Twilight and Luna's Lessons in Teaching

by dracone

Chapter 3: The Mane 6 Reunion and Eclipse's First Lesson With Twilight

The Mane 6 reunion and Eclipse's First Lesson with Twilight

The first thing Twilight saw when she awoke was Pinkie Pie with plush dolls that resembled everypony's pet, along with a plush of Spike and a plush of Eclipse Touch. Twilight quickly checked the window and used a time telling spell on herself before groggily saying, “Pinkie the Princess won't raise the sun for another 3 hours, what are you doing in here? I could have swor... I left the door unlocked after I got back.”

“Sorry, so excited, couldn't sleep,” said Pinkie in a hyperactive way that told Twilight Pinkie had been in the coffee beans, again, “when those toys appeared in front of Eclipse I just thought we could all have our own toys and so could our pets,” she rambled in way that was almost so fast that the words almost smashed together, “is that her special skill? Because if it is then she's going be wonderful toy making pony.”

“No, Pinkie,” said Twilight with a little more energy and a lot more annoyance, “Eclipse's special ability is to nullify magical energy fields, but when her magic reacts with Discord's it seems to make a toy of whatever or whomever she's thinking of at the time.”

“Right, sorry” said Pinkie in more subdued voice and then looked over at Spike, “Spike is a heavier sleeper than I recall.”

“It's probably a dragon thing,” said Twilight, “and please don't go near Eclipse's room, she's more exhausted than any of us because of how much time she sacrificed to show us a single day's memory. From what I had observed about her up to the point she volunteered was that she's more skittish than Fluttershy most of the time, she was probably more scared of going back to Bridleton than of anything else, but one memory won't do it in terms evidence for claims like what she and her siblings made. We're going to look at a mass of memories, and after each one we will need to give the donor of the memory a few days to recover. With the way that the spell is set up we may have to go through this routine for a month or more, and I really don't want to tie my hooves up with an obligation like that when I have lessons to go over with Eclipse Touch.”

“Can't you just make it so that copies of multiple memories are in the sphere and then just direct the copies to go into everpony's head? That sounds like it could go faster.”

“While you are correct in assuming that method would be more expedient, it would also require far more energy which would result in the casters and donors having their being so drained of energy it could take a considerable amount of time for them to recover and probably require a few days stay in a medical facility for all ponies involved in the spell itself. And seeing as 3 of the ponies involved will be alicorns and 2 of those alicorns have duties over the sun and the moon I really think a few days of night or day might scare everypony, remember the incident with the plunder seeds?” To this Pinkie nodded vigorously.

Five hours later Pinkie was still at the castle, and had made a variety of cupcakes and various kinds of cakes in preparation for the reunion later that day, “miss Pinkie could you please remove the sweet smelling things,” said Eclipse as she groggily walked to the kitchen table with the Twilight doll riding on her back. As she came in she positioned herself at the table with the Twi-doll on the table at hoof's reach and Twilight floated a bowl of oatmeal onto the table in front of the black filly who took a lazy sniff and immediately went at it with the fervor Pinkie seemed to have for sweets and the very act seemed to wake up the filly who blushed a little and then noticing some of the splatter had gotten on the Twi-doll she said her apologies to the doll before pulling the oatmeal of with her right forehoof and sticking in her mouth.

“We went a little overboard with your breakfast yesterday,” said Twilight who took quick a look at the doll with her likeness and smiled before continuing, “so I thought a simpler breakfast was in order today,” then turning her attention to Pinkie, “you couldn't have done this at Sugarcube Corner? Your own house? Sometime after breakfast? You miss Pie have almost ruined Eclipse's good health with your sweets obsession, she still hasn't touched that lollipop you gave her when you first met. I would ask where you got the sugar for all these sweets, but I know how prepared you can be at times and I know you didn't check my cooking supplies because you are most likely going to ask a very specific question.”

“She didn't react the way a filly's supposed when she smells cakes and pies,” said Pinkie with a hint of distraught pointing her hoof at Eclipse Touch, “they should have woken her all up with their enticing scent, instead she just made a comment about how I should move my 'sweet smelling things' out of the building.”

