Hey, Twilight, I heard from Aunt Celestia that you've mastered the luminous orb spell. Congratulations!
Blueblood insisted he learn the spell as soon as he heard you did, but he's already getting frustrated. It's only been a week, and every pony is telling him he can take all the time he needs, but when Aunty let slip it took you only two weeks to learn, he suddenly started treating it like a competition.
Colts, right?
As for me, my studies have been going pretty good. Not so much on the magic side, but with things like math and writing. School's actually been kind of nice. I get out of the house and get to learn new things. I'm sure you can agree, unlike our other friends. They always tease me because of how much I'm liking school, but that's because they don't get it.
Look at Moondancer. Whenever I see her, she's always so excited to tell me about what she learned at Celestia's school that day. Even though the classes stress her out sometimes, she still loves learning something new. I kind of wish I could relate with her better, though. Honestly, I'm still working hard on my levitation, but I'm barely good enough to write a few sentences. Meanwhile, Moondancer is talking about all these spells I can't even imagine casting.
Maybe she'd have more fun talking to you about these sorts of things? You should try some time; I'm sure she'd be happy to hang out if you asked. I could ask for you, if you want. Maybe give it some thought.
Anyway, other than that, same old, same old. How have you been? Besides learning a new spell, did anything interesting happen? How are you and Spike getting along? How about Shining Armor? I really don't envy you on that front. I love my brother, but I think I'd go crazy if I had two of them.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Pureblood.
Okay, Twilight, I need to know what's up with Shining and Cadence. When I was at the castle the other day, we were having tea in the gardens when Aunt Celestia started talking about your brother.
Cadence kept getting more and more red and kept saying he was just her friend whenever Aunty pointed out all the time they have been spending together. And Aunt Celestia had that smile on her face the whole time, too. You know the one, like she knows a secret, but isn't telling.
Is Shining acting weird? Ask him about Cadence and see if he gets all red like her. I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this if we work together. I have a theory, but I don't want to go jumping to conclusions.
Anyway, Aunt Celestia says you're going to be celebrating Spike's birthday this week at your house. Sounds like fun! Make sure you tell the little guy Happy Birthday from me. I mean, I'm sending a card and some nice gemstones Grandpa Shield found for me, but I still need somepony to shout it out. Happy Birthdays on paper aren't half as good as when somepony cheers it for you. It's a fact.
I hope Spike can blow out the candles. I can't stop imagining him trying, only to light them again with fire breath. The thought keeps making me giggle.
Hope you all have a great time, especially the birthday dragon.
Pureblood.
I started reading Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone after you told me about it.
It's. So. Good!
I can't believe what I was missing this whole time! Sure, it's only been out for a year, but still. Thanks for the suggestion. I've been trying to get the others to read it, but none of them have yet. Can you believe our friends sometimes? How can they not see how great books are? Moondancer at least says she'll read it after some tests coming up. She's really worried because it's the end of the school year and these tests are important, but I keep reminding her she's a straight A student. Maybe someday she'll remember that and not panic so much.
Well, anyway, the book's been great so far. I only have a couple chapters left. I know you're probably wondering why I'm not done with it yet, but that's because I'm not reading it by myself. Whoever says my brother doesn't have good taste in books really doesn't know him that well. He's almost been as into it as me. Maybe I can get him to write the next letter with me so he can say what all his favorite parts were? That'd be fun.
Until then, you should tell me all about the parts you liked. I'll be done for sure by the time you send a letter back, so you won't have to worry about spoiling anything for me. I can't wait to read your thoughts about it.
Pureblood.
Lyra got her cutie mark!
Can you believe it? First Twinkle Shine, then Moondancer, and now Lyra. It's amazing, especially because I was sure Minuette was going to get her mark first. She's always so energetic and gets stuff done so fast, it just seemed obvious. Now I don't know who's going to get theirs next, her, or Lemon Heart.
As for Lyra, she got her mark for playing the lyre. Kind of obvious thinking back, but it's still great. And you should have heard her playing when she got it, too! She's amazing! It was at that talent show, you know, the one I was telling you about that my Grampy let them do at his theater. She was really nervous after hearing that cellist filly play, but even though she didn't win, after she got her mark, she didn't care.
Anyway, her cute-ceañera will be this weekend if you want to come. Don't feel obligated, though. We'll understand if you aren't comfortable with being around so many ponies at once. You can just send a card and gift if you want. I'm trying to think of something different to get her on account of how a lot of our friends are getting her music stuff, like replacement strings for her lyre. Moondancer is even getting her a metronome. My first instinct was a book, but that's something I would want, even if I can think of a bunch of books she'd totally like.
