “As was announced this past Friday, three days ago, this will be a Town Hall-style discussion; those who wish to ask a question of Her Highness will raise their hooves silently and wait until called upon. Any who speak out of turn or otherwise disrupt the proceedings will be removed from the premises without further warning.” She turned to Twilight and gave an uncharacteristically formal bow. “Your Highness...”

It took Twilight a few seconds to remember that she was supposed to respond. “Oh! Umm... You may begin!” Wow, it’s been a while...

Unfortunately for Twilight, nearly every hoof in the room shot up. Overwhelmed, she turned to Quill-Pen with an expression of bewilderment flooding her eyes. Without missing a beat, Quill-Pen nodded to her and turned back towards the crowd. “Lord Starfire of the Astronomer’s Guild, you may speak.”

The crowd parted, revealing an aging dark grey stallion with a pearl-white mane and shooting star cutie mark. “Your Highness, might I first congratulate you on your ascension?” he proclaimed loudly as he sunk into a deep bow. “My question is a simple one: my colleagues and I were wondering if Your Highness was planning on making any changes to the timing of the sunrise and sunset. {1}

Oh good, starting off with an easy one. Twilight thought to herself. A second thought fluttered through her mind and she glanced at Quill-Pen for a moment. She did that on purpose... I’ll have to thank her later.

“Thank you for your question, Lord Starfire,” Twilight replied, making sure both to use her best Court vocabulary and speaking loudly enough for all to hear. “As an amatuer astronomer myself, I understand your concern, however, I don’t currently have any plans to change our current celestial schedule. The sun and moon will continue to rise and set in the same manner they always have.” Twilight finished with a satisfied grin. She was further pleased to see that Starfire seemed satisfied with her answer as well.

“Thank you, Your Highness. I will relay this good news to the Guild immediately,” he said with another bow as the crowd closed around him and more hooves shot up.

“Lady Landstrider of House Dawnhammer! You may speak,” Quill-Pen called out.

This time, a young earth pony mare stepped forward from the front of the crowd, offering a polite curtsey. “Princess Twilight... My question is simple: how do you plan on... entertaining dignitaries from carnivorous species, such as the griffins? {2}

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again; unsure how to answer. “Well, in the past, they brought their own food and chefs with them. I don’t see any reason for that to change. I can assure you that I will not be requiring my staff to prepare... ‘cuisines’ with which they’re uncomfortable, nor anypony else for that matter. If you’re asking what my diplomatic plans are, I’m going to be meeting with the ambassadors of our neighbors over the coming weeks and I hope to both maintain, or establish, positive relations with all of them.”

Landstrider frowned, a thoughtful expression on her face. “...Thank you, Princess.” She bowed and returned to her spot in the crowd. Unsure of the pony’s reaction, but completely sure that she had given the best possible answer, Twilight nodded to Quill-Pen.

“Next, Lord Stuffy Suit of House Finethread!”

The crowd parted once more to reveal a maroon unicorn. The first thing Twilight noticed about him was that his face seemed to have been paralyzed while looking at something unsightly. “Yes, Princess? I am only here to ask one thing: how do you plan on dealing with the dirt ponies? {3}

A cacophony of hushed voices arose from the crowd and Twilight turned to stare at Quill-Pen in horror. The senechal gaped at Stuffy Suit wordlessly before turning to to Twilight and mouthing: “sorry!”

Her temper rising, Twilight cleared her throat loudly to quell the rush of voices before answering. “I plan to ‘deal’ with the earth ponies the same way I plan to ‘deal’ with everypony else: fairly and as equals.” She glared down at Stuffy Suit, hoping to evoke some sort of remorse. Instead, he glowered back at her unapologetically. “And let it be known that, in the future, anypony who uses such foul language in my presence will no longer be welcome in my palace!” she growled, more towards him than the rest of the crowd. He responded with a sneer and a bow before stepping backwards, out of her view.

