Tears of a Heartbroken Princess
"I missed them? I missed the Northern Stars?"
Twilight Sparkle's heart was shattered into a million pieces as she could only watch the Northern Stars finish their spectacle. Sobbing loudly at being denied of seeing the one thing she wanted to see on this Zeppelin cruise she and her family were on, Twilight ran off, tears of heartbreak were flowing down her face as she ran, but her cries did not go unheard of.
"Shining Armor, did you hear that?" asked Cadence in a worried voice, turning around to find out what was going on behind them. "It sounded like Twilight."
"No," answered Shining Armor, turning around. "I thought that she was still busy signing autographs."
However, Cadence was not convinced. She knew that something was terribly wrong and she knew that it was Twilight in distress. But, she was not the only one to notice it.
"I heard it too," cried Twilight Velvet, getting to her feet. "I think its our Twilight."
"Dear, she's been busy making ponies happy," remarked Night Light, also getting to his feet. "In all cases, she'll probably be back in the room already asleep."
Then, they saw Star Tracker, the pony who had won the right to spend the day with Twilight thanks to a raffle that Iron Will, the minotaur who was running the Zeppelin, had organized.
"Excuse me, uh, Star Tracker," called Twilight Velvet, approaching the colt. "Have you seen our daughter at all?"
"Princess Twilight?" replied Star Tracker. "She just ran off in tears a few minutes ago. I guess she must be upset over missing the Northern Stars after signing all those autographs."
A hint of guilt fell over the Sparkle family upon hearing this. Even Flurry Heart was feeling guilty about her aunt's disappearance.
"Where did she go?"
"She just ran off somewhere. I don't know where, but I didn't want to upset her anymore than she already is."
"We've got to find Twilight!" cried Shining Armor, getting the attention of his entire family. "She could have gone anywhere, so perhaps we should split up! Cadence and I will go Starboard side, Mom and Dad, you take the port side!"
"What about me?" asked Star Tracker.
"You search the middle," ordered Shining Armor.
"Twilight might have gone back to the room," guessed Twilight Velvet, growing more and more worried for her daughter. "But, let's check everywhere just to be sure!"
…
So, the Sparkle family split up beginning to search every square inch of the Zeppelin.
"Twily! Twily!" called Shining Armor, going from room to room on the bottom level of the Zeppelin, searching frantically for his little sister. "Twily! Twily!"
As Shining Armor went into one of the rooms, he had inadvertently stumbled in upon a room where a mare was in a bathtub. The mare screamed as she tried to cover herself in front of the young stallion.
"Oh um, excuse me," he chuckled nervously, stepping back into the hallway. "I'm already married."
Panting heavily from his embarrassing blunder, Shining Armor resumed to finding Twilight. As he ran, Shining Armor began to think back to the wedding rehearsal and how Twilight was hurt when he told her to forget about being Best Mare and not even show up to the wedding.
"No, I can't see Twilight hurt again!" he thought to himself. "I can't! I can't have this be Chrysalis all over again! Twilight, where are you?"
…
Meanwhile, Cadence was having no better luck along with Flurry Heart who was also going from room to room.
"Twilight, where are you?" cried Cadence, frantically running down the halls with Flurry Heart not far behind. She then ran into an elderly pony couple walking down the hallway. "Excuse me, have you seen the Princess of Friendship?"
"No, but aren't you the Princess of Love? It's our anniversary and…"
But, Cadence ignored the elderly couple and kept on looking for her sister-in-law.
"Well, I never!" huffed the female elder. "How unsatisfying! Humph!"
"Twilight, where are you?" cried Cadence, racing up a flight of stairs to another level of the Zeppelin. Then, she stopped in her tracks. "Shh, listen!"
Both Cadence and Flurry Heart then heard the sounds of crying and ran down the hall, but to their disappointment, it was only the sounds of a baby pony.
"Come on, Flurry," cried Cadence. "We've got to keep finding her!"
…
On the port side of the Zeppelin, Twilight Velvet, Night Light and Star Tracker continued their respective search, however they too were having trouble.
"We've looked everywhere and still no sign of her!" cried Twilight Velvet. "Night Light, where is she?!"
"Now, calm down, Velvet," replied Night Light, shaking his wife to calm her down. "Let's check the room and see if Twilight is in there."
Racing back to their room, the Sparkle's stopped dead in their tracks to try and see if Twilight was in there. Then, they heard the sounds of loud crying coming from inside the room, and it was not just any crying.
