Another Sun Rises

by Foal Star

Chapter three: Princess R&R

Author's Note:

I know I haven't updated this story in over a year. So if your reading this just wanted to say. Thank you for reading!

*nudge*

I felt something playing with my mane, and I slowly groaned as I looked up to see that I had fallen asleep on my writing desk. I saw Philomena pecking at my mane. I groaned as something sticky dried up on my face, and I wiped it with a hoof as I saw there was some black ink on my hoof; I just looked down at it, feeling annoyed seeing I split an ink pot all over a scroll I was writing on.

"Oh dear, not again," I mumbled, wiping ink from my face and flicking the black liquid. I laid back, thinking about a month since I'd been turned into Princess Celestia, and I was exhausted. It's been a long, hard road trying to be the princess and going through all her duties. I slowly woke up after an entire night of dealing with filing tax forms and trying to negotiate a trade deal.

I then got up and slowly went through the motions of getting ready for the day, first getting Princess Celestia's pet phoenix her breakfast consisting of a bunch of nuts and seeds and afterward went to take a shower, putting on light makeup, brushing out the tangles in my mane and tail and setting magic as they wavered on their own. I then went out, raised the sun, and went about performing morning court as I drank down half a dozen cups of coffee to keep myself from collapsing. Who was hoofed to me by my loyal assistant Quill Feather? Then noon came, and I met with some nobles over my tax reforms. I was coming out of the meeting hall looking happy but rather tired and slowly trotted to a nearby bathroom to relieve myself. As I was washing my hooves, I looked up at my reflection. Then I saw my reflection for the first time: bags under my eyes and my mane looking a bit frazzled and somewhat jittery from the caffeine rushing through my system. I wonder how I haven't collapsed from all the stress running through my body, and then that was when I heard a knock and a mare asked, "Princess, are you doing alright?"

I scrambled a little upon hearing somepony calling out to me and turned around and squeaked out in surprise. "yes, I am! I apologize. I'm finishing up."

I quickly dried my hooves and rose up, trying to look as regal as I possibly could. Then I trotted out of the restroom, and there standing before me was Quill Feather, who was smiling, "Well, Princess Celestia, it seems we finally got those tax reforms passed."

I let out an annoyed sigh, having spent hours working on those tax reforms, and with a sigh of relief, replied, "Yes, indeed, I am so relieved that it is finally over."

"However, there is one thing you neglected."

I started to sweat, wondering what I could not have thought of. Did I date the forms wrong? Was there ink stains? Did I act out of character? I then started to stammer, "What is it? Did I do something wrong!?"

Quill Feather blinked, then shook her head and sighed, "Princess, you clearly neglected your own needs, both your mental and physical health."

"M…my mental and physical health!?"

The stout little pegasus trotted over and took my muzzle by the hoof, looking me over as she said, "Yes, your health, those bags under your eyes, you clearly haven't been getting any sleep, your frazzled mane, you require some serious R&R, so I took the opportunity to have a spa treatment plan set up for you."

I blinked, being abit confused and blindsided by the offer. "Spa…treatment?"

"Yes, spa treatment," she then took one of my wings and looked it over, picking out a few loose feathers, making me wince, "You are definitely in need of a royal preening."

"Wait, preening?"

She then took one of the hooves, and saw how rough it looked, cracked and stained with black ink. "A pedicure for your horn and hooves."

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

I just blinked with a confused expression on my face as I stammered, "I…um…" I brushed my frazzled mane, then cleared my throat, calming down for a second.

Quill Feather looked up with an odd look and asked, "Any objections? Is there something missing?"

I paused once again. This must be something the real Princess Celestia did after her victories in the debate hall. Still, it was intrusive and not something I was fully prepared for. "No…just um… am I going to be alone for this spa trip?"

"Of course not; your sister Princess Luna was the one who insisted on this and will be there with you."

