It was the evening after the coronation. There had been parades and parties, celebrations and festivities in the street. Even now the citizens of Canterlot were out, partying down. It was a shindig and a half.

Twilight slipped in through the door, mindful of her royal gown, and looked about smiling. The old library tower; her home away from home from when she had been a student. It was almost exactly as she and Spike had left it on the Summer Sun Celebration all those years ago.

Nyx was already in. She had invited all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders(1) for a huge sleepover. She could see them all tumbled together on the upper balcony, overlooking the city through the enormous pane window. They were all sitting up watching the fireworks. Every now and then she heard a collective "Ooo" or "Aaah" as a particularly flashy pyrotechnic toy went off.

Twilight was about to go upstairs to see how they were all doing when she noticed Nyx creeping down the stairs in the dark to her. The alicorn filly came up to her mother and gave her a nuzzle. "How are you doing, sweetie?" Twilight whispered.

Nyx whispered back. "Okay, I guess..." She looked down, then back up at her mother. "Mom? I'm really really happy you're an alicorn now, but.. at the same time I'm a little scared."

"About what?"

"About..." Nyx huddled closer. Fireworks popped and crackled outside. "About you being a princess now. Does that make me a princess too? What if they make us stay here? What if they don't let us go back to Ponyville ever again?" Her voice got a little stressed as she slowly wound herself up. "What if they make you rule a country like Aunt Cadence and Uncle Shiney? What if we have to move far far away? What if they still don't like me because of Nightmare Moon and they decide they want me to go away?" Her eyes went wide. "What if the nobles are like in that book I read where they want the Prince's son to go away and they trick you into sending me off to some horrible boarding school---"

"Nyx..."

"And it's full of horrible strict schoolmarms who secretly hate foals and big bullying upperclassponies who torment all the other colts and fillies and secretly run the school with an iron hoof--"

"Nyx..."

"And I never get to see you because we're only supposed to go home on the holidays and your vizier is  secretly plotting our downfall because he's evil and nopony ever notices even though he has a sleazy mustache and everything and he arranges things so I end up stuck at the school serving out punishments scrubbing the floors---"

"Nyx..."

"And I have to plot an escape with the plucky scullery maid because the school is out on some lonely rocky island in the frozen north surrounded by icy seas, because the evil vizier is in league with Queen Chrysalis or King Sombra or a bunch of treasonous nobles or some evil pony cult who's plotting to kidnap you or kidnap me and then kidnap you and then banish us both to the moon and---"

"Nyx!"

Nyx finally stuttered to a halt. Twilight nearly laughed, but she bit it back at the last moment when she saw Nyx's beseeching eyes. Remember Smarty Pants, Twilight told herself. Remember how you felt when nopony took your worries seriously.  "None of that's going to happen. I promise." Good grief, was I this bad of a worrywart when I was her age?

Nyx looked distressed and exasperated at the same time. "But we've already been kidnapped by evil cults! Three times! Each!" She waved her forehooves around for emphasis. "Stuff like that happens all the time to us!"

Twilight did chuckle then, and pulled her daughter in for a hug. "Sad but true," she admitted. "Let's face it, we're not exactly destined to live boring lives." She pushed Nyx away and looked down at her.  "I won't lie, Nyx. A lot of things are going to change now, and I'm not sure what," Twilight said. "But I promise you we'll get through them, all of them, together."

"And I promise-- no evil boarding schools or viziers with sleazy mustaches." Twilight chuckled again, Nyx giggling weakly along with her. "Let's go join your friends before they eat all the s'mores." Nyx grinned and trotted off ahead.

Twilight watched her daughter hop up the stairs. As emotional as Nyx could be, she bounced back so quickly even when their lives had been turned completely upside down. Twilight could only hope she could be half as resilient. She swallowed her apprehension back down and followed her daughter upstairs.

The next morning came early. The various parents and siblings of the Cutie Mark Crusaders came by, picked up their still slumbering foals, and with many a laugh at their sleepy antics, carted them off to take them home.

