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The sound of somepony trotting across the vast chambers of the crystal keep echoed loudly in the grand emptiness of the towering structure. A young alicorn princess-Twilight Sparkle slowly walked across one of the hundreds of corridors. In this particular instance she was exiting the library and heading out. For she had plans…
Plans…
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Twilight was well proud of her ex-student. In many various ways that she did not expect. Of course she was powerful, much more powerful than Twilight as far as raw output is concerned and equally as versed in spell craft. She even, much to her own surprise and disgust, speculated whenever or not she was as powerful as Celestia. Of course, power itself does not signify very much-just ask Discord. The true magic is the one that comes from the heart and soul-that is the magic of Friendship
Friendship…
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Whatever the world, whatever the time, whatever the circumstances-it is friendship and friendship alone that can bring one to greatness. Loyalty, Kindness, Joy, Generosity, Honesty, Magic-all useful traits that live in all beings. Of course sometimes they are away. Sometimes we choose for them to be asleep. She herself had done this recently with Stygian, much to her own shame. For long, she was the one who had extended the helpful hoof in the time of crisis. Ever since she was no longer Celestia’s student she kept herself in check-do not fall for it. You are not flawless (she even made a song about it) and should see yourself as such. Yet she slipped, ponies slip. Whenever it was back when she nearly shunned Trixie or what happened recently. Everypony was wrong! EVERYPONY, but her… Oh, sweet Celestia…
Celestia…
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Now that she thought about it what happened to her? In the legends a many she was the one who stopped Discord, ended the reign of King Sombra and Defeated Nightmare Moon. All mighty, all powerful Celestia, who’s life spanned twelve glorious centuries of greatness and harmony for pony kind before which the sun bows and rises in her wish. Now she had done not much but sent everypony else to attend to the crisis at hoof. As for the times she did get involved- the mare got either stunned, overrun or had her flank compromised… Just like how Twilight got captured by changelings… Had she… No…
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If she is going to become like her own teacher she shall not shun her, herself or everypony that that dipped their hoof in manure at one point. Instead she shall do what she had done before many, many times. Following in Celestia’s hoofsteps and do as she did to keep Equestria safe for as long as the sun and moon exist to witness their glories and downfalls. For not only she shall once more fulfil her duty as princess and achieve the greatest magical feat witnessed by her very eyes-she shall grant Starlight Glimmer her eternal reward….
Ok this sounds way creepier than it should be…
A short while after...
Starlight Glimmer was relaxing under a beach umbrella beside the edge of the everfree with Trixie as they casually conversed about, as Pinkie called it: the Neatly Nonpareil and Noticeably Nice Nondescript Nothing… Mouthful… That was until Twilight showed up: blasting in a purple flash between the two mares like a rouge firework startling both mares in the process...
-"Twilight? Why did you just…"
-"Oh nothing," she shrugged it off "Nothing…"
-"Humph," Starlight’s friend scoffed at the purple princess "The grrreat and powerful Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrixie, does not wish to be distracted by nothing…"
-"You were talking about nothing…" Twilight said with a flat face much to Trixie’s annoyance
-"Oh really, how do you know?" she smirked somewhat cheeky" You just got here… but worry not, The apologetic and merciful Trixie shall forgive you your prejudice, princess Twilight…"
-"Never mind Trix," Starlight cut in blushing somewhat while she levitated the picnic supplies back into the basket "I must assume something important must have happened for you to teleport all the way over here?"
-"Precisely," Twilight beamed "I have long noticed that you have made a lot of progress in friendship but consequently we have not discussed any new spells with you since last year. So, I was wondering if we could go over a few of them…"
-"Sure," she shrugged cheerfully "I don’t see why not…."
-"Did somepony say SPELLS?"
-"Oh pony feathers” Twilight gulped as she thought of the potential implications “here we go again…”
-"I think it shall be beneficial to everypony that Starlight should bring her great and powerful friend and protégé…"
-"Trixie…" Twilight was about to cut in
-"…after all, in case if none of you two can show up in the time of need, much like when Twilight got captured or how Starlight was in the Crystal Empire when Storm king showed up-there will need to be a need for a great and powerful magician to stop the terror form piercing the tender heart of Equestria…"
-"Actually…" Starlight rubbed her muzzle in deep thought "Trixie does have a point, having more capable magicians will make it a lot safer in case neither of us are available."
-"I do agree with Trixie..." Twilight smiled calmingly while on the inside she concentrated hard to conceal a mild freakout that was building up deep inside her barrel "...but A. we have the military for that and B. this is some highly advance magic we are dealing with."