“She probably has smelled and seen cakes and pies, but never tried any before coming to Equestria, in fact she told me about some special cakes she had seen but never tried,” said Twilight, “she probably doesn't understand why she should be excited for something she's never tasted.” As she finished her sentence Twilight replaced Eclipse's empty bowl with a fresh bowl of oatmeal, “I'll hold on to me while finish your breakfast,” she said as she floating the doll off the table and took a closer look at while it was held in her magic.

Pinkie popped up next Twilight and in a whisper asked, “where do you keep the sugar for your oatmeal?”

“If you must know Pinkie, for health reasons I haven't had any white or brown sugar in stock for the past 4 years, I do have some raw sugar in the ingredient drawer by the stove, but I keep it in container designed to only open with unicorn or alicorn magic. Princess Celestia gave me dozens of such containers on the first anniversary of my ascension to the ranks of the alicorns, so you won't be able to open it and the containers have a number of spells that prevent them from breaking through a variety of reasons which include everything you are going to try in order to get at the sugar in the container.”

“but mixing sugar into oatmeal is half the fun,” said Pinkie with conviction, “look at her.” Both ponies turned their attention to Eclipse who was now going slow and savoring every bite of the oatmeal, “nopony should be enjoying unimproved oatmeal that much, it just isn't right.”

“Pinkie, I will have you know that I enjoy unadorned and unimproved oatmeal,” said Twilight, “I don't really see the point in adding something that has the possibility of masking the initial flavor of the food it's supposed to be complimenting”

“Okay I get it, no more super cinnamonny apple cupcakes,” said Pinkie Pie, “when you tested them 6 years ago and gave me an honest answer you said that all you could taste and feel was the cinnamon and Applejack asked how I could goof up a simple apple recipe.”

“Rainbow Dash said that if you ever gave her anything like that again she would awesomely show you how not awesome the treat was, Rarity said she wouldn't even consider feeding them to dolls at a tea party and Fluttershy said they were nice in a way she thought wouldn't hurt your feelings while I could tell by her tone that she couldn't understand why you gave those cupcakes a name like that,” said Twilight while watching Eclipse Touch finish up her bowl and finish off her fourth glass of apple juice, “Eclipse I think you've had enough for the morning, you don't want to ruin your appetite for lunch and I think it's time we started your magic lessons,” then excitedly the filly fell from her seat like she had tripped on something, causing a small chuckle from both mares, and rushed over to the desk in front of the chalkboard that Twilight had set up in the den area while Pinkie commandeered the kitchen, “well at least she knows the quality of a good education.”

“See you this afternoon,” cheered Pinkie as bouncing out the door with a wagon, that both Twilight and Eclipse hadn't seen the house, loaded with the sweets that she had made.

Just before the door closed Twilight yelled, “you have to return everything you used for making those by the end of the week.”

“Okie Dokie Loki,” said Pinkie in her chipper voice as the door closed behind her.

“Alright, let's start with the basics,” said Twilight after waiting a few minutes to see if Pinkie had actually left, “and that means simple things like levitation spells,” she said with a bit of a grin as she floated a feather, a wooden block, a metal sphere and a little stone triangular pyramid into the room from upstairs, “let's see what your limits are and then we can work your lessons around them.” Eclipse Touch went from morning droopy to excited the moment she heard Twilight say 'practice the basics' and Twilight gave her a little look of confused concern, “you mean what they said in that memory we all saw where Grand Spell said you didn't need a lesson on the basics really was part of your lessons?” Eclipse Touch just nodded slowly before bawling into her hooves for a few minutes, “sorry” she continued, “it's just most unicorns groan with exasperation whenever they're asked to go over the basics, I did so myself a few times when I got excited about new spells as a filly and maybe after some time of learning with me you'll do the same, of course after the groaning phase you return to the appreciative phase.”

“Except if you're Sunshine Bottle,” said Eclipse Touch as she floated the feather and pyramid towards her in a rather awkward way before setting them on the desk before her and continuing with, “she's always putting on that fake joy act no matter what,” with that Eclipse Touch thumped her hoof on the desk and the feather floated to to the floor.

