> Rulers for a Day > by Creativa-Artly01 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's a beautiful sunny day when Twilight receives the letter from Celestia. Once it lands in the palm of her hoof, she opens it and reads it. "Dear Twilight," it reads, "can you and Starlight run Canterlot for the day. I'm going on a much needed vacation with my sister. Thanks, yours truly, Celestia." Twilight looks at what she just read in shock. She can't believe the princess wants her to run Canterlot for the day and even more surprising, she can't believe that the princess wants her to bring Starlight along. Twilight goes off to tell Starlight that they're going to Canterlot to rule Equestria for the day. Upon hearing this, Starlight flips out then immediately gets to packing her things. This is the moment she's always dreamed of. She can't wait to see what it's like to rule a kingdom! Now, she finally gets to do exactly that. A few hours later, the two touch down at the royal castle in Canterlot. Once they're inside, they go and put their things in the two visitors quarters. Once that's done, the two head to the throne room to handle the sisters' duties. They have a meeting with dignitaries from Yak Yakistan and a new swimming pool opening in the afternoon. They also have gala tickets to send out for the upcoming gala. Twilight can't help but smile and lightly say, "piece of cake". At the meeting with the Yak Yakistan dignitaries, everything goes as planned. The two sides actually manage to have a decent meeting without the Yaks destroying the entire place. Once that's done and they see the Yaks off, the two go and do the ribbon cutting to open up the new pool. Once they cut the ribbon, ponies flock in and begin to swim around happily. After that, they fly back to Canterlot and begin working on the gala tickets and getting those sent out. After all, the gala is only three weeks away now and Twilight can't wait because this year her sister in law, brother, and niece are finally able to make it since Sunburst agreed to watch the empire for the night while they're away. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Later that day, Starlight is off in the garden sitting among the statues. Inside the castle, Twilight deals with a possible brink to Equestria's defenses. How she wishes the royal sisters were around to help! Twilight, following her instincts, goes and grabs Starlight and the two go off to see what the threat on Equestria's edge may be. A few hours later, the two arrive at Equestria's edge. Once there, they're surprised to see that the threat to the border is a herd of a creature similar in biology and anatomy to a changeling except it's not a changeling. Twilight boldly asks what the creatures are and what they're doing outside Equestria. "What are you? What are you doing here?" asks Twilight. "We're shifters, we can change our appearance and physiology on a dime," speaks up their leader, who is a male about a foot taller than the rest of them. "We're here to take over Equestria." "Not on my watch!" replies Twilight. She shoots her magic at them. "But princess," replies the one, "we soak up all magic. Nothing can defeat us." Twilight stares at them. She's frightened now as is Starlight. The two retreat back to the castle. They don't know what to do. If they can't defeat the creatures with magic, how exactly are they going to defeat the creatures? Twilight goes to the library to see if the books there have any information about shifters to possibly use against the creatures. In the library, Twilight soon finds a book on the shifters titled Shiftlings: Everything About Their Biology, Physiology, and Appearance. She skims it over and soon finds exactly what she needs to stop the creatures. "To stop the shifters, use black crystals to capture them inside." Twilight then hops on the train to the Crystal Empire and soon recovers some of the black crystals from her sister in law Cadence's archives. Cadence then wishes Twilight well, gives her a hug, and sends her on her way. A few hours later, Twilight returns to Canterlot. There, she meets up with Starlight and they go to confront the creatures once again, this time prepared. A few hours later, they arrive back on the Equestria border with the box in hoof. They pull out the black crystals as the shifters shift into their attack forms. Upon transforming, the shifters are sucked into the black crystals and trapped. Twilight then puts the creature filled crystals into the box and puts an unbreakable seal spell on them. Twilight then returns the creature filled box to Cadence in the Crystal Empire. The two then hide the box in Sombra's inescapable trap hidden below the castle. Once that's out of the way, the two spend the day together before parting ways a half hour later. Twilight is just glad they got the threat out of the way long before the royal sisters return. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A half hour later back in Canterlot, Twilight and Starlight continue to tend to all sorts of royal duties. Once they are done for the day, they go to the royal spa to relax and unwind. Twilight couldn't be more proud of Starlight for keeping a level head. She even says as much. The next day, the two continue to do royal duties, meetings, and even handling some of the gala planning. All of the stress from the gala planning soon pushes Twilight over the edge and Starlight agrees to take over so Twilight can go take a break. For her break, Twilight goes into her room and just reads a book like she does every other time she needs to unwind. Three hours later, she returns to helping Starlight plan all the details about the gala. Starlight's just glad Twilight's back to her less stressed more focused self. They also tend to the statues in the garden by giving them a nice and thorough cleaning, so they sparkle when the royal sisters return. Around midnight that night, the two princesses return to Canterlot. Celestia peaks in on Twilight not long after they land. "Come in," says a groggy Twilight as she sits up in bed. Celestia enters the room. "I'm proud of you, Twilight," she says with a smile, "you and Starlight did good." "Thank you, Celestia," replies Twilight with a smile before instantly falling back to sleep. Once she sees Twilight has nodded back off to sleep, she exits the room and turns in for the night. Now, it's her sister's turn to interact with Twilight in her dreams. In Twilight's dreams, Luna sees that everything is just fine. She sees dreams of Twilight playing with her brother, hanging out with her sister in law, and even playing with her niece to even being the main character in a book. She sees dreams of Twilight and Moon Dancer, Twilight and Starlight, even Twilight and Sunset. Luna smiles. She then hears screaming coming from one of Twilight's more recent dreams. She goes towards the dream and enters it. Once she's in the upsetting dream, Luna sees that Twilight is in tears because she is overwhelmed. Luna goes and sits down beside her and comforts her. After several hours of comforting, Twilight's dream returns to a more pleasant state and Luna exits her dream and heads off to the dreams of the rest of Equestria. A smile appears on Twilight's face as she sleeps. She's just glad she made the princesses proud. After all, that's all she ever wanted in life and now that dream has finally come true.