"Shh! Listen!" whispered Twilight Velvet, who knew what the sound was coming from. "It's Twilight."
"She must be really upset," whimpered Star Tracker, who was now feeling bad for his idol. "I can't believe that I kept her away from all of this."
"We're sure its not your fault, Star Tracker," said Twilight Velvet as Shining Armor, Cadence and Flurry Heart arrived. "This has been nothing more than a pressure trip for Twilight."
"Twilight!" called Night Light, trying to talk to his daughter. "It's us! Are you all right?"
But, the sounds of crying continued to be heard and realizing that they were not going to get any response, the Sparkle's opened the door and went into their room very carefully. They all found their room was trashed and puddles of tears were found on the floor.
"Twilight?" asked Twilight Velvet walking towards Twilight's bedroom. The door was open ajar and puddles of water that came from Twilight's eyes soaked the carpet. Twilight Velvet's heart sank when she saw Twilight, lying down on the bed, sobbing loudly with her face buried in her forelegs.
"Oh, Twily," gasped Shining Armor, a hoof planted to his face in shock and disbelief as Cadence walked forward with Twilight Velvet towards the sobbing Twilight Sparkle.
At that moment, the Sparkle's knew that any thoughts about their vacation, their family vacation were no longer any important. All that mattered was the well-being of one of their own.
"Twilight," whispered Twilight Velvet, placing a hoof around her daughter's back. "It's mom. Come here."
The tear filled face of Twilight Sparkle looked up at her mother and she buried herself in Twilight Velvet's chest.
"Oh, my little girl," cried Twilight Velvet. "Tell me what's wrong."
"Its this whole vacation," sobbed Twilight, looking up at her mother with severe pain in her voice. "It's…it's…ruined. All I wanted was for us to be together…to see the Northern Stars…and…"
But, before Twilight could say another word, her sadness got the better of her.
"Oh, my daughter, I'm so sorry," cooed Twilight Velvet, pain and guilt in her voice along with sympathy. "I'm so sorry. We should have…"
But the sounds of Twilight's pained cries continued to fill the room. As she listened to her sister-in-law sob her heart out, Cadence began to realize that Twilight's princess status played a factor…a HUGE factor.
"The cruise ponies are happy, My family is happy, Even Iron Will is happy," wailed Twilight, briefly looking up at her mother and sister-in-law. "You know who isn't happy? Me!"
As Twilight Velvet continued to try and comfort her daughter, both she and Cadence realized that there was a guilty party responsible for this, and that guilty party was Iron Will.
"Honey, why didn't you tell us you were unhappy?" asked Night Light, stepping into the room along with Shining Armor and Flurry Heart. "We thought you enjoyed being a princess and doing princess activities."
"Dad," sobbed Twilight, looking over at her father. "I couldn't let everypony down, because…"
However, Twilight couldn't finish her sentence and went back to burying herself in her mother's chest.
"Velvet, I am beginning to wonder if this trip was really a good thing for us," Night Light said, looking over at his wife only to get a nudge from Shining Armor. "Had we known the prize was a fake, we would never have done this."
"No, it was our fault," replied Shining Armor, sighing heavily, rubbing his hoof in Twilight's mane. "We should have told Twilight the Northern stars were happening. Everypony would have understood."
The pain of seeing his little sister like this made Shining Armor feel like something needed to be done.
"Listen," he said, a hint of anger growing in his voice. "I'm going to give Iron Will a piece of my mind for this. I'll be back later."
And Shining Armor left the room, determined to teach Iron Will a lesson.
…
As he left, Star Tracker could only continue to watch in disbelief as he saw the Princess of Friendship, a pony he had been given the chance to spend the day with, continue to blubber like a baby. Part of him wanted to go over and console Twilight, but part of him couldn't bring himself to do it. So, he continued to stand in the doorway.
"I only made that deal with Iron Will," sobbed Twilight, calming down slightly, but still very upset. "So my family and the cruise ponies could have the vacation they wanted."
"What about what you wanted?" asked Cadence, stroking Twilight's mane.
"I just want everypony to be happy, Cadence!" cried Twilight. "Wasn't that the point of this trip to begin with?"
"Well, sometimes ponies want more from a princess than you can give," sighed Cadence, pulling Twilight towards her. "And it can be hard to know where to draw the line."
