//------------------------------//
// Aftermath Pt 3 
// Story: Twilight Sparkle the Dragon 
// by PlutoMilo 
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The announcement that Celestia was ‘taking a break’ from the throne stirred up every single gossip column in every newspaper in Equestria. Everyone speculated and the rumors became more and more ludicrous. Not everyone would be happy about the announcement since Twilight knew there were Celestia fanatics that literally worshiped her instead of the sun and moon. The fact that Celestia did nothing to prevent the worshiping made it worse.
Ponyville was subjected to another small public service announcement by Twilight. She read from the scroll for exactly one paragraph before setting it on fire and doing it herself. The crowd chuckled when Twilight deviated from the script. When she was done, she asked if anyone had questions and a small filly rose their hoof.
“Miss Twilight? Are ya still goin’ to come ‘round to play every week like before?”
Twilight gently assured that she would always make time to come and play before answering another question about the farming taxes. After the magical catastrophe, Twilight made a point to come around the town and play with the children every weekend. Many of them loved to ‘vanquish the evil dragon’.
The more concerned citizens asked about taxes and all of the other specific things Twilight couldn’t answer. They were disappointed but didn’t blame her. Only Ponyville heard about their ruler attempting to kill off her student. Needless to say, not many within Ponyville addressed her as ‘Princess’ anymore.



When Discord appeared for their monthly lessons, the moment he popped into existence, he froze. Sheepishly, Twilight smiled and greeted him. Then, Discord was howling with laughter hard enough for the grass around him to lean away. Maple syrup dripped from his eyes as he wheezed and settled on his back on the ground.
“My dear dear apprentice,” Discord chortled as he wiped at his eyes, “Have you any idea the power you have now?”
Twilight sighed, “It’s useless to me until I can control it, Chaos Master. That could take years,”
“True enough,” Discord agreed but he still adopted a sly look, “Unless…”
“No thank you,” Twilight immediately shut his thought process down, “I rather rely on myself than whatever thing you have,”
Discord jumped up in a spring shape with an audible boink sound, “Excellent! You once again pass with flying colors, my apprentice,”
Twilight rolled her eyes, which Discord completely disregarded. He started the lesson in earnest and it was all Twilight could do to keep up with the utter nonsense that sometimes made sense. He ran her through some seemingly pointless exercises and then had her demonstrate her animation skills again. She was getting better at it. Most of her creations only set themselves on fire after a minute or two now instead of half a minute.
Because of her rapid progress in animation, Discord promised to show her low-level conjuring next time but warned her not to get her hopes up since conjuring was much harder than animation. Since it was the other way around in her studies, her intrigue only grew. Twilight asked why conjuring was harder and for once, Discord answered with something that made sense.
“My dear, creating something out of nothing is much harder than making something already there move,” he snickered at the dumbfounded look on the dragon’s face, “We are not going to be doing advanced air transfiguration, apprentice. This is true conjuring,”
He demonstrated by reclining back on a marble throne that appeared out of nowhere. Meanwhile, Twilight’s brain was going a million miles an hour attempting to rationalize pulling something out of nothing. It strictly wasn’t possible. But yet again, this was Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, hellooo…
It took her months to learn how to solidify air and years to actually make something with the solidified air in the traditional unicorn way. Well, if Discord thought her capable of learning how to make something from nothing, she was willing to give it a shot. After all, she was literally the one that gave liquid a personality. 
The more she practiced chaos magic, the more complex her water personalities became. She never knew water could be stubborn. The very idea seemed ludicrous since water literally went with the flow and took the shape of anything it was in. But nope, a pond monkey in the Everfree slapped her in the face and literally swung away in the trees until it was no longer in her presence and flooded a small clearing.



The first monthly Archmage meeting that Twilight attended was awkward, to say the least. Of course, Princess Luna already sent word that the Head Archmage position was finally filled and got the approval of the Archmage guild. After all, the guild hadn’t had a Head for the last hundred years give or take. But everyone who knew her always seemed to forget that not everyone was ok with her being a dragon…
The Princess mailed her the coordinates of the meeting. She was assured that there were teleport pads there ready to receive them and that every Mage was given slightly altered coordinates for each pad available.
