//------------------------------//
// Of Griffons and Lost Time 
// Story: Equestria's Twilight 
// by Sapidus3 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2 - Of Griffons and Lost Time


Large oak doors, a radiant sun carved across them, closed behind Princess Twilight Sparkle. She tried not to come to this room too often, but at times it helped her to think. She supposed it was a guilty pleasure and that she did her best not to overindulge. 
She walked over to the desk, a piece of furniture that was beyond ancient, and sat down. Princess Celestia told her once that it was a gift from a species that no longer existed. Twilight pulsed her magic and lifted the dust off of the wood in a uniform sheet and reformed the dust into a ball. With only half a thought Twilight maneuvered it into the waste bin. She was normally the only pony allowed in the room, and that meant no cleaning staff.

The unicorn sat at the desk with a sigh and looked over the same papers that were always there. A friendship report was unrolled. It was about the importance of being brave and telling her friends things even if she was worried it might damage the relationship. Friendship would prevail. The report was an old one, and Twilight wondered why the Princess had been reading it. If forced to evaluate, she felt it was far from her best work. Diary, Vol. One Hundred and Thirty Seven provided no clue, and any other such diaries still eluded Twilight’s search. Above the desk was a shelf with a scroll rack. Twilight cried when she found that the Princess had saved all of her reports and letters. 

There was also a framed picture on the desk. Twilight was visiting the palace when Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were getting the photograph taken and the sisters had insisted that Twilight get in the picture.

Celestia had just warmly smiled as Luna had clopped her hooves together in excitement. The Princess of the Night had squeezed the three of them together in a group hug for the picture. Looking at it, Twilight could see the awkward smile on her own face, in odd contrast with Luna’s huge grin and Celestia’s always-serene smile. She shook her head at Luna’s strangeness with a small wish that she had known her better.
The only other things of note on the desk were a now horribly outdated budget report and what looked like the beginning of a letter addressed to some ambassador. Twilight moved any documents truly important to Equestria out of the room years ago along with some of the other sentimental objects, which she appropriated to her own bedroom. Twilight left just enough that it was still her room. 
Rarity, at one-point years ago, was surprised that Twilight had not tired preserving the room. Twilight admitted that she had considered it, but the whole thing felt wrong. In the end she was unable to explain herself to the other pony, but she was not sure she really understood herself. It just seemed like trying to perfectly maintain the room as it had been was disingenuous. She supposed that if she wanted some perfectly preserved Celestia museum, she could always go see the Two Sisters exhibit in the Canterlot museum of history.

She had cut the ribbon for the museum’s grand reopening after the Siege of Canterlot . That had been the only time she had seen the exhibit and it had seemed some gross mockery back then. It had been done in only the most respectful of ways, but for Twilight it was worse than even the exhibit on the Elements of Harmony. She doubted that the years since then would have changed anything about her feelings since then.

Twilight drummed her forehooves against the table surface listening to the steady beat. Soon the beat began to fluctuate as it was accompanied by the sound of her blowing through her lips as she stuck out her tongue.

The noise abruptly stopped when she swung away from the table. 

“The budget isn’t going to work.”

The budget was not really bothering her. She could think about numbers and bits just fine in her own room. Numbers were easy. Numbers were straightforward.

Twilight sat down on the rug in front of the fireplace and ignited a flame within. It was still early morning, and the day had not yet warmed up, so she welcomed the heat. Behind her a large white down blanket, encased in a magenta aura, floated off of a bed that had not been used in over fifty years. 

The comforter coalesced into a large pile next to her, and she rolled her side into it. Twilight closed her eyes and buried her snout into the fabric. Here, in this room and this moment, she could still smell the scent of Princess Celestia. Twilight could pretend that she was still alive.

“We need to make a decision about the shade dragons.”

She used a bit more magic to pull a corner of the blanket over her body, a wing being draped protectively over her. 

“I don’t think they are evil, not like some of the other things that we have to deal with but…” 

She wanted to just trail off and leave it at that, but she needed to finish the thought. She had come to the room to think after all.

