“So the guest room is just down the hall, here,” Lavender said, pointing a hoof at the furthest door in the hallway, “it’s out of the way enough that classes won’t be bothering you early in the morning.”
“Thanks so much, Lavender,” Twilight said, “I can’t believe I almost turned you down.”
“Oh, it’s nothing!” Lavender said, waving her hoof, “and there’s a kitchen there, feel free to use anything in the icebox—”
“No, it’s not nothing,” Twilight said, smiling, “I really, really appreciate everything you’re doing.”
She’s so sweet. How could I have tried to brush her off? I was so rude...
Lavender blushed. “It’s fine, really. It gets a bit lonely here anyway.”
You teach here. If anything it has to be bustling.
Twilight took a good look around the interior of Star Swirl Academy. It seemed to be first and foremost a home, with just an adapted living room to serve as a teaching space. Two hallways branched off from the main room, one leading to the living quarters, the other to a lounging room.
In the central room, the walls were painted in violets and blues. Tapestries were hung from the walls, including some reproductions of famous magical scrolls and texts, and astronomical maps. The spiraling ceiling was dotted with glitter-painted wooden stars, which were affixed with sparkling mauve nails. Mahogany desks faced the front wall. Hanging on this wall was a large blackboard, next to it a teaching degree and a framed oil-painted portrait of the bubbly teacher herself.
“So, anything you wanna talk about before lunch?” Lavender asked.
Okay, the ball is in your court. Conversation starters. Uh… where she’s from? No, no she’s probably just from here, that can’t go anywhere. Favorite Wonderbolt? I don’t even know of those are around anymore. How she does her mane? No, those conversations just end with ‘it’s how it is when I wake up in the morning’. Oh! Cutie mark story! It’s corny, but it’ll show my investment in her life!
“Well,” Twilight started, tilting her head to in an attempt catch a glimpse at Lavender’s flank, “I know it’s really cliché, but how did you get your cutie mark?”
“You really want me to bore you with that old story?” Lavender smirked, “Okay, fine, if you insist. But this is a long one, so let me brew some tea and I’ll spill the deets.”
This’ll be interesting. I don’t think I even asked my old friends about this, it just sort of came up. I’m sure I can learn a lot about her.
After a few minutes of staring at her hooves, Twilight looked up to see Lavender return, levitating two cups that emanated a fruity odor. Lavender passed the cup to Twilight, its aura switching from lavender to a darker violet. Twilight took a sip, nearly scalding her mouth.
Lavender gestured to the fuchsia-colored sofa. Twilight sat down towards the edge of the couch, leaning her flank on the armrest. Lavender sat almost uncomfortably close to her. Twilight finally got a good glimpse at her cutie mark— the image of a light bulb with a few lines indicating the light radiating from it.
“I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘a light bulb, of all things?’” Lavender giggled, then cleared her throat. “So, when I was a filly, I lived in this town called San Palomino. It was a rainy, unpleasant little place surrounded by these rocky slopes.
“I was enrolled at the magic school there. Ironically, with what I do now, I was a very weak student. I had to do hours upon hours of independent study to avoid falling behind. I wasn’t really receptive to anything the teacher said. Mind you, this was school for nine-year-old fillies. Not much was expected of me. Ordinarily, the less talented would end up just passing and never using magic in their everyday lives.
“But no, despite how hard it was for me, I loved magic. I loved learning how to cast spells, even if I couldn’t manage them for the most part. There was something about that thrill of accomplishment, casting a spell that took days of study to perform properly. One spell in particular gave me difficulty.”
“Illumination?” Twilight took a shot in the dark.
Lavender smiled. “Precisely. I spent weeks perfecting it, forcing myself to concentrate harder than I ever had to before. One day, I finally managed to master it. I was so incredibly thrilled, I distinctly remember running down to my parents’ room in the middle of the night, horn ablaze, shouting ‘I got it! I got it!’”
Twilight grinned, envisioning the scene Lavender described.
“So, here’s where it gets good. I was having my first-ever slumber party with some of my friends from school. It was maybe a few minutes past midnight. We were just minding our own business when this terrible rumbling noise erupted. It was a landslide. Apparently those hadn’t occurred for a few decades, and this one was especially bad. Luckily, it missed us, but a great deal of the town was covered in rubble, and many ponies were unaccounted for.”
