Chapter 4
Twilight sat in the Great Hall and slowly nibbled on some hay-fries. Starshine sat next to her and energetically chatted to Damien that had joined them, along with Lyra that quietly sat at Twilight’s other side.
It had been barely the first third of the day, but it already seemed like it had lasted forever. Twilight already had had two really big fails, and the day wasn’t even half over!
The last one about her and Starshine being Spike’s parents together was the most awkward moment in her entire life! What was she thinking!?
Twilight sighed and looked down at her plate. She wasn’t hungry anymore. She reached over and grabbed two apples and stuffed them under her purple robe in case she got hungry later.
She got up and muttered something about going to class early, and walked towards the exit. As she went outside with a small group of third-year students she saw Blinky pass by. She had completely forgotten about her.
Twilight didn’t want to get on Binky’s bad side, but she wasn’t exactly all that fond of the strange filly. At first she seemed to be cool, but now she just seemed… obnoxious…
Twilight shook her head. She couldn’t think that way about another pony! But then again… NO. She was determined to leave that topic alone. Right now she just needed to talk to somepony.
She still didn’t know when she would be able to meet Celestia, and Moonglow had just vanished. Twilight found herself standing in the corridor aimlessly looking forward as masses of students streamed around her like a river.
She finally decided to go and find her magic class. She never realized how much of a labyrinth the school was.
As Twilight joined the stream of ponies going in a random direction, she suddenly got tackled to the ground. She painfully hit the floor knocking the last bits of air out of her lungs.
As she looked to where the hit had come from she saw an azure blue filly dressed in a dark, green robe snarling, and staring daggers at her. She had a mildly short snowy-white mane made to one side of her head and bright purple eyes.
Twilight coughed and stood up. Her side hurt from the impact.
“What’s your problem!?” she snapped.
“What’s Trixie’s problem?! What’s your problem!? Thanks for getting Trixie into trouble! Trixie saw you and the princess huddling together after yesterday! Plotting to get her into even more trouble!” she yelled.
“Who the heck is Trixie and why the hay is this bothering you?!”
“I am Trixie you imbecile!”
“Then why the hay would you call yourself ‘she’?” Twilight was more confused than angry though her side still throbbed with pain.
Trixie’s eye twitched and she suddenly jumped at Twilight with a roar. The cat-fight had already drawn quite a bit of attention.
As the two fillies rolled on the ground Trixie snarled at Twilight as they tried to punch each other as hard as their little body could allow.
“You already took so much from Trixie! She battled her way into this school! You stupid rich-y-mc-richington took away Trixie’s place as the princesses private student! You will pay and Trixie will make your life a living hell!” she hissed and lodged a shot at Twilight’s muzzle.
The hit made a small blood vessel on Twilight’s lower lip burst and leak a small stream of blood down from the corner of her mouth. Twilight however didn’t just take the hits, she punched back and managed to hit Trixie right in the eye. She shot backwards and that gave Twilight a small enough lee-way to get out of Trixie’s grip.
Twilight skidded away and got back up on all fours. Trixie’s eye had already begun to swell shut as she leaped again.
Suddenly she stopped midair. A rusty red aura shimmered around her. All the students that had gathered around froze in fear as Mrs. Mandagor’e emerged from the crowd.
Twilight’s eyes widened in fear and Trixie just snarled and kept tossing her hoofs around and squirming in the air.
“What is this about?” Her cold voice echoed in the corridor. Nopony dared to utter a single peep.
“Did you not cause enough trouble yesterday, little Trixie?”
“Don’t you dare to call me little…!” she hissed back.
“Silence! You have caused so much ruckus, I have no idea where to even begin! You’re lucky Celestia is busy, that means I can punish you myself.” She smirked. “Nyx will be happy to know I'm taking away 25 points from Nagaraac.”
All the green-robed students expressed their disappointment.
“But don’t worry dears, I'm going to punish this little one over here as well.” She glared at Twilight. “Minus ten points from my own Tower, Miss Sparkle.”
There was a silence.
“Now follow me you two and the rest, be gone! You have classes don’t you?” She continued to smirk and carried a squirming Trixie away with her magic as Twilight slowly followed the nasty teacher.
Worst. Day. Ever.
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“Terrible, terrible, terrible! The first day isn’t even over and you’re already picking fights! Especially you Trixie, if I were you I’d lay low for the next trimester.” Mandagor’e snarled as she paced in front of the two fillies that now sat on small stools in her empty clasroom.
Trixie was holding a bag of ice over her eye and Twilight held a tuft of toilet paper against her lip.
“And after that wonderful execution of your power yesterday I thought you were better Miss Sparkle, but it seems I was wrong. You are just like your no-good sister, picking fights getting into trouble, back when I was…”
“I'm not the one who picked a fight!” Twilight shouted and earned a hateful glance from her teacher.
