TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Princess Twilight Sparkle frowned as the workers finished setting up the last of her bookshelves in the Grand Library. It wasn’t perfectly perpendicular to the adjacent bookshelf and it nagged on Twilight’s mind but she didn’t want to bother them after working hard for hours and hours.
Instead, she smiled and thanked them, silently magically levitating the bookshelf to its proper place. Since the conflict with Tirek and the destruction of her beloved house she had spent weeks restocking her books into her recently made castle.
Still it wasn’t all bad. Her new library was much bigger than her first one so she had more space for more books!
Twilight sighed as she put up a few more books. It was a nice place, very flashy and very big but it was too big. The place felt big and empty and sad when there was nopony else here. Even with the company of Owlicious and Spike it wasn’t enough since they had their own bedrooms.
Speaking of the perpetually curious and intellectual owl, he swooped into the room and landed atop his newly formed perch of crystal and sapphire and hooted a greeting at Twilight.
“Hello, Owlicious,” she greeted back with a smile. “I’m just clearing things up. Thank goodness Princess Celestia allowed us access to the Canterlot Library for second editions of the books we had before.”
“Hoo,” he agreed.
“True. It is only possible thanks to my meticulous cataloging and memory that we were able to acquire everything back and more,” Twilight nodded with a perfectly humble grin.
“Hoo.”
“Spike? Uh, I think he’s over at Rarity’s. Now that he has his own room, I’m sure he’d try to get her ‘fashion opinion’ on decorating it.”
The massive castle doors opened. Twilight turned, expecting Rarity and Spike but it was Princess Cadance, her lovely sister-in-law and former foalsitter. Twilight beamed and ran to approach the alicorn, nuzzling her neck.
“Cadance! What’re you doing here?” Twilight asked as she smiled up at her.
Cadance couldn’t help but smile back. Twilight was a princess with her own kingdom and an alicorn yet she still looked at Cadance as if she were her hero.
“Do I need a reason to visit my favorite princess?” Cadance answered with a warm smile.
Twilight giggled, hiding her blush with her wings. She led Cadance into her library and explained her day. How she personally overlooked the reconstruction program of her castle and how her beloved workers needed to be micromanaged because they simply weren’t getting her instructions.
“I mean is it really hard to get that I want the chairs to be perfectly 40 degrees relative to the center of the room?” Twilight asked. “It’s really not that big of a request.”
“Of course not,” Cadance agreed with a wry smile. “Perfectly reasonable.”
“I know! I mean—wait, you’re being sarcastic again…”
Princess Cadance giggled humbly. “Perceptive as always, Princess Twilight.”
The two shared another laugh as they ventured into the main Chair Room. Twilight called it that because that’s all that was in this room, a bunch of chairs. It was intended for all of the former Elements of Harmony but when it wasn’t occupied it was just empty and sad.
Cadance couldn’t help but swell in pride as she looked around the wondrous place. It felt like yesterday Twilight was crawling up her leg, demanding games to sate her boredom, now she had her own kingdom. She turned to Twilight to congratulate her again but the purple alicorn was sitting in the center of the room sullenly.
“What’s wrong?” Princess Cadance asked, approaching Twilight and draping her wing around her.
“Nothing it’s just…” Twilight sighed as she looked at the empty chairs. “It's really quiet here, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“This new castle, this new role, and everything that’s been going on,” Twilight answered. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that I have these new responsibilities and all. It’s everything I’ve asked for but… It’s quiet, isn’t it?
Twilight gestured at the empty chairs. “I just didn’t imagine me being the Princess of Friendship without my friends. I understand that everypony has lives and homes of their own and can’t be here all day but do I really have to be here by myself?”
A somber tone thickened over the Chair Room. Twilight, with her head still bowed, began to sing in a soberly manner. “Princess Cadance, I know this is my responsibility—“
“Twilight!” The grand doors burst open and Spike an in with a great big smile on his face. He was covered in glittery wallpaper that hung off his tiny body like robes but it didn’t stop his running gait. “You’ll never guess what just happened.”
