//------------------------------//
// Canterlot 
// Story: Floating in the wind of change 
// by Neff 
//------------------------------//

The heavy double doors to the chamber fell shut with a silent click. Celestia closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Stretching her wings and cracking her neck, she couldn't stop a small grin from surfacing. Finally on her own after a long day of duties, she allowed herself this small moment of breaking her regal mask.

For the last few weeks, Cantorlot Castle had hosted the embassiary envoy from Griffonstone. As always, dealing with griffons was exhausting and headache-inducing work. They tended to have an attitude that could tire out even millenia-old alicorns. The only thing that Celestia wanted to do this evening was relishing in the fact that tomorrow was going to be the last day of their stay. Unfortunately, as was quite often the case, life seemed to have a different plan for the princess of the sun. 

After walking two steps from the door, the sudden flash of a teleportation spell going of in the middle of the room blinded Celestia. Once she could see again, she was treated to a truly sorrowful view.

Sitting there, drenched and sodden, shivering like a leaf, was her former student, alicorn of Friendship and Magic, Twilight Sparkle. Her wings were downcast and limp and her mane was sticking to her face. Silent sniffing could be heard coming from behind the wet curtain. When she looked up, recently shed tears were glistening on her cheeks.

Celestia considered herself a mother in all but the literal sense. How could she not, when basically all of Equestria viewed her as such. Considering the mare before her had more right to it than most, it was no wonder Celestia rushed over without a second's hesitation.

When the large white wing embraced her in a warm and comforting hug, Twilight hiccuped silently, then snuggled closer. Celestia was murmuring soft, calming words. She held her closely, not bothering about becoming wet as well.

After sitting like this for about a minute, Twilight shrugged of the wing and sniffled again. "I'm sorry, princess," she said. Though she did not show it, Celestia was once again disappointed that her student still hadn't abandoned the use of her title. "You must think me a total wreck," Twilight continued. "You're probably right." She looked away.

"Oh Twilight," Celestia used a hoof to move a strand of mane out of her fellow princess's eyes. "You know that's not true. We all have our low moments."

Twilight blew out air through her nostrils. "Yeah, right. Moments. I feel like I have episodes like this every other week."

Celestia stood up and smiled. "Come on, let's just get you dried first, then you can tell me what happened." With a pop, a handful of towels from the bathroom materialized right next to Celestia. She quickly started using them to rub her student dry. When it was done, Celestia went to the fireplace situated on one side of the room and lit it with a quick spell. Then she went back to the doors and told the guards outside to bring them a pot of hot tea and two cups.

Twilight, meanwhile, had made herself comfortable on the rug in front of the fireplace. She seemed to have calmed down considerably and was watching the flames flicker.

"Before I tell you exactly what happened," she began, "I really need to ask if you can... can...," she hesitated, then took a breath and said, "...if you can temporarily block my magic. I... I've kinda been casting spells all around the place the last two days and I have no idea how to control it."

Alarmed, a very uncomfortable feeling crept up on Celestia. Her mouth opened in a silent 'Oh' and her eyes widened.

Twilight, of course, noticed this.

"Princess?" she asked, frowning.

Thinking fast, Celestia closed her mouth and stood up. She looked around. The item she needed to find as quickly as possible was probably not in this room, though. No, it was more likely in an entirely different part of the castle.

"Princess, what are you doing? What is..." Twilight trailed off. 

Celestia hadn't really paid attention to her words. Instead she was focusing on her sister's bedroom, as if she could see it through the walls. Charging up arcane power in her horn, Celestia blinked and found herself standing at the foot of Luna's bed. She looked around. Where was it?





Twilight stared dumbly at the spot her mentor had just vacated. She was confused, so confused. What was happening lately? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. It was so unlike Celestia to leave without explaining anything.

Not really knowing what else to do, Twilight waited. And waited. At least she was dry now. And warm. It really did wonders to her mood and ability to think straight. Sighing, she massaged her still throbbing temples.

It happened when she concentrated on the pain in her skull. She suddenly had a feeling that there was something - like a knot of energy - swirling just underneath where her horn met her forehead. In the moment she noticed it, it was already slipping from her grasp again.

Twilight tried for the better part of a minute but couldn't sense it again. Grumbling, she continued watching the flames dance. She was almost certain what she had felt must've been connected to her headache as well as the spellcasting.