“You will not talk ba…”
“I don’t care anymore! I'm not the one who fought I was just defending my flank! And my sister is the greatest pony in existence besides Celestia herself! You have no right to trash-talk her!” Twilight snapped and leaned forward on the stool. Her eyes glimmered with a weak purple aura as her coat lightened in color.
Mandagor’e just stood there like a stone. She had a numb expression and her dull gray eyes were half-closed behind her crest glasses.
Twilight breathed heavily as her lip came open again and blood slowly dribbled down her chin.
“You are unfortunately incorrect Miss Sparkle. I have all the rights to criticize your precious sister as she is a bad influence not just to Mr. Sky, but to Aurora as well. Not to mention you.” She glared over the top of her glasses.
“She wields extreme power, she even reminds me of me and Nyx when we were young, yet we were more responsible back then. All your dear sister cares about is fun, and that will get her nowhere. If she wishes to become a truly powerful pony she must train hard for she naturally posses the power an ordinary unicorn can only dream about. So do you. And a great example was your brother.”
“Stop comparing us to our brother…” Twilight whispered as she looked down to ground.
Mandagor’e lowered her head to look in Twilight’s eyes. Her own eyes were unnaturally soft and maybe even full of life and love. Maybe. Probably not.
“I compare you to your brother only because he is one of the strongest ponies in this decade. And you wield the same power he does. I say this only because I don’t want you to waste your maximum potential like your sister did. And still does…”
Twilight took a few deep breathes and looked up in Mandagor’e’s eyes.
Once. Only once the roles were reversed. Twilight was the one who was burning with anger, and Mandagor’e was the one in sheer surprise.
Her eyes lit up and her coat changed from lavender to pure white. Her mane lit up in flames as her eyes burned bright red. Her angry grin could bring any pony to the brink of passing out in fear.
“STOP TRASH-TALKING MY SISTER!!!” she boomed. Trixie had vanished, and Mandagor’e was just staring at Twilight with and odd mix of fear and amazement.
Suddenly Twilight gasped. Her body was locked in spasms as she hovered a good couple of hoofs off the ground. Her magic was shooting out bolts of lightning as she gawked whilst her body moved and twisted on its own.
It was the same thing that happened during her entrance exam… the only thing that could stop her was…
“Tia!” Mandagor’e gasped as Twilight felt the tips of soft feathers brush against her sides and slowly drag her to the ground. She felt the familiar calming sensation all around her as her magic let go.
Moments passed and she felt herself sobbing in Celestia’s chest as she wrapped her large hoofs around the small filly.
“I'm sorry.” Twilight whispered.
“It’s ok.” Celestia calmingly replied. “Mrs. Mandagor’e find Trixie and continue with the day’s routine. I need to have a small private lesson with Twilight.”
Just as she said that an azure filly appeared in the doorway. She had a cookie stuffed in her mouth.
“Dif Twixie miss sometfing?” She looked clueless.
“Yes. Detention. Now come with me.” Mandagor’e quickly took handle of the situation again, and dragged Trixie out of her cabinet not even paying attention to the fact that the pony had raided her cookie stash.
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There was a bright flash and a pair of ponies appeared in Celestia’s private study.
Celestia used her wings and placed little Twilight on a pillow and kneeled on the carpet in front of her. It took some time for Twilight to move and look at Celestia. Her eyes were red from crying as she spoke in a whisper.
“I'm going to go pack now. I’ll be fast don’t worry, Lyra can have my bed and Starshine can take care of Spike for me. He likes him, I think Spike needs a male role-model. Before I go I'm going to apologize to Mrs. Mandagor’e and Blinky and even Trixie… I'm just gonna…” As Twilight stood up she felt a soft hoof on her own.
She looked at Celestia again. She was smiling.
“Oh. Ok, you can keep my stuff. I left Smartypants back home, but you can have her too. I understand I need to be punished even more so maybe just throw me in a dungeon, or banish me, or banish me and throw me in a dungeon in the place where you banish me to. It’s ok, I understand.” Tears welled in Twilight’s eyes as she fell down on her knees.
Twilight slowly looked up and met Celestia’s magenta gaze. They stared at each other until Celestia broke out into a soft chuckle.
Twilight’s lip quivered seeing her former-mentor laugh about her banishment. She bit her lip to hold back tears. Her wound came open and more blood streamed down her chin.
Celestia softly smiled as she stopped chucking. She leaned down and nuzzled Twilight’s cheek.
“I'm not going to banish you dear Twilight.” she softly whispered.
“Now hold still, let me fix your lip.” She lowered her horn and placed it against Twilight’s wound. It glowed with a bright, golden light for a few moments until all that was left was a small scar.
Celestia leaned back as Twilight cautiously poked her, now fixed, lip.
“The scar will fade in a few days. That’s the only downside of this healing spell.”
“Wha-why-what-why-you-what-didn’t-whaaaa-aaa?” Twilight struggled for words as she looked up at Celestia with her mouth agape.
