//------------------------------// // Gentle Dawn // Story: In the land of Twilight, under the Moon // by Snow Moon //------------------------------// “What is pride? A rocket that emulates the stars.” William Wordsworth It’s been three years since Twilight became Princess Celestia’s student, unfortunately for her, things haven’t been as she wanted to be. Her relationship with Sunset hadn’t improved much since the day they met, she still calls her “sis” even if Sunset gets mad or just ignores her. Her school life wasn't as bad as it could had been, but she spends most of her time focused on her books and studying. Twilight had never been a sociable filly. She was known for being distant with others peers, and she seemed to spend most of her time around Sunset or a book. There were some bullying attempts that ended up really badly for the bully, the first few were dealt with help, to Twilight’s surprise, from Sunset Shimmer. The others Twilight simply transmuted them into frogs and that was the end of it. A fact Twilight learned during her time at the castle is that she couldn’t put up with nobility, their arrogance and behavior just made her want to banish them out of Equestria, if not just make them disappear, which she couldn't do it as her mentor would be mad. Her relationship with her family hadn't changed, her parents were always eager to have her during the weekends. Even her “BBBFF” Shining Armor would take some time from his guard training to be there too. To her brother’s surprise, Twilight started to find his royal guard training fascinating. She even helped him arrange a training schedule that would help him surpass his limits. She had recently been trying really hard to convince Princess Celestia to let her train with the royal guard, she even wrote down an essay explaining the importance of physical ability for a mage or scholar. The princess still had it in consideration for now, but that didn't stop Twilight from training with her brother during the weekends, plus her nightly flights kept her wings in good condition. The number of classes in the school lessened, but the lessons with Princess Celestia and Sunset increased. Unfortunately for Twilight that meant her free time in the Archives had decreased over time. The Archivist, Miss Jade Singer let Twilight take some of the books she was using with her to work in her room, since she couldn't made it to the Archives as much as she wanted because of her schedule. Thanks to that, her studies and research of the hidden history of Equestria were going slowly but steady. There were some events that had become impossible to find, Princess Celestia’s sister banishment was the most important one and there was not a single document about it. So Twilight was sure the princess had erased those events from records or had made sure they were never published. Other holes in Equestrian History were events from a millennium ago, most of the documents in the Archives were from post Princess Celestia’s sister banishment around nine hundred years old, or the founding of Equestria. There were some sealed documents and books in the Archives, but only with the princesses approval was it possible to get access, which Twilight didn't have, yet. Her magical studies were going really well, her knowledge in the area had expanded greatly, as well as her magical power. Even if she was younger than Sunset, Twilight had grown to almost the same height as her, not to mention slimmer, tragically for Twilight, that had added another reason to why Sunset couldn’t deal well with Twilight. Currently Twilight was walking through the hallways of the castle on her way to a new class with the princess and Sunset, the latter had been helping her with different assignments as Princess Celestia didn't have the much free time. On her way to a new lesson with the princess, riding on her back was a purple, baby dragon. Around a year ago Princess Celestia explained to Twilight that during her entry exam the egg hatched the purple dragon, making Twilight the mother. To the princesses surprise, Twilight was more than happy to take responsibility for raising the baby dragon, now named Spike. Cadance took care of Spike for almost two years before sharing the job with Twilight, some days even Sunset would spend time with the baby dragon, if either of them couldn't. Thanks to Twilight’s care, Spike grew up viewing her as his mother while Cadance and Sunset became his aunts. Being just a three year old baby dragon, the most he did was giggle, sleep, play, eat and sometimes burn stuff. But Twilight loved to take him with her on her walks. It also made him happy to spend time with her. Besides, during her lessons Princess Celestia would entertain the baby dragon while Sunset and Twilight studied. That day after the lesson, Twilight was taking Spike to bed with Sunset’s assistance, this was the only moment both of them would be together without the excuse of work. Normally Sunset would try not to interact too much with Twilight, she would lose her calm and remember why they weren’t friends. Sunset knew Twilight would love to have a sister like relationship with her, but Sunset couldn’t accept. Her pride as Princess Celestia protégé kept stopping her, besides being older and more experienced than the filly. Things continued like that for a few more months. One day, Twilight confronted Sunset, she respected her and really wanted to think of her as the sister she lost returning to her life. During the experiment they were doing during a lesson, Sunset decided to ignore Twilight's warnings, almost ending up killed by an explosion. If it hadn't been for Twilight quickly deploying a magic shield around them, the damage could have been deadly. Right after the event Twilight couldn't take anymore of Sunset’s stubbornness. They ended up saying a lot of stuff to each other, Sunset almost attacked Twilight when her rage built up too much. If it