“Nothing grows within miles of the mountains they take up residence in. If we are going to survive we need that farmland.”

Twilight could practically imagine what the response would be. “You know what to do my most faithful student.” 

“My advisors think we need to drive them out.”

Again, she could imagine sage, comforting advice. “Does any pony have the right to live at the expense of others?”

“They don’t seem malevolent, but no one has been able to communicate with them. They might not even be intelligent.”

Now the imagined reply came in synchronization with her own words. “But through the power of friendship anything is possible. We have to at least try everything we can to live in harmony with our neighbors.”

She slowly disentangled herself from the blanket. As comforting as it was, and as easy as it was to think in the nearly forgotten bedchamber, Twilight had work to do.

“It’s the same thing I’ve been saying about the griffons.”

As the blanket floated back towards the bed she made her way towards the door.  She had a meeting to be at in less than a quarter of an hour, where hopefully they could come to some resolutions.


+++


Once again Twilight found herself beneath the familiar sight of a particular arched dome, and she hated the flowing architecture for what it represented in her life. The twisting floral stonework was a lie that hid the room’s true purpose. The room looked like it should be used in ornate ceremonies, but instead she used it to contemplate death and violence. Twilight still remembered the first time she had entered the chamber.

It was near the beginning of her reign, and her captain of the guard at the time told her of the room. When she had first entered, her nose was assaulted by a musty smell, and cobwebs clung to the ceiling, obscuring the beautiful stonework. With a burst of magic Twilight threw back a cloth tarp to reveal a large stone table occupying the center of the chamber. When she had looked closer, she saw that the table contained a scale model replica of her domain, and the dust kicked up from removing the cloth seemed to indicate that the table was quite ancient. However, her inspection of the table brought her a surprise. The Ponyville dam, a recent construction, was represented. 
That was when she had noticed the power running through the table. It was an old artifact of some considerable complexity and would magically morph to represent the state of her kingdom. Terrain would erode and borders would shift. Glowing motes of light represented the location of Equestrian squadrons equipped with magical locator beacons. It was a useful tool for strategic planning, and thus her ‘war room’ had been born. That year near the start of her reign marked the first use of the room in over two hundred years. 
Currently, she was sitting at the table across from her four commanders.

Twilight suppressed a yawn. It was still early, but they had been in the room for hours discussing various issues. They had resolved only a hooffull of the problems to everypony’s satisfaction. The room had just fallen into silence after Twilight once again explained to her commanders that she could and would do nothing against the shade dragons that had appeared in the north several decades ago.

Over the years, they had begun to spread further and further south towards Equestria’s heartland and their presence in Equestria was hurtling the land even faster towards an impending famine. Her commanders suggested that she might scatter the beasts with concentrated light. However, the creatures had given no indication of malevolence, and no matter how terrifying their skeletal appearance, she could not condemn them for simply living. She had been faced with many difficult moral questions since taking the throne, but one thing she was certain of was that nopony should need to die so that another could live. Celestia would have told her as much. 

Of course there was also another, more practical reason to stay her hoof. 

Only once before had she wielded concentrated sunlight as a weapon. It was nearly twenty years ago when living shadows had assaulted Canterlot. In that battle Rainbow Dash’s predecessor laid down his life. It was his death that spurred her to action. Up until that point the Guard had been doing well holding their ground with Twilight sequestered safely in a tower. Rainbow Dash in particular was later celebrated as the Hero of Canterlot. The pegasus had performed rainboom after rainboom, with prismatic light scattering their foes. However, Twilight could see that her friend was exhausted and without the Captain Commander, the Guard would not hold for long.

So she did battle.

Twilight had not killed the shadow forms. That was not how shadow worked. It was always there, simply waiting to be cast. She supposed she was grateful for that in a way. She did not wish to taste what it would be like to take a life. But by the end of the night there was no trace of the shadow forms. Canterlot was safe.

The assault, however, left her exhausted. If the battle had gone on for much longer Twilight might have been unable to maintain the sun. As it was, it nearly winked out multiple times during the siege. 

