There was a loud knock on Princess Celestia’s door. She had just lowered the sun and raised the moon, her job should be done and she needed to settle down for another good night sleep.
“A princess’s job is never done,” she said with a sigh until another knock rapped on her door, “Coming,” she said while getting up.
With a charge from her magic, she opened the door, “How can I help…” only to find no one in front of her.
A cough caught her attention as she looked bellow and saw two young foals and a baby dragon staring back at her, “Sun Light, Twilight, what a surprise! What can I do for you?”
As she expected, it was Sun Light who responded, “We need to use the throne room.”
Celestia stared for a moment, the duo in front of her seemed in sync with each other's body language, a sign that usually comes from two friends who just made up. Not that it displeased her to see them like that, but she liked that they would have made up in her presence instead, that way it would ease up her suspicion that Sun Light was planning something.
Under any other circumstance, Celestia would have allowed them in the courtroom in a heartbeat. However, seeing those two together made her decide to play along instead, “I’m sorry Sun Light, but the throne room is off limits after closing hours,” she knew if it was Sun Light, entertainment will ensue.
“But Princess,” Sun Light whined, “If we can’t use the throne room, Twilight would be sad,” he hugged Twilight with one hoof, “And if Twilight is sad then Spike becomes sad.” He then hugged Spike with the other hoof, “And if I can’t cheer Spike up then I’ll be sad,” Sun Light then stuck his lips while pouting, “And as the princess, you don’t want all your subjects to be sad do you?” All three of them looked up to her, wide eyes swelling with tears, and a pout displayed on each of their faces.
Celestia’s heart stopped for a moment as she stared at the puckering trio. Then a nervous laughter cracked out from her, “Alright Sunny, show’s over. Stop pouting before you give me diabetes. What is this all about?”
Almost instantly, Sun Light’s innocent demeanor dissolved as he released Twilight and Spike from his grasp, “We need the throne room because it is spacious enough for Twilight to practice teleportation without the fear hitting any bookcases.” Both Twilight and Spike took a deep breath after that.
“We? Since when?” Celestia probed.
“This afternoon, we had a… heart to heart,” Sun Light smiled warmly to Twilight who mirrored his smile. The contagion didn’t stop at the foals, however, as Celestia found herself smiling with them.
This was the reaction she hoped for from the beginning, “Of course I’ll open the throne room for my dearest student and my faithful assistant. Though I’ll have to ask, what were you two doing? You smell of sweat and soot.”
Twilight looked perplexed, “I don’t smell that bad, do I?” she asked her baby dragon who squealed incomprehensibly.
“Oh deal with it, this is the smell of stallions,” Sun Light puffed up his chest.
“And the smell of stink mite,” Sun Light’s eyes twitched as Celestia cast a spell on him to prevent further contamination, “And I’m guessing Twilight got them after you hugged her earlier,” Celestia suppressed a laugh at Twilight’s aghast face as she cast the same spell on her as well, “I hope you learned something new at that tower that is worth shaving your fur again.”
“Again!” Twilight screamed, “You went there even though you knew there was stink mite?” she scorned at Sun who looked mildly upset by all this, “Are you an idiot or something?”
“I am going to let that slide simply because I know I’ll be seeing you bald tomorrow,” Sun Light replied shrewdly.
“You really are insufferable,” Twilight concluded before crossing her hooves and looking the other way.
“Now, now, I had my reasons for risking another infection, though I really am sorry for transferring it to you Twilight.”
“Hmph,” Twilight didn’t even want to dignify that with a reply.
“Don't worry you two, I have a shampoo hidden somewhere that can take care of stink mite very effectively,” Celestia announced after finishing the weaving of her spell on both foals, “By the way, what were your reasons for going there?” Celestia asked.
“I was learning the heavenly steps.”
Celestia could not hide her surprise, “That’s impressive, did your father taught you how? I thought he never wanted to teach his combat style to another soul in Equestria.”
“No, I kind of learned it myself.”
Celestia lowered her head to meet Sun Light’s eyes, “How?” she asked doubtfully.
“I found some old scripts in the house and thought it nice to try learning what they were, even dad was surprised when he saw me doing them,” Sun Light answered.
