The Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam
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It was the most important test that Twilight Sparkle had ever taken, and while she wanted so much to know the results right now, part of her wanted nothing more than to run into the library and read Spike’s entire comic book collection instead. Finding out the answer to the test right now was not a critical priority. It could wait. It was not as if the result would change if she was somewhere else at the exact moment the answer became available. Whatever it was. After all, it was just a true-false test. And not even that difficult. Ponies all across Equestria took this test every day, probably. They did not fret, or chew their mane…
Twilight spit out the piece of mane she was chewing and resumed her pacing. It was exercise, which released important endorphins to help with stress, or so several books had said, although none of the authors could possibly have gone through this amount of stress. Which was bad. She needed to calm down, but even standing in place, drawing in a breath and breathing out while arching her hoof in a precise 37 degree down angle across a 90 degree arc in a motion that was supposed to release stress did nothing more than to pack even more stress inside.
She should have waited. In three days, Green Grass would have been done with his last tutoring session as a Unicorn Magic Youth Educational Specialist in Wheaton, trotted his wagon to his accustomed parking place under the shady boughs of the Ponyville Golden Oak library, and been here to help with her stress, instead of a good day’s trot away where all she could do was attempt to transmit her worry across the air to his adorable (although thick) head. Well, technically she probably could transmit her worry that way, if the spell she had looked up in the library actually worked correctly, but then she would just worry that she was making him worry which would only make the stress that she was experiencing even worse and—
The little wind-up timer that she had brought into the bathroom dinged quietly, an abrupt sound that made her jump up and fumble for the flying appliance, catching it right before it dropped into the toilet. It was done. She could find out how she had done on the test now. All she needed to do was look and find out if she had—
Wait. There were only two results that were possible from this test, but which one was a failing grade and which one was passing? If it went the one way, she had stressed out and panicked over nothing, which was not the way a princess should act. Princess Celestia would be so disappointed in her, and might even wonder just why Twilight had taken the test, or gone so crazy over the results. Princess Luna would be similarly upset, and certain to lecture her on the necessity of keeping a proper demeanor among the populace, in particular because Twilight was in the middle of so much of the populace in the middle of Ponyville.
But what if the test went the other way? She had discussed the possibility with Green Grass extensively, although his normal response to her rational plans and pages of checklists was to kiss her gently on the nose and distract her from ‘worrying too much about Future Twilight.’ But if Future Twilight were actually Now Twilight, then what would Future Twilight look like? And Future… whoever. Or whoevers. It was not just a little thing, this was a huge thing. Or things.
The sound of a small dragon’s fist knocking on the door interrupted her thoughts. “Twilight, when are you going to be done in there? I really need to use the bathroom.”
“In a minute, Spike,” she called back automatically, and after a moment’s thought added, “Sorry. Sorry for everything, Spike. I’m sorry for not paying you much attention lately, and I’m sorry for shedding little secondary feathers in your cake mix last week, and I’m sorry for—”
“All right, all right! Twilight, can you be sorry out here, please? You’ve been in there since before dawn!”
“Sorry!” She gathered her books and test notes before slipping out of the bathroom door, dodging the fast-moving form of an anxious dragon heading in. The couch in front of the library fireplace looked like the best place to settle down and actually examine the results. There was a certain air of completeness about sitting in that place and looking at the crackling fireplace where Spike had started a tidy fire while waiting. It was late spring, but still with enough of a nip in the air to bring out his instinctual need for warmth. A nice fire substituted for his draconic tendencies of climbing into the oven on his own, which she had warned him against several times as a bad example for the little ponies who might see him and emulate their favorite dragon.
When she sat down on the edge of the couch, she could feel the familiar pattern of lumps in the cushions that she had grown accustomed to over the last year and nine months, twenty-three days, eighteen hours and thirty-seven seconds she had been living in the library. This was the same couch that she had first really gotten to know Green Grass on — although never that way. After the Running of the Leaves and her totally accidental drinking bout was over, the couch had become precious neutral ground in both their mutual recovery and in the stupid war of misunderstanding they had been waging.
The memory of that morning was one reason she had never replaced the old lumpy thing. Not Green Grass, the couch. They had both curled up on it before the fireplace while frozen into near immobility by sore muscles and hangovers, with nothing to do but talk to each other. That kind of intimate time had been repeated many times since then, although in slightly different forms and with less physical pain. It always brought a warm glow to her heart when she thought of those precious moments together that purged the stress of the world while calming her mind. She wanted that feeling so badly now as she held the results of the test, unwilling to turn it over and see what the verdict would be. She could always put the results on a high shelf out of draconic reach and ignore them for three days. He would be home by then.
Home. The word had changed definitions over the years. When she was just a little filly, home was home. The sound of mom chopping vegetables for lunch while working on her physics lecture notes would echo as counterpart to the delicious scents of onions and potatoes sizzling in vegetable oil, while wafting through the background there always seemed to be the dulcet tones of Shining Armor trying his best to master the flugelhorn for hours on end.
