If Only I Had Time

by FamousLastWords

Rosecrance

Author's Note:

Oh boy, here we go. Another big story. World-building, OCs, adventure, romance, mystery...

It's gonna be a wild one, guys.

“Ugh...”

Celestia slowly cracked her eyes open. Her room was lit only by a few streaks of moonshine through the window. She rolled her head to the other side of the pillow, making sure to keep her body still snuggled under the covers. She laid there for a few seconds, staring at the distant ceiling. Her eyes ached as she continued to lie there, pondering what evil spirit in the world had been preventing her from getting anything close to a good night’s rest. Three days of almost no sleep was long enough.

Releasing a drawn-out sigh, Celestia slowly pushed the covers off herself. She may as well have been trying to lift a three-hundred-pound dumbbell. She eventually found success and crept out of her bed. She decided to throw caution to the wind and slowly craned her neck to view the clock hanging on the wall. The disturbing placement of the hour hand immediately made her regret that decision.

“Ermm, three in the morning…”

It was too early to justify staying awake but it was too late to get a complete rest if she were to fall asleep again. ‘Twas a genuinely despicable time of night… Maybe she could pass some law to get it removed?

She gave her thoughts a quick shake before she levitated her favorite robe, the extra puffy blue one; and her bunny slippers from the closet to prepare for the long trek downstairs. On a night like this, she wasn’t going to be sleeping again without assistance. It was simply not a happening thing.

She needed her tea.

It indeed was an arduous trek down the stairs. Then again, merely going to her bathroom when she was half-asleep was the equivalent of a foreign affair. Luckily, she was so caught up in her mind that by the time she returned to her senses, she had taken the final step down the jewel-encrusted staircase and was only a few steps away from the royal kitchens.

She trotted down the hall for what was seemingly an unthinkable amount of hoofsteps until she arrived at a pair of giant oak double-doors with a picture of a rather elaborate banquet was engraved into them. She couldn’t help but giggle a bit every time she saw it. She was still of the opinion that all the extra detail in the castle was unnecessary, but it was cute nonetheless.

She pushed them open, revealing the kitchens. There wasn’t much to look at, though. A square room with a long table in the center, various appliances encircling her. The only two things she was interested in, however, were the tea kettle and stove. These were the instruments of her possible redemption.

“Good morning, Princess!”

“Ah!” Celestia jumped in the air.

“Oh, I apologize. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

Celestia’s gaze darted around the kitchens. It wasn’t long until she caught sight of one of the castle maids: a smaller unicorn with light-green fur and a bouncy orange mane that curled over her ears. She was wearing the traditional maid garb of a palace employee, which was a light blue gown with a pink apron.

“I apologize,” Celestia stated, regaining her composure. “You surprised me, that is all. How has your morning been, Miss…?”

“Missy. Missy Angel, ma’am.” She bowed briefly. “I am quite well, ma’am. Thank you.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, Missy.” Celestia felt a little guilty. She rarely associated with the overnight staff at the castle.

“Do, um, do you need anything, Princess?” She questioned, looking at the Celestia with wide, curious eyes. “We don’t usually get to see you in the kitchens at this time. Not, um, not that you don’t have the right to do as you please.”

Celestia shook her head. “No, it's quite alright. I'm just simply wanting to make some tea, is all. Even Princesses need some help with sleeping at times.”

Missy immediately darted across the kitchen and retrieved the tea kettle. “I can make that for you, Your Highness.”

“Oh, please, don’t concern yourself with me,” Celestia stated, waving a hoof. “You may return to what you were doing. I can get the tea.”

The mare set the kettle down. Missy cautiously stepped away from the counter. “Um, yes ma’am. Of course. I’ll go ahead and begin sweeping the main hall. But please, call me if you need anything.”

“Of course.” Celestia chuckled. “I promise not to make a huge mess.”

After a final curt bow, the mare grabbed a broom she had left in the corner then disappeared out the double-doors. Celestia let out another half-hearted sigh and returned to her mission. She filled the tea kettle with water from the faucet and placed it on the stove. What seemed like ages waiting for it to fill, she finally was able to put it on the stove. A quick blast of magic was enough to ignite the burner. She then quickly opened a nearby cabinet and grabbed a packet of her favorite tea.

“Oh, Orange Sunrise, don’t let me down tonight.” She provided the small packet with a hopeful look and placed it in a small cup she had captured.

Now she played the waiting game.

