Behind a Sunny Face

by Tayman

Prologue

"Celestia, your carriage is ready for the parade." A silver-maned unicorn mare trotted into the study where the Princess was currently standing at her desk, a quill glowing and scratching away at some parchment. She had an intense look of concentration upon her face, which melted into a smile upon hearing her name.

"Ah, thank you for letting me know, Silver." She capped the ink and set her quill down, lifting up the scroll and sending it away with a quick burst of light from her horn. "I've been holed up writing letters all day. I need to get out and enjoy the sunshine." She turned to beam down at her assistant. It was the first day of spring, and a parade was planned to celebrate the warm, sunny weather, as well as to honor Celestia and the students of the University for magic they used to progress the season. "You know, Silver, no one has called me just by name in a long time. It is quite refreshing to hear. Lightens up the mood.

"Oh! That was just a slip up on my part. But I'm glad you're okay with it!" she exclaimed, bowing her head slightly. "But...Celestia? My name isn't Silver. It's April."

The Princess gasped, a deep blush spreading across her face.

"Celestia? Is something wrong?" April asked, taking an uneasy step backwards."

She snapped back to reality, jerking her head to smile back down at April. "Ah, it's nothing. I'm so sorry. You just reminded me of somepony else for a moment. Tell the guards I will be out shortly."

"Of course, right away." April bowed her head once more, before trotting out the door, which Celestia closed behind her. She turned and stared directly into the crackling fireplace.

Such a lovely day...shame it has to be ruined by an errant memory. Celestia sighed. How long has it been since you passed? 1800 years? She cringed at the thought, dropping to the ground and closing her eyes.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Dazzle, will you-"

"...honey toast-"

"Then, I hereby-"

"STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO-"

"You'll do well-"

"Where did the time go?"

"AS THE SUPREME RULER OF EQUESTRIA-"

"It's that time again..."

"I'M SO SORRY!"

Celestia opened her eyes and stood up with a jerk, grabbing a book off her desk and desperately starting to read, focusing on every word, every idea in an attempt to stop the flood of thoughts pouring into her mind. "March 15th. The Canterlot historical society requested that a portion of city funds be used for the restoration of the Museum of Natural History." A sigh of relief escaped the alicorn, feeling her mind begin to clear up as the stream of fragmented thoughts and memories came to a stop. Yet, they still bubbled up under her consciousness, a distant, worrying feeling.

Get ahold of yourself. You have a parade to attend. You mustn't keep your subjects waiting. She took a deep breath and strolled out of the study. As she walked down the corridor towards her throne room, she looked out the windows and saw hundreds of ponies lining the street below. She could hear their muffled cheers, and a small smile graced her face once again. Soon, the corridor opened into a massive throne room that seemed to stretch towards the very sky.

"Good afternoon, Princess." A royal pegasi guard bowed. "Thank you so much for your role in wrapping up winter."

"You're very welcome, White Wing. It's the least I can do for this lovely city. Winter is nice, but it gets tiring after a while." She nodded. "In the mean time, I am ready to don my carriage." Celestia began walking down the plush, cherry colored carpet, magically opening the huge double doors, blinding sunlight bursting in, the full roar of the crowd blaring in her ears. With a small smile, she leaped into the air, wings extending and beating as she slowly descended down to the street, stepping into a gold coated chariot that was pulled by two royal guards. Hundreds of faces stretched out in front of her, a mosaic of color that lined the streets. But she didn't see their faces: she saw faces of old friends: students, guards, teachers, farmers that she had known throughout the years. She couldn't recall how long ago she had known these ponies; she only knew they were gone now.

The carriage wheeled on past dozens of beaming, cheering faces, her own smile becoming harder and harder to sustain as it slowly faded from her eyes. None of the ponies noticed. And although she bowed her head down to her subjects at the carriage progressed, she didn't truly see them. Well, if this makes them happy...that's all that matters. Her subjects only saw a shining face and wide smile. But in her mind, she was preparing a letter:

My faithful student Twilight Sparkle:

Comments

[Meeester]

i believe its difficult to properly write for a character struggling this much. you do it very well with celestia here. excellent work!

[friday13]

...why is everything out of order...it's very hard to keep it all straight.

[Tayman]

387017

I've gone back to fill in some gaps after the fact, such as Twilight's reaction after chapter 2, and I thought the story needed a better hook, so I wrote a prologue. Is there any way to reorder the chapters?

[Imakidbanme]

This was good

[friday13]

387022

That explains it...but really, I have no idea if that's possible. It should be; I've seen others with everything all out of place.