Wish
Guilty pleasures.
There is a not a single pony alive on this planet that escapes the peril of their own guilty pleasure or vice. For some, perhaps they may have one. But for others, like myself, can have several. Whatever they may be, these vices can draw out the mind and force a terrible realization upon oneself: no one is omniscient, no one infallible. Yet they do offer balance to any lifestyle. Many of our subjects would be devastated to discover I’m not the perfect princess they think I am, a fact I cannot help but chuckle at. Over my long life I have made many mistakes, but I do my best to learn from them, whatever they may be, just as anypony should.
Cake, gryphonic whiskey and the occasional romance novel. Those are my guilty pleasures, and I am ambivalent about them. Many ponies believe as the princess of the day, it would be my sister, Luna, guardian of the night, who would be more susceptible to such things as alcohol and romance. It’s amusing to know that this couldn’t be further from the truth, though she is not without her own. As it is not my place to mention them, however, perhaps it best I return to myself. Cake, gryphonic whiskey and romance novels. They are hardly the best vices to have, but they are hardly the worst.
On cold winter nights, or in the weary hours of the morning, sometimes I might banish the chills from my body with a small beaker of whiskey. It is a fiery drink – the strongest stuff the gryphons make – but I have grown to love it. On nights of grief or failure however, I might forgo the beaker for the bottle. For instance, when the changeling queen cast me down in front of Twilight and her friends, I knew I had failed them. Though I managed to keep an commendable appearance for the wedding, once it was over, I succumbed to the temptation.
On days that I am feeling down, bored or beside myself, I may forsake my work to crack open one of the many books on my bookshelf for an hour or two, much to my secretary’s chagrin. I welcome an escape from this world into one where my decisions bear no consequences, however foalish it might be. It’s a peaceful rest from the rigours of the world, a world which I too often seem to be made the center of. I know I’ll have to make a decision when I emerge from the story, I know I’ll have to right some wrong, but I cannot help myself.
Whiskey and romance novels might be a part of me, but it is my hunger for cake which shapes me… Well, perhaps not quite in that way. Of course I make great efforts to keep the weight off, but instead, that single desire has taught me more about life then I could ever hope to imagine. It is in struggling to overcome ourselves that we learn who we truly are.
It may sound odd to say my life is so influenced by a dessert, but give me a moment to explain myself. In our lives, we remember our fondest memories with one particular sensation. It could be the sound of a robin chirping that reminds us of that spring picnic, or the colour of the walls in a hospital for waiting on the birth of a foal. For so many of my memories, it is cake. Of course, that is not all that reminds me of those occasions; the chance to eat the delicious confection is somewhat of a anomaly for me. You’d think as a princess I could eat whatever I wanted, but too many of my friends thought it unfitting of my position to be eating simple cake. With that, everytime I do get cake, it makes the moment all the more memorable.
It might be thought that cake would most often come from the royal kitchens, or some world-renowned bakery. Actually, most of the cake I get to eat is snuck in by the guards. For many, the Royal Guards are all that their name suggests and nothing more: guards. Truth is, they are the ones who take the time to put up with my antics. Most of them understand what I go through day after day and seek to ease the burden any way they can.
It was many years ago that I caught a cold. I had been sleeping little with the paperwork which had to be done. But my clerical duties prevented me from taking even a day off to rest. Most of the nobles and general public did not notice it, but those closest to me did. The next day, Blue Heart, a sergeant in the guard, knocked on my door as I sat working. I bade him to enter, and he approached me carrying a small box. He presented me with the box, thanked me for my everything I put myself through, then left. Oh, how sweet that stallion was. Inside that box was a homemade chocolate cake, decorated with vanilla frosting and a few blueberries sprinkled on top. Best of all, I had the entire thing to myself, though I did call him back to share a piece with me. It was late into the night before he departed, and it had been an ever so pleasant evening. Through events like those, I have learned to treasure the gifts of others, and value the simple time with friends, however unconventional those times may be.
