Princess Luna smiled at the prancing filly beside her. Stardust’s mane was held out of her face by a rubber band and her wings were fluttering excitedly. She pulled her wagon, piled high with books, like it had no weight. They turned a corner and Stardust stopped, almost tripping Luna.
“Is that it? Is that where we are going?” she bounced around Luna, pointing at the crystal castle.
“Yes. That is Twilight’s castle. Just wait till you see the library.” Stardust let out a little squee of excitement at the word “library”.
“She really is just like Twilight” Luna turned her head to see her sister, Princess Celestia, Goddess of the Sun beside her. The two stood and watched Stardust run along the path to the castle, her wagon bumping behind her. Luna snuck a sly grin at her sister.
“Should we tell her?” Celestia took a moment to think before shrugging.
“She’s your student. Besides, it might be a good lesson for her.” Luna nodded. With a flash of her horn, a tub of popcorn appeared in the air beside her. She offered some to Celestia who took it without comment.
Luna started counting down from ten under her breath. “9” Stardust had stopped to stare up at the castle in awe. “8” she had started approaching again, at a slightly slower pace. “7” Pinkie Pie appeared beside her. “6” Stardust jumped and ran back a few paces. “5” Pinkie Pie was saying something, gesticulating wildly with her hooves. “4” Stardust ignored Pinkie and started running toward the castle again. “3” Pinkie shrugged and pronked off. “2” Stardust was nearly at the door.
“1” with a flash of purple magic, Stardust was flung into the air. Luna took a bite of popcorn as she watched her student sail above her. Stardust’s scream ended abruptly as she struggled to stay in the air, her small wings buzzing.
“Luna, she is starting to fall. Don’t you think you should… do something?” Luna shrugged.
“I trust Twilight Sparkle. She would not do anything dangerous”. Even as she spoke, another flash of purple magic erupted under the plummeting filly. A large inflatable pool appeared filled with mud. A dank smell came from it and Luna wrinkled her nose in disgust. Stardust shrieked when she saw the mud appeared below her and flung her front legs in front of her face. With a massive SPASH Stardust landed. Mud sprayed in every direction. Another flash of magic vanished the pool, leaving the filly in a puddle of oozing muck. Stardust groaned and wobbled to the edge of the puddle. She caught sight of Luna and glared. Luna winced and vanished the popcorn, drawing and annoyed huff from Celestia.
“Hmm… did something happen? It appears you have found yourself in a… sticky situation”
Celestia stifled a laugh at her sister’s choice of words. The filly stomped up to them. Her wings buzzed, spraying bits of mud over the alicorn sisters.
“You KNEW? You knew that was going to happen? I trusted you Luna!” Stardust’s bottom lip started to quiver and her bright blue eyes filled with tears. Luna seemed to shrink into herself under that gaze.
“I… I’m sorry. Please stop looking at me that way” Stardust did not relent. Her ears drooped and she drew a hoof over the earth, drawing circles in the dust. Luna winced. “I was going to warn you, but you ran off so fast…” her words drifted off as Stardust looked away. A single tear dripped down her muzzle. Luna watched transfixed as, in slow motion, the tear fell through the air and landed on the ground, taking the shape of a shattered heart. Stardust sniffed and, with head hung low, she started trudging back toward the castle, picking up the books she had dropped while being attacked by the loathsome building.
Once Stardust was a reasonable distance away, Celestia let out a loud guffaw. Luna shot her a reproachful look but that only made Celestia laugh harder. “You’ve got to stop falling for that trick Luna”. Luna’s eyes sparked and she turned on her sister.
“I seem to recall quite a few stories of Twilight being allowed free run of the castle kitchens when she was a filly” Celestia at least had the decency to look ashamed.
“That was different. She had Spike with her. Have you ever had to say no to a baby dragon who looks at you like you ate his last ruby?” Luna rolled her eyes. She smiled and started walking toward the castle after her student.
As they neared the castle they began to hear shouting coming from inside, along with the occasional sound of an object hitting a wall.
“SPIKE! Is library room #4 clean? Do we have enough eggs and haycakes? Where are the girls? They said they would be here. It is WHAT TIME? No no no no no. They’ll be here any minute. It’s the PRINCESSES! The castle has to be perfect!”
Luna raised an eyebrow at Celestia. Celestia blushed. Stardust cautiously walked up to the door. She raised a hoof. She knocked. All sound stopped. The dead silence lasted for 4.72 seconds. The door opened. Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic, Princess of Friendship, student of Celestia, was a mess. Her mane looked like she hadn’t brushed it in a week, her left eye twitched, and her hoof was stuck in a bucket of soapy water. She looked at them, yelped, and fled. The princess sisters sighed in unison. It was going to be one of those visits.
“Uhh…. was that Twilight? She looked a bit… stressed?” Stardust’s young voice held a vein of worry for the purple alicorn.
“Yep. She’s been worrying about this visit for days, hasn’t listened to any of us.” a small, purple and green dragon wearing an apron and with a dripping mop swung over his shoulder walked up to them. “Hi. I’m Spike. You’re Stardust, right? Luna talks about you all the time.” He looked past her at the two princesses. “I’ll show her around the castle. You can take care of… that” he gestured behind him in the direction loud crashes and muttered words were coming from.
Spike took the wagon handle from Stardust and led her into the castle. Luna gulped and glanced in the direction Spike had indicated. She looked at her sister. “Did you bring the ropes?” Celestia nodded.
“Yep. You’ve got blindfold?” it was Luna’s turn to nod. Steeling their nerves, the two walked into the library where Princess Twilight Sparkle awaited them.