-"Hohoho!" Trixie giggled "Trixie knows that the army is in no shape to stop a parasprite. It is about as secure as Sunburst’s soft underbelly. I mean, imagine you two are gone for some reason, the elements are gone, Ponyvile is ripped apart by Daybreaker. As the only competent mage in the entire area what will I be left to do?" She stood on her hind legs stretching her left foreleg into the distance "Back off beast! Or the great and powerful Trixie shall turn you into a teacup!"
-"Khngh…" Starlight suppressed a giggle "I have to agree with that one… I have not really taught you anything since…"
And suddenly Twilight wished she did not reject these two stallions who requested 5 million bits off the royal treasury (that she has no control off!) to constuct their terrifying work of art that would have most likely lead to a crippling arms race followed up by an age of distrust and imperialism, climaxing into an inevitable great war to end all wars…
A week or so earlier…
-"Greeting your royal highness…"an onion brown girthy pegasus with a brown mallet and a kettle cutie mark along with an overweight dark-gray unicorn with a white ponytail and a locomotive cutie mark bowed before her as if she was mighty Celestia herself. “We hath come here to humbly request funding and permission for a revolutionary new project that shall vastly improve our defensive capabilities." They both beamed while they have stretched their barrels over the cold crystal floors trying to appear as smart as possible with their mock-up Canterlot (They really were from Trotingham) accents and over-polished caster hats.
-"P-please rise!" Twilight said nervously sitting comfortably on a throne that she has never used before. It was the first time that she had a formal audience requested form anypony. "I listen, and b-by the way you are yet to introduce yourselves… "
-"Oh, do pardon us your benevolent highness!" The unicorn rose from the floor "Our names are Coal Jacky Pudding...“ he pointed to himself "...and Onion Breeze McRoot" he pointed at the pegasus "And we are the Iron Studs… but this does not matter…"
-"Now you see you highness, for many centuries our defensive capabilities have been shamefully lagging behind our needs. Between those two dastardly changeling invasions and Storm King besieging Canterlot one has to wonder: can anything be done to subdue those misbehaving characters while also protect the precious lives of all those mares and stallions who risk their lives on the daily basis?"
-"I do agree with you…" Twilight thought of what possible reformation magic they might offer to her, she didn't like reformation magic herself however she had seen a fair share of it used- but then she remembered that their cutie marks have nothing to do with magic…"Continue…" she asked them curiously
-"The biggest weakness is the Equestrian navy. With the bare-minimum exception of the few sail driven frigates and airships there really are no modern vessels which is something that we have rectified…"
-"We therefore have conceived the new type of warship! A vessel that can turn an army of privateers into a dozen servings of Griffonian roast. Making the act of erasing the enemy safe, quick, efficient, and cost effective-provided they are on water. This ship takes the three aspects of warfare-speed, armour and firepower and cranks them all to the maximum!" Suddenly Twilight was a little less enthusiastic "We called it-the battleship."
They have revealed servile giant pieces of parchment populated with many elaborate engineering drawings and …a model of an iron steamship with eight cannons? Twilight’s ears fell as she anticipated the upcoming madpone's preaching of fire… Just how impractical will it appear?
"First," the unicorn began "to comply with the modern age we have ditched the sails, oars and earth pony hamster wheels. Instead we have fully committed to steam power using eight triple expansion engines coupled to sixteen boilers of my own design powering four screws. According to my estimates this should give the vessel a top speed of twenty knots. But, we have some alternative proposals that can push 24 if we ditch the pistons for turbines. Even with the older engines it will be faster than any old sail ship and most commercial ships while keeping in mind that this ship displaces twenty-one thousand long tons! And there is a good reason for such a high displacement..." he gave the que to Onion Root who continued
"Thanks, no more fragile timber hulls! Instead we have fully committed to all steel construction. Steel is susceptible to rust but I have worked tirelessly producing small batches of steel to discover that by mixing it with a small amount of nickel and chromium and we can negate rust altogether allowing for a truly armoured ship. To let you know, it will have nine inches of belt armour and six inches of deck armour made of servile layers of altered hardened and annealed steel. A citadel of same thickness will be housed within the hull separated from the main hull by servile water tight compartments. Guaranteeing maximum in survivability of crew and vessel."
