Twilight stared at the wooden door that she knew so well. Three weeks had passed since her first training session, and already she could feel the effects. Her magic felt ‘stronger’, more readily available, her body more used to the long nights and mornings, and her muscles stronger than ever. Her slight pudge from just eating and studying had disappeared seemingly overnight, the much richer and nutritious diet of the palace taking away any lingering malnourishment she had left. Her coat shone bright where the morning sun touched where her clothes didn’t cover, and her mane had a sheen unlike any other time in her life. Quite frankly, Twilight felt better than she had in her life.
She stood dressed like a noble, in fact. She wore a sparkling silver vest and breeches combination that Luna had gifted her, the buttons even embroidered with golden string. She didn’t entirely approve - the bits spent on this outfit could have went to feeding the hungry, or helping the homeless. But Luna had insisted, and it went so well with her sword and scabbard. Speaking of, she had finally procured a scabbard tailor made for her sword. The scabbard was made entirely of a black leather and studded with gems to resemble the wondrous night sky. She fit the look of the nobility now, even if she didn’t particularly feel like it.
The reason for that remaining nervousness would be obvious to anyone who knew her well. When she’d first moved into the castle, she had promised Matron she’d visit. Yet, weeks later and the gryphoness had yet to hear a peep from her, and Twilight knew she would be worried. And worrying Matron meant getting quite the earful when you finally did visit her.
Thankfully, Sunny escorted her. Surely Matron wouldn’t tan her hide in front of a house guard… Well, Twilight could hope.
With a deep breath, she raised a hoof. With care, Twilight knocked on the door, the loud raps sounding out clear even down the street. Three knocks and her hoof rested on the ground again, even Sunny not daring to speak right now. She’d heard stories, of course, stories from both Twilight and Shining. Perhaps they may have over exaggerated a touch, just enough to actually make Sunny worried about their first meeting.
Or maybe it had been more than a little. Tartarus, for all Sunny knew, Matron was a ten foot tall gryphoness with a blood red beak and hatred in her eyes. Nothing truly harmful, but maybe they talked a bit too much about how harsh and fair Matron could be rather than her more playful and kind side. The end result meant that Sunny practically shook behind Twilight, eyes glancing up towards the door with no small amount of worry.
The two waited, nothing but the cool morning breeze breaking their silence. Sunny swallowed hard, and giggled nervously. “M-maybe we should go?” she asked. “Could always come ba-”
The door opened with a creak of hinges and Sunny squeaked, jumping away. Out poked Matron’s fuzzy head, scarf wrapped around her neck to fight off the chill. She looked left, then right, before settling onto Twilight. “Bout time, filly,” she croaked out, her voice particularly bad that morning. “Get in before you catch a chill,” Matron admonished, beckoning her in with a claw. “You too, guard.” Matron kicked the door open wide and held it open as Twilight pressed her way in, Sunny hot on her tail. In fact, Sunny almost stuck a little too close, staying right on her flank on the opposite side from Matron. Now she was just being silly, Twilight couldn’t help but think.
Matron let the door close behind them, quickly taking the lead again. “I’ve got tea prepared already. Show your friend around and meet me in the dining room,” Matron instructed.
The gryphoness left before Twilight could even voice a protest, the mare actually not minding. She dreaded Matron’s scathing tongue, feeling sure that she’d be scolded after all this time. She stopped, the two still in the cramped lobby, coats nearly pressing against each other. She turned towards Sunny, starting to open her mouth-
Only for Sunny to beat her to it. “I-I’ll just wait outside! Luna will understand!” Sunny announced, smiling nervously. Again, before Twilight could react, Sunny stepped out, practically slamming the door behind her.
Okay, that one may have annoyed Twilight a little. Just a tinge.
With a frown, she made her way towards the dining room alone. This time of the day, only two or three earth ponies clustered together in the corner, voices low enough that Twilight couldn’t make out their words. Unsurprisingly, she recognized the trio, none of them part of Quaker’s gang. She hadn’t wanted trouble that morning, so his absence certainly made things easier.
Twilight waited at a table near the front, taking a seat and examining the hilt of her sword. Over the past few weeks, it had spoken to her several more times. Always when she least expected it, actually. It never spoke more than a sentence or two at once. Sometimes, it would be helpful, giving her tips of her bladework or her hoofwork while using it. Other times, it would taunt and tease, being particularly acerbic towards the Queen. Still others, it would drop cryptic hints, as if it knew what was coming.
And once, while in the bath and dozens of feet away.
