Spike looked at the wound up ball of nerves that was Diamond Tiara as she stepped into the Royal Court, an expansive gallery lined with stained glass windows, with long red carpet leading to a massive throne made her feel smaller than small at the moment. "Hey, don't worry! Sure, Luna and I don't hang out that much, but she's pretty fun the few times we do get together."
"But what about -" Diamond started before Spike interrupted.
"Don't worry about it. She's cool, it's cool. We're going to have some fun."
"If you say so," Diamond Tiara muttered uncertainly.
"Greetings, Spike! Who is your guest!?" Luna yelled joyously from the Lunar Throne.
"Hi, Luna! This is Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara this is Luna." Spike introduced.
"A pleasure," Luna nodded, "Oh! Doughnuts!" She added, leaping over Spike to pounce upon the treats resting on Diamond Tiara's back.
"So Luna, I'm going to be staying here for a while, and I thought I'd bring a friend, and some treats."
"Yeah... A friend," Diamond mumbled.
Luna looked up from the doughnut she was munching on, and let it join the other sugary confectionaries that orbited her head as she rest a measured gaze at Diamond Tiara, "Do you not think of Spike as a friend?"
"Well... He just became my friend as I was waiting to leave Ponyville," She blushed lightly, "Sure, I'm thankful that you're helping me. It's just... Weird, I guess."
Luna chuckled. "Why is it weird, my little pony?"
"The world doesn't work like that. The only reason a pony helps another is because they want something in return," Suddenly, Diamond remembered to whom she was speaking, "Your Highness."
"Rise, my little pony, who told you that?"
"It's one of the things my mom told me when she was around."
Luna paused at that, seeing the demure filly scuffing the ground with her forehoof. "My condolences."
"What? Oh, no! She's still alive, she just... Y’know... Left," Diamond replied sadly.
"That's also a reason to give condolences. What of your father?"
"H-He hates me. That's why I left, at least until I can become a pony he can be proud of."
"I doubt your father hates you. But while we dine on doughnuts and these delicious cups of hot cocoa, tell me everything,” Luna said, her warm gaze lingering on Diamond, “Everything, and fear not, I will not judge thee."
"No offense, Princess, but I doubt you'd say that when I finish." Diamond replied before telling Luna everything.
Luna hummed and nodded at the appropriate parts of Diamond's story, listening as she recapped what she had been doing for the last five years of her life. All leading up to her father seeing the combined blackmail material of his wife and Diamonds, as well as his reaction. At the end, Diamond Tiara's eyes were shimmering, "I've never seen him so angry. Not even when mom left for a 'higher position'."
"I see," was all Luna said afterwards. Her left forehoof scratched her chin contemplatively.
"I-it was probably a mistake coming here. Thanks for trying to help, Spike, and thank you Luna, but-"
For the second time that night she was interrupted, this time by Luna. "It was not a mistake, my little pony. Spike has shown himself over the years to be an impeccable judge of character. If he saw something in you worth getting to know, then you must have something worth getting to know."
"You really think so?"
"I do. And it's quite lucky that you two met."
"How so, Princess?"
"You aren't the first to come to Canterlot hoping for a better life. But answer me this, how many bits did you bring with you?"
"Um... Six hundred bits."
"And what is your special talent?"
"Special talent?"
"Yes, in job interviews, most jobs are processed in priority by special talent. So what is yours?"
"I don't know," Diamond Tiara answered sadly.
"You don't? How'd you acquire it?"
"My mom and daddy got me my tiara, and they said I was their pretty princess, and that they'd always love me. It was the first time I saw them looking happy together... And I don't know, I just felt happy to be acknowledged, and this thing popped onto my flanks.
But it was a lie. Mom left for some other stallion, and neither of them showed up to my cutecenera, and now daddy hates me. So no, I have no idea what my special talent is or even what my cutie mark means. Sometimes I think it'd be better if I never got one at all."
"Well, every cutie mark is special, and I think I can help," Luna replied matronly.