wasn't for the Princess Celestia arriving just in time, the lab and probably part of the building would have been destroyed. The princess had been really disappointed with her students, she requested both to retire to their respective rooms for the day while she came up with a suitable punishment. Sunset had had a lot to think about, she knew why she didn't like Twilight, but it never made her blow up in rage like that. She knew Twilight had warned her before the explosion, she also knew that Twilight was worried about her and that started the discussion. The rest of the day she was looking at the big picture, she was considered a smart pony, it was time to prove why. By the time Princess Celestia came to Sunset’s room, the amber unicorn had made up her mind and decided to give the lavender unicorn the opportunity to be part of her family. Celestia requested that Sunset take a few days to think about how to solve the issues that she was struggling with. Sunset did so, and the next few days she spent talking and discussing with Cadance on the perfect way to make peace with Twilight. That evening Twilight received her punishment from the princess after the fight, she was banned from the Archives and the Canterlot Library for a week. Later at moon rise the stars didn't came out until around midnight. Princess Celestia didn't have a peaceful night, as for Twilight, she read her books with a peaceful smile on her face. A few weeks after the incident between Sunset and Twilight, their relationship improved. Sunset talked with Twilight and after adding some conditions she accepted the sisterhood relationship with her. Twilight was so pleased that she had cried in Sunset’s hooves. Princess Celestia decided to add some new lessons to their schedule now that both had finally become friends. A year after Sunset and Twilight becoming friends and sisters, Twilight discovered by chance some nobles that were plotting on misusing the funds they collected for the Royal Guard. She notified her brother and Cadance about it. In her room that night she realized that she needed someone to get information and do some surveillance for her. She needed a spy. It’s time to get some assistance around here… thought Twilight as she contemplated the stars. We think our magic power should be strong enough to make a single summoning, maybe someone small with wings would do… oh, I know who will do. While on the balcony of her room Twilight undid her disguise and focused her magic to her horn and gazed at one of the stars in the sky. The spell gathered the magic power on the tip of her horn. A small magic circle appeared on the floor a few steps in front of her, and a shadowed figure started forming in it, as one twinkling star disappeared from the sky. The shadow creature took the form of a bird, an owl to be precise. Its wings grew, so did a dark blue beak, its eyes were violet, cat-like and the rest of its body was equally similar to a starry night as small stars twinkled inside of it. If it closed its eyes it would be difficult to discerned from the night sky. Twilight smiled at the creature as it looked at her with its violet slitted eyes full of anticipation, “Hello Owlowiscious, welcome back. It's so good to see you again.” The small alicorn hugged the owl that hooted happily at her. Twilight explained the situation to her old friend and familiar, who was more than happy to assist her. The spell used a big amount of her current magic power so she went to bed soon after she had given the instructions to her familiar. Owlowiscious stayed a few moments next to the sleeping filly before he flew out to start his job. Twilight needed eyes and ears around the castle, in order to keep everypony she cared for safe, also to know exactly who to trust in the castle, and keep those annoying nobles from doing anything stupid. Flying around the castle, Owlowiscious explored his new home and every inch of the city, he wanted to do an effective job for his master. As a star beast Owlowiscious had full advantage in the night, he could communicate with Twilight telepathically since he was her familiar, so informing her about any important development around the city was easy. He could use the shadows to move and hide if necessary, being connected to a goddess of the night gave him some magic abilities to protect himself and do his job. Just during his first night on the job he was able to uncover three crime syndicates operating in Canterlot. Twilight simply informed her brother about some rumors she had heard in the library, and Shining Armor would do the rest, he knew Twilight’s clues always gave him good results. Princess Celestia has been struggling with finding a way to interact with her students, dealing with Sunset has never been easy, but the amber unicorn had started opening up to her in the last few years. She loved her as a daughter and Sunset respected Celestia like a mother. But Twilight was different, Twilight respected her, though, at the beginning she was sure the lavender unicorn had feared her. Over the years, Twilight had begun to warm up to her, but not on the level she wanted. She predicted that Twilight would interact with her on a similar level as Sunset, unfortunately for the princess, the scholar unicorn preferred to keep her distant, and keep their relationship at a professional level. This would normally be the best situation for Celestia, since many of her former students were the same, but there was something about Twilight that reminded her of her sister Luna. Her way of doing things, of interacting with the nobility, the way she acted around Sunset. All were exact representations of how Luna used to be with Celestia herself before the Nightmare incident. And that wasn’t even mentioning her love for the night sky, she would even do some stargazing before bed every night. The image of her sister Luna began to replace that of her student, Celestia knew both