When she moved to the castle with Princess Celestia, home had changed. What used to be home had turned into a place to visit overnight on weekends, with short periods of family activities tucked in among her studies much like the occasional bookmark in a library. Cadance’s room was right next to the one Princess Celestia had reserved for her, and sometimes even that near proximity only allowed them to see each other once or twice a week, but still it felt a little like home too, even when Cadence had left for Cloudsdale for the last few years of Twilight’s life as a student. The last thing Twilight had expected when traveling to Ponyville was to add yet another home to her changing collection, but the dusty old library in the oak tree had grown on her, regardless of the pun, and now she could not think of leaving it and her friends to go anywhere else.
Green Grass had talked about his interpretation of home to her, describing the mansion he had grown up in as something similar to, but not quite like a home at all. Home, he had said, was ponies. His time living in the fraternity at college had supposedly given him a stronger sense of home among his fellow students than in his own house, but the amount of time he spent talking about his older brothers and bragging about how his younger sister was coming along in Celestia’s school showed a certain amount of cognitive dissonance in his logic. Even the little book-filled wagon he had pulled around behind him for over a year was not really a home, he claimed, but only a way of transporting ‘stuff.’ He had declared quite firmly that if Equestrian science ever found a way to make a vest pocket able to carry both a lumpy mattress as well as all the books he could read, he would push the heavy wagon down a cliff and toss a match into the remains.
Now in three days, he would be back as if he had never left, and the wagon would sit out under the tree quite empty except for the books. He was right, in a significant way. Home was ponies, both generally in all of the friends she had made in Ponyville, and in particular, him. It would not matter to him how this test turned out, because either way, his love for her would not diminish one iota. It might change in some ways, as they both had changed since they first met, and would undoubtedly continue to change for as long as they were together, but every change had just made his love for the bookish unicorn mare she was and the princess she had become even stronger. And in return, her love for the awkward young earth pony he had been and the rather goofy stallion he was turning into continued to blossom and bear fruit.
As if the thought had triggered her into action, Twilight turned the test over and read the results. She sat there for a long time on the couch, holding the little sliver of plastic in her magic and looking at the plus mark, unsure if it was a passing or a failing grade.
But she knew one Princess who would be able to tell her.
Comment #1 reserved for the author: This story was published during George's March, the third (or fourth) story in the Traveling Tutor series. I think you'll enjoy this one, even though the number of fountains utilized is fairly small. There will be an appearance by Sunny and Gilda, as well as all of the regular cast of characters, lasting from that first little plus sign on a piece of plastic until the exchange of vows in a destroyed Canterlot. Um... Well, not destroyed totally.
Enjoy!
And if you enjoy this, you may also enjoy two of my changeling romances:
Changelings, Love and Lollipops
Buggy and the Beast
or a very popular story and sequel:
The One Who Got Away and Drifting Down the Lazy River.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! It's back, it's back, oh yes, THANK YOU!
Oh, it's that sort of test... Let me do the count of individuals who are going to have kittens and/or double kittens.
Celestia, Princess, Grand manipulator, current, maternal auntie, future
Luna, Princess, Superior Letch, current, cool auntie, future.
Shining Armour, Soon to be psychotic, Gelding Shears owner.
Cadance, Ecstatic Princess, Sunday edition bearing, Shining Armour pacifying, for the purpose of.
Night Light, Lord, Sword Bearing, Future son in law threatening, for the use of (Just Tradition you understand).
I can't think of anything better to say than great first chapter!
No dying, it is forbidden! Not because I type so, of course, but beca-GRRRK! *flop*
Hi, this is the idiot's lawyer. While dying due to overwriting is not unheard of, it is understood that death would be a less than pleasant state of being for the author. Please ensure thyself of good health by occasionally taking a break.
She just had to keep up the family tradition...
Yes! Been waiting for this one.
--Spade
About Dad-Gum Time!!!!
I kid. u no ah lurve yew, georgy...
Misread the title as "The Time Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam"
I think it's probably a pass twilight.
Well.
Today is now officially a very strong candidate for "Best Tuesday Ever!"
Seriously though. Its great to have the adventures of my absolute favorite Twilight Sparkle pairing coming back for another story. A toast!
5694783
DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS!
It begins!
Oh dear. Just imagine how Pinkie will react when she hears this. And the rest of Twilight's friends as well. And the other princesses... Oh goodness, this is going to go nationwide in a matter of days, if not hours.
Eagerly looking forward to it.
Okay, I am gonna need to know just exactly what order I am supposed to read these, from the sounds of it. (Right now, I am nearly 3/4 through Letters From a Little Princess Monster, which, btw, has earned itself a place in my Best of the Best shelf. (31 fics in that shelf, as opposed to over 1200 Favorited fics... that places it in the top 2.5% of the stories I really liked, and probably top 1% of ALL the fics I have read on this site so far)
I can tell I will never be out of good reading material as long as you keep writing them.
Wait, so she's shedding feathers now? Does that mean she went through all of season 3 pregnant?
I remember the last fic ended right after "The Crystal Empire".
"Princess Cadance is counting on us to do our part to get the Games Inspector to choose the Crystal Empire! I just need to vomit and then eat an entire jar of pickles first."
