Turn and face the strain.

Dear Princess Celestia;

I know it’s only been a week since you and your sister moved to Silver Shoals and you probably don’t want to be pestered, but a few strange things are happening to me.

First of all, I haven’t slept for a single minute in the past five days. By rights, I should be dead or hospitalized from sheer exhaustion. At first I thought it was just first-week-on-the-job jitters, but not even frazzled nerves could keep me up this long. Closing my eyes and counting sheep just makes me bored.

Second of all, my neck and legs are beginning to get a bit longer. Not by much, only about an inch. When I went out for a fly, I found myself catching the wind faster than I ever had. When I passed over a quiet lake, I looked down and realized that my wings had increased in size as well.

Is there something you forgot to mention to me?

Your student and eternal friend,

Twilight Sparkle

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Dear Twilight;

Don’t worry about bothering us. In the first few days of our arrival at our retirement home, ponies were asking us if we were hiding out from an impending disaster. I guess some citizens never read the news papers to catch up with current events.

As for what’s happening to you? Well, I was hoping (perhaps too optimistically) that you would somehow dodge the transformations that I and my sister had to endure when we first took our thrones.

What made me hope that? Well, you only grew a few inches after you got your wings, after all. I thought perhaps nothing else would change after you reached ruler status, but I’ve seem to have been proven wrong.

The sleep deprivation is also something I was hoping you could somehow dodge, since you never encountered sleep problems before. I have a theory as to why you can’t even nap, but I’ll have to consult Starswirl about this.

If you keep getting bigger after you get this letter, let me know. Just stay calm and carry on with your duties.

Your friend for eternity;

Celestia.

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Dear Celestia;

In the past three days, my neck has grown two inches and so have my legs! Sleep has become a distant memory to me. I’m not even tired, but I eat a lot more often. I can see why you have a cake-craving. I guess stretching out like a giraffe works up a sugar craving appetite. Ha ha.

Making the sun and moon rise on time is a snap, though. That’s about the only upside of not being able to snooze, apart from having all day and night to finish paperwork. Since I don’t even lie down on my bed anymore, I gave it to Spike. That poor dragon tried to keep up with my twenty-four hour schedule and he slept for twelve hours.

One big problem I have is that I have to keep taking pain medications due to my body growth. My joints and tendons hurt from the gained weight they now have to support. My neck sometimes feels like a nail is slowly pressing into it. I can’t sleep away the pain. That fact alone makes the days feel like years.

Do you have any answers?

Your friend for life;

Twilight

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Dear Twilight;

Starswirl has a theory as to what’s happening to you. Your body is growing in order to accommodate your new abilities that your new crown gave you. Merging Luna’s crown and mine created an object of power that could rival Grogar’s bewitching bell for sheer effectiveness. You never saw anypony but us handle our crowns, you know. Otherwise, we would have ponies turning into giant insane creatures that would make Pinkie’s temporary state of chaos godhood look like a runaway parade float.

Magic, he explained, is simply primal energy, a potential building block of reality. Think Discord’s ability to create living beings, but with more practical results. A larger body can safely house the immense amount of magic you now possess. Imagine your younger body being akin to an alarm clock battery. Your current body is now bearing a semblance to a city’s power plant.

Your subjects are getting used to your new looks, I hope. I suppose you’ll have to have Rarity built you a whole new wardrobe. (snicker)

As for your insomnia? I hate to say this, but I suspect that’s permanent. Even if you recruited Cadence to raise the moon, it wouldn’t change your body chemistry enough for you to sleep again.

So how did I raise the sun and the moon for a thousand years? With a strict regimen of carefully timed power naps and guards armed with alarm clocks. The first few months of that routine were the roughest to deal with. One can get used to any kind of daily regiment if they stick with it long enough, however. Just ask any athlete.

Please let me know how you’re dealing with any further changes your body will be making.

Your eternal friend;

Celestia

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Dear Celestia (and Luna, too! I miss you both!)

In the past week, my proportions have now reached a ninety percent semblance to your body. Even my blanket-sized mane is waving constantly even when there’s no wind. (I’m still not used to that.) Since my ears have enlarged, I’ve been hearing one or two guards refer to me as “Princess Pallet Swap”. (grumph)

Snide commentary aside, I’ve noticed that ponies who used to simply smile and wave at me are now bowing as if I was someone else. Some of the staff are on eggshells around me, as if I was going to start Twilighting and blasting the castle away if anypony says the wrong thing around me.

I figure the best way to assuage their fears is to keep acting my age and not my horseshoe size, I guess. They’ll calm down eventually. If I can handle not being able to sleep and having my body stretch out like the main attraction at a taffy pull, then anypony can.

At least I’m able to lay off the pain medication. I no longer feel like I’m a thousand years old. (No offense!)

Talk to you later. Your pal;

Twilight

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Celestia, I have a problem.

Something happened today that’s making me scratching my head. I thought that after two months of parading around in my new body and letting everycreature I talk to know that I’m the same Twilight Sparkle that they’ve always known, that I wouldn’t have any more public relations issues.

After lunch, I had my regular throne room meet-and-greets with those who needed to speak with me personally. Most of the time, I don’t have any issues. Today however, there was an elderly blue earth pony that started acting strange the minute he laid eyes on me.

