“What’s wrong with me, Spike?” Twilight moaned as she stared at her reflection in the train window.

Spike stirred on the train seat beside her. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just… ever since I’ve moved into my castle, it feels like everything is happening to somepony else.”

“Is this about the map again?”

Twilight sighed as she turned away from the window to face the small dragon. “It isn’t just the map. Rarity opened up her new boutique in Canterlot. Rainbow Dash flew with the Wonderbolts in an actual show. What have I done?”

Spike stared at her skeptically. “Saved all of Equestria from the Tantabus? Kicked Starlight Glimmer out of that one town? Captured the bugbear?”

“I guess.” Twilight slumped in her seat, prodding at the plaid cushion with her hoof.

“Come on, Twilight. Princess Celestia sent you a letter to come to Canterlot, I’m sure it’s important.”

“More important than whatever the map sent everypony else off to do?”

Spike scratched his head. “Maybe? I mean, sure, the thing with Starlight Glimmer was important, but how important was it really to get that theater set up in Manehattan?”

Twilight looked down. “I just don’t understand why it hasn’t picked me again.”

“Maybe it just knows you’re awesome, so it is saving you for something really important?” Spike forced out a smile.

“I don’t think so.” Twilight turned away again, looking back out the window as the train began its long trek up the side of the mountain, lifting one hoof to cover the shape of Ponyville in the distance.

“Cheer up.” Spike rested a claw on her shoulder. “I’m sure Celestia called you to Canterlot for something important. It’s not like she’d drag you all the way up there for nothing. A year ago you would have given your left hoof to spend more time with her. Who cares what the map said?”

“You’re right, Spike.” Twilight glanced back over her shoulder and smiled. “I’m sure this is something really important.”

---

“Twiley!”

Twilight blinked at the sound of her brother’s voice. “Shining Armor? Cadance? What are you two doing here?”

“Celestia sent us a letter asking us to come here. She said it was very important,” Cadance said as she walked over to Twilight to give her a hug.

Twilight smiled and leaned against her former foalsitter for a moment before sitting back and glancing around the hallway, her eyes falling on her former teacher’s door. “So did the guards send you two up here as well?”

Shining Armor nodded as he stepped up to join into the hug, casting his hooves around his wife and sister. “Yup. Said something about a private royal meeting.”

“See? I told you it was something important,” Spike said, grinning.

Twilight laughed, breaking from the hug to ruffle Spike’s spines with her hoof. “You were right, Spike. Though now I’m kind of worried.”

Spike’s smile faded as he covered his face with his claw. “Now you’re worried? As opposed to before?”

“I’m serious! First all my friends get sent off to somewhere in the Badlands, now Princess Celestia is having a secret meeting with all the princesses?”

“Well, Luna might not show up,” Spike said, crossing his arms.

“That would be even worse!” Twilight said, beginning to pace. “If Princess Luna isn’t here in Canterlot, she’s probably off dealing with some sort of disaster so Celestia doesn’t have to! Maybe she’s been captured? Maybe that’s why the map sent my friends? What if they can’t free her? What if they get caught too?”

“Sheesh, Twilight. Breathe.” Spike stepped forward to put his claw on Twilight’s shoulder. “If it was something like that, I’m sure Princess Celestia would have said something about it in her letter.”

Shining Armor and Cadance bobbed their heads in agreement.

“You’re right,” Twilight said, the tension slowly leaving her limbs as she sat back on her haunches. “It’s probably just a friendly princess get together, that’s all!”

“I’m afraid not,” said a cool voice from the hallway behind her.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight scrambled back to her hooves. “I didn’t mean to imply you would summon us here just to—”

“Peace.” Luna held up one hoof. “Had we realized it would make you fret so, we would have included our purpose in our letter.”

“So why did you call us here, Princess?” Shining Armor asked, straightening.

Luna didn’t answer, instead glancing back and forth down the hallway. “Has my sister not yet arrived?”

“I dunno,” Shining Armor said, rubbing at his mane with his hoof. “We didn’t knock.”

Cadance smiled apologetically while Spike cast his claw over his face once more.

“Well, then,” Luna said, stepping through the group and raising one silver-shod hoof to rap gently on the door. “Sister, our guests have arrived.”