She glanced across the group of assembled nobleponies and noticed that most, if not all, of them now wore extremely disgruntled expressions on their faces, though she couldn’t tell if they were displeased with her or Stuffy Suit. Hoping it was the latter, she gave Quill-Pen a nervous smile, gesturing for her to call for the next question.

“Lady Balanced Books of House Bullion, your question please!”

A white, silver-maned, earth pony waved to Twilight from the crowd. “Over here, Your Highness! In a related question, I’d like to ask: how do you plan to address the socioeconomic disparities between the pony tribes? {4}

Okay, that is an important question... Twilight thought back to the wheat discussion that morning, fully aware that her answer to this particular question could haunt her for quite a while. She gave a smile that was more confident than she felt and answered. “Well... I’d like to see more economic equality among unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi, but I don’t want to force it, especially since each type of pony tends to be better at some things than the other two. Perhaps we can rework our education system and send a little more funding towards less wealthy regions?”

Twilight’s smile fell when she noticed that nopony had reacted to her answer. “Because that way more earth pony foals wouldn’t feel like they’re stuck doing the same thing that their families have done for generations and thus everypony would have a fair shot at finding something they love to do?”

More silence. Twilight could’ve sworn she heard a pin drop on the other side of the room. “I can say for certain that I won’t be forcing anypony into a role they won’t want, and I won’t be implementing any changes without thoroughly researching the matter. ” she called out desperately, hoping that Quill-Pen would pick up on her distress and move on.

Thankfully, Quill-Pen immediately spoke up. “I apologize, Balanced Books, but for the sake of getting as many questions answered as possible, we must move on. I hope that Her Highness answered your question to your satisfaction. Next we’ll go to... Lady Minty Blossom of House Huffy!”

“Indeed! Many thanks, seneschal,” a spring green unicorn called out with a wide grin. “Your Highness, I simply wish to know this: what is your vision of Equestria that you hope to bring about?{5}

“Umm... Actually I haven’t had a chance to really think about that yet,” Twilight muttered sheepishly.

“You what?” a unicorn stallion standing next to Minty Blossom interrupted incredulously. “Pardon me, but why would you aspire to be our princess if you had no plan?”

“Well, to be honest, this was all sort of thrust upon me right after Princess Celestia’s funeral,” Twilight replied apologetically. “Celestia’s death was so sudden, and I still don’t think I’ve gotten past it... If I had known that this was going to happen, I promise you that I would’ve started brainstorming right away, but I never got the chance. I’d like to see an Equestria where everypony is happy and comfortable, but I really don’t know how I’m going to make that happen.”

“I see...” Minty Blossom replied softly. “I didn’t realize any of that. While I can’t say that it fills me with confidence that you happen to be woefully unprepared for such an important position, I do appreciate your honesty.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight sighed. “That’s partially why Quill-Pen called for this meeting, I think. I’m going to need your help. I’m going to need the help of all of you. So, if anypony wants to meet with me privately, speak with Quill-Pen as soon as possible and I’ll try to help you however I can.”

“Very well, Your Highness. House Huffy will support you, for now,” the mare replied with a short bow.

“Umm, thanks?” Twilight said, unsure how she felt about Minty’s tone. “Next question, Quill-Pen?”

“Lord, or rather, Lieutenant Commander Sharpshot, you may speak!”

A crimson pegasus shot out from the center of the crowd to hover over his peers. “Your Highness, I am personally concerned about our nation’s security, so I must ask this: are there any plans to reinstate the pegasus wingforce as the Elements are no longer a viable option to deploy to protect our borders? {6}"

Yet again, Twilight found herself caught off-guard by the question. “Umm, I don’t actually think my friends and I have lost the ability to wield the Elements of Harmony since nothing has really changed between the six of us, but I haven’t actually checked either. Still, that is a good question...”

After wracking her mind for a few seconds, she turned her head to look at Minister Ironside, who responded by shaking his head. “I’m not very good with military matters,” she continued, “but as of now, there aren’t any plans to rebuild the wingforce, so I’d imagine that pegasi will be able to continue to serve in the Royal Army as they always have.” She looked back at Sharpshot to gauge his reaction, and was unsurprised to see that he didn’t look very happy. “But I’ll discuss it with Minister Ironside and Deputy Minister Flitwing, and if it turns out that we, that is my friends and I, can’t use the Elements anymore, then we’ll discuss other methods of defense, such as the wingforce.”

