Twilight sat quietly as Celestia and Spike talked. The document Spike had wrote appeared to be some sort of announcement that Celestia would be releasing to the press, about her waking up from her comatose state. After a minute her attention wandered back to her notes; she had nearly filled an entire page. She’d have to later go through and categorize the information.
The fact that so much of what she knew from her life was either wrong or completely missing was rather unnerving. Cadence was the one of the few ponies Twilight trusted completely. She had just been getting to used to thinking of her as her sister-in-law and now she didn’t even exist. How would Shining Armor react to that?
Twilight froze mid-thought. A frightening thought crept up from the back of her mind. Something she hadn’t considered before. With her parents being mostly who she remembered them to be, she had assumed her brother was too. But what if he wasn’t? “Princess.”
Celestia and Spike’s conversation stopped instantly, Celestia turning her full attention back to Twilight. “Yes, Twilight?”
“Do I still have Shining Armor as a brother?”
An unusual silence fell over Celestia and Spike as they exchanged looks. Celestia cleared her throat and spoke softly. “You did. He was a number of years older than you. He joined my royal guard at the same time you started at the Academy. Unfortunately, he was killed during his first assignment.”
Twilight’s eyes shot wide open. She had been bracing herself for being told that he wasn’t real. The fact that he was real but was dead was almost worse than if he hadn’t been real in the first place. “W-what? He…”
“He was stationed in a small town. A group of unicorns killed him while robbing a train that was passing through,” Celestia’s voice picked up a bit of volume. “He’s buried here in Canterlot, if you wish to visit him.”
Tears started to form in the corners of Twilight’s eyes. She looked away, trying to hold them back. “Can I be alone for a while, Princess?”
Celestia wanted to reach out and nuzzle her friend, but she simply nodded and got up. “Of course. I’ll come back when the doctor arrives to check up on you. Spike?” Spike climbed wordlessly on to Celestia’s back and the two of them quietly left the room. Only then did Twilight start to cry.
Twilight gently rubbed her foreleg where the needles that had kept her alive while she was in the coma had been. The doctor had taken them out after being told she ate pancakes without any troubles. He had run all sorts of magic over her and left after taking a quick blood sample. All traces of the curse were gone, but Twilight’s memory was still incorrect. The doctor had no explanation and recommended that she see a specialist.
Celestia had stayed in the room, but a distance off to give Twilight some privacy. Spike would be bringing in some tea and snacks soon. After leaving Twilight that morning, Celestia hadn’t been in to see her. Spike stopped by to see if she wanted lunch, but she had turned him down.
The door closed gently behind the doctor and his samples from Twilight, leaving Twilight and Celestia alone in silence. This silence was broken by Celestia. “How are you feeling?”
Twilight gave a soft sigh, rubbing her leg again. “Confused. Upset. I just… I still can’t think that something must have happened… That my Equestria is out there and this is… Some sort of bizarre mirror world like in the comic books Spike reads!”
Celestia couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. “Twilight, if you want to do research into comic books to try and figure out a way to return, you may. But I have a request.” She waited for Twilight’s attention. “Please also consider that this is the real world, and continue to try to remember or learn what you can so that you may continue your life here.” Twilight was about to respond when Celestia cut her off. “Just in case you are stuck here. Better to be prepared, correct?”
Twilight’s brow dropped slightly as she considered Celestia’s words. It did make sense to prepare for that outcome, as it was the most likely situation she had to admit. Celestia wasn’t saying she couldn’t do research and figure it out, just that she also had duties to this world as she was currently this world’s Twilight Sparkle. “Very well. I can do that. Even if it turns out I am not your Twilight Sparkle, I am still a Twilight Sparkle and I will always do my best to assist you, Princess.”
“I know you will, Twilight.” Celestia gave her a friendly smile. The door opened once more as Spike pushed a small cart into the room. Some tea and snacks were laid out, enough for all three of them. “Ah, good timing, Spike.”
The small dragon brought the cart right over to Twilight’s bedside, Celestia coming over behind him. Twilight leaned forward. “Is that chocolate cake?”
Spike grinned, “I went out and got it special for you.” He and Celestia climbed up and sat at the foot of the bed. Celestia’s horn lit up and started to distribute the snacks.
Twilight took a heaping forkful of cake and sighed happily. “Oh! This is so good.”
Celestia gave one of her famous small smiles. “I’m glad you still like chocolate cake. If you didn’t, I’d be convinced you were some mirror world Twilight.” Twilight, with cake crumbs on her face already, gave her an unamused look, which only made Celestia and Spike laugh.
Once the laughter died down, Celestia decided it was time to ask some questions. “Twilight, what do you remember about griffons?”
