"Twilight, you CAN'T abdicate."

Celestia's voice was calm and patient, like a parent explaining something to a particularly stubborn child. It had stayed that way since the five of them-- Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and a stubbornly tagalong Nyx and Spike-- had retreated to the throne room to thrash this out.

Twilight was having none of it. "Watch me."

Luna shook her head. "Twilight, we have already explained to thee. Thy ascendance marked thee as a princess. All ponies of Equestria who ascend are, by default, Princesses of Equestria." She paused. "Or... Princes, but we haven't had one of those yet." Her brows tabled. "Much to my displeasure," she grumbled.

"Well you can call me a Princess all you want," Twilight said. "But short of chaining me to the throne you can't make me serve. And even then I'll just sit there and make rude noises at the petitioners. I. Abdicate."

Celestia sighed. "Tell me, Twilight-- why do you think I trained you? Why did I make you my personal protege'? What in Equestria did you imagine that I was testing you for, if not for this? I wanted you to become a Princess, I wanted you to become a ruler and a leader of Equestria. In retrospect, wasn't it obvious?"

Twilight looked up at the Solar Princess, her expression mild. "But did you ever ask if that was what I wanted?"

The throne room fell silent. Twilight repeated herself. "Well? Did you? Even once? Did you ever ask me if I wanted to become a princess or an alicorn?"

The silence was telling. "No. You didn't," Twilight answered for her. "You sprang it on me. Just like you sprang my... ascendance on me. It was nothing I ever wanted. Nothing I ever even IMAGINED wanting. To be a Princess? To wield power over others? To be lifted above and away from my family and friends? I never wanted any of this, no sane pony ever would."

"And you object to being ascended?"

"Do I look stupid?" Twilight snorted. "A tenfold increase in magic, eternal youth and wings? I'd have to have the IQ of a turnip to turn all that down." She looked Celestia in the eye. "What I resent is... not being forewarned. Not being made a part of the decision. And I KNOW that there were like, a billion variables that you couldn't account for," she said, rolling her eyes. "I know that ascension is a crapshoot. Heck, I know that the other Bearers stand a good chance of ascending just by being on the periphery of the fallout--- and don't you think that I didn't let them know it once I figured it out!' she dropped her eyes unhappily. "But that doesn't change the fact that I feel left out of the decision."

"Then why did you follow so eagerly in my hoofsteps, my faithful student?" Celestia asked. "Why did you become my pupil at all?"

"Because I wanted to study from you! I wanted to learn from you! I wanted to study magic under the most powerful being in Equestria-- to learn things no other pony knew! I did it because I loved learning, I loved magic! Not because I wanted a throne!"

"Is this not what you wanted?"

"I was already DOING what I wanted!" Twilight Sparkle shouted, stamping her hoof angrily. "I was a scholar, I lived in a home filled with books, with my daughter and my son, in a town that welcomed me that was filled with friends who were dear to me and a stallion who loved me! Maybe it wasn't as glamorous as being a princess in Canterlot, but I could have lived my entire life happily as a librarian in Ponyville!"

"Look at yourself, Twilight," Celestia said. "You are an alicorn now. You should be happy with this, should you not?"

"Of course I should. Every little filly wants to be a princess, right?" Twilight snorted disdainfully, brow furrowed, refusing to turn around. "That's what everypony tells everypony else, without ever asking the little filly."

The lone filly in the room snorted. "I never wanted to be a Princess," Nyx said. Then she looked sheepish. "Okay, I sorta had to learn the hard way..." she trailed off. "But I know a filly who wants to be a Princess---"

"Diamond Tiara," Twilight and Nyx finished together. Despite the tension in the room, all the princesses present giggled.

"It certainly doesn't reflect well on that particular ambition, does it," Celestia chuckled ruefully.

"To covet being a princess is to desire to be pampered, to lord over others, to imagine oneself better than all others by default," Luna said ruefully.

"The irony of it all: those least suited to be princesses desire it most." Celestia shook her head. "Twilight...There is no going back. From the moment that I saw you, saw your gifts, saw your cutie mark as the Element of Magic....I knew this was always your destiny. Anypony can see that."

