> The Evening After
>  by ShadeTail
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Evening After
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With a soft "Erph!" Princess Twilight Sparkle kicked off the final golden shoe from her hind hoof, dropping it onto the pile with the rest of her regalia. That chore done, she and began cantering around the table where her friends all sat.

"How are you doing Twilight?" Fluttershy asked with a gentle smile.

"Oh, perfect!" Twilight told her with sarcastic cheer, as she arrived at the empty slot at the table. "After all, to quote myself from earlier, everything will be just fine!" Then she slumped down onto the table face first and covered her head with her forelegs.

"Uh, Twi?" Applejack asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm so bucked," Twilight moaned into the table. "I am utterly bucked."

Rarity gasped. "Twilight! Such language!"

"I'm so totally and completely bucked," she continued, ignoring Rarity's aside, "that every other pony who has ever said that before has now been revealed as a poser. Because no pony has ever been as utterly bucked as I now am."

"Gee, Twilight, that doesn't sound like a lot of fun! Have you been turning yourself into a tree in Applejack's orchard? I know Fluttershy once said she wants to be a tree, but it doesn't really sound practical to do that to yourself because then you probably wouldn't have a horn anymore which would make turning yourself back kinda tough and you'd have to put up with Applejack bucking you and mmmm mmph mrph!"

Pinkie Pie's tirade stumbled to a halt as Rainbow Dash shoved her hoof into Pinkie's mouth. "*ANY*way," the speedster put in, rolling her eyes. "What are you going on about, Twi?"

"I'm a princess," the princess moaned.

"Yeah, we kinda know that already," Rainbow replied impatiently.

Spike trotted over from where he was sitting and climbed onto the table. "Come on, Twilight, what's wrong?" he demanded, poking her in her side for good measure.

Twilight's head shot up. "I'M A PRINCESS!" she screamed at the ceiling, knocking Spike to the floor. "I have to help rule the whole bucking nation! I'm not ready for that! This is a total disaster!"

"Oh give me a break!" Rainbow sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Now don't ya be like that, Dash!" Applejack scolded. "Yeah, Twi's bein' silly, but we all learned the hard way not to ignore her when her apple's losin' its pealin'."

"Twilight," Fluttershy spoke, softer than usual. "Applejack's right. About you being silly, I mean, sorry about that. But I think you'll be a good princess."

"But now I'm actually going to be responsible for the whole country!" Twilight complained. "That's not just some one-time crisis thing like we've dealt with before! There are so many ways this could go wrong!" She laid her chin down on the table and sighed. "And the worst part is, this change is so sudden. I didn't even see it coming. My magic suddenly changed me, and barely days later, I'm a princess."

"Everything's sudden like that, Twi," Rainbow told her. "I've spent my whole life training for the Wonderbolts. Suddenly, I get accepted into camp, and I end up on the list. The way you deal with sudden change is, you just deal with it."

"I can't quite believe I'm agreeing with Rainbow Dash," Rarity put in, "but she's correct. Every opportunity I've had to expand my business and my reputation has come quite out of the blue."

"And every surprise party I've thrown has come out of the blue too!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Well..." Twilight began.

"Your Highness?"

Twilight lurched up onto her haunches. "Huh? What?"

A royal guard was standing in the doorway to the lounge. "Your Highness, there's a Miss Greensleeves downstairs insisting on an audience with you."

"Oh...really? Unicorn? White barrel and light-green legs?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Do you wish to see her, or shall we turn her away?"

Twilight was silent for a long moment. "Let her in," she finally replied. The guard bowed and left.

"Who's this Greensleeves?" Applejack asked. "Friend of yers?"

"No. We were at the School for Gifted Unicorns together, and she hurt me really badly once. I haven't spoken to her or even seen her for something like fifteen years."

"Oh, she hurt you, eh?" Rainbow asked darkly, cracking her fore-hooves menacingly.

"Yeah, I kinda remember her," Spike said in the same tone, as he climbed back onto the table. "Even though I was *really* small back then."

"Don't you two do anything to her," Twilight snapped, her tone just short of making it an order. "Yes she hurt me, but it was years ago. I'm long over it now."

"Are you sure, Twilight?" Fluttershy pressed gently. "Because I know what it's like for somepony to do that kind of thing."