Once the last of them was gone, though, the morning sped up considerably. Just as she was contemplating waking Spike and Nyx up for breakfast, the baby dragon woke himself up with a sonorous belch. "Whuf, that was a rough one," he muttered, sitting up in his basket bed. "Hey Twi, scroll for ya." He tossed it off the balcony to her.

Twilight snagged it out of the air with her magic. "Ah, must be from Celestia," she said. "I wonder what it is." She broke seal and skimmed it.

It was from Celestia, of course. And the contents triggered Twilight into her most readily automatic response to the unexpected-- panic.

"Dear Twilight,

I am terribly sorry, but last night I forgot to mention there are a few things scheduled for today...

In a few short minutes Twilight was rushing back and forth with her eyes affixed to the scroll, Spike, Owlowiscious, Peewee and Nyx swept up in her wake.

"What's all the crazy rush?" Nyx said, trying to keep up but instead finding herself spinning in a circle in the middle of the room as her mother rushed-- and occasionally teleported-- back and forth.

"I'm sorry, Nyx, but I'm very very very late!" Twilight said, porting into the bathroom and trying (unsuccessfully) to shower, brush her mane, tail and teeth, all at the same time-- with predictable results. "It's my first day as a Princess in Canterlot and I absolutely have to make a good impression. Princess Celestia wants me to sit in with her in Day Court, and then I have a meeting with the Ministry, and then I'm supposed to consult with somepony about selecting my personal staff, and making arrangements with the Royal Guard about my security detail,  and then apparently a meet-and-greet luncheon with several important diplomats and I haven't even got a checklist for today made yet and AAAAAAH!"

Everyone else nearly fell over themselves. "What? What? What?" Spike yelped.

Twilight teleported right in front of Nyx. "You're LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Magic shot in every direction from Twilight's horn, snagging Nyx's saddlebags and stuffing them full of random stationary and a couple of books from the shelves,(2) Rustling up a sack lunch(3) and trying to comb Nyx's mane and wash her face.(4) The efforts were repeated with Spike, with similar results.(5)

"akpth," Spike said. "Twilight, we--"

"Spike I know you still think you don't need to go to school but we've already had this discussion a dozen times and I really don't have time to argue with you," Twilight said. "Oh horseapples it's too late to get a pegasus carriage you'll be late to class, Owlowiscious would you take Peewee-- NO WAIT that won't work, aren't Phoenixes territorial? Philomena won't like another Phoenix in the castle, you'll have to take him with you today, bring him in for show and tell, that's it!" The baby Phoenix was snatched out of the air and plunked down unceremoniously on Spike's head. "Okay, everypony, stand in close together---"

"Mom, wait--" But Twilight was already lighting up her horn. With a brilliant purple flash, they all disappeared...

Then reappeared on the front steps of the Ponyville schoolhouse. Spike and Nyx gawped. "Whoa, you teleported us all the way from Canterlot?? You've never--" Spike started to say, but was interrupted by Twilight shoving their lunches into his arms.

"Okay, I've gotta go I'll send a carriage to pick you up after school I love you bye!" And Twilight vanished in a flash of purple light.

Twilight reappeared in the observatory tower. Upon arrival she immediately ascertained several things simultaneously:

---The clock on the wall indicated she had muddled her long range teleportation spell with one of Starswirl's time spells(6), caused a massive transit lag, and she was now half an hour further behind than when she left

---Her mirror showed her that her hasty grooming had left her mane and tail a worse frazzled mess than Rarity's first attempt at doing Princess Cadence's mane

---Her earlier running amuck had left the observatory looking like it was struck by a tornado

---There was somepony knocking on the door and announcing, in a depressingly Royal Guard-like voice, that mumble mumble something somepony mumble was requesting entrance

---She had half a s'more stuck in her hair

---The paperwork on her table had just caught fire.(7)