were two different ponies, and she had fought those feelings for the last two years. The problem was that Twilight’s professional attitude towards her made her want something more on a personal level, maybe at least the way she interacted with Cadance would be pleasant to the princess. Princess Celestia thought really hard to find a way she could made her reclusive student open up to her, she eventually remembered on what she used to do to enjoy a few days off decades ago. Using her magic she opened a secret vault that only her magic could open, from it there were many magic artifacts some of which were too dangerous for any other pony to use. Taking a golden amulet from the vault, she wore it around her neck as the magic in it transformed the alicorn princess into a cream pegasus mare with golden mane and tail; Sunny Skies, Princess Celestia’s persona. She normally used this persona to interact with her ponies on a level where she could discover problems they would never tell her without the disguise. She would also use it to escape her duties for a while when the stress was to much. As Sunny Skies, the princess flew from her balcony to look for Twilight and study a way to be able to get her to be more open with her. That day both her students were free of lessons or duties so they were probably spending it doing their own things. Her first stop was Spike’s room. Looking through the window she didn't find Twilight, but Cadance was reading a fool's tale to the baby dragon. Her next stop was the Canterlot Archives, Twilight would spend most of her time inside here while doing her own research. She entered the building as any other pony would, looking around she walked through the hallways full of books and documents. After spending almost an a hour she finally found the lavender unicorn sitting next to a few towers of books. Princess Celestia took a seat close to Twilight, taking a random book from the shelves next to her, she waited for Twilight to move, but she didn't do so for hours, only using her magic to move or change books. All the books she reads are about old Equestrian history, what would she be looking for? Oh, some books are about myths, is she looking for the hidden history? Interesting… Celestia was going through her thoughts as she pretended to read as she observed Twilight. After a few hours of observation, Twilight ears twitched for a moment, she took her eyes out of the book and looked at the princess in disguise. Celestia could swear she saw a glint in Twilight’s eyes for a second as she stared at her. They continued to stare at each other for a while, the princess started to think her disguise had worn off. Taking her eyes away from the unicorn she made sure the amulet was still on her neck. Twilight started to pick up the books with her magic and placed them back in their respective places before going to were Miss Singer was working. Twilight placed some books in her saddlebags and picked up a dark brown dark cloak before donning it as she left the Archives. Princess Celestia waited for Twilight to walk out of the Archives before moving after her, she knew Twilight would wear the cloak that her mother had made for her for when she would go into the city. For some reason she didn't like being recognized by the nobles as the princess’ student. She really hates standing out. Well, I can’t blame her right now. Thought Princess Celestia as she looked at her reflection in a window as she walked out of the castle. She didn't chase after Twilight, it was getting late, and soon it was time to return to her regular duties. She really needs to get a healthier hobby, maybe I should approve her proposal of training with the royal guard. Celestia flew back to her room as she thought of what she had learned from her observations. The next day she had a meeting with Twilight after their regular lesson, after talking for an hour the princess agreed to let her student start training with the royal guard, but she explained that she could only do so three days a week. Twilight was so pleased with her mentor’s decision the she had jumped around Celestia in delight. Princess Celestia could only smile at the happy unicorn, she was sure that would help her student to spend less time inside studying. Maybe even open up to new people, not just the same four ponies. As the day before, Princess Celestia took her amulet and went outside the castle, she decided to explore Canterlot. She would not follow Twilight to the Archives since the unicorn was probably at school that day. Celestia enjoyed her noon as Sunny Skies, having lunch like a regular pony, chatting with a friendly mare; she was a tall, slim unicorn a with pink mane and tail, Fleur de Lis was her name. Both talked about fashion, sweets, cakes and the modeling carrier of the beautiful mare. Fleur also invited Sunny to some social gatherings she would be attending during the week, even inviting her to the modeling agency she was part of, since Sunny was a beautiful mare herself. Celestia couldn't help but to laugh in her mind, just imagining the Princess of Equestria as a fashion model almost made her lose her self control and laugh her heart out. She refused the modeling job with courtesy but promised to try accompanying her on one of the social gatherings if she could get some time. It had been a great day for the princess, it was so long since she had relaxed like that. On her way to the castle she felt like someone was spying on her, looking around she didn't see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, so she returned to her regular duties for the day. Princess Celestia continued using the Sunny persona for the rest of the week, every time she felt like somepony was watching her from somewhere. Mostly when she was tailing Twilight to understand her better and build up their relationship. She decided to take Fleur de Lis’s offer and accompany her to one of her social