The coronation had to be one of the most beautiful ones I had ever seen, not that I had actually seen that many.

There were a lot of things that I liked about it. All of my friends are here with me, that’s something that is always good to know. When I got hit with the rainbow, and turned into an Alicorn, that was something that I had wondered about. If I was going to be a princess, that might have had some effect on my friendships. I was really glad they were here, I didn’t think that I could really be here without them.

That was meant in more ways than one.

Not only wouldn’t I have been there in terms of not being an Alicorn, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be there in the first place. I knew that this sort of thing, being a princess, was always the dream of so many mares. That sort of thing that had never been my dream, though. I had been content to simply be a unicorn, to simply be the student to one of the most powerful mares in the history of Equestria. Even as I stood there, knowing that my future was tied to my new royal status, I still didn’t want to be a princess.

Applejack could see that I was having trouble, and she was soon standing beside me.

“It’s gonna be alright Twi.” I hear the voice that I had heard plenty of times today, saying the same thing that I had heard her say several times today. “It ain’t like this is yer first time leading. Every time we had to save Equestria, you’ve been there. And when we had to get winter wrapped up on time.” I felt her nudge me with her hoof. “You were there, makin’ sure that everything ran the way it needed to.”

I could barely count how many times she had come over today, trying to make sure that I didn’t freak out. Not out of some inability to count to eighteen, but out of the fact that keeping track of that wasn’t exactly my highest priority at this point. I was standing at a precipice. I didn’t want to run away, that would have upset Princess Celestia. I also didn’t want to think of all of the things that could go wrong with me being a princess.

Yet bringing it up made me vocalize it.

“But this is so much worse.” I looked at her, and she gave me an incredulous look. “What if I go back to Canterlot, and I end up insulting a gryphon ambassador?” I begin to think of all the things that could happen because of such a seemingly small mistake. “Imagine if they declared war. They’d attack us, and then we’d have to fight back. Hundreds would, no, thousands would die. It would be all my fault.” I didn’t know if any of that would happen, but the simple fact that it was possible was enough to make me not want to be a princess.

That, and a lot of other reasons.

“I’m sure that ain’t gonna happen, Sugarcube.” I couldn’t believe that she didn’t understand how easily gryphons were offended. The simple act of sneezing in the direction of one once caused a war between the Pegasi under Command Hurricane and the Gryphon Empire. “There’s gonna be more than just you. I’m sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are gonna be there, prolly with diplomats who are gonna deal with the ambassadors.” I had really gotten used to Applejack being a pillar of calm, even if I didn’t tell her that often. She was always there for me, to make sure that I didn’t lose the remaining sanity I had left.

It would have been nice if she could join me in Canterlot, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Then again, with any luck I would be able to stay here.

“Okay, you’re probably right about that.” I hadn’t thought about the fact that there were ambassadors that were trained for that very thing. It probably had something to do with the fact that even a sneeze was enough to start a war in the past. “But what if I have to have a court and settle the problems of large groups of ponies?” I almost shrank back, just the thought of being forced to deal with a large crowd that would likely have gotten unruly was enough of a reason to want to try to get out of it. I hadn’t even done it a single time, but I knew that it was a bad idea.

There were some things that a pony didn’t have to try to know they were bad.

Part of me hoped that Applejack would come up with something. I knew that this was something that I was going to have to deal with, Princess Celestia seemed to really like the idea that I be a princess. At least, I think she liked it. The more that I thought about it, the more I figured I would need to find a way to make sure that I had Applejack there with me. She would be my Smart Cookie. Well, I didn’t think I was quite as bad as Puddinghead, but the idea still stood.

As I continued to wait for something, I noticed that she bowed. I quickly turned to see Princess Celestia standing there. The worst part was that I didn’t know how long she had been standing there. Maybe she had been waiting for a long time. I really needed to apologize. “There’s no need for you two to bow, not today. This is your day, Twilight. Or should I say Princess Twilight?” As the two of us rose to our hooves, Celestia looked out into the crowd.