Have any ideas? Maybe we can work out a paired gift? Hope to hear back from you soon! We need to get on this fast if we do it. We only have a few days before the party.
Pureblood.
Blueblood got his cutie mark and it's the craziest story ever!
Honestly, I'm stuck between disbelief, joy, and maybe just a little bit of disappointment that I wasn't there to see it. So Blueblood and the rest of the Canterlot Colt Chevaliers went on their camping trip. The one down in the Canterhorn woods I told you about. Well, apparently the Chevalier commander ended up eating some bad berries he gathered and got pretty sick.
Luckily one of the colts with Blueblood properly identified the berries before the others ate them too, so they avoided getting sick themselves. Just another example of reading enthusiast superiority if you ask me, since apparently the colt who stopped them was the one always reading all the survival books and manuals. Bookworms for the win, am I right?
Anyway, with the commander out of commission with the mother of all tummy aches, and them being deep in the middle of the woods, the Chevaliers were panicking pretty hard. I guess the commander was even getting so delirious that he couldn't even tell which way of the map was up.
Then's when my awesome brother stepped up and took over. He calmed the other colts down, had them make a stretcher for the commander out of the tents, had his friend who had all the manuals memorized take point with him to make sure they avoided any poisonous plants, and took the map to guide them back out of the woods.
The way he tells it, they had all sorts of adventures and daring encounters on the way back, but I'll let him tell you that stuff. He loves telling the story himself, adding a new monster encounter with each iteration, but the end result is what matters most. When they finally reached the railway and followed it back to the station, they were in the clear, and as they cheered, that's when Blue got his mark.
It's a blue and gold compass rose, which is pretty fitting since he got it while reading a map, right? I'm joking, but it's funny watching him get all huffy when you say his special talent is map reading. His talent is apparently not just being good with literal directions, but being able to give direction. Dad says he's a natural born leader, and his cutie mark reflects that. I don't think I've ever seen my dad more proud of anything in my life. He's been talking about how this is just proof of how Bluey's going to be the greatest patriarch of the Blueblood House since Blueblood the First.
It's great. Everypony is so happy for him, and now every pony is trying to guess what my cutie mark is going to be. Really some of the stuff they've suggested is crazy, like I'm going to be a great author, or a scientist that revolutionizes the world, or a politician that will make Equestria an even better place. I kind of wish they wouldn't get their hopes up so much. I mean, I'm the only foal in class without a cutie mark at this point. I think if my talent was something so monumental, it'd be pretty obvious by now.
Dad says the best always comes last, but I'm worried he and every pony else will be disappointed. I'm sure my talent will just be for reading. Even Grandpa Shield's suggestion of it being something guard-related probably won't work out. Sure, I'm not half bad in a spar, but any unicorn flaring a bit of magic my way would take me out of commission, so I don't think I'd be the best at fighting bad guys.
Whatever my talent ends up being, I hope I get it soon if only so my family can stop fussing over it. Anyway, this letter's getting a little long, so I'll end it here.
Write back soon, okay? I always like reading about the new things you've learned.
Pureblood.
I got great news today!
So you probably remember me saying how I've been doing really well with my magic practice lately. About how I've gotten much better at aura smoothing and reduction, and how I can levitate a whole stone for nearly a minute. It's taken nearly two years, but I finally feel like all my practice has started to pay off, especially after my latest doctor visit.
My mana network is officially recovered and better than ever! They measured the wall thickness of my internal leylines and said they're almost within range for what's expected of a filly my age. Doctor Mend said that the damage from the accident might have even played a part, like how muscles get stronger after they've had time to heal.
Regardless of the cause, this means that I can stand to be around magic a lot more than I used to. No more having to feel like I'm making life harder for others. No more making Bluey feel like he has to leave the house to practice his magic. No more Moondancer wanting to show me new spells, but having to settle for only describing them.
And you know what else? We can finally hang out, too. My Grandpa is going to be going to the castle in a couple of days to give some sort of speech to new recruits in place of Aunty since she's in Manehatten right now, and I'm coming along so I can spend time with Cadence. We plan on having a picnic in the gardens, so it would be a great time to finally meet face to face. Maybe you can even show me a bit of what you've learned since magic kindergarten or we can just talk. Whatever you'd like, really.
Aunty should be able to tell you where Cadence and I will be having our picnic, so finding us shouldn't be an issue. If you don't have time to send a letter back before then, feel free to show up. I'm sure they'll be plenty of food, and if not, we can always swing by the kitchens and get more. I bet with two cute fillies and a princess giving them puppy dog eyes, the chefs will even give us all the desserts we want. It'll be great!
Hope to see you soon. Pureblood.