“This lesson is just as much about focus as it is about testing your natural skills,” said Twilight as she picked up all the practice items and 2 pieces of chalk and began orbiting them around Eclipse with her magic, “this isn't showing off, this is demonstrating what you'll be able to do with enough practice. After you gain enough control over your magic you can split your focus to perform multiple spells simultaneously.”

“Um, about that,” said Eclipse in more timid unsure voice, “Grand Charm keeps saying that performing more than one spell at a time is beyond capabilities of any unicorn.”

“Well, she's wrong,” said Twilight with a bit of pride, “before I was an alicorn I was a unicorn and there were a few times where I ended up using more than one spell at the same time. The first time I met Trixie, you haven't met her yet on account she doesn't really settle down in one place to long, she was putting on a stage show for Ponyville and was bragging about things that she never really did. Snips and Snails were so caught up in her stories that they accidentally woke up an Ursa Minor and kind of brought it with them to Ponyville, after some less than effective magic attempts before my arrival and somepony quoting her on defeating an Ursa Major after I arrived on the scene she came out and told everypony that she had made up the story to make herself sound more impressive, I must have used half a dozen different spells in concert at the time just to get it to sleep and back to its mother. I was still a unicorn and had only been living in Ponyville for few weeks before all that, I was nowhere near the level of experience I had when my friends and I faced Discord after he got free. When I thought Discord had won all the letters I had sent to Princess Celestia were sent back through Spike, and he begged for that stop, it was those letters that helped remember just how important my friends were and why I needed to fight for them. After getting each of them into a position where they couldn't move I used a spell that allowed me to copy some of my memories of what each them was like to bring them back to who they were.”

Eclipse's Eyes went wide as she took the pyramid, feather and block in her own magic and began making shaky formations for a almost 3 hours before picking up the rest the moment the formations were smooth and once again she was practicing shaky formations with everything and 2 hours later she had all the practice items orbiting her n perfect arching circles after letting the orbits circle her for a few minutes she set them down where Twilight had first placed and asked, “can't you and the Princesses view our memories and then use the memory transfer spell?”

“Maybe,” said Twilight, “but we'd all probably end up as tired as you were after that show you had us watch yesterday.”

“Oh,” said the black filly pulling her ears flat on her head, “I hope you can teach it to me someday, maybe I can pull Sunshine out of her fictitious belief of the world with it or share some of my memories with other ponies that I come to trust in the future.”

“That sounds like you really want some friends,” said Twilight floating the Twilight doll over to Eclipse, “come on the meeting will be starting soon, and I know that everypony will want you to be there with me,” at the last part Twilight floated a pair of picnic baskets out of the fridge from where Spike had put them when he finished making their contents after Twilight had checked on a sleeping Eclipse Touch the night before. With Eclipse Touch floating the Twilight doll along with the Applejack and Fluttershy dolls and Twilight floating a pair of picnic baskets and the 2 were out the door and headed for the park.

After a few minutes of trotting they came to the park, and per her usual style, Rarity had laid out a large ornate picnic blanket on which Applejack and Fluttershy were laying with their legs folded beneath them with Angel Bunny and Winona curled up next to them. Rainbow Dash and her pet turtle, Tank, were hovering above the 2 mares on the blanket. Rarity was fussing over Opal Essence's coat, the fluffy white cat had become more tolerant of the diva like mare in the past few years. And Pinkie Pie was bouncing up to the 2 with a Gummy half the size of her tail holding fast to said tail and Owlowiscious perched on her head giving the alligator a wary look. “Hi Twilight,” said Pinkie Pie, “Rarity thought that you would be a little later than this.”

“I wouldn't miss something like this for the world,” said Twilight then turning her attention to Eclipse Touch and her friends as Owlowiscious landed on her flank, “Everypony this is Eclipse Touch, my new student.”

“Fluttershy said she was cute,” said Rarity in her refined yet respectful voice trotting up and taking closer look at the black filly, “but darling I dare say she's adorable, even more so with eyes like that. I know we saw her yesterday, and she volunteered that memory, but still a proper introduction, late as it is, is always nice.” At all this Eclipse just did her best to hide behind Twilight, “has her acclimation to Ponyville been going well? I really didn't take notice of her yesterday.”

