Buh
Paperwork is an awful thing.
Twilight heaved an irritated sigh and flipped another page over. She wasn’t even sure why it all needed done, and Celestia knows she was only paying half attention to the details.
Even Twilight Sparkle has her lazy days, and today was one of those days; she even had it planned weeks in advance, but meetings got pushed, ponies got angry, and everything was rescheduled today. So, she had begrudgingly pulled herself out of bed, not bothering to put on her golden accessories and instead opting for a dressing gown and slippers, before dragging herself to the castle archives, Star Swirl the Bearded's wing to be exact, so that she'd have the smallest chance of being bothered by anypony as it's the most secure and restricted area.
She dangled a levitating sheet of paper in front of her face, reading it quietly.
“Due to the lacking health of the building’s owner, we were unable to forcibly remove the mare from her home and have her detained to–“
–Ugh.
She released her magical hold on the paper, allowing it to flutter across her face and onto the table, before physics decided that the paper should also slide off and onto the floor. Twilight froze for a moment, her lips pursed. She lifted her hooves to lightly massage her temple. She must’ve looked stupid.
She let her hooves fall heavily onto the table and gazed down between them at the paper below. Her stare turned into a glare, wishing its contents away. It was hard, being the ruler of Equestria. She had enjoyed the job, she really did, but the paperwork alone was enough to make anypony keel over face-first into their desk. It was almost shocking how whiny some ponies could be about other ponies who lived next to them. She had once received a complaint that a stallion’s neighbours were fornicating too loudly, and that he wanted his neighbours’ home to have soundproof walls installed. Twilight had sighed and told the stallion that if he wanted them to quiet down, he needed to confront them himself.
Honestly, ponies.
I should really build some sort of team to handle these petty little problems... so I could focus on bigger ones, like–
A shuffle and a thump tugged Twilight from her thoughts. She lifted her eyes from the paper and looked to her right. There in front of the door opened ajar, stood a little filly named Luster Dawn. She was holding onto her favourite blanket, blinking up at the alicorn with wide, golden eyes. The summer sun cast shadows on her pink coated face, making her foal-like chubbiness more apparent.
“Hello, my little pony.” Twilight greeted, smiling at the filly. “What are you up to?”
“Watching you.” Luster replied daintily.
“Watching me.” She repeated, nodding. “I thought I’ve put you down for a nap?”
“Woke up… Not tired anymore… Wanna see Princess work.”
Twilight chuckled, earning a grin from the filly. “Come here, little one.”
Luster walked over, leaving the door wide open. She made a small noise of surprise, or perhaps it was joy, as the Princess of Friendship swept her up and sat her between her hooves. Luster snuggled in close, turning her head to look at the sprawled paperwork with disinterested curiosity. Twilight’s smile grew, she rubbed the filly’s back gently. She could’ve sworn the filly purred in contentment.
“Would you like to help me?” She asked Luster, looking down at her.
Luster turned to meet her gaze, eyes wide. She made no response, nor a face, rather she scooted closer to the edge of their seat and, still clutching her blanket in one hoof, used her other hoof to drag a pile of papers closer.
“Buh.” She declared, “Buh, buh, buh.”
Twilight chortled. Luster was at the age where she’s learning to speak, she loved to look through Twilight’s work, trying to read new words aloud, expanding her vocabulary. She also loved to experiment with words, to see what ponies did when she said weird ones. Her current favourite is ‘Buh’.
“Yes, Luster. ‘Buh’ is the answer to the broken in fence in between their two yards.” Twilight said, leaning forward to see the paper. Luster nodded, shifting through the pile.
“And I suppose ‘buh’ is also the answer to the tree that grew in Fleur de Lis’ kitchen Fancy Pants’ colt smacked into?”
Luster snapped her head back to stare at the princess in the eye, nodding firmly.
Twilight raised her head high and magically snatched up her quill.
“’Buh’ it is.” She declared, sighing the word on the bottom of all the complaint letters.
Luster giggled, squirming happily in the princess' hold, dropping her blanket onto the floor. She curled and closed her eyes. Twilight resisted the urge to coo. Miss Not Tired Anymore was dozing off on her. She set her quill down and eased off the chair, using her magic to gently wrap Luster in her blanket and lift her onto her back, raising her wings slightly to secure the filly in place. The alicorn took her time walking towards her study, smiling back at every castle staff that wished her a good day.
In Twilight’s study, she laid the filly down in her playpen. Luster Dawn was five, and the average age a parent was able to keep their foal in a playpen was three. Twilight had attempted to dispose of the object, but Luster loved the playpen with passion, and would not allow the princess to remove it from their home. So, it was kept in the corner of Twilight’s study, so that the princess could do paperwork and Luster could sleep.
Deciding that enough was enough; Twilight curled up on the sofa across the playpen and watched the filly sleep with a tired smile. She’s still such a baby, Twilight thought. Then with a firmer look, she mentally added, My baby.
Twilight laughed to herself. Her baby, hers. Her responsibility when she took her in after the filly's parents passed away in an accident.
Hmm, Twilight thought as she herself began to doze off, Baby.
Two days later, in a meeting with Fleur de Lis, Fancy Pants and his colt, Twilight poked a hoof into the agreement before him and uttered a small, but firm;
“Buh.”