The next day was filled with nervous energy for Scootaloo. Save for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, all anypony at school wanted to talk about was what Scootaloo was going to do when she was a princess, (“I don’t see what the big deal is anyway”, said Diamond) only she didn’t have any answers for them. She didn’t quite believe that Celestia would let her do anything she wanted and she didn’t want to tell her classmates what she really wrote in her letter. So she continued her lies about riding her scooter around the castle and maybe getting some flight pointers from one of the pegasus guards. In her defense, they weren’t complete fabrications, she would like to do both of those things.
Truth be told, she hadn’t really thought about how exactly being a princess would help her connect with her mom. It just seemed like the only thing she hadn’t tried.
She made it through the school day, an emergency crusading session where the only topic was the possibility of earning a princess cutie mark, and went home to pack. Scootaloo wasn’t sure what exactly she would need for being a princess. In theory, they would have anything she could need at the castle. She settled on a small bag with some Daring Do coloring books for the chariot ride, a jacket in case it was cold, and a journal because Cheerilee suggested she bring one so she could write down the details of her visit. After much deliberation she decided to leave her scooter at home, figuring that Celestia wouldn’t let her ride it indoors anyway. Dusk came and she found herself waiting with Cheerilee for her chariot at the school house.
“Are you excited about your big day tomorrow,” her teacher asked with a cheerfulness befitting her name.
“You bet! Thanks again for sending my letter Ms. Cheerilee,” she replied, making conversation as much as anything else.
“You’re very welcome. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Scootaloo wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that. Lucky for her, before she had a chance to awkwardly respond a golden winged chariot, pulled by two pegasi stallions larger than Big Mac; landed in front of the schoolhouse. Regal Herald hopped down, in a most dignified manner, and ran to the side opening the door. “Your chariot awaits, your highness,” he said in a booming baritone tone, similar to the one he used yesterday.
“Have fun Scootaloo, we’ll miss you.”’ Cheerilee called out in a friendly wave as Scootaloo began running toward the carriage.
“I’ll only be gone for a day,” Scootaloo called back, hopping into the carriage.
The carriages used to transport royalty were lined with a purple fabric that was plushier than anything Scootaloo had ever felt. If she hadn’t been so excited she would have blissfully slept through her whole ride. Her excitement and some coloring carried her attention through the hour long flight and before she knew it, they had landed at famed the Canterlot Castle.
Regal opened the door and announced her arrival. Instead of being greeted by a few staff members, as she expected, Scootaloo opened the door to see the entirety of the castle staff as well as the advisors to the crown, minus Discord, standing on either side of a red carpet, the two reigning Princesses waiting at the end. Not knowing what else to do she took a step forward and a round of thunderous applause shook the earth. She jumped back, startled by the sudden onslaught, but as soon as she registered that the cheers were for her a smile began to grow. She tentatively waved to the crowd which only encouraged further cheering. Soon, there was nothing tentative about any of her gestures as she waved and smiled at an entire sea of ponies all hanging on her every movement.
The wave of adoration was intoxicating. Scootaloo kept waiting for the cacophony to ebb but it maintained its fervent pitch all throughout her too brief journey to the end of the carpet, where it slowly dissipated as she stopped in front of the Princesses.
“Your majesties, I present Princess in waiting Scootaloo,” Regal said once the ambient noise had quieted enough for his voice to be heard.
Celestia nodded once and Regal, and once at Scootaloo. “Thank you sir Herald, Princess Scootaloo allow me the honor of being the first to welcome you to Canterlot Castle.”
Luna lowered her head ever so slightly in the traditional gesture of respect used between royalty. The ritual dated back to the pre-unification days when each tribe had their own ruler. It was meant to convey reverence without subservience. “It is nice to see you again, Scootaloo.”
“Are you going to make me an alicorn?” she asked looking at the two alicorns in front of her. Her eyes lit up as she imagined that being an alicorn would also allow her to fly.
Celestia let out a polite and dignified laugh, if there was such a thing. “Ascending a pony to an alicorn is a rare honor. While I am delighted to invite you into the royal family it is only for one day.”
Scootaloo tried her best not to appear disappointed. “Oh, what I am doing here?”
“Until you are crowned tomorrow morning you shall be our guest here at the castle.” Celestia spread her wings wide, as if the splendor of her surroundings needed further showcasing.
“Tomorrow morning will be your coronation, and then you shall spend the day ruling Equestria, performing the duties of a princess.”
