//------------------------------// // The Crusader's Lesson // Story: A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake // by The Dimension Traveler //------------------------------// A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake Chapter 25: The Crusader's Lesson It was looking to be a quiet day in Ponyville, for once. It was almost half past noon and the Crusaders were due to come in for their ‘Twilight Time’ any minute. Tom was of the opinion that the Crusaders would make short work of any hope for a quiet day, but knew the time Twilight spent teaching the three fillies was important to her. Suddenly the door opened. “Hello Twilight and Tom!” Applebloom called out as she and the other two Crusaders walked in. The trio had been inducted into the secret last week. Tom had realized that once he had his own body, there’d be no hiding his existence. So he decided to treat revealing the secret like one would temper an egg mixture, slowly and in little batches. Hopefully that would kill any panic…in Ponyville at least. “Hello girls, you’re right on time!” Twilight said pleasantly. “Hello, you three,” Tom greeted before returning to his book. Giving the illusion Twilight used the ability to see and hear had been a recent breakthrough, but it meant that Twilight could teach directly instead of having to do it through Tom. Unfortunately, while they had been able to make it corporeal as well, it took so much mana that even with Tom’s improving stamina and technique it still drained him to the point of passing out within ten minutes. Both Twilight and Tom had agreed it would be for emergency use only. To Tom’s eternal surprise, the worse that had happened during Twilight Time was Applebloom’s potion going slightly awry. The plant that had supposed to be growing was now hamming it up with a coughing fit. “I think I know what happened here,” Twilight smiled, “You added a sprig of peppermint and only half the honeydew seeds, right?” “How did ya know?!” Applebloom asked in surprise. “I did the exact same thing when I first tried to brew that potion. I thought the peppermint would help speed the growth and that taking away half the honeydew seeds would make the growth more pronounced. Instead the peppermint caused it to grow a limited respiratory system because the honeydew seeds that I did add weren’t enough to keep the whole potion from destabilizing. This is an important lesson. Sometimes the book author knows exactly what they’re talking about. You should leave the experimentation until you’re a bit more experienced in potion making,” Twilight explained. “Ah’ll remember that fer next time,” Applebloom promised. Soon thereafter Twilight Time was finished for the week. Nothing earth shattering happened in the next week. The worst that happened was a swarm of parasprites tried to invade the town, but after what had happened the last time the town was prepared. Twilight and Amethyst had worked together to place down an anti-parasprite ward at the request of the Mayor following the reconstruction efforts. So Pinkie had had plenty of time to gather the instruments she needed to drive them away before they could breach the ward. When Twilight Time rolled around again, there was a knock on the door. The Crusaders normally came right in and Golden Oaks was a public library, so who would be knocking? Tom went to investigate. There he found the Crusaders and two young fillies he and Twilight had seen around town on occasion, but didn’t actually know the names of. The two fillies screamed in excitement and darted towards Tom. “Princess Twilight!” They shouted and instantly the mask was on. “It’s really her!” the pink one exclaimed. “Oh my gosh, I don’t believe it!” The other cried. Both were bouncing up and down with enough energy to put Pinkie to shame. “Hello, girls, pleased to meet you. May I have your names?” Tom asked politely. “I’m Diamond Tiara and this is Silver Spoon. Princess Twilight, it is such an honor to meet you!” Diamond said while bowing slightly, “Oh my gosh, who dyes your tail?” Tom hadn’t known dyeing of tails was even a thing in Equestria. “No one dyes their tail except the children of the super wealthy,” Twilight helpfully input. The illusion spell hadn’t been active at the moment, so only Tom heard her. “Are those books in there?! What a bold design choice!” Diamond declared. “You do realize this is a public library?” Tom couldn’t hold back that bit of snark. The two fillies ignored him as they walked inside. Tom turned to the Crusaders with a raised eyebrow in askance. “They really wanted to come, so we thought Twilight wouldn’t mind too much,” Sweetie Belle said quickly. “I’d rather Twilight Time just be between us. I’m all for helping as many as I can, but unless you’re willing to vouch for their trustworthiness, teaching would fall to Tom again and it was supposed to be my responsibility in the first place,” Twilight told the trio, which Tom repeated. “I also don’t like how much they’re brown nosing. Makes me think they’re up to something,” Tom added. “Ah never understood