April 26th, 1001 Domina Solaria

Lauday.

A tired sigh escapes wearied lips as Headmare Twilight Sparkle’s quill pauses. Her horn rests as she stretches, yawning in a fashion most unbecoming of a Princess but perfectly understandable for anypony pulling an all-nighter. Or several all-nighters in a row, taking catnaps in place of real rest, but such is the price she must pay to keep her School of Friendship running at full steam.

Today marks the end of the second week of classes, but it already feels like the end of the second month with how much effort she has to pour in. She wonders if Celestia gets this frustrated, or if she’s molded her expectations over the centuries to accept the… peculiarities of her fellow ponies. Fluttershy has taken to teaching Kindness like a fish to water, if only she can refrain from bringing the fish (and spiders and puckwudgies and other ‘friendly creatures of the Everfree’) to class. Spoiled Rich only needs occasional reminders that a friendship ‘earned’ does not mean a friendship ‘bought’, but otherwise seems to have garnered the grudging respect of the greedier students, not that she thinks of them like that. Chrysalis has been remarkably compliant, suspiciously so; Twilight struggles to forget what the changeling has done or threatened to do, even as she tries to forgive. Trixie is only slightly less frustrating than Pinkie Pie, her freely told tales containing as much substance as the students paid for them, while the partymare takes any suggestion to rein in her ‘Parties as Teaching’ as an affront to her very being. Which, to be fair, it is, but the students need a more productive environment than a perpetual party.

Still, the sight of smiling students streaming from the school makes all the struggles worthwhile. They wave to each other as they depart, banding together in groups of two and three and four while the six foreign students laze about in the sun.

Years ago (or even last year) she might have thought that time wasted, frittered away like bits at a bourgeois bar instead of the local bakery. She would have lamented any minute spent outside school or the library, vastly preferring to keep her muzzle firmly ensconced in whatever tome she was working her way through at the time.

She sighs, glancing around her office. Is she reverting to old habits? She managed to line only three of her four walls with books. Covering her window and door with more seems counterproductive, as much as she wants easier access to the books she was forced to set aside at her castle’s library, even if that library is literally under her hooves. She looks forward to reorganizing and reshuffling, picking the most relevant ones to keep close at hoof. But how can she choose between two halves (or hundredths, as the case may be) of herself? But before she can get to that labor of love, she has a checklist to finish; she has to go over the lesson plans for next week, and-

A knock comes at her door.

She suppresses her groan. Hopefully it’s not another student wondering if they can leave campus for the weekend. She really needs to hire a pony to deal with minor issues and schedules, some sort of guidance counselor, but she’s too busy making sure her current teachers are up to snuff.

This reminds her of Princess Celestia’s assistants around the time she got her cutie mark and an assistant of her own. Every week the alicorn had a different rookie or two doing coffee runs, collecting her numerous reports, or starting to gather records of their own. Most didn’t last long, a week or less, but any that made it the full month she found a place for. That changed once the changelings joined her posing as Raven, the alicorn finding their ample aid indispensable in these hectic times.

Another knock comes before the door opens and in peeks a pink muzzle and purple eye. “Twilight?”

Any gloomy thoughts flee faster than shadows before the sun. Or, in this case, a Crystal Heart.

“Cadance!” Twilight bounds over, in her haste nearly ripping the door off its hinges. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

Hooves clap and flanks shake, the two grinning as they end their foalhood dance with cutie marks mashing into each other.

“I love what you’ve done with the place,” Cadance remarks, not bothering to pull away. “Even if I can’t say I’m surprised by the decor.”

“Oh, well, if that’s the case,” Twilight says, beaming as she trots to her desk and pulls her quill out to strike off ‘reorganize decorations’ from her checklist. She shudders as she leaves the incomplete list behind next to a framed picture of Doug and her herdmates about six months out of date; she really needs to get a new one! She turns to face Cadance and hopefully put the list out of her mind. “What brings you to Ponyville?” She cocks her head as she inspects Cadance’s cutie mark, but nothing seems amiss. “It’s not a cutie mark problem, is it?” She stamps her hooves in a rapid dance, jittery with excitement. “Ooh, please let it be a cutie mark problem!”