The oaken door glowed with yellow light before swinging open. “Oh, Luna. Just—” Celestia paused, glancing at the group, then smiled. “I see they’re already here. Come on.” She stepped back away from the doorway, allowing space for the others to enter, Luna the first to step in through the door.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she stepped into the room. It was just the way she remembered it. Her old sitting cushion, set up in front of a small houseplant that always seemed to be in bloom with its multicolored flowers. The ancient banner depicting the starry night sky. A fire, crackling in the corner. The faint scent of tea leaves lingering in the air. And of course Celestia’s sitting mat resting in the center of the room, its slightly faded, lumpy purple surface belying how comfortable it felt to lie on.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Celestia said softly.

Twilight started, then smiled sheepishly. “Yeah.”

“Come.” Celestia nodded her head, her horn glowing as she opened her closet, pulling several more sitting mats and setting them out around her own, Twilight’s own cushion floating over from its place in the corner back into the center of the room. Luna moved to sit down on the largest one, a speckled blue mat that already bore some wear marks in the center.

Twilight quickly trotted over to her own cushion, her horn glowing as she adjusted it before settling down on it, Spike soon moving over to take his place at her side. “So why did you call us here, Princess?”

Princess Celestia hesitated in the process of laying down on her own mat. “I was hoping the five of us could have a brief chat first,” the Princess said, her horn glowing as her old ceramic teapot floated over, steam wafting out of its spout before several cups soared over to join them.

“Five of us?” Spike asked, glancing around the circle.

“Six,” Celestia corrected, laughing quietly before another cup flew over to join the rest.

“I thought you said this was important,” Twilight said, shifting back and forth as she tried to mold her cushion to fit her rump.

“Important is not the same as urgent,” Celestia said, bobbing her head as she began to pour out the tea with her magic, floating the first cup over to her sister. “Though it is important that you all begin the training as soon as possible.” The second cup floated over to Twilight. “Or resume, in your case.”

“Training?” Twilight’s ears perked up, drawing a rueful laugh from Shining Armor.

“So much for tea first,” he said, grinning.

Cadance giggled. “Oh, hush.”

Twilight ducked her head slightly. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Celestia said as she continued to pour the tea, floating a steaming cup out in front of each seated figure. “I should know better than to mention lessons before tea.”

“Indeed,” Luna said, her horn glowing as she delicately sipped at her own cup.

“So what are you going to teach us?” Twilight asked, her eyes gleaming hungrily.

Celestia smiled and sighed, pouring one final cup for herself before lifting it to her pale lips and taking a silent sip. She nodded once in satisfaction. With no words forthcoming from her mentor, Twilight lifted her own cup, glancing down into the amber liquid before slowly taking a sip.

“How to raise the Sun.”

Twilight returned the tea to her cup in a violent spray, hot fluid dripping down the white sides of the ceramic cup and onto the floor. “What?”

“And the Moon as well,” Luna said, nodding her head. “The principle is similar.”

Twilight glanced over at Cadance and Shining Armor, whose mouths hung open as well, teacups wobbling in their magic. Even Spike had fallen back on his tail, eyes flicking between the two oldest princesses.

“Why?” Cadance finally managed.

“Hm.” Celestia lifted her own teacup again, taking another sip as if she hadn’t noticed the reactions of assembled ponies. “How many times has the Sun failed to come up on time in the few years?”

“Three times,” Twilight said, almost automatically. “Not counting Discord.”

“You don’t think that’s going to happen again, do you?” Shining Armor asked, rising to his hooves. “If there’s some other threat to Equestria, we’ll stop it.”

Luna held up her hoof. “There is no threat that we know of. Merely the certainty that something else will someday go wrong.”

Celestia nodded her head. “Four times have our little ponies been frightened by the sky’s failure to heed the commands of the princesses. And for at least three of those, somepony else could have guided the heavens in our stead.”

“Three?” Cadance blinked.

Luna nodded. “Indeed. Had you and Celestia conspired to raise the Sun, I could not have held the Moon in its place.”

“But that was Nightmare Moon,” Shining Armor protested.

Luna arched an eyebrow. “And?”

Shining Armor glanced at Celestia, then at Twilight, before biting his lip and returning to his seat.

“So you’re worried that something else is going to happen that stops you from controlling the Sun?” Twilight asked, looking over at Celestia. “How likely is that to happen again, really? I mean, you did it for a thousand years.”

“And yet, in less than two, I have failed four times.” Celestia shook her head. “No, it is well past time that I selfishly kept this magic to myself.”