With a flash, her mentor returned. Twilight quickly started to rise, but before she could say anything, Celestia levitated a very heavy looking metal ring over and dropped it unceremoniously on her horn.

Twilight blinked. This horn blocker didn't feel the same as Starlight's or even the one she had worn as a filly. No, this one was a different caliber. It wasn't like the connection to her magic was damped, it was simply not there. So far she had always been aware that it was still present inside her somewhere, maybe even accessible enough to brake through the barrier keeping it from her, but with this particular inhibitor, it felt like there was none left at all.

Celestia smiled at the younger princess and then stepped back.

"I almost didn't find it. Fortunately, Luna just came back from evening court and she knew where it was. It's been ages since we last needed to use it."

Tentatively, Twilight poked the ring sitting on her horn. When nothing happened, she began to smile. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, princess!" she said. "You have no idea what a relief this is."

Celestia sighed and sat back down at the fire."I actually might. Alright, now that we can actually take the all time we need, let's talk. And by the way, Twilight, please call me Celestia. No 'Princess'." She smiled gently.

"I, hehe, sorry... I'll probably never get rid of that habit..." Twilight grinned apologetically as she settled next to her.

An attendent from the kitchen chose this moment to bring their tea. Celestia thanked him, to which he bowed and then left.

"So," Celestia continued after pouring them two cups of hot, steaming tea. "You say your horn has been throwing around spells? What kind of spells?"

"Apart from tossing me into a freezing lake in the middle of the night, you mean?" Twilight asked with a sort of wry humour. The last two days somehow seemed a lot less bad now looking back. It definitely also had something to do with the feeling of security the horn blocker gave her. 

Celestia giggled. "Yes, apart from that."

"Well, I almost set my youngest student on fire, caught a bad cold after teleporting to the Acres, quite nearly destroyed my castle through fire-breathing and sent Starlight halfway across Equestria." Twilight tapped one hoof against the other while counting down the list. "Oh, and I managed to magic myself asleep - twice," she added with a deadpan.

More chuckling came from her mentor and Twilight realized that just this simple interaction had helped her calm down immensely.

"Knowing your inquisitive nature, you'll probably want to know why this all has been happening..."

Twilight didn't answer, but it was not necessary anyway. She knew if she just waited patiently, her mentor would explain everything.

Celestia's wings twitched softly at her sides. She said, "I actually wanted to explain this to you and Cadance at the same time. It's actually why I invited you both to Canterlot this weekend. But considering the circumstances, I'd think it... unwise to make you wait two more days."

She stopped to take a sip of tea and then gazed into the fire for a while. Twilight knew she was thinking about how to best approach what she wanted to say. It had always been like this when they were still teacher and student. All of a sudden, Twilight was overcome with a heavy sense of nostalgia.

"You might have noticed," Celestia continued finally, "that alicorns differ from regular ponies not only in their physical appearance. For one, we also incorporate all magical capabilities of the three races that are combined in our bodies."

Twilight nodded.

"There are also some abilities that are unique to the alicorn race and are... much less known. One such thing is the power to sense any form of magic around us."

"Sense?" asked Twilight quickly. "How exactly does this work?" She was getting excited. What had happened earlier while Celestia was gone must've been exactly what she was talking about now.

"It works by opening yourself up to the magical energies around you - almost as if you were about to cast a spell, but instead of doing that, you just content yourself with watching." She motioned to Twilight's horn. "It is not a spell or an application of magic. It is a sixth sense, if you will, ingrained into our being. Hence you should be able to do it, even with that inhibitor on your horn."

Twilight's gaze wandered up towards her forehead, going cross-eyed in the process. She tried to concentrate as she would while performing magic - yet without actually having a particular spell in mind.

Celestia shook her head softly. "Don't try to use your horn. You won't need it for this."

Twilight looked back down and nodded slowly. Trying to open up all of herself to her surroundings was difficult and unfamiliar, but after a few moments, Twilight had a feeling she could sense something. At the end of each of her hooves as well as around her wings were - for lack of a better word - concentrated orbs of magic. Another orb, drastically bigger, was just over her forehead where her horn sat. It looked almost as if it was constantly getting larger, being fed from somewhere within her head.

Once she concentrated on more of her surroundings than just her body, Twilight realized that not only herself but the entire world was full of magic. All around her there were tiny swirls, mighty rivers and deep pools. All of it was flowing every which way imaginable. There was no order to this dance, no purpose, yet it was beautiful in a way she couldn't have described.