“No, not that I’m aware of,” Cadance chuckles. “I just thought I’d stop by when the fate of Equestria wasn’t hanging in the balance.”

Twilight joins in the laughter. “Seaquestria, the Storm King and the Council of Creatures.”

“Doug, Discord and Tirek.”

“Chrysalis and her changelings.”

“Conceiving alicorn foals.”

“Discord again.”

“Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight frowns. “Wait, what did you do about Nightmare Moon?”

Cadance sighs heavily. “Should Celestia’s plan not pan out, as the remaining Princess I was to officially surrender Equestria to her rule and ensure the survival of as many ponies as possible.” She winks at Twilight. “Fortunately, we didn’t have to go through with that.”

“Right,” Twilight says nervously. She coughs. “It’s been quite the year, hasn’t it?”

Cadance nods, smirking. “I berate myself for ever thinking I wanted more exciting responsibilities.”

“Yeah, me too,” Twilight commiserates. “Some days I want to just snuggle up in a corner with a good book or ten.” She sighs as she glances outside at the congregating students. “But, then, I wouldn’t be doing all this.”

“It may not be an easy choice,” Cadance agrees, “but it is a worthwhile sacrifice.”

“Mm.” Twilight trades a fond nuzzle with her former foalsitter. “So, what other sorts of exciting responsibilities are you saddled with these days?”

Cadance sighs as she plops down on her rump, Twilight quickly following at her side, the two staring out the window. “Well, you know Celestia was grooming me to take over the Crystal Empire if or when it returned. After that fell through? I was already training new hires and finding positions for promising candidates, and Luna took over most of our foreign relations, so I’ve mostly been working with my husband on security and keeping close tabs on our neighbors to the north.”

Twilight grins eagerly. “Any weapons testing?”

Cadance pouts, quite put out. “No. Apparently I’m too valuable to risk if something goes awry, but he’s perfectly expendable. Not that Shiny wants to leave me and the foal, of course.”

“That’s a shame,” Twilight consoles, the two resting their heads against each other. She tries not to think about the herd accepting her were something to happen to her brother. “Hey, you mentioned trying out new hires?” Cadance nods; Twilight loves the way their fur rubs against each other, but she pulls away slightly. “Were you assessing me back then, too?”

“Well,” Cadance stalls, “you were the foal of her Backup for the Stars and a double six agent. She saw great things in you.” She nips at Twilight’s wings. “Rightly so, I dare say.”

“Oh.” Twilight self consciously rubs a hoof against her leg. “Um, thanks.”

“But, no, I wasn’t officially testing your capabilities at that time, though Celestia values all reports.” Cadance studies Twilight. “What brought that on?”

“I’m thinking about bringing on a guidance counselor or vice headmare,” Twilight explains. “Somepony to work with the students, take care of minor issues and discipline while I focus on the teachers and curriculum.”

“Hmm.” Cadance taps her chin as her gaze wanders to the ceiling. “You want my advice?”

“Sure,” Twilight says, all ears.

“First,” Cadance explains, “you wouldn’t want somepony just like you.”

Twilight’s face scrunches up. “Wait, what?”

Cadance nods. “Yup. You still want the same goals, of course, they’re there for the student’s well-being. But if they thought a goody four-shoes could solve their problem they’d go to you. You need somepony who is the opposite of you in many ways.”

Twilight snickers. “You make her sound like some sort of comic book villain, a twisted mirror image of myself.”

Cadance raises a hoof and shakes it in a ‘yeah, pretty much’ sort of way.

“Oh.” Twilight nods along, warming up to the idea. “So, they should be somepony like me who grew up friendless?”