“Plus it would mean you could finally take a vacation, right?” Spike said, pointing at Celestia with both of his claws before three sets of eyes focused on him. He laughed nervously. “What?”

“’Tis true,” Luna said, taking another sip at her own cup before lifting the teapot to pour out more. “My sister is much too busy.”

Celestia smiled slightly. “I think the three of you are more than capable of handling the responsibility.”

“I thought Luna was already raising the Moon,” Shining Armor said, glancing over at the princess of the night.

Luna nodded her head towards the unicorn. “She meant you.”

Shining Armor laughed. “Last I checked, I’m not an alicorn.”

“It’s true. I’ve done a very thorough examination,” Cadance added helpfully, drawing a loud cough from Twilight.

“Long ago the leaders of the unicorns moved heaven and earth to suit the needs of their people. When my sister and I earned our marks, we, too, were but unicorns,” Luna said, leaning forward.

Celestia nodded. “You have a very special gift, Shining Armor. You protected the entire city of Canterlot with your magic; no ordinary pony could have done that. You are the equal of any unicorn in the last thousand years. Well, with perhaps one exception.”Celestia’s eyes twinkled as she glanced over at Twilight.

“Wow. I don’t know what to say.”

Cadance laughed. “Say you’ll do it, you big goof,” she said as she scooted her cushion over to lean into his shoulder.

“This is a lot of responsibility,” Twilight said slowly, lifting her eyes from the floor to meet her mentor’s. “Are you sure you want us to do this?”

“I am,” Celestia said. “It is past time I entrusted you with this magic. Though from what I remember, you managed well enough on your own.”

Twilight winced. “I’m pretty sure that seeing the Sun bobble around the sky wasn’t exactly reassuring.”

“Still, the Sun did rise, and so did the hopes of ponies that Tirek’s victory was incomplete.”

Twilight smiled gratefully. “I guess that’s true. Everyone was so preoccupied with Tirek that nopony seemed to notice that it didn’t come up exactly on time. Or at least, I didn’t notice anyone mentioning it in any of the newspapers.”

“Only because I hid all the papers that talked about it,” Spike muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Spike said, smiling too widely.

Celestia laughed musically as she rose from her cushion, the purple fabric dimpling under the weight of her hooves as she set her teacup down on the floor next to the pot. “Seeing as you have already learned the basics on your own, perhaps you could accompany me out onto the balcony while Luna helps Cadance and Shining Armor catch up.”

“O-of course,” Twilight said, rising from her own cushion and trotting out towards the glass doors.

“What about me?” Spike asked, fidgeting.

“I’m afraid this isn’t exactly something a dragon can do. But…” Celestia smiled mischievously. “I did ask Monsieur Line to prepare some ruby cupcakes, just in case Twilight brought you along.”

“Really?” Spike’s eyes shone.

Celestia nodded. “Really.”

Spike started to run towards the door, then stopped. “You sure you don’t need me?”

“We’re sure,” Twilight said, smiling and waving her hoof at him. “Go on.”

“Alright. See you girls later.” He waved before standing up on the tips of his toes to pull the door open, then slid outside.

“Thanks for that.”

“Of course. We can hardly have him go hungry, now can we?” Celestia tipped her head slightly as walked out towards the balcony, pulling the glass doors open with her magic. “You coming?”

Twilight nodded her head and followed close behind the older alicorn, Celestia’s horn glowing once more to close the doors behind them as the pair stepped out into the afternoon sun.

“It’s a beautiful day, if I do say so myself,” Celestia said, a smirk tugging at her lips.

“It is, isn’t it?” Twilight’s eyes slid across the balcony, passing over the gleaming gilded railing before focusing on the city below. Canterlot shone in the afternoon light, the marble buildings and golden rooftops shining in the afternoon sun. Twilight walked slowly over to the edge, hooking her hooves over the rail as she peered down at the city streets. “It’s beautiful up here.”

“It is,” Celestia said as she stepped up beside Twilight. “Though as I recall, this is not the first time you’ve been up here with me.”

Twilight shook her head. “I always thought of this as your balcony. It feels… different, now.”

“Like your cushion?”

“It did feel funny, come to think of it.” Twilight frowned. “Hey… you didn’t do something to it, did you?”

Celestia laughed. “Do you think I made the railing shorter, too?”