"I'm sure," the princess told her, managing her first genuine smile in a while. "This was back when we were second-year students at the academy. That was more than half my life-time ago. Believe me, I'm way over it."

"I believe you, Twilight," Rarity offered with her own smile. "But just try to remember that your friends are still here for you."

"I will," she promised. The brief silence that followed let them hear two sets of approaching hoof-steps. The guard reappeared moments later.

"Miss Greensleeves, Your Highness," the guard intoned, as the indicated unicorn stepped by him. As Twilight had described, her coat was white on her body and pale green on her legs. Also, her curly tail and mane were a garish lemon-yellow.

"Well, hello again, Twilight," she said, earning herself a grim look from the guard for her informality. She didn't seem to notice, and he said nothing as he left the room. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" She offered the new princess a smile that didn't look the least bit genuine.

"Yes, it has," Twilight said blandly, her own wooden-looking smile firmly in place. "Come join us." She waved a hoof at an open spot at the table directly opposite Twilight's place.

"Why, thank you." Greensleeves took the offered spot.

"Care for some tea? We hadn't actually served ourselves yet," Twilight offered, reaching out with her magic for the nearby tea tray.

"That's very kind, Twilight, but I wouldn't want to impose."

"Oh, it's no imposition, Greensleeves," Twilight assured her.

The empty small talk continued for a minute as Twilight poured tea for everypony at the table.

"I imagine you know what I've been up to," Twilight said once everyone had been served. "What about you?"

"I'm an associate at the law firm of Nicebi and Button," she said, a smug undertone to her voice. "I've been there a couple of years now."

"Really? They represented the plaintiff in Corno Inc. v Harkov, if I recall correctly."

Greensleeves raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You're quite right. In fact, I was one of the associates the firm assigned to that case. Were you following it?"

"Magical research is what I do. Any case that impacts it so directly is going to get my attention," Twilight explained.

"I suppose that's a fair point," Greensleeves shrugged. "Anyway, that case was a real feather in my cap. It was a solid win, and a fairly high-profile one. It was quite a coup that I was part of it."

"No doubt." Twilight paused. "Did you earn it yourself, or did someone else do the work for you again?" She punctuated the question with a grin and a wink.

Greensleeves' expression suddenly became an angry scowl. "Oh please, that was years ago. Are you really still sore about that?"

Twilight cocked her head curiously. "No, I got over it years ago. It was just a bit of friendly ribbing. Why so over-sensitive about it?"

"I'm not being over-sensitive...!"

"Nah, I gotta say ya are, sugarcube," Applejack interrupted. "Twi didn't mean anythin' by it."

The other four ponies and the dragon at the table all nodded their heads and made noises of agreement.

"Well, I mean..." Greensleeves paused and visibly tried to pull herself together. "You can hardly blame me for thinking you might have been serious, Twilight," she added in a would-be-calm tone.

Twilight gave her a small smile. "True. But for you to actually admit that it would be understandable if I was still upset? That's a huge breakthrough."

"Well, you should just let it go! It was so long ago, and it wasn't any big deal anyway!"

Twilight raised her eyebrows. "Of course it was no big deal. You and those three others merely spent a week pretending to be my friends so you could manipulate me into doing your school work for you. And when I confronted you about it, the four of you all laughed in my face and called me a fool. So yeah, no big deal. For you."

Twilight paused and looked at the other ponies present. Her voice had not risen above a conversational tone, but the entire table was dead silent.

"For me, on the other hoof, it was a pretty big deal," she continued, her tone still conversational. "I was a shy and reclusive filly, and I didn't really know how to make friends. So when these four other fillies suddenly wanted to spend time with me, I was ecstatic. I thought I had some real friends. And then you proceeded to utterly humiliate me and shatter my heart into pieces. Because of that, I became convinced that friendship was a stupid and useless scam, and that I didn't need it. And I stayed convinced of that for twelve long years. All because of what you did. It wasn't until I went to Ponyville a few years back and *accidentally* became friends with these ponies here that I learned how wrong I was about having friends."

She paused again. And again, the table was dead silent.