Scream, water water where's the water? Go for the flower vase, it has water-- whups smash, at least the flames are out, smoke everywhere, ponies still knocking, yelling something, augh, quick keep everything under control, tornado to sweep loose trash out of the room, augh too much! It'll have to do tiara tiara tiara--

In one last burst Twilight whipped the tiara through the air to herself, plunked it on her head, and threw the door open.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

Outside the door stood a pair of very concerned looking guards, who were escorting a quartet of extremely concerned looking mares. The sight that greeted their eyes was that of the newest ruler of Equestria, mane in disarray and half a s'more stuck to her ear, grinning maniacally at them while loose papers slowly fluttered down behind her. An awkward second passed. A table behind her, covered in smoldering papers, burst into open flame.

One of the four looked at the others. "It looks like we arrived just in time..."

Dear Twilight,

I have been sitting here going over the schedule for today and it occurred to me that I have over-emphasized the importance of the miscellaneous appointments I named. Please, do not rush and do not panic-- the schedule I gave is just a very loose 'want-to' list, and we shall get to each event on the list as time allows. The whole point of the next few days will be to walk you through the typical routine of a Princess, give you a chance to adjust. Nopony is expecting you to be Johnny-on-the-spot just yet; you can afford to be fashionably late if need be.  You have been Princess for only a day, after all, and we have not even selected your personal staff yet.

Speaking of which, to help get you up and on your hooves I am sending four of my most trusted and reliable hoofmaidens. They are in your service now; think of them as the starter set for your own staff. ;)  I cannot overemphasize how important a reliable hoofmaiden can be to you. They will tend to your personal needs as a princess, they will be a voice of counsel, an ear to confide in and a shoulder to lean on, and they can often be the difference between an entire day running like clockwork and completely falling to pieces.

Their names are Cherry Blossom, Sea Foam, White Dove and Snowcap.

Don't worry, you'll learn to tell them apart ;)

Sincerely,

H.R.M Princess Celestia

Twilight lowered the scroll and looked up through her shampooed mane at the four identical white mares fussing over her. "I certainly hope so," she said. "I've never seen four ponies who looked so much alike." She wasn't joking, either. They were all pure white with blue eyes and golden manes and tails. Even their cutie marks were identical; all four seemed to have a simplified version of Celestia's own golden sun on their flanks.

The four giggled simultaneously. "We'll tell you our secret in a minute, your Highness," one said. "If you haven't guessed it by then, that is."

True to Celestia's written description, the moment the quartet had arrived they had taken one look at the disarray surrounding their princess and put things to right. They had taken a look at the washroom facilities with a critical eye, deemed them 'insufficient for a princess's needs," and bundled a feebly protesting Twilight off to Celestia's own salon. The castle's cleaning staff had been summoned in their wake, and were busy cleaning up the mess in the observatory in Twilight's absence while the quartet were busy primping and preening(8) the new Princess and getting her ready for the day.

The salon was Celestia's own enormous bathroom, replete with marble tile and gilded fixtures and all the amenities of the Ponyville spa and a few more that would have made Aloe and Lotus squeal and pass out with glee.

They were deft and gentle and skilled, but they were also astonishingly fast. Twilight wasn't sure whether she felt like a princess having a day at the spa or a racing cart  taking a pit stop in the Indianapoloosa(9) Five Hundred.

They had begun by filling the enormous pool-sized bath, pouring in perfumes and oils, and then submerging the frazzled alicorn in it before she could protest. One began shampooing her mane (which made her feel a bit odd), another shampooing her tail (which was really uncomfortably personal) a third jumped in and started scrubbing her back (which was even more disconcerting in its own way) and the last took to scrubbing her hooves with a small brush (which wouldn't have been quite so awkward if the brush didn't keep tickling her frogs.)

Before Twilight could get embarrassed by the rather intimate attention, they had her out of the tub, dried off with towels and spells, and laid her out on a salon couch while they attacked from all four sides with brushes, curry combs, perfume, makeup, mane gel and other grooming products Twilight couldn't even name. Countless little brushes, bottles and tubes floated around her and--

"Wait a minute. How are you doing that? You're all earth ponies!" Twilight said.