Twilight looked down at herself, then sighed. “It’s because I’m getting taller, isn’t it?” She looked up at the older alicorn. “Am I going to end up as big as you are?”

Celestia set a hoof on the smaller alicorn’s shoulder. “Probably not. I was as tall as your brother was when I first became an alicorn.”

“Wow. So I guess you were already used to looking down on ponies.”

“Why do you think I built such a tall castle?” Celestia turned and waved her hoof back up at the towering building.

“Heh.” Twilight shifted her weight from hoof to hoof. “So… you wanted to teach me how to cast that spell better?”

Celestia blinked and looked down at Twilight. “Are you alright?”

Twilight blinked. “Of course I’m alright, Princess. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You seem… anxious.”

Twilight sighed, turning back towards the city below. “It’s just… I thought things were going to be different now, you know?”

Celestia settled in next to the smaller pony. “Different how?”

“Well…” Twilight lifted her head, gazing off towards the distant shape of Ponyville on the horizon. “I became a princess, got a castle, and realized I was supposed to be spreading the joy of friendship all across Equestria. But every time the map lights up, it seems to send somepony else instead of me.” Twilight turned towards the taller alicorn. “I’m the Princess of Friendship, with capital letters and everything. It even says so on my stationary. But it seems like most of the time, it’s my friends fixing friendship problems and going out and helping ponies instead of me.”

“I am the Princess of the Sun, or at least so many ponies call me. Do you think it makes me any less to teach the three of you how to move the Sun and the Moon?”

Twilight shook her head. “That’s different. You still rule over all of Equestria. Even if I raised the Sun in the morning and put it down at night, it wouldn’t really change anything.”

“Do you want to rule over Equestria, then? Help assign the tax codes for the buildings in Canterlot? Some ponies are talking about building a new commercial strip over on the east end of the city along a new terrace.” Celestia pointed with her hoof. “What do you think?”

Twilight followed Celestia’s hoof towards the bare patch of mountain, then shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, that’s important, right?”

“It is. And somepony has to do it.”

“So do you want me to do it?”

“Do you want to?” Celestia tilted her head.

“Well… I mean, if you needed somepony to do it, you have to delegate it to somepony?”

“But that doesn’t mean I would have to ask you specifically. There are plenty of ponies in Equestria whose job it is to determine urban growth boundaries and land use and pollution quotas. There is no need to have you do so.”

“So why bring it up?”

Celestia set her hoof on Twilight’s back. “Because you seem to be focused on all the things you aren’t doing. You don’t need permission from a map to help ponies. When I asked you to help plan the Grand Equestria Pony Summit, you didn’t need the map to light up your cutie mark, did you?”

“No, but you asked me to do that.”

“And when my sister was struggling with the Tantabus, you put aside all you were doing to help her, didn’t you?”

“I’d have been a terrible friend just to let her suffer!”

“And Ponyville’s winter wrap-up?”

“They had… organizational problems!”

“And yet, you helped them again this year, with no prompting from me.”

Twilight rubbed the back of her hoof. “Well, why wouldn’t I?”

“Did anypony else step up to take charge before you did?”

Twilight frowned. “Well, the mayor, kind of.”

“But you did better.”

Twilight sighed.

“Twilight. You are a wonderful young pony. And when the situation calls for it, you exhibit wonderful leadership.”

Twilight smiled weakly.

“But sometimes I worry that I’ve made you too dependent on me. Your obsequious nature serves me well, but sometimes, I fear it is doing you a great disservice.”

“So, what, you think I should just ignore what the ancient artifact is telling me and my friends to do?”

Celestia arched an eyebrow. “How do you know that ancient artifact isn’t deliberately sending you into danger?”

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it. Her ears fell back as she sank back down onto her haunches. Brow furrowed in thought, she tapped her chin a couple times before sighing. “I don’t, really. But why would it send us to fix up a community theater if it was trying to kill us?”

“A community theater which almost collapsed on Applejack.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about that?”

“Because I was the one who sent them there.”

Twilight stared. “What?”

“How would a map know where there is a group of ponies who are in need of outside assistance? Or a lost magical artifact, waiting to be recovered? Or a section of a city falling into decay, with the pony put in charge of it struggling to make things right, and failing to ask for help from the right places?”

“But that doesn’t make any sense! Why wouldn’t you just send me a letter?” Twilight pounded her hoof into the rail.