Sharpshot cracked a grin, bowed in midair, and took his place back in the crowd. Twilight discreetly glanced at Ironside out of the corner of her eye, hoping that she didn’t just make a promise she couldn’t keep. He nodded approvingly. Good, good... Everything’s going fine. I think I can actually handle this! “Next question, please?”

Quill-Pen nodded and turned back towards the crowd. “Lady Fantaisie Chic of House Highbrow, the floor is yours!”

“Yes, Your Highness?” an arrogant feminine voice echoed from somewhere within the crowd. “I am simply wondering: how much influence Ponyville is going to make on your decisions. {7}

Alright, I may be new at this, but I know a loaded question when I hear it. Two can play that game! “Well, that depends,” Twilight replied, holding back a smirk. “Ponyville’s citizens themselves will have as much say as anypony else in how I run things, but I learned a lot while I was there under Princess Celestia’s orders, and those lessons will have everything to do with my decisions.”

As she predicted, a buzz of whispers greeted her words. She was aware that Canterlot’s nobleponies had very little respect for anything that came from a place like Ponyville, but with the way she had answered, there was very little they could say against her statement without directly insulting her. More importantly, they couldn’t say anything against it without insulting Princess Celestia, since it was she who sent Twilight to Ponyville in the first place. She looked to Quill-Pen, who was suppressing a chuckle of her own, and nodded, ready to continue.

“Next... Oh, I didn’t realize you were here! Lady Octavia of the Royal Canterlot Orchestra, you have a question?”

“I do, thank you, Lady Quill-Pen,” a familiar-looking grey earth pony called as she pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “Princess Twilight, under Princess Celestia's rule, funding for Arts and Education were one of the government's largest fiscal expenditures. Do you have any plans to cut funding to Equestria's theatres, orchestral groups, or educational system in favour of allocating it to different sectors of our socioeconomic framework such as the Royal Guard, Foreign Office, or as many ponies here have been pushing for, tax cuts to the exceedingly wealthy? {8}

Twilight frowned at the question. That had never been something she had considered, but now that she thought about it, it was probably one of the most important questions anypony could have asked her. At least in her opinion it was.

“As Princess Celestia’s student, I think she would be extremely disappointed in me if I cut funding for education without a good reason. I don’t think there’s currently any need to redistribute the budget and Deputy Minister Sound Mind also told me a couple days ago that we currently had a budget surplus, so cutting anything at all isn’t necessary for the moment.” Great speech, Twilight! Except that wasn’t what she asked! Mentally berating herself, Twilight continued, “I guess what I’m trying to say is no, I won’t be cutting funds for the Arts or Education just to put the money into the military, and I definitely won’t be making those cuts to give tax breaks to ponies who don’t need them! In fact, if anypony gets a tax cut, I’d like it to be the ponies who can barely afford to feed their families!”

A collective gasp resonated through the crowd. Twilight knew that she had probably just made a terrible mistake, but she didn’t see any benefit to lying to them. Might as well go all the way. “And as I said earlier, I’d actually like to increase funding for such things. We’re still working on the budget for next year, so I won’t make any promises given that the numbers haven’t been finalized yet, but whenever possible, I will increase the portion of Equestria’s budget that goes to Education, Science, and the Arts. Giving tax money directly back to the population is great and all, but I think that it’ll be better in the long run for everypony if we invest it in our future. I-” Twilight cut herself off sharply as she realized that she had slipped into lecturing the crowd, rather than directly answering the question of the pony who asked it. Oops... I guess I got carried away. She looked down towards Octavia to see the mare smiling broadly.

“That is all I could ask for, Princess! Thank you!” she said with a bow before turning around and making her way back into the crowd, an unmistakable skip in her step.