When Twilight finally arrived, minus the too-small cloak clenched in her paw, she was subjected to several mages preparing spells to fire. Instinctively, a Shining-Armor-grade shield slammed into place around her.
“Woah, Woah, Woah,” Twilight exclaimed loudly, “I’m a representative,”
“Then where is your cloak? We were not notified that a dragon became an Archmage,” A genderless voice snapped, muffled and distorted by the magic of the hood.
Each cloak was charmed to effectively hide the identity of the wearer. The hood magically shadowed and distorted the user’s voice, much like the Princess’ Council. These were powerful beings, the last thing anyone wanted was their safety compromised. The cloak provided complete anonymity, even if the wearer were to extend a hoof, the magic around the cloak would prevent anyone from remembering what it looked like.
Twilight waved the said cloak above her head like a surrender flag, “It’s too small. And there’s no point in trying to blend in with everyone else. That’s clearly a lost cause,”
She garnered a few chuckles so she counted that as a win. Spells slowly died down but she could tell she was still under intense scrutiny. One wrong move and- Actually she wasn’t sure what would happen if spells were fired at her. Her scales were harder than rock now. She didn’t want to take that chance though. She blew out a breath and slowly lowered her bubble.
“Good afternoon, Mages. I am Head Archmage Twilight Sparkle from Ponyville. The meeting will start shortly, yes?” It was risky to declare her name and town, but Archmages weren’t chosen based on their stupidity. Unless you were an evil villain, hardly anyone would go around to provoke a dragon, at least, that was the hope.
The meeting finally started after about an hour of waiting for stragglers. Mage Fillydelphia started first, “When the Princess declared that a Head had been appointed, I could hardly believe it myself. And even now, I find it hard to believe that a dragon now holds roost to our mighty guild,”
Murmurs of agreement swept through the chamber and Twilight fidgeted nervously. Since she forwent a chair entirely, those closest to her could hear her spines click against the stone floors. The silence stretched on until Twilight realized with a start they expected an answer from her. She cleared her throat awkwardly.
“I mean no disrespect with my presence, Mages. I would gladly fill the Mage Canterlot position if I still lived there. I still don’t know the full responsibilities of my post other than coming for these meetings,”
Mage Las Pegasus sniffed and despite the magic of the cloak, Twilight could tell their voice was laced with complete contempt, “Where even is this ‘Ponyville’ that you hail from, Headmage?”
Her knowledge of Canterlot politics kicked in and red flags began to wave in her mind’s eye. She would either need to tread very carefully or be as blunt as a brick to gain the respect of the guild. Considering subtlety wasn’t her strongest suit, she went with the latter.
“It’s a small farming town on the outskirts of the Everfree. Hardly any unicorns live there, so it’d be pointless to appoint an Archmage there. Celestia sent me there during the Summer Sun Celebration to defeat Nightmare Moon a few years ago,”
Even if she couldn’t see anyone’s face, she could tell that her statement caused some eyebrows to rise. Mage Crystal coughed and said rather reproachfully, “I send my sincere apologies if this body has offended you, Headmage,”
A small smile graced her face, “No apologies needed. This is an issue that I’m familiar with,”
Mage Manehattan sighed before saying steadily, “Forgive us, Headmage. There hasn’t been a leader for this body in a very long time. If that is all, Mage Las Pegasus, I would like to get started on debriefing us all on our newest project,”
By the meeting’s end, most of the mages were suitably relaxed in her presence. Her sarcasm and unexpected jokes seemed to help. Twilight had been appalled when Mage Baltimare explained what the Head was supposed to do. Apparently, she was to rule the guild with an iron fist, setting forth new projects, usually to aid the city she was born in, as well as dismiss and promote those who performed the worst and best. In ancient times, the Headmage could also use the guild as their own personal military, which was a small horrifying thought.
As Twilight teleported back home, she resolved to not dismiss anyone from their post unless they actually proved they were incompetent. She knew that becoming Archmage to whatever city was impressive enough on its own. She was determined to become friends with everyone in the guild, or at least be on cordial terms with them. After all, an amicable guild was a productive guild.