"You seemed to know pretty well," gasped Twilight, trying to sniff as her nose was clogged up from crying.
"Once I had Flurry Heart, the line was easier for me to see," said Cadence, looking over at Flurry Heart, who came over to Twilight's side. "You will always have obligations as a princess, but you also have an obligation to yourself."
Twilight couldn't help but feel slightly better at this, however, missing out on the Northern Stars was very heartbreaking.
"We'll stay here as long as you want us to, honey," said Night Light in a compassionate. "This trip isn't our focus right now…it's you."
…
Meanwhile, Shining Armor began looking for Iron Will, his horn slightly glowing with rage.
"Iron Will? Where are you?"
The former motivational speaker was sharing a drink with one of his assistants when he heard the angry older brother of Twilight Sparkle coming towards him.
"Uh oh, an unsatisfied customer," he cried and finished his drink before Shining Armor came towards him. "Better go find out what's going on."
"There you are, Iron Will! You get down here right now!"
The angry sounds of Shining Armor made Iron Will realize that his jig was up and he jumped down to deal with him.
"Now, you listen and you listen good," he cried, picking Iron Will up and forcing him against the wall of the Zeppelin. "My little sister is bawling her eyes out because her princess duties got in the way of seeing the Northern Stars tonight! How could you do such a thing?"
"Iron Will was only trying to make a living," gasped Iron Will as Shining Armor tightened his grip on him. "Honestly! That and to make everypony happy!"
"Well, you've certainly succeeded in that," snapped Shining Armor, angrily. "You've ruined our vacation by forcing Twilight to do all these things! When we get back to Canterlot, I will see to it that you never put in a day's work ever again you…you…scam artist!"
"You call Iron Will a scam artist?" remarked Iron Will, pushing Shining Armor away with his pride hurt. "Iron Will happens to be a former motivational speaker!"
"And I happen to be an older brother determined to protect his family, especially his little sister," Shining Armor shot back, glaring at Iron Will. "Who knows when somepony treats my sister like garbage and ruins her hard earned vacation with her family. Right now, you owe not just our money back, but a really big apology to my little sister along with the rest of our family."
Then, he saw several other of the cruise attendees surrounding them. Using this to his advantage, Shining Armor continued to glare at Iron Will.
"Along with everypony else on this ship," hissed Shining Armor, furiously. "Let that sink in for a little while."
Realizing that his latest endeavor was going to be a bust, Iron Will gulped nervously and ran off down below while Shining Armor watched with disappointment and fury.
…
Having said his peace with Iron Will, Shining Armor walked back down towards his family's room and walked back in. The room was now silent as he saw Twilight asleep with Twilight Velvet and Cadence cradling her and singing softly. Flurry Heart had her large draped alicorn wings around Twilight and was not going to let her go.
"Oh, Twily," he sighed heavily. "I'm really sorry this had to happen to you."
"Well, at least our little girl's asleep," remarked Night Light, sighing slightly. "I got to tell you, son, I don't think I have EVER seen your sister cry that much in our entire lives. It's really painful."
"All Twily wanted was to see the Northern Stars," sighed Shining Armor, sitting down at the table. "I just wish we could make it up to her, dad."
"Me too, Shining, me too," said Night Light. "How did it go with Iron Will?"
"I don't think he will do this kind of thing ever again after I got through with him. He owes us an apology for this scam that he put us through, taking advantage of us and especially Twilight. She's a princess for crying out loud and what that Minotaur did was absolutely disrespectful."
But then Shining Armor realized that there was somepony missing from their cabin.
"What happened to Star Tracker?"
"He left about a half hour ago," answered Night Light. "Before he left, he admitted that he got a little obsessed of being around Twilight and wants to come back and apologize to her in the morning."
"At least somepony is accepting responsibility for their actions."
So, the father and son watched as Cadence, Flurry Heart and Twilight Velvet left the room and shut the door.
…
The next morning, Twilight got up feeling like a train wreck after crying her eyes out the night before. She was exhausted beyond belief, but she tried to not let her personal pain get the better of her family.
"Morning, Twily," said Shining Armor. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired, exhausted," replied Twilight, sitting down at the table. "I'm sorry if I was blubbering like an idiot last night."
"Honey, you were not an idiot last night," remarked Twilight Velvet, sitting next to Twilight. "It's was wrong of us to not tell you when the Northern Stars were happening. Everypony could have waited a little while longer for their autographs and they would have understood."