“Neat!”
“Indeed and this is where I must take my leave. Luna will give you a tour and show you to your chambers, and I shall see you for breakfast in the morning. Sleep well Scootaloo,” Celestia said, performing her own small bow and promptly exiting down one of the many hallways branching off the main room.
The crowd began to disperse and Scootaloo was left alone with Luna. “I apologize dear filly, my sister has always had a penchant for ceremony and theatrics. I trust your trip was comfortable?”
“Uh huh, it was awesome,! Those carriages are sooo soft! And the crowd of ponies, I mean I know they were only cheering because you told them too, but it was still nice.”
“You overestimate my influence, they were cheering for you, and though they were assembled by my sister, their enthusiasm was genuine.”
Scootaloo wasn’t sure if Luna was just being nice, or if what she said was true, but either way it didn’t diminish the warm glow she felt in her chest, left over from the booming applause she received merely because she waved.
Luna gave Scootaloo a quick tour of the castle, starting with the throne room, proceeding to the gardens, taking a tour through the kitchen, and several of the dining rooms and finally ending at an entire hallway of bedrooms.
“And here is where you will be sleeping, it is our fondest wish that you make yourself comfortable, if you require anything there is a bell located next to your nightstand that will summon the butler on duty.”
“Neat! I don’t think I need anything right now though.”
“Very well, should you change your mind, know that the castle is at your service.”
“Thanks Princess Luna.”
“You are most certainly welcome. And it is not necessary to address me as Princess, amongst royalty titles are considered superfluous.”
Scootaloo figured that Luna must be using one of those old-timey words that ponies used before she was banished. “Super-what?”
“It means that you may simply call me Luna.”
“Okay, thank you Luna.”
Luna left Scootaloo alone in the vast cavern that was to be her temporary lodgings. She barely had time to process that the luxury around her was in fact real, when she heard a faint tapping at her chamber door. Opening it she saw a cream colored unicorn with a light green mane staring back at her, Scootaloo just looked at her puzzled.
“Your highness,” the mare said bowing. "My name is Vanilla Sky; I will be your concierge for the duration of your reign.” She giggled at the thought of serving a filly princess for the entirety of her one day reign.
Scootaloo title her head at this strange mare, bewildered by both her vocabulary and whatever she possibly found funny. “Conci-what?”
“Your assistant; as a princess, you have lots of meeting and official duties to attend to. It’s my job to keep track of them all and get you to your appointments on time. I’ll also handle any small errands you need throughout the day,” she replied with a practiced smile.
“But I thought Princesses could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted to?”
Vanilla scrunched her face, pondering how to answer that question. “I suppose they could, but if the Princesses spent all day just having fun, many of the ponies in Canterlot would start to wonder why there were princesses to begin with; soon that discontent would spread to Equestria and ponies would demand new Princesses or even no diarchy altogether.”
The nuances on the conditions that could lead to revolution were lost on Scootaloo but what Vanilla was saying made sense. “Oh. So what do I have to do tomorrow?”
“Well, the first thing we need to do is pick out a dress for your coronation.”
Scootaloo groaned, she wasn’t even a princess yet and she was already having to do things she didn’t like. “Ugh really? I’m not really a dress wearing kind of filly.”
Vanilla giggled again, “I bet we can find something you’ll like. You want to look nice for your coronation right?”
“I guess,” Scootaloo shrugged, looking decidedly nonplussed. Her expression did change ever so slightly when Vanilla clapped her hooves together and the largest rack of dresses Scootaloo had ever seen was wheeled into her room. Unlike the simple flower dresses she was used to choosing between on the rare occasions she went shopping with her mother, these were all elegant gowns, with sequins and jewels in every color imaginable. Not even in Rarity’s private collection at the Carousel Boutique had she seen such splendor.
“Hmmm, how about this one?” Vanilla asked holding out a ruffled pink dress with flowers sewn into the fabric.
“Nah too frilly,” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head.
“Okay, what about this one?” Vanilla asked again, this time holding out an unadorned yellow dress made of silk so shiny so smooth that it practically shimmered.
“I don’t really like to wear yellow,” Scootaloo answered with a dismissive hoof wave. Noticing the beginnings of a slightly frustrated expression on her assistant’s mouth, Scootaloo pointed to a purple dress about three quarters of the way down the rack. “What about that one?”
Vanilla held it out so she could get a better view of Scootaloo’s choice and smiled. “An excellent choice, would you like to try it on?”