“Then what’s the point in—“
“Rarity said she’d be over later to help me decorate!” Spike all but squeal. “Oh, I’ve got to clean up. Can’t have my room a mess before we fix it up, eh?”
Spike romped off a trail of rose-red wallpaper following closely behind him. Before Cadance could remark on that, the doors opened up again and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew on in. The pegasi were also carrying decorative materials. Rainbow had a bunch of war armor and Wonderbolt paraphernalia, including the actual uniform the Wonderbolts first used when they formed. While Fluttershy carried stuff for her birds and pets like bird houses and feeding stations.
Rainbow rolled her eyes at Fluttershy. “For the last time, I’m not putting in a bird-feeder! Tank needs his own living space and birds scare him!”
Tank the ever vigilant tortoise flew in on his magical copter and nodded very so slowly.
Fluttershy looked hurt but smiled warmly. “I’m sure Tank simply misunderstood Mr. Hummingbird’s intentions, he didn’t know Tank wasn’t a tree.”
Rainbow draped her foreleg over Tank and hugged him securely. “He still has scars from your bird!”
Fluttershy apologized and stopped for a moment before Twilight. “Oh, hello Twilight, Princess Cadance. We were just coming in to help with the decorations.”
“Twi, tell her that it’s a bad idea to keep birds here,” Rainbow said.
“Hoo!” hooted Owlicious indignantly.
“You don’t count, Owly.”
But Twilight never got a chance to answer. Fluttershy gently answered for her and the two flew of to their room continuing their discussion.
Princess Cadance smiled at Twilight. “See, Twily? You are never—“
“Ah’m telling ya Pinkie, Ah don’t think ya can fit a trampoline through these doors,” Applejack said, entering in with Pinkie at her side. The two Earth ponies dragged wagons behind them filled with paint cans and brushes. Pinkie was even helping except sitting on her back was another box of confetti, banners and rubber chickens (what for, Twilight didn’t know)
“Aw,” Pinkie groaned. “Well then there’s only one solution for that!”
“Abandon that idea an’ go fer somethin’ more practical-like, like drapes an’ a doggie door fer Winona?”
“We’ll have to make the doors BIGGER!” Pinkie proudly declared.
The two approached Twilight and Applejack smiled sheepishly. “Ah don’t think Twi would appreciate you wreckin’ her house after she just got it, Sugarcube.”
“Well, I—“ Twilight tried to say but Pinkie zipped to her side, draping her foreleg over Twilight’s neck and hugging her close.
“Oh come on, just think about it. Trampolines in every room! You’ll never have to walk again!”
“Yeah, an’ th’ frequency of us gettin’ concussions goes through th’ roof. Literally,” Applejack deadpanned.
“That’s why we’ll get helmets!” Pinkie insisted as the two ponies continued their discussions and going up the stairs. A few moments later, loud drilling and construction noises rang out from their rooms. Twilight was silently worried over what they had planned.
“Well, I don’t think this needs any saying,” Cadance said with a smile. “But even if you ever feel alone, Twily, you never are. You’ve got so many friends, so many ponies that love you here in Ponyville, in Canterlot, in the Crystal Empire… That won’t change.”
Twilight smiled and blushed, looking down and feeling a bit silly over her concerns. “Okay, I understand.”
“You’re the Princess of Friendship,” she continued, hugging her. “The best pony for the job, if you ask me.”
“But what does that mean, exactly?” Twilight asked. “I mean, do I just go around, door to door selling books about friendship. Like, have you accepted Friendship as your overlord and savior?”
Cadance laughed at Twilight’s silly voice. “It just means you do what you do best. Show everypony the magic of friendship. You’ve already done a good job of it so far.”
Twilight nodded, thinking back on the crazy adventures she went through with her friends; the adventures that made her the Element of Magic, then an alicorn princess, then the Princess of Friendship. There must be something she’s doing right if she has this position, right?
“You’re right,” Twilight said, stepping forward and approaching her chair that glinted in the light. “Everypony deserves a chance to experience the magic of friendship. It isn’t especially reserved for just me or my friends, it’s for everyone. And I hope I can show them that…”
“You’ll do brilliantly,” promised Cadance. “I just know it.”