“Next question will go to Sergeant Skybreaker of the Royal Guard!” Quill-Pen shouted almost immediately.

After hearing the name ‘Skybreaker’, Twilight was very surprised when a very old unicorn stallion, who reminded Twilight more of Granny Smith than a Royal Guard, stepped forward. “Your Highness, how much will you be consulting with Princess Luna? {9}

“Actually, “ Twilight responded with what she hoped with an encouraging smile, “Luna has been a good friend of mine for a few months now and I plan on consulting with her a great deal on all policies.”

“But...” a smaller unicorn who stood at Skybreaker’s side replied, just above a whisper, “Princess Celestia kept Nightmare Moon at bay! What if- what if she comes back? {10}

He wasn’t asking if I was going to work with Luna, he was asking if I could beat her! Twilight felt her face get hot as she realized the true meaning behind Skybreaker’s question. It’s been two years since Luna came back and they still think she’s just going to try and kill them at the first possible opportunity?

“Luna is not the same pony she was when she became Nightmare Moon. End of discussion,” she growled through gritted teeth. “If I find out that anypony has been plotting to depose her, then I’ll personally see to it that they’re arrested and tried for treason, are we clear?

Twilight knew she shouldn’t have gotten angry, and she knew even more that she should never have shown it, but Skybreaker and his companion had managed to strike a nerve. She looked to Quill-Pen and nodded, hoping to move things along before they got any worse.

Quill-Pen opened her mouth to call the next questioner, but was interrupted by a disheveled unicorn in the back of the crowd. “Princess, what are your plans to stop the coming daffodil shortage from destroying the economy? {11}

“D-daffodil shortage?” Twilight stuttered, looking at Minister Open Plains for some sort of guidance. Open Plains, however looked as confused as Twilight felt and simply shrugged. “There isn’t a daffodil shortage as far as I know. Besides, the daffodil crop isn’t big enough to dest-”

“But if eternal night is coming, no more daffodils will grow! What will we do?” A scream rose from the crowd, sending the room into a worried buzz once again.

“I already told you, Nightmare Moon isn’t coming back!”

“Princess, what is the first thing you plan to address? {12}” a pony towards the middle of the crowd called out while standing up on his hind legs to be seen.

“What? What do you mean by that? There’s hundreds of things that need to be addressed! I can’t just pick one to do first!” Twilight shouted over the crowd. She could feel her pulse rising and a familiar feeling of panic rising in her chest.

“Princess Twilight! Princess Twilight!” a brown pony wearing a fedora and holding a notepad started screeching from the edge of the crowd. “Is it true that you and Rainbow Dash are lovers? {13}

“How did you get in here?” Twilight moaned, recognizing the pony as one of Canterlot’s most notorious tabloid reporters. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as the situation spiraled dangerously out of control. “No! Rainbow Dash is one of my best friends, but I’d never- we’d never-”

“I CANNOT ABIDE BY THIS ANY LONGER!” a male voice screamed.

“Blueblood, you have already been convicted of slander once this month! If you have even the smallest bit of a brain in your head, you’ll hold your tongue!” Ironside bellowed from Twilight’s side.

“I will not be silent! What gives her the right to rule Equestria, she’s not even of royal blood! You were just Celestia’s pet, Sparkle! {14}” Blueblood screeched. “You were just her little lapdog that she programmed to-” He was cut off as a pegasus member of the Guard landed in front of him and cracked him across the snout with a hoof, but the damage was done. The crowd had been worked to a frenzy.

“Her... pet?” Twilight whispered, rapidly numbing. “I was just her pet?’

“Everypony out, now!” Quill-Pen barked to the crowd. “You’ve got three minutes! Anypony still here after that will be spending the night in a cell with Blueblood!”

Twilight, however, was oblivious to the chaos that had erupted around her. All she was aware of was the feeling of her mind breaking and her body shutting down.


“It wasn’t that bad, Twilight,” Quill-Pen cooed as she poured a glass of water for the weeping princess. The pair had retired to the Princess’ private dining room for dinner, but even getting there had been a feat in and of itself. Quill-Pen had been forced to guide a nearly-comatose Twilight through the palace’s halls and had only just managed to snap Twilight out of her stupor a minute ago.