For whatever reason that was unbeknownst to her, she came up with her best ideas for the country when she was half-asleep, or when she was in the shower. The tariff on exporting toiletries? Yeah, that was a midnight idea. The peace treaty for the Great War of the Everfree? One in the morning.

But alas, she cared not tonight. All she was concerned with was enjoying a cup of her tea. She would then be able to get back under her covers with great haste.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the loud squeal of the teapot signaling it was ready. She almost jumped with joy as her eyes met with the stream of steam stemming from its spout. She took no time in pouring the boiling hot water into her cup, followed swiftly by the tea packet.

The sight of the tea herbs mixing in with the water was possibly the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. After a few painstaking moments of letting the tea seep into the water, it was finally time. She wrapped the cup up in her magic, placed it on her lips and…

Crash!

“Oh, for the love of…”

Celestia set the cup down with a whimper. She wasn’t quite sure what the crash was, but she was sure it came from the main hall. The maid must have knocked something over.

Celestia rolled her eyes for a moment. It took no small amount of effort, but she put on her best Princess smile and walked into the hall. She didn’t want to appear as cranky as she was, of course.

She allowed her eyes to venture about the room. It was mostly empty as it should be this time of night. The massive marble pillars supporting the ceiling seemed to be the only objects decorating the bare floor. Of course, that was until she heard a distressed mare.

“I’m so sorry, Princess!” Missy was standing near a bookcase where a few books had fallen from the shelves. “I was trying to sweep behind it, but I knocked a few off. I’ll make sure they’re not damaged.”

“No, it’s quite alright.” Celestia smiled politely. “I’ve done far more damage to this castle in my time here, so worry not. Just put them somewhere on the shelves and nopony will be the wiser.”

Missy’s distraught demeanor shifted to a smile. “Thank you, Princess. I appreciate it.”

Celestia finished off their conversation with a nod then returned to the kitchen. She eyed her tea from across the room as if it were some ridiculously attractive stallion. You can bet they were going back to her place by the end of the night.

She raced as fast as her bunny slippers would take her to the cup. She looked it over once more, got it in the perfect position for drinking...

“What the?” Celestia took another sip to verify what had just happened and sure enough, the tea was cold. Strike that. It was ice cold. The swirling winds of Cantarctica replaced the tea in her cup. “No, it… it just isn’t fair! It’s only been two minutes!”

Celestia pouted at her cup of disappointment. Cold tea. Not just any tea, but tea she desperately needed. She needed to check the air ventilation in the castle when she had the chance.

She continued pouting until she noticed the kettle still sitting on the stove, the sight of which caused her to clap her hooves with glee. There’d be plenty of hot water in there to make up for it! She quickly poured the water into the cup, took a quick test sip and—

“Blegh!” It wasn’t just cold. It tasted like it had been sitting out for days. “You’ve got to be kidding me! First thing in the morning, I’m sending one of the guards to get us new teapots.”

She brought the dishes over to the sink and poured both out, grumbling all the while. The universe wasn’t playing nice today. How tea could get cold so fast, she didn’t know. But, some nights were just like that.

Celestia turned the gears in her mind for a moment. It was honestly possible she just daydreamed the whole thing. Maybe the water was never heated, to begin with. She’d done stranger things in her sleep in the past. She didn’t need to remind anypony of the cereal incident. It was rumored they were still finding oat cereal bits in Appaloosa.

Maybe I should bite the bullet and have her make the tea. Heh, she’d probably bring it to my room for me in everything!

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” she said aloud, determination in her eyes.

She trotted out to the main hall in search of Missy. “Uh, excuse me, Missy! I do need your help after all!” She shifted her eyes around in search of the mare, but all she found was an empty room.

“Huh, she must've finished up already.” Celestia stomped her hoof into the ground. She then dropped her head, her mane now dangling over her eyes.

Thus, began the tealess trek back to her room to try and get a couple of hours of sleep before she had yet another stressful day of being a princess. Celestia didn’t like being so negative. That said, being cheerful enough to put on the customer service face isn’t anypony’s top skill, especially in the middle of the night.

As she slowly shuffled across the polished castle floors to the stairs, she heard a bit of shifting going on behind the kitchen doors. She perked her head up scanning her eyes over them for a moment. She didn’t remember seeing anypony go in or out, but then again, she wasn’t exactly on her game, either.

She shrugged but kept cautiously alert as she gently pushed the doors open.

Tossing her head back and forth, she quickly noticed the culprit behind the shuffling. This mare was causing all kinds of mischief tonight.