That last one had certainly given her quite the shock. Twilight still couldn’t convince herself it wasn’t just in her head, but the evidence started to mount up into a truly damning pile. She’d tried to do research on it, but nothing came up despite her constant searching. Her time for reading for her own pleasure had been limited, so there might be something out there yet, but Twilight still needed to find it.
She still had confidence she would. The main library in the castle still had wonders she’d yet to explore, it had to only be a matter of time.
The clinking of teacups made her jolt her vision up, catching Matron just in time for the small gryphon to sit across from her. As expected, Matron still wore the old, threadbare dresses, though her scarf almost looked new. Twilight still couldn’t believe she wouldn’t just wear one of the noble’s gifts - sometimes her pride got the better of her. Perhaps Twilight could offer her something…? No, Matron would never accept.
“Where’d your friend go?” Matron asked, in the midst of pouring each of them a cup. Matron pushed the cup across the table, a slight scratching noise from the cup sliding against the rough wood filling the air.
Twilight accepted it gratefully, taking a deep whiff of the tea. She calmly breathed out as the scent filled her nose, almost wrinkling it from the harshness of the scent. To say it was cheap compared to the palace fare would be doing a great disservice to what Luna served her. Twilight was no stranger to it; she’d grown up there, after all, but the harshness still stung her nostrils. Twilight took a small, probing taste, oddly better than just the smell itself.
Once she’d have her fill, she set the cup back down and nodded her head. “Sunny is my guard, Matron,” Twilight explained. She did consider the mare a friend, but first and foremost their relationship was professional. Luna had certainly beat her around the head with it, despite Sunny’s protests. “And she’s waiting outside,” she continued, giving another small nod of her head. With a chuckle, she went on, “Shining and I may have scared her a bit. You know how ponies like to tell stories.”
Matron’s beak split in a wry smile. “I never could stop all of you from talking,” she tutted, taking a break to sip her own tea. “Tell me about the castle. Tell me about your time there. You know your Matron wants to hear it, especially with her little Twilight showing up in such fine clothes!” she teased.
Twilight blushed a light pink, staring down into the depths of her cup. “It’s been nice.” Twilight supposed that was as good a summary as anything. “Luna, er, the Queen that is, has been an absolute joy to be around. I’ve learned more there in these few weeks than the years I spent here. No offense to you or anything-”
“-None taken-” Matron cut in.
“-But nothing can compare to Luna’s teaching. She’s giving me a bit of a broad education, but had me specialize as well. I chose gravity and the stars,” she explained, unable to stop herself from smiling. She kept her secondary dabblings in the plague a bit secret; even her brother didn’t know anything about that. Some things were better left secret.
“And Luna is just… wow. Have you seen her?” Twilight asked. Matron nodded. “Close, she’s just magical. She’s so perfect, I have to keep myself from staring at her.” She blushed deeper at the words, but waved it off. “And she’s kind and a fantastic mentor. She…” Twilight hesitated for a second. “Has her moods. But, I can overlook that. Really, there’s nopony I would rather have as my mentor. I know I’ve got months left before my apprenticeship ends, but already I can’t imagine learning from anyone else.”
And she believed everything she said. Over the past few weeks, Twilight had grown more and more fond of the Lunar diarch. She still worried about her mood swings, but they seemed to happen less and less as time went on. At first, Twilight noticed them almost daily, but now she hadn’t seen them in a full week. And she’d been more kind than usual, more attentive and giving Twilight much more of her spare time. They’d started to meet three times a day for lessons rather than once every few days. It was a fast change, but Twilight adored it.
Even Matron cracked a smile. “Certainly seems nice. Suppose staring at the night got ya somewhere, filly. Still sneaking out like a damn fool?”
Twilight bit her lip and quickly sipped at her tea, doing her best to buy time. She never wanted to admit her nightly visits to Matron, despite her knowing all along, and especially didn’t now that she lived like a noble. “Well… yes.” She looked behind around before lowering her voice. “But, not before Luna figured it out.”
Matron cackled, kicking back in her chair, clearly reveling in Twilight’s humiliation. “Knew that’d bite ya in the butt one day. How’d she find ya out?”
“Just caught me is all. Walked in on me coming back in.” Twilight purposefully avoided going the full explanation. Matron didn’t know the intricacies of magic, but Twilight couldn’t talk about why Luna was so mad without explaining how dangerous teleporting could be. Luna had finally allowed her to teleport again freely, but she hadn’t been too happy about it. Twilight’s pleading finally wore her down after days, and the practice certainly made things easier.
“Not that bad then. Better than something stupid from you, girl.” Matron’s rasp came back hard as she kept talking, prompting her to take a longer, more reserved drink of the tea. “What about the sword?” She pointed a claw towards the scabbard, eyeing the engraved hilt.