“Not that bad?” Twilight growled back between sobs. “How? Name just one way in which that wasn’t a complete disaster.”

“You held you own for most of it,” Quill-Pen murmured. “That alone is more than most ponies expected from you. Honestly, you did well!”

“Right... I did awesome, but all anypony’s going to remember is that I got carried out of there in a catatonic state!” Twilight snarled before laying her head down on the table and giving a melancholy sigh. “If I can’t even handle getting yelled at by some snobby nobles, how can I handle running an entire country? Maybe Blueblood was-”

Quill-Pen interrupted her with a slap across her face. “Blueblood was wrong and you know it! After Luna, you were the most important pony in Princess Celestia’s life from the moment she met you!”

“But then why-” Twilight began, only to be interrupted again.

“Because he’s a bully and he’s always been jealous of you. Trust me when I say that everypony, and I mean everypony, was jealous of how close to Princess Celestia you were,” Quill-Pen shot back, embarrassment leaking into her voice. “I even thought that she was planning to have you replace me in a few years.”

“I was going to ask why Princess Celestia always kept me so close to her,” Twilight grumbled, shooting Quill-Pen a glare. “Sure, I was her student, but I was by her side more often than not.”

“Because she cared for you!” Quill-Pen replied, on the verge of shouting. “Why are you letting such a ridiculous insult get to you?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight whined back. “It’s just that everything she taught me, those hundreds of private lessons; was all of it just so I would be a suitable replacement for her?”

“That’s enough, Twilight Sparkle!” Quill-Pen snapped, causing Twilight to jump slightly. “Think about it this way: if Princess Celestia has just wanted an unthinking robot to carry on her legacy, would she have needed to pick one of the most powerful unicorns to ever live?”

“Well... I guess not, but how-”

“Would she have taken that unicorn under her wing,” Quill-Pen continued, refusing to allow Twilight to get a word in, “and molded her into one of the most brilliant, most compassionate ponies Equestria has ever seen?”

“...no.”

“Exactly!” Quill-Pen replied exasperatedly. “And even if by some impossible stretch Celestia did consider you a pet, would you rather be that or just a tool? Name one pony who doesn’t love their pet with all their heart.”

“Nopony that I know of,” Twilight whispered after letting Quill-Pen’s words sink in.

“Good. Now can we put this afternoon behind us and move on?”

“Sure,” Twilight sighed. She then turned to a server, who had just entered the room with a second pitcher of water. “Hey, where’s Luna at the moment?”

“Oh! Ermm,Your Highness, Princess Luna said that she had urgent business to attend to and ordered her meal ‘to go.’ I’m sorry!” the timid sounding pony replied quickly with a bow.

“No, it’s okay! Thank you!” Twilight said with a smile. She waited until the waitress had left the room and closed the door before releasing a stream of obscenities.

“Feel better?” Quill-Pen growled angrily when Twilight had finished.

“No!”

“Good. This isn’t the last bad day you’ll ever have and exploding like that isn’t the way to handle it!” Quill-Pen lectured to the rapidly reddening Twilight. “Now go up to your room and cool off before you do something you’ll regret, I’ll have dinner sent up to you.”

Twilight sighed again before guiltily trotting out. She knew Quill-Pen was right. Celestia had always told her that a bad day was never an excuse for bad behavior. She had failed her teacher again. Wallowing in self-pity, she made her way up to her room and just laid down on the bed. When a servant entered to deliver her dinner, she gratefully accepted it with a smile, but only picked at it for a few minutes before setting it aside to be forgotten.

She maintained her pity-party for nearly a full hour before she was interrupted by a sharp tapping on her balcony door. She did her best to ignore the offending sound for a couple minutes before her temper got the best of her. After rolling off of the bed and stomping over to the door, she wrenched it open and stuck her head out. “Who are you and what do you wa- Oh! Luna!”