“Oh, Missy, I didn’t see you—”

“Ah!” She squeaked, turning her full attention towards the Princess. “Oh, uh, good morning, Princess! I didn’t see you there.”

Celestia cocked her head to the side. “Oh, it’s quite alright. I’m sorry, I went out to the Main Hall to take you up on that tea offer, but I didn’t see you there. I’m glad I found you, though. Do you think you could—”

“Tea?” The mare asked with a raise of her eyebrow. “I’m sorry, did you need me to make you some tea, Princess?”

“Uh, yes, if you could.” Celestia couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but something didn’t seem right. “I tried making some myself, but it didn’t come out very well. The tea kettle should still be in the—”

Missy had already traversed across the kitchen and retrieved the tea kettle… from the cupboard?

“...Sink.” She rapidly shook her head. Things were just weird tonight.

“I'm sorry, what was that, Your Majesty?” Missy filled the kettle with water; her head turned to acknowledge Celestia.

“N-Nothing.” Celestia wandered a bit farther into the kitchen, inspecting things up and down. Everything seemed to be the way she left it, apart from the empty sink. She must have been imagining things. She needed to get more sleep.

“It’s not very often we get to see you this time of night, Princess,” Missy said with a cute smile as she ignited the burner.

“Wait, wait, wait…” Celestia rubbed her forehead. “Didn’t we just… weren’t we just… We just talked about this a couple of minutes ago, didn’t we?”

Missy shook her head. “Um, no, ma’am. I don’t believe so. I just started my shift. I always start with cleaning up the kitchens.”

Celestia felt her heart skip a beat. The situation just went from weird to downright baffling.

“I could’ve sworn we were talking a minute ago. You offered to make me tea, I insisted on doing it myself, then you knocked over some books in the main hall, right?” Celestia's eyes fixated on the now shivering mare.

“I, uh, I’m sorry. But, I promise I just got here to begin working.” She nervously sunk back. “My shift started at two o’clock.”

“But that doesn’t make any… wait a second. Did you say two o’clock?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, ma’am. I work two to eight. I could show you my name on the sign-in sheet. I promise I wasn’t late!”

Celestia immediately scanned the room until her eyes locked on the clock hanging from a nearby wall and sure enough.

“Two o’clock.”

Missy rose up a bit. “Is… Is something the matter, ma’am?”

Celestia’s mouth was held agape for a moment. She shook her head once more and rubbed her forehead. “N-No, dear. It’s okay. Please carry on. You can forget the tea. I need to get some rest.”

“Okay. Sleep well, Princess.”

Celestia turned around and walked through the double-doors, trekking back toward the stairs. She had no idea what just happened. It must be her tired imagination playing tricks on her. That’s the only thing that made any sense.

She was going to forget everything, get some sleep, and let everything get back to the way it was supposed to be.

At least she hoped she’d get back to sleep.

---

“Ermph.”

Celestia’s head ached as she once again forced herself out of bed. Given her poofy mane, baggy eyes, and heinous scowl, it was safe to say she hadn’t gotten much more sleep at all. But, as it was with the universe, it waited for no mare.

She stretched out and released a bellowing yawn before sauntering over to the balcony she had connected to her room. She would typically make a showy display of beauty and elegance with her raising of the sun, but not today.

“Alright moon, get going...” With a swoop of her horn, she shot the sun into the sky, followed quickly by the descent of the moon. She grumbled a bit under her breath as she returned to her room.

She was in no mood for the stresses the day would surely bring her, but she had a job to do, regardless of much as she just wanted to stay in her bed and sleep all day.

She went about her morning routine, washed up, put her crown on, the usual. She looked herself over in the mirror quickly to not prolong her disappointment and opened her door.

As she started to trek down the stairs once again, the memory of the night’s events washed over her. The cold tea, time confusion, the maid she may or may not have had a conversation with; this had been a weird night.

“I need to see a professional about my sleeping habits…” She rubbed a bit of sleep out of her eyes upon reaching the bottom of the stairs. “Hopefully a good breakfast will help take my mind off things.”

As cruel as it was, the universe at least always let her have a peaceful meal in the morning. That was one thing she enjoyed it couldn’t take away from her. What would be on the menu this morning? Maybe there would be pancakes? Toast with jam, perhaps? Or perhaps a beautiful, heaping plate of—

“Sister!”

“Huh… what?” Celestia forcefully took her eyes away from the kitchen doors and noticed Luna galloping towards her at full speed. “What is it, Luna?”

“You must come quick!” Luna’s eyes were wide with panic. She was practically gasping for air. “There is an emergency of some kind that we must address! I need your help!”