"Finally we get to the battery…" They both beamed, to Twilight‘s unease-those headless horses thought of everything "As you can see the ship does not come with some lousy 30-pounder carronades or Celestia forbid-catapults! Instead we have took inspiration from the cancelled 14” 50 cal long barrel guns which we improved by rifling the barrels and placing them in dual gun turrets with segmented magazines. Two super-firing turrets stacked on bow and stern. Each single gun can deliver a ton and a half of lead or 2000 pounds of explosives for every minute. All the shots will be guided by a revolutionary telescopic range finder-allowing to accurately determine the distance between the foe and muzzle."
"Like I like to say, who needs magic when you can kill a full grown dragon in two clean shots? And to boot it also comes with seven casemate mounted 38 pounder rifled cannons on each side for close range perforation." he grinned wickedly "Speaking of rifled, we can also house servile squadrons of pegasi armed with miniature shoulder cannons…" The pegasus produced from his bag a long piece of pipe tied to a crossbow's shoulder bracing with a spring loaded hammer and a piece of crystal adjacent to it. " Arm a squadron of pegasi with those and will discover that knocking out high horses could never been easier! Take it as a bonus if you will…" they did not see that Twilight was hyperventilating in pure terror "All and all it will cost a measly five million bits for the vessel-not counting the rifles…"
Now it seemed like a good idea…
As they have finally dragged their hooves into the castle they have started working on a few semi-advance spells-mainly to get Trixie off the hook. At least Starlight was cooperative… However as the clock slowly ticked by minute by minute it was becoming clear that if she wants to spend any private time with Starlight for her big suprise she will have to get Trixie out of the castle. Then the idea struck her…
-"Alright everypony, I will now teach you the amplification spell." she noticed that Trixie and Starlight both looked equally interested. "Basically it is a lot like having the royal Canterlot voice without needing to be princess. Not really much of use to me but if any of you two need to alert somepony of danger."
-"Trixie could definitely use a loud voice for stage…"Twilight concealed a grin that desired to trot on her face "I mean in case of emergency!"
-"I didn’t know that one…"Starlight thought for a second "How does this one work?"
-"Quite easy Starlight," she smiled "The procedure is you focus you magic on your throat similarly to the way if you were doing a transformation spell. The next step is to envision a sort of a toggle inside your throat. After that you spread you magic into your lungs and make sure you still see the toggle. Lastly you envision a hoof or a finger or any other non-magical appendage and use that to press the toggle while chanting: CLIPPITY CLOPPITY CAPITTY LOCKITTY!"
-"…capitty-lockitty… Ok …" Trixie mused in her head as her smile grew vaster than all the land in Equestria, her eyes shimmering brighter than all the riches of the Crystal Empire "Do you fillies mind if Trixie takes off for a few? Some important errands are waiting for me that I forgot about…" she made a mad dash for the door with Starlight nervously hopping to the nearest window trying to catch a limply of the performer mare:
"HEAR THEE HEAR THEE PONYVILIANS! COME TO THE TOWN SQURE AT THE WITCHING HOUR WHERE THE GREAT AND POWERFULL TRIXIE WILL PERFORM HER GREATEST SHOW ON EQUIS!"
-"Twilight?" Starlight looked noticeably confused as she noticed the smug look that had finally overtook the alicorn’s muzzle. "Did you by any chance plan this?"
-"ALL FOALS GET A FREE SERVING OF CANDYFLOSS!"
-"I might have…" she narrowed her eyes at her, great plans a many going through her head at the speed of a sonic rainboom as her eyes became glazed over as she eyed Glim's muzzle. The last time Starlight saw that look was when a fraction of books was transferred from the castle of the two sisters. And she did not look healthy then…”
-…EVERYPONY GETS A FREE TEA SET AS A SOUVENEER! COURTESY OF MISS LULAMOON!
-"Starlight" she beamed as bright as Celestia’s Sun "I have something very important to tell you" she said in her lecture voice "I have seen you succeed in many great deeds" She approached her, her eyes as starry as Luna’s mane. Deeds worthy of Celestia, Starswirl and the elements alike. I-I am truly amazed in what have you managed to achieve given your background…" she said as she stepped even closer "…no offence. I do not know how to properly reward you… except for this one scheme that I long kept buried under my horn till this very day…"
-"He-he-heh… " Starlight giggled nervously looking towards the window…
-… "ONLY SEVEN BITS FRONT ROW AND FIVE FOR EVERYPONY ELSE! HAVE YOU EVER FELT SUCH PURE ACTS OF GENEROCITY?!"
Meanwhile in Manehattan:
-"Ow…" a white unicorn gasped in awe of something amidst counting the bits
-"What is it Rarity?"