“I used to have that same problem, by the way.” I wondered what she was talking about. Princess Celestia didn’t have problems. Well, she didn’t have many. “I used to get so nervous around the large crowds. Each of them had a different need, a different want, and it was all up to me to make sure that everything went alright.” This seemed like something I would have though t she would have told me before. “Not only that, but there were times when ponies would have conflicting problems. Airing them together, that was a quick way for an argument to start. It didn’t take long before I came up with a solution, something I think might help you as well.”

I was going to get wisdom, straight from Princess Celestia.

“For a while, I cut down the amount of ponies I saw at once. I wasn’t ready to deal with it all at once, like I said. Dealing with them on at a time, it gave me some focus. It allowed me to think through every problem. And it made the ponies all feel calmer, not to mention the focus ensured that they knew their problem was being taken care of.” I couldn’t help but wonder why I hadn’t thought of that. It seemed so simple when Celestia said it, it made so much sense. I generally did the same thing when I could, I focused on problems as much as I was allowed, yet I hadn’t thought of doing that with this problem. “But that isn’t the only reason why I came over, unfortunately.” I noticed that she turned to Applejack, the serene smile on her face.

“I’m going to need to talk to Twilight about something. Don’t worry, I’m sure that she’s going to tell you all eventually. For now, however, I’d like for this to be something between the two of us.” Applejack just looked at her, then to me, and then quietly walked away. Whatever it was, I figured it was probably really important. Of course, it wasn’t so important that I couldn’t tell them later. I wondered what it could have been. Then she said them, simple words that I hadn’t exactly been looking forward to hearing.

“We’re going to have to talk about what is going to happen from here on out. After all, you’re a princess. That changes a lot of things, and I would much rather talk to you about them than have them thrown at you at the last second.”

Sunset Shimmer

Things were going better than I could have expected, or at least better than I would have expected. It was true that I wasn’t a princess, that the entire school wasn’t under my control anymore. It was true that everything wasn’t really going my way. I didn’t get everything I wanted simply because I wanted it. All of that had changed when Princess Twilight had shown up, and had made sure that my plans hadn’t succeeded.

There were times when I wondered what might have been if I had won. I wouldn’t have some of the best friends I had ever met. I’ve never actually been sure if the plan would have succeeded when I was back in Equestria. Things would have been a lot different, though. I have always known, ever since it failed, that it was a good thing that the plan didn’t succeed. At the same time, though, there isn’t a single person, or pony, that doesn’t dream about being royalty.

I may have changed, but I never pretended to be perfect.

I had to keep trying to improve, though.

Right now, I was staring at my reasons for changing. Each of them had helped me out in some way. There was Applejack, the most honest and dependable of people. Fluttershy was always there with a kind smile and a warm hug. I doubted that Rainbow Dash would ever leave her friends in trouble, or maybe anyone else who needed her. Rarity was always there, trying to give much more than I thought anyone had the ability to give. Finally, there was Pinkie. She was always the weirdest of all my friends, always the one who did her best to make sure that everybody had a smile and a cupcake. They have always been there for me, and I doubted that would ever change.

Well, unless I went through with this plan I was thinking about.

A couple of tears started to form, and I quickly wiped them off. Rainbow had always told me that cool girls didn’t cry. I turned for a moment, to look at the statue that had the portal on it. I thought to all of the ponies that I had left behind. There weren’t that many friends, I actually couldn’t think of a single one. I did have family on that side, though, even if I hadn’t been able to find a single one of them on this side. My family probably misses me a lot, though, since I just sort of disappeared quite a few years back.

“Are you sure you have to do this? I would love it if you’d stay, we all would, if you’d like to that is…”

If any of them had to change, and I hoped they didn’t, I really hoped that Fluttershy could stay the same. The world needed more of that. “I’d love to stay here.” Those words made them all look happy. That made these next words especially difficult. “But I can’t. I can’t just stay here anymore, not without knowing about my family back home. I haven’t thought about them for so long, but I can’t ignore them anymore.” There had to be something that I could say, something that would have brought a smile back to their faces. “Maybe I can convince them to come back here. It shouldn’t take too long to find them, and then we can all have some fun here.” I winked at Pinkie Pie as I looked at her. “And I’m sure they’d like one of your parties.”