"But why? You heard the things I've done, why would you want to help me?"
"Because, Diamond Tiara, I know what it's like to make a mistake so big you think it's unforgivable. But I also know that Spike sees something in you worth being a friend over. So if you'd like, I can help you, and together, we can discover what it is that makes you special."
"A-alright, um... What will I be doing, Princess?"
"How would you like to be my gopher, and junior assistant-in-training?"
Spike laughed, "You mean go-for?"
Luna's eyebrows rose, and she gasped. "That makes so much more sense! I was wondering why my sister's advisors called their interns ground burrowing rodents. Yes, go for."
"That'd be... Good? I think I can do that," Diamond replied in confusion.
"So Diamond, most of my staff works during the night, but I have a few who work during the day while I'm up, similar to the few who work for my sister at night. Tomorrow morning, that will be the shift you shall start.
"But tonight, we shall talk. It has been too long since Spike and I have had time to enjoy some time together."
After the Royal Scribe told everypony that Night Court was closing early (yet again), Luna walked with Spike and Diamond Tiara to her chambers. Like her sister’s chambers, Luna's Royal Apartments were comprised of many rooms to fit whatever needs may suit her.
But unlike the whites, golds, and burgandies of Celestia’s chambers, Luna's tile and bricks were a deep grey, her ceiling molded from slabs of obsidian enchanted with mage fires, giving the appearance of a starlit sky regardless of the time of day. The rest of the room was decorated with royal purples, deep blues, and black, from the carpet depicting a stylized night sky, to the dark embroidered couches in her reading room that they passed through to reach her living room.
Which was the other key difference between their rooms. Celestia's apartment opened into her bedroom (something Luna found most bizarre), and had a rather simplistic layout. Which, thankfully for all living things within the city proper, excluded a kitchen. Whereas whomever designed Luna’s rooms made them as compartmentalized as possible, and her kitchen wasn't anywhere near the banned rooms list, unlike her sister's Room of Infinite Cakes, or the gold pool, or any of the other mind boggling rooms of folly that had yet to be safely decommissioned and rebuilt.
Luna shook her head to break from her revery as they turned into her reading room, that also led to her much larger gaming room. Which, incidentally, doubled as a room to test newer forms of entertainment. After getting comfortably cocooned in a rather thick downy blanket that she used when getting comfortable before reading, and Spike and Diamond comfortable on pillow couches, similar to the ones Celestia had dotting her reading room. Luna struck up the conversation.
"So Spike, what brings you to Canterlot?"
"Well... It's kind of a long story," Spike blushed.
"The night is young, my friend, and so are we. Well, young for an alicorn. So we have plenty of time for long stories."
"Alright, so there's this caseworker for Foal Protection Services, and you know about that bit, right?"
"Ah, yes. Raindrops, was it not?"
"Yeah, her. She had some concerns about me and brought them to Twilight's attention. And I thought things were going to finally go right for me, you know?"
Waving her forehoof, waving her forehoof for him to continue, "Well, first me and Rarity had a talk that was a long time coming. She said she didn't know how she felt about me, and she needed time to think.
"I agreed, and honestly, after five years of waiting... If it doesn't happen, at least I know that we'll still be friends, which I guess I'm lucky to have that, at least."
"Spike!" Luna interjected, "That is drivel and you know it. Anypony would be lucky to have such a devoted and loyal gentledrake like yourself as a friend. Not the otherway around."
"Yeah, what she said!" Diamond added with a huff, "I can't think of a single pony who'd go through half the trouble you've gone through for me! And you only just met me, me of all ponies." Diamond Tiara added with a huff.
"Thanks, but that's only one reason why I'm here. The other one was an eye opener. Twilight and I went to Town Hall to officially adopt me. I'm telling you, there was no greater feeling than Twilight actually thinking of me as a son after all these years, and wanting it to be official. It'd be like having two moms," Spike sighed wistfully.