The problem is, Sun Light is a perfect liar. He needs to be in order to deceive Princess Celestia. However, regardless of how good he is, the princess can still spot a lie when she sees one. What are you hiding from me little one? She thought as she picked up the slightly higher pitch in Sun Light’s voice at the mentioning of the scripts.
“Alright then,” probing him now though isn’t the best idea, Celestia doesn’t want to use interrogation techniques to crack him for something so banal, especially not in front of Twilight, Perhaps I can ask Evening what his son is really up to, she thought. “I’ll lead you to the throne room, though I have to ask, did you clear things with your father? It’s already past sundown you know.”
“Meh,” Sun Light shrugged coolly, “He knows I’m here.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow but did not inquire further.
Upon reaching the courtroom, Celestia opened the door with her magic and allowed the two foals with their dragon in. But just as she was about to enter herself, a small hoof stopped her.
“Sorry princess, this is as far as you go,” Sun Light said before slamming the door in the princess’s face.
Celestia stared at the door for a moment, unable to comprehend what just happened, the moment she felt her anger rising she decided to take a deep breath, then cast an eavesdropping spell in the courtroom. Only to be bombarded with Twilight’s yelling, “What did you do that for?”
Sun Light calmly replied, “Celestia distracts you like no other pony can, and you need to focus.”
That seemed to have convinced Twilight oddly quickly, the princess thought as she heard her say, “Well you could have been nicer about it.”
Sun Light’s reply made Celestia roll her eyes, “Tact is a wasted effort when there is a job to do.”
At this point, Celestia cast a divination spell so that she could see as well as hear what is going on inside.
What she saw was Sun Light pulling a chalk and drawing two circles, the first one near the throne, the second one near the door.
He then motioned to Twilight toward the first circle. “Visualization is the basis of projection,” he started to explain, “The reason why teleportation is so essential to learning both, is the ease of which you can visualize.”
Once Twilight sat in the Circle in front of the throne, Sun Light approached her from behind, “Now, just like we talked earlier, I want you to look around very carefully, take as many details as you possibly can, memorize the structures, the distance, the sound, the smell, everything that can tell you where you are in this room.” He then took a few steps back, Spike followed, “Take your time, no need to rush.”
Twilight sat there relaxed but straight, her ears were perked, her head held high. She focused only on the throne in front of her, “I’m ready,” she told Sun Light.
Those two must have planned this all along, Celestia thought as Sun Light motioned to Twilight to come to the other circle at the other side of the room.
“Now, just like I told you before,” Sun Light explained as Twilight sat, “Imagine yourself moving through space with your magic, don’t bend it, don’t force it, and keep in mind your destination, see where you want to go before even thinking of summoning your magic. Map every step with all the details beforehoof. And only when you are ready, channel through how You feel your magic is flowing, then cast the spell when you feel most comfortable to do so.”
Twilight nodded, then closed her eyes. Celestia could not help but smile at how the duo was interacting, Twilight is sitting there, relaxed, but clearly focused beyond any level she saw her with. A pang of jealousy wrapped her heart, why can’t you be like that with me? She thought as her attention shifted toward Sun Light, who, although had Spike wrapped carefully in his hooves, was paying close attention to Twilight while licking the corner of his upper lip.
Celestia knew what that particular gesture mean, she has seen it far too often that it became a telltale to that colt’s mind. Sun Light is as much studying Twilight as he is helping her, and that is far more disconcerting to Celestia than anything she has ever seen him do until now, just what are you up to, little one? She thought as she watched Sun Light’s eyes brighten the moment Twilight’s horn light.
A purple aura engulfed Twilight and in a blink of an eye, she disappeared from where she is, only to appear in a loud explosion of purple aura right where the first circle was drawn, leaving charred marks on the marble floor.
Spike shrieked in excitement as Twilight jumped in joy of managing to teleport successfully to her destination.
“See! I told you,” letting go of Spike, Sun Light ran toward Twilight giving her a hug with Spike using him to climb on both their heads, “You just need to think it through before you act.”
“Thanks, Sun Light,” Twilight said while hugging the colt back, Celestia couldn’t help but let an “aww” escape her.
“Now tell me,” Sun Light said as he broke the hug, “What is it that you felt that told you the spell was ready to be cast?”