Staring open-mouthed, Twilight realized she didn't use her eyes or any of her other conventional senses to pick up these things. Rather it was exactly like her mentor had said - a kind of new, sixth sense. It was different, unused, unfamiliar - and yet so natural.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Celestia's voice barely registered with Twilight. Unable to say anything, she just nodded.

After a few moments, she found enough of her voice to ask, "If all of this is... magic, then... why is there so much of it around my head? I kind of look like a walking street lamp."

Her mentor giggled and pointed a hoof at Twilight's head. "You tell me... you were always very good at observation and deduction."

The lavender alicorn closed her eyes to concentrate on the thick ball of magic swirling over her. "It... almost looks like it's leaking out of my horn..." she said. "But then that means," she directed her attention to her wings and hooves, suddenly panicked, "my entire body is leaking!"

Celestia giggled again. "Not quite," she said. "it is only your horn, wings and hooves that have excessive magic that they cannot hold in."

Twilight opened her eyes and shot a questioning glance to her.

"You see, my dear former student, alicorns have a very high magic... metabolism, if you will, causing us to produce magic in our bodies a lot faster than the other races. And when that magic is not used, for example for spellcasting..."

"It spills out?"

"Exactly."

"But... but..." Twilight hesitated, thinking hard. "But why only through my horn, then? Why have I only been casting spells? Shouldn't I have... I don't know... randomly started napping or applebucking or whatever it is pegasi and earth ponies do with their magic?"

This time, Celestia let out a full laugh before answering. "Your question is your answer already, Twilight. You are not as accustomed to your pegasus or earth pony side. I guess your body simply seeks out the easiest way to rid itself of excessive magic - which is your unicorn abilities. And," she continued with a raised hoof, "as you've just said -  you are leaking magic everywhere, including your hooves and wings. I bet it wouldn't have been long until your pegasus and earth pony magic made itself known, too."

"Okay. But... why only now?" Twilight asked, "I've been an alicorn for over four years now. Shouldn't it have happened way earlier?"

"That is curious. But in the exact opposite way. I expected it to take way longer than four years, actually. It makes sense, if you think of Cadance for example. She has been alicorn a lot longer than you, and this hasn't yet happened to her."

"Why?"

Celestia hummed for some moments, eyes closed. Twilight knew she was contemplating her answers again.

"First off, magically speaking, you are a lot more adept than Cadance. That is not to say you are her better, but simply that her expertise lies in other domains. Secondly, and I think this is the far more important point, when we gave you our combined magic during Tirek's attack, it may have jump-started your magic metabolism. I have been noticing a higher energy output through your horn since then. That is also why I wanted to talk to you and Cadance about this at the same time, even though by my original reckoning it would not have been the right time for you yet."

"How... how did you know yours, Luna's and Cadance's magic might have increased my magic output like that?" asked Twilight.

"I guessed. But my guesses have usually been good," said Celestia happily, and they sat in silence for what seemed like a long time.

A scroll appeared in the air next to Celestia. "I've sent you this spell with a letter two days ago and then, after you said you needed another copy, again yesterday. Have you had a chance to look at it?"

Twilight gasped, remembering what had happened to the letter. "I... err... accidentally set the first one on fire," she explained. "And then, in the events of the last days, I completely forgot about it."

Celestia just nodded, as if she had already expected this. "You should read through it right away. It contains a spell that will be very helpful in dealing with your current situation."

Twilight accepted the scroll and opened it up. Just as she remembered, the spell appeared to be quite complicated. While she was busy perusing the symbols, the elder alicorn spoke again.

"Like I said, I actually wanted to give this spell to you and Cadance at the same time. That's one of the reasons why I called you to Canterlot this weekend. It would have been the next step on your journey towards true alicornhood. But, as it is wont to do, destiny had different plans."

"This spell...," Twilight said, frowning, "is the biggest mess I have ever seen. This part here is entirely redundant! And there's at least four different places where this rune sequence gets repeated. Here are some light manipulation parts and there's several anti-gravity charms built into it. What does it all actually do? I can't even tell, because it's so much chaos. The energy required to even cast it would be-" She trailed off.

"It would be enormous," said Celestia.

"Well, yes! I mean... who even wrote this spell?" asked Twilight.

"I did."

Open-mouthed, Twilight just stared for a while. "You? But...? Why would you write a spell like this? Is there even anypony who uses it?"