Twilight looked up. She actually laughed, a spark returning to her eyes. "You're wrong, Princess," she said. "You are completely wrong. You know why?

"You know, when I miscast Starswirl's last spell, my friends thought that way too. That's why it caused no end of trouble:  Because they thought their cutie mark told them what their destiny was.

"But anypony who knows anything about cutie marks knows it doesn't work that way.

"Applejack got her cutie mark when she realized she wanted to go home to Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy got hers when she decided she wanted to work with the animals. Rainbow Dash got hers, not because she made a Sonic Rainboom, but because she knew then and there that she wanted to be the fastest and greatest flier ever. Rarity's talent was in finding gems with her magic, but she got her mark when she looked at how dazzling and beautiful her costumes were and decided she wanted to do that with her life. Pinkie Pie got hers when she knew that making ponies smile with her parties was all she ever wanted.

"Your cutie mark doesn't tell you what you're meant to be--- your cutie mark is decided by what you choose to be."

Twilight closed her eyes; she seemed to be trying to hold herself together. "Princess, I spent five years... five YEARS... away from my friends, my family, my children.... working on the Synchronizer in a timebubble barely larger than a single wing of the Royal library. I have never been more lonely in my life. Every now and then, at times spaced months apart, I would get a few minutes to speak to Ink Spot, or to look in on my son and daughter. It wasn't enough. It was never enough."

She laughed. "Do you know one day on the inside, Nyx went running past the windows of the library? For her it was just a few minutes playing in the sun, of course; for me she lingered in front of those windows, all but frozen in time, for almost a day. I didn't get any work done that day; I spent every chance I could get at the windows, just to catch another glimpse of her before she galloped out of sight. And then she was gone." She opened her haunted eyes.

"I had five years to put everything into perspective. All the times I brushed Nyx aside because I was busy with 'important' Princess duties. Of the few bits and pieces of time I had to steal with my fiancee', even after our announced engagement, because the Crown kept pulling me away. About how I wasn't there when Spike went to his first training day or there to comfort him when he had his breakdown, how my children-- my CHILDREN!-- had to go out and save all our reputations because I was too busy up on a pedestal..."

She wiped her wet eyes. "Nyx isn't going to be a little filly much longer. I'm going to blink and she's going to be all grown up. Spike too. And Ink Spot... " her voice caught. "Our time together is going to be so brief. I am not going to trade away those precious years, not one MINUTE of them, for a stupid crown! My life is what I choose. Whether it's in a palace or a dusty little library or a mud hut on a hill, I choose my life with them.

"And I choose... to abdicate." She removed her tiara-- the Element of Magic-- and set it on the dais before the throne.

Celestia watched her, her face enigmatic. "And who shall rule over your principality, then?"

Twilight actually rolled her eyes. "Whoever's been doing the job before I sprouted wings! All that balance of power talk, how you can't trust the House of Lords with all that power? Well fine! Just-- just pick a bunch of commoners to take over all that authority you were going to give me! Better yet, let the common ponies pick the ones to take it. That way nobody can complain! We are LONG overdue to abandon the notion that certain ponies should rule because they are 'just better' than everypony else. It's wrong to rule over others without their conscious consent."

Her determination spent, Twilight hung her head. "So... I abdicate. And if you want to take away my Element and my alicorn-ness and everything, go ahead and do it, your Highness. Because either way, I'm taking my daughter Nyx and my son Spike and I'm going home."

Celestia sat down, rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry. "Twilight," she said with a faint smile. "I assure you I shall not be stripping you of your element or your 'alicorn-ness.' I could no more take those away than I could take away your cutie mark. You are a Bearer, that is a thing you alone deserve. And you were an alicorn innate before you were born.

"But something far more important has taken place here, my dear Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said. She got to her feet and stepped down from the dais to give the startled Twilight a neck hug. "Thou hast found the courage within thee," she said, slipping into old Equiish, "to finally look upon me and say NO. Thou art truly grown up, now."

