//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Twilight's Equestria - The After Years // by BPM //------------------------------// “Princess Twilight, have you finished looking over the reports from the North?” “Not yet, Storm Falcon.” Twilight looked up from her texts. Surrounded by unscalable mountains of reports, creeds, and letters, the days were long and difficult. It’s been almost 15 years since Twilight assumed the royal mantle, and although being a princess allowed Twilight to be closer to Celestia, she didn’t enjoy all the paper work quite as much. “Have you informed Luna of this?” said Twilight, glossing over the report. “Yes, princess. She suggested we confront Queen Cadance directly about it.” Oh, Cadance. Long ago were the days of sisterhood that Twilight enjoyed with her. Nowadays, well… “Send an envoy to the Empire. We will meet on the first day of the new moon.” Twilight raised her head. A brief thought flitted across her mind – if she weren’t princess, would she still be able to be with Cadance, like so many years before? A brief sigh escaped her. “Storm Falcon, send for Rarity and Fluttershy to come to the castle.” Whenever Twilight felt down, her friends were always a boon to her. She remembered the many times they defeated great evils together, and their connection hadn’t diminished an iota. “Yes, princess.” “You are excused.” Twilight got up from behind her desk to look out the window. Equestria had changed from the days when she lived in Ponyville. Manehattan had grown as a city, and the city’s smoke and noise were starting to intrude on the peaceful village. Equestria and the Empire were in all but a trade war, both factions at odds with each other over the newly discovered resource, oricalcum. But that was the least of the problems in Equestria. The ruling trio here in Equestria didn’t always agree, especially Celestia and Luna. The most recent dispute practically locked the castle in a bureaucratic nightmare for 2 months. Twilight, not wanting to choose sides with the two sisters, held her tongue for the duration until they came to a compromise. “Twilight, you are working yourself too hard.” A soft voice came from behind her. “May be, but the job has to be done.” Twilight responded. “Take a few weeks off, my sister and I can handle things here.” “Luna, you know I can’t do that. What with the Empire’s aggressive tactics in the North, we hardly have time for me to take a leave of absence.” “There’s always going to be something, Twilight. It won’t be the end of the world” Luna smiled. “I have my friends, and that’s enough for me.” Twilight turned to face the princess. “They’re strength enough for anypony.” “Just don’t work yourself to the point of exhaustion again – we all know what happened last time.” “Of course, Luna. I’ve been watching my health.” “Well that’s good. It’s almost time for me to raise the moon, so I must be going. Do take a rest, we worry about you.” Luna walked out of Twilight’s office, looking back once more before leaving. Tomorrow, Rarity and Fluttershy will be here, and things will work out between the Empire, Twilight thought to herself. “Might as well get something to eat.” Twilight said to herself. She followed Luna after tidying up her desk, and proceeded into the dining hall. --- “Miss Rarity, are you in?” The guard knocked loudly on the door of R&R Boutique. “Yes, yes, I’m coming, dear.” The white pony looked through her glasses at the royal guard. “Is there a problem?” “Princess Twilight has requested your presence at the castle tomorrow. Transportation has been arranged to pick you up at 10am tomorrow.” “Oh, Twilight! I haven’t seen that pony for what seems like forever! But… such short notice… I shall have to find a sitter…” Having delivered his message, the guard turned to leave. As he was going though, he turned back. “Oh, Miss Rarity, will this location be acceptable tomorrow? I must inform your pick up.” “Yes, yes this’ll be fine.” Rarity responded as she went back to her design room. “I know! I can ask Cocoa. She always gets along with Ruby wonderfully.” As Rarity prepared her things, she went to check on Ruby. “Mother will be out tomorrow, Ruby.” Rarity cooed. “But guess what? You’ll get to see Cocoa again! Don’t you remember her?” Ruby responded happily. “Good girl.” Rarity carefully swaddled Ruby in her blanket and carried her over to the stroller. As she locked up shop, she sighed to herself and looked at the rising moon. “If only your father didn’t leave… you’d have a complete family. I’m sorry Ruby, for letting this happen to you.” Ruby looked questioningly at Rarity, unable to understand her last statement. She giggled and wiggled around a bit in her swaddle. Rarity proceeded to walk down to 9th, where Cocoa’s fabrics store had been set up. Ever since moving to Manehattan, Rarity had been using Cocoa as her raw materials supplier with great results. Cocopopo was quickly gaining renown not on small part due to Rarity’s devoted usage of her product, but many other fashion designers were starting to take notice of her fine product lines. --- “Fluttershy?” Storm Falcon asked, surprised at the pony before him. “What are you doing here?” “Oh, hi there Storm. I was going to see Twilight about the deforestation near South Manehattan. It’s not fair, what they are doing to the forest animals.” “Oh, that’s pretty convenient. Twilight has asked to see you in the morning. I think it’s best if you leave that until then. Meanwhile…” Storm approached Fluttershy slowly. “Storm, I’ve told you that I don’t think of you like that..” Fluttershy backed away a little. “There’s just too much in my life right now for it.” Storm smiled and stopped his advance. “You’ll come around. Hopefully.” Fluttershy had grown over the years – although she still had a meek personality, she had finally come out of her shell and was now a strong activist for the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Nature, or ESPN. Her lovely voice had attracted a lot of admirers throughout Equestria because of her rather inspiring rallies, and though she had always spurned the affection of the masses, her kind heart always let them down easy. “We’ll have to see about that.” Fluttershy responded apprehensively. “Anyway, you can use one of the guest rooms tonight. Room 392. Your usual room. Call me if you need anything else tonight.” Storm said as he walked away, a little bit more dejected than when he arrived in the room. --- As Twilight walked into the ridiculously huge dining hall, she felt her anxiety with the days ahead fade ever so slightly. Something about the large room calmed her down, and the memories of Heart’s Warming Feasts with her friends warmed her from the inside. Twilight turned to the nearest guard. “Tell Chef Astrill to prepare something small today; I don’t have a huge appetite.” “Yes, Princess.” The guard turned and walked off towards the royal kitchen. Twilight turned and sat at the seat reserved for her in the hall- a seat embroidered with her cutie mark, etched in the finest wood available. In fact, this chair was a gift from Applebloom when she was just starting out as a carpenter, before she became famous for her designs of woodwork. Twilight felt the many grooves and valleys with her hoof, tracing over some flaws in the works that she’d come to know so closely after these many years. Before she knew it, quite some time had passed in her reverie. Twilight looked around as she snapped out of her daydreaming. The guards weren’t there. Confused, she left her table and walked around to look farther into the hall. The guards remained elusive. Something was wrong.