"Hmm... Luna and I use it every day, actually."

"You... bwaah?" was Twilight's intelligent response.

"Why don't you go through it step by step? Take your time to work through the complicated parts. It will become clear, I promise."

At that moment, a servant brought another full tea pot. Celestia busied herself by pouring them more tea. Twilight was about to ask more questions, but stopped. If her mentor said it would become clear in time, then she'd believe that. And thus she started tackling the spell anew.

Almost an hour passed, filled only with the silent cracking of the logs in the fireplace and the rustling of the scroll in Twilight's magic. The two princesses sat quietly, one contentedly sipping tea, the other studying. Several times, the younger princess's eyes would widen in surprise or confusion. Then, finally, she laid the scroll down, mouth open.

"I think I understand," she said.

"Oh?" Celestia took another sip of tea, a tender smile gracing her lips.

"Yes. It's your... it's the..." Twilight trailed off again, not able to speak the spell's identity. "It's an energy-waster," she said instead.

Silence reigned for a while until Celestia bade her to continue with a short nod.

"That's why there's so many redundancies and convoluted, unneeded parts. You added them on purpose. Then there's also this one part here, where it actually bases some fundamental components of the spell on the caster's unique magical signature."

"Oh yes," said Celestia, "I'm quite proud of that part."

They fell silent again, the unspoken truth of what the spell did lying heavily in the air between them. Then a golden aura slowly removed the magic nullifier on Twilight's forehead. The smaller alicorn flinched slightly, but to her immense relief no disastrous spell formed from her newly freed horn.

Eyes questioning, she gazed towards her mentor. Celestia was smiling her usual calm smile and was waiting. Twilight knew what the unspoken request was.

Slowly, almost bashfully, the lavender horn started to cast the first deliberate spell in two days. Forming rune after rune in her mind and connecting them according to the scroll she had already memorized, Twilight built the spell. After triple-checking everything and taking a deep breath, she released the magic.

Nothing happened for a while. Then, starting at the top of her head and continuing down her back, the strands of hair making up her mane slowly disappeared. They were replaced by swirling ethereal strands coloured in the reds and oranges of twilight. The colours were vibrant yet almost faded enough to see through. Flowing freely in an unseen wind, the newly formed mane glinted and sparkled. All of it was covered in an undertone of dark-as-the-night blue. The twinkle of stars could be seen flashing up along it intermittently.

"Oh Twilight," said Celestia, small tears in her eyes, "it's beautiful."

Silently conjuring up a mirror, she handed it to her student. Twilight looked at her reflection for a while, speechless. Thoughts flickered through her head. Disbelief, uncertainty, confusion and slight hysteria were all there. But foremost of all was the thought that, impossibly, unthinkably, her mentor was right. She looked beautiful.

Twilight had never been one to take stock in appearances aside from basic body care and maybe getting groomed for special occasions once or twice a year. At least not in the way for example Rarity did. But looking at her reflection now, she simply had to admit it. The way the transparent strands seemed to float in a non-existent wind around her was mesmerizing. She could not stop watching. Then, realizing she had been staring at her own reflection for quite some time, she blushed a deep crimson. To even further her embarrassment, she noticed that it actually went quite well with the colours of her new hair.

Celestia cleared her throat in a business-like manner. "You're pent-up energy should be receding very quickly now. Only five minutes should be enough to burn the surplus of the last month or so. You will have to cast this spell more and more often in the coming years. In about four or five hundred years you should be able to sustain it indefinitely."

Twilight just stared at her. She couldn't speak. Really, what could one say after being told that? Before she could ponder what her life would be like five hundred years in the future, her mentor continued.

"You should be able to include your tail next time, though. Then you wouldn't have to cast it as long. It's also good practice." Celestia fell silent and simply looked her student, as if expecting an answer or reaction.

Twilight's thoughts buzzed around, jumping from one question to the next. About the spell itself, how Celestia had come up with the idea of transforming her hair of all things, when she was gonna tell Cadance, who else knew about it and not least of all about the casual way Celestia talked of the don't-want-to-even-think-about-how-distant future. When she opened her mouth though, she was surprised at the actual question that came out.

"Can I see your real mane?"

For a moment, Celestia merely blinked. Then she opened her mouth to say something and shut it again. Finally, she said, "I actually don't see why not."

