The day started out like any other day. I got up, had breakfast, drew some stuff for my friends and myself, and then headed out for the library. It was a nice day, and RD was telling me how her and her pegusi friends were planning this perfect day for months. As I came into the library, Twilight and Spike turned to me in surprise.

"DD!" they both exclaimed and ran to me, both glomping me at the exact same time. I shouted, "Guys! Guys!" and they got off of me, although they had huge smiles on their faces. Twilight said, "We have exciting news!"

"What is it?" I asked, totally oblivious for what was going to happen to me. Spike replied, "You're never going to guess!"

"Um….Rarity's coming here from Canterlot…again."

"Nope," the purple unicorn answered. "It pertains to someone important and that it's happening to you." The dragon nudged her with her shoulder, as if that was too much info, but I still found myself guessing.

"Rainbow Dash wants me to commission another portrait of herself."

They both shook their heads.

"The Princess is coming here yet again for the Summer Sun Celebration."

"DD, the Summer Sun Celebration was a few days ago," Twi mentioned.

"Oh! That's right! I completely forgot! Um…oh! I know! Katy Ponny's coming to perform at the celebration hall!"

They shook their heads again.

"Well then, what is it? Because I am stumped!" Twilight grabbed my hooves in anticipation, and said, "Princess Celestia….wants you to commission a portrait of her!"

"Wh-what?!"

"Yeah, I can't believe it either," Spike agreed. "In all the years the Princess has been…well, the princess, she hasn't had her portrait done!" I facehoofed and moaned, "No, Spike! That's not the problem! The problem is…that the Princess Celestia wants me to commission a painting of her."

"Still not seeing the problem here."

"It's just that…I'm totally unqualified! This is the ruler of entire Equestria! And Luna will probably want one too! Oh, I totally can't do this!" I ran out of the library and straight home, not wanting to come out ever again.

I've never felt like this before…

Well, maybe that one time…

But that was different! Now, after that…

I've lost all hope, all faith…

"Hey, DD! Wake up!"

I don't wanna…

"You can't stay super-depressed forever!"

I want to! And I'm not waking up!

"Sorry it had to come to this…"

"Gah! What's with the bright light?!" I shouted, just waking up from the depressed sleep I had put myself into. Somepony had come into my house. It was mid-day, and I had all the lights turned off, signifying my sleep. Rainbow Dash had come in and woken me up, shining my desk lamp at my face. After tracking her down and giving her a stern look, I asked, "What do you want?!"

"I heard you were in a slump, so I decided to come over and help you."

"It's not like you've ever been this way before…"

"Oh, I have."

"When was that?"

"Well, facing bullies when you're a kid is very challenging. Facing them when you're an adult is…even harder. I was under pressure, and for once, got stage-fright. It was even worse because Rarity was showing off her Glimmer Wings from this spell Twilight used. Like that helped any with my confidence."

"Heh," I couldn't help but laugh at that little snide comment she made.

"Anyway, Rarity was showing off her wings, but somehow, they burned when they got close to the sun! The Wonderbolts, who were at the competition I was competing in, tried to save her, but got knocked out by her! It was up to me, and my amazing loyalty, to save them. I had to fly faster than I had ever flown before, and in the process…I pulled off a Sonic Rainboom."

"Oh, my gosh! Isn't that the same way all of you got your cutie marks?"

"Yep! Pulled one off as a filly, and another one as a young mare!"

"Well…" I sighed, "this is different. For you, it was a one-time thing. For me, I just sometimes feel…like the weight of the world is on my shoulders."

"I hope that doesn't become a common thing," she explained, heading for the door. "I really like your art." She closed the door shut, but came in a moment later. "Oh, I forgot to mention. Twilight's set up a train ride and everything so you can go to Canterlot. Your meeting with the Princess is the day after tomorrow at three. And don't worry. I'm sure you'll make a fine drawing of Princess Celestia."

