The Royal Presents

by Dinkledash

1 - The Summons

"Alright, Spike. Keep looking around the edges and see if you can find any other knobs or protrusions." Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed as she turned the small dial Spike had happened upon and watched as the map brightened and dimmed in response to her twisting the control on the side of the crystalline table surface. "Maybe there's a way to zoom and pan. We could make an incredibly accurate and detailed atlas of Equestria! We could save ponies days of travel time by letting them find the shortest path to their destination!"

"Sure thing, Twilight! Maybe there are some underneath the rim." He ducked under the table in the middle of the central hall of Twilight's castle and looked up, scanning around the circumference. "It would have been nice if the Tree of Harmony had included an instruction sheet."

Twilight grunted her agreement under the dappled light of the stained glass windows of the map room, as she struggled to find exactly the right brightness to let her to view the three-dimensional topology and structures while still retaining enough translucency to see the details that might otherwise be obscured. She noticed movement of some sort on the map and took out a magnifying glass. A building appeared to be under construction on the outskirts of Ponyville, and she'd noticed a roof beam being added to the image. Fascinating... this is being shown in real time! Suddenly, the map flattened out to a more traditional top-down cartographical view. "Spike! What did you do?" There was a click and the 3D view was restored.

"There's a toggle switch down under here, Twilight!" Spike scrambled out from under the table and indicated a spot in front of Applejack's throne.

The princess ran to see and then grasped it with her magic, flicking it up and down, watching the topology rise and fall. "Excellent work, first assistant!"

Spike looked about ready to burst with pride when his cheeks inflated and he belched forth green flame. A scroll appeared in mid-air bearing the solar seal. He caught it with practiced claws and presented it to Twilight as she extracted herself from under the map table.

"Let's see what we have here!" A purple nimbus appeared around the scroll and it opened before Twilight's eyes. She scanned the words and her eyebrows rose. "Spike, we'll have to continue our map room experiment later. We're off to Canterlot! Climb on, I'll brief you on the way!"

Spike hopped onto Twilight's back and wrapped his claws in her mane as she launched herself through an open window. "What's the emergency?"

"Not exactly an emergency, but time is of the essence." Twilight spoke evenly between wingbeats. Her flying had become much stronger lately, and she found she could easily carry Spike at speed while holding a conversation, as long as she wasn't maneuvering. "It's Luna's birthday in a week. Princess Celestia can't think of anything to get her for a present and she wants my advice."

The countryside sped below them, Ponyville rapidly shrinking into the distance as farmponies paused in their labors to look up at their princess and wave. Twilight took a moment to smile and wave back, then set about gaining the altitude she'd need. Spike stopped looking at the agrarian quilt below them and frowned thoughtfully. "But Princess Luna doesn't celebrate her birthday."

"Exactly. This is the first time she's agreed to a birthday celebration since she returned from exile, and she took Celestia by surprise."

"Sounds like a Pinkie Pie problem to me, if you don't mind my saying so." Spike blinked away moisture as they flew through a cloud, and Canterlot was suddenly looming before them.

"Normally, I'd agree, Spike, but Celestia said she only wanted a small celebration. Something tasteful and intimate, not a big bash like Pinkie would want to throw. So we're going to keep this quiet for now, right?"

"Oh yeah sure. You know me, I'm the soul of discretion." Twilight snorted in response and flew on as Mount Canterlot grew in their vision. After a few minutes, she came in for a landing on the south balcony of the Tower of the Sun.

Spike dismounted as Twilight opened the great glass doors and entered the tower's receiving bay. Two golden armored pegasus guards immediately bowed, and Twilight nodded, gesturing for them to rise. "I'll never get used to that," she whispered to Spike, then raised her voice. "Thank you, guardsponies. Is Princess Celestia here?"

"Yes, your highness. Would you like us to announce you?" Twilight smiled and nodded and one of the guards ran to open an inner door. "Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic, here to see her highness!"

Hoofly Hardshoe, the majordomo, approached with his usual punctiliousness and bowed to the exact degree required by protocol for a visiting royal who is a friend of the princess while the princess is temporarily unavailable. "Greetings, your highness. Master Spike. I offer the apologies of all here when I tell you that the princess is in privy council. Does your highness require me to interrupt her meeting?" The gray unicorn's black mustachios were curled to precise points and his white and gold livery was spotless.

Twilight waved him up with some impatience. While Hardshoe's attention to detail was something she could appreciate, for some reason she found his manner annoying. "No, no, it's not that important. We'll be happy to wait he-" She was interrupted by the thump of the great door of the Chamber of the Royal Council as Princess Celestia opened it and walked into the antechamber. The non-royal ponies and Spike all bowed as she entered the room, Hoofly somehow registering disapproval for this breach of protocol as he did so. Twilight just smiled up at her friend and erstwhile mentor.