She stepped back. "However, you cannot, in truth, abdicate." Twilight frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but Celestia silenced her with a raised hoof. "It is out of my hooves, Twilight, truthfully. The law of the land states that the title of Prince or Princess is given to all alicorns, and is irrevocable. I can, however, do something else to grant you your freedom."

Her horn glowed, and a large, blank scroll appeared in midair between them. Ink began to appear on the parchment as she spoke. "I present to all of Equestria this decree," Celestia said. "That Princess Twilight Sparkle-- and all those of like alicorn blood in Equestria," she added, nodding to Nyx in the front row, "Shall retain the rank and status of their royal title, and the recognition pertaining therein, but that the royal authority, power, and duties assigned to her shall henceforth be transferred... save for the few minor privileges, officialdoms and ceremonial duties detailed within..." She leaned over to Twilight. "Do you still have that checklist of ceremonial duties?" she whispered.

Twilight smiled, embarrassed. "I was terrified to go anywhere without it," she said, pulling it out from under her wing. Celestia took it and hastily copied over several lines of it.

"But what about the important duty stuff?" Nyx said. "The, the Noble House stuff you were going to give her..."

Luna and Celestia glanced at each other and smiled. "An interesting idea our Twilight offers," Luna said. "A portion of the power of the Lords, going to a House of Commoners..."

"Yes, quite interesting," Celestia nodding, pursing her lips-- clearly trying not to laugh. "And as Twilight currently has the authority to draft such an amendment..."

Twilight's eyes went wide as she realized what they were saying. "I do have that authority now, don't I? AHaha!" Parchment was fetched, and a hastily scribbled amendment was sketched out by Twilight Sparkle.... Then edited by Luna, then re-edited by Celestia (Twilight really was terrible at drafting bills) before being added.

"I believe we have a majority present to accept this document," Celestia said."All in favor?" Four hooves went up. "All Opposed?" Not a hoof went up. "So hereby it is sealed." Celestia produced an ink pad, pressed her hoof to it, and then to the bottom of the parchment. Luna followed suit. "Twilight? If you would?" She turned the paper around to face Twilight. Twilight inked her hoof, bit her lip nervously-- her very first, and very last, sealing of an official document, after all-- and pressed her hoof to the scroll.

"And now you, Nyx."

"Me?"

"It has to be signed and sealed by all the Princesses of Equestria," Celestia said. "And that includes you."

Nyx blinked in surprise. She hopped down from her seat, went over to dip her hoof on the ink pad, and then pressed her hoof to the bottom of the scroll.

*  *  *

Celestia and Luna were lounging about in Celestia's room later that night, teaching Nyx and Spike the finer points of Pinochle. A moment later the door flew open, and Princess Twilight entered. She stood in the doorway, staring half in fury, half in bafflement at her mentor.

"Twilight!" Celestia said. "I see you're back. Did you find the soda and chips?"

"You bucking did it to me again," Twilight said.

"Did what?" Celestia asked innocently. "...Oh. That."

"What'd she do?" Nyx asked, puzzled.

Twilight didn't look at her daughter. She never took her eyes off Celestia. "I went off to the kitchen to get some sodas and chips," she said unnecessarily. "I don't know why it didn't occur to me to send a servant to fetch them... but while I'm rifling through the cupboards looking for cheese dip, I overhear two of the members of the House of Lords, who apparently dropped in for a late night sandwich, discussing that little "bill of emancipation" we all just signed.

"What, we aren't rulers again or nothing, are we?" Nyx asked fearfully.

"No, that's not the problem," Twilight said. "It seems there were some little loopholes in that bill that Princess Celestia forgot to mention. It seems it wasn't just MY royal duties and obligations that got shifted over."

"What?" Spike said.

"Yeah, it seems that the wording of the thing is a little broad," Twilight said. "The royal powers that I had were Celestia and Luna's, too! Legislative, judicial, executive...all the changes they made apply to ALL Equestrian Princesses, not just me. Other than some limited oversight powers already reserved to themselves personally ages ago, they've made themselves into little more than ceremonial figureheads! Mayor Mare has more real power than them now!"

Spike sputtered in shock. "Wha wha what? But why??"