Once she had left, I turned the lights back on and dug through a box of old art. I had drawn many of them of the Princess, mostly for school art projects. They were all good, but not perfect. On some of them, I messed up on her cutie mark a few times, the crown and necklace weren't always right, and sometimes, I would even forget her horn and wings completely. I practiced drawing her, and after what seemed like hours, I finally went to sleep. I moaned, "They're not perfect, and never will be…"

"Are you sure you can take care of Toothless?" I asked Pinkie Pie, who was now holding the cat-carrier. She nodded, and questioned, "Are you kidding? This is way better than Gummy! He always teethes on everything and sharpens his claws on the curtains. I'm sure your pet will be much tamer!"

"Do you have all your stuff?" Twilight asked. "You do know where you're going, right?"

"Yes," I responded, "I'm all set to stay at Rarity's house while I'm over there." I got on the train with my luggage, and sat on one seat with my suitcase in hoof and placed on my lap. I waved good-bye to all my friends, but soon realized I was not alone on the train ride.

"You know, you can put your luggage up there," a yellow stallion pointed a hoof to the shelves above me. I exclaimed, "Fire Twilight! What are you doing here?"

"This is my time over at my mom's, remember?"

"Of course, of course. She's part of the elites, and that means she's in Canterlot."

"So why are you here?"

"I was…chosen to commission a portrait of the Princess. Apparently, Twi mentioned me in her letters, and thinks I'm a pretty talented artist."

"That must be a lot of pressure."

"Like you wouldn't believe!"

"Look, it only takes an hour to get there. I'm gonna meet up with my mom. I'll visit you later, okay?" I nodded and spent the rest of the train ride in silence.

I came to Rarity's boutique a few hours later, since it was in the middle of a busy capital city. I entered, and she immediately greeted me.

"Well, hello, Doodledraw." She hugged me immediately, making me drop my luggage. She asked, "Why didn't you come to the Gala with us?"

"The Gala has sort of become second place since I heard your….worse-than worse experiences at your first one."

"Yes, even I try to block out those memories as much as my friends do. It's nice to see you here, though."

"Yeah, but this job is going to be pretty tough."

"DD, you really shouldn't sweat it. I once stayed at CanterlotCastle once, and looking back, both the Princess and I can agree that I may have overdone it on thanking her."

"But that's just the point! You only stayed. I have to paint a portrait of the Princess, which will hang in the halls of the castle forever!"

"Doodledraw, as a lady who has gotten stressed out many, many times, I have realized that practice is the only thing that makes you better. Now, I've seen your drawings, and they're very good. Your talents are absolutely worthy of being shown to the Princess." I don't know what it was or why it happened, but something snapped in me. Tears ran down my cheeks as I shouted, "You don't know! My friends will never understand me!" I ran out of the boutique, ponies making way for me as I aimlessly did so.

I stopped at Canterlot Cliff, and sat near the edge, hugging my knees. It was a long while before I heard anypony come by. Finally, somepony did come there. I felt a hoof place itself on my shoulders, and I looked at it. I immediately recognized who it belonged to. Through tears, I said, "Fi-Fire Tw-Twilight….what are you doing here?"

"I heard a friend needed some help," he answered, helping me up with both hooves. "I knew that you were staying over at Rarity's, and when I couldn't find you later, I asked some ponies around if they had spotted you, and from their clues, I found you here." He then looked around and stated, "Actually, this is where I had my first kiss."

"With Twilight, right?"

"No, I mean, my first kiss, ever."

"Wow. Had you hoped you would kiss Twi that night?"

"Yeah, I had been dreaming about having my first kiss with her and then, I did."

"I have been dreaming to get an audience with the Princess since I first met the Elements of Harmony. But…I never expected it to be like this. I mean, this is…a dream come true for anypony, but my dreams are crushed by all this anxiety."

"But, Doodledraw…" he activated his magic, and I started to hear music. "Dreams can never be crushed. From his horn came a rush of colors, and a beautiful day-scene, despite it being night, surrounded it. I don't know if it was the spell or the environment, but I just felt…care-free.