“Griffons? Well, I can only remember ever meeting one, and she wasn’t exactly the nicest… Why?”
Celestia gave a small smile. “You were close with the Griffon Prime Minister.”
“I was?” Twilight asked, a bit mystified at that thought.
“Actually, it’s a really good story. Spike, could you tell it?”
The young dragon nodded. “Oh yeah! It’s one of my favorites!” He set down his cake and grinned. “So Celestia and the griffons haven’t had the best relationship. Griffons are a bit aggressive and they see Celestia as being too soft. So when the trade agreement was running out, Celestia asked you to go in her place. The griffons were not happy that Celestia didn’t come in person. You told them that you had just as much power as she did and that your word was just as valid.”
Spike jumped up and held out an invisible sword. “One of the Griffon Ministers challenged you to a duel, to prove you were worthy. He pulled his sword and pointed it at you! It’s an old griffon custom that is rarely used, but still valid. You grabbed a sword off another griffon and told him first to draw blood was the victor!”
Twilight’s jaw dropped slightly. “I did what?”
Spike continued on with his story. “He launched at you, and you managed to fight him off pretty easily. After a few moments, you called out ‘Now it’s my turn!’ You lunged forward and stabbed the sword through his leg!” Spike paused, making the stabbing motion with his invisible sword. “You pulled the sword back out and pointed it at the Prime Minister and told him that if any other griffons challenged your authority you’d declare war and that you would personally kill all the Ministers!”
“But-! I would never-!”
“The Prime Minister loved that,” Spike cut in. “Griffons love shows of power like that. You then managed to negotiate a much more favorable trade agreement and after several months even created a free travel agreement. We built out our railroads into their country and connected some of the larger griffon cities.”
Celestia smiled. “You were bluffing, Twilight. You would never declare war over something so petty, but you knew that putting on a tough stance would improve the griffons’ opinion of you. It just worked much better than either of us expected.”
“I had no idea you even knew how to sword fight; it was awesome!” Spike plopped back down onto his rear and picked his cake back up.
“The Griffon Prime Minister even came personally to visit Equestria when the railroads were under construction. The two of you spent time chatting, and you seemed to regard him almost as a friend,” Celestia explained. “Thanks to your efforts, we’re much closer allies with the griffons, and you’ve become somewhat of a public figure in their country.”
Twilight’s jaw slowly closed, having been hanging open since she had been told she stabbed someone. After a moment she just took a deep breath to calm down. “That sounds extremely unlike me, but it does sound like a great plan to help international relations. But why send me? Why not send a trained government official?”
Celestia suddenly laughed. “Oh, right, I’m sorry. I should have known you wouldn’t remember how Equestria operates.” She recomposed herself after her laughter, taking a sip of tea. “Tell me, Twilight, how do you remember Equestria's government running?”
Twilight shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t like being wrong, even if she couldn’t help it. “Well, you and Princess Luna select members of the court. The court makes the laws. You also select judges to preside over any cases. You and Luna can also step in above the judges and make decisions yourself, if you wanted to.”
“How many ponies were in the court?”
“Oh, um, I think it was around thirty.”
Celestia nodded. “Well, Twilight. It does work similar here, with one minor difference.” Twilight waited patiently for her to continue. “You see, there are only two ponies serving on the Royal Court. Myself, Her Royal Highness Princess of Equestria, and the equally beloved and powerful Countess of Canterlot.”
“Countess of Canterlot?” Twilight asked. “Who is she?”
“You!” Celestia giggled. “I gave you the title and made up the idea of the Royal Court just to give an excuse as for why you were suddenly making decisions about how Equestria is run.”
Once again Twilight found her jaw flopping open, “Me? But, what?”
Spike snorted at her reaction. “That’s the same reaction she had when you first gave her the title.”
Celestia laughed and leaned forward to nuzzle her friend. “I graduated you from being my personal student, and granted you a title of nobility above the Knights and other noble families. Technically, Canterlot as a city, as well as most of the government run programs, like the weather factory, rail lines, and mail system, are yours to rule as you see fit. I can, of course, override you, but so far you’ve done a wonderful job.”
Twilight’s eyes rolled up and she fainted, her plate of half eaten cake gently falling as her magical grasp vanished. Spike started laughing. “Yup, she did that the first time too!”
“Looks like we’ll have to help build her self confidence again, if she doesn’t start remembering it soon,” Celestia commented. She gave a small smile and tucked Twilight in under the sheets. “Come on, Spike, let’s go release that press statement. And then you can fetch her parents for dinner.”
Spike started to clean up the snacks, snapping her a fake salute first. “Sure thing!”