I felt relieved having Celestia's sister with me. Still, I was also concerned about her losing sleep for my sake and asked, "Shouldn't she be sleeping during the day? She's normally in bed by around nine?"

"She already addressed that and said she will sacrifice a few hours of sleep to accompany you to your spa trip."

"That's…Wonderful, but I must l should still protest sh-"

Quill Feather interrupted me. "Luna already informed me you would protest, but she insists on being your escort. Now that's settled, you should get something to eat and rest."

I couldn't help but nod and agree with my assistant on that at this point; I was too exhausted to really fight it and ate a rather fancy salad and drank some tea, then lumbered to my room, took off Celestia's regalia, and flopped onto her bed. All I could do was lay there looking up at the ceiling, wondering if the real Celestia would be proud of me or furious with how I was treating her body or mine!? I slowly closed my eyes, unable to hold back sleep, and gradually fell into a deep slumber.

---

The next morning, I came to pecking at my mane again and knowing it was Phiolemia trying to wake me up to feed her. Peking at my head and being quite pestering.

"Philomena, please give me five more minutes."

I groaned, wanting to sleep in after my victory yesterday. But then I slowly got up from the bed to see a clock overhead and saw that it was a little past six and cried out in shock, seeing I overslept a little. I quickly got up and fed Philomenia her breakfast, fixed my regalia, skipped a shower, and went about brushing my mane and rinsing my mouth with mouthwash. I ran past my guards, shouting a quick "morning!" as I did so. I then went outside and saw most ponies were looking a bit annoyed, but I wasn't too late and made some quick apologies. I then quickly raised the sun, and then, as soon as I came down, I went to the royal dining hall and had a lovely breakfast of pancakes and coffee. As I savored breakfast, seeing I had the day off, I didn't rush this part of my morning and wanted to just take my time for once instead of scarfing it down. That was when Princess Luna, my "sister," trotted over with a smirk on her face. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you as well, dear sister. Seems like you have a day off."

"Yes indeed, mostly due to your insistence, of course. I can perform my royal duties without you having to babysit me."

"Of course, you can, and you're doing a marvelous job. I am simply here to assist you with your R&R. It's obvious you're overworked."

I gulped down my breakfast and whispered, "Yes, but does your sister normally have a spa date? I mean, just making sure it's something that's not out of her normal routine."

"Of course she does; you think she's spent a thousand years just working nonstop? Yes, she works a lot, but you need time for yourself, or you'll turn into Daybreaker."

"Whose that?"

Luna said, "That's another time for now; why don't we get going."

I was then escorted from the table to the chariot outside, where two pegasus guards bowed as I passed. I blushed and waved a hoof, telling them to stop, as I was still really uncomfortable when ponies did that. I then settled myself into my seat alongside Celestia's sister, and then we were off to a spa.

---

I was nervous looking around, seeing the beautiful spa parlor and ornate marble statues spurting water with an ornate desk with "my sister" talking to a lovely pegasus mare. I just stood by with a worried look on my face and wondered what they were whispering about. The pegasus then waved me over, and I slowly trotted towards her as she looked me over. "My goodness, princess, are you alright?"

I was abit stunned at first, not knowing what to say precisely, and quickly said, "I'm doing well."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, don't be modest; you look like you haven't slept in months."

"Just one month, but with these tax negotiations over with, things will be much less stressful for me."

The spa mare nodded and added, "I'm sure they will be princess; now Princess Luna insists that you get the full princess pamper package."

"Well…I…um?" I started to get abit worried, wondering what the princess would say in this situation. "What do I normally get?"

The pegasus blinked, looking somewhat confused, and asked, "Well, that is quite an odd thing to say?"

"Sorry, just uh, you know me being tired and all…Please excuse my behavior."

"Of course, princess. Well, you normally get the princess pamper package. You're the one who nicknamed it, by the way."

I blushed as I stopped mid-sentence and then adjusted myself and spoke. "Yes, well, the princess pamper package was the full treatment, hornicure, hoof care, preening a full facial, mane, and tail work, and of course, a soak in one of our hot tubs."