"Two?" Luna and Diamond Tiara asked simultaneously.
"Yeah, Twilight hatched me, and her and Celestia raised me since I was a hatchling," Spike replied.
Luna blushed at that, "Have you ever told Tia?"
"Not really. I mean, I wanted to, but after they laughed at the Mother's Day cards I gave them, I really didn't have the heart to try it again. But stuff happens."
"Well, we'll talk to her about her misunderstanding. If you want my opinion, you'd make an adorable nephew."
Spike's blush was bright enough that he looked like an overgrown chili pepper, "It's not that simple. When we went to the Town Hall, we were told that you can't adopt pets. They had a very detailed reason why dragons aren't civilized enough to be considered one of the races that can be adopted. And if she wanted to adopt a pet, she'd have to go to one of the bigger cities."
Seeing Luna and his new friend speechless, he added, "They're right, you know. It opened my eyes to how many ponies see me. Heck, I have a wall full of diplomas that outright say I'm not equal to ponies."
"And how is that?" Luna inquired with a stormy undercurrent in her voice.
"Two words. Honorary Diploma."
"Honorary Diploma?"
"Yes. I went through the same classes, took the same courses, put in the same hours as anypony else would for a diploma. But I got an honorary one instead. I didn't really think anything of it until today. But you know what an 'honorary diploma' means?"
"I don't," Diamond replied.
"It means that you are considered good in a field, or even contributed to that field, but haven't done the work to have an official diploma in it. It’s basically saying that all that I did makes me good, but not worthy of being a 'professional', or an 'official member' of all the things I got diplomas for."
"Wait, how old are you?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"About as old as you and the Crusaders."
"And how many diplomas do you have?"
"Fifteen. Eight of them were necessary for me to help Twilight in her studies. But seven of them were just for fun."
"For fun? Are you, like, a genius or something?"
"Well, dragons do develop faster mentally than the other races. And technically I've been an adult twice... For a few minutes each time... Dragon aging is weird."
Luna came out of her stupor and commented in a few decibels beneath Royal Canterlot Voice, "We shall help thee, young gentledrake, to correct those grievous wrongs, as well as ask our dear sister why a bunch of plotheads are in charge of her schools."
"I was actually planning on doing that tomorrow. But without damaging anypony's eardrums. Although I need her help with some stuff I'm going through."
"But what’s the fun in that? And what stuff?" Luna blinked in confusion.
"Well, not as fun, but I can't really pull off that, as for the other stuff I really don't want to burden you with it," Spike admitted.
"Well, your aunt,"Luna said regally, before squeaking adorably, "I'm an aunt! And not to a baboon's rear end.
"Ahem! Anyways Spike, your aunt can pull it off quite admirably, and you aren't a burden. You can tell me anything."
"I always wanted an aunt! We can speak to Celestia tomorrow. But I guess I just needed to get away, kind of like Diamond Tiara. And I thought I could come here, and see if I really can find a place here among ponies. Ever since the Dragon Migration, I decided that in my heart, I'm a pony and belong with ponies.
"But how can I have a place with ponies if no matter what I do, I'm seen as a pet? And I guess I was hoping that some of my old friends who still live here in Canterlot could help me see if I really fit, or if it was just a pipe dream like the time I gave them Mother's Day cards." Spike finished dejectedly.
"Worry not, nephew," Luna squee’d, "We shall help you! Then we shall spoil you rotten... In a way that won't end like three birthdays ago... But spoiled you shall be! Now let's do something a bit less gloomy. We, Princess Luna! Doth challenge you two to a game of Obelisks and Ogres. But I shall be the Dungeon Master this time, Spike. Dost thou accept?"
"Verily," Spike replied, a small smile adorning his face at Luna's antics.
And so until Spike and Diamond drifted off to sleep. They played an epic game that ended several character levels in, and a discreet sleep spell cast by Luna. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day.
Luna, when chastising your family, fun is not the first thing you should think of.