“I thought she might be more comfortable moving about the town after a lesson or 2 so we had a basic levitation exercise this morning,” said Twilight, “she's really is very gifted in terms of power, but her control and concentration still need some work, I have a few ideas of how to remedy those problems.”

Eclipse squeaked and said in a very soft timid voice, “when mother said things like that it usually meant forcing me to watch her do a spell I had never seen before for 3 hours without taking notes and telling her what flaws I saw in the spell.”

“Well,” said Rarity with a hint of contempt, “that sounds like expecting a musician to play a song they had never heard of or seen the sheet music before perfectly on the first play through or expecting a fashion designer like me to perfectly make a type of outfit I had never heard of in only ten minutes with the client watching and not telling any defining facts about the outfit. You dear are just adorable, and Twilight would sooner face a hoard of hydras without her magic than do anything like that.”

Twilight gave the purple maned white mare a sharp look before saying, “while that is certainly a vivid image I do not wish to explore, Rarity is right in saying that I would sooner place myself in clear and present danger than force a student to tell me what they think is wrong about something they had never seen or tried themself beforehoof.”

“Ooh, you brought the little dolls,” said Pinkie with a voice that indicated she hated getting cut out of the conversation before snatching the Applejack doll from Eclipse's magical grip, which in turn caused her to react by swiftly floating the Twilight doll to her forehooves and hug it with a gentle tightness while leaning up against the lavender alicorn in a way that indicated how much she needed to feel the comfort of the mare.

“Pinkie you're scaring her, again,” said Applejack in a stern voice, “maybe if she has something ta eat she'll start feelin' more comfortable,” she said in a more relaxed tone while petting the border collie next her.” With that Pinkie Pie headed to to the picnic blanket, along with Twilight and Eclipse Touch following, Eclipse more warily while Twilight almost seemed to have a spring in her step.

With everypony settling down on the blanket Twilight opened her white baskets and set them down on the blanket while explaining that the mint and daffodil wraps were in the basket on the right and dandelion and daisy sandwiches in the basket on the left. Pinkie unloaded 3 dozen pies of varying flavor along with three times as many cupcakes of various flavors. Rarity floated elegant looking cloth napkins that each was the color of the pony for which they were intended and each was embroidered with that pony's cutie mark, a blank that looked like it had been made from the cloth as Twilight's was floated over to Eclipse Touch. Applejack got out some simple looking plates and 20 bottles of fresh squeezed apple juice. Fluttershy got out trays of food for all the pets and arranged them in a semicircle around the picnic blanket. Rainbow Dash checked to make sure the sky around their picnic area was clear of rain clouds, while keeping a few of the standard fluffy white clouds present in case somepony wanted the kind of shade a cloud could provide.

“Here ya go sugarcube,” said Applejack as she passed Eclipse Touch a bottle, who just gave her sweet smile that indicated that while she felt marginally secure around Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy she was still nervous around Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, and was really insecure around Rarity. Moving closer to Twilight Applejack said in hushed whisper, “that filly's more nervous than a long tailed mouse in building full o' rockin' chairs, you sure this was a good idea Twi?”

In a whisper that was just as gentle Twilight said, “she's never really been in situations that meant she could socialize, at least Fluttershy actually had the chance to avoid those kinds of environments when she was growing up. Eclipse has shown signs of never being allowed to socialize outside her immediate family.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy watching the filly happily chug her apple juice and try to eat both the sandwich and wrap at the same time, “sweetie you aren't so supposed to do that, you could give yourself a tummy ache.”

“An experience I would have liked to look forward to,” said Eclipse in voice that was so low even Fluttershy barely heard it, “I'll be careful from now... *hicup*... what was that?” said the filly in alarm and in doing so made all 6 mares giggle.

“Wait, I think she really means it,” said Rainbow Dash after hearing a rapid fire of 3 more hiccups, “she doesn't even have the thought to try holding her breath to hold them back.”

“That,” said Twilight in gentle voice, “is called a hiccup, so named for the sound it makes. It's a reflexive convulsion of your throat muscles and larynx that usually occurs when you eat too fast or are surprised. They usually last a few minutes, but if you want to remove them then you could try a variety of 'cures' to get them to stop, if you want to continue eating I suggest you try a few.”

