Twilight Sparkle's Majesty

by Apple Bottoms

Chapter 5 - Where Will Today's Adventure Be?

Majesty half expected to see Twilight Sparkle the next day, and when she did not, she told herself that it was for the best.

She tried to busy herself in the garden, at Posey’s request; but she always ended up back in her armory, polishing the latest set or replacing the fittings before they had quite worn through. She tried to busy herself with the kitchen with Cupcake; she even tried to busy herself with the other princesses, as silly as they were. (They were good-hearted, she knew, just … annoying.)

She wondered if she had been too vague with the little princess; if she had been so wrapped up in her own self-importance that she had wound up the little winged unicorn (sorry - alicorn) with riddles. She hadn’t intended to; but then, she hadn’t been exactly forthright from the start, either! But what right had she to judge her? She was just a little princess, confused about the difficulty of rule.

Majesty toyed with the idea of leaving her a cryptic message through time, or a letter of explanation; but no, that would definitely damage the timeline, she told herself firmly, and the little princess had been very resolute on that matter. So Majesty would, despite everything, do her best to carry on as if she’d never even met her.

The only problem was that without her next invader to focus on, or the little princess, Majesty found herself quite at loose ends. Perhaps not all rulers, she mused sourly one day, were destined to be princesses of friendship. Perhaps others were suited best to be princesses of battle.

Majesty was relieved, then, when she heard something clattering from inside the magical relic room weeks later. An invader, surely! With a glee that was not altogether ponyish, Majesty grabbed her pouch of utter-flutter dust and tore up the uneven stairs, preparing to face a foe narrow enough to slither in through the tall, narrow stone windows. A hydra of some kind? A snake-prince, come to steal the horseshoes! A bevy of evil pixies, or a cloud of evil dust, or a - nothing. Or a nothing, Majesty decided sourly, glaring around the room that was full of brilliant sunlight, relics, and nothing else.

Drat.

“Majesty!” the voice, warped and terrified, came from beneath a shimmery silver cloth.

Majesty was in front of the magic mirror in a moment and tore the dropcloth away. Before her, swimming in the magic mirror’s veiled sight, was Twilight Sparkle in chains. She was somewhere dark; it was hard to see, with the way the vision swam.

“Majesty, it’s you! Majesty - I made a mistake!” the little princess was crying. “I’m - I don’t know how long I can keep the spell up! Majesty, please, I need you to do something!”

“What can I do, Twilight?” Majesty’s voice was steel tempered by magical flames.

“I - I don’t know! I thought if you wrote me a letter - perhaps you could stop me from ever coming to you! But I don’t know what you could write that would stop my insatiable curiosity about a letter from centuries before, addressing me by name!” Twilight Sparkle tried to rub at her running eyes, but the manacles on her forelegs prevented her. They glowed; magic-proof.

“Where are you?”

“I - I wanted to ask more princesses for advice! I tried to be strong like you, but - but I couldn’t do it! So I went to the future, and - oh, Majesty! It’s awful!”

There was a roar of something in the background; Majesty couldn’t make it out, but it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It wasn’t like any creature she had ever heard.

“I thought if I could tap into the magic of your mirror, it might boost the time travel spell enough to bring me back to you! But, these chains - they’re too strong! Even for Silver Swirl’s spells!” Twilight Sparkle was crying less, Majesty thought. She hoped. “Can you reach through the mirror?”

Majesty touched her hoof to the glass; it rippled under her touch, but remained solid. “Not from this end. Can you?”

“No!” Twilight Sparkle’s face twisted in anguish. “There has to be - something - a letter -”

“Twilight! The mirror!” Majesty cried as the image began to distort.

“- my only - hope -”

“Twilight!”

She was gone.

Majesty knew what she had to do, but she also knew that the others would stop her if she told them. Well, sorry girls; hopefully this misadventure won’t result in two dead royals.

She was halfway to tugging on her enchanted armor before she stopped, and slowly replaced it on its rack. No; adding enchanted armor to an already complicated spell would only make things more risky, and more likely to result in regicide. She’d have to do this as no other pony had ever done it before; she’d have to draw upon the old, old magic. The oldest magic she knew, bound up in song and story, lessons whispered between mother and daughter unicorn going all the way back down the line to the very first of their kind.

If Twilight Sparkle had asked, Majesty likely wouldn’t have told her; Twilight Sparkle did magic casually, without words, a thought and a glow from her horn and it was done. The time travel spell was someone else’s magic, and so it required a scroll. Twilight Sparkle’s ponies had lost the old magic, the old songs, the tunes and rhymes that shaped the magic and made it more powerful. Like kneading bread made it bake better, singing the spells made their power exponential. If Twilight Sparkle’s kingdom had lost this magic, it must have been for a reason; Majesty did not intend to change her future that drastically, even if it seemed that she must have already, somehow.

Majesty placed herself squarely on all four hooves in front of the magic mirror; as if anticipating her dangerous plan, it seemed to ripple all the faster, waiting for her. She inhaled deeply, tasting the dust of the old room; on her exhale, she sang in a clear, loud voice.

My Little Pony
My Little Pony
What will today's adventure be?

“Majesty!” a cry from down the stairs; she had felt the stones beneath her hooves lift, only for a moment. Perhaps the others had, too. She had to continue.

My Little Pony
My Little Pony
Will there be exciting sights to see?

“Majesty!” She recognized Glory’s voice, another unicorn. Of course she would know what was going on straight away. But there were other voices, too, alarmed and high-pitched. Majesty forced herself to keep her voice calm, even as she felt the flagstones beneath her hooves humming with magical energy. The mirror in front of her was swirling now, an angry, dark whirlpool.

Where will you wander?
Hither and yonder
Letting your heart be your guide

“Majesty, what are you - stay back!” barked Glory, cutting off Princess Aquamarine with a foreleg thrown across her throat, blocking her in the doorway. “You can’t do this! It’s too powerful!”

My Little Pony
My Little Pony
I'll be there right by your side

“MAJESTY!” Glory was screaming now; the whole room was buzzing, and the stone flooring was beginning to come apart beneath her hooves. “You’ll take the whole tower down with you!”

There was one line left; the mirror opened into a vast darkness, waiting for the final line. Beckoning her.

“I'll be there right by Twilight’s side!” Majesty sang, and with one powerful kick of her legs, she leapt into the magic mirror - and Queen Majesty, the ruler of Ponyland, was gone.