"It's very simple, Spike," Celestia said. "Equestria is capable of governing itself. It has been, for centuries. Yet ponies have resisted us setting aside our power, again for centuries."

Spike scratched his head. "Wait a minute, the ponies in the House of Lords were refusing to let you give them more power? That makes no sense."

"It does when you consider two things," Celestia said. "First, the Lords with royal lineages like Prince Blueblood's family resisted it because they had ambitions, vague dreams of putting one of their own upon the throne for ages. To disperse the power of the crown would have diminished their coveted prize; They wanted power but did not wish to share it. Silly things. They spend generations trying to manipulate and control me to their own ends, and they imagine that the same would not happen to them, should they gain the throne?

"Others are, still sadly, elitists and supremacists.  Make no mistake," she said with a frown, "There are many who give lip service to the equality of the pony races in the public, yet behind closed doors consider the others unworthy or 'lesser.' As if magic or flight or strength made one a better or wiser ruler! They accept our rule not because we are better or wiser or have thousands of years of knowledge and experience, but because we have one more set of appendages than them," she fluttered her wing and waggled her horn sarcastically for emphasis.

"And still others are simply traditionalists. They feared the notion of Equestria-- of 'mere' common ponies--- ruling themselves without a single, all-powerful King or Queen. It took generations simply to give the House of Nobles the little authority it had; they were frightened of the idea of ruling themselves. And Twilight's House of Commons? Unthinkable!"

"But after countless centuries, and bound by so many laws and traditions decreeing that we, and only we, could rule, I had to... sneak up on them with their own independence." She shrugged. "They would never accept the idea of my sister or I relinquishing power after thousands of years of rule. So I had to present them with something new. Somepony who had all the traditional marks of power they had enshrined... Unicorn birth, wielder of one of the Elements, ascendance to alicornhood... but who was controversial enough---"

"Controversial enough that they'd actually WANT her to abdicate," Twilight said, cynicism and understanding blooming. "Like, oh, a unicorn commoner with no social skills and no courtly manners and NO experience with royal authority--- or at least not umpty thousand years of it... one who'd embarrassed the nobility and had a bunch of 'hooligan friends,' one who'd trashed the Grand Galloping Gala, one who'd adopted Nightmare Moon as her daughter... little things like that?"

"Precisely." Celestia seemed to grow apologetic. "Please, dear pupil, do not take this wrong. I believe in time you would have been a great and beloved ruler, the same as my sister and I. You are certainly more qualified than the vast host of Lords that dreamed of wearing the crown!" she snorted. She gave a wry half-smile. "As much as I love my little ponies, they cannot remain foals, clinging to their mother's tail, forever. You are new enough that ponies can remember a time before you took your throne, so they could still imagine life going on without you sitting there. This whole shadow puppet play was, in the end, to secure your freedom. And theirs."

"And ours," Luna interjected. "And Nyx's as well. As my little counterpart learned, for all the perks, quite frequently being a ruler... well..."

"It bites wind," Nyx said emphatically.

Every Princess present exploded into snickers. Spike was less reserved, falling backwards laughing.

"This is our destiny. Not to rule, but to lead. And as you said, my student, it is one we have chosen."

"Does this mean we get to move back to the library?" Nyx said hopefully.

"If you so wish--" Celestia said.

"YES," came the response.

Spike kind of sighed. "Yeah, it'll be good to go home," he said. He looked around. "Hope you don't blame me if I kinda miss some of the amenities here, though..."

"Well, Spike, even though our titles are largely ceremonial, you'll all still have a royal stipend," Celestia said. "And a few of the appropriate amenities for a royal family. A few servants, a little expansion on the library house tree, odds and ends like that. Wouldn't look good on the tourist brochures for and Equestrian Princess to be living rustic, now would it?"

Spike gave a thumbs up. "Sweet."

Nyx looked delighted. "You mean Cherry Blossom and the others will come with us?"

Celestia nuzzled her, smiling. "Lightning Blitz and Sundiver too, if they all wish," she said.

"Yay!" Nyx paused. "Gosh, we're gonna need an extra bathroom." She thought it over some more and recalled Sea Foam. "And maybe an aquarium..."