“Like what?” asked the filly between hiccups.

“This,” said Rainbow Dash before making thunder sound with her hooves as she held a small cloud near to the back of the filly's head. Both Eclipse Touch and Fluttershy jumped with fear and surprise, this actually stopped Eclipse's hiccups, but for about ten seconds it looked like they had been transferred to Fluttershy.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight with a note of disapproval, “you're supposed to be making her feel safe around you, not so scared she does everything t...” she stopped at the sound of Eclipse loudly laughing and everypony, including Pinkie, looked at the little black filly with surprise. Turning her attention to Eclipse Touch Twilight asked, “what was so funny it had you laughing so loud?”

“The way miss Fluttershy hiccuped,” said Eclipse wiping away tears of joy with a little chuckle and then in a much more subdued voice said, “so that's what real happiness feels like when it flows through you, it's kind of nice.”

“You've never been so happy you laughed before?” said Pinkie in surprise with big eyes that said she didn't believe it.

“Before today I never experienced real laughter,” said Eclipse Touch in a shy voice with her ears folded back and head hanging like she was embarrassed.

“I tried to make you smile by making silly faces and giving you candy,” said Pinkie, “and the one who makes you laugh is Fluttershy, it makes me feel like I'm not doing my job right.”

“Well Fluttershy's hiccups were very cute,” said Rarity as she munched on one of the wraps, “Twilight these are absolutely delicious, and you made them only just last night.”

“Spike helped out,” said Twilight as she watched a much cheerier Eclipse munch on her sandwich with delight.

“You have the potential to be just as awesome as any of us,” said Rainbow Dash to Eclipse Touch, who was now a little more relaxed around the cyan rainbow maned mare.

Eclipse Touch cocked her head and asked, “what does awesome mean? You keep using that term, but I never heard it back in Bridleton.” Everypony just stared at her, and Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped so hard you could hear the sound of the shockwave hitting the ground.

“It means you're incredible, stupendous, amazing, and just plain cool,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Oh,” said Eclipse, “the way you used the word cool it didn't sound like you were referring to temperature.” Rainbow Dash facehoofed, and gave a look that said 'how can you not know the context of something being cool?' Before she could say anything more Twilight put a hoof on the mare's shoulder and shook her head.

“Listen sugarcube,” said Applejack from where she was positioned next to Rarity, “we're all going to use some terms that yer unfamiliar wit' from time to time, it won't bother each ‘f us too much because we've gotten used each of those same terms when talking with each over the past few years. It's kind like a secret code that only those that are good friends can decipher.”

“Without the need for a decryption key,” said Twilight gently while floating Eclipse's napkin and wiping off some smudges on the filly’s face that had come from the black filly's enthusiastic eating. Eclipse Touch reached over to her Twilight doll and hugged it close, even giving a little suckle on the doll's horn indicating her uneasiness at not being able to understand simple terms that the mares themselves seemed to fully comprehend without much effort. “You're a smart girl, Eclipse,” continued Twilight, “you'll probably have the nuances of our little code figured out in a couple of months. I noticed you used a spell to tell if that seed was actually alive when we all saw your memory yesterday. If you learned that spell from reading it then you're just as capable as I am with magic, or at least you come close. Looking at you I see bits of all of us in you, and you've only just been here a couple of days. You've got the intellectual capabilities that I have, a similar sort of memory to Pinkie's, you have a sort of loyalty that reminds me of Rainbow Dash, you're just as kind and sweet as Fluttershy, you have the kind of honesty that Applejack possesses, and I feel that there is a generous spirit like the one Rarity possesses just waiting to get out. In my honest opinion you belong in Ponyville.”

“I don't deserve to be here,” said Eclipse pulling the Twilight doll closer, “I refuse to acknowledge my own parents as my parents. I think of you as more of a mother, and I've only known you for a couple of days,” she said as her ears fell flat on her head, “the only reason we chose Equestria to run to was because Dream had found out how to get here and how its power structure is set up is more in line with what our old stories of the original Artanus and his kingdom were close to.”

“You told us what his nation was called, but what was the nation's capitol?” inquired Twilight.