"Right, all that…"

"Good! Now let's get started!"

But I couldn't help but feel naked, which is odd…being a pony, most are comfortable walking around with no clothes, and yet without the regal, it felt weird not having it on me and letting my hair down with it falling over me. I was then escorted to a bench, where I was laid down. The mares then went to each of her legs, taking one at a time and grinding out of my hooves, and I kicked and squeaked, feeling the sensitive bone being removed. It hurt, but the tingling sensation subsided over time. It didn't take long for them to start on my horn as well, which made me squeak out in pain from the sensitive bone. I was a unicorn and had accidentally stubbed my horn into walls, but this made me realize how sensitive the long protruding object from my forehead really felt. I was then preened and moaned as they went through her feathers individually. I shivered, and squeaked, never having feathers, and removed dirt and bent feathers from my new wings.

But soon, it started to feel nice as the mares used soft brushes to groom my wings, and I shivered, feeling much cleaner and less pain from them. Afterward, the mares went to work on my mane and tail, which were steamed and then brushed; seeing the long rainbow strands flowing around my head at first, I was wincing from them, brushing out the tangles, but like with my wings and hooves, it started to feel relaxing after a while. And then the spa mares went and applied a thick, heavy green mud mask over my face. I was then escorted to a hot bath and was laid down. I then let out a sigh of relaxation as she settled into the steaming bubbly water and squeaked, feeling herself settling into the nice steamy bath water. Within half an hour, I could feel the hours of stress I had melting away from my shoulders. I just laid there relaxing for the first time in what felt like forever. Then I turned to see Luna sitting across from me, smiling, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yes, this is so relaxing! I don't understand why it's taboo for other stallions to go to a spa."

Luna yawned and stretched out her wings, then said, "Guess masculinity is something that is still held onto, but I bet when you turn back to stallion, you'll come back."

"Oh, most definitely, this is such a relaxing and enjoyable experience," I admitted, never having felt this relaxed in my entire life.

"Now, I know you've been working hard to be my sister, but you must remember to relax and connect as well; Twilight has been worried about you."

I groaned, feeling rather stupid for forgetting about Princess Celestia's prized pupil, and grumbled, "I understand she is no longer my- I mean, Princess Celestia's student anymore?"

Luna nudged me, then whispered, "It doesn't mean she doesn't miss your correspondence. You should try to talk to her once in a while."

I groaned and rubbed a hoof over my face, feeling abit awkward about the whole situation, seeing Twilight and not knowing she was talking to some nobody guard who barely even knew her brother. But I had a role to play, so I responded as courtly as possible. "Of course, I will try to do so when I return to my normal duties. But I shouldn't get too close; I'm sure she'll learn I'm not really Princess Celestia."

"Fair enough. Also…I know this might sound weird, but you should try to have fun. There are things to do here, and as a princess, you're going to enjoy yourself. There are a lot of perks for being royalty, you know?

"I understand…but I cannot allow anypony to know that anything's changed."

"Yes, that's true, but lucky for you, you can have fun and still fit the narrative."

"Like what?"

"How about I surprise you?"

"Ok then…as long they are activities the real Princess Celestia would do," I added. Despite not liking being a stick in the mud, I was worried Princess Luna was too lax with how I was perceived. I really had no intention of ruining Celestia's good name.

I then laid myself back in the hot tub and wondered what Luna had in store. But the soothing hot tub made it hard to think, so I settled my mane back, looked up at the marble ceiling above me, and just let out another sigh and closed my eyes, letting myself take another short nap. With my last thoughts on how I should approach being around Twilight,

Comments

[Greenhorn]

"Yes, this is so relaxing! I don't understand why it's taboo for other stallions to go to a spa."

Lotus: I don't understand why Big Mac never come to use our services.
Aloe: I guess it is his family's thing? Even Applejack rarely used the coupon I occasionally put into their mail box.