“Alright, Spike, is that everything?” Twilight asked as she looked over the supplies she was planning on taking to the castle.
“For the third time, yes! I’ve checked, double checked and now triple checked everything to make sure it’s all here, so don’t worry!” Spike exclaimed, waving the checklist that was longer than he was tall.
“Alright, I guess that’s good enough, Spike. Thanks for helping me finish packing.”
“No problem.”
“The guards should be here any minute now so let me just remind you of a few things. If you need any help, you can ask any one of my friends. Also, I want you to keep the library open during regular hours, and after closing time you can visit Rarity. However, make sure she’s okay with it first.” Before Twilight could continue, there was a knock on the door, causing her to lose her train of thought. “That must be the guards now,” Twilight commented idly, making her way to the front door.
“Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle. At Princess Celestia’s request, we are here to escort you to Canterlot.” the guard said with a salute.
“I’ll be ready in just a minute; I have a few more things that I have to take care of, then I will be ready.”
“Understood, Princess. If you need any help, just let us know.”
“Alright, thank you.” Twilight closed the door and made her way back to Spike.
“Where was I again…? Anyway, just remember what I told you and don’t worry—I’ll be back in a couple of days. Everything will be fine.” Twilight smiled encouragingly before giving him a quick hug.
“I’ll be fine, Twilight; don’t worry about me. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve left me alone.” Spike replied nonchalantly, trying to act as tough as he could.
“I know.” Twilight grinned at the baby dragon knowingly. “Bye, Spike! Do me a favor and don’t get into any trouble, okay?” Twilight said as she began to levitate her luggage toward the door.
“I won’t! Bye, Twilight. I’ll see you in a couple of days.” Spike waved from the doorway, not wanting to leave the library.
Twilight waved once at her assistant before turning to the guards. “Sorry I