"So yeah, it was a pretty big deal. You damaged me badly, and it took me twelve years to heal from that. And I'm really not upset anymore. I've gotten over it, because I have healed. I know about the magic of friendship, I have lots of ponies who honestly care about me, I'm just fine now."

And then Twilight looked Greensleeves dead in the eyes, and her tone finally took on a much sharper edge. "But it *was* a big deal, and don't insult me by pretending otherwise. What you did to me was a huge, formative event in my life, and for good or ill, it will probably be with me forever. And I'm an immortal princess pony now, so when I say 'forever', I mean that literally."

Finally done, Twilight began sipping her tea and waiting for somepony else to break the silence.

"Well," Greensleeves finally offered, "I'm glad to hear you've decided to be mature about it." Though the words were arrogant, the thin and nervous tone they were delivered in merely made them sound small.

Twilight decided to break the tension by chuckling. "Yeah, I'll bet you wouldn't want one of the princesses to be angry at you."

Twilight's riposte was met by nervous giggling from several ponies, and the room seemed to warm up again.

"So why did you want to see me?" the princess finally asked.

"Uh, well, I wanted to talk about the firm, actually."

Twilight nodded knowingly. "That's what I expected. Hoping to get some prestige by riding my tail, eh?"

"Er..."

"Was this your idea, or did your bosses put you up to it?" Twilight pressed on.

"...A bit of both, actually," she admitted hesitantly.

Twilight nodded knowingly again. "Well, sorry to disappoint, but I'm not doing your homework for you this time. You and your bosses are going to have to grow your firm the old-fashioned way."

"Don't be so hasty, Twilight," Greensleeves insisted, an ingratiating smile plastered on her face. "Just think of the advantages of a relationship..."

Twilight interrupted her with a loud laugh.

"Greensleeves, I would get no special advantage by agreeing to your deal. In the exceedingly unlikely event that I needed a private law firm, I wouldn't have any trouble finding a very good one willing to work with me. I am one of the crown princesses, after all."

"But Twilight...!"

"No. Period. Was there anything else you wanted?"

There was another long silence, then Greensleeves stood up. "No, Your Highness," she said in a bitter tone, and walked out of the room.

There was another long silence as Twilight and her friends sipped their tea some more.

"That's why I think you'll be a good princess, Twilight," Fluttershy eventually piped up.

Twilight blinked at the apparent non sequitur. "Huh?"

"Come on, you know what she means," Rainbow insisted. "You were all moaning and whining about how bad you'd be, but when that brat showed up and tried to throw her weight around, you just totally frosted her."

"Indeed," Rarity put in, looking almost smug. "You closed her down without even so much as getting a hair out of place, and yet you didn't come across as mean or petulant about it. You were absolutely brilliant, darling."

Twilight blushed at the praise, but didn't say anything.

"Yer problem, sugarcube," Applejack told her, "is that ya don't believe in yerself. And that's plum silly, because yer one of the best ponies ever. But no matter how good ya are or how much ya keep accomplishin', ya still think yer only one hoof-step from failin'."

Twilight considered that. "Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it."

Applejack grinned and shrugged. "Applebuckin's so easy, I don't have to put my mind to it anymore. Gives me a lot of time fer thinkin'."

Twilight was suddenly tackled to the floor by a pink blur. "They're right, Twilight, and you know it!" said Pinkie as she hugged Twilight tightly. "You're gonna be the bestest princess ever!"

Twilight's head was spinning from the hug-assault, but she still managed to start giggling. "OK, OK, I'll stop complaining. For now, anyway."

The room erupted into giggles as the other four mares joined the pile in a mass hug.

From his perch on the table, Spike rolled his eyes. "Ugh!"

"Our apologies for interrupting," came Celestia's voice.

The pile of hugging ponies looked at the door, to see Celestia and Luna entering the room. Both had wide grins as they watched the scene.

There were a couple minutes of confusion as the six friends worked at untangling themselves, but at length they were bowing.

"Good evening, princesses," Twilight said from the floor. A moment later, to her surprise, a midnight-blue hoof slid underneath her chin and gently pushed her back up to her feet.

"Please let that be the final time you bow to us, Twilight," Luna told her gently. "It would no longer be appropriate for you to do that, being our social equal now."

"But..."