Speaking of friends, of Twilight and her friends, there is perhaps one who loves cake more than me. Though I believe it would be more accurate to say Pinkie’s guilty pleasure (and diet) is sweets rather than cake. At the end of a dessert competition, there stood the prize winning cake: a glorious masterpiece. I can scarcely remember how to pronounce its name, but it looked no less delicious for it. Twilight cut me one piece, a single piece, Pinkie Pie devoured the rest of it in a single bite. It was quite an incredible feat. One time I managed to replicate it, though not without my sister catching me in the act (who still reminds me of it to this day). I could have stopped Pinkie, but I didn’t. It was likely one of the best cakes I had ever seen or tasted, but I was fated only to have a single piece. Still, it only took one glance at her as she lay there in a sugar induced bliss, to realize she had been waiting even longer than I for that chance. I allowed myself a single sigh before joining her friends in laughter. The happiness you share is always worth what you give up.
Sadly, just because it is something you love, does not mean you will always enjoy it. To this day, there is a reason I will never again eat carrot cake. The taste is fine, but the memories which accompany it are not. The first time I prevailed over Nightmare Moon, it cost me a sister for one thousand years, a duration which seemed barely shorter than an eternity. Yet my subjects threw a celebration for me in my victory. The centerpiece of the entire celebration was a twelve layer carrot cake. When they passed me a piece, they did so eagerly awaiting my judgement. Carrot cake may be something I swore off, but my sister always had adored it. Every year since she was old enough to request it, she would ask for a carrot cake for her birthday. As I stood there and placed her favourite dessert in my mouth, it tasted like ash.
It was in that moment that the weight of my actions finally struck me. I had lost my sister: my only family. I swallowed the cake, shakily smiled at the ponies crowded around me and told them it was divine. Then, I excused myself and hurried towards my room. I hadn’t even made it ten steps before tears were streaming down my face and my breath came out in ragged sobs. I cried till I didn’t have any tears left to shed, and then I cried some more. Were it not for my friends back then (and the whiskey which one of them introduced me to), I may have never been lifted from my depression. Carrot cake still is to me a symbol of my failure.
But just as cake reminds me of the lowest points of my life, it also reminds me of the highest. Cake has always been the celebratory dish of choice. Treaties and agreements brokered between ponies or other races often times were followed by a mutual party or ball. Victories against tyranny in particular were always followed by unforgettable parties. I can remember the taste of each and every cake, and they were all delectable. When the Crystal Empire was re-established and the Crystal Heart returned, they threw a simply massive banquet. Not to be outdone, the kitchens here at the castle prepared a banquet celebrating the return of our close ally. Crystal berries were baked into the cake, and oh was it ever good. Reuniting with old friends is always something worth celebrating.
There are many more memories like this, all highlighted by various types of cake. I’m not implying that cake is what made the memory, but rather, each memory is touched by that dessert to make it all the more noticeable. The years have been kind to me, and I thank the four winds that it has been so. Life is nothing without memories like these, as living only in the moment and inconsiderate of the past would have gotten me nowhere. Let me recount my most recent memory, one which began this morning.
The half a dozen ponies whose responsibility is my health, remind me repeatedly that I have to take better care of myself. It’s become their mantra. Anything from my sleep to my diet I may neglect. But it doesn’t just stop at my health. I have forgotten more of my birthdays than I have remembered, and today had been one of those days. When I awoke this morning, I did so to with no fanfare, groggily raising the sun and stumbling to a shower. A confession: I am not a morning pony. Were it not for my duty of raising the sun, the castle staff would be vainly trying to wake me at noon; I am a very deep sleeper.
I had finished my morning ablutions before I noticed something amiss. Normally, somepony would have come in to go over the day’s schedule. Oddly enough, nopony had. Still, it had happened before, be it for some reason or another: usually a holiday. When I had stepped into the throne room, what awaited me caught me completely by surprise. Over the night a party had been set up for me: my birthday party. How long had it been since I’ve had one? I cannot remember.