The quartet laughed. "I guess we can tell you now," the one painting her hooves said. "Or, well, show you." All four of them wore delicate chokers around their neck, set with a single large sapphire. The one around her neck suddenly let out a flare of lavender light, and when it passed she had a unicorn horn and a cherry blossom cutie mark. "It's a shapechanging spell," Cherry Blossom said, undoing her choker and holding it up in her magic so Twilight could see it. "Princess Celestia crafted these for us."

The others did the same. One sprouted wings, and gained a cutie mark of a mourning dove. Another remained the same, but her cutie mark changed to a snowy mountain peak.  "Amazing," Twilight said. "But why?"

The fourth one spoke up. "Mostly because of me, your Highness." With a lavender flash she changed. Her transformation was most startling; her back legs disappeared and were replaced by a dolphin-like tail. Her cutie mark was a cresting wave. Twilight yeeped in surprise. "A sea pony??" Her astonishment gave way to delight. "A sea pony! I've never met one of your tribe before!"

"Celestia visited our kingdom once with a water-breathing spell," Sea Foam said. "I was assigned as her hoofmaiden during her visit, and showed her how to braid her hair with seashells to keep the waves from tangling it. She was so pleased with the results she hired me away from King Triton and crafted this so I could get about."

White Dove chuckled as she brushed out Twilight's mane. "That, and she already had the three of us. We already looked so much alike that she decided to go all the way. I think it amuses her to have four hoofmaidens who are exactly alike but for one little detail."

"Or not so little detail," Sea Foam said, waggling her tail. The others giggled.

"Plus, it keeps Prince Blueblood from bothering Sea Foam," Snowcap said, rolling her eyes. "That prissy pony thinks himself a great lady's stallion, and  nothing would give him bigger bragging rights with his 'friends' than carving a notch on the bedpost with a mer-mare."

Twilight gaped at the bluntness of the earth pony's statement, but Cherry Blossom floored her even further. "I know," she tsked, "Would you believe that a bunch of them actually keep score? They keep little books listing their 'conquests' and assign each other points..."

The new princess was stunned. "How on earth do you know that?" Twilight blurted out.

Cherry Blossom sighed. "I dated one of his 'noble' friends," she said. "Briefly. VERY briefly. As in 'one date.' Dinner, movie, dancing--- except before we left I found his little black book, scoresheet and all. The dolt left it sitting in his washroom counter."

"Or one of his disgruntled employees did," Sea Foam said. "I know the stallion. Word among the castle maids is he's a total pig to his staff."

"What did you do?" Twilight gasped.

Cherry Blossom's serene little smile turned wicked. "Gave him the shock of his life," she said. "He was rather startled when the meek little earth pony he was planning to ply with booze and seduce levitated him into his chandelier." Even Twilight joined in the laughter then. "Seriously though, Princess," Cherry Blossom said once the laughter had died down, "Watch yourself around Blueblood, or around any of the younger noblestallions."

"Or any royal stallions period," White Dove added.

Twilight was dismissive. "I really doubt any stallion would be foolish enough to try anything with me," she said sarcastically. "I am a princess now, after all."

"And that's precisely why they'll try it, your Highness," Sea Foam said soberly. "You're a princess now. You're young, you're rather pretty--" here Twilight blushed-- "You have a throne, and maybe even someday a kingdom of your own. There are lots of stallions in the House of Lords, young and old, who are ambitious.  They wouldn't hesitate to climb for power by climbing up on a young mare's back."

Twilight gasped, but Sea Foam forged ahead. "And because you're young, and new, and... inexperienced... they'll see you as an easy conquest."

"Or they'll try to trick you into an... indiscretion... or accuse you of one... to try to get leverage on you," White Dove warned. She shook her head. "Just... don't ever be caught alone with a stallion, your Highness. Always have a chaperone-- if not for your safety, then your reputation."