"Luna is quite right, Twilight," Celestia insisted. "As of this afternoon, the three of us are equals."

Twilight was silent as she digested that.

"Socially, anyway. But for the time being, I'm still your teacher and you're still my student. I thought that the time was right for another little lesson."

Twilight perked up. "Of course, prin..."

"Celestia," her teacher corrected.

"Uh..."

"Please, Twilight," Luna added.

"I...uh...I'll try, er, Celestia. *ahem* Luna."

The older princesses smiled at her, and Celestia leaned forward to nuzzle her. "Please follow us, Twilight. In fact, all of you are welcome to follow." She and Luna walked to the room's balcony, the other six ponies and Spike all following in their wake.

Once outside, Celestia and Luna lay down side by side. The others stopped in an uncertain cluster behind them.

"Twilight, please come here and lay between us."

More than a little nervously, the newly crowned princess did as Celestia bade. It was, she noted with some surprise, dusk outside. With everything that had happened, she hadn't noticed how late the day had gotten.

"It is time for my sister and I to lower the sun and raise the moon," Luna told her. "Celly felt that this time, you should have a closer view of it, so to speak."

"Really?" Twilight breathed, feeling almost like that little foal at her first Summer Sun Celebration again.

Celestia and Luna smiled at her again.

"This will be a new experience, but I know you are ready," Celestia told her. "Just stay calm, and open your mind to the magic."

Twilight nodded, and Celestia and Luna leaned their heads, touching their horns to Twilight's. The lavender princess closed her eyes and willed herself calm as the other princesses lit their horns.

And the entire universe *moved*.

With a gasp, Twilight opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. As she watched, the sun sank below one horizon and the moon appeared above the other. But for the first time, she could *feel* their motion through the sky, an indescribable sense like nothing she had ever felt before. The sun was out of sight now, the edge of the world burning with pink and orange fire as the moon gracefully rose higher. And now the stars were slowly fading into view, each one a new pinprick of sensation.

For several long minutes, Twilight remained riveted, content to simply experience this new life that she'd never known existed. And then Celestia and Luna withdrew their horns.

Twilight gasped again as she felt her consciousness collapse back into her. For a few perilous moments, she felt unbearably hollow.

"Are you all right, Twilight?" Celestia asked gently.

"It was...so much...*greater*...than anything I've ever known before," Twilight whispered, still unable to tear her eyes away from the sky.

"It will become more familiar to you in time," Celestia assured her. "As you grow into your power, you will be able to sense it on your own, without our help. So I think, anyway. That's a gift that even Cadence will probably never possess, as your magic is so much more powerful than hers."

Twilight had no answer to that, so she simply continued watching the sky.

"And by the way, Twilight, I agree with what your friends told you earlier," Luna said softly into her ear. "You are much too hard on yourself. You are a better and stronger pony than you give yourself credit for."

Twilight finally tore her gaze from the sky and blinked at Luna. "Er..."

"Luna!" Celestia groaned.

"Celly didn't want me to mention that we eavesdropped on that," the night princess explained with a mild smirk.

Twilight blushed. "Oh. Um, that's OK, prin...Luna."

Celestia gave an exasperated sigh, prompting Luna to chuckle as she rose to her feet. "And now I must take my leave. My night awaits me." She unfurled her wings and rose into the sky. "Sweet dreams, sister and friends."

She glided away, and was soon lost in the darkness.

With another sigh, Celestia rose to her feet. "I believe it is time for us creatures of the day to retire, my little ponies. We've had a long day."

"That's for sure," Rainbow agreed.

Twilight turned to see all her friends, including Spike, had been seated in a comfortable pile behind the three princesses. They were all standing now, and Twilight trotted over to Spike, kneeling down so that he could climb onto her back.

"Though some of us have had a longer day than others," Twilight declared wryly.

The comment was rewarded with laughter from her friends, and the newly crowned princess cantered back into the castle, feeling in much higher spirits than she had before. Soon she had Spike tucked in to his basket (much fancier than the one he used in the Ponyville library) and was crawling into her own bed in her newly assigned royal suite. Her consciousness began fading as soon as her head touched the pillow. Her final thought was about the flippant comment she had made shortly after her coronation.

Maybe everything really would be just fine after all.