If she ever became so tired that she let the sun go out, Equestria would need to go without light for days while she recuperated and built up the strength to reignite the sun. The horrors of the night were too great for her to do such a thing to her ponies.
Of course, that assumed she could figure out how to relight her sun. Twilight had first brought forth the sun, it had been in a flurry of emotions that she was not entirely certain that she could recreate. It was a fact very few ponies were privileged to know, and Twilight preferred not to advertise the exact workings of the spell that powered her sun. If she could, she would prefer to avoid being faced with the prospect of having to reignite her. 

So she would not go and face the shade dragons.

In the end they had decided to send Sir Spike, Knight Protector of the Crown, along with a small squad of pegasi. Nopony expected the move to accomplish anything. Nopony was happy with the decision. Still, they needed to do something.

If Spike was lucky, he would be able to succeed where other ponies had failed and establish a line of communication. Even if he could not drive the shade dragons out or encourage them to leave, at the very least he would be able to investigate and learn more about the creatures. Even though the shade dragons did not seem related to the other things that lurked in the night, it did not mean those other things were not still a threat to expeditions. The shadow forms and dark beasts made the land dangerous, and so proper studies of the creature had not been carried out. 

Of course, they had at least come to some decision on that matter. Based on the earlier tension that had been in the room, Twilight feared even bringing up the Everfree forest again. Her commanders had practically been at one another's throats over the issue, and she would prefer for them to not get into another shouting match.

“Perhaps we should take a short recess.”

Her commanders wordlessly complied and all rose from their seats. When their meetings ran long or were particularly tense, it was fairly standard for the proceedings to be punctuated with momentary breaks. The ponies would all wander around the room or perhaps step out to the hall, stretching their legs before gathering back at the table.

Twilight took in a deep breath and focused on slowly releasing it. She started working through a technique Celestia had first tried to teach her long ago. Soon Twilight retreated into her mind. Celestia had called it creating a “memory palace.”

Celestia may have shaped her mind into a replica of the Canterlot palace, but Twilight had constructed an imaginary version of Ponyville. It was not the same as the real Ponyville, but she knew every inch of her mental village. That was key to the technique. Imagine in as much detail as possible. Make each detail representative of something she needed to remember or think about. If she did that, the visualization could be a great assistance in organizing her thoughts.

We are sending Spike north with a complement of twelve pegasi to investigate the shade dragons.

In the bedroom of the Golden Oaks Library she shifted Spike’s bed to be at the north end of the room. She nudged it into the shadows. Then carefully, she placed twelve feathers into the basket. Twilight considered the ponies that had been selected to go on the mission and began reshaping each feather to match the individual pegasi. It would be a dangerous mission and she wanted to be sure she remembered each of the ponies participating.

She would remember them, even if they did not come back with Spike.

Twilight retreated from her mind, the edits to Ponyville done. She would always simply be able to look up the minutes of the meeting, but there were certain things that she felt were best to commit to memory. A checklist did not do the life of a pony justice, and she had vowed not to be forgetful when it came to the sacrifices of Equestria.

Virtually no time had passed while she was memorizing the deployment detail and her commanders were still taking advantage of the recess to stretch.

Twilight absent-mindedly watched as the pegasi in the room fluttered their wings to work out the kinks. She looked down at a scrap of paper in front of her. Earlier she had begun to doodle out the framework for a new law. To help fund the expansions the Guard had undergone during her rule, Equestria had begun taxing certain imports. Unfortunately, this had led to smuggling. She hoped rewording the law regarding the import of goods would improve the situation. There was always so much for her to do.

When she looked up from her writings, the leaders of Equestria's military forces were just sitting down again. Less than five minutes had passed since she had called the break; nopony had even left the room, though that was not too unusual. Even though they did not all get along, her commanders were dedicated. She suspected that they viewed stepping out the doors before covering the entire agenda some sort of retreat. Lunch had been brought to them earlier before the discussion of the shade dragons, and their self-imprisonment in the gloom of the windowless chamber served to remind them of the darkness they fought against.