Since our meeting started out on the wrong hoof, I smiled pleasantly and asked, “Is there something I can help you with?”

He kept glowering at me as if I just disowned him. Then he stomped on one hoof and demanded, “Who are you? Where are my beloved Princesses?”

Spike stepped up and said, “You must be new in town . . . what’s your name?”

“It’s Cold Snap. And I’m not talking to you.” He walked closer. My sensitive ears could hear his teeth grinding. “What have you done to Celestia and Luna?”

Trying desperately to cool this pony down, I bowed my head and said, “They retired of their own free will, sir. I’m Twilight Sparkle. Celestia chose me to rule Equestria and Luna agreed. “

“Liar!” he hollered.

When the guards charged into the throne room, I held them off with a wave. “Sir, I’m assuming that you haven’t been in Equestria for awhile. I can assure you that everypony around me will attest that I’m the Princess of Friendship.”

His heavy breathing slowed a little. “Not that it’s any of YOUR business, but I’ve been away for a decade.”

Spike asked, “Why come back after so long?”

“I wasn’t talking to you, dragon,” the last word dripping acid. “A landslide destroyed my house. Since my employers can’t get me another home, I wanted to ask the ones I love if they could help me.”

I brightened up. I had a chance to help him! “I can get you the home you need, Cold Snap.”

He growled and said, “I don’t want your help, kid! I want my beloved Celestia to help me!”

Spike whispered, “Beloved?”

Recalling my calming techniques, I pressed on. “That’s not possible, sir.”

His lower lip quivered as Cold Snap paced back and forth in front of me. “Why in Tartarus not? It seems like a lot of crap I thought would never happen just popped up! Ponyville used to having no one but ponies living in it. I had to dodge dragons and griffons just to get here! Who let those creatures get this close to us?”

“Sir, I just . . .”

“Can’t you at least get Luna to help me?”

My assistant held up his hands to Cold Snap, trying to calm him. “We told you, they both retired, sir. You’ll just have to . . . “

Stamping a hoof, the pony cried out, “None of this is supposed to happen! Why can’t anything ever be simple?”

Then he stared at me, shivering. At first I thought he was angry at me, but that’s not what I saw in his eyes. It was fear. Primal animal terror.

Before I or Spike could say anything else, Cold Snap turned and stormed away from us. Before he ducked through the doors, the pony looked back and fumed, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever, but I don’t know what you are!”

This pony seems to know you. Does his name ring any bells? Why was he talking about a thing of beauty?

Why was he so scared of me?

Your bewildered princess;

Twilight

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Dear Twilight;

I’m sorry you had to go through that. My sister and I know who Cold Snap is. For years we would see him in the front row seats waiting for us to raise the sun and moon. He would bow to us in the streets, even when I told him he didn’t need to. Sometimes he’d even cry tears of blissful joy when we were nearby. Both my sister and I have seen plenty of devoted fans over the centuries, but Cold Snap seemed especially emotional.

Ten years ago, he had to leave Ponyville to work for a mining company. This pony sent us both letters swearing that as soon as he could, he’d return to Canterlot.

It seems our new neighbors aren’t the only ponies who don’t read the papers, either. If Cold Snap had, things might have been more pleasant between you two.

You handled your physical changes and your new status with courage and patience. These qualities are what Cold Snap sadly seems to lack. As for what he meant by “a thing of beauty is a joy forever”? I have a theory about that.

He’s misinterpreted that saying to mean that just because he loves something, that it will last forever. We both know how foolish that notion is.

He wasn’t frightened of you, but of what you represent. The end of what he once found comfort in, but is now only in the past.

Cold Snap will hopefully find the moral courage to realize that nothing stays the same, not even for immortals such as us. Just give him time. Hopefully he’ll find his way again.

Your proud teacher and friend;

Celestia

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Dear Celestia;

It took a few weeks, but Cold Snap visited me in a more civil mood. He sighed and asked, “I’m sorry about the way I talked to you and your dragon friend. I just . . . needed to get used to, well, everything.”

“It’s all right, Cold Snap. I’m not mad at you. I still want to help you get another house, if you’d like.”

With the first cheerful smile I had seen from him, he replied, “That would be great. Thank you, Princess Twilight.” Rubbing the back of his head, Cold Snap asked, “Do you miss them, too?”

“Every day. Just like everyone else. I will, however, strive to be the best ruler I can be for you and every creature in Equestria.”

When he bowed to me, I told him, “You don’t need to do that, sir.”

Cold Snap groaned and said, “Just please let me do this, all right? Just this once?”

I smiled and nodded. We all have ways to adjust to change. If this pony can only take baby steps, then so be it. It’s better than sitting still.

Your faithful friend;

Twilight Sparkle

Author's Note:

Cold Snap's reactions to the new order were inspired by a disquieting event. As many of you know, the writing staff of MLP:FIM got a ton of hate mail when the finale hit the air.
As smart as a lot of bronies are, it seems that there are always going to be a few wingnuts that can't take any kind of change. (The ninnies that stopped watching the show simply because of Twilight's new wings come to mind.)
I shed a few tears when the finale aired, no lies. Writing this story helped get me through my grief.

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