So now I sit surrounded by all my friends singing me happy birthday as I sit at the head of a beautiful cake, blazing with many candles. I do not want to even consider how much effort went into it as I examine the enormous dainty. When the song ends, I take a breath, and try to blow out the many candles. Scarcely twenty of them go out. I laugh, and use my magic to extinguish the rest.
I slice into the spectacular cake. A great cheer goes up as the knife slides through clearly, then I begin to pass out pieces. My sister goes to help, but I shoo her away. I want to do this on my own. Once everypony has a piece, I glance down at my own plate, looking at the piece laying on it. There is nothing fancy about it or anything unique. It was a square piece of marble cake with a smooth layer of vanilla icing on top. When I go for a bite, I hear a little filly ask what I wished for when I blew out the candles. Somepony else tells her that it won’t come true if I tell them. I keep quiet, but my wish was the same it has been every year. I look up, setting down my fork to look at the room before me.
I see Twilight Sparkle speaking with her brother, Cadence and Rarity, telling a story which causes them to break into laughter. I see Applejack and Rainbow Dash hoof-wrestling before a crowd of spectators and Fluttershy acting as judge. I wonder if she can see Private Summers behind her trying to build up the courage to speak to her. I see Pinkie Pie doing… well, whatever it is that Pinkie Pie does, assisted by my somewhat unwilling sister. All I know is they are surrounded by members of the kitchen staff who are barely able to stand from laughing so hard.
I see Tangled Web leaning lovingly against Brilliant Shore. I anticipate the news that one of them has proposed to the other. I see my secretary speaking to Willow Ways about me. I can tell by the way they look over when they think I’m not looking. I see the servants, the Royal Guard and many nobles. I see ponies I barely know, ponies I know everything about and ponies of all statures and sizes. But most of all, everywhere I look, I see everypony I love.
My wish?
Let them love and mourn, weep and celebrate, argue and work together. Let them live their lives to the fullest, revelling in their victories, while learning from their mistakes. But most of all, let them live with friendship in their hearts, knowing it will never fade nor die.
And let them eat cake.
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I loved that ending!! And you did a VERY good job of playing Celestias character!
By HRH Princess Celestia, this is beautiful.
It's really spoken to me about life's simple pleasures and how great is not always good.
With your permission, I'd like to feature this fic on my blog. I'm responsible for Fiction Illumination on the Las Pegasus Tribune fan page. If you'd like, send me a pm regarding it. I delight in spotlighting lesser known / newer authors and I feel this fic truly deserves as much exposure as possible.
3216284
Thank you. Funnily enough, the ending was one of the first things I thought of when coming up with idea.
3216522
In some ways I am considering doing a bit of a second chapter, though I have still not settled on what I should write. As much as it might be fun to do more of the characters, I don't think it would have the same effect or impact (save one or two). I'd be more inclined to write a similar style of story, relating to a different aspect of their characters than another one in the same manner.
3218240
Certainly.
That's a lot of insight and story for cake.
MUST BE ALL LIES! Also, can we revolt now?
Nifty fic; it's the ending paragraph that makes it shine.
ObSpellcheck:
- Paragraph four, about romance novels - "I welcome an escape from this work into one where...". Did you mean "..an escape from this world"?
- Early paragraph about memory-associations - "the chance to eat the delicious confection is somewhat of a (missing word) for me".
- The later paragraph about her medical staff - "It’s become their manta.". You probably meant "mantra", unless they have a pet ray.
My only other quibble is that I'm told that drinking while depressed is a Very Bad Idea, but as I don't drink, I can't give first-hand commentary on that.
I'll second the request for a "Luna's Guilty Pleasures" follow-up, too!
3220180
Thanks for pointing them out.
Hmm, very surprised this fic didn't receive more attention.
As well as having a great premise and being very well written it seems like the sort of thing fimfic would eat up...like cake.
Strange.
Very well done! Reading this story was just as pleasant as indulging in one's own harmless yet guilty pleasures! And many congratulations on being featured on Equestria Daily!
I was JUST having an argument earlier about how Marie Antoinette never actually said those infamous words. And also about why that wasn't actually a bad thing to say.
