Prologue
It was a warm evening in Ponyville. The sun was setting over the mountains opposite the library. There was a large croud outside.
"Oh, Spike. What do I do? There's over one-hundred ponies out there waiting for ME!" Twilight almost yelled, panic clear in her voice.
"Ah, don't worry about it, Twi. I'm sure everything will be fine. You've lived here for almost four years now, I'm sure they're used to you by now." Spike reassured Twilight that she was, as usual, over-reacting.
"Bu-" Spike looked at Twilight in a scolding manner. "Fine. How long until I need to go out there?"
"About ten seconds."
"WHAT?!" Twilight looked around frantically. "But I haven't even done my mane!" She quickly picked up a brush with her magic and started running it through her mane. This only worsened the problem as her rushed brush strokes only succeded in fraying the hairs and making them stick out.
"Don't you have a spell that you can use to fix it?" Spike pointed out.
"Oh, right. Thanks." Twilight's horn glowed and her mane lifted above her head. There was a bright flash and the hair fell into a royal bunch. The fringe lay flat on her forehead, parted by her horn. It was in a braid on her neck and it fell down luxuriously down to her front shoulder. She then used her magic to place the crown on her forehead and the ornaments on her hooves. "Ok. I'm ready!"
"Dress?" Spike said.
Twilight looked down at her chest then back up at Spike. "Damnit!" She ran upstairs to put on her dress. In the meanwhile, Spike went out to greet the crowd.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts! Thank you all for gathering here today for Princess Twilight Sparkle's first Court!" Spike exclaimed gracefully over a microphone. A boom of hooves hitting the ground echoed in the quiet town. Everypony in Ponyville must be here! Spike thought to himself. The crowd reached all the way across the road and to the buiding opposite the library. Spike could see a few farmiliar faces in the crowd, like the other Elements of Harmony and the Mayor. Shouldn't she be doing this introduction? Spike though as soon as she layed eyes on her. "And without further ado," Spike continued, "The Princess, Twilight Sparkle!"
A curtain opened behind Spike and he stepped to the side and gestured towards the empty space. EMPTY?! Spike hadn't noticed the absence of Twilight and was still gesturing. After a few seconds, he got curious and opened one eye to look. He jumped in terror. Everyone else stared blankly at the space. Spike ran in and called up the stairs. "TWILIGHT!"
"I'm almost ready!" She shouted back.
"You should have been ready before I went out there! What's taking you so long?"
"Ok. Here I come." Twilight stepped down from her bedroom in the attic. She was wearing a white dress that reached mid way down her legs with a golden trim. There was golden glitter in the shaped of stars over the body of the dress. It had a diaphonous underlayer which reached past the main dress and dragged along the floor. "How do I look?" She asked modestly.
"You look... Beautiful!" Spike said slowly. Twilight blushed under his gaze. Spike shook out of the hypnosis she had put him under. "Come on, they're waiting for you." Spike ushered Twilight out of the door and onto the podium in front of the library.
"Good evening, Fillies and Gentlecolts!" She began. "It is my honour to be here today to listen to all of your problems!" She said sarcastically. The crowd laughed. Alright, a well-recieved joke. So far, so good. Twilight thought to herself while smiling awkwardly. The speech went on for another five minutes. She explained how the evening would go through, and what she would be doing. "When you come forward, you will be ushered into the library by Spike. Please enter calmly and only one queery at a time. Thank you!" Twilight stepped back from the podium and took a bow as a roar of hoof-stomps and whistles erupted from the crowd. Twilight blused lightly and stepped back into the library and sat on her book throne. Unfortunately, the blacksmith in Canterlot hadn't finished the commission in time for the court. Luckily, Rarity had time to make the dress, and a white throwover with golden stars on it. Much like her dress. She leaned back and relaxed for a while before a voice came through the door.
"First one coming up!" Spike shouted through the door. Twilight prepared to look as regal as possible. A small, beige colt poked his head through the doorway. He looked nervous.
"Don't worry, I won't bite." Twilight softly reassured. The little colt walked further into the room until he was standing a few feet from the steps leading up to the throne. "What's you're name, little one?"
"M-my name is Pipsqueek, your majesty." He said after a few seconds.
"And what is it you request, Pipsqueek?" Twilight hated speaking like this. She felt like she was patronising him.
Suddenly, the colts shyness dissapeared. "What are you princess of?" He said, jumping to his feet. He leaned towards Twilight, eagerly anticipating her answer. Twilight was caught off guard by this question. She couldn't answer a question that she didn't know the answer to! She wandered through her mind, thinking of something she could say as an answer that wouldn't have any consequences or expectations. She looked around subtly until she spotted something that she could say purely to humour the colt.
"Umm... I'm the princess of... Books!" She admired her ability to use words to get out of situations like this.
"Books? Ok then. Thank you!" He said. He walked out of the door, pleased with the answer he recieved.
"Number two!" Spike shouted again. Three familiar faces ran straight through the door and into the middle of the room. They sat down while still moving and skidded across the floor and collided with the steps. Twilight giggled.
"Hello, Cutie Mark Crusaders. What can I do for you?" The three fillies jumped up in excitement.
"We want an official clubhouse!" They all shouted in unison. Twilight flinched at the deafening shouts.
"All right. But don't you already have a treehouse?"
"Yeah, but that's a treehouse." Scootaloo said. "We want a super awesome clubhouse where we can play games and stuff!"
"I'll take it into consideration." Twilight hated lying. Especially to little fillies. She hoped they would forget about it.
All three of them jumped up in excitement. "THANK YOU, BOOK PRINCESS!" They all shouted. It's amazing how they all know what they're going to say before it's even been said.
Twilight sat dumbfounded that she had just been called 'Book Princess'. Does word really spread that quickly? she pondered how many ponies that little colt could have told within the five seconds difference between the two visitors.
The court lasted for a few more hours. Each request stranger than the last. Somepony asked for a new door for their house, and another asked for three-thousand bits to go on holiday. By the last visitor, Twilight was too tired to continue. She was tempted to end it before any more could be called in.
"Last one, coming in!" Spike shouted. He somehow still sounded energetic. A green pony appeared in the doorway. She walked forward to the middle of the room and stopped.
"My name is Lyra Heartstrings, Princess." She said while bowing.
"Hello, Lyra. What do you need?" Twilight replied. She had lost her royal tone somewhere along the fiftieth pony.
Lyra rose. "I need a study grant." She looked Twilight dead in the eye, knowing that she would be interested. She was. Twilight's eyes lit up.
"Another academic? I thought I was the only one who found research so interesting. What are you studying?"
There was a small pause before Lyra spoke up. "Anthropology."