5757202 She's probably new to this so give her a break.
Anyway, looks like some balls are rolling and Spike has found two allies in his quest for equality. Celesita probably has an idea what Spike has in mind once she is told about him being in Canterlot. Though I have to wonder how Twilight and Celestia will take everything that will probably happened.
5757202
What 5757281said .
5757281
Celestia and Twilight are going to make quite the tag team. And it will be an interesting ride.
Ogres and Obliques probably should be Oubliettes and Ogres if you're referencing the comics.
Oblique means to be at or move in a slanting angle figuratively or literally. An oubliette is a type of dungeon.
TBH though, Ogres and Oubliettes (even if backwards) sounds better to actually say out loud.
--Spade
You know I wouldn't be surprised if Blueblood decides to say something stupid when he runs into Spike.
5757671
Never read the comics, but I have seen it thrown around as a ponified D&D, but yeah it rolls off the tongue easier reversed . That and it'it's what I've been calling it (forgot the order it was in). Is it good as is iho?
5757864
Well it's usually a surprise when he does something that doesn't make him look like an utter toad. Just wait until the crusaders have the sleepover with Luna (hinted at near the end of Golden Wings). But yeah I am planning on giving him a bit of depth, rather than a 2d antagonist, although there will be plenty of innocent bigotry, and Captain Oblivious moments when he pops up.
I noticed a few typos that I hope you don't mind me pointing out.
LOVING IT!! Also loving your depiction of Luna.
Can we have Mama Bear Momlestia?
You take care of a child, he, she, or it tends to see you as a parent. Laughing about it is kind of inconsiderate. I guess that Celestia has spent the last thousand years hiding under her throne instead of on it.
Oh, and a possible typo: "Luna shook her head to break from her
revelry" - seems likely to be meant to be Revery (being focused inwards) rather than Revelry (a party).One thing that wasn't made clear earlier, did Spike and Twilight actually talk anytime between the Town Hall incident and Spike leaving? Cause if not, I'm surprised that Twilight hasn't come frantically looking for him.
5757990 I admit I've always liked the idea of Blueblood acting the fool just to evade mares trying to get his title.
More importantly will we have Prince Spike?
5758810
What's the fix to those? And I don't mind typos being pointed out.
5759110
Will fix that.
And as for Celestia, a thousand years were her only relationship was her job and planning for her sister's return. It's not that far off she laughed because she thought it was cute, but was out of touch with others enough not to put two and two together. It'll be interesting to see how that plays off.
5759034
We'll see . I can say that Celestia does make one awesome mom.
5759605
He left when she was asleep with a note. But will it didn't occur on screen, they did talk (it'll be mentioned next chapter).
5759890
Best way to deal with gold diggers and social climbers. Act as much of an ass as possible, and turn chivalry on its head.
And no comment on Prince Spike, but let's just say Celestia's going to bring in Cadance to show just how awesome he is *hint, hint *
5760308 The first one should be "I've never seen him so angry,"
The second one should be "But how can I have a place with ponies if no matter what I do, I'm seen as a pet?"
Nice development, good to see Diamond Tiara has landed somewhere. If the story is going to focus on Diamond Tiara, Luna and Spike in Canterlot now, you may want to add some character tags to the story.
Also, I hope Luna will inform Filthy Rich of the location of his daughter, otherwise that's kind of disturbing.
5760326
Fixed.
___________
5760393
Diamond's going to take a back seat for a few chapters coming up, and then will be popping in and out randomly as she starts her work. Luna is going to have a supporting role, as is Celestia and Cadance. Although I don't know yet how much of a focus I want them to have just right yet. And then of course there's going to be Moon Dancer, White Lightning (pegasus friend of Lyra (and Bon-Bon, Sparkler, Minuet, and Dery. Seriously, why is there no fics of this pony?
She has a unicorn father and two unicorn sisters), VinylTavi, and a few others.
5760526 That sounds awesome, I look forward to seeing Momlestia on spike and the other alicorns, but I really think you should add in an Other tag then, and whichever two of the other alicorns you plan to use most.
