Ten Minutes

by Toraka

Six-hundred seconds

Ten minutes. No more above that, but very preferably much below it. Canterlot Court was an incredibly busy place and its rules had to be strict to accommodate that fact and allow everypony their audience, provided they'd given the proper permits, reason, and plenty of processing time. Apparently, the number of Equestria's problems was neverending, as day by day, the waiting line was well-filled and remained so until closing hours, when the rest was sent away with an empty request to return the next day. Ponies liked to say that, once you'd find yourself before the princess, convincing her of your plea was by far the easiest task. Even more disheartening than the procedure required to propose something was that getting that done would often prove to be the hardest task, against folkspeech. Every day, many ponies left the throne room with low hanging heads, shamefully walking past the lines of those who hoped to fare better than those before them, but, to their and their princess' disappointment, were likely to be equally refused or put off with an empty promise.

Through the stained glass windows, the Sun dispensed its blessed warmth inside with almost a certain degree of cruelty, as if it knew the desires of those inside and was set on mocking them. Too briefly had she been allowed to pierce the sky as never before, too quickly had she been tied into royal duty. Still, she couldn't complain. Literally. Being a princess brought rules with it as strict as appealing to one. There could be no emotions, no recognition, nothing but business as always. Not that she'd find herself able to bind too strongly in the ten minutes before one subject was rotated off and another came before her with an entirely different situation, nevertheless all expecting care and concern. Even if the current audience was somepony she knew from before, which already felt as distant as if from another life, ten minutes didn't allow for anything more than request and answer.

She could convince herself to get on with it,lull herself into thinking it was a desirable life after all. At least she could have anything she'd ever wanted, and literally being a co-ruler of Equestria had various other perks, among the more pesky of which was the respect she neither wanted nor felt that she deserved it. Within the throne room, in business, when she only met complete strangers from across Equestria, that was tolerable, but there were also occasions where she wished curses on all of it, like just that day, when she saw the front of the line reveal a meek pegasus who carefully walked forward towards the usual range for audiences. The butter coloured pony looked tiny in comparison to the overdrawn luxury around her, which simultaneously seemed to intimidate her into an even smaller frame than usual so that, when she bent down for protocol, her head could barely move further downwards. There was trust hidden somewhere in the so far silent confrontation, she wanted to jump to that pony's side and reassure her, but such an action would go against anything that held the court together.

"Good morning, Princess," the pegasus said, still avoiding her gaze, so quiet that she was in danger of being oversounded by even the sounds that the disciplined crowd made.

The ten minutes were ticking. She needed to act quickly, as a friend and as a princess. She put on her most genuine fake smile and beckoned, "Fluttershy, why don't come closer, I don't want to have trouble understanding you," telling off the hesitant guards with a single commanding look as her former friend complied, slightly brightening up. However, she couldn't tell if the reduced distance was for better or worse. Fluttershy certainly looked paler once she was up close, and Princess Twilight Sparkle had to tell herself out of thinking that the pegasus' eyes looked slightly puffier than usual. "Now, what can I help you with?"

Fluttershy cleared her throat and began, "We were wondering if perhaps You could sometime make a visit to Ponyville, Princess, it'd be-"

"Call me Twilight," she intersected, hoping her friend would catch that her murky tone was aimed at the system dictating such needless etiquette, not at her.

"Uh, yes, Twilight. As I was saying, it'd be," she paused, seemingly to swallow, "much appreciated by everypony."

"Hmm." She turned aside to one of her various assistants, "Time Turner, how does my schedule look?"

The adressed pony flipped through his noteblock before replying, "I'm sorry, Princess, but it seems that you are a piccy stocked up."

"That is bad, I'd like to," her eyes switched back to Fluttershy, who looked to have taken the news far worse than herself. "I feel like there's more than the obvious reason why I should come. Is that so?"

The yellow mare had never been particularly far from expressing her emotions, but it was nevertheless always a new tier of heartbreaking to see her lose the struggle against escaping tears. "It's Pinkie Pie," she stuttered through the rain that already caused rolling eyes in the cleaning staff, "she's been having some insomnia lately, and when we let her sleep over, we heard her talk in her sleep, pleading... she begs for you to come back, Twilight."

Princess Twilight sighed, once again addressing the same servant as before, "Well, when do I have time? Are the other appointments that important?"

He leafed through far too many pages, responding only when she was already prepared to give up hope, "Three weeks, Your Highness."

"You can't," she paused, wrestling with herself to not lose her royal façade before continuing, "and what would be the consequence if I was to take a day off?"

The room collectively gasped as though she'd just spoken a death threat. In place of all, a guard answered, "You cannot mean to do this. Remember the consequences which..."

"Yes, Flight of Duty, the spell which granted me those," she interrupted him, extending her wings for effectual inspection. "Raised to command, enchanted with flight, servant of many, prosperity or blight," she recited. How meaningless those words were. "What could be the consequences? A few hours of not having to listen to rabble's problems. Missing a few ambassadors. Political consequences. Standing to responsibility. Perhaps they won't call me princess any more." She breathed through with her eyes closed, trying, but failing, to wipe from before her eyes the image of the meek little pegasus that still stood before her, drops of hot liquid spilling into the darkness of her mind. "So be it."