That likely wasn’t going to be enough to convince them that I had to go. I had to, though. A couple of seconds later, I turned and almost charged through the portal. According to my calendar, this should have been the first day that portal opened. That meant that I only had a short time before I had to come back here and go through the mirror. It won’t take that long to find my family, I was sure of that. Then I was going to come back, and we were all going to have a party.

I was going to stick with what I said.

As I went through the portal, one thought shot through my mind. This was going to be just fine. Everything was going to go the way I needed it to. It wasn’t like I was trying to take over or anything, not this time.

Today was going to be a great day, I just knew it.

There was plenty of time for me to get everything that I wanted. Not only that, but this was going to be a rare opportunity. Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza were both available to see me today. Well, I usually just called them Shiny and Cadance, but sometimes formal titles like that were always interesting. Part of me wondered how Cadance had gotten her longer name, but I had never actually bothered to ask her. Maybe I would eventually. Maybe I could get to ask her today. This was going to be the first time in a few months that I had been able to see my brother or sister-in-law.

I blamed the nobles.

It had happened shortly after the coronation. There had been calls for me to come back to Canterlot, to hold court. There had been one insistent unicorn, Blueblood, who had tried to tell me that it was destiny for us to get married. I was quick to turn down each of those, especially the last one. That hadn’t been something that ended quickly, though, with there being a lot of arguments from the very ponies that would have likely hated it if she was there in the first place.

It was a good thing Princes Celestia was there, and that she had been willing to actually listen to me.

In the end, my titles were sorted out and everything worked out so far. I was Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Magic and Friendship, as well as the Caretaker of Ponyville. It didn’t seem to be something that affected Mayor Mare, or at least I was told not to worry about it. That didn’t help out at first, but I knew to trust that Princes Celestia knew what she was doing. It didn’t hurt that I really liked the idea.

I really didn’t get along with nobles.

That was actually part of the reason why I was here. I was going to enjoy some time with my brother and former foalsitter. It was going to be nice to sit back, relax, and maybe get a little advice. The two of them seemed to know what they were doing, after all. Cadance seemed to know what she was doing what it came to the nobility, she could probably have given me advice for how to deal with some of the more vocal ones.

That would come after…

What’s that noise?

I heard a loud crash, followed by the sight of some guards running. Something wasn’t right about any of that, obviously. I couldn’t think of a single thing that might have attacked the Empire. My worst fears were that it had something to do with my brother or Cadance. If somepony was there to hurt them, that would be terrible. There was no way that I was going to figure out what was happening by standing there, though, I had to go to the source.

It was probably being dealt with. I somehow knew that my worries were going to be for nothing. After all, my brother used to be a guard captain. There were a lot of things wrong, but his ability to train troops wasn’t one of them.

I didn’t expect this type of greeting.

Actually, I wasn’t sure what type of greeting I expected. It would have been nice if it had been a little nicer, but that hadn’t been likely. The thing that I didn’t expect was what happened within a few seconds of me coming through the mirror. There were quite a large number of guards. I didn’t have any clue how they could have known I was coming, or even why they would care if I came back through to try to go to Equestria. This sort of thing didn’t happen the last time I came through, there were almost no guards that I had needed to get past.

That was it.

I really should have thought this one through. There was no way they would welcome somebo-pony like me back here so easily. Those sharp pointy weapons, they were definitely something that I needed to get away from. The only thing I could think to do was try to get out of there, though a few seconds after I tried to power up my horn I only saw sparks.

That wasn’t the worst part.

Imagine a guard in armor landing on you. The armor is meant to be able to help if something hits a guard, so logically it’s thick metal. Thick metal is heavy, and the pony who is carrying it is likely to get strong. Add all of that together, and the fact that I was tackled by more than one guard meant that things weren’t exactly pleasant.

With me being in the dungeon, though, the worst part of it was over. Things started off bad, but they couldn’t get much worse for me from here.