Twilight, almost possessively, laid a hoof across the top. Instincts she never knew she had sparked to life inside of her, nopony would touch her rapier but her. With effort, she managed to relax, letting her hoof drop to the table again.
“Luna trains me in weapons as well. It’s nothing serious, never expected to fight or anything. Just, some magic works better with a sort of focus, especially defensive and arcane magic, the latter my speciality,” Twilight explained.
Matron gave a swift, short nod. “Good. I don’t want to see you falling into anything dangerous, you leave that to your brother, you hear?” She waited for Twilight to nod before continuing. “Oh, meant to tell ya, I found something out about your amulet girl.” Matron reached out, taking the chain in a talon and examining it. Twilight froze in place, the sudden contact not entirely welcome. She took in a sharp breath, though Matron seemed unfazed by her reaction.
Matron let go of it with a sharp nod of her head. “Asked around a bit, don’t ask who, but that’s the symbol of a noble house, right there.”
That couldn’t be right. Her cutie mark wouldn’t be a noble’s mark - only noble’s themselves had ever been born that way, for obvious reasons. Matron would just be confused about it is all. Twilight would ask Luna later about it an-
Matron rapped sharply on her horn. “I’m not senile yet, I know what I saw,” Matron reminded her harshly. “Ask your Queen about it, mention the Arcana house, got it?”
Twilight nodded, the only answer in the face of Matron’s forcefulness. No one went against Matron, after all.
The angry gryphoness fluffed her wings and sat back in her seat, huffing. “Very well. Let’s talk about more pleasant things…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four days later, Twilight waited in a room she’d grown quite familiar with over the passing weeks. Luna’s room, despite her initial thoughts, wasn’t so different from her own. In fact, it almost seemed more… plain, somehow. She had the balconies as well, had a very similar bed, but no dresser. The only other furniture in the room was a low table, designed for sitting around on cushions and sharing light meals or tea. Apparently, at some point, she’d decided she’d rather keep the work away from where she relaxed. Twilight could understand that. That, and she had an entire other floor for a wardrobe.
Artwork did hang on the walls. Most of it was simple idyllic scenery shots, some of them apparently painted by Luna herself. Loathed as she was to say it, Twilight could actually tell which Luna painted herself. Despite her attempts, Luna… well, she was a fantastic artist, especially in the sky, but some of her painting left something to be desired.
Except for one. In the center, across from the bed perfectly, Luna painted a pony, the only non-scenery piece in the entire room. Twilight didn’t know why she was special - to her amateur eye, the soft, silver pegasus looked rather plain. Her mane, a shocking, lovely shade of blue didn’t even stand out, not really. Her smile was certainly kind, but what painting didn’t portray their subject in a good light?
Yet, Twilight couldn’t help but notice something was different. She had asked Luna, but Luna simply brushed her off, a conversation for another day.
Distantly, she heard the lift hum in its ascent.
And that day wouldn’t be today. Twilight and Luna had a scarce few minutes this morning to themselves, and such a heavy conversation wouldn’t do. Now was the time for lighter fare, relaxation before the day proper.
And speak of the devil. The lift finally clicked into place bearing Luna and a pony she hadn’t seen before. Twilight quickly surmised that the pony was a maid; the full outfit pointed that out fairly quickly. She balanced a tea platter on her back as well, the grey coated green maned pony actually quite pretty. But… why did she have a chalkboard around her neck?
No matter. Luna sat across from her and the new unicorn set the table with her magic, giving Twilight a kind smile.
The two seated waited for the maid to pour them each a cup, the mare giving a quick curtsy before stepping back on the lift, waiting patiently for Luna to lower her.
Naturally, Luna obliged her, the two waiting for the maid to get out of earshot before finally talking. All told, it took a few minutes at most. “Who is she?” Twilight asked, curious. Normally she didn’t see servants in Luna’s quarters, not for tea.
Luna waved a hoof dismissively, keeping her cup close by. “A loyal servant by the name of Quiet. And before you ask, the board is due to her muteness.”
Twilight bit back a response - Luna had read her mind as usual. Carefully, she sipped at the warm cup. Darjeeling, she thought. Definitely high quality stuff, perfect for waking her up. And perfect for keeping herself from asking stupid questions.
“I would like to apologize, if you don’t mind.” Twilight sat up quickly as Luna started, prepared to insist she had nothing to apologize for. But Luna shook her head and pressed on. “I snapped at you and Sunny both several times for no reason. I simply have a lot on my mind. Would you forgive me?” she asked.
Luna actually looked contrite. Twilight never expected the Queen herself to apologize to her, nor did she think she needed to. It made her answer obvious, how could she not? “Of course,” Twilight answered warmly, nodding her head.