For a moment, she concentrated and then flashed her horn once. The effect was immediate. Where before there was a long flowing mane of pink, blue and green, now a simple curtain of brightly pink hair could be seen, single strands standing off slightly. The hair, and it was actual hair, lay against Celestia neck, undisturbed and very much influenced by gravity. Her tail was similarly altered. It looked very, very wrong in Twilight's opinion and it made her mentor look a lot younger.

"I can't leave it like this for long, unfortunately. The last time I've let my hair down, so to speak, was at least a century or two ago, and then it only took a few minutes for something bad-"

But Celestia wasn't able to finish that sentence, since her sister chose that exact moment to throw open the double doors to the room. They crashed noisily against the wall on each side.

"SISTER! We have hurried hither as swiftly as we could, but we were held up by Blueblood, the old varlet. We should have effaced his house centuries ago! The nerve! He sayeth-"

But what Blueblood had said would be forever lost, since Luna trailed off mid-sentence, one hoof raised to the air in a posture of grand declaration, blinking.

"Sister? What...? Why art thou wearing thine hair open like this!" she asserted.

Celestia exhaled and narrowed her eyes at the blue alicorn. "Luna, calm yourself. Nothing is amiss, Twilight wanted to see and I decided to show her. Also, you are relapsing again."

"Oh," said Luna and lowered her hoof, blushing. "The language. I'm... sorry, I was a bit... tense." Then she gazed over to where Twilight was lying in front of the fireplace. She gasped. "Dear Twilight Sparkle! It... Your mane! It is magnificent!"

This exclamation caused the youngest princess to blush madly once more and raise her wings as if trying to hide her mane behind them.

"I just finished instructing Twilight about the spell," said Celestia. She floated the discarded magic inhibitor over towards her sister. "Thank you for your help in finding this. We don't need it anymore now."

Luna accepted the item in her magic and with a silent flash, it was gone.

"So I am 'late to the party' again, as ponies put it these days? Fie! I always seem to miss out on important things since returning from the moon."

Both Celestia and Twilight said nothing on this. Luna walked over to where the younger alicorn lay and started to inspect her floating mane.

"You seem to have a very good grasp on this spell already, Twilight. Sister always messes it up, I say. Too many colours that don't blend well together. Yours is much more similar too mine - that is to say better."

Twilight, who had just barely caught the end of what Luna said, perked up. "Wait? You can control how the mane looks?"

Luna came back over towards her front and looked at her curiously. "Why yes, of course! Didn't Tia tell you about this? There's several section of the spell dedicated to personalizing, actually. Most of those are of course based on my designs, but-"

But Twilight didn't hear the rest of Luna's explanation. Accidentily, she had looked over to her former mentor and noticed the dreamy, absent look on her face. In the moment their eyes met, Twilight saw a sudden surprise and befuddlement in the other's gaze - followed shortly by resignation and amusement. At the same time, a flash from the top of Celestia's horn blinded Twilight. While she blinked away the stars in her vision she just managed to catch sight of the gigantic, cream-topped cake that abruptly appeared mid-air between them, fell down to the floor with a splash and covered all three alicorns, as well as the entire room, in a blanked of cream.

Once Luna and Twilight had resurfaced and wiped most of the pastry from their eyes, they turned to see a happily humming Celestia scoop up a large piece.

"Mmh... marzipan."





Shining Armor was lying on warm, smooth sand when he came to. Opening his eyes, they were immediately assaulted by glaring sunlight. Blinking, he got to his feet. Before him, as far as he could see, a blue ocean stretched towards the horizon. The sun was high above him, blazing down and heating the sand of the beach such that it was uncomfortably hot against his hooves. Open-mouthed he stared, mind not comprehending what his senses were telling him.

After a while he noticed that something - or rather someone - was jumping around him, a trail of words coming from the little pony's mouth. Behind the small filly was another pony, older, about his age. After a while he recognized her.

"Starlight, is that you? And... wait. Amber!?!"

"Yep. To both," Starlight answered, though it was difficult to hear over Amber's continuous chatter.

"Why... what... how..." stammered Shining.

"Let me guess," said Starlight. "You and Cadance had a fight or something?"

"Errr... how did you..."

"Aaaaaaand, she probably got kinda mad, and then there was a flash and you woke up here?"

Shining looked at her frowning. "Errr, yes. That's pretty much what happened. But how..."

Starlight grinned. "Don't worry, I know exactly what you're going through. I'll explain later. Come on, you definitely look like you could use a vacation."