that ‘brown nosing’ phrase. What does it mean?” Applebloom asked. “It means someone who spends so much time bowing and scraping that they have their nose in the dirt all the time, thus brown nosing. It’s usually used to describe someone who’s just being overly polite to butter someone up,” Tom answered after a quick moment to think. “Nice save,” Twilight giggled. “Oh, Ah guess that makes sense,” Under most circumstances, Tom would’ve been happy to tell them the real context, but he didn’t want Applejack coming to tan his hide for teaching ‘Bloom something so crude. Sweetie Belle seemed to buy the answer too, but Scootaloo was looking at him with a skeptical expression. Tom silently willed her to not say anything and mercifully she didn’t. “Anyway, I wouldn’t really trust Diamond and Silver, so we’ll keep this to just the three of us,” Sweetie promised. “Alright then, shall we continue from where we left off last week? Who wants to go first?” Tom asked. “Uh, shouldn’t they go first? They are the guests, after all!” Tom noted Sweetie’s slightly panicked tone. He didn’t want to make any assumptions, but when the equation was 2 + 2 there were only so many answers. “Are you afraid of making a mistake? Does that mean you’re crushing on one of them?” All three Crusaders made disgusted faces, “Or you’re afraid they’ll get material to bully you with?” “Um, maybe that last one,” Scootaloo admitted. “We brought them to Twilight Time because we thought they might bully us less if we let them come,” Sweetie confessed. “Not a bad idea on the surface, but if you give in to the bullies once, they’ll expect you to do it again and again until you’re just someone they can walk all over. Now, do you want me to send them away or will you let them stay?” The three Crusaders huddle together to discuss the matter. It only took them a minute to come to a decision. “We’ll let them stay. S’not like they’ll say anythin’ they haven’t said before,” Applebloom said glumly. Once Twilight Time was over, Tom resolved to go speak to their school teacher, Ms. Cheerilee. It was only a matter of heading over to the schoolhouse, where the mare seemed to be grading papers. “Ms. Cheerilee, could I have a minute of your time?” Tom asked. Cheerilee looked up, startled. “Oh, Princess Twilight, you gave me a fright. What can I do for you?” Cheerilee asked. “Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo have told me they’re being bullied by Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. Is there anything that might be done about that?” Tom inquired. Cheerilee grew a sour look on her face. “If only I could. Diamond and Silver are very careful to do any bullying when I’m otherwise distracted, so I can’t pin anything on them. I’ve given them both detentions numerous times, but that’s all I can do unless one of the Crusaders comes directly to me to complain. Even if I could catch the pair in the act, they could likely squirm their way out of real trouble because Diamond’s mother is on the school board,” Cheerilee said with a pronounced frown. “Maybe you could hire a teacher’s assistant to keep a closer eye on them?” Tom suggested. “Ha! I don’t mean to laugh, Princess, but the school budget is tight enough as it is. That isn’t even considering the influx of Changeling students that are sure to come in next year. I’ve already put in a petition for an increased budget, but bureaucracy is gumming up the works, as usual,” Cheerilee sounded tired and frustrated. She loved teaching, but could definitely do without the red tape. “I’m sorry to hear that. Even if we can’t do anything about the bullying at the moment, I can see what I can do to get you the budget you need. A good education is extremely important,” On this Twilight and Tom were of one mind. “That would be very much appreciated, Princess,” Cheerilee said gratefully. Tom said farewell and left the schoolhouse feeling distinctly dissatisfied. The next day the Crusaders invited Tom and Twilight out for lunch, to thank them for their teaching. Tom felt kinda bad for Twilight, as she couldn’t eat. She just stared longingly at the food. “Thank you for inviting us here,” Tom said to try and distract everyone. “I’m glad you three did so, I’m so honored,” Twilight revealed. “You are?” Sweetie asked in confusion. “When you first asked me to help you develop new skills, I thought that working with young students so devoted to the joy of learning purely for its own sake-” Tom interrupted her with a bark of laughter, “What?” “Not everyone is you or Moon Dancer, Twi. Some actually learn for the sake of doing something with it,” Tom looked knowingly at the Crusaders, who all looked abashed. “But learning is a joy,” Twilight pouted. “Now you’re just being thick on purpose,” Tom rolled his eyes while Twilight giggled. “Twilight!” Suddenly the Pink One appeared, “I haven’t seen you here in forever and a half!” “I know…” Twilight returned to looking forlornly at the food she wasn’t able to eat. “Hey, what’s going on out there?” Pinkie pointed a hoof to the window behind Tom and Twilight. They