I spent the next two days getting used to sitting on the thrown again. And let me tell you.... it was not fun. Not only was I exhausted and out of shape from my 'rest' in the hospital, but Christilia was doing a magnificent job of being perfectly, INFURIATINGLY grumpy. It wasn't just morning crankiness or stress, it was constant, never ending, annoyingness. While I tried to be optimistic and friendly she would be mean and quiet. Sometimes she would sit in total silence staring at a nonexistent pony for TWENTY MINUTES before I would startle her out of her trance with a loud comment about the weather or plans for the upcoming Winter Celebration— a December holiday much like your human Christmas, with the most obvious and stupid name in the history of ever—. On the rare occasion she would just suddenly yell something like: "Stop talking to me you moron I'm trying to work" or "Yes I get the plan!" or "YOU ARE THE ONE BEING IMPATIENT!" to no pony in particular. So yeah, it was a really fun time. Anyways, most of the kingdom had began to settle back down after Lunacy's sudden attack, houses were being rebuilt, the ponies from Ponington went home, and my scars were becoming less painful and I didn't notice them so much when I looked in the mirror. I also began to worry what we were going to do about Lunacy.

"I suppose we could just keep her contained in the gardens forever but it still doesn't sound like the best idea." I said at breakfast on the morning of the third day.
Per usual Christilia didn't reply and started to stab her pancake with her fork repeatedly. Her blue and white mane was unkempt and not in it's usual curly state and the dark circles that had formed under her eyes were growing much more prominent. She was sitting on the other end of the long table on a tall wooden seat that my father used to occupy at meals. It was strange seeing somepony else sit in it.

Is she getting enough sleep? What is going on with her? I thought confusedly, none of this was like Christilia AT ALL! If she would just talk to me that would be great!

"A-HEM!" I coughed loudly. "WHAT DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO ABOUT LUNACY!" I yelled startling one of the guards poised professionally by the door so she jumped rattling her golden armor.
Christilia snarled under her breath and stared down at her plate. She was silent.

Of course! Because she just has to be the most annoying son of a toad!

"Heeelllooo??" I said after the longest period of silence.

Christilia's head snapped up, making her mane swing back and forth. She glared at me.

"I. Don't. KNOW!!" she snapped.

I sat there shocked as she immediately got up pushing the chair so hard it toppled over and hit the floor with a smack.

Did you even listen to ANYTHING I said! Jeez!

Christilia marched over towards the doors. I had never seen her this enraged and it made me wonder if she was going nuts. I watched her storm out of the room resentfully. I sighed and stared down at my half eaten pancake remembering the pancake monster Lunacy had created while still locked in her cocoon . The hysterical cook, Blueberry, had quit her job after she had regained consciousness soon after her encounter with Lunacy's 'abilities'. She'd said very frankly that she wanted to resign, move to the other side of the Earth, and never, ever come back. And I honestly couldn't blame her.
It also made me wonder if something had happened to Christilia during my time in the hospital. Did she get in a major fight ooooorrrr........

Or maybe she was infected by some ancient evil force that lives in her brain and that's who she's been talking—

I laughed—louder than I expected too gaining some weird looks from the guards—.

Yeah right! It's probably the first one.

I pondered about this for the rest of the day. I wondered if it was something I was doing. So I thought back about everything I had done in the past month.
Silently.
While working.
For six hours.
This got me nowhere.
I wondered if it was the fact her entire family and home had been erased from physical existence by Time Warper. I casually asked about this during lunch and got only a cold stare and a heck ton of silence. I had a lot more of stupid ideas about Christilia, but I won't waste more time telling you about them.

The weather was growing extremely cold and gusts of wind and snow kept blasting the castle windows and doors at random intervals, making them shake and rattle. December was slowly coming to a close and the holiday was coming around the corner. Pine wreaths, branches, and banners were starting to appear on the doorways and fronts of houses all around Trottingham and candles constantly glowed from inside cottages, their yellow light filtering the the frosted windowpanes. Snow shone in the moonlight and sparkled in the sun all over the ground and on rooftops. It was beautiful. Even the leafless trees looked glorified, glittering with long fragile icicles and chains of colorful beads wrapped around their empty branches— complementary of the school fillies—. The great grey stone walls of the city were always sparkling slightly with snow and the guards stationed outside were seemingly always positioning themselves closer and closer to the torches that popped up around town.

"Your majesty? I have a message from General Dawn— ma'am."
There's somepony talking to me! Aaaagh! Who is it? Is it a guard! Is it—
I kept my eyes on my paperwork which was supposedly a letter from the ambassador to the Culora Forest with an extremely long report on the situation of the Color Spirits ( pony like creatures with large iridescent wings like a butterfly's, a tail like a dragon's, and with coats of mixed colors so the looked like weird walking rainbows ).
According to the ambassador ( a pegasus named Bee ) the weather was sunny and tropical, per usual, the fruit was growing plentifully, as it always was, and everything was the same as it was every time he wrote and— OH MY STARS WHY WAS I STILL READING THIS!!!
I looked up to see a small, young,white pegasus standing below my throne. He was wearing silver armor— the sign of a new recruit in the El Turnian Royal Guard. When a recruit completes their training they are given golden armor, the sign of an official soldier— and his helmets' plume was forest green indicating the color of his mane. He looked fidgety and nervous, this was most likely his first "mission" as a new recruit in the guard.
"What is this message?" Christilia asked coldly from her throne, it was smaller than mine was and usually was occupied by the king, but since there was no king it belonged to her.
"Um, the message isn't for you..." the pegasus said slowly. "General Dawn told me to bring it to the queen... ma'am."
What does he mean we're both the queens! How much respect are they teaching these recruits? Yeesh!
Christilia glowered down at him, obviously thinking the same thing, making him flinch and back away a few steps.
"I AM the QUEEN!" she said baring her teeth. "Or have you forgotten?"
I shuffled in my seat awkwardly. Usually Christilia would have asked what he meant, but now she just yelled, glared, and snapped. She'd become a "kick first questions later" type of pony. What had happened?
"I think he means me, Christilia." I intervened. That was the wrong thing to say.
Christilia spun her head around, her face was red with anger.
"OH SO YOU'RE THE ONLY QUEEN NOW!! LET'S JUST FORGOT I EVER EXISTED!!" she yelled. "GLORIA RULES THE WHOLE KINGDOM BY HERSELF NOW!!! NO NEED FOR USELESS OLD CHRISTILIA!!!" I could tell she was trying to be sarcastic but it just sounded like well... yelling.
"CALM DOWN!!" I yelled back. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
I gestured with my wing at the recruit who looked on the verge of tears shaking and trembling. Christilia took a deep breath and settled down back into her throne, glaring the floor. I got up and walked down the four stairs that led to the elegant platform on which the two thrones sat.
"Come on." I said to the still trembling recruit." Lead me to the general."
He looked up. Nodded. And started briskly walking towards the throne room doors. I did the same and walked through the big ornate doors, clearly aware of Christilia's one-eyed gaze following me all the way out.