“…If you’d like to know more, I recently published a paper detailing this further. Although we only have limited time today. Thank you all for coming.”

A polite applause filled my ears and the auditorium quickly rose from their seats and filed out of the hall. I could only hope that they’d taken on some of what I’d said. I was in that position once. Impatient, thinking I knew better than the tutor.

One mare didn’t go through the back door and decided to approach me, “Professor?”

“I’m no professor, unfortunately.”

“Oh! I’m sorry. I was just wondering about this part, on page five?”

I pulled out my own copy and guided her through the material, answering her questions to the best of my ability, “If everypony took as much an interest in this stuff as you did, my life would be much easier.”

“We have had a lot of long lectures recently.”

“I keep telling them that they turn the brain off. But they don’t listen.”

“Well I think you’re very interesting! Thank you so much for the help.”

“Don’t worry about it – it’s a good thing to be curious. Hopefully, I’ll get invited back soon and wrap this up.”

I packed up my things and locked the door behind me, although there was something of a commotion going on in the corridor outside. I turned to my left and saw the reason why, towering above the ponies that had gathered around her.

“Twilight.”

“Toffee! I was waiting for you.” We shared a friendly hug, which seemed to shock the students. Getting casual with a princess was a social taboo after all, but when did I ever care about those? “Do you have somewhere private we can talk?”

I led Twilight away from the crowds and into a quiet room reserved for the tutors between sessions. It was a light shift so nobody else was around. “Remember when I used to be taller than you?”

“What? Twenty years ago?”

“And cheekier too,” I rubbed my head. Twilight had gained a sharp sense of humour from spending too much time around me. “It’s been a while, and I know you don’t drop by for a courtesy visit anymore.”

“Yes, well, I’m quite busy.”

“I can imagine.”

“How is the family?”

“Good. The house is never dull, that’s for sure.” I took a seat; I was really starting to feel the years impacting my mobility, “Hazel is moving out soon, so maybe it’ll be a little bit quieter.”

“I suppose I should get to the point though, since you like brevity so much!”

“I do like brevity.”

“I’d like to offer you a job. I know you’re very dedicated to the farm and speaking here, but I was hoping that I could convince you to come be my minister for agriculture. I can’t think of anypony better for the position, and Green Fields is retiring.”

“Cushy government job? Who says having friends doesn’t pay.”

“I wish it were cushy at the moment. But you know all the drama firsthoof.”

“I do. And you want me to come in and use my charm and charisma to smooth it all over?”

“That’s the plan.”

“First problem, I’ll probably just make it even worse. You know how little patience I have for that kind of thing.”

“Perfect. I need someone to shake things up. The famers aren’t happy with being represented by nobles all the time, and I’m inclined to agree. Green Fields was amazing at his job, but he’d never worked a day on a farm in his life.”

I laughed, “…You really have changed, two decades ago and you’d be paralyzed at the thought of having to consider anybody’s feelings.”

“I had to, if I was going to lead an entire country.”

“Well, I’m not needed to look after the house anymore, that’s why I’ve been down here so often. It boggles my mind that Ponyville didn’t have a college twenty years ago. This place has exploded.”

“It has. It’s almost unrecognizable now.”

Was I really going to do this? I looked out of the window, onto the rolling fields and distant mountains, “Where do you think she is? Do you keep in touch?”

“She sends me a letter, but not so much that I know where she is all the time. I think she’s enjoying her retirement.”

“Job well fucking done huh. You think she ever spares a thought for us?”

“I don’t know. She’s lived longer than anybody else, I couldn’t guess what she’s thinking. All I know is that she wanted to move on.”

“Moving on isn’t a benefit that I get to enjoy.”

“You seem to change places every time I see you. Last time you were back digging ditches for ponies, now you’re lecturing at colleges.”

“True.”

“Can you do it? I’d owe you.”

“I don’t want any favours. You did enough for me back then. Unless you want to come down to the next family reunion, AJ would love it.”

“I’ll see if I can get a day off.”

“That’s only enough for us to introduce everyone, make it a week.”

“The Royal Highnesses’ Minister of Agriculture, Toffee Apple.”

Jeers and cheers barraged me from the balconies as I rose from my seat at the head of the room and took the podium. It had been a period of massive change for Twilight’s Equestria. In order to earn the approval of the once loyal noble families she needed to give them a seat at government decision making – giving birth to what could only be described as a pale imitation of a democracy. Luckily, Twilight had made sure that she had the final say on most important matters - because otherwise we’d be at war with the griffons every other week.

“Order, order!”

