//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: White Dwarf // Story: Her Own Sky // by Ice Star //------------------------------// "Twilight, no! The fate of Equestria depends on you being able to defeat—" The words of Princess Cadance were cut short. It was just as a young Twilight reached out and grabbed the cardboard airship from the shaky grasp of Cadance's magic, yanking the passenger out of the cardboard container-turned-afternoon-art-project. The little filly collapsed onto the checkered picnic blanket, clutching her doll to her chest in a crushing hug. "No, no, no!" she squeaked as much as her little lungs would allow. "Smarty's not evil! She has to be the hero! Cady, she needs to win! Please-please-please don't let me loose Miss Smarty Pants!" Cadance blinked her lilac eyes. She was pondering what to do and tugging at her bright, girly blue bow. Cadance pulled it into place as if readjusting her mane could improve her creative thinking. "Twily, I thought you wanted to be the hero—" "No, I'm not brave enough to face that," Twilight whispered. The little filly pulled Smarty Pants closer to her chest. In the next instant, she was waving a hoof in the direction of the lunchbox-sized construction that Cadance had placed her doll in. Twilight's tiny forehoof trembled with fear as her foalsitter's gaze followed the gesture to its source. "What's wrong with the ship?" Cadance asked. "It looks just like the one you saw with Shiny and me yesterday." "Nu-uh," Twilight pouted, "The one I saw with you and BBBFF. wasn't like that one... it's so scary!" To remedy her confusion, Cadance withdrew the only cure-all she had from the picnic basket next to her — a large bag of sour keys. While she listened to Twilight Sparkle's woes, she began to nibble one of the candies in deepening thought. She could handle Twilight Sparkle quite well, being the only filly she foal-sat — and thus her favorite. Sure, the little filly was gifted, but her social abilities were non-existent due to how sheltered the little one was. Twilight's parents hadn't been able to keep her in any grade above magic kindergarten, since she took to all the materials too quickly, but the actual social requirements and routines required to do well had let the little lavender filly to have one too many autistic burn-outs, panic attacks, and tantrums. There wasn't a single friend that Twilight Sparkle had made, and Twilight Velvet and Nightlight were right to pull their poor, frightened, unable-to-go-on daughter into homeschooling. Why, with all the inflexibility Twilight craved, she was practically made for such an upbringing. Cadance was an excellent foalsitter when she was needed. Under her care and minimum tutelage, Twilight Sparkle had only been the cause of three out of the five arcane fires in the family's kitchen that occurred in the past year. Twilight's parents could rest easy knowing their daughter had something like a friend outside of the family. She was the all-powerful sitter of foals, and of course, knew exactly what to do. Cadance's life was together. By the tenth sour key, she realized she had no idea what to do. "Uh, Twilight?" Twilight lowered Smarty Pants from her face when she realized Cadance wasn't going to be absorbing the sour keys at such an ungodly speed any longer. "Yes, Cady?" The little filly gave her foal-sitter the most innocent of blinks. "Just what is so horrific about the ship I made you?" Twilight's somber gaze met Cadance's confused one. She leaned closer and whispered carefully, with all the seriousness and terror the precocious filly could muster: "It's not to scale." Cadance blinked and eyed the bag of sour keys once more. Twilight gulped when she noticed this vaguely exasperated gesture. "Yep," her foalsitter chirped, "Makes sense. Not to scale. Very scary stuff. Got it." "We could always buy a model one from the fancy stores. Shiny had one, but it broke." Twilight looked shifty at the last statement but chose to continue when Cadance didn't react. "I've been saving up some bits for new books but..." "But what?" Cadance asked excitedly. "I have a birthday coming up," Twilight finished with an adorable grin. The warm May winds sweeping through the park and stirring her neat, dark bangs. Cadance knew foals. She knew when they wanted something. And she would have bet a wing and a foreleg that if she caved into Twilight's expectant purple gaze that she would be taking the first step into turning this little tyke into a little tyrant. She already had a birthday present picked out for Twilight Sparkle anyway... "That's nice, Twily. I'll be sure to remember that, but right now I don't have the bits—" "Shiny says you have an entire store of bits for emergencies." Twilight's smile widens into a bright little grin, and her eyes are as shiny as the gold coins she is so clearly envisioning. "Doesn't your super-rich auntie still let you have an allowance?" "Yes," Cadance admitted, trying not to crumple her candy bag. "But it's for emergencies—" "Shiny also says you consider owning under twenty-six pairs of leg warmers a crisis." Cadance nodded vigorously, letting her pulled-up mane bob with the gesture. "Could you imagine the horror, Twily? A world without leg warmers is like a world without sunshine." "...Everypony would die?" Twilight skeptically offered. "Exactly!" It was Twilight's turn to blink. Just as she was about to reply she heard two voices