At the dress fittings before the coronation.
"Alicornification includes an inversion of the chest/waist size ratio, right?"
5694538 He is a MACHINE, there is no other explanation for the amount of work he has coming out soon!
What about the fact that he has been working on all of this for a while, what about that explanation?
Well, yeah.... if you want the explanation to be bland and boring.
No! I don't want that! Yeppers, he is a machine, like the Terminator .... only less "Hasta la vista, baby" and more "I come bearing horse-words, fear my Writer's Block of Doom!"
Anyways, the continuing tales of Greenie, the earth pony stallion who showed me OC romances with main characters of a popular show CAN work, and got me hooked on Georg's writing skill. Looking forward to this just as much as the rest of yall.
5694495 Add: Every member of the nobility with a son 'just about your age, Your Highness.'
5694538 Reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon: Work until you hear your dead ancestors calling for you. Then you may take a ten minute break
5694783 I thought about it, but writing time loop stories confuse me (other than Monster. She had a very nice section in Letters).
5694814 Well, it's a bio-alchemical reaction that shows a positive result, but it reveals a failure in her fourteen-volume plan for the proper progression of a romantic relationship, skipping whole chapters in the process! It's terrible! It's wonderful! It's... terwonderble??
5695034 And poor Princess Celestia will be the last one to find out. Watch out for running gags.
5695219 Traveling Tutor, Diplomat's Daughter, Diplomacy by Other Means, and this one. You don't have to read Diplomacy, but it will prevent some confusion because I tend to gloss over descriptions that have shown up in other stories (which I'm working on, really) Plus it's awesome, if a bit bloody.
5695251 More fun. Rarity gets to fit a moving target.
Rarity: Twilight, you put on another quarter inch around your barrel just last month! How many pickles have you been eating?
Twilight: Four
Rarity: Well, that's not bad.
Twilight: Barrels.
5695355 I just couldn't wait any more. I've been getting much better quality out of my work by waiting and doing a thourough job on editng (and spll cheking) but April is coming up *fast*
5695831 One other question; are these Monster side stories, or just a seperate universe series using that brilliantly funny EP unicorn tutor?
5695851
The traveling tutor series is a different series from the monster series. It's in the same universe as Diplomacy by other means, and Genesis though.
5695872 Thank you. And I am looking forward to reading these stories, considering how much I am loving the Monster stories
5695892
I started with the monster series myself. They're very different. There's some elements in common (Optio Pumpernickel) but also some huge differences. Greengrass x Twilight is the general theme of the 'traveling tutor' fics.
They're just as well writen, but expect a very different style and feel. Also the really early ones are earnestly less well written, because Georg hadn't had as much experience as he got later. No offence intended Georg. I'll be disappointed if, in a few years, my old stuff isn't worse than my new stuff. That would be sad.
5695901 lol, Thats understandable. I have seen it in several fics, including in V-Pony's Blue Angel where you can see how his writing skills improved as he wrote. (800k words... his writing BETTER improve lol) Even my own skills improved the more I wrote.
I do know I would love to see him get the Monster stories published as a book. I would literally be first in line for a copy. (was first one to get name on the list for Pink Eyes, and beat by maybe a minute from being first to send in payment lol... I am that serious a collector of FiMfictions-turned-books)
And I'm sure Cadance will be all too happy to tell her - once she is done channeling her inner Twilight in the most jubilant yes-dance witnessed by ponykind.
Good to see this storyline continue - the previous installments have been all kinds of fun and I don't doubt the trend will continue here. Twilight's pregnancy could have been seen coming (the mishap with spoon sizes and her preventative medicine was hardly an attempt at subtlety after all ), and I'm pretty excited to see this outcome explored - and how Equestria learns why you don't piss off a hormonal, moodswing-prone Alicorn
So Twilight's little boyfriend knocked her up. Go on.
Twilight, honey, I think that the only pony who can really tell you if that's a pass or a fail is you. Do you want to have a foal with Green Grass?
5694286 Woot! You got featured (logged on and saw it on the board). Congrats!
5695831
Naw, through various shenanigans Shining Armor is the last to find out. Strangely Princess Twilight Sparkle is okay with this.
Laconic summary of this Chapter. Twilight is TARDY. Oh, and she has to take a test.
Now that just seems like an idea with a built-in feedback cycle. Not sure where that cycle would end up, but probably somewhere exciting for properly distant onlookers.
I bet it's also part of the reason she hasn't replaced Green Grass either. Heh.
Greenie has the right ideas about home.
Hmmm, can't wait to see the reaction of Twilight's family. I bet Shining Armor and Cadence decide to start working on a heir for the Crystal Empire to catch up.
I think a fair number of them do, actually...
WHOM, silly girl.
Ohhhh, I am so hoping you let us see Tirek's beatdown ala Pregnant/Mama Twilight.
It's one test you can't fail, though perhaps only because it's a supplement to a wholly different test...
Wait, I thought Green Grass was living at the library and taking a mail carriage around to see his students? Or has that not taken effect by this point?