I cleared my throat and glowered at the noble who had spoken before me, Twilight had not lined up an easy debut act for me. “Mister Pants, need I remind you that these concerns come directly from the farmers themselves. It’s all well and good to be playing with their livelihoods from up here in Canterlot, but in matters of fairness, protectionist trade policy should be used as a retaliatory measure. Unless you think that everyone else should bare the cost of rising food prices.”

A chorus of nobles shouted out, “Aye!”

“You shouldn’t be in the business of discounting their opinions – in fact, their word should be the most important. I highly doubt you’ve ever set foot on a farm yourself.”

“I fail to see why that’s relevant!” he yelled back out of turn, only to be sniped down by the speaker with a pointed glare.

“While many things have changed in the last decade, what has not is the importance of our farming communities. They feed us, and without them there would be no Equestria. If this measure passes, I can only imagine the amount of pressure that will be put onto Canterlot for passing over them. It could be that they ask for a seat at the table in future.”

“You don’t have the nerve!”

“I have more nerve in my flank than your entire body!” The house rumbled as nobles began shouting at each other again.

“Order! Order!”

“I’m an expert at herding pigs. I’ll shepherd you all to the correct decision eventually.”

That did it.

“When I said I wanted you to shake up the house, I didn’t mean get into a fight with Fancypants on the first reading…”

I held the newspaper in my hooves and read the headline aloud, “BIG MARE IN THE HOUSE: ‘New Farms Minister Clatters Fancypants.’ It’s kind of artful in a way.”

“The front page is you sitting on him while he begs for mercy…”

“Yeah, the farmers will love it! He should pick on someone his own size.”

Twilight sighed as we sat in her room in the castle. The session had to be called to an end immediately afterwards so people could calm down again. Too much action would stop their poor frail hearts. They sure got the news out fast.

“You know what? You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Thank you.”

The door swung open and a tan mare with ginger hair charged in, “Mom!”

“Hello Hazel, did you enjoy your tour of the castle?”

“I leave you alone for two hours and you get yourself onto the front page of the National Equestrian?!”

“I’m the new minister, I have to make an impression.”

“I don’t think that ‘impression’ is meant to be an imprint of your flank on Fancypants’ stomach,” she turned to look at the Princess. She quickly leapt down at bowed at her hooves, “I’m sorry Princess! I didn’t see you there.”

“There’s no need for such formality. I’m a friend.”

She hopped back to her hooves and glanced at me, “So you weren’t lying when you said you knew Princess Twilight.”

I slid the newspaper back across the table, “Why do you think so little of me? I don’t know where you got this bad attitude from.”

“You,” quick as a whip.

“I do believe that is the case,” Twilight nodded.

“I can’t rely on my own daughter for praise, I guess I have to look elsewhere. In fact, a nice stallion said I was a MILB on the way here - whatever that means.”

…

“Mom!”

“Why are you so red? Do you know?” I smirked. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction too. We calmed down and went back to more menial things. “I’m glad that it’s easier to get up here now. Doing this three times a week twenty years ago would be crazy.”

“If Canterlot wants to be the capital of this country, you need to be able to get here quickly.”

Hazel looked between us, “How long have you known each other?”

“About twenty-two years now? Just as Twilight opened the library down in Ponyville.”

“Library?”

“It looks a bit different now, you know, giant crystal tree.”

“Not in the same spot,” Twilight corrects you. “It got turned into a crater…”

“Was that you or someone else?” I jabbed.

“I’d never so much as spill water on a book. Destroying an entire library may just kill me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for later.” I looked up at the clock, it was time to head home before the trains stopped running. “Looks like it’s time to go.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other,” Twilight used her magic to clean away the mess left by our meeting. Hazel excused herself to allow me one more word with her.

“Out of sight, out of mind is what I’d like to say. But Celestia never goes away does she? She casts a long shadow.”

“I know. I have a tough act to follow by being the leader now.”

“…As long as you remember that you’re leading ponies, not pawns. You know the real reason I decided to do this?”

“No.”

“I want as many front pages as I can get. If I can’t forget, I’m sure as hell going to make sure that she remembers as well. I want a statue in the royal fucking garden, so that every time she walks past it she remembers just how badly she fucked me over. Then I can die happy.”

“I don’t know the feeling.”

“I hope you don’t. It sucks.” Twilight looked at me sadly, she knew that my years were numbered unlike hers. I only had so much time to make peace with myself.

I walked into the corridor, Hazel leant against the doorway next to me, “Are you done? Dad’s going to burn down the house if we don’t get back on time.”

“Your brother will have to restrain him.”

“Those two fighting would cause more damage than the fire.”

“Maybe.”

The sun set over Canterlot as we walked through the marble streets.

Author's Notes:

A huge thank you to:
Evo
Korenav

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