//------------------------------//
// The First Lesson 
// Story: A Symphony of Gray and Red 
// by TheKissoftheVoid 
//------------------------------//

Princess Celestia let out a content sigh, her eyes contemplative as she absentmindedly buttered a scone. Her windows of personal time were short, and she did her utmost to enjoy them. Canterlot had been absolutely buzzing with activity over the past few months, what with the incursion from Tirek, the appearance of the Palace of Friendship, and her former student’s recent encounter with the equality extremist, Starlight Glimmer. Her correspondence drawer was almost overflowing, extending spell and all. Sun, she’d already responded to half a dozen high priority missives that very morning, and thus it had been no small relief when she’d finally managed to escape to her morning tea.

The alicon snorted away her lingering tension and smiled before opening her mouth. The scone was just passing her lips when, with a puff of smoke, a scroll materialized above her and fell, bouncing off of her nose before coming to rest in a bowl of oatmeal. She had nearly let out the groan before remembering that there was only one correspondent that sent letters by fire. With a giggle at her foolishness, Celestia levitated the letter up, her face once again graced by a smile. Although their letters to each other had become somewhat more dry since Twilight’s ascension, Celestia still loved hearing from her former protege, even if it was only to beg for advice. 

“Here’s hoping it’s not too serious,” she murmured to nopony in particular before unrolling the scroll and beginning to read.

Princess Celestia Sol Aurumque 
Don’t worry. Despite the official title, I promise that this letter is far from official. I’m sure I’ll have something later today, but for now, I thought I’d send my latest friendship report. I know, I’m not technically your student anymore, but I remember how fondly you talk about them, so I thought you might not mind if I shared the odd lesson with you. After all, you always taught me that to master some are of study is to understand that there will always be more to learn. With that in mind, I plan on being a lifelong student of friendship, and I’ve found that the letters I used to send helped my to focus on the most important parts of the lesson they contained. It’s also a good excuse to keep a more casual correspondence going. So, without further ado,
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned something that I thought I already knew, and in doing so, learned something further: you can’t judge somepony by how they appear. I thought I’d learned that when I met Zecora, but now I see that I only had a basic understanding of the lesson. Some ponies might seem dangerous. On the surface, some might even seem to be monsters. However, once you go deeper, you might find that the monster you ran from is just as kind and reasonable as the next pony. 
I know I already said it, but “The more you learn, the less you know” once again proved itself to be true, cliche as it might be. If anything, it has me re-examining how I assess those that I meet, and whether or not I’m being more cautious or pessimistic than I really should be. I’m not sure where my standards will land, but I can’t wait to find out!
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate having somepony like you to let me sound my thoughts. I hope that you and Luna are doing wonderfully, and look forward to seeing you the next time we can.

	Yours in friendship, Twilight Sparkle


Celestia blinked as she read the final line. That was. . . not what she’d expected, not least because she too had thought that Twilight had long ago learned not to judge a book by it’s cover. Her time in Ponyville had turned her into one of the most accepting, non-judgemental ponies that Celestia had ever known, and that she would consider herself too wary struck the elder mare as odd. 

She also found it slightly concerning that Twilight was considering her caution. Now that she was a princess, it was important that she honed her skills in the art of discernment and discretion, lest some shifty pony use her naivete against her. 

Celestia hummed and smiled again. Misgivings aside, she was happy that Twilight was moving forward with her study of friendship, and, by the sound of things, she was giving a chance to somepony that hadn’t had many. With a nod, she lit her horn brighter, vanishing the letter to her study, before picking the scone back up. “Thank you for the letter, Twilight,” she said, again, to nopony in particular. Taking a dainty bite, she sighed as her assistant Raven appeared to escort her to her next meeting. “With any luck, it’ll see me through to lunch.”