5760530
Added an other tag, but the three princesses will be equally important.
5760526 Aight.
5760569 Cool, sorry for being such a stickler.
5760654
It's all good .
Spike a pet? That does get a little kinky
Rarity !
Don't stop !
Aunty Luna is best Luna
5763261
Almost as good as Momma Luna, but she does make one epic aunt.
You're right about Luna being best Aunt. In one of my stories I don't publish, because I use it for writing practice, she adopted the main character as a nephew since he travles around doing jobs for Celestia as a merc.
5760308
Oh, I was going on the theory that she'd have seen the behavior of her court, servants, and their offspring. Perhaps running the country is incredibly distracting?
5765720
How many foals do you see in the Canterlot Castle? My thinking is, children are either kept at home, or in a daycare center. But with her doing all the paper work needed to run a country, plus the Day / Night Court, plus making sure that everything was ready for Luna's return some day. Other than a few students from time to time, she would be to busy to look into the day cares, or spend a lot of time with children.
5768080
Well looking at the place... we've got the daughter of a wealthy individual (Filthy Rich) going to a one-room schoolhouse with poor kids (rather than being privately tutored), kids being expected to help out in family businesses, and little to no mention of higher education beyond the royally-sponsored school for gifted unicorns - and judging by their tea party it's not very big. Later on you've got Twilight personally tutoring kids. Sure, they're relatives of friends and she's a very informal princess - but if there were a reasonable supply of professional teachers and tutors getting a bit of help with basics would be a rather obvious idea; she has research to do. Moreover, judging by the various antics of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, it looks like there's an emphasis on apprenticeships and learning-by-doing.
Secondarily, while we don't see a lot of the royal court, it does seem to at least partially emulate classical ones - so I'd expect that anyone posted there long term (such as ambassadors) to bring their kids, to have a fair number of young pages about, and to have noble youngsters learning how to act at court by being towed along by their parents. I'd expect kids helping in the kitchens (and likely helping Celestia acquire more cake), very young orphaned nobles to be fostered with the crown, slightly older nobles to be participating in court when their parents are unavailable, and so on. The whole "Parents work while the kids are stuffed into school" thing is very recent and wildly abnormal by classical standards.
Admittedly it's a minor thing (only a single line really) - but it still seems like Celestia was being rather unkind to laugh at Spike's card. "Kids get attached" is a pretty easy observation.
5768210
Actually if you look at the show. Kids are often ignored, over looked, with a high degree of cultural negligence (Pinkie leaving to Ponyville (although she ended with an apprenticeship), Flutters ran away and moved to Ponyville as a filly and Dash joined her. Nopony batted an eye, Cheese Sandwich ran away, a village of adults don't even question a child on his own, Snips and Snails bringing a grumpy Ursa Minor into Ponyville and no adult was even aware they left.)
That and add onto the fact with all hustle and bustle. And how easy it would to get lost. I doubt any child who isn't old enough to train for duties in the castle wouldn't be under hoof. And most of those jobs are in the background. With all the work Celestia does, being in contact with children isn't something she would have time for. As well as I rather doubt ponies who aren't learning a trade would go about unattended.
That line was actually to show how out of touch Celestia is, and how much raw work she had to do. That something like that was laughed at. Although for her it wasn't meant to be mean laughter, as much as the laugh you give when something a younger entity does that while misplaced is adorable. But Spike didn't see it as such, and Luna’s going to help her see things she's otherwise been oblivious to.
5768334
I suppose that at it's most basic Celestia has fifty or more times my adult life experiences, is more sociable than I am (regrettably that's not hard), and deals with a great many more people on a daily basis then I do. If there's a general social behavior pattern that I've noticed, and she hasn't... then something weird is going on or is very wrong.
Severe distraction (and possible cake overload) could reasonably cover "very wrong" though - as might feeling that she'd turned the job of taking care of the kid over to Twilight and thus dismissing it from her mind.