Scootaloo nodded and began to put the dress on; it was a shimmering purple gown, fastened around her neck with a lightning bolt shaped clasp. The lines of the back piece made the gown appear longer than in really was and the matching sash provided a contrast that tied the whole piece together. She liked that the front of the dress was uncovered; allowing her wings room to move and that the clasp on the front looked like something Rainbow Dash would wear.
While Scootaloo marveled at herself in the mirror Vanilla selected an appropriate pair of matching shoes. She passed them over to Scootaloo who put them on without complaint and when she was done she simply stared at herself in the mirror, turning ever so slightly so she could judge how she looked from different angles.
“What do you think?” she asked. Having not worn a lot of dresses in her life she was unsure if the dress she picked out looked as good as she thought it did.
“I think you look like a princess,” Vanilla replied. “But the important thing is what you think. Do you like the dress?”
“Very much,” Scootaloo said with a smile. Having seen how she looked, the idea of wearing a dress for the day was beginning to appeal to her, if nothing else maybe it was something that her mom would notice in the pictures.
“Well I have good news, you get to keep it!” Vanilla said punctuating her remark with an excited squeal.
“I do?! Really?” Scootaloo asked, her eyes widening slightly.
“ I’ll have the seamstress finish altering it to your size, you’ll wear it tomorrow and then you can take it home with you; A gift for your service to Equestria.”
“Oh wow. Thank you!”
“Well it’s not me you should be thanking, but you’re very welcome. Now let’s talk about your crown,” Vanilla said, making some notes on her omnipresent clipboard.
Scootaloo couldn’t believe her luck. “I get to keep the crown too!”
Vanilla shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. But you do get to pick out what gemstone you would like as your royal stone. Celestia has an amethyst in her crown, and Luna has a sapphire. What kind of stone do you think you would like?”
“How’d they pick theirs?”
“An excellent question Scootaloo, you are going to make for a very wise princess. Amethyst traditionally represent power, I think Celestia chose it to remind both herself and others how powerful the throne is. Sapphires represent healing. I think Luna chose her to remind herself that she still has some healing to do from being on the moon all those years. Of course it could also be that they just like the colors,” Vanilla giggled at the last part.
Scootaloo still wasn’t sure why Vanilla found everything funny, and her answer didn’t really help her narrow her choices. “Oh. So what should I pick?”
“Well what do you want ponies to know about you?”
“That I’m awesome!” Scootaloo said confidently.
Vanilla giggled again as Scootaloo found it increasingly more bizarre that a pony so connected to royalty could be so giggly. “Hmm, a moonstone is said to represent both luck and power, and the white would go very nicely with your dress.”
“Moonstone then,” Scootaloo said, pleased that her first two decisions as princess were easy. If being a princess meant just picking out what you wanted to wear she was going to be great at it.
“I shall inform the royal lapidary. Now, there is one more decision you need to make.”
Scootaloo groaned. “Ugh, can’t I just have you do it for me?”
“This one is easy. What would you like for breakfast? The kitchen likes to be sure that it has the royal breakfast ready to prepare first thing in the morning.”
“Oh, where’s the menu?” Scootaloo had been to restaurants, and so she assumed there must be a menu that the princesses ordered from.
“We have anything you could possibly want.” Vanilla replied.
“So if I wanted ice cream for breakfast?”
Vanilla thought for a moment. “You could have ice cream for breakfast. But as your concierge I feel that I should warn you that a lot of ponies are going to be paying attention to what you do and you’ll want to make a good impression. Might I suggest something a little more traditional?”
Scootaloo had never really been concerned with what other ponies thought about her, but she figured that maybe she should listen to the strange, giggly mare who was her assistant, if nothing else she knew a lot more about being a princess then Scootaloo did.
“Okay. Can I have some waffles, with strawberries? And one scoop of vanilla ice cream,” she added.
“So it is said, so it shall be,” Vanilla giggled as Scootaloo continued to wonder what she was saying that this mare found so hilarious.
Vanilla checked off another few boxes and smiled, having no other items of note she bowed politely and left Scootaloo to her own devices. Alone again, Scootaloo unpacked and looked around. The room was physically huge, a massive bed with satin sheets and down pillows inviting her to sleep as long as she wanted. An ornate bathroom just off the corner with soft towels and five different kinds of soap and shampoo waiting. Her chambers were so much bigger and luxurious than her room at home, but she couldn’t help but feel a familiar loneliness.