“The kingdom city of Galloplot was the capital, and shining jewel, of Bridletonia. It was place where ponies of every kind lived in peace and unity. King Artanus was an Earth Pony, but he ruled with a kind heart and fair mind. The official stories say he never had any heirs, he was in fact the child of 2 warring kingdoms. However through Myrraldin's magic Artanus's father was able to masquerade as the opposing kingdom's ruler for single night. The reason for this was Artanus's father desired the queen of the opposing kingdom, but Myrraldin advised him against such things. Myrraldin finally relented after much arguing with the king, but he had him make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?” asked Rarity who showed great deal of interest in the tale of royal intrigue.

“Myrraldin would be given the child of union to do with as he saw fit, and the king honored his agreement. Myrraldin hid the heritage of the colt that was born from the union, the colt's father named him Artanus as he passed him off to the unicorn. Myrraldin left Artanus in the care of a farming family and acted as a primary instructor for things outside the domain of the colt's adopted Earth pony family. It was his humble upbringing paired with the lessons that Myrraldin had given Artanus over the time he had grown up that made Artanus such a great leader, it was Artanus that united all the warring nations into Bridletonia and Galloplot was his capitol.

Galloplot was place for ideas to flow and mindsets to change on matters that ranged from the mundane to the fantastic. But when Artanus passed on everything he had worked towards fell apart, and a decade before that Myrraldin left the nation for parts unknown because he believed that the ideals that had been forged Bridletonia would last long after Artanus himself had passed on. It is believed by some that if Myrraldin hadn't left that Bridletonia would have lasted longer. As for Galloplot, some sort of spell that Myrraldin placed on the stones made the city itself just vanish leaving all the ponies that had been in the city behind almost as if the entire city had been an illusion from the start just as fighting for who would rule broke out. Artanus's knights tried to keep the peace, but for one reason or another their attempts to keep the nation together just broke it apart faster in their genuine attempts to reunite the fracturing kingdom. The knights finally returned to their own estates and did everything in their power to keep out of the power struggles that came with the fall of Artanus out of their domains. The current Artanus doesn't have a legitimate claim to the heritage of the original, he just has the name because of the greatness associated with.”

“Warring?” Asked Twilight.

“You don't understand because you've grown up in the harmony that has been made a core of Equestria since a long time ago,” said Eclipse Touch with a tone that implied respect for Equestria and shame of Bridleton, “conflicts break out when 2 or more parties are unwilling to cooperate and in many cases they have escalated to what are known as wars, lots of ponies have lost their lives because of the pride of the ones who claimed leadership. It is practically a tradition amongst the unicorns of Bridleton to look down on those that are not unicorns, a tradition that I have always had a drive to fight and one that I could see was beginning to take its toll on Dream. I'm weak in every aspect except for my natural ability to cancel out other magics and unwillingness to give into what my family demands of me. I really am a weak pony,” with that she squeezed the Twilight doll even closer and began to sob into it.

“Oh no, Darling,” said Rarity wiping the filly's tears away with her own jewel embroidered napkin, “you're strong where it counts.”

“Darn right,” said Applejack, “if you hadn't had the strength to leave that place or take those books I reckon that you and us would be in a whole heap of hurt and trouble right now.”

“If only there was a way to observe the memories of you and your siblings without draining your energy,” said Twilight, “it would make things so much more safe for you.” After that little exchange everypony moved on to happier topics.

“So, Applejack, what's been new on the farm?” inquired Rainbow Dash.

“Not a whole lot,” drawled Applejack, “Apple Bloom heard about this breed of blue apples somepony created a few months ago, there's an farmer's exhibition in Appaloosa next month and rumor has it that the agricultural genius that cooked these things up is going to be there and tell us the official name for the things and they might even hand out seeds with the samples for everypony taste.”

“That actually sounds interesting,” said Pinkie as she gobbled another cupcake and tried to get Eclipse Touch to nibble at one, but the filly refused to do so without Twilight's approval, which Rarity and Rainbow Dash were both in awe of and concerned over.

