//------------------------------// // Chapter One: A Present // Story: The Nutcracker // by Art Inspired //------------------------------// The Nutcracker Chapter one A present Throughout Canterlot, all was sound. No noise interrupted the silenced halls, and nopony stirred awake. Mice, that’s different, and rats are always up during the night. One in particular, though, wandered toward the ball room, scheming while he went. This rodent squeaked and squirmed his way down beside the wall, panting and focused on his task, while the sleepers of the palace made no such reaction to his secretive presence. With his small claws curled, and those yellow, chipped teeth smiling, he leached into the ball room, unnoticed by anyone. Meanwhile, with morning coming, and her highness needing to get up anyways to do normal, everyday things such as chores, Princess Celestia shifted her head free of her bed sheet’s strong grasp. Her mane curled and knotted, the princess simply got out of bed with hazy vision and prepared for the normal everyday routine that was sure to come. Down the corridor, just passed the library slept the royal student of Celestia herself, Twilight Sparkle. She was a young and curious filly who only just recently got her cutie mark about three weeks ago. Her purple mane was almost always caught perfectly straitened and neat, but on mornings such as this, Twilight hadn’t done anything to make her presentable. Instead, Twilight just drooped her way to the ball room where her meal would be served as always. With the dull walk being so time consuming, Twilight often found herself thinking about home, lost in daydreams. The wood blazing from the fire in front of her mother’s beaming face was always a warming memory. It’d been almost a month since she left home to study magic under the care and love of Princess Celestia. With days rolling by, though, Twilight found herself feeling home sick. Of course, this was normal for a mare her age to be feeling. She technically wasn't even old enough to be considered a filly, but never the less; Celestia knew these emotions for the past would die down soon enough. As double doors of sheer centricity were opened, and a young filly entered, Celestia sipped a cup of fine tea, while reviewing her work for assisters. Her student, groaning and blinking with exhaustion sat, and proceeded with eating her extravagantly prepared breakfast. The room where the two resided at could resemble the throne room, with alterations, of course. It was nice, roomy and rectangular. The table that sat in the middle of the room looked to be made of rosewood, while the décor of other such fancy furniture surrounding the room reminded Twilight of her old granny’s cabin, just up the woods from the palace walls. As she ate, she saw something out of the corner of her little eye scamper across the floor and run behind the fine china holder. “Hmm,” the filly inquired, “Ms. Celestia… There was a mouse. He ran behind that big… umm…” Celestia lowered one of the morning notes pads to look at her young student. “Mice are nothing to worry about. Rats… That’s a completely different situation as they’ll probably overrun the palace in a matter of days. If you see a rat, let me know. Okay, my faithful student?” Twilight didn’t respond for a moments wait. She eyed the beautiful plates and glass shielding for a moment before uttering a simple, “Yes ma’am.” She didn’t see the rodent leave after that, but instead, continued with her daily activities of studying and preparing for one of Celestia’s challenging tests. Tonight was said to be snowing, and the weather was supposed to get pretty fierce. Twilight looked out the window to see a raging storm just passed the palace’s intricate walls. Winds clashed as clouds swirled just a few miles away. As the two walked together that evening, Celestia turned towards Twilight and offered her, “As my pupil, someday, you’ll need to learn about friendship. Tonight, my other students will be in the library playing and having fun. Why don’t you join them?” Twilight, being the shy filly she was responded with, “But other kids never really like me, and the ones that do are crazy.” Chuckling lightly, Celestia reassured her, “There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’ll be a learning experience. Plus, that big tree in the middle of all the rows…” “… What about it?” “It might have a few presents under it.” Hearing about this, Twilight perked up her pace with a warm smile while her mentor simply giggled at her student’s excitement. Entering the library, Twilight's eyes immediately glared at all the wonderful books she’s been reading. One of her favorites, fiction, was just across the way and down the hall. With an unhealthy obsession of going into imagination land, there was no wondering on why she hadn’t any friends. Through the day and sometimes into the deepest of nights, Twilight could be caught reading a book, all curled up in her blanket, and her horn creating a bright, purple light for her to see. Inside, fillies and colts with assorted manes and coats were scampering about basically behaving