Ironhooves, commander of Equestria's infantry, was the pony to break the silence. The rust colored earth pony was part of what some called “The Old Guard,” and in his case it was certainly no exaggeration. Ironhooves’s mane had been graying when Twilight had been a student, and now he was positively ancient.  

After the Siege of Canterlot, Twilight had intended to promote Ironhooves to the position of Captain Commander. However, he had felt that Twilight should, “Give the job to some younger, more capable mare. At least one pony comes to mind, a certain pegasus and hero of the battle perhaps?” And so Rainbow Dash had received a large promotion.

Twilight remembered Ironhooves words at the promotion ceremony. “Me, I’m just happy with my infantry. Besides, I don’t know how much longer these old hooves will be able to soldier.”

She snorted. Ignoring his balding head, the pony still looked as fit as ever. She would not be surprised if the ancient soldier outlived her.

“Er, Princess?”

Her back straightened in surprise. Twilight did her best to look like a regal princess and not a school filly guiltily caught not paying attention. 

“Yes Ironhooves.”

Using a very weak telekinetic field so the other ponies would not notice her aura, Twilight gripped her quill and added another item to her checklist for the day.

-Stop daydreaming in military council meetings.

“I was just relaying the recent incident reports from Trottingham.”

Incident Reports.

It was such an unassuming name for what often revealed told of more attacks and more ponies dead.

Twilight leaned over and looked at the table. Trottingham was a large community, best known for their root vegetable export. She analyzed the growing points of light over the miniature Trottingham on the table, signifying the presence of their guard. It was mostly earth pony infantry, supplemented with a wing of pegasi, and three unicorn battle casters, far from a large garrison.

Around Trottingham her commanders had placed angry red markers signifying “unknown encounters.”

“So we do not know what these sightings have been?”
At this point the other unicorn in the room, Silver Heart, interjected. The alabaster pony was Twilight's chief of military intelligence and had direct oversight of the royal magic corps.

“No your majesty. However, based on the number and frequency, they could represent a sizable threat. The garrison captain has requested reinforcements.” Silver Heart then lifted his forehooves into the air in a shrug. “Of course, the sightings could also just be illusionary phantasms. It would not be the first time ponies have been spooked by things that aren’t there.”

“We can begin flying more patrols out from Manehattan. They might be able to spot whatever it is in the forests during their flyovers. It is a bit of a flight, but the pegasi based there can handle it,” said Rainbow Dash.

As head of the royal guard, her loyal friend often needed to serve as the voice of reason between the other branches of the military. The Guard was the best of the best and Equestria's elite. They recruited from unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike. And the Guard's commander was Equestria's chief military leader, second only to Twilight herself.

It was then that Cloud Dancer, chief of the royal air force, chimed in. “Actually Captain Commander, all wings in Manehattan are currently assigned to border patrol. Adding flybys of the Trottingham area might be the straw that breaks the pony’s back.”

“All on border patrol?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Er, yes. It is related to the next item on the docket.” Cloud Dancer coughed into his hoof.

“Hmm.” Ironhooves rumbled. “What if we simply bolster the guard in Trottingham. Look here at Witherton.”

The old campaigner tapped his hoof against the map to draw everypony’s attention to another town.

Ironhooves continued once he was sure everypony’s focus was on the map. “Witherton has had very little incidents in the past year, and is well with in aerial response range of Cloudsdale, should there be an emergency.”

“Yes,” Silver Heart cut in, “Witherton is also close enough to Canterlot that we could perform a long range teleport of strike teams, if necessary, without mobilizing too many of our casters.”

Rainbow Dash cut in. “I still would like to know what these sightings are all about. But it does seem like Witherton’s garrison is larger than necessary, especially since we managed to convince that elder dragon to relocate to another mountain for his slumber. I think redistributing half the garrison to Trottingham will likely provide them the protection that they need.

Twilight looked at the marker signifying the Witherton garrison with some concern. “If we pull that many ponies, won’t that leave them a bit short hooved?”