turned around, but saw nothing, “Huh, never mind, they’re gone.” Pinkie claimed to see them again just as Tom and Twilight turned back around, but vanished once more when they turned back to the window. Pinkie just shrugged it off and walked away. Tom, who was a bit more genre savvy, quickly cast an extrasensory spell. Sure enough, it seemed like all of Cheerilee’s students were lurking outside, taking pictures and whatnot. “Why do I get the strange feeling you three are behind the flash mob behind me?” Tom asked patiently. “I’ve been living in Ponyville for over a year and have been a princess for almost three months. Why are they so interested in me now?” Twilight idly wondered. “They’re kids and you’ve somehow become a fad. It’s probably best not to question it,” Tom advised. “To tell tha truth, Diamond and Silver kinda spread it around that we were getting one on one time with you. Suddenly everypony wanted a piece o’ the pie and they thought we could give it to them. So Sweetie thought that if we could let them take pictures and stuff, they’d calm down a mite,” Applebloom admitted. “Unfortunately, most of the time giving a mob a taste of what they want only excites them further. Let’s see if I can’t head this off before it becomes a real problem,” Tom sighed and stood up to confront the swarm of fillies and colts. “Princess Twilight!” The mob called out as he exited the doors of the Hayburger. “Alright, I’m going to make a few things perfectly clear. One, I’m still the same Twilight Sparkle that’s lived and worked as the librarian for the last year. I know most of you have checked out books at least once in that time. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did to the book you borrowed, Button Mash,” There was a light chuckling through the crowd, “Two, I do not appreciate being stalked, just the same as anyone else. If you have something to say, come say it to me directly. If you want to take a picture of me, do the same. I’m not opposed to taking pictures if asked and done in a respectful way. Three, I take the time out of my week specifically to teach Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. It’s not that I don’t want to teach anyone else, but I simply don’t have the time to do so and even the time I set aside for the Crusaders is often interrupted or postponed or even canceled. I hope you can understand.” Slowly, the crowd dispersed with moans and groans of disappointment. Once they were all gone, the Crusaders exited the Hayburger. They all had contrite looks on their faces. “We’re super sorry,” Sweetie apologized. “That was really cool how you handled them all so easily,” Scootaloo complimented. “It’s fine. As for taking care of the mob, well, any live performer will tell you, from magicians to singers to actors, that the ability to read a crowd is very important. Reading a group of school children was no great task. I just needed to be firm with them,” Tom replied. Tom reconstructed Twilight’s illusion “We’d understand if ya’ll don’t wanna teach us anymore,” Applebloom said sadly. “Nonsense, what happened wasn’t your fault. It just got out of hoof. Trying to do something nice for your classmates isn’t something to be ashamed of,” Twilight said gently. “We weren’t as all-al-altrustick as all that,” Sweetie struggled with the word. “I think the word you’re looking for is ‘altruistic’. Also, I would have been very surprised if there was no outside motivation from the three of you,” Tom corrected. “The way they looked at us when they thought we could get them in with Twilight…we were popular for once, instead of ‘just those blank flanks’,” Scootaloo kicked at the dirt in frustration. “So much fer that,” Applebloom huffed. “As someone who spent most of her school years in a book and someone who spent most of his time on the stage, we’re not really in a place to comment about popularity,” Twilight confessed. “Other than to say it’s the bane of all things good,” Tom grumbled. “Hush you,” Twilight rebuked, “What we can say is that you shouldn’t let promises of fleeting popularity pressure you into making bad choices. Popularity is a fickle thing, best to not make long term plans around it. Instead make plans with your friends and those who care about you. It will certainly be more rewarding in the long run.” “We will, Twilight,” The trio chorused. “Thanks for not being mad at us,” Scootaloo said gratefully. “If we got mad over every little thing, we’d be very angry people. No harm was done. You may have noticed, but I’m a big proponent of forgiveness. Use the past to learn for the future, but do not dwell on it in the present is something my grandfather used to say. Learning from mistakes is more important than not making any at all,” Tom lectured. “Ah guess that makes sense,” Applebloom replied after thinking it over for a moment. “Good, now I believe that we left a meal back inside and I for one am eager to finish it in peace,” Tom and Twilight turned back into the Hayburger, followed by the Crusaders. The rest of the meal was happily undisturbed by rabid fans.