gatherings. It was a lovely party with food and sweets on Jet Set’s garden. She met with some nobles she was used to dealing with on a daily basis, and finally found out who Fancy Pants’ secret lover was. Her annoying nephew Blueblood was also at the party which ended up making her uncomfortable and nauseated with his attempts to court her. If she suppressed Blueblood’s presence from the party it was a good escape from her routine. She almost forgot about her original purpose for using the amulet. The week after the party, she had returned to her regular life as Ruler of Equestria. She took some of her free time to visit Twilight who was training for her second week under Silver Might, the one that had trained Shining Armor when he started at the guard. In the training grounds of the guard, a lavender unicorn was following a series of exercises under the constant screams of an old white unicorn stallion with gray mane and no tail. Once Princess Celestia requested somepony help train her student, the old and experienced stallion requested personally to be the one. Apparently he was impressed by how Twilight’s training regiment helped her brother to grow. And his experience told him that the young mare would be even better than his brother. Luckily for Shining Armor, Twilight’s goal was not to be part of the guard or the military. Nopony knew exactly what the lavender unicorn had planned when she had requested to be trained under the royal guard regiment. Those who knew Twilight never imagined the scholar pony would like to train her body as hard as her mind. When the princess made her presence known Silver bowed to her like almost everypony present, Twilight just continued her exercise until she was stopped by Silver. The princess requested that they should continue and only came to know how her student’s development was. Silver laughed hard, he was impressed, he wanted the young mare to be part of his team. Princess Celestia smiled at him before refusing to let her student leave her guidance. Twilight couldn't help sneering while she continued to train since nopony was paying attention to her. After a few months of training Twilight grew to become a great battle mage, she learned fast, more than Silver or Princess Celestia had thought. Sunset laughed when the princess expressed her surprise. After finally getting along with Twilight, Sunset realized her sister’s true ability to learn. Twilight finally had a peaceful week, for months she had no moments of peace. There was always either Princess Celestia tailing her disguised as a pegasus mare, or the crazy old stallion Silver requesting her to become the next fighting force of Equestria. Enjoying her coffee at Donuts Joe’s place Twilight read one of the many myths and legends book she took from the library. While taking her time she realized that a pony she had gotten used to seeing; maybe more that she wanted, was in the shop. Oh shooting stars, please princess not again. What is it that you are trying to achieve? Twilight almost spilled her coffee when she saw Princess Celestia a few tables from her spying at her through a couple of holes in a newspaper using her disguise. She doesn't know that we can see clearly through any kind of illusion magic, still, our mentor spying on us is kind of creepy. Twilight sighed as continued her coffee break paying no attention to her disguised mentor. After leaving Donuts Joe’s shop Twilight walked through the streets of Canterlot, as always she was wearing the cloak her mother fixed for her every time she increased in height. She knew the princess was following her, ever since day one Owlowiscious informed her about the pegasus mare gazing at her on the Archives. We were sure that the princess had realized we saw through her disguise the first time we met, but we were wrong. Owlowiscious tailed her for a couple of weeks every time she escaped the castle in that form but normally she didn't spy on us everyday. Twilight thought as she entered a fashion shop escaping through the backdoor. Then again she started doing it, maybe she felt worried that we would agree with that old Silver’s annoying request… Twilight thought for a moment as she was getting close to one of the gardens near the castle, that she should talk with the princess and stop her from tailing her. Maybe pretend she didn't know it was the princess and only talk about that stalking mare. Twilight was finally able to lose Princess Celestia when she entered the gardens. She was starting to get annoyed with her stalking mentor. Walking through what looked like a garden full of stone statues of ponies, some were just decorations but other had inscriptions with names that didn't sound like heroes but criminals. Interesting we don't remember coming to this garden before. Getting close to one of the statues that decorated the garden she pressed her hoof on it. How strange, we can feel some can of magic coming from the statue… like it was alive or frozen… wait a moment! She panicked for a moment, and started checking each pony statue that she could see. From all those she checked only a few were emitting the same kind of magic energy. Well, who knew our beloved princess had a hobby for decorating her gardens with her defeated enemies. It’s kind of impressive… thought Twilight  with a shy smile on her face. Twilight was enjoying the princess ‘collection’ until she came to discover a certain statue. She froze for a moment, this statue was something she could swear she knew. Walking slowly in the direction of the unusually designed statue she stopped right in front of it. “Discord?” Twilight said as her eyes widened when she got in front of the statue of the strange creature. “How is this possible?” She felt like she was seeing a ghost, cold sweat ran down her back. She felt happy for a moment but it quickly changed to a feeling of horror and worry. “What can imprison you?” murmured the frightened goddess.