“So Twilight,” said Rarity, “what are your thoughts on your new role as a mentor?” both looked over at Eclipse Touch who examining the cupcakes Pinkie Pie kept placing in front of her and not doing something as obvious as lick the frosting or nibble on the cupcakes.

“I think that this will be an interesting experience, Eclipse seems to to genuinely desire to learn, she even gets excited over the basics.”

“Well you remember when we learned about different learning styles with Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, “maybe exposing her to different teaching styles and kinds of magic will help her discover what she's meant to do, after all she still doesn't have a cutie mark.”

“You're right, Rarity,” said Twilight, “maybe we'll visit you in a few weeks and you can explain what your capable of and why you're so focused on fashion.”

“Fashion in Bridleton hasn't really changed in the past 200 years,” said Eclipse Touch, “the fashions here are so much more interesting to look at.”

“Well darling,” said Rarity, “I'm glad to hear you're so open with us.”

“It just feels right,” said Eclipse Touch, “I've been feeling like this is where I need to be at this time, ever since I met miss Twilight.” After saying this Eclipse Touch lifted the Twilight doll from its place next to her and hugged with a firm yet gentle force.

“Those dolls just absolutely gorgeous, Twilight,” said Rarity, “wherever did you get them?”

“Ooh, I know,” said Pinkie with excitement, but before she could continue on that train of thought Applejack stuck a slice of apple pie that she had in front of her on the blanket into the pink pony's mouth, held a hoof to Pinkie's muzzle and gentle gestured that Pinkie wasn't to say another word.

“Funny thing is that Discord is partly responsible for them,” said Twilight with amusement, “when Eclipse's canceling ability reacts with Discord's chaos magic it seems to create things like those dolls, I'm sure that given enough time Eclipse will have a full set of dolls in all our likenesses.”

“Well, she certainly seems to treat the doll in your likeness as a sort of security blanket,” said Fluttershy in her soft voice.

“Maybe she'll treat all of them same way she treats the Twi-doll,” said Applejack, “she's just seen the most of Twi and given enough time she'll probably feel just as secure around any one of the rest of us.”

“I really hope one of the next plushies is me, because I'm awesome and everpony needs a little awesome in their life,” said Rainbow Dash with excitement, “I mean she's got half of our group already.”

“But Twilight said they're created through a reaction between Eclipse Touch's ability and Discord's magic,” said Rarity, “who knows what could happen next time.”

“How's it feel being back at the Carousel Boutique?” inquired Twilight.

“Empty,” said Rarity, “Sweetie Belle has been keeping the place clean since I got got the Fashionable Gem, she even kept my room the way I left it. She's been offered numerous permanent residences from Canterlot to Manhattan, but she's been insistent on keeping her permanent residence in Ponyville until I officially move back, which I think I might. While the Canterlot complex is more spacious there are times I wish I were back in my little boutique.”

“It just feels like the home you need,” said Eclipse with a smile.

“Exactly,” said Rarity, “while I'm not done with the high life just yet I think it's time I stopped trying to micromanage the outlet and settle back down in Ponyville, besides everypony else is moving back here so I should too.”

“We have been apart for far too long,” said Twilight, “so I think we should try to spend more time with each other, like in the good old days.”

“It'll be good havin' y'all back in Ponyville,” said Applejack, “it just doesn't feel right with any of you missing. Heck I jus' met Eclipse Touch yesterday and I'm starting to have a hard time imaging what Ponyville be like when she's gone.”

“I don't plan being away from Ponyville for long,” said Eclipse Touch, “this place just feels... right.”

“That's just word to describe Ponyville for all of us,” said Twilight, “when I first came to Ponyville I just wanted to get everything over with and get back to Canterlot, but now as I look back I feel a little guilty for not giving things a chance when so many opportunities practically yelled at me in the face my first day here.”

“Looks like Eclipse Touch is having the opposite problem,” said Pinkie Pie, “she's seeing so many opportunities, but doesn't know how to respond to them. Because of how comfortable she feels around you she's picking things that are close to you, but there will come a day when she decides to make choice that will not be made with Twilight Sparkle as the forethought.”