“You had your brother,” Cadance gently reminds. “And Spike. And me.”

“Okay, but Shining is my brother, that hardly counts. Spike was my ward. And you married my brother, so you’re retroactively family, too.” Twilight sticks her tongue out at winning the pedantic point.

Cadance merrily rolls her eyes. “And, having few friends, they surrounded themselves with false friends instead of true.”

“~True, true friends~” Twilight corrects.

“~A True, True Friend helps a friend in need~” Cadance sings along, though neither can place the song. She goes back to studying Twilight. “They should be mostly self-taught yet still powerful, experienced at taking care of personnel problems, and with a certain disregard for the rules.”

“Ooh, I would find that infuriating,” Twilight comments, writing down the suggestions. “That’s perfect.” She glances back, eagerly asking, “You have somepony in mind? Somepony who has been down this dark and starlit path, yet there remains a glimmer of hope?

Cadance chews at her lip. “Nopony comes to mind.”

Twilight sighs. “Shoot.”

“I doubt my husband would let you do that, either.” Cadance winks, smirking as Twilight chuckles.

“Maybe not a pony, then?” Twilight laughs to herself at the absurdity that comes to mind. “What about Discord?”

“You’d best be quick about it,” a deep, magnificent yet annoyed voice rings out. “Somepony nearly scored in me, and I would hate for them to think I was playing favorites.”

“Hello, Discord,” Twilight greets as her doorframe walks away from the wall and transforms into a bent draconequus, leaving the door precariously balanced against nothing. She pulls out a contract from deep within her desk. “I have an opening for vice headmare. Would you be interested?”

Discord skims through the contract, the smile on his face growing wider and wider until it stretches fully around his head. “I should thank your lawyer; this is loopier than a roller coaster convention.”

Twilight frowns. “I wrote it myself.”

“Well, no wonder.” Discord flashes a grin at Twilight before going back to reading. Then his eyes bug out when he reaches the end, his lower body flopping to the floor as his gaping maw cuts himself in half. An arm on the floor points at nothing, too far away to jab at the paper that somehow stays aloft. “Wait, wait, wait. You expect me to abide by the spirit of this?”

“Eeyup,” Twilight says, echoing the mare she spent last night with.

Discord scoffs, letting the paper drift to the floor. “I’d sooner return to being a goalpost. And I think I shall.”

He disappears with a snap of his claws.

Twilight shrugs. “Worth a shot, I guess. Let me know if you find anypony who matches the mark.”

“Will do,” Cadance says, returning to snuggling withers to withers. “How else are things here?”

Twilight eyes Cadance warily. “I already send Celestia a weekly report, as do my teachers. If she wants more, she can ask herself and be specific.”

“Oh, no, nothing like that.” Cadance offers Twilight an apologetic grin, which Twilight readily accepts. “As one Friend to another.”

“Oh.” Twilight pauses. “I mean, I could talk for hours about the school and not scratch the surface. It’s not that I’m frustrated…”

She sighs. If Applejack were here she’d be raising an eyebrow in her direction.

“Okay,” she admits. “It’s a little frustrating. But that’s mostly the workload, and these little ones, and not having my Friends at my side. I mean, they are, but they aren’t, and…”

“I understand,” Cadance reassures, a comforting hoof tenderly rubbing at Twilight’s outstretched leg. “I’ve been back and forth between the Crystal Empire whenever I’m not packing up. I don’t see my Shiny nearly as often as I’d like.”

“Crystal Empire? Packing up?” Twilight gamely pokes her in the side. “Spill!”

“I’m afraid I can’t disclose what’s happening there,” Cadance says, eyes twinkling at the pout Twilight gives her. “It’s a surprise, and I would hate to be the pony who spoils your surprise.”

It might be Twilight’s imagination, but the picture of Pinkie Pie sure looks like she’s menacingly pointing at her.

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