EQD sent me here...
I am an absolute sucker for slice-of-life stories featuring Celestia. My favourite genre.
I really love how you linked the major events in Celestia's life with the cakes...
I am going to direct all my brony friends to this fic.
It deserves it.
I can totally see carrot cake as being Luna's favorite, but I have no idea why.
Also, I love how the final paragraph ties it all together. This was a great story. 
3316886
Thank you!
3316961
I'm a bit of fan of history myself. I know she didn't say those words, but when I first thought up the story, I couldn't resist. Turning something which has been seen as negative to something positive, just seemed so fitting.
3316972
Thank you. In truth, part of the idea came from a trip I was on just before the time I wrote this. The thing I remember most, and through it everything else, was the taste of the fish I caught. But I don't think writing about fish would have turned out quite the same way.
3317038
I don't know why I chose it either. It just seems right. Perhaps she needs her vitamin A since she is the Princess of the Night.
Congratulations on your Equestria Daily appearance!
That was really nice.
Carrot cake? At least it wasn't red velvet, that would have been a real tragedy.
wow.
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I walked into this story, but I gotta say: Fan-fucking-tastic.
A story well worth reading. It was concise, and didn't ramble. 9/10 would read again.
I really do like perspective-based slice of life stories. Is it bad that I was thinking of this while reading it?
First LPT, then EQD, next, the feature box... then, THE WORLD!
That story was delicious
I found a few crumbs, if you want to remove them :
Something sounds wrong with that sentence (past or present ? When or before ? not both...
)
usually
surrounded by ? (or just sit with...)
I would expect a knife to slice, even if it can slide too...
You're missing a verb here.
wrestling ?
revelling ?
That's all I saw. Now I'm hungry... Maybe I'll get some cake at lunch
Beautiful
Never has the slice of life tag been so ironically appropriate. Good work on this, absolutely stunning.
Short but very sweet...in more ways than one. Great work! Have some mustaches.
I really enjoyed this.
3216522 Spike's guilty pleasure is Rarity.
One of these things is unlike the other...
Now the mental image is forever burned to my head (imagine the ending of MMMMystery on Friendship Express but with Celestia instead of Pinkie).
This...
I graduated from a vocational high school, majored in Computer and Network Engineering. We were learning about IP subnetting. The class was very hot, a wound in my head (one I got from an accident) kept throbbing and I just can't focus. At one point I couldn't withstand the heat and my wound any ;onger, so I just lashed out screaming. The next thing I knew I just threw a book at the classmate sitting beside me, right at the face. To this day, everytime I do IP subnetting, I'll remember how I just hurt someone innocent for no good reason, and then my stomach will feel weird.
I think this story has the most likes without any dislikes I've ever seen. Excellent story, very beautifully written. The part about carrot cake got me a little, it was very well written, and such a little thing really stuck out to me. Wonderful story, congrats on EQD. It was well deserved.
3325685
It's certainly well up there in the ratings department. My personal record is The Science of Magic (about Lyra gaining the power of chaos) which didn't get a dislike until 289 likes.
Nevertheless, this is one of the greatest slice of cake (I mean life) stories on the site. I rank it right up there with Battle of Book Fort and Sunny Skies All Day Long.
3322997 One of these things is unlike the other...
It's the gryphonic whiskey isn't it?
3330689
The only one with an 'M' rating.
this was great stuff. i could really feel the emotions as i read. in many ways, celestias life is a pretty awful one - outliving everypony, over and over again, always being treated as a symbol rather than a person (however necessary that mite be). terrific story, great characterization.
No dislikes?
Let's keep it that way.
I loved the story.
BigAsh has struck again!
This is such a nice, sincere reflective piece by Celestia, and it's so beautifully tied together at the end, giving it a sense of completeness which I liked very much.
Finally got around to reading this, good stuff
Spotted one tiny mistake: "It was a square piece of marble cake" should be present tense.
