//------------------------------// // The Governess // Story: The Royal Canterlot Family // by CartoonNerd12 //------------------------------// The grandchildren of Celestia and Sombra were having fun in the snow, since it was wintertime in Canterlot. Fire Spark, Whirl Wind, and Dignity were having a toboggan race. Screw Ball and Apple Jewel were building a snow pony. Gemstone and Starling were having a snow ball fight with Cotton Candy. Suddenly, a voice cried out, which was Applejack's. "Kids! It's time to come in!" The kids simultaneously groaned, but obeyed as they made their way into the kitchen, where their mothers were waiting for them with a tray of hot chocolate. They were each handed a cup and looked to see the number of tiny marshmallows in them. Gemstone frowned when comparing the marshmallows in her cocoa to her brother's. She complained, "Hey, how come you have more than me?" Dignity shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe because I'm older?" "That's not fair!" They started to bicker when Rarity shouted. "Stop it!" Both of her children faced her as she said, "It doesn't matter who has the most marshmallows, Gemstone. What matters is that you both have something to drink that's warm after being out on a cold day like today." Twilight nodded and addressed the kids, "You're quite lucky, you know. You can get out of cold weather when your parents want you to. But could you escape a cold governess?" "Huh?!" the children were confused. "What do you mean, Mommy?" Starling asked. The six mothers glanced at each other before Twilight continued, "We were just about your ages when our father was placed with a terrible curse and disappeared from our lives. At the time, however, we didn't know he was cursed. Instead, we thought…" She couldn't finish the word as her sisters gave solemn looks. Twilight cleared her throat, "Anyway, our mother was distraught from losing the love of her life and decided to hire a governess to take of care of us while she handled running the kingdom on her own in her husband's absence…" In a flashback, the girls were young fillies with cutie marks. They were running down the castle steps giggling away. "You can't catch me, Applejack!" Rainbow Dash called out. "Oh, yeah?" She managed to tackle her sister down. The two laughed. "You two should be more careful! You almost knocked me down!" shouted Rarity. "Aw, I love being knocked to the ground after a tackle!" Pinkie Pie jumped. "Oh, but what would have happened if you got hurt?" Fluttershy meekly asked. Twilight said, "It really is dangerous to tackle each other on stairs." RD motioned, "Lighten up, Twi! We were only a few steps from the floor!" Rarity moved ahead, "Hurry up. I don't want to be late and have Mother mad at us because we're late!" "Oh, I don't want Mother mad at us…" Fluttershy whimpered. "Me neither." Twilight agreed. Once the girls made to the throne room, they saw their mother talking with somepony. When Celestia saw her daughters, she said. "Girls, there you are. Come, I want you to meet your new governess…" The pony turned around and revealed herself to be a unicorn with a green-blue coat with a reddish-purple mane in a bun. She wore half-moon spectacles and business attire. "…Ms. Cinch," Celestia finished. The little princesses glanced at the governess with uncertainty. Pinkie whispered for them to hear, "She looks scary…" They nodded in agreement while Fluttershy whimpered in fear. Celestia didn't notice her daughters' reluctance and continued with introductions, "Ms. Cinch, these are my daughters, the princesses. Fluttershy, my eldest. Fluttershy, won't you say hello?" Fluttershy squeaked and shook her head before hiding behind Rainbow Dash. Celestia gave a small smile, "She's very shy around ponies she doesn't know yet, but I'm sure once you two spend time together, it won't be so overwhelming for her." "Yes," spoke the governess, "I'm quite sure." "Rarity is my second eldest. Darling, would you like to greet our educator?" Rarity held her head high and bowed toward the governess, "We are honored by your presence, Ms. Cinch." Ms. Cinch gave off no emotion as she said, "Very charming. You, Your Highness, show promise of decorum." Rarity ended up smiling. Celestia smiled as well as she gestured, "Applejack, my third child. Dear, do you have something to say?" Applejack was confused as to what she should say, and finally just said, "Um, howdy?" Ms. Cinch's lips perched up, "Hmm, I can see we'll need to work on proper greetings for you, young princess." Celestia moved on, "Rainbow Dash, my fourth daughter. Rainbow, would you like to welcome our governess?" Rainbow pointed, "Sure. Hi, governess!" She ended up giggling. Celestia cringed a little as she explained, "My Rainbow Dash is what you might call a little rough around the edges, but she is good-hearted." "Not to worry, Your Majesty. I will see to it that Princess Rainbow Dash softens those edges of hers…" To Rainbow, those last few words sounded menacing to her and instantly didn't trust this mare. "This is my fifth child, Pinkie Pie." "Hi-ya! Nice to meet to ya!" She went to shake the governess's hoof, but when she got close to her, she felt a cold presence around her and slowly backed away. Celestia said, "She's very energetic." "So, I see." "And lastly, my youngest daughter, Twilight Sparkle." "Ah, yes," the governess moved to the youngest princess. "I've heard so much about you, princess. You show talent in magic and are well-versed with spells that you study from books. Very impressive. It's no wonder you'll be our next queen." "Um… Thank you?" Twilight responded. "And is well-mannered at such a young age. Standing still as a proper princess should be." She turned around to face the queen, "I can see you tried to your hardest to raise the princesses, and with your busy schedule, I can see how hard is to keep track of all of them into making sure they are acting like young ladies. With your good wisdom, you made an excellent choice to bring in someone who can help you." "Well, I'm certainly glad you think so, but my daughters are fine just who they are. I just need some pony to take care of them while I'm working." "Of course," Ms. Cinch bowed her head in respect. "Girls, would you show Ms. Cinch around?" The girls looked at the governess again with uncertainty, but in the end, they obeyed their mother. When the castle tour was complete, they were in their room where Ms. Cinch had the girls lined up in their birth order. "Your mother's orders were that I