“Oh, and I found out more about that necklace of yours. I’ll have a few books dropped off in your room later. From what I can tell, though, it was a noble’s crest,” Luna explained. She smiled gently and raised a hoof, cutting off Twilight’s interruption.
“No, you aren’t a noble, Student. That would be silly, I would’ve known that already,” Luna quipped, with a wry chuckle. “Their crest actually goes deeper than that anyways. It’s a symbol not for a school of magic, but magic as a whole. I’m.. not sure what that means in regards to your cutie mark, I didn’t have time to read it all.”
Huh. That was honestly the first time Twilight had ever heard her mentor say she didn’t know something. Before, she seemed like an impossible font of knowledge, her wisdom never running dry no matter what Twilight asked. Odd that she wouldn’t know something in depth, thought Twilight guessed it had to come eventually.
“Alright. I’ll get to that as soon as I get to bed tonight.” Twilight gave her own smile. Luna nodded her head, sipping from her cup.
“Good Student,” Luna praised, finally setting it back down on the sauce. Somewhere, deep inside of herself, Twilight felt a flutter go through her body. She loved to hear praise….
“Now, why don’t we go over the three laws of transmutation again?” Luna asked.
Twilight took a deep breath, already starting to launch into her explanation. Her eyes twinkled as she watched Luna nod approvingly, her mind craving that attention. Luna was just so perfect, so flawless, how could anypony hate her? Twilight would find out…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next two weeks passed in a blur. All of Twilight’s days started to run together, her days falling into an easy sort of rhythm. Lessons in the morning and breakfast with the Queen. Classes in the afternoon at the school, private tutoring with some of the higher ranked professors. And finally, dinner and more lessons with the Queen. Her dueling lessons with Roamane were off and on - once a week or so, she would take a few hours with him, but other than that, her day was set.
Few events stood out in her mind. Like the visits with Matron, or certain meals with the Queen, or even a lunch with her brother. Which, coincidentally, was where she was right now. As usual, well, at least for lately, Twilight ran late. She needed to meet her brother ten minutes ago, but one thing led to another and suddenly it was one fifteen.
Oh well, Shining could wait. Twilight burst into his room, surprisingly not even the least fatigued, the constant physical activity making her in tip top shape. Her brother, saint that he was, waited for her with the table already set, their plates spread before them and cups already filled with water. He had set out a vegetable quiche, one of Twilight’s favorites. She could always count on him.
With a groan, Twilight took a seat across from the bemused stallion. “Long day?” he quipped.
Twilight nodded her head before gently setting it on the table. She groaned and flopped, closing her eyes and trying to search for a little bit of rest. “Roamane took me today. Um, dueling sessions. How is he so good!?” She sat back up with a jolt, practically growling at the older stallion’s name. “He’s like two hundred or something, there’s no way he should be that quick and that good with a blade. Like, how!”
Shining chuckled and gave her a calming smile. “Hey, don’t worry about it. If he wasn’t good, Luna wouldn’t have let him teach you, right?”
Twilight wouldn’t argue with that, and she had considered it, but it still annoyed her to no end. She slowly lifted her head and took a long draught of the water, doing her best to refresh herself after wearing herself out. “It’s the principle of the matter,” she complained. “I haven’t even landed a hit on him yet, and we’ve been dueling for weeks.” Every time she even got close to him, he would dart back out of her range, or dodge, or parry it perfectly, or even slash at her first. It was absolutely infuriating. Twilight even tried sense enhancing spells, things that she could barely keep up for longer than a few minutes. Even with those, she failed to even tap him.
“He is the best of the best, Twily,” Shining gently reminded.
Somehow, that didn’t help.
“Ugh, whatever. I’m meeting up with Luna later anyways. She’s going to show me how to paint using magic,” Twilight explained. Her voice rose in excitement as she kept talking. Her chest fluttered again as she thought about meeting with Luna again; quite honestly, she couldn’t wait. “Luna said she usually wouldn’t do this until years into a student’s education!” She practically squeed at the end, clapping her forehooves together.
“Sounds like things are going well. Actually…” Shining sat up taller, looking at Twilight intently. “I haven’t talked about it, since I trust you, but how is she treating you?” he asked. “Luna, I mean.”
Twilight didn’t know how to answer that question. Why would he even ask it? Of course she treated her well! She treated her better than well actually, much more than Twilight deserved! She was the Queen! She was perfect! How could he even ask?