"I agree with mom, Twily," added Shining Armor. "You didn't deserve to be kept from the Northern Stars last night. It was very wrong for Iron Will to take advantage of you like that and I told him that he will never work like this again. You have obligations to yourself as much as your role as a princess. Furthermore, you are and always will be my Best Mare and that title is much more than a role at my wedding, it's a representation of who you really are."
Twilight felt touched by her older brother's words, but before she could respond to him, a knock was heard at the door.
"Come in," called Twilight Velvet and the door opened to reveal Star Tracker on the other side, a hint of disappointment in his face. "Star Tracker, good morning."
"Morning, Mrs. Sparkle," he said. "Princess Twilight, I couldn't help but think about you last night. If it was wrong of me to have acted the way I did, then…"
"No, Star Tracker, it wasn't your fault," interrupted Twilight, getting up from the table and walking over to her fan before facing her family. "I have something to tell you. All of you. I'm glad you all got to do the things you wanted, but I should have stood up for myself so that I could do what I wanted, too."
Then, Twilight turned her attention over to Star Tracker.
"If I felt like you were standing too close, I should have said something. I'm sorry."
"Well," replied Star Tracker, laughing nervously. "You and your family have been really kind to include me, but you deserve your own vacation together. And I'm really glad we met, too!"
"Ohhh!" cried Twilight as they pulled into an embrace. Tears were forming at the corners of Twilight's eyes again. But this time, they were tears of happiness, not of sadness.
…
Still, the art of apologizing to Twilight wasn't over as Iron Will called for the cruise attendees to the upper deck of the Zeppelin.
"I have a confession to make," he sighed heavily along with the rest of his assistants as he faced the attendees along with the rest of the Sparkle family. "This whole cruise was supposed to about all of you spending time with two princesses. But to be honest, it has been nothing short of hurting a very important pony by keeping her from her family."
Iron Will then turned his attention towards Twilight.
"Princess Twilight, Iron Will owes you an apology for what happened last night," he continued. "Your brother showed me that what Iron Will did was wrong and I should have been more than a little flexible towards you. In my blindness to make a quick buck, I focused on my own well-being instead of yours. I can assure you that I will go back to running my assertiveness seminars after this cruise is over. I wil never to do something like this again. All that myself and my staff can say is that we are sorry."
Twilight then stepped forward towards Iron Will and his staff, taking the microphone head set that had been on his head. Then, she faced the crowd.
"First, I want to thank all of you for coming," she said. "It means a lot that you'd spend your hard-earned bits just to be with us. But I honestly came on this cruise to take some time off from being a princess. I'm just a pony, too, after all. And even though I want everypony here to be happy, I'd really like to spend the rest of the cruise relaxing with my family."
And of course, the cruise attendees were more than understanding of Twilight's request.
"Of course, Princess Twilight!"
"We love you, Princess Twilight!"
…
So, the rest of the cruise continued without any princess activities and as the Zeppelin neared Canterlot, the Sparkle's had one more activity planned only for Twilight and Twilight alone.
"There's still plenty of activities," said Twilight, looking at her long list of activites. "We pass Fillydelphia on the way back. I could give Flurry Heart a quick history tour."
"That's very thoughtful," replied Cadence. "But right now, the family and I have something scheduled for you."
Cadence pulled the map away as she led Twilight towards Night Light, who stood next to a large makeshift sun.
"Behold…the Northern Stars!"
Then, Twilight Velvet lifted herself, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart into the air dressed as stars, but not just any stars, but the Northern Stars themselves. Twilight couldn't help but be moved by this gesture.
"You did all this for me?" she cried with tears in her eyes. "This is amazing! Thank you! And Shining Armor, I can't believe you are up there even though you are airsick."
"Hey!" said Shining Armor, briefly looking down at his sister crossly. "I am not…"
However, he couldn't hide his airsickness for very long and began turning green.
"Okay, maybe I am," he said, trying to not throw up as they all flew down back down to the ground.
"This is the only activity I needed," said Twilight, pulling her family into an embrace of thanks. "I love you all."
"We love you too, Twilight," said Twilight Velvet as the Zeppelin neared Canterlot. "We love you forever and we never want to see you upset, my daughter!"
And with that, the Zeppelin cruise was over and Twilight finally did what she wanted to do: spend time with her family at last.
…
THE END