Ironhooves shook his head. “Perhaps, but as has pointed out we should be able to perform rapid emergency response if it comes to it. Besides Witherton is in the heartlands and nowhere near the Everfree or any other red zones.”

Twilight stared at the glowing markers on the map as the room continued to talk about the relative defensive strengths of the two towns and the threats that they faced. She listed as they discussed the details of what a transfer of Witherton’s garrison would look like. It seemed like a mistake to leave so many ponies with so little defense, but what they were saying made sense. It was time for her to make a decision. 

“I agree that we do not have the pegasi to spare to search the forests for these apparitions. Perhaps they will just end up being another unsolved mystery.” 

Twilight thought of some of the ghost stories that had always existed in Equestria, and others that had started more recently. Some were just old mare’s tales, while others seemed to have based on some actual truth. In particular she thought of the tale of the Ghostly Mare. She did not know if the reports of a of the apparition appearing in a burst of ethereal light was caused by the story or if it was the other way around. Needless to say, there was a whole section in the library for “unexplained incidents.”

“I am comfortable relocating Witherton’s defensive forces if everypony is in agreement. If no pony comes up with any objections by our meeting tomorrow morning, I will sign off on the order.”

Everypony clopped a hoof against the edge of the table in agreement, and Twilight was thankful to have resolved an issue without an argument.

Cloud Dancer coughed with a slight flutter of wings and the council’s attention was again focused.

“Your majesty, with your leave I would appreciate if the next issue to be addressed would be regarding our neighbors.”
Twilight reluctantly nodded her head. She suspected she would not be pleased by what the pony had to share.

“Your majesty, my flight patrols have been seeing increasing activity from the griffons, part of the reason I have increased our own patrols along the borders. For the most part they seem to be staying behind clouds, but they have distinctive shadows and our eyes are sharp. Just yesterday I received a report that the griffons have raided another village.  They are growing ever bolder in their aggressions, and no longer are they attempting to leave food for the local populace to survive on. They left with everything they could carry and even injured a pony."

Twilight shook her head, but recognized that it was amazing that it had taken as long as it had for relations to begin to break down.

"And word from their king?” Even as she asked the question, Twilight already knew the answer.

"He still claims that the raids are the actions of a rogue flight of griffons - bandits and nothing more."

Silver Heart added his thoughts. "Your majesty, if I may. Perhaps at one point the king’s words were true. However, these raiding griffons are well trained and recently seem better armed. Even if they are not directly under the control of King Thunderclaw, clearly, he is now supporting their actions."

“That seems to be bit of a leap.”

“Yet it is what the evidence seems to point towards. Our informers within King Thunderclaw’s court have informed us that he has authorized the movement of military equipment. In addition, several months ago several of his elite guard members disappeared - likely to join the raiders and to provide them with training.”

"I see. However, I’m hesitant to act rashly without more concrete proof. But, if these actions are sanctioned by their king... Is war our only choice?"

The Princess’s voice was heavy as her eyes slowly looked over each of the other ponies. The word war seemed to hang heavy over the chamber. Technically they were Equestria’s war council. However, defending ponies against monsters and other terrors was a far cry from a true and actual war.

If Equestria was forced to war, it would be Twilight’s greatest failure. Ponies were supposed to be peaceful by nature. Unfortunately, nothing had succeeded in stemming the griffon raids. It seemed she was running out of options.

Twilight knew argument was brewing without even looking at Ironhooves.  The earth pony always advocated for defensive and peaceful solutions. He had seen enough action throughout his life to know that if they were forced into combat, they had already failed. When Twilight looked at the pony, she could see that his strong muscles seemed to ripple in agitation, and could practically see the steam coming from his nostrils as he barely restrained a snort.

"My Princess, I still do not agree with commander Silver Heart. Perhaps if we offered a trading deal to the griffons, they might see that we are willing to share our food and decide to work with us rather than against us."