Twilight furrowed her brow, frowning. “Luna’s…” How did she answer that?! Argh! “Luna’s perfect, Shiny,” she finally got out. “Luna is the Queen, Luna is the goddess. Any time she spends with me is more than I deserve. Have you seen her? She’s beautiful. She’s a genius, she knows more than any of us! Any time she gives me is like.. It’s like cramming all the other years of my learning into hours, if not minutes! I would never want to be apart from her again, would never want to learn from anypony!”
But Twilight didn’t stop. Once she’d started, she felt like she couldn’t stop talking now. “Luna is everything I’ve ever wanted in a teacher, Shiny. She’s kind, caring, intelligent, and helps me no matter what I need. I thought she’d get frustrated if I didn’t learn something, but she’s patient with me in that regard too. She doesn’t care how much she has to repeat things or show me a spell, or any of that.
“And she’s just amazing! She’s so beautiful. Other mares are pretty, yes, but nothing like Luna.” Twilight could feel her cheeks start to heat up. She’d never talked about this to anypony before, much less her brother. “Her mane and tail is like no other, and her body, how could anypony be better than that?”
Twilight blushed hot, starting to calm down and realizing what she was saying. “She’s just… perfect,” she finished, lamely.
Shining blinked, staring at her for much longer than she felt comfortable with. His gaze seemed judging, piercing, and Twilight couldn’t help but start to shift uncomfortably in her seat. Why wouldn’t he say something? She’d just rambled on about the Queen, and Shining wouldn’t say a word?
“What!? Why are you staring?” she demanded, adjusting her sword impatiently.
Shining chuckled and shook his head. “You’ve got a crush,” he announced, words seemingly as final and decisive as any he had ever spoken.
Twilight giggled. Well, she did more than giggle really. She burst into an uproarious laughter, body shaking with how hard they came. Oh goodness, he couldn’t really think that, could he? That was her goddess, her Queen, but not her lover. There were so many reasons it couldn’t work, Twilight could barely start to elucidate them.
First of all, their age difference alone disqualified a relationship. Luna was thousands of years old, and Twilight just now closed in on her fourteenth year. Yes, ponies got married as young as eleven or twelve, but they were symbolic marriages really. Nopony expected anything to well.. Happen for years at the minimum! True, Twilight was older than that minimum age, but she still couldn’t even think of courting somepony thousands of years her senior.
This didn’t even take into consideration their statuses. The Queen was… well, the queen, while Twilight a commoner. Her status had been elevated from becoming the student, but that didn’t come near noble status, she just held a special place as a peasant. Anypony that Luna courted would need to be at least a duke, if not more. Twilight couldn’t hope to reach that sort of status, not unless she performed some incredible sort of deed.
Perhaps, most importantly, Twilight absolutely, one hundred percent, definitely, did not have a crush on the Queen! She admired her, respected her, perhaps even loved as a mentor and friend, but nothing more than that.
It didn’t matter how beautiful she was. Or how smart. Or how attractive. Or how enticing. Or how… perfect.
Twilight’s heart fluttered.
Nope. No crush.
She blushed, the feelings roaring through her mind. Her laughing had stopped at some point she didn’t know, and she couldn’t stop the thoughts in her head. She didn’t have a crush. But… there might be something there. Maybe.
“Did I break you, Twily?”
“Bwuh?” Twilight answered, the world slowly coming back into focus. She shook her head, banishing the thoughts of love from her head. “O-oh. I’m fine. So uh… how’s training?”
The two didn’t talk about Luna again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight practically danced on her hooves. Sometimes, being the Student of the Night led one to odd places. This was one of them. Twilight waited outside of the Royal Guard barracks. Not the Night Guard’s, one the House Guard’s, but the Royal Guard’s. Twilight didn’t even know why she was here! Luna just told her to wa-
The door opened, nearly knocking Twilight over. With a yelp, she darted out of the way, just in time to avoid being trampled by golden clad house guards, flames licking at the edges of their armor. Little beams darted across their armor, drawing the eye towards them. Twilight, naturally, instantly recognized it.
Solar Guards.
Which could only mean…
Behind the guards stepped the Sol Invictus, the princess of the Sun herself.
Twilight would have to be a fool not to recognize her. She’d seen her around, but rarely. Like Luna, she stood a head and a half, if not more, taller than Twilight. Instead of a galaxy, her mane trailed and waved behind her in various pastel hues. Her white fur matched the golden peytral around her neck, a single, large amethyst inlaid in the middle. Other than that, the princess was rather unadorned, no other obvious jewelry standing out.
And, to Twilight’s surprise, she walked around naked. Weird.
“Oh, Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia’s voice surprised Twilight. Celestia’s posture and demeanour could really only be described as demure, calm. Again, near the opposite of Luna’s posture. “How lovely to see you. What brings you to the barracks?”
