My Little Student

by Lets Do This


Twilight's Room

"And here we are!" Cadance said, "This is where you'll be staying while you're here. That is, if you like it!" She nodded towards an open door in the corridor they were trotting along. "Go on, Twilight! Tell me what you think!"

Twilight ran ahead and peered wide-eyed into the room. It was grandly spacious, with a checkered marble floor and tall arched windows that looked out on an expanse of blue, cloud-filled sky. An elegant red-canopied bed stood to one side, with a teddy bear resting against the pillows. Near the windows there was a wide table, with a semicircular couch beneath the windows and comfortable seating on the near side. The room's other furniture was finely made but homey in style: dressers, chests of drawers, and a wardrobe with mirrors on the front. On the other side of the table from the bed was a tall bookcase, chock-full of interesting looking tomes.

And sitting smack in the middle of the floor, looking totally out of place, was a battered gilt toy chest.

"My toys!" Twilight cried, running up to it and flinging the top open with her forehooves. Rummaging around in it, she immediately pulled out a floppy, well-loved pony doll with button eyes and spotted shorts, along with a blunt-tipped quill and a wrinkled scrap of parchment.

"I hope you don't mind, Twilight," Cadance said as she stepped in through the door. "Celestia and I wanted you to feel at right at home. The Princess had your luggage directed here rather than to the School so you'd have something familiar waiting to greet you."

Twilight ran back over to her and hugged her tightly. "I love it, Cadance! Thank you!"

Cadance hugged her back. "You're most welcome, Twilight." Then she trotted over to the doll. "And who is this?"

"This is Smarty Pants!" Twilight said, running back and using her magic to pick up the toy. Concentrating, she grabbed the quill and pen and tucked them into the toy's stubby fore-hooves. "My big brother gave her to me one time when I was having trouble understanding some of the books on magic I was reading." She leaned close to Cadance and whispered. "She's magical!"

"No way!" Cadance whispered back, wide-eyed.

"Uh huh! He said she was so smart she could help me understand anything I was trying to learn. I just talk to her about it, explain it to her, even the stuff I don't quite get. And she magically helps me understand it myself! It really works! It's amazing! She can help me learn anything!"

"Well! Then I'm doubly happy she's here for you. She'll be able to help you get started right away!"

Twilight looked troubled at that. Setting the toy gently on the floor with its back resting against the chest, she gazed around the room. Then she trotted over to the couch near the windows. Clambering up on it, she stood with her forehooves hooked over the top, staring out the window at the clouds beyond.

"Cadance?" she asked in a small voice. "The Princess is being so nice to me. Making me her student, inviting me to stay here. Did I... did I do something wrong?"

"It does seem like a lot, doesn't it?" Cadance agreed, coming over to kneel on the couch beside her, resting a foreleg on her shoulders. "It's a little overwhelming, hard to take in. You're not sure if you deserve it. Believe me, I know what that's like! But trust me, Twilight Sparkle, you do deserve it! The Princess sees something in you she doesn't see very often: a little filly with so much potential. She wants to start you off on the right hoof, and so do I. And besides, she is the Princess of Equestria. She can't help it if she has to live in a great big huge palace like this, can she?"

Twilight brightened up a bit, and then smiled. "I suppose not." Then she peered down through the window into the valley below. "Wow! I can see all the way to Ponyville from up here!"

"It looks so small, doesn't it?" Cadance said. "Yet there are a lot of very nice ponies that live there, going about their business every day. And to them it's home, just like Canterlot is for us."

Twilight rested her muzzle on her forehooves and stared out through the windows, drinking in the sweeping expanse of mountains and flatlands, which stretched away as far as the eye could see.

"Will you be okay here for a minute?" Cadance whispered to her. "I'm just going to step into my room next door, and make sure the rest of your things arrived safely."

Twilight nodded idly, and Cadance trotted off through a connecting door.

Staring out through the window, all of Equestria spread out before her, Twilight found herself wondering if this was what it felt like being the Princess. Having a huge land like this to watch over, from her royal court high up here in Canterlot.

After a while, Twilight waved a fore-hoof authoritatively, as she imagined Princess Celestia doing, in order to decree... well... whatever it was one decreed. Like jam rolls, maybe.

"Jam rolls for everypony!" she whispered. "By order of Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

She giggled. Like that would ever happen!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So, niece -- how are you two getting along?"

It was long after the Lowering of the Sun Ceremony. Celestia and Cadance were strolling together along a night-dark path in the gardens where they could speak in private.

"Far better than I had any reason to expect, Auntie! She's such a wonderful little filly. And she's no trouble to manage. Give her a book and she's quiet for hours. I have to remind myself not to abuse that!"

"Does she like the room I picked out?"

"I had to peel her off the ceiling when she first saw it. Then she settled right in."

"How many times did she bounce on the bed?"

"Ermm, six. No, I tell a lie, seven! Then she fell off. I may have to brush up on my levitation, the way she races around."

"Any further sign of --"

"Not that I can sense. But I've been careful to avoid anything that might startle her."

"Good. We should let her have a good night's rest. Then I'll begin with her in the morning."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Yes. Spoil her," Celestia said levelly, glancing her way. "I'm going to have to push her farther than she'll want to go, going to have to be harder on her than I'd ever want to be otherwise. If she comes to you crying, saying she hates me, hates the School, hates magic, hates all of it, don't object. Don't defend me. Just be there for her. Hold her close, let her get it out of her system. And then do something fun together. Let her know that we love her and care for her -- the way only you can."

"Absolutely, Auntie! Should I avoid teaching her spells myself?"

Celestia considered for a moment. "I don't think you can. She knows her mind, and I suspect she can be very persistent. But... little spells, firefly spells, nothing she has to expend effort on. I want the time she spends with you to be down-time, comfort time."

"Got it. Yet I don't think you'll have to worry, Auntie. She's stronger than she looks. What happened at the entrance exam, coming to live here, being separated from her parents for the first time... all that would have knocked any other pony for a serious loop. Somehow she manages to stay calm, take it one step at a time, all on her own."

"I hope so, niece," Celestia said. "I really do. Because she will have to, when the time comes."