I looked up at the sky, and saw that there were stars, despite it being daytime. I went into a nearby wood, and Fire followed me. We soon came upon a small, natural garden of apples and raspberries. We walked further, and soon found a beautiful royal-blue river. We crossed it. While I looked around some more, the playful stallion pulled me into a thick area of vines and lovely ivy. I tried to follow him as best I could, but it proved difficult considering how thick the ivy was. We soon made our way out, and we were back to the real world, closer to the city.

"There," he stated. "That proves that dreams can never be crushed because they are endless, and will last for all of time." Somehow, though I didn't know how the scene related to that, I felt peace in his words and was rest-assured that dreams don't turn to dust.

I got back to the boutique, explained myself to Rarity, said I was sorry to her, and went to my guest bedroom. I stared at the ceiling of my room for hours, humming the interlude to whatever song Fire Twilight had "played" for me and slowly fell asleep to that.

I headed over to CanterlotCastle with the pride I could do this, and the confidence as well. I looked at the note Twilight had given me about how this thing was going to go, and said to myself, "Twilight said her big brother was going to meet me at the gates so their wouldn't be any confusion with the guards at the gate."

I soon made it to the gates of the castle, and a white unicorn wearing fancier guard armor came up to me. I looked at him, and said, "Shining Armor, I presume."

"And you must be Twilie's friend," the guard greeted. He escorted me down the halls until we met up with a pink allicorn with gold, pink and purple in her mane. Shining came up to her and kissed her, then stated, "Doodledraw, this is my wife, Cadence." I bowed a little, knowing she was royalty, and said, "It's nice to meet you."

"Please, there's no need to bow," she laughed. "The princess title is really just a status symbol. It doesn't mean anything." We moved on, and proceeded to the throne room. I gasped, bowing, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, it is an honor to meet you two."

"Thank you for your time, Doodledraw." The white allicorn stepped down from her throne, but she tripped, her sister narrowly catching her.

"It's okay," Luna stated, helping her sister up.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously. Celestia cleared her throat and replied, "Actually, Doodledraw, there is something I want to speak to you about before we get started on my portrait." She walked out of the room, and I followed, Luna coming up behind me. We walked through a corridor, to a small shrine that was set up. Two portraits of allicorns, one that was a female with a long teal mane, and one that was of a male, who had a navy blue coat and a purple mane.

"These are our ancestors," Celestia explained, "from the first flag of Equestria. They were taken to be rulers, since they had qualities of all three species of ponies."

"They ruled before the Age of Discord," Luna continued for her sister. "We took on their legacy long after they died. Some ponies thought of us as spirits of the two allicorns before us."

"The only reason these portraits were made is because they died. And so…I want you to do one for me, too."

"Wait, what?!" I asked, taking a few steps back. "Princess Celestia, you're dying?"

"I'm afraid so," she replied sadly. "We don't know what the disease is, or how I caught it, but the only information any doctors could tell me is that I was dying from it. Never before have I gotten sick, and I was afraid to tell Twilight, my faithful student, because I feared she would become very depressed if I told her. That is why I want you to keep this a secret until my time is up."

"I…" I looked to Celestia, Luna, and the two portraits of their ancestors before I sighed, "I will make sure to tell her when the time comes, Princess."

"Very well," Luna stated. We all headed back to the throne room, where the younger sister continued, "I would also like my portrait done, in the event that my sister's disease proves infectious."

"If the doctors said that, you would have to wear a hazmat suit," the older sister joked. Luna and I laughed, as if nothing was wrong. I then started the two portraits, and to the best of my abilities, drew them. They both looked them over once I was done, and said in unison, "They're perfect." With their magic, they hung them right next to the two portraits of their ancestors. I left for Ponyville happy that I had done a good job, yet saddened by the news about Celestia. I took the time on the train to write a letter to my parents.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I've learned that sometimes our dreams seem out of reach, but they are not physical things. Meaning they can't be broken, torn, or crushed as long as you keep reaching for them. If you do reach your dreams, and are nervous, do not worry. That means that you've accomplished all you can do to make the dream possible, and you should be proud for that.

Your loving daughter,

Doodledraw