Twilight bowed her head low, before slowly looking back up towards the princess. “Nothing important, your highness. L- Er, Queen Luna told me to wait here,” Twilight explained, not used to such pleasantries around the royalty.
Celestia waved a hoof, shaking her head. “None of that. Dear Lulu considers you close, so I will as well. Just Celestia, please.” Celestia graced her with a lovely smile, the look alone sending a warmth through Twilight’s body. “And I think my dear sister wanted you and I to finally meet.”
Twilight blushed again, trying to keep her head down. “Of course, Celestia,” Twilight answered. She honestly felt more used to first names rather than titles by now - the months with Luna had forced her into the habit by now. “And why would Luna want that?” she asked, perplexed.
Twilight couldn’t imagine why she would need to know Celestia. It didn’t impact her studies, and the three weeks since meeting Shining for dinner had only been studying. Other ponies just didn’t matter, even the important ones like Celestia.
Though, Fleur’s words did eat at her mind…
Celestia giggled, a soft, almost angelic sound. “Oh, who knows exactly how little Lulu thinks?” she asked, clearly rhetorically. “She has her own goals, though I can at least suspect some. Most likely, she probably just wants you to be familiar with the system as a whole. And getting you ingrained to me early would mean if something happens to her, or she is away, you’ll have a place of privilege still.”
Something happen to Luna? Why… why would that ever happen?
“Or, though I doubt it, she wants me to approve of the target of her courtship,” Celestia mused on, looking up as if thinking.
Instantly, Twilight blushed, gritting her teeth. Between her brother and Sunny, she didn’t need this sort of teasing. She didn’t like the Queen that way, and hardly needed the princess flaunting it in front of her, especially when she could never, ever have it!
“I think that you’re wrong, princess,” she replied evenly, though admittedly she was a fair bit frustrated.
Celestia rested a hoof on her shoulder, Twilight doing her best to avoid slapping it off. Her temper had been getting a little rougher lately. “I am teasing, Twilight. Lulu already spoke to me about talking to you. She merely wanted me to see how you were doing, and offer a hoof of friendship and help if you ever need it.” Celestia tilted Twilight’s chin up, their eyes meeting and Celestia’s kind smile melting Twilight’s irritation away.
Twilight took a small step back. She… well, truth be told, she could always use more friends. She wasn’t exactly good at making them, nor did she particularly want them that much. At the same time, she’d be damn foolish to pass up an opportunity like this one. Celestia could be a valuable resource if nothing else. She didn’t want to muddle in the state affairs, but Celestia could also help shield her from the repulsive nature of the nobles.
“I’m okay with that, Celestia,” Twilight admitted, her blush still present from her sudden, irrational anger. “And um… sorry for snapping at you,” she added, scuffing at the floor.
“No problem, my little pony. Now, why don’t we go find dear Lulu?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day winded down to an end. Twilight and Celestia had bonded over their love off books, and over the last three weeks, the two had seen each other on occasion. Twilight had to admit, perhaps she could make friends in this castle. Which this dinner would seek to prove. If she could make friends with her current dinner mate, she could make friends with anypony.
Day after day of constant badgering from Shining had finally forced her hoof. He swore up and down that Sunset had changed, swore that she'd mellowed out. Twilight didn't know if she believed that, but she could at least give her a chance. Anything to get Shiny off her back.
Sunset had prepared an absolutely lovely spread for them. Despite living in rather cramped quarters in the student’s wing, Sunset made the best of it. Her room looked as flowery and bright as she did, her neatly set table reflecting that. She even spent time making the food herself rather than simply bringing it from the kitchen, something that Twilight had to admit was a nice touch.
But, dinner, like all good things, had to come to an end. Twilight had kept the conversation cordial, really trying to make friends with the other mare. Yet, something seemed off all the while, and Twilight neared her breaking point. Sunset was nothing but nice - where was the irritating, impossible mare that she knew?
Twilight was ready, just waiting for Sunset to finish her story.
But, things changed. “Twilight.” Sunset hesitated, looking down for a second. “I know you don’t like me. Or at least, didn’t like me for a really long time. Um, can you at least tell me why?”
Twilight blinked. Of all the things that Twilight expected her to say, that rested near the bottom. Twilight had always figured why she didn’t like her. Twilight had always expected her to know. How could she not know? Twilight hadn’t exactly made it hard to realize. She’d been quite clear with her disdain! In fact, she’d even directly mentioned it a few times! Twilight felt that familiar frustration boil over, years and years of Sunny’s flirting coming back with a vengeance.