coming closer, her small ears pricked to find their source. Cadance too looked over to the two figures approaching them. When she caught sight of who they were, she smiled at Shining Armor and the princess. "Hi, Shiny! Hi Auntie!" Princess Celestia nodded ever-so-slightly as she approached. Meanwhile, Shining Armor started chatting about something with Cadance, who rose from the blanket her and Twilight had been playing on after waving to the filly with the promise to come back soon. Twilight nodded very carefully and nervously tilted her head up to look at the goddess in front of her. Princess Celestia didn't notice the little filly at first, and her shadow swallowed Twilight Sparkle, Smarty Pants, and their picnic blanket. "Good afternoon, Princess Celestia," Twilight offered, bobbing her head in a slight bow. Little Twilight Sparkle had never been this close to a divine creature. If she didn't know better she'd say that the princess looked a bit sad... the kind of sadness somepony might have when they forgot their favorite toy at home, and would only get to see it when they returned. It was the kind that stayed bottled up in somepony's eyes while the rest of them stayed sunshine-bright. On Twilight Sparkle's first day (and attempt) at public academy magic kindergarten, there was a little filly who had those kinds of eyes, and all because she forgot her security blanket. And then, Twilight saw the majestic princess nod, and return her smiling gesture. Twilight couldn't imagine a mare so beautiful and kind upset with anypony or anything good, so she gave the goddess the biggest grin she had. "What is your name, little one?" The question was not as special as Twilight Sparkle may have wished. It was to be asked of any of Princess Celestia's subjects. Anypony at all could be a 'little one' in comparison to this swan of a mare who ruled over tadpoles. "T-Twilight. Twilight Sparkle," was all she could stammer out. The filly had no idea that it was common for Equestrian ponies to swallow their tongues and lose track of their words in front of this mare. But Twilight Sparkle had no idea, and instead tried to duck her head as humbly as possible. That way, she could hide her blush. She had meant to say that she was Twilight Sparkle of Canterlot, daughter of Twilight Velvet, and Nightlight — it was the proper way for anypony to introduce themselves. The faintest, vaguest recognition was a-flicker in the rose eyes of the princess, which was a rare sight. "And you are Shining Armor's little sister?" "Yep! He's really good at magic — have you seen his shield spells, Miss Your Princess-ness?" Much to the filly's surprise, Princess Celestia laughed softly — so softly that the sound would have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the slight change in her features. However, Twilight Sparkle was too young and unaware to detect the hollow tones within. The very ones that hinted at unspoken grief held by the princess. "Yes, I have seen your brother's shield spells. They are certainly something for his comrades to be proud of." "Yes, of course! He works super hard on them, Your Most Royal Majesty!" Princess Celestia nodded in response, keeping herself serene as ever in her half-attentive state. Her attention briefly wavering as she watched some of her subjects strolling in the distance, with Cadance, and Shining Armor among them. Her expression remained flawlessly calm despite her heavy heart, and she looked over at the young colt. If he weren't already a guard in training... would he have what it takes to be a Faithful Student? No... he isn't bad, exactly. Shining Armor is humble, generous, and kind... but something's missing... The princess held back a sigh that she wouldn't risk anypony hearing. Celestia turned back to devote her attention to the little blank-flanked filly who had been talking to her. ...Why is something always missing? "What about you, Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia asked, centuries of experience as a ruler steering her thoughts in the direction of the idle chat. "Is there anything that you work hard at?" ...What is it about them that never makes them enough? Twilight dragged her hoof through the grass. Then she lowered her eyes and remembered what her parents had told her about boasting and how unhappy it made them. Twilight certainly didn't want to make her parents unhappy and trying to lift their perfectly ordinary family above others in the community was a nasty thing to do — especially when talking to a divine princess. "No, not really. It's not that I'm lazy or anything, Shiny just works so much harder in comparison! He's going to make a great guard in the future, Princess!" "I'm sure he will," Celestia responded easily, a plain smile gracing her features. She recalled her conversation with the easy-going, talkative youth. Her niece had been bringing up the brother in conversation much more, and the princess decided she had to meet this young cadet in a setting where she could get an idea of his character outside of his armor — to see the stallion he might become. A moment later, Cadance's voice called her away and she dipped her head in a brief good-bye nod to Twilight Sparkle, not knowing that they would meet again when the filly's name had all but faded from her mind — because until that moment, it would be some time before Princess Celestia would have a reason to remember Twilight Sparkle.