“I won’t banish you Twilight, where in Equestria did you get that idea?” Celestia chucked. “Your magical outburst is nothing new for me. All unicorn ponies could have one, it’s prone to happen more often to somepony with a magic mark.” She pointed at Twilight’s flank.
“Just like that one.” Celestia added.
Twilight looked up at her. Sadness, guilt, embarrassment and admiration stuffed into one emotion. Celestia got the signal.
“I am not mad. I am actually impressed. Its true Mandagor’e can be quite the hassle, and I know she has a thing against your sister. I hate to admit it, but a lot of what she said is true. Moonglow is a bit too airheaded. She could achieve greatness as long as she tried…”
Twilight looked down. She loved her sister. But deep down inside she knew it all was true. Moonglow loved a good laugh and a nice prank. She never understood why Twilight studied instead of played.
They were both lucky to have Shinning around to pull Twilight out of her shell every once in awhile. Moonglow tried her best, but they were just so different… then why did they love each other so much? Shouldn’t they have something in common to be Big Sister Best Friends Forever?
Twilight just sighed. Celestia placed her wing on the small filly. The beautiful moon shined brightly. Wait! Moon?!
Twilight shot up and ran past the confused Celestia to the open balcony. She leaned on the ornate railing and gazed into the night sky. It was wonderful.
“Princess, why is in night already? It was just barely past lunch.” Twilight asked as Celestia walked right next to her.
“Don’t worry Twilight. It’s just a spell. See?” Celestia’s horn glowed and the night faded away into a bright and sunny autumn day.
“I love autumn. My favorite of the seasons… so colorful and beautiful.” Celestia whispered. The sun was lazily gliding across the sky.
“I like Fall too. It means school starts so I can study again. You probably don’t know that I love to study…” Twilight said into the sky.
“Indeed.” was all that Celestia said. The day slowly faded around the two ponies and the stars lit up the endless abyss. Without a word Celestia turned around and went inside. Twilight followed.
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“Princess? Why did you make it night in your study? I don’t get it.” Twilight asked as she sat on a pile of pillows in Celestia’s Study.
“It’s actually very simple. This school is my haven. I don’t have to act like royalty and be perfect in every way to keep the pesky noble’s around to help me run the county. I can be myself. Simple. A joker, a teacher, a principal, a friend…”
“I see the sun every time I'm not here. Court, balls, galas, errands. I’d hate to say it but I'm a bit sick of it. The moon however… it brings back memories. I can never see it since I need to sleep… I wish I could though.” Celestia gazed at the balcony. The moon was almost full. It was astonishing.
“Oh.” was all that Twilight said as her mentor gazed at the sky.
“But that, is for another day.” Celestia turned back to her student. “We have the time. I may as well hold your lesson.” She smiled. “But I need to know, what caused the power outburst?”
“Emotions. Mandagor’e. I hate her Princess, and she hates me too! She hates me and Moonglow both and I just don’t know why!” Twilight shouted.
“I said it once, and I’ll say it again… Mandy is a hassle, but don’t take her the wrong way Twilight. She means well but there are things that change a pony. She herself is a very powerful unicorn. Do you know what her cutie mark is?”
“No. I never got a good chance to look at it. Mom said it’s not nice to stare at ponies flank’s because it’s rude.”
“It’s a meteor Twilight. Do you know what that means?” Twilight shook her head.
“It means fire, and fire stands for power. You saw her charade last night didn’t you? That was the weakest thing she could cast.” Twilight’s jaw began to hang.
“Somewhere deep inside you are very similar. You both don’t know it and you both don’t admit it. I may go so far as to say you and Mandagor’e are more similar than you and your dear brother Shinning Armor.” Twilight’s eyes widened as she closed her mouth.
“That’s why you shouldn’t be angry at her Twilight, it’s the same as being angry at yourself. You both have a nasty temper.” Celestia chuckled. “Learn from her Twilight. She will teach you things nopony could ever teach.”
“But what about…”
“Me? There are some things even a goddess can’t do.” Celestia smiled a sad smile.
Twilight looked down to the ground lost in thought. Her face expressed only confusion.
“But what about today?” Twilight looked up once more, “After what I may have almost done to her she probably hates me more than ever! And I'm probably going to hang out with Moonglow too, and that will just make her set me on fire! And now, I know that she can do that…”
“First of all she won’t, Twilight. Second, she has discipline. That is all you need to know. And lastly, I still need to have a word with her. She may not like you Twilight, but she will still help you become as powerful as your magic allows you, she’s just like that.” Celestia kept smiling.
Twilight didn’t know how to respond. She laid down her head and closed her eyes. She didn’t notice the fact that she fell asleep nor the fact that Celestia lended her wing as a blanket and resumed meaningless paperwork as her student slept the day away.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad day after all?
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Edited by Midge Mannequin