“Why?!” Twilight squawked. She set her hooves on the table and stood up against it, making her meager height a bit taller. “How do you not know why? If you weren’t trying to buck my brother’s brains out every week, we would’ve gotten together fine! And treated me like a little filly - I hated that!” she answered.
Twilight’s eyebrow twitched, She looked down at Sunset, watching her shrink away with a wince. Perhaps she’d gone too far. Perhaps she shouldn’t have raised her voice. Maybe she shouldn’t be so angry- No. Twilight could only feel justified after so many years of torment.
“T-twily-”
“Don’t call me that! Only Shiny gets to call me that!” Twilight interrupted, nearly shouting.
Sunset flinched away again, a near silent whimper escaping her throat.
“Twilight. I’m sorry, really- I never realized that, that you felt that way.” Sunset spoke in near a whisper. Sunset swallowed nervously, shuffling her hooves underneath herself. “If it helps, I never had a crush on your brother. Twilight, I’m a fillyfooler,” she tried to explain, wincing at saying that term. It was something of a slur for their kind.
“I never meant to hit on your brother. We just liked to joke around, I promise. I know you may not believe me, but I’m telling the truth. And I’m sorry for treating you like a filly, I really didn’t mean for that to happen either. I just wanted you to like me and I guess I just um… guessed what you would like, very, very wrong,” Sunset continued. She sniffled back a tear, her head drooping down towards the table.
Slowly, Twilight started to wilt back into her seat. Her chest still heaved from her quick and hot anger, but that too faded away.
“So, I guess I can just say sorry,” Sunset finished, lips trembling in a poor attempt at a smile. “Really, I am sorry.”
Twilight stared straight on, mind processing everything that Sunset had just said. A mistake? Twilight could be wrong, Luna had shown her that over time, shown her how narrow her world view could be. It wasn’t like Twilight hadn’t been the most conscious of flirting back then. She read into it what she thought she saw, but with how inexperienced she was, she could’ve easily missed the signs. Or at least, missing back she could have missed the signs. Back then, everything had just looked so clear to her.
Twilight swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. “I always thought you were flirting with him,” she admitted, lightly shaking her head. “I guess that uh, both of us made some mistakes then?” She blanced at her word choice and hurried to correct herself. “I mean we made wrong assumptions! You wanted to coddle me, and I thought you wanted to fu- er, date my brother. Maybe we could start over?”
Sunny giggled and nodded quickly. “Start over, yes, that sounds lovely. And I’ll try my best not to think of you as a child anymore, cause you’re not. You know Twilight, I always did admire the way you could cast big spells so easily. You’re so good at magic and haven’t…” She froze for a second, choosing her next words carefully. “I mean, you haven’t had as long to practice, I guess,” she finished.
Twilight could see why Sunset worried - she probably thought Twilight would worry about the mention of her age. In this context, it didn’t bother her in the least. In fact, it was a compliment. “It’s fine. You’re not wrong about that, and I’ve always been a bit jealous of how much control you had over your magic. If um, if I hadn’t been so against you I think we could’ve talked a lot about magic. So maybe, we could meet every week or so and talk about what we’ve learned?” Twilight asked, giving Sunset a timid little smile.
“I’d like that.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thrust, jab, backpedal, parry, riposte, hard thrust! Twilight danced through the motions, Eclipse , now Vaunted burned against her magic, the blade moving as fast as she ever had before. The edges of her vision played with fire, darkness creeping up as she struggled to maintain all of her spells at once. Her enhanced reflexes easily caught Roamane’s jab, Twilight deftly moving her blade to catch it.
Twilight finally started to grow good enough to compete with the much older stallion. She never won a bout, not even a single time, but never simply fell over to his blows anymore. She could hold her own, at least for a little while.
Despite his advanced age, Roamane blow’s came like a hurricane, striking over and over at her defenses, battering her down and forcing her onto the defensive. She snuck little blows as she could, a jab here, a thrust there, but she had to do all she could to move his blade away from her. Even with her enhanced reflexes and sight from the spell burning away at her reserves, the older earth pony easily kept up.
Even at eighty years of age, the ash coated, blue maned stallion was a rippling beast of muscle. Small, but compact, he moved with a fierceness and speed Twilight couldn’t hope to keep up with. She could only keep him at bay at best.
Twilight desperately searched for an opening. Today could be the day she finally beat him, she could feel it in her chest, excitement pounding.
There! An opening!
Twilight darted Vaunted in, striking at his core.
But Roamane, ever crafty, rolled, striking at her under belly. With a grunt, Twilight felt the blunted blade rap hard against her leg, sending her tumbling to the ground.