“Because I was worried that, for all your leadership ability, you don’t show enough initiative. You are Equestria’s greatest asset in times of crisis, but now that you’ve become a princess, you seem to think that you shouldn’t have to go out of your way to find problems. But being a leader isn’t just about responding to problems, but finding them ahead of time and preventing them from ever happening to begin with.”

“So what, you just lied to me?” Twilight snarled.

“I had hoped that you would exercise your own good judgement and find things to do on your own, without my guidance. Tell me, Twilight: if I had not sent your friends out on missions via the map, would you have done things differently?”

Twilight’s mouth worked, but no sound came out of it. She rubbed her mane with her hoof, then, growling, fell face-forward onto the railing, resting her horn on the cool enamel rail. “No.” She grunted. “So, what? Is this whole thing just an attempt to make me feel important again?”

“No, Twilight, it isn’t. This truly is important, and is something I should have done years ago, when you proved yourself capable of the magic involved.” Celestia sighed. “I am not always the best at delegation myself; it took me a very long time to stop leaping at every problem personally. Sending you and your friends to confront threats on your own was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

“And you’re teaching me this by intentionally sending my friends into danger?” Twilight lifted her head to glare at Celestia.

Celestia shook her head. “No. I simply sent them on tasks they could do on their own, without the help of Equestria’s most powerful alicorn.”

Twilight scowled. “One second you’re talking about how important I am, the next you’re talking about how I don’t matter! Make up your mind!”

“Twilight, I—”

“You know what? I think I can show some initiative. You said that this was a spell unicorns used to cast? Well, then, maybe I’ll just go down to the Royal Archives and look it up myself!”

“Wait! Twilight, don’t—”

The rest of Celestia’s statement was lost as Twilight’s horn shone and the smaller unicorn vanished in a cloud of purple sparks.

---

Twilight sniffled as she glared at the ancient, crumbling scrolls through blurry eyes. “One of these has to be the right one.” She rubbed her eyes as she tried to make out the writing on the side of the rack. “How to… raise… squirrels?” She scowled, then banged her damp hoof into the side of the rack. “Why is this so difficult?”

“Because it is hard to read while you are crying,” Luna said cooly.

Twilight glared. “What do you want? Did Princess Celestia send you?”

“No. After I spoke to Celestia, she said to leave you alone.”

“So why don’t you?” Twilight turned away from the older princess, walking along the side of the rack as her eyes continued to scan the tarnished title plates.

“Because you did not leave me alone when I felt betrayed.”

Twilight paused mid-step, then sighed. Sniffing again, she rubbed at her eyes again with the back of her hoof. “Why did she do it?”

“Because my sister loves you, and is worried about you. What she said to you is true; you show her too much obeisance.”

“You were listening?” Twilight growled.

“Nay. Celestia told me, after you left.”

Twilight ground her teeth. “Well, it isn’t as if she leaves me alone anyway. Why not tell the whole world what I got upset over?”

“She did you wrong.”

Twilight’s ears pressed back against her mane. “She did.”

“But she had good intentions.”

Twilight looked away. “I know.” Twilight pawed at the floor with her hoof, then looked up. “But it doesn’t even make sense! She’s worried about me listening to her too much, so she secretly sends me instructions she hopes I’ll disobey?”

Luna laughed. “It was not her best plan, no.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Twilight pulled away, continuing to stride along the ancient shelves.

“Twilight?”

“Yes?” Twilight didn’t stop her slow, measured pace.

“Do you know why she asked you to accompany her out to the balcony by yourself?”

Twilight hesitated, then sighed and sat back on her haunches, her back still turned. “It wasn’t about the spell.”

“No. It was not.”

“Or to lecture me.”

“No.”

Twilight hunched her shoulders. “What was it, then?”

Luna’s metallic hoofsteps sounded strange against the stone floor as she walked up next to Twilight. “She wished for your company.”

“What?” Twilight whirled around.

Luna sighed. “I see you did not know.”

“But… that’s… ugh!” Twilight rubbed her face with her hooves.

“She’s lonely, Twilight.”

“Lonely? Everypony in Equestria wants to spend time with her!”

“No.” The word cut like a knife. “Everypony in Equestria wants to spend time with the Princess. Nopony wants to spend time with Celestia. Not even her faithful student.”

Twilight scowled. “I was her student.”

“And still are, in truth, if you are yet learning these things.”