With those words, the room broke out into argument. Twilight just closed her eyes in thought. The suggestion had been made before, and every time it was met with the same response. Each meeting, the ensuing argument would play out nearly exactly the same. They had too little to share. The griffons deserved to live just as much as ponies. They could not take food from fillies to feed non-hooven creatures. Negotiation with the griffons should be left to the Magisterium - the military council needed to restrict itself to just matters of war. It was a matter of war. The costs of war would be too high. The costs of not going to war would be too high. Avoiding war was worth that cost. All of the words flew around her.

They were all right.

They were all wrong.

There was no good answer.

No matter what she did ponies would die.

Equestria would die.

Everypony would die.

It was only a matter of time.

Time would continue to pass, and with its march, Equestria would die.

In her mind she felt gears slipping and the reverberations of great machinery lurching out of place.

Time...

Suddenly, Twilight realized there was silence.

"Your majesty?"

It was Rainbow Dash's voice. As Twilight opened her eyes, she saw her most trusted friend looking at her with concern. Dash’s eyes were wide, and her lips were tightened into a tight line. The other ponies shared the pegasus’s expression.

"Is something wrong?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing Twi- your majesty," Rainbow Dash quickly coughed to cover her slip up. "You were glowing."

"Glowing?"

As all four of her commanders slowly nodded in agreement, looking at her in concern, Twilight could not help but be surprised and more than a little bit worried. She had not even felt herself calling forth any magic other than the sun spell she constantly needed to maintain. The last time she had accidentally cast a spell without realizing it had been over three decades ago when she set that fruit stall on fire in the market.
Silver Heart spoke, “You seemed to have been casting a very complicated spell, but one I did not recognize. ”

It was likely due to stress, or at least she hoped it was due to stress. She would just need to worry about it later.

The last three days had definitely been stress inducing at the very least. It had started with a murder in Manehatten of all things. Such violence was practically unheard of in Equestria, or at least it had been. Twilight apparently could not maintain harmony as well as her mentor. It seemed that the innocence of her ponies would just be another thing that Equestria was losing.

Twilight still did not know what to do about the murder. The pony’s guilt was certain, and apparently it came to her to determine his punishment. She had needed to deal with bad ponies before, but nothing like this. The unicorn had heard how the griffons dealt with such crimes, but she did not think she could ever bring herself to do such a thing. Taking a life of another pony was wrong, even if he was a bad pony.

Wasn’t it?

She wished she could ask Celestia, and not just some pillow and blanket Celestia construct.

She had met the killer to speak with him. He was a father. The victim had hurt his daughter in a way that Twilight could not imagine, and so he had taken justice into his own hooves before the courts even had a chance to reach a decision. Twilight did not know if the victim’s crimes changed a thing, or if the pony’s motivation should have an impact on her decision.

She still needed to decide the pony’s fate.

The next day had seen a granary fire. Luckily nopony had been hurt, but a good deal of stored food had been lost. Sending aid to the town had been hard on their already low reserves. Now she had the griffon’s latest raid to deal with. Unfortunately, it seemed they would need to dip into the food stores once again.

Of course there had been one bittersweet moment of fun the previous night. Rainbow Dash had brought a wrapped present to her chambers. It had been a large box with a simple tag that read, 'To Twilight - From the fastest pony in Equestria.' Twilight had clopped her hooves together in excitement before the other pony had given her permission to open it. A present from one of her best friends was a great way to end an otherwise horrible day.

When she finally had the box opened and unpacked, it took her nearly half a minute of examination to figure out what she had been looking at. Her face had gone dead of emotion the instant the revelation hit her. Rainbow Dash had been rolling on the floor laughing for nearly two whole minutes. Even once the pegasus calmed down, for the rest of the night she would occasionally start chuckling for minutes on end.

Twilight had refused to even step near the scratching post until her Captain of the Guard had left the room. However, fifteen minutes later she had been rubbing her sides against the thing like a pony possessed. She suspected Dash knew.

At the thought of the gift, the princess decided to bring the meeting to a close. Her sides were hurting, and she needed to apply some pressure to relieve the itchy pain. Her still-ingrown wings had a date with the scratching post that afternoon. There was no one way to deal with the raiders that might not have horrible ramifications, so instead she would attempt to take elements from each pony's suggestion to form her decision. It was the one act of ruling in which she had become skilled.

