//------------------------------// // Prompt #389: Unending // Story: Ponywatching // by ThunderTempest //------------------------------// Sunny Day, secretarial assistant to Princess Celestia, was no stranger to working under a strict time limit. Her day often began before the Princesses’ own, and frequently ended after the Princess of the Sun had gone to bed. There were many, many things that the princess had to be kept abreast of to keep the country running, and Sunny Day was proud to be the pony that performed this duty. Most of the time, anyway. “Princess Celestia!” cried Sunny, as she slid around a corner in Canterlot castle, after catching sight of the princesses’ signature tail disappearing round that corner. The princess turned to face Sunny Day with a smile. “Ah, Sunny,” said Princess Celestia, “I was just looking for you.” “Princess Celestia, you’ve been missing for several hours. Several nobles were suggesting that you abdicated your throne, you missed a state dinner, and Silver Tongue was supposed to go over your upcoming speech with you and Princess Luna, and,” “It’s quite alright, Sunny,” said Princess Celestia, pressing one golden shoe up against her secretary’s mouth, “I just had to attend to something for a little while. Something that no pony else could deal with. But for the moment, I need your help.” Sunny nodded frantically. It was not often that the Princess asked for help. “Sunny Day, I need you to set up a full coronation ceremony for Princess Twilight Sparkle by the end of the week. I trust that this will not be too difficult?” “Of course not, Princess Celestia,” said Sunny Day, still nodding. “Excellent,” said Celestia, gracing Sunny with a smile, “I shall let you get to work then.” Once Princess Celestia had rounded the next corner, Sunny Day realized exactly what she had agreed to. She blinked in confusion twice, took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. “Right,” Sunny Day said to herself, “Let’s go organize a coronation.” ******* Step one had obviously been research. That had meant going to the Canterlot Archives, and delving into the records for the last time a princess had been coronated. That was obviously Princess Cadence. Luckily, Princess Cadence’s coronation wasn’t that long ago, and it was mostly in line with what Sunny expected. There were a few important details, of course, like the singing procession, and the exact length of the banners, but nothing complex. Step two was equally obvious: making sure that the castle had an appropriate room. The West Hall should suffice, but Sunny still wanted to check. And it was there that Sunny ran into a most unpleasant obstacle. “It certainly is a lovely day, isn’t it, Miss Day?” “Prince Blueblood. I do not have time for your so-called ‘socializations’. Either leave me alone so I may do my work, or tell me what I need to get the Public Relations office to bail you out of now.” Blueblood stepped closer to Sunny Day. “I was just going to remark on the fact that yesterday, our dear Princess Celestia vanished for several hours, and now she has you delving into records of ceremonies and inspecting rooms. One could only imagine the possibilities that would inspire such a chain of events.” Sunny Day rolled her eyes. Though Blueblood was technically minor nobility, Sunny answered to the Princess, and only to the Princess, and while she had to be polite, she didn’t have to be nice, and headed for the door. Blueblood’s horn lit up, and tugged on Sunny Day’s tail, pulling her back into the room. “Now, it seems to me that the only reason that Auntie, I mean, Princess Celestia would be doing this is that she has decided that one of the members of nobility is to be elevated to join her in her rule.” Sunny glared at Blueblood, who seemed to be keeping his composure so far. That broke immediately when the stallion dropped to his knees, and looked at Sunny with what was probably supposed to be a pleading expression, but just made him look more pitiful than usual. “Please tell me that it’s me?” said Blueblood. “It’s not you,” said Sunny Day, walking out of the room. ********* Sunny was sure that her dentist would frown at how much she was grinding her teeth, but Sunny really couldn’t help it. It wasn’t just Blueblood. Ever noble of repute had apparently noticed Celestia’s absence at the beginning of the week, and what Sunny was now organizing. And because they were so self-absorbed, they all assumed that the upcoming celebration which Sunny Day was trying to finish on time was for them. However, both because Princess Celestia had told her to, and because she wanted to see the looks on their faces when they found out, Sunny had not mentioned that the coronation was for Twilight Sparkle. Twilight and her friends were now lodged in one of the towers of Canterlot Castle, and Sunny still had what felt like a million details to finalize before the actual coronation the next day. Sunny Day sighed, and moved onto the next detail in her list. She had managed to get a few extra days, once she realised the enormity of the task before her, but now she could say that she organized a full coronation in exactly seven days. ******** Sunny Day watched as Twilight Sparkle flew off from one of the many walkways of Canterlot castle. The entire thing had gone off without a hitch, the nobles were wonderfully and impotently angry and best of all, Sunny Day could now relax. She let out a sigh of relief, and headed back to her own office, right next to Celestia’s. Or she would have, had Princess Celestia not then slid down the corridor, and slapped a pie tin filled with cream into her face, and Sunny Day sighed, as the pie tin slid off her face. Of course today was Tuesday. “Princess Celestia!” called Sunny Day, chasing after the Princess of Equestria.