“Well, the first thing I felt was that my aura had wrapped me completely, then there was a sort of hum in my horn, I think I knew it by instinct that now was the best time to cast the spell,” Twilight told Sun Light, who immediately went into analysis mode by putting his right hoof in his mouth.
Celestia was about to burst in when Sun Light suddenly stood up and started heading toward the door, “Remember the feeling, Twilight,” he said, “That is the tell that will allow you to cast all your spells in the future.”
“Wait, you’re leaving?” Twilight asked as Spike climbed up her back.
“Yeah, it’s getting late, my dad should be worried sick about me by now,” He said before opening the door, “Princess, I hope you liked the show.” He said to Celestia.
With a small giggle, Celestia replied, “it was most heartwarming, thank you Sun Light, I knew that you will pull it through.”
“You’re welcome and sorry for the mess.”
“That won’t be a problem, and see you tomorrow.”
Sun Light replied with a wave before he scurried off toward the eastern tower.
Twilight Sparkle walked toward the princess, “You were right princess. He is a good guy, still a jerk though, but a good jerk,” she concluded, only for her smile to vanish when Celestia turned toward her with a grave expression.
“I don’t like this,” Celestia stated, making Twilight turn to her with a perplexed expression and a “huh?”
“That cheeky little colt is planning something,” Celestia further explain, “and somehow he managed to keep it a secret from me of all ponies.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Twilight inquired only to shriek back when Celestia looked at her with a very sly smile.
“Absolutely nothing.”
Sun Light stood in front of the door to his house, still musing over what happened with Twilight Sparkle all the while trying to comprehend how that relates to him.
My aura wrapped around me completely, he recalled Twilight saying. He thought about it for a moment, then a book titled Natural Flow came to his mind, he remembered reading that earth ponies already have their magic surrounding them all the time.
Then there was a short hum, that part wasn’t in any literature, could unicorns be able to tell the level of magic needed without much trial and error?
I knew it by instincts, Twilight didn’t expect her spell to work right off the bat, but if the scorch marks were any indication, she definitely overcharged her spell. In fact, that is probably what gave off the hum, Twilight have a huge reserve of energy under her figurative belt, she probably used too much that it gave a warning sign.
“The hum is a caveat for surplus energy,” Sun Light concluded to no one in particular, “She overcharged her spell but projected correctly.”
Sun Light looked up to the front door, if he could overcharge his spell while casting it correctly then he could probably discover how to best control his earth pony strength.
He stood up, then positioned himself in the same manner as a racer on a field, but he didn’t jump immediately, he started to channel his earth pony strength in the same manner as when he did with the heavenly steps on top of that tower, and as expected, his energy resonated throughout his body. He focused that energy on his hind hooves, all the while he kept picturing the entrance to his home.
As he painted a complete picture of his home, a numbing feeling started to take over his back hooves, he lifted one hoof, then stomped.
“The dinner is getting cold,” Evening Star watched the floating bits in the soup as he waited for his son to come home.
With a sigh, he looked at the clock, “If he isn't coming in this instant, then I’m going to start eating without him,” he told his nonexisting son.
Giving thanks, Evening took his spoon, then plunged it deep inside the soup, as he carefully lifted it toward his mouth, a large explosion erupted in the entrance causing him to spill all the soup on his coat.
“I did it!” came the overenthusiastic voice from his son.
Evening immediately ran toward the entrance only to find his son in the middle of what seemed to be scorch marks left from an explosion in the middle of the room, he stared as Sun Light pointed his hoof at him and declared, “I told you I can teleport!” before he waddled and fell to the ground, “Okay, that was more tiring than I thought,” Sun Light said after a failed attempt at getting up, “can you help me?”
At that point, Evening Star erupted in laughter, “Of course,” he said before scooping his son in his hoof, “So I’m guessing my advice worked?”
“Like a charm.” His son affirmed with a yawn.
“Want to eat or straight to bed?”
“Bed please,” his son said already dozing off, “and dad?”
“Yes, Sunny?”
“Can I skip work tomorrow, I think I strained a muscle, or ten.”
With another giggle, “Sure, I’ll tell them you are grounded for being late.”
“Thanks,” was the last word Sun Light before falling to deep sleep.