"It was... It was nothing to worry about. I was just contemplating our course of action.”

It was a small lie, or rather it could have been. Twilight really had no idea what the spell might have been for, but it had seemed to bring a solution forward to her mind. However, if she admitted her ignorance regarding the strange magic, her commanders would be fussing over her for hours. Rainbow Dash in particular would probably end up following her around for days. She would speak with Silver Heart in private later and see if he could describe the magic to her. Just like the sightings in Trottingham, it was a mystery for another time.

“I believe I have come to a decision. Have what can be spared from the royal granary sent to the village in the form of aid. We must help them recover from the raid. A message should be sent to King Thunderclaw as well. If rooting out where the bandits are hiding in his territory is too much of a burden for his already strained military, Equestria would be more than happy to help. Let him know that we are willing and able to spare a few companies of soldiers to assist him in maintaining order.”

Twilight gave each of her commanders a stern look.

“If the King has been truthful, he will have no reason to turn away our offer of military aid. Once the bandits are dealt with, then we can consider efforts to aid their civilian populace. In fact, the message should say as much. Once the raiders have been caught we will send some skilled earth ponies to aid them in their own agricultural endeavors. However, if Thunderclaw has been untruthful to us... Well, hopefully he can read between the lines.”

With that the Princess of the Fading Sun rose from her seat. It was a signal to all present that the meeting was at an end. As she looked down at the papers scattered across the table, she saw that only half the items on her checklist were marked. However, none of her commanders protested the wordless dismissal. Their ruler had given her orders, and it was their duty to carry them out.

Leaving the ancient war room, Twilight could see several sentries waiting patiently. Once she had moved beyond the doors, the guard ponies moved to flank their princess. At times she wanted to dismiss her constant sentries, but Equestria still remembered the loss of its last rulers. It would not stand to see anything happen to its greatest hope of a brighter tomorrow.

Twilight Sparkle had often wondered why her mentor was so frequently accompanied by guards. Any power that could overcome the Princess would make even shorter work of the guard ponies. However, now she understood. It was not for the Princess’s benefit, but rather for the benefit of Equestria. All ponies understood that their ruler gave so much to their nation and wanted to give something back in return.
The ponies of Equestria loved their current princess. It was not the same type of love that they had felt for Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, but it was love nonetheless. The previous rulers had embodied perfection. No other pony could have served as a better example of what one should aspire towards.

Twilight was... Twilight was different.

Equestria had seen their new princess mourn Princess Celestia. Equestria had seen her weep and rage. Twilight’s heart had died that day, and even after so many years, the pain was nearly unbearable. However, Twilight had continued on despite the agony. Twilight had known she could not simply quit. She needed to be worthy of those final words her teacher had spoken to her.

A burning Canterlot had cowered in fear at the empty sky, only to witness Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia, climb to Canterlot’s tallest tower. They bore witness as the embodiment of the element of magic let out a tremendous scream. It had been the scream heard around the world.

Her yell had been filled with sorrow and anger. She had poured all of her sadness and pain into the roar - all of her regret of things left unsaid. Everypony throughout Equestria and beyond had felt the emotion in the yell. But amidst all of the pain and heartbreak one other overpowering emotion could be felt.

Determination.

All of Equestria listened to her great scream as a new star was born in the sky. They watched as her magic soared upwards in a brilliant and unsurpassed spiral giving birth to the new sun. They stood by in awe and knew that they were not alone. The Princesses were gone, but Twilight Sparkle, most beloved student of Celestia, was there for them.

They somehow knew that Twilight would always be there for them.

Yes, it was not in the same way that they had loved Celestia, but Twilight knew that she was loved all the same. The guards next to her would give their lives to protect her. She suspected that some would give their lives to spare her heartache if they could. Even though their presence could be aggravating, they were a physical reminder of Equestria’s feelings. And on particularly bad days, their being there kept her from feeling lonely. Or at the very least, their presence kept her darkest emotions at bay.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, her two guards, and her four commanders walked down the great arched hallway of the military building, heading towards the exit. The steady rhythm of hooves on stone was the only sound that accompanied them. As they left the stone halls, the seven ponies were greeted by the dying light of sunset, and two more guard ponies joined up with their precession.