"Even with... but... Ink Spot--" Twilight said unhappily.

"You have a special somepony, your Highness?" Cherry Blossom said.

Twilight nodded. The intrepid book editor had been on a trip out of country when all this had happened. Twilight was sure he would be on the next airship home the instant he heard the news, but... what was she getting him into? Would he want anything to do with a mare whose life was about to become... so complicated?

"Oh, do tell us who he is," Sea Foam said eagerly. "What does he look like? That way we'll know to sneak him into your chambers when he comes by for---"

"Eep!" Twilight's face turned red.

"Sea Foam--" Cherry Blossom chided.

"-- for a romantic evening," Sea Foam finished, sniffing. "Honestly, what do you think of me?"

"Didn't you just tell me to never be alone with a stallion without a chaperone?" Twilight snipped, her face flaming.

"We count," Sea Foam insisted.

Twilight sighed. ....So very, very complicated.

An hour later, a coiffed, perfumed, groomed, and much calmer Princess Twilight made her entrance into the royal throne room for the Court of the Day. Her tiara, torc and gilded hoofshoes gleamed as she walked serenely up the red carpet to join her mentor. Celestia smiled upon seeing her and motioned for her to take the throne next to her while the annunciator droned on through the preamble of several bland announcements and proclamations for the day. "Just in time. Well, I see the Quartet have done right by you," she said under her breath as Twilight sat down. "I've never seen you looking quite so refreshed."

Twilight nodded. "They did manage to get me calmed down and ready for today," she admitted quietly. "Thank you for sending them. I actually feel composed enough to---" naturally, at this precise moment, her stomach growled. Twilight resisted the urge to facehoof. She'd skipped breakfast in all the panic...

Celestia chuckled and motioned for a nearby page. "Fetch us both one of chef Ramsbottom's 'morning beverages,' " she whispered to him. He nodded and trotted off. A few minutes later, as they were hearing the first appeal of the day (two farmers disputing a land claim), he returned with two glasses of water. As it drew closer Twilight could see through the illusion: two large breakfast smoothies. Something they could sip at, rather than noshing away, grazing like a herder(10) in the middle of court. Ingenious. Twilight gratefully accepted hers, sipping carefully. Strawberry, banana. Delicious.

Celestia sipped at her own. "So glad I thought of this," she said to Twilight without taking her eyes off the court. "Kept me from starving to death. If I ever figure out how to fit a cake into a blender I'll be set." Twilight smothered a snicker. "Oh, by the way, this arrived for you a short while ago. I think Spike sent it. We do need to teach him how to send to somepony other than Luna and I..." Celestia passed a sealed scroll to Twilight.

Puzzled, Twilight broke the seal and opened it. Her expression went from one of puzzlement to such vivid dismay that even Celestia was surprised. "What is it, Twilight?" she asked.

Twilight didn't respond. The scroll was short, brief, and to the point-- five words written in crayon.

DEAR MOM

ITS SATURDAY

NYX

"Ohhh horseapples," she said, just loud enough to be heard in every corner of the throne room.

1) yes... ALL of them.

2)An astronomy guide, an atlas of the Gryphon nations, Twilight's grade school diary, and a copy of the Camel Sutra

3)A hearty lunch of wax fruit

4)Soaking her mane with a wet washcloth and leaving her with a taste of soap her mouth.

5)Four paperback romances, a bag of junk jewelry and Mare-di Gras beads from the festivities last night, and a sputtering angry baby dragon.

6)Once you had memorized one or two of those it was surprisingly easy to do.

7)Her reentry hadn't been as smooth and spark-free as she'd thought.

8)Literally.

9)Old Buffalo word for "Land of Many Tracks in Circles."

10)A bit of a prejudiced stereotype-- that only cowponies actually "stooped" to grazing on grass right off the ground. It was a bald faced lie, and anypony who'd ever been caught between payday and grocery day when nopony was looking knew it... but the cliche' persisted.