“And I will welcome that day when it comes,” said Twilight, “because will mean that Eclipse is making choices with herself and possibly others in mind. Something I've learned over my time is that sometimes you need to be a little selfish every once and a while, it helps you to reflect on yourself.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy, “I don't think you should be telling a young filly this just yet, maybe you should have waited a few years before saying that.”

“I know what you're getting at Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “but sometimes it's more cruel to wait with a lesson that they might be more appreciative at a younger age. Besides I can already tell Eclipse isn't going to go and turn her back on anything.”

“I was already selfish for wanting my siblings to all be with me on my journey to Equestria,” said Eclipse folding her ears back.

“Part of growing up is knowing how to recognize something and its opposite,” said Twilight, “your attempts to get all your siblings to join you was more selfless than anything else,” as she lifted the filly's head with a wing, “the actions of your parents and grandmother from what you've said and we've seen were selfish, arrogant and greedy. You hid away most of yourself out of respect for the problems of others who more than deserved the acknowledgments you gave them. You have heart that's so kind that you're willing to emotional hurt yourself for the benefit of others. Eclipse, from what I've witnessed, selfless is what you've always been to ponies that you knew needed something of you.”

“Enough with the heavy stuff,” said Applejack, “Pinkie is your little party store really coming to Ponyville.”

“Yup,” said Pinkie in a chipper voice, “the whole place is getting prepped to move into Ponyville in a couple of months.”

“And next month the facility for the Jr Wonderbolt Academy will be moved to Ponyville's skies,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I'll start making arrangements with the Fashionable Gem,” said Rarity, “but with the Grand Galloping Gala coming up in a few months some of the higher end clients for the shop are making their outfits be highest priority, I swear if I knew that my clients would be so hectic this time of year I would have made a set of prepared high class templates for them to choose from. Not mention now I need to work on of your outfits for the Gala, and prepare an outfit for Eclipse Touch that can be ready with a few last minute alterations just in case she gets her cutie mark before the event.”

Eclipse Touch's eyes went wide and she ran to hide behind the tree that the blanket was under before saying in a scared voice, “I'm not so good with formal events or social events, and a gala is a formal dance event which means it's both. In Bridleton when my parents threw that kind of event I was just set piece,” tears starting welling up in her eyes, “which means I had to stand where everypony could see me and it scared mle slo mulch,” at this point she went from teary eyed to full on crying.

“Hey I'm never all that good at those kinds of social events either,” said Rainbow Dash fluttering over to the crying filly, “a trick I figured out is to focus on one thing at the event that is of interest to you, for me it was trying to talk with the Wonderbolts before I made it as one of them.”

Eclipse Touch calmed down to just a few sniffles and looked adoringly at Rainbow Dash and in gentle voice said, “thanks miss Rainbow.”

“Well, I think its time we adjourned this meeting,” said Rarity, “I hope I didn't upset Eclipse Touch too much with mentioning the Gala.”

“No, you're right and its better she had this moment now than when the Gala is almost up,” said Twilight, “but it probably would have eased the stress if I had mentioned it.”

“You're probably right sweetie,” said Rarity, “I'm going to have to take all new measurements of you all, it's probably better if I use your original gala gowns as templates to expedite things, but Eclipse I'm going have to work on from scratch and I really don't know enough about her to know if what I make for suits her properly.”

“Well yor in town for a few days at least,” said Applejack, “maybe you can visit Twilight and Eclipse while yer here to get some kind of idea about what kind of dress is best suited for her.”

“That sounds like a plan,” said Twilight, “well, we should all head out seeing as Celestia is lowering the sun.” With that they all packed up and headed off.

As the sun was beginning to set a sleepy looking Eclipse followed Twilight and Owlowiscious back to the Ponyville Castle. The moment they in the castle Eclipse went straight to her room and fell asleep with the Twilight doll held tightly to her as Twilight closed the door gently and began writing up her next lesson plan, smiling at the 2 dolls of her friends that had been brought back as well, until the moon was prominent in the sky and headed off to bed.

Author's Note:

I've decided that only the 2 first chapters will have the Google doc format along with the standard FiM fiction format, I'll work on getting the entire Google doc format uploaded somewhere else over the weekend and put it as a link in author notes for the most recent chapter I have at FiM fiction. Mostly because I want as many people to give me input on this story as possible.