//------------------------------// // The twenty year plan // Story: Short stories about ponies and whatnot // by shutaro //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle stood in front of the huge vanity mirror in her suite in Canterlot Castle. She only used it rarely, preferring to stay at her parent’s house or in her old room in the tower. But tonight was special, and she wanted it to be as special as it could possibly be. She went over her special secret to-do-list again. She had never written it down, not once. Writing a plan down made it real and once a plan was real it could fail. But a plan you carried in your heart was more of a dream, and while dreams could also crumble in the face of reality, there was still a certain magic to them. Twilight had talked to Luna for quite some time about this. She had always felt — no, she had known, that there was a magic to the sleeping world. Maybe her special talent was at play again, but the Princess of the Night had confirmed her assumption: ponies could do anything in their dreams, and they could do those things in the waking world, too. Yes, dreams could come true. Not by destiny or fate, believing in yourself and following your star, but by getting up early and working as hard as you could. She opened the doors which her magic and let the two maids in to help her get ready. Again, all for tonight. She looked at the dress, horribly out of date compared to today’s fashion, but she wasn’t aiming for a pony that lived so much in the now, but in the ever. Rarity had outdone herself on this one. The fashionista was one of the two ponies she had let in on the plan. Not because she needed to, but because she wanted to have somepony she could talk to after she had moved to Ponyville and away from Cadance. The maids braided her mane and tail with ribbons, pearls and beads. Researching this had taken her over year in the oldest and dustiest part of the royal library; she had talked to ancient mares and traveled with the nomads of the Buffalo and Zebra tribes. Who knew Rarity was so right: fashion could be fun! Twilight looked at herself in the mirror again. Her dress and makeup made the traditional hairstyle of the Crystal Empire’s ruler look like last week’s fad. She was ninety eight percent sure that she had all the parts and the face-paint right. Nopony had worn this in more than three thousand years: the courting garb of a very special tribe of ponies that had lived in the southern plains of the legendary Dream Valley. Twilight’s mind jumped back a few decades, to the day she had made this secret plan. The conversation was still alive in her memory, like it had happened yesterday. “Good morning, Twilight Sparkle. Ready for our first lesson?“ Celestia asked. “Yes, Princess! Look, I brought my own quills and paper,” the filly nodded eagerly. “Very commendable, but I think we should get to know each other a bit first. Tell me, what do you want to do when you grow up.” “I want to become just like you, Princess!” The filly’s smile illuminated the room just as much as the sunlight that filtered through the stained glass windows. Celestia’s smile shrunk by just a smidgen. “You probably don’t want that. Being a princess is not as much fun and a lot more work than most ponies think.” Her voice fell into the low whisper that adults use to say things they don’t actually don’t want to say or children to hear. “And it gets quite lonely after some time.” Her eyes searched the horizon, her shoulders sagged just a little and the sigh was tiny, but, like most children, Twilight picked up on those things a lot better than most grown ups expected. “Well, then I’ll be your best friend forever, so you don’t have to be lonely anymore. And we can read and learn together.” The Princess looked at her with those huge, soulful eyes. Years later Twilight had realized why these eyes had caught her heart: whenever Celestia talked to ponies, she always had a bit of sadness in them. But the eyes in her memory were free of this sadness, there was mirth, a continuous look of wonder and a bit of rock, the part of Celestia that never moved, that stood against time itself. “I would like that, my little Twilight. But let’s walk that road one step at a time.” Twilight had become the faithful student, a trusted friend and the Princess of Magic. She had grown from a filly to a unicorn and from a unicorn into an alicorn. Some transitions had been rough, some had been smooth, but she had walked the road, and tonight she would take another step. Maybe the last on this part of the journey, but she was sure it would not be the end. That had been one of the important things she had learned from the conversations with Rarity and Cadance. Books ended once the romance was complete, but real live wasn’t like that. It wasn’t enough to just confess and hope for the best. Twilight hadn’t been surprised that love, like everything else in life, needed work to make it last, but her books hadn’t told her that. Not just Cadance and Rarity, but all her friends were on her mind as she walked down the corridors. Honesty, loyalty, generosity, kindness and, if all else failed, laughter, were more than just the Elements of Harmony. They also paved a way to your loved one’s heart. She turned the corner to Celestia’s private quarters. It had only been a minute since she had closed the doors of her own suite behind her, and yet she felt like she had walked a thousand miles and for twenty years. Maybe she had. Next to Celestia’s door stood Cadance and Luna, both smiling. The Princess of Love smiled brightly, she had been the first pony Twilight had told of her plan. The Princess of the Night wore her enigmatic smile, like she knew more than she led on and was just waiting for the other hoof to drop. “This is the big night?” Cadance asked, and Twilight nodded. Cadance smiled and the two shared a careful hug, so Twilight’s makeup wouldn’t be disturbed. Luna too gave her a hug. “Have patience with my sister. She has about as much experience with love as you. You’d better not try to be subtle.” With that last piece of advice Twilight knocked on Celestia’s door, and it opened. She walked in and found the Princess of the Sun behind her desk. Celestia was reading some scroll, but seeing Twilight she put it down. She got up from the cushion, walked up to the smaller pony and inspected her first from a distance, then close up. “A very good reproduction of my tribes ceremonial wedding garb, dear Twilight, but tell me: why do you wear the stallion’s dress?”