Celestia whimpered as she longingly gazed at the kitchen doors one more time. “Alright, sister. What’s the issue?”

“The townsponies!” She yelled. “They’re lined up at the doors to the throne room! I tried to speak to one of them, but they were rambling about strange happenings and making little sense whilst doing it! Please sister, we must hurry!”

Celestia nodded. “Of course.”

The two sisters dashed back to the throne room. Luckily, they had their entrance from the back so that they could avoid the mob outside the door. The guards were doing their best to hold everypony back, but they were quickly losing the battle.

Upon arrival, the two sisters both took their respective seats. There was one very nervous looking guard on the inside of the room, guarding the door.

“Okay,” Celestia said once she composed herself in her seat. “Guard, please, let one of them in.”

The guard gulped and cracked the door open. As he did, the loud sounds of far too many angry ponies echoed through the room. Celestia and Luna both looked at each other for a moment.

“You weren’t joking,” Celestia stated.

“As I told you,” Luna replied.

They both returned to their regal pose as a mid-sized pegasus stallion trotted in. His brown mane was a wreck, and his gray fur didn’t appear to be in much better shape.

Celestia decided to take the plunge once he approached them. “Good morning, sir. What can we assist you with?”

The stallion took a moment to bow respectfully. “Your Highnesses, I’m… I’m not sure what the problem is.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’m sorry?”

The stallion lifted his head back up and took a deep breath. “I mean, there’s a problem, but I don’t know how to explain it.”

It’s going to be one of those days.

Celestia cleared her throat. “I apologize, sir. Perhaps you could tell us what happened. Afterward, we could go from there?”

“Alright then,” he said with a nod. “It happened last night. I’d just gotten home from workin’ down at the train yard, and then something strange happened.”

“How do you mean?” Luna asked.

“Well, I got home, hopped in my chair to relax with a cold beer, but when I took my first sip, it tasted like the beer had been sittin’ out for days!”

Celestia’s heart stopped. “A-Are you sure you the beverage wasn’t expired?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “I checked the dates myself. I figured it was a misprint or somethin’, but then other weird things started happening.”

“Other strange things. Like what?” Celestia felt a lump in her throat when she asked.

“Well,” he began. “I checked my mail for the day, you see. I had bills that were dated and signed for already, but they were from next week! Then, I kid you not, when I went to set my alarm for this mornin’, my clock went off three different times! What’s more, none of them were the time I set ‘em for. That’s when I decided to come down here; I wanted to see if either of you knew anything about it.”

Luna gently rose a hoof. “Perhaps all this is purely a strange coincidence? I have had issues with our mail carriers from time to time.”

“I don’t think so, ma’am,” he replied. “One or two weird things, sure. I’ll chalk that up as having a bad day. But all that stuff combined? There’s something rotten about all this. I swear on my father’s honor that I’m not making this up.”

“Well, it could be—” Luna was cut off by a raised hoof from Celestia.

“Don’t worry, sir. We believe you.” Celestia nodded. “We will be looking into this immediately, I promise.”

“I appreciate that, ma’am.” The pony darted his eyes between both of them. “As I said, I don’t know what’s going on, but something ain’t right about it. I wanted ya’ll to know in case anything else happens.”

The two sisters nodded as the guard led the pony out of the room. Once the pony was gone, the guard approached the throne.

“Shall I escort another one in, ma’am?”

Celestia waived dismissively at him. “No, something tells me they’re all here for the same reason. Please, tell them the matter is known and will be investigated immediately..”

“Aye, Princess.” The guard turned around and exited the room.

Luna shook her head. “What do you make of this, sister? Do you think he was merely intoxicated or something of that nature?”

Celestia violently shook her head. “No, I don’t think that at all. Luna, let’s go to the meeting room, shall we? There is much we need to discuss.”

Comments

[Summer Dancer]

I've never read anything like this before, but now's the time to try something new. I'm intrigued. I'll read the second part when I come back for tomorrow. Nice setup!

[FamousLastWords]

8967164
Thank you! I appreciate it!

[Pyro The Reader]

Ooooh time dilation? Neato!

[Ice Star]

You know when things open up with princess pones that shit's gonna go down.

[YourFellowPony]

New story? Sweet!

[Eonflare]

Uhh, time shenanigans. Always a bother.

[Alex_]

Ooh, intriguing I’m looking forward to reading this.

Also, never trust Missy with anything. She's always knocking over bookshelves and ruining time and stuff.