as typical children. Twilight walked forward, a bit cautious to go near the others, but was suddenly pushed in their direction by Celestia who’d still been behind her. Through the hordes of fillies and colts, poor Twilight didn’t know which one to mingle with. She slowly crept past the others, aimed at the distinct, lush leaves visible over the bookcases. This tree wasn’t like any other tree. It had been growing for as long as Celestia had been alive. Her magic kept it going, and made the plant life a very cherished part of the palace. Golden light bounced radiantly on each green leaf. Kids below played with their toys; all unicorns, of course. There were some gifts for others, some wrapped in the same coloring of their mane. And then, there was a box, purple, and rectangle, sitting on the floor. Twilight picked it up with her magic and inspected the note that was left on the bow. My faithful student Twilight, This little piece has been with me for many years now. He’s seen war, and can be very brave. Please, take care of him. Princess Celestia Opening it, Twilight felt an ominous, cold feeling slowly creep up on her. The wrapping paper slowly showed the being inside the box, and Twilight was more than happy to see a Nutcracker. Formed in the shape of an ancient creature known as a human, The Nutcracker was kept close by Celestia for plenty of years. She seemed to be highly observant of it. At night, Twilight would come into her room and see it sitting close by on her night stand. The red coated toy had blue pants on, and a very sharp looking sword, used for protection. His combed back, black hair was covered by the crazy marching hat he had on, but all in all, The Nutcracker looked very stylish to Twilight, even if the hat had too many feathers on it. She shifted towards the fiction part of the library where the other students usually didn’t follow. Through book after book, Twilight had read many of them, and nothing so far mentioned what The Nutcracker really was. Obviously, it broke open nuts, but even that wasn’t mentioned. Soon, Twilight heard a faint voice come from behind. “I saw her come this way.” Then another voice was detected. “Yeah, I saw her too. She had this cool looking action figure!” They soon caught up to the filly, but that section was so dark, they couldn’t see a thing. Twilight couldn’t even tell if the ponies in front of her had wings or not. The one closest spoke while two others stood behind him. “I think there was a mix up with the presents. Girls aren’t supposed to play with colt stuff. They’re supposed to fool around with makeup and girly things.” Twilight nervously said, “B-but, this is my toy. It was given to me by Celestia.” “Then she must’ve signed it to the wrong student.” The colts words were mean in a way, almost as if he wasn’t asking Twilight, but demanding she hand over something that didn’t belong to him at all. Soon, her magic was countered and locked in battle with the unknown colt’s enchantment. While the wooden figure shook in the shadows, wobbling from the struggle Twilight was giving the thieves, her magic fought too hard, and the delicate arm snapped clean off. In the light, the three boys saw the toy, and instantly felt guilty about what they just did to it. Especially when Celestia herself startled everypony by trotting up and asking, “What’s going on here, my little ponies?” No one answered, but the cries of her faithful student soon informed her of what was happening. She saw Twilight’s injured friend, and lifted it. “I had hoped this would’ve lasted longer. Twilight, I’ll have to repair this myself. Unfortunately… my magic cannot heal this wounded soldier, and only physical treatment can mend his broken arm.” Twilight nodded her head, tears slowly trickling down her cheeks, and walked past the boys who broke her nutcracker. As she left, she heard Celestia getting after them for their actions. That evening, the poor student couldn’t help but to leave the party, too heart hurt to deal with any socializing Celestia wanted her to do. She retreated to her room, where sanctuary, silence and peace could be found easily. The night time was always mysterious to Twilight. She’d stay awake staring at the stars; trying to figure out which formation is which with a big book next to her opened to page one hundred and something, but not tonight. For now, she just listened to the sweet, comforting sound of silence. Within the void of noise, thoughts were changed and flexed. Due to no noise, the mind is always able to focus, and figure things out thoroughly. Twilight sat on her balcony reading one of her favorite books as always when she heard her door open. The Nutcracker came floating in and headed to her, suspended by a yellow aura. Twilight saw a bandage around his left arm, but other than that, The Nutcracker seemed wonderfully repaired. She saw Celestia’s waving mane sink away, and hugged the little trouper for surviving the tough conflict. Putting her book up with a page marker sticking out, Twilight hopped into bed with The Nutcracker and closer her eyes, ready to enter the dream world.