Twilight lay on her side. Her spells winked out, the world drastically speeding up, eyes flaring with pain as her senses returned to normal. With a groan, she struggled back to her hooves, grasping at her dropped sword with her magic.
“Again,” she rasped.
Roamane looked at Twilight appraisingly before slowly shaking his head. “Not today. You’re closer. But we’re done today.”
How dare he cut their training short? Was he scared she would finally beat him? Did he hate her?
Twilight took a deep, slow breath, calming herself as best she could. Irrational thoughts sometimes got to her after training for so long with Vaunted. She needed a break, badly. Romane was right.
Twilight sheathed her rapier and bowed her head low. “Thank you sir. Until next time.”
Twilight turned to take her leave, her day busy yet. In the back of her head, she still heard it, very quietly.
Next time, we’ll win. Next time, victory.. Vaunted spoke, Vaunted whispered, Vaunted taunted.
And Twilight listened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A month later and a day ending. Twilight would rest soon, a long day of practice behind her. Twilight had lost all her baby fat now, a lean, muscled young mare, mane even well taken care of now. Twilight even dressed well, fit for a true noble. As the months had gone on, it was increasingly difficult to tell her apart from the nobles.
And today had been a special day. Her birthday, actually. Twilight turned fourteen, though she didn’t do much for it. A small party with Shining, Sunset, Sunny and Matron at the orphanage and nothing more. The others from their group of unicorns had their excuses, and Twilight didn’t blame them at all. Twilight should’ve loved it, it was just her size of party and the food and guests had been delightful. Yet, she couldn’t enjoy herself entirely for one obvious reason.
Luna needed to take care of things.
Twilight shouldn’t have been surprised, but she had sort of hoped that Luna would have been there for her birthday instead of miles away in Baltimare. She wouldn’t be back for a week, which meant Twilight settled into her bed on her own, with just a stiff letter of congratulations from her Queen. She had expected more on that front as well, but was left with nothing but bitter disappointment.
Twilight sighed. She sat on the top of her covers, reading her brother’s own notes on shield spells. His gift to her: his private collection. It was his special talent after all, and by all means it should have been fascinating, but Twilight just couldn’t get into it!
With a groan of frustration, Twilight buried her head into a pillow. She just wanted Luna to be there too! Was that too much to ask? With another groan, she screamed into her pillow, letting the day’s frustrations pour out.
With a huff, she slammed the pillow back down-
“Am I interrupting something?”
Twilight sputtered and turned. Somehow, someway, Luna managed to manifest herself at the foot of Twilight’s bed, all without her hearing. With a yelp, she scrambled to her hooves, blushing hot with her night gown flaring all around her.
“Calm down, Student.” Luna teased. “Stay in bed, I didn’t want to wake you.” Twilight slowly sat back down, her hooves gently kneading the bed in worry. Calmly, Luna moved her way onto the bed, laying her body across it and getting dangerously close to Twilight. Their muzzles nearly touched they were so close, Luna’s hot breath brushing against her nose, sending tingles down her spine.
Twilight already changed her mind. Best birthday ever.
“H-how are you back?” Twilight asked. Luna should still be in Baltimare, how could she be back in Canterlot? How…
“I wouldn’t miss my Student’s birthday. Do you want your gift?” Luna asked. Her eyelashes fluttered and Twilight’s heart skipped a beat, the blasted organ pounding away in her throat.
“P-please?” Twilight squeaked.
Luna’s muzzle moved forward, their mouths connected, the most wonderful scent filling Twilight’s nostrils. Luna’s hoof entwined in her mane and then-
Then Twilight woke up.
She woke entangled in her own sheets, breathing heavily and slick with sweat. She could remember every bit of her dream so intimately, so much that she couldn’t help but blush. Oh goddesses, what had she been thinking? She… she couldn’t think of the Queen like that! Shining just teased her, no real feelings like that existed!
Twilight turned her head, eyes falling on her nightstand. There, still lay Luna’s real gift. Inside a globe of glass, a star shone dimly, plucked from the heavens themselves. Her heart skipped a beat as she gazed on. For now, she didn’t think of how amazing Luna’s magic had to be to accomplish that, or the value, both emotional and financial, of the gift. The only thing she could think of was Luna herself, and those wonderful, soft li-
Twilight shook her head furiously, trying to shake the thoughts from her mind. No! Bad Twilight! Do not think it, not ever! It’s not possible, it can’t be possible, no matter how ba-.
How had Twilight not seen it before?
Shining told the truth, he always did. Twilight had a crush. Twilight had an awful, horrible, dirty crush.
She needed to talk to somepony, but who? Somepony who knew love. Not her brother, he’d tease her endlessly, somepony discr-
Cadence.