Twilight was nearly at the edge of her seat. Lavender took a sip of her tea and continued. “We woke up my parents, but they didn’t know what to do about it. It was pitch-black outside. So, I figured, why not teach these friends of mine the illumination spell I learned, and form a search-and-rescue team? And that’s exactly what I did. I found it incredibly easy to explain it to them, and even though none of them were inherently especially skilled at magic, they managed to cast the spell with ease.
“We set out to the oppressively dark night, horns glowing, calling out for anypony who needed assistance. We scoured the whole town, levitating rubble and answering distress signals from other unicorns who managed to send them out. We must’ve rescued a couple dozen ponies. When the mayor called for a meeting in the town square to do a head count, we were the beacons that led everypony there.
“But one pony, a colt, was unaccounted for. His parents begged us to help find him. They explained that while they managed to escape their home, he couldn’t. They figured, since we were small and could fit into tight places, that we could find him.
“So I led my little squad to the remains of the colt’s house. We slipped in under the wrecked rafter that blocked the door. We found him curled up in the bathroom, calling to his parents. We kept reassuring him, as best as we could. We explained the situation, asked for his name, et cetera. We managed to calm him down, and with some magic, we managed to open up the back door and lead him to safety.
“When we returned him to his parents, they apologized repeatedly to him, telling him that they’ll never leave him again. He rushed over to us and embraced us. I had never felt so fulfilled.
“I didn’t notice, through all of the panic and emotion, that this light bulb appeared on my flank. I say it symbolizes how I enlighten my students, helping them to shed their light on the world as well.”
“That’s amazing, Lavender,” Twilight said.
“Oh, come now,” Lavender said, “it’s old hat now.” Lavender paused for a moment. “So, would you like to tell me yours? I mean, if you’re not comfortable telling me, that’s fine.”
She’s being so considerate. I have to tell her.
But, the rainbow! It was fake! All of it was fake, Twilight!
No. I want to tell her.
“Oh, no, if you want to hear mine, I’ll gladly share.” Twilight took a sip of her tea, now thoroughly cooled. “It’s not quite so exciting, or as long, but I think you’ll get a kick out of it.
“So, I had been studying magic all of my life, ever since I saw the—”
Not the Summer Sun Celebration, Twilight. Think of something else.
“…Performance from the students of this private magic academy in Canterlot. So, my parents decided to enroll me in the school, but first I had to pass this entrance exam. It was to hatch this dragon egg. I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn’t manage to do anything but make a little spark that fizzled out immediately.
“I was totally blowing it, and there was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless. I felt as if all of the hard work I had been putting into my studies had been for nothing. I was about to give up, when this spectacular—”
The rainbow was a fabrication. Celestia modified your magical abilities in that moment and made the rainbow as an attempt to form a connection with your friends in your mind before you supposedly met them in your vision. It’s all fake. Your cutie mark is a lie, Twilight Sparkle. You’re a lie. She manufactures fillies like you. She finds one she likes and makes them her ‘faithful students’. Who knows how many others are like you? And they all probably have that pointed star on their flank. You are but a proxy for Celestia.
Stop! I’ll tell her. She just doesn’t need to know about… all that.
Lavender looked at Twilight, perplexed.
Twilight inhaled. “…This spectacular rainbow crossed the sky. Some force filled me with its power, or unlocked some power inside me. I hatched the dragon egg, and ended up nearly destroying the whole building. The head instructor saw my raw power and said that she wanted me to be her protégé. I was so excited at the time. But then, there was more. My cutie mark had appeared.”
Twilight’s voice trailed off. She began to choke up. “I’m sorry, it’s just—”
Lavender put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s fine, Twilight. You don’t need to say anything else.”
She must be so confused. I can’t explain it to her. There’s no way. But I need to. I feel like my heart will explode if I don’t.
Keep the curtain closed.
Maybe it can wait. But at some point, I have to.
Keep the curtain closed.
“I’m sorry if I brought up some bad memories,” Lavender said, “I should’ve known better.”
“No, no,” Twilight said, wiping a tear from her face, “it’s fine. When a foal gets his or her cutie mark, it’s supposed to be one of the happiest moments of their lives.”
“It’s different for all of us,” Lavender said, “not everypony is happy with the cards they’ve been dealt.”