"Twilight Sparkle, thank you for coming so quickly! Please come into the council chamber." Twilight and Spike followed her into the gorgeously appointed room where the members of the royal council were engaged in several quiet conversations. "Councillors," Celestia spoke warmly but firmly, "I thank you for your time and advice, but Princess Twilight and I have urgent matters to discuss. Spike, please remain with us." The six unicorn stallions and mares rose as one, in response to the trio entering the chamber, bowed to both princesses and made their exit to the antechamber as Twilight, Spike and Celestia sat down around the ancient mahogany conference table. The chancellor of the exchequer closed the door behind her as she left, leaving the three alone.

Celestia cleared her throat. "Twilight, I'm sure you understand that I wouldn't ask you to come out here on short notice over something trivial."

Twilight just smiled. "Princess, I would never think of anything you asked of me as being trivial or beneath me."

"Please, just Celestia. Or 'Tia if we're behind closed doors. Do you mind, Twilie?" The ancient alicorn smiled softly and Spike had to cover his smile as Twilight stared, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I need friends a lot more than I need subjects and servants. I have plenty of those."

Twilight tried to relax, and failed. "Very well... 'Tia." As she spoke, the hypocorism seemed almost blasphemous to her. Maybe I'll get used to this too. In a way, being casual with Princess Celestia makes me more uncomfortable than all that bowing and formality from other ponies does. "I'm your friend and you need a friend's help. So, tell me what you need."

"Thank you. This morning when I was raising the sun and Luna was lowering the moon, she just blurted out that if I wanted to throw a birthday party for her this year, that would be alright with her.” Celestia looked into Twilight’s eyes and her erstwhile pupil nodded as she continued, “And, as you know, her birthday is in seven days.”

She glanced at Spike, perhaps just to make sure he was paying attention as well, then returned her gaze to Twilight. “She didn't sound so enthusiastic about the prospect, more like she was humoring me, so I want to keep it low-key. Just a few close friends and relatives, no big public celebration, at least not this year. She's still rather uncomfortable in large gatherings.” Her voice got quieter as she said, “That comes with being alone for a thousand years, I suppose." Her face darkened and Twilight could only imagine the guilt she felt over her sister’s banishment.

"But, um, 'Tia," - Celestia's face regained its cheer at hearing the diminutive - "you said you need help finding a present for her? Is that really something you think I can help you with?"

Spike cleared his throat. "Princess Celestia, in eighteen years, I've gotten eighteen books for my birthday. Well, my hatchday." Twilight whirled to look at him. "Not that they aren't great presents, mind you! Great for me, anyway. But maybe Luna requires something more, um... personal?" Twilight looked momentarily stricken, then turned her head back to Celestia and nodded with a sad and thoughtful expression on her face.

"It's alright Spike, I know I give the worst presents of anypony." She grinned ruefully as Celestia chuckled and shook her head.

Spike steepled his claws in front of his face. "It's not like you don't try. You put a lot of thought into your presents. They just, well..."

"I have a limited schema for presents."

Spike looked confused while Celestia put her hoof over her face, not for first time wishing he got the joke. "Uh, yeah, whatever that means, I'm sure it's highly accurate."

"So the Princess of Friendship can't help me with my friendship problem?" asked the senior Diarch.

"One of the great things about being the Princess of Friendship is that I have a lot of friends to help me when I can't figure out a problem on my own!" Twilight smiled, then frowned. "Of course, that would mean letting a few more ponies into the circle of trust here."

Celestia chewed her lip. "That would be fine, I suppose. But since this involves a party and we want to keep it small and, ah... well, you'll have to restrain The Pink Menace."

"I know," replied Twilight, smiling.

"I mean, you'll have to physically restrain her."

"We know," replied Twilight and Spike together.

. . .

On the return flight, Twilight looked over her shoulder at Spike. "Spike, I want you to name one of the books I've given you over the years. Any one of them will do."

"Oh sure, that's easy! The Comprehensive Guide to Reasoning Through Syllogistic Logic."

"Really? You like that one?" Twilight beamed.

"Yeah! It's so big and heavy, I can use it to flatten my comic books if they get bent." Twilight's face fell, then Spike winked at her. "Actually, I really do like Draconic Folklore. I've read it three times."

Twilight smiled as she gave him a look. "Well, I'm really glad to hear that. But you don't really use Syllogistic Logic to flatten your comic books, do you?"

Spike smiled sheepishly back. "Well... yeah." Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, not for the first time giving up all hope for her young charge developing any intellectual discipline.

The sun shone down warmly on both of them and a flock of geese honked cheerfully as they winged their way back to Ponyville.

Comments

[Mkchief34]

I like!

[Dinkledash]

6308942 Thank you!

[Ri2]

Twilight, the thing you have to learn…is nobody likes those books. Nobody. Stop giving them away.