take care of you, and I intend to do just that. First off, as princesses, it's important you learn protocol, diction, language, etiquette, and style. Some of you have shown you have the ability for a few of these, but you still have much to be taught. To start, we will change your attire to something more simple." She summoned a small grey dress. Rarity gasped and yelled out, "But it's so ugly! I can't wear that!" "And it's grey!" motioned Pinkie, "Why not have some color?" An abacus then appeared in front of them and it had six rows of colored balls, each row resembling the girls' coat colors. One ball from the pink row and a ball from the white row was moved to the side and then the abacus disappeared. Ms. Cinch explained, "For talking back, you each gained a demerit." She addressed them, "This is what will happen if you don't do I say. I am teaching you the importance of what a princess should be. As long as you don't gain a demerit, you will do fine." The girls looked at each other in worry. Within the days, the girls did what Ms. Cinch told them to do. They were not allowed to run around anymore, or go outside to play, and that they kept to the curfew that was given to them at bedtime. Eventually, Rarity and Pinkie weren't the only ones to have demerits. Applejack and Rainbow Dash gained some as well. So far, Fluttershy and Twilight were the only ones who didn't provoke Ms. Cinch to give them a demerit, but they weren't happy to be obeying her rules either. When the girls went to go to sleep one night, Ms. Cinch called out, "Good night, young ladies." She went to the door, but stopped when she realized the girls didn't replied, "I said, 'good night, young ladies'." They all said miserably, "Good night, Ms. Cinch." "That's better." She closed the door behind her. They stayed still until they heard the hoofsteps growing faint. Once they were sure she was gone, they got out of their beds to meet in the middle of the floor where their cutie mark titles were and sat down. Pinkie was the first to complain, "She is so mean!" "I know, she is absolutely horrid!" said Rarity. "Give me a demerit, will she? Humph!" "She has got to go!" Rainbow gestured. "If Mom could see what she's really like, she would be kicked out to the curb!" Fluttershy whimpered, "Oh, I don't know about that. She did ask her to be in charge…" "Then she needs to hear it from some pony she will listen to." Applejack said and then turned towards Twilight as did the other sisters. "What?" AJ rationalized, "Talk to her, Twilight. She'll listen to you." "What?! But how…?" "You're smart. You'll think of something." said Rainbow. "But I'm not sure if talking will be enough. She needs to see Ms. Cinch for what she really is…" Suddenly, her eyes widened and had a smirk on her face, "And I know how we can do that…" The girls leaned in with anticipation to hear her plan. The next morning, the girls were already up and dressed by the time Ms. Cinch came into the room, saying, "Alright, young ladies, time to get… up?" She was surprised to see them all ready to go. "Good morning, Ms. Cinch." they all said and bowed in respect. "Well, um," she cleared her throat and straightened herself up, "Yes, good, I must say. This is great improvement on your part. Well done." She walked out the door with them following. They marched around the entire castle and the grounds without so much as a single disruption from one of the princesses. Ms. Cinch was impressed of how effective her training has been to them. She said to them. "Young ladies, I can't tell how amazed of how much progress you made this week. I'll go the queen herself and show her how effective this is. Follow me." She went on while behind her, the girls winked to each other. Ms. Cinch went to the throne room and saw the queen doing paperwork with the help of her assistant, Raven. She bowed before her and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, Your Highness, but I had to show you how much the princesses have improved." Celestia raised her brow, "Improved?" "Yes, see for yourself. Young ladies, enter!" The girls marched in one-by-one while Celestia gave off a concerned look. Ms. Cinch kept saying, "Young ladies, speak." "Good afternoon, Mother," they all said and bowed. Celestia was at loss for words. Ms. Cinch proudly spoke, "It took some work, but the princesses have finally gave into the training and are their way to become proper princesses. And Princess Twilight, with some more intense training, she'll become the best queen there is, next to Your Majesty. I will happily teach her all she needs to know." She bowed her head, but when she looked up, she could see the queen was wearing a frown. Celestia then spoke, "What have you done to my girls?!" "I… beg your pardon?" "My girls are not some trophies that need polishing! They are all wonderful in their own way! I asked you to take care of them, but instead you treat them wrongly. I am sorry I ever hired you. Please, remove yourself at once before I call the guards." Cinch started sputtering, "Why-why-why I never!" She quickly made for the door and was gone. The girls cheered and they bounced around. Celestia sighed in relief, knowing her girls were still themselves. She told them, "Girls, I am so sorry you had to endure that, but why didn't you just come to me?" Twilight went up to her, "Well… we weren't sure if you would listen…" "Oh, darlings, had one or all of you come to me in the first place, I would have dismissed her on the spot." "Really?" Rainbow's eyes lit up. Celestia laughed and nodded her head, "Yes, for my daughters come first, no matter what…" She had her arms out and the girls rushed into them where they giggled in content. "Still, I'm quite impressed how you made her come to me." Twilight said, "I didn't think she would go to you if we were still going against her, but if we had behaved perfectly…" "Then she would want to show off her achievement. Very clever, my young daughter." The girls giggled again as their mother hugged them. In the present, the daughters were now mothers themselves with their kids gawking at them. "Whoa…" said Whirl Wind. "You seriously had to deal with that governess as kids?" inquired Cotton Candy. The mothers agreed all at once. Gemstone then looked down at the number of marshmallows in her cocoa and ended up dipping one in Dignity's cup. He noticed and said, "What was that for?" "Nothing. I just thought you had less marshmallows than me." Dignity shook his head in amusement and hugged his little sis, who smiled.