Other than that, this story is one of the few which I can declare "flawless". There is nothing about this tale I didn't like. It's so beautiful in its simplicity, in its presentation of a tiny, inconsequential, but oh-so-telling moment in Celestia's life. I adore its presentation of Celestia as precisely what I believe her to be: a flawed but mature pony with a huge responsibility on her shoulders, and a profound desire to see her subjects happy. This is possibly the best Celestia I have ever seen. Absolutely wonderful.
Now that was just beautiful. Kudos, and have another up vote.
This was great; just really great. I love a fluffy-yet-believable feel-good fic once in a while, and this hit the spot.
–Pinkie Pie devoured the rest of it in a single bite. It was quite an incredible feat. One time I managed to replicate it, though not without my sister catching me in the act (who still reminds me of it to this day).
That... sounds amazing. I cannot put into words how much I would love to see that.
–I hadn’t even made it ten steps before tears were streaming down my face and my breath came out in ragged sobs. I cried till I didn’t have any tears left to shed, and then I cried some more. Were it not for my friends back then (and the whiskey which one of them introduced me to), I may have never been lifted from my depression.
This serious, if brief, side of the story was quite nicely timed – it brought a more, well, serious moment of thought and remembrance to the fic, sort of compensating for all the purely happy sentiments in a way. Also, I like how you tied in the whisky; that was perfect.
–A confession: I am not a morning pony. Were it not for my duty of raising the sun, the castle staff would be vainly trying to wake me at noon; I am a very deep sleeper.
I love how you wrote Princess Celestia. We can see that, at heart, she is like any other pony, just with a rather large burden of ruling placed on her shoulders.
What I love about this story is that is isn't just some feel-good, fluffy cakefic: The cheery vibes are mixed seamlessly with very wise messages, making the story run deeper than I expected it to when I first saw it on EQD. The way that we come to love this material things not simply for the immediate gratification they bring – such as the deliciousness of cake – but also the memories associated with them, is something to be appreciated, for sure. This story serves as a great change of pace from any and all more serious fics, but you pull it off intelligently and without coming across as cliche, and with some good messages scattered around here and there. You had me smiling in all the right places, and left me feeling uplifted and content. Very, very nicely done.
3317444
You were a great help with the editing.
3317491
Carrot cake just seemed to fit.
3317794
That's good to hear. I was actually a little worried about that part not carrying enough meaning and the meaning being the face value only.
3318233
Thank you for pointing them out. Speaking of cake, I actually had a slice of chocolate cake (made with chocolate pudding to make it fudgier) and vanilla icing on the day I wrote this.
3317953
That made me chuckle.
3318812
Considering doing a bit of a pie one when I get to Applejack.
3322997
Glad to see you could relate to the story.
3325685
Thank you for your praise.
3335998
Thank you for taking the time to make this.
3346244
I'm glad you liked the story so much. Getting Celestia's character right was the hardest part, and I'm glad to see it paid off.
3352195
Thank you for taking the time to write such a lengthy comment. Personally, I feel there are too many slice of life stories that dive headfirst into cliches. I'm happy to see my story avoided the traps from the response it has been receiving.
How this never made the feature box, when so many others with far less views, upvotes and more downvotes did, is a mystery I will never know the answer to.
Beautiful.
tinyurl.com/mbho6go
Guess I should join the horde of likes. What a great twist on a historic phrase. It was really insightful, and built a very compelling reason for her love of cake.
The best thing is just how you set up cake as a framing device for her life, highlighting and marking particularly important moments. I wonder how her relationship with whiskey and trashy romance novels relates to that.
This story has been added to the Good Grammar Directory. Congratulations!
I want to know who the one dislike is...
Anyway, enjoyable short story. +1
God, what a beautiful little story, and such a wonderful idea and perspective. An instant favourite, no question.
3322997 Don't feel bad, I sometimes want to do that even without the head wound.
But seriously subnetting is an awful dark magic and is the cause of more networking frustrations than I care to admit.
How amusing amusing that I found this one through it's sequel...
~Skeeter The Lurker
My eyes teared.
*favz*