Twilight stepped down from the throne, filled with vigour she'd thought lost, picked up her sobbing friend, and left, arm in arm with the pegasus, the only trace of her to be seen in the throne room being sparks of excited magic. The clock began to ring, announcing that ten minutes had passed. Ten minutes which sometimes could be all that was needed to change an entire empire for the good of somepony who deserved it.

Comments

[Toraka]

~DO NOT READ BEFORE FIC~

Because Last worked too, didn't it? Actually, there is a hauntingly accurate overlap between the two's topics, if you think about it. I am just going to raise my pretentiousness by 4 and claim that was intentional.

Well. Sadly, I won't claim the trophy for first canon Princess Twilight fic. But basically, this boils down to this. I was disappointed by the ending, how buckety and illogical it was. It could be fine, I figured, if only the last ten minutes of the episode weren't there. Toying around with those two words incepted this fic. I literally oneshotted this from the title and scratch.

See it as a sadification of the ending of MLP, some sweetification out of that she seems to be leaving her friends behind, or whatever. I don't care. Honestly, I don't care for this fic altogether. It is a oneshot. A thought experiment. If you like it, gravy, if not, toss it and don't judge me by it.

Yes, I know that giving up her wings is a bit far fetched, but doing it anyway else would've taken effort, and I was not prepared to spend that on this. Besides, how do you briefly give such a decision weight?
It also serves nicely to make being a princess much, much less desirable. Showcasing the empty system they have to follow, how duty binds them essentially against their will, et cetera.

[BenRG]

Define 'duty'. Define 'servant of many'. If she does not go to Pinkie in her hour of need, then she's already denied what being a Princess is supposed to be about.

Celestia always took time for her student and no pony, even the humblest little pegasus filly, was beneath Luna's notice when nightmares troubled them. So why shouldn't Twilight go to Pinkie's side? Far better for her to spend time with one who actually needed her rather then waste time listening to the petitions of those whose only real need is to have their self-images flattered by forcing a Princess to listen to their petty complaints, plots or schemes.

I don't think that Twilight is going to be 'giving up' anything, except giving up the bureaucracy's dreams of controlling her and giving up the civil service's idea of what a Princess should be in favour of being what a Princess really should be.

[Toraka]

2134440 Hmm, perhaps you are right. Perhaps I should've written this that way. Honestly, yes I should. Dammit.
Oh well. The way I did write it shows that through simple pressure of obeying the rules or losing everything, the princess(es) may not be the supreme ruler at all. Also, what Celestia and Luna did was entirely to schedule. At night, Luna guides the pussies, and Celestia takes ten minutes an evening to read Twilight's letter, that's what they do. Twilight leaving the throne was not only not planned, but it directly went against what she should be doing, thus upsetting the duty spell.

I just had to do something with the title. I think we can agree to wipe those ten minutes (and maybe also Ten Minutes) from memory. I suppose we could also trust Hasbro to not have fucked it up intentionally for a 22 minute toy advert...
img9.imageshack.us/img9/6829/unbenanntjuj.png

[FaceDeer]

Nicely written, but I have to agree with BenRG that the "royal duties" described in this fic are unrealistically tight. Celestia's never taken a single day off in the thousand years that she's ruled? She was able to pop down to Ponyville at a moment's notice when Twilight's Want-It-Need-It spell went haywire, for example. And she took a brief completely unplanned vacation when Chrysalis stuck her in that coccoon.

Heck, Luna took a thousand year vacation and she's still got wings. And before that, the whole "depose Celestia and cause nighttime eternal" thing would probably have edged close to the line of violating her princessly duties as well. :)

The sentiment of the story is good, though. I'd say just remove the mention of her wings evaporating forever the moment she left her post and everything will be just fine.

[Toraka]

2143073 There was some logic behind that... but it was shit.
Well, I'll see what I can do. The problem is, how do you give her decision true weight without making her seem reckless or falling into the "Fk you, I do what I want" scheme of such fics?

Anyway, you and 2134440, I'll be editing this, there'll probably be some updated version up by the end of today. Which is in GMT+1. So by the time you read this, it probably is. Lazy Am- no, bad Doctor, no racism based on timezones!

I'm gonna update you once I have something. Keep an eye out for my blog.

[Toraka]

2134440 2143073
There, I fixed it. Not that there'd be any practical reason to as the release rush is long past, but still.

I'm somewhat satisfied with this version. It loses ridiculousness (a bit) while still allowing my original ending. Yay, solutions which leave everyone unhappy!
It's amazing what a surgically precise strike can do.Remove some here, change some there, and you have somebody with a separated leg bone. Sorry. Personal insider joke.

Also, to further defend my earlier point, Celestia and Luna are born alicorns. Twilight is not. Thus, the whole "well they are still 'corns" argument is somewhat off.
That or they've simply lived with the rules so long (or perhaps even invented them) that they know perfectly how to get through them. When they were fucking around, that wasn't during business hours when they should've been doing something else. That simple.

[zel]

Define "What the fuck am I reading".

[Toraka]

2146330 fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/348/7/b/what_the_fuck_am_i_reading__by_aim__and__ignite-d5o13gb.png
I am now going to take personal offense in you not reading this before. And you still not having art for TDaA. Not that it was any kind of not shitty to make it be less loved with stock art, of course.