5771470
Well, attempts at being more social. In the show her only attempts at being social ended up in mass panic (her visiting Twilight, her time with the Cake's, what ever episode that held "Welcome Princess Celest"), or her shaking hooves for hours unable to enjoy the very event she was hosting.
That and ruling an entire nation is different from being a normal citizen (12 - 18 hr work days at a minimum are unavoidable). Heck, look at the first entry on this list (It's a Killing Job). That's just the before and after photos of mere mortals who did normal terms as American Presidents. Say nothng for over a thousand years alone doing work that would make any mortal ruler quail in it's magnitude (as we see from Twilight's vision from Sombra. Celestia deals with mountains of work). Not to mention the fear, awe, and shear distance between her and her subjects (the cliche' "It's always lonlier at the top" became cliche because it's true. Not to mention that she's been doing a job for centuries, that kills prematurely 70% of mortals who only do it for 4 - 12 years.).
But yeah, the next chapter will put things into light. Hopefully.
5776801
Regrettably, that's both a lot more social and more effective at it. Oh well.
5780092
How so? When we see any attempts to mingle with her subjects (beyond a few hours of court when the Nobility try to get her to pass their bills, or settle their problems (aka whining and bickering) go horribly awry. Mass panic, high stress, and setting her on an unreachable pedestal.
So how would she, with her 12 - 18+ work days (plus Night Court, and any night time governmental duties / paperwork). Would have time to (with matters of state), or the chance to (cannon pony treatment of Tia) be around children? Or be social outside of dealing with governmental matters (which is different than the type of social interactions one deals with in more relaxed settings. Not for her not trying. But the Cake's showed perfectly why she can't socialize/connect)?
5780662
Lets see now... for the most obvious example, visited a school (which was apparently not all that abnormal), took on regular contact with a kid, and watched them grow up. Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle are the most recent examples of that, but there's no reason to think that they're unique. Celestia also has regular contact with a large number of people, including the noticably non-bickering guards and staff. She apparently hasn't yet withdrawn to somewhere solitary, dropped the court functions, and banned the nobles from coming anywhere near her either.
Admittedly, regular contact with other people in official and semi-official situations is a rather low standard to meet, but that is both a lot more social and more effective at it.
5800726
Let's see here.
She ignored Sunset Shimmer going the route of Nightmare Moon, and didn't follow SS to retrieve her. Rather she either ignored Sunset Shimmer going evil, or she didn't care. As for Twilight, knowing the importance of friendship being magic, let her become a neurotic, obsessive, shut in, and ignored any personality flaws as long as she did her training. Albeit trained differently than she did with Sunset. (Neither of which was done with any contempt, or malignance on her part. But she was training the Element of Magic to save her sister in less than a decade).
And if Sunset Shimmer (aka the only who turned into a Demon), and Twilight (the pony who mind raped an entire town because she thought her teacher was going to banish her for being tardy) are indications of her as a teacher. Than wow. What a marvelously social teacher she was.
_________
Your next point. And one you are utterly missing.
1) How the Cake's and Ponyville reacted to her showing up for a non-Ceremonial reason (Sumer Sun Celebration, Desert Competition) is how Equestria as a whole reacts to her. That level of freaking out, and mixture of fear, awe, and stress wouldn't be there if she was "Social" as you're thinking it. (Hell Ponyville went insane when she was coming to visit trying to make everything perfect).
2) Social, as a politician is tons different than social as a normal person. A politician (which she is), has a schedual dictated by the needs of office. Sure she visits her school. Especially in the decade leading up to her sisters release. Your point on that is invalid since of course she'd look for a possible Element of Magic. Before that? Not so much a nescessity, other than the once in a generation or less prodigy.
12 - 18 hr work days. 7 Days a week (including government holidays (since just because businesses are closed, well most. Doesn't mean that the paperwork or nation closes.), Both day and night shifts. With a Draconian schedual.