-"I feel a disturbance Coco darling…, as if somepony tries to steel my element, get those 20% off posters dear. Stat."
"…Twilight?" Starlight gulped before a crazed alicorn as she realized where this was going "Are-you for real?" she asked thoughts galloping through her mind, steam building up in her lungs as she question her entire existence. Is this what her life came to? She mastered magic like no other unicorn in her living memory, created a twisted but rather impressive cult, got kicked out, travelled through time to obtain revenge, realised her mistakes, went on to become the protege of an alicorn princess (albeit the creepiest one) only to be… “she flicked her tail” used by her… well b-BUCK IT!
Meanwhile in Canterlot
-"SHHHHHH!" a brown pegasus stallion clenched a briefcase of parchments to his chest whilst inhaling sharply.
-"What is it Onion Breeze?" His unicorn friend stared daggers at him looking quite frazzled, his eyes bloodshot from the lack of sleep. "Got another inflammation from your home grown roots? Our court with Her Highness Luna starts in seven minutes, you flatulent penguin!"
-"I FEEL A DISTURBANCE IN THE SHIP FORCE, I THINK IT MIGHT BE DEADLIER THAN ANY BATTLESHIP THAT WE CAN BUILD!"
-"Eeeeee?" The unicorn looked noticeably disturbed. "A-are you sure? W-what are we gonna do now? He-he-HE-HE-HEEE…"
-"WAIT!"he focused all his inner pony magic on the sensation "…false alarm!" he wiped his mane which was also a mess It’s "another one of those ships…"
This time Twilight was noticeably creeped out as her former student just barely missed her lips by two inches-her lips landing on her horn instead.
-"Sta-A-a-A-a-A-rliIIIIIIgth!" Twilight shrunk in size as Starlight has noticed that her aim was more than just a tad off. "What are you-ouwu-u..." Starlight slid off her horn. "...doing!?"
-"Huh!?" and it was at this moment Starlight knew she might have indeed bucked it spectacularly...
Same time in Canterlot…
-"A-and it sank! Bloody typical if you ask me…"
One short explanation later...
-"Why would you ever think that of all things in Equestria THIS is what I meant?!" Twilight spasmed slightly as she didn’t settle on whenever she wanted to yell or mumble. "Didn’t you had the whole thing with Sunburst."
-"TO BE HONEST I AM NOT SURE ABOUT HIM ANYMORE BUT YOU WERE SO CLOSE TO ME AND YOUR EYES ALL SPARKELD AND GLIMERED, I COULD FEEL YOUR BREATH ON MY MUZZLE AT THIS POINT!"
-"Oh… oHHHH!"Twilight put the tiny puzzles in her head together revealing the image before her as she turned from her usual calming lavender to a hot magenta. "I see…" She thought of something, no anything to change the topic but her head refused to cooperate. "I didn’t even know your barn door swung that way…"
-"I DON’T THINK I HAVE A DOOR THAT STILL FUNCTIONS AT THIS POINT!" Starlight screamed with her pupils shrunken to teeny apple seeds.
-"Sorry…” she giggled sheepishly with plenty of guilt on her face still present. "I suppose this particular friendship lesson was a whole new breed of spastic…"
-"Khghh..." Starlight burst out into a giggle that soon transformed into a rich tenor laugh. A laugh so rich that it would put Discord to shame. Twilight observed the whole spectacle for servile minutes until Starlight had finally came back to her senses her eyes bloodshot and her mane a mess. "All I could think is of you giving an elaborate friendship lesson on how to make out with a mare; for RESEARCH PURPOSES."
This finally earned some positivity amongst the castle library as they both shared a healthy giggle. It was then when Trixie has returned as he noticed the new state of her friend and her rival.
-"What in the name of Celestia has happened ?" Trixie cocked her eyebrows as she eyed the entire room in search for clues. "Did Trixie miss something?"
-"Trust me Trix, you were lucky that you missed it… So Twilight, what did you want to do?"
-"Well..." She approached Trixie. "Forgive me from trying to manipulate you but I really wanted to be alone with Starlight. Don't take it in the wrong way.
-"Trixie is confused..."
-"Let me not beat around the bush... What I am about to do is the greatest feat of magic in all of Equis! Starlight Glimmer, as a co-ruler of Equestria, Princess of Friendship and your Teacher I hereby pronounce you worthy of ascension! TODAY YOU SHALL RISE AS PRINCESS STARLIGHT GLIMMER! THE PRINCESS OF AWESOMENESS!"
Somewhere on a random cloud 20 miles North of Ponyvile…
-"No… this can’t be…"