Her Royal Majesty Princess Celestia, the Ruler of Equestria and Its Satellites, Bringer of the Sun, Giver of Law, Vanquisher of Evil, Queen of the Sky, Duchess of the West, Generallissimo of the Equestrian Army, Lady of Canterlot Castle, Chairpony of the Council of Magic, Headmistress of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Archcurator of the Canterlot Royal Archives, Senior Leader of the Equestrian Crisis Council, Head Researcher of the Equestrian Historical Society, she of infinite patience, caring, and wisdom, immortal leader of All Ponykind, was fed up.

"So let me get this straight," she said, peering down at the assembled ponies at the foot of her throne, "you want me to approve this bill . . ."

"Exactly, Auntie," broke in Blueblood. "That's what we've been saying this entire time!"

"You all expect me to make into law a bill which not only reduces your royal income tax, already at 1.5 percent, to zero, but in fact gives you a rather large tithe from the royal income because, and I quote," -she peered at the parchment- "We're just that awesome."

Blueblood, Jet Set, Uppercrust, and several other members of the Canterlot elite nodded in approval.

"I am not signing this," said Celestia, "and that's my final say. It is ludicrous and entirely unneccesary."

The ponies before her frowned. Celestia ignored them and continued, "I'm not even sure why you created this bill, Blueblood, since, as a member of the royal family, you already live off the income from the taxes."

Blueblood merely scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"We will be taking this to the legislature," said Jet Set. "Our cause will not be denied by the whim of one pony. We shall set our brave ideals before Equestria and let it decide."

"Bribe the representatives, you mean," said Celestia, sighing. "If you have no other issues to present before me, you are dismissed."

Celestia was not sad to see them leave, even if they took entirely too long to file out of the throne room. She shifted her royal tush slightly. Most ponies don't realize how uncomfortable the throne is. Years of desperate research suggested an irreversible hardening spell was put on it to "prevent royalty from sitting easy in power", by an annoyingly poetic former king. Celestia had even tried putting down a cushion, but it just turned into stone.

"Right, how many cases left?" she asked her scribe, sensing a migraine on the horizon.

"Only five hundred and seventy-three, your majesty!" said the scribe cheerily.

The sun flickered briefly overhead.

The orange light of sunset played upon the door as it squeaked gently open. "What's up, sister?" asked Luna. Celestia responded with a thrown pillow.

"That great, hmm?" said Luna, grinning. "Did you finally give in and pass Blueblood's silly bill?"

Celestia was lolled out on her bed, sipping tea, and feeding Philomeena cake. She frowned. "Of course not! If it went through, there wouldn't be enough in the budget to fund the new airship dock!" She groaned. "They'll get it through the convention, though, I just know it."

Luna tilted her head. "I still don't understand why you did all this, Tia. You had complete control, and you just gave it away and set up a system you hate!"

"You don't understand," insisted Celestia. "We can't just give orders. They need to think for themselves. They're all individuals. They're all unique. They have the potential to make Equestria into a better place than I could ever create. We just need to give them the opportunity."

She flopped her head back down. "Even if it puts me through Tartarus every day."

Luna sat down next to Celestia on the bed. "Can we still execute dissidents?"

"Not anymore," said Celestia, smiling ruefully. "We outlawed that five hundred years ago."

"Too bad," said Luna. She stared at the setting sun thoughtfully for a while, stroking Philomeena quietly, without saying anything. Celestia stared at her sister in confusion. Luna wasn't usually the thoughtful sibling; that was Celestia's job. What was she planning?

"I know what you need to do," said Luna at last. The corners of her mouth turned up into an impish smile, and she gazed at Celestia with a frightening look of mischief. Celestia felt genuine fear.

"I know what you need to do!" repeated Luna, more loudly now. She jumped up from the bed, causing Philomeena to squawk loudly. "It's obvious! Oh, and it'll be so fun!"

"Luna," said Celestia cautiously, "you and I have always had differing ideas of fun . . ."

"You should take a vacation!" said Luna.

"A what?"

"A vacation! A holiday!" said Luna. Celestia stared at her blankly. "You know, take some time off," said Luna encouragingly.

Celestia finally processed what her sister had said. "Take a break . . . from being a princess? Leave behind my kingdom? Who'll raise the sun every day? You're not yet powerful enough to handle it on your own, and you don't understand the system . . ."

Luna stuck her hoof over Celestia's mouth. "Just listen for a moment. You can take a temporary break from your job, just spend some time having fun for the first time in two-and-a-half thousand years. Travel Equestria! Relax! Be a normal pony, not the princess!" She pulled away her hoof and looked expectantly at her sister.

Celestia let out a bitter laugh and picked up her teacup. "Yes, and I certainly wouldn't stand out in a crowd."

"There is a solution for that," said Luna calmly. "You could be a normal pony, and have the sun taken care of as well."

The teacup nearly dropped, but Celestia caught herself. "Surely- you don't mean- the transfer-?"

Luna nodded.

"That's incredibly risky!" exclaimed Celestia. "Nopony's performed that spell in millenia, and for good reason!"

"There is very little chance of an accident when doing it. It's been done successfully before. And it can be reversed without too much effort," said Luna.

"But even we did go through with it, what pony would be responsible and knowledgeable enough to handle all that power?"

"I should think that would be obvious too," said Luna.

Once again, Celestia grappled with her teacup. "Absolutely not. I cannot ask her to do that for me- the risks are too high-"

"You know she could handle it," said Luna, smiling. "We just have to give her the opportunity."

Celestia paused to consider. I could gain brand new insights into my country . . . see things through the hooves of a normal pony . . . and yes, get away from all this work for a bit. And I'd certainly trust her with my life, but what if something unexpected happened? She couldn't handle a national crisis . . . no, that's not true, she's done it four times before. But still . . .

"I can't do it," said Celestia. "It is very tempting, and it might just work, but it's too big a risk to take."

Luna sighed. "You were always too responsible for your own good, sister."

Celestia trudged slowly to the throne room the next morning, not feeling any less overworked, but far more virtuous.

With a heavy heart, she entered the room and sat down upon that extremely uncomfortable, glorified chair. Her scribe bustled up with a look of alarm.

"Blueblood's taken his bill to the legislative convention, and they've backed it up. If you still want to veto it, he'll take it to the court."

Celestia's eyes widened in alarm. She had to veto the bill, there was no doubt about that, but if Blueblood was going to take it to court . . .

A long string of tedious hearings played through her mind's eye, with "citizen leaders" brought in from every corner of Equestria to testify, endless discussion and debates, and if worst came to worst, a popular vote . . .

"Your majesty?" asked the scribe.

Celestia bolted down the hall back to her rooms. Yanking a pen, inkpot, and sheet of parchment from goodness-knows-where, she sat down at her writing table, and began to scribble:

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Next Chapter: The Transfer Estimated time remaining: 26 Minutes