“Errr, hello, Twilight? Am I interrupting something?” the Princess of the Night murmured apologetically.

“No, no... I’m sorry about that, I’ve just had an awful day. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Come to think of it, I probably shouldn’t have yelled no matter who was knocking,” Twilight replied softly. “I am curious as to why you weren’t at dinner though. Or breakfast for that matter. One of the wait staff said that you were working.”

“I was. You see I have not had a night off in over a month, so I put in a little effort last night as well as this evening so that I might be able to take this night off. While trying to decide what to do with my free time, I heard about how difficult your first court session had gone and decided to bring you some tea and check on you,” Luna responded offhoofedly, gesturing to a tea tray, complete with teapot, cups, and condiments, floating behind her.

“...You planned to come up and see me from the get-go, didn’t you?” Twilight said blandly. “You’re not a very good liar, Luna.”

“It sounded better the way I said it,” Luna grumbled with an exaggerated pout. “Regardless, I also heard about your... conversation with Spike this past morning. I’m sorry. Celestia always told me that the two of you had your own rituals for when you were feeling glum. I realize that I’m not exactly as warm or empathetic as she, but I’ll fill in for her as best I can. If you’ll have me, that is...”

“Of- of course, Luna. I’d like that,” Twilight murmured as the ghost of a smile crossed her features.

“Very well! So, what did Tia do for you when you were down?” Luna said with the enthusiasm of somepony learning a new tradeskill.

“First, she’d bring up some tea or cocoa, you already have that covered, then we’d usually sit outside on the balcony and watch the stars,” Twilight explained, allowing herself to slip into a quick moment of nostalgia.

“You’d watch my stars?” Luna replied incredulously. “Truly?”

“Yeah, though now that I think about it, Celestia usually spent more time watching the moon than the stars. I remember that I always used to wonder why, but I think I know the answer to that now,” Twilight told Luna with a reassuring smile. “Do you mind if that’s what we do?”

“Do I mind? The honor would be mine to watch the stars with thee, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna responded in a jokingly formal tone, gesturing for Twilight to lead the way.

The pair made their way to the balcony and laid down next to each other before pouring the tea. For a while they lay in silence, simply enjoying each other’s company before Twilight spoke. “Luna, what was it like before you and Celestia created the moon and sun? I mean was it...” She trailed off when Luna began giggling at her side. “What?”

“Celestia and I did not create the sun and moon, Twilight, we were simply appointed their wardens,” Luna snickered. “The stars, however, I did create myself. Each one a hoof-crafted memorial to a pony or event that meant something to me,” she explained proudly.

“Really?” Twilight whispered, eyes alight with wonder. “How’d you come up with that idea?”

“I actually got the idea from Celestia,” Luna murmured. A chilly breeze blew past the balcony, causing both princesses to shiver. Luna carefully draped a wing over Twilight’s back and pulled her closer before continuing her tale. “The first star was made as a present for her. I wanted to put a piece of her into my night sky and thought what better way to do that than with a miniature sun? The way she just stared at it the first time I showed it to her, I thought she was angry with me for copying her so brazenly, but the next thing I knew, she was hugging me so hard that I thought my head as going to pop,” she giggled.

Twilight glanced up at the stars, feeling like a little filly again. “And you said each one has a story? Do you think you could tell me a few?”

“I don’t know, Twilight,” Luna sighed. “To only tell one or two would feel like a grave injustice to the rest, and there are so many.”

“Well, we do have the time...”

Luna gazed at Twilight with a confused expression for a second before an amused realization came across her face. “Yes, yes I suppose we do... But where would I begin?”

“Ummm, how about with the first one?” Twilight chirped, snuggling closer to her new storyteller.

“Yes, I suppose that would be the best place to start,” Luna chuckled, looking up into the sky. “You are familiar with the star Solaris Secundus, correct?” She murmured, as she pointed to it. “That was the one I made for Celestia. You see, we had just had one of the most difficult decades we had ever experienced. Ten solid years of drought and warfare. Anyway, her birthday was coming up and I...”