“Oh hay, I didn’t think we were in there that long. I was hoping to be able to get through some paperwork before the afternoon patrols launched.”

Twilight watched as all of her commanders muttered in agreement with Rainbow Dash. Twilight pondered the words in silence. The military ponies walking in front of her did not seem to think much about it, but her commanders were right. While they had indeed spent hours in the war room, they had not spent the entire day.

Her ability to track the passage of time had improved since becoming princess. At first the length of days had been erratic. Sometimes she would wake up early, start reading a book, and just forget to raise the sun. Luckily one of the magistrates had been intelligent enough to suggest appointing a royal timekeeper. A position was quickly created for a pony whose sole job would be to remind her when to set and raise the sun. Daily Vigil was one of the few ponies in Equestria who would interrupt her no matter what she was doing.

Twilight sighed as she saw the gray earth pony approaching. From a distance, Daily Vigil was a pony who looked much older than he actually was, but up close his serious expression would still give the impression of advanced age. His coat was gray and his mane was white despite only being thirty some-odd years of age. Vigil’s cutie mark, a gold pocket watch, matched the watch he was currently balancing on his hoof.
She ceased walking as she waited for Vigil to approach. Her guards instantly matched her change in movement. The commanders, each with important business to attend to, said their farewells and parted.

Even though her sense of time had improved to the point where she could practically imagine a clock in her mind- in fact, she had set aside space in her mental ponyville for just such an image- she was nowhere close to the point that she could do without Vigil. Obviously Twilight had become distracted during the meeting and had sped the sun up. It certainly was not as late as its low height would indicate. Daily Vigil was likely coming to reprimand her and inform her that she would need to hold the sun just above the horizon for hours to maintain the timetable. She did not look forward to the task.

Twilight was surprised when the pony spoke.

“Just a reminder your highness, sunset is in just a quarter hour. It seems like you are moving the sun just on schedule, but I just want to make sure you do not forget.”

The royal timekeeper spoke as if he was bored as he snapped his watch shut and tucked it back into his vest pocket.

“Daily Vigil, has the sun been moving smoothly all day? I’ve been indoors and unable to track its progress.”

“Why yes, your majesty. The sun has moved without a hitch. In fact if tomorrow goes well, we will have made it through the whole season without a hiccup. It will be a new record, I believe.”

That was interesting news. Twilight would have been willing to swear on the memory of her mentor that their meeting had concluded only a few hours after high noon. Yet, Daily Vigil was telling her that it was indeed nearly time for the sun to set. It was only a matter of a hooveful of hours, but she thought her sense of time had improved more than that.

“By the way Princess, you may wish to head to the throne room.” Vigil paused to clear his throat. “The Magisterium knew you were going to be indisposed for a good portion of the day in a protracted planning meeting, but you know how everypony gets when you are out of sight for too long.”

“Yes, thank you Vigil. I shall head there this instant. You’re helpful as always. Thank you - by the way - for helping me keep the sun so timely this season. If I have never mentioned it, you are just as skilled at this job as your father. I would've been lost without him reminding me when to wake up and go to sleep. The same holds true with you.”

As Twilight trotted towards the throne room leaving a beaming pony behind her, she contemplated the time disparity. It was as if time had passed slower in the meeting room than in the rest of Equestria.

Then she froze.

She replayed Rainbow Dash’s words in her mind, ‘You were glowing.’

Twilight had been thinking of the future, of the present, of time. They had apparently lost hours of their day - though the other ponies seemed to think nothing of it. She had begun casting magic without even realizing it. What had the magic been doing?

She had even felt the mental gears slip in her internal clock.

“Did I really...”

The unicorn let the words fade on her tongue. She would need to do some research. First, she would need a checklist of course. The Princess began walking again, but much more slowly this time. However, as she thought over the possibility of what might have happened, a smile was on her face.