Sure she was social. I never said she wasn't. But there's a difference between "social" as you are thinking of it. And social, where she talks to ponies related to work, for work purposes, or for an agenda that has yet to come about.
That and while socio-pathic sounding. You can talk to others and have 0 emotional investment with them (And why would you when they die in a blink of an eye for you. 60 - 75 years for a human might sound long. But for an individual who's lived for millenia. 3/4th's a century is barely a season.). Not to say she doesn't care about ponies, but rather on a personal basis. You have you have to look at the broader picture.
A) Her subjects reaction to her when she's not acting in an official governmental / oversight capacity shows that she's not social enough that her subjects are comfortable around her. At least not as a pony. Her going to her school, her in court, her in ceremonies. These things are all work (and work schedual) related. Her popping in to see how her subjects are doing on the other hand.
That level of fear, and the dangerous levels of stress they force upon themselves. Show that besides work, she hasn't had time for her subjects to get comfortable with her / social enough for them to know her as a pony rather than a divine object to be appreciated from afar. Canterlot (Where she lives) is slightly different since she's there for most of her time, and ponies see here when ever they feel like it
B) How many times have we not seen Celestia in some official government capacity? Twice, once when visiting Twilight where she pranked the Cakes. And another where she dropped out of the sky to get a friendship report in person. Although the later could be considered an official capacity. Since it was "Government" mandated that Twilight stay in Ponyville for friendship leasons. And Twilight was still doing work for her Studies.
C) Living for a thousand years alone. And yes, you can be surrounded by people and be completely alone. It's a thing. Knowing anyone you get close to will die. In your eyes In a time very soon. With anyone you get close to, you watch die. Eitehr from the horrible pain, dementia, or just body failing them that coems with old age. Or war. Or illness.
How many centuries do you think she'd be able to handle that? How many would you? Knowing your children, children's children's children (etc.) grow old and die off while you watch them suffer. You're significant other would suffer the same fate. While you stay the same. What about friends. How many times can you honestly say you'll be able to get close to others. When in the blink of an eye they'll be dead and burried.
Where for you it was only yesterday they were in diapers. No they're dead and their children are of old age. (And how many parents have you heard say that it seemed like only yesterday their children where born and now they're all grown up. Multiply that feeling by a nation and add on a few centuries). So yeah, feeling alone, issolated from anyone who can understand you (other than other immortals which there are none), and lacking substancial connections (Which when you've lived hundreds to thousands of life times how can anyone connect with you on a meaningful level when you have so much more knowledge, and experience than any mortal can have. (not being perfect. Just being unmeasurably old)). Especially with an immortal sister on the mind who's return you need to plan (as well as the guilty feeling of it being your fault thus need to fix it. How many mortals have that problem to Celestia's level?)
That's what Celestia is dealing with.
5837287
The fighting about it happened off screen, but Spike left before hearing Twilight get truely pissed. My thinking was that as a kid, after hearing from the Secretary why he (being a dragon) is a creature that's a pet, thus not really a civilized creature. Would run out, that's really not something anyone really wants to stand around and hear.
Scootaloo told him he was being silly and befriended him, and Raindrops basically told him that she would have done her job (well one of her civil service responsibilities) if she didn't see him as equal as a pony. But Spike left before Twilight could really sit down and talk to him. We all know how when tons of things are happening that Spike falls through the cracks in canon. It's not an act of cruelty on her part, just things get piled up, she gets wrapped up in a lot of stuff, and well ... she's learning.
As for character building. Well that's going to happen. Hopefully it gets more fulfilling for you in the later chapters (next one is being edited, and mostly addresses Celestia / introducing her). After that, Twilight's going to pop in, we'll be getting the beginning of a real family dynamic over a few chapters, hopefully when that happens it'll be somewhat better.
5757671
Ended up changing it to Obelisks and Ogres [Obelisks not only acting as place markers for places, but can also be a monolithic structure which can act as a building / dungeon in and of itself [so it has numerous uses]].