"Scarf, check. Yearly Friendship Report proofread and revised, check. Saddle bag, check. Spike still sleeping in bed, check." I said to myself, checking the last box on my checklist. "I'm all ready for my Yearly Friendship report to Celestia." I took one last look around the library, checking that everything was in order, as I headed out the door. I made sure to close it silently in order not to wake up Spike. Something was out of place this morning, the sun wasn't up.
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It was quite early in the morning, there weren't many ponies to greet me as I made my way to Canterlot Castle. Now, of course, I could have just teleported there, but you don't stay slender like me by just teleporting from place to place. As I approached the castle, there was an unusual amount of commotion around the grounds. Guards were deviating form their normal patrol routes, and there was a rather large group of them standing at the door of the castle. As I approached the castle, I was greeted by a "Halt!"
I immediately jumped back in surprise. "What's going on here?" I asked one of the guards, who was now staring intently at me.
"That's none of your business peasant, please leave now." one of the unicorn guards replied impertinently.
"Excuse me? I am Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's most faithful student and arguably most favorite, and I came here for my yearly friendship report to Celestia. I am not just a simple 'peasant'!" I sternly replied, taking a deep breath, I realized I may have responded too violently to the guard, and maybe my response sounded too much like Rarity but, it was early in the morning, and who ISN'T cranky early in the morning?
"Wait, did you say your name was Twilight Sparkle?" The guard asked.
"Yes." I simply said.
"Oh, sorry Miss Sparkle, come right this way please, it is very urgent that you do." He ordered.
Confused, I followed the guard inside the castle, leaving behind about a dozen others wandering around outside. He lead me through a series of corridors until we came upon a large double door which I immediately recognized this as Celestia's bedroom. He opened the door and ordered my to enter, which I reluctantly did since this would be a complete violation of Equestrian law.
"Why are we in Celestia's bedroom?" I asked, "you know if she finds out we'll both be faced with punishment we could never imagine, well, for you at least."
"Well, why don't you take a look at Celestia then?" He told me, levitating a young filly into my line of sight. It took me a few moments to comprehend what he just said when I realized, the filly he levitated into my sight, was Celestia!
"What happened to Celestia?!" I screamed, completely in fear.
"We don't know," He answered, "There was a flash of light and magic from Celestia's room last night but, when we rushed in, all we found was Celestia as a young filly."
"Did you check if Discord broke free?! Maybe he's behind this! I exlaimed.
"No, we checked everything that may have caused this, and we ended up with nothing." He replied.
"So then, what are we going to do now?" I asked.
"A few weeks ago, Celestia ordered that if anything were to happen to her and prevent her from performing her duty of ruling over Equestria, that you be the one to take over." He replied
"I know I was Celestia's favorite student, but why not her younger sister Luna?" I questioned.
"Well, considering Luna has been on the moon for a millennium, she is still very unfamiliar with life in modern Equestria, and you were next on the list. Also, don't tell anypony else about this, Celestia also did this for spite, apparently Luna pissed Celestia off about something having to do with sibling rivalry, and, she doesn't completely trust Luna, yet. So it looks you're our new leader" He answered.
"Leader? wait, WHAT?!" I yelled, completely flabbergasted, "But I don't know the first thing to politics and leadership!"
"Don't worry, me and some of the other royal guards will help you learn the ropes, you must be a very smart and skillful pony if Celestia selected you to be the new ruler of Equestria over Luna."
"Well, Celestia left me in pretty bad position, with all the disputes and unrest that's been going for past week or so, and it doesn't seem they'll be letting up. Gah! why couldn't this be Luna's problem?" I yelled in frustration, still trying to comprehend that Celestia ad selected me as leader of Equestria.
"Technically, its everyone's problem, except in this world of politics, the population basically just pushes its disputes and problems to a single pony so they don't have to deal with it." He replied
"That seems, well, kind of lazy. Wouldn't it be better if we had a group of ponies fix our problems?" I asked
"Well, in the very old Equestrian history books, that can only be found in the Canterlot archive, there used to be this group of ponies called 'Congress'." He answered, "Each region would 'elect' a pony to represent them in this so called 'Congress'. It would seem that this would be a great idea, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. With such a large group of ponies throwing out their opinion, all they would do is argue, and they never got anything accomplished! It was all argue, argue, argue, over and over again, and never get anything done. Those were dark times in Equestria, until Celestia rose up and took complete leadership of the kingdom, frustrated with the Congress' arguing, she told them to shut up and disperse, and she fixed the kingdom's problems...."
"Okay, Okay, I get the point, you don't have to give me a history lesson. Also, where is Luna anyway?" I asked.
"Luna's off for some errands, would you like us to teach you how to govern this wonderful kingdom now?" He stated.
"Wait, can I inform my friends of this first? They have a right to know." I said.
"Sure, just be back here in 30 minutes, we still need to raise the sun." He replied. I nodded and teleported myself back to Ponyville.
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"So, what's so important that ya hav' to wake us up so early in the mornin'?" Applejack asked.
"Apparently I"m the new leader of Equestria." I said. All my friends let out a simultaneous "What?"
"What are you talking about Sweetie? How is that possible?" Rarity asked.
I took a deep breath and explained everything that I learned in the past ten minutes or so to my friends.
"Ohmygoshohmygosh!" Pinkie Pie began, "I can't believe it! My closest friend is the new ruler of Equestria! Now I can finally spread happiness to the all the citizens of Equestria, we can throw a massive party, and it'll be so much fun, and since you're ruler we can make everyone attend, and....."
"We get the point Pinkie." I said, shoving my hoof into her mouth, which was apparently still moving.
"Well, come to think of it, maybe your influence can help me get into The Wonderbolts!" Dash exclaimed.
"And I can have my dresses promoted in Canterlot! Oh, this is so wonderful!" Rarity added.
"Girls could you stop and think about me? Do you know the situation Celestia left me in?" I demanded, "and by the way, who's going to take care of the Cutie Mark Crusaders if we're all submersed in our own problems?"
"Well, I can." Fluttershy volunteered in her soft voice.
"You girls can do what ya want, I'm goin' back to sleep, Luna's agreed to send me to the moon in a few hours or so, heard the soil there might be good for growing apple trees. And Spike said he'll come along too, somethin' about the rocks tasting good." Applejack stated with a loud yawn.
"I have to head back to the castle, the sun's not out. You can visit me anytime tomorrow, I have some important things to learn and do." I said, turning towards Canterlot and I began to make my way back to the castle. I turned around and saw my friends making their way back to their homes. I was still trying to comprehend that Celestia had left the fate of Equestria in my hooves and contemplated what I should do when I was suddenly intercepted by a certain gray pegasus darting from the air.