Twilight took a few shuddering breathes, then sighed. Lifting her hoof to her chest, she took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

“Better?”

“A little.” Twilight shook her head. “It’s just… it makes no sense. First she talks about the importance of delegation. Then she tells me that I listen to her too much, and should do things myself. Now you’re telling me she just wanted to socialize?” She smacked her hoof into the floor. “It doesn’t make sense!”

“It does, in truth.” Luna shook her head. “In a way, I fear she envies you.”

Twilight blinked. “Celestia envies me?”

“Indeed.” Luna sat beside Twilight, one wing settling against the younger alicorn’s back, the other brushing against the scrolls on the rack on the opposite side. “You have much to learn, and much need to grow, but you have friends who do not call you princess, who do not have to wonder if they should bow before you. You have few responsibilities to shirk, and those you do have are often of a more ephemeral nature, planning and organizing an event or coping with passing issues. It is as the days before we rose up to rule Equestria, when we banished monsters and brought towns and villages into the fold of our protection.”

“So she’s jealous?”

“No.” Luna shook her head. “She is glad for the life you lead, and allows you your freedom while she can, taking all the burden onto her own shoulders. It took much to convince herself to allow others to bear the burden of the Sun and Moon as much as we, and it was only after several disasters that she eventually decided it was necessary. She saw the need, but hesitated, for fear that you would think that she might be passing from this world, or otherwise had some need to lay down the burden, instead of simple prudence. But I am sure that she was looking forward to the opportunity to spend time with you once more.”

“Oh.” Twilight’s wings tightened against her own sides. “That doesn’t make what she did right.”

“It does not.”

Silence prevailed in the space between the shelves, broken only by the sound of two ponies breathing. Eventually, Twilight sighed and shook her head. “I should go back and talk to her.”

“Do you forgive her?”

Twilight rose back to her hooves. “No. But I will.” She shook her head, rubbing at her eyes again. “I just wish I understood why she was talking about those other things.”

Luna stood up beside her. “Because she wants you to be happy,” she said as the pair began to walk. “She fears that you take too much on yourself, and at the same time too little; she fears your lack of initiative, and your drive to do things yourself.”

“So it’s just the Crystal Empire all over again?” Twilight asked, frowning.

“Twilight… why do you think that we did not accompany you to the Crystal Empire? Celestia and I had defeated Sombra before, even without the Elements of Harmony.”

“It was a test, right?”

“Do you think that we would have risked the Crystal Empire on a test that might be failed?”

Twilight didn’t respond as the pair reached the end of the aisle and turned down the narrow hall, heading towards the exit of the Royal Archive.

“We sent an alicorn, the two most powerful unicorns in all of Equestria, five highly competent mares who had overcome adversity time and again, and a dragon who could instantly send us a message if things went badly. It gave you the chance to practice leadership, without putting anything at risk in case of failure. It also gave us a fresh opportunity to confront Sombra. Had we two simply gone, you would not have developed your skills, and we might have had the same outcome as we had before.”

Twilight bit her lip. “I see. So she stayed back so that I could… be a hero?”

“She stood back so that you could grow, and because she thought that you might do better than we. Delegation and leadership – knowing that something must be done, but that another could do it in her place, and might be better for it.” She paused as they turned another corner. “And perhaps, someday, that opportunity might allow her to become our peer. Or even surpass us.”

“Heh. I’ve got a long way to go for that.”

“Not so far as you think.” Luna said, her horn lighting up as she pulled open the door to the archive, squinting as the bright light of the window outside shone through the open door. “We may move heaven and earth to keep Equestria safe and prosperous, but we are still ponies in the end, loath as we may be to admit it.”

“Ponies who get lonely, and make mistakes. Ponies who are trying to do their best,” Twilight said.

Luna nodded. “Indeed.”

Twilight stepped out into the hall. “You know, Celestia could have saved us both a lot of trouble by just lighting up the map and making my cutie mark appear over Canterlot.”

Luna chuckled quietly as her horn shone once more, the door to the Royal Archive sliding shut with a loud click. “Come, let us rejoin my sister. I am sure that Shining Armor and Cadance are learning much from their lesson with Celestia.”

“Right.” Twilight nodded, then paused. “But it might be worthwhile to swing by the kitchens first and pick up a snack for the others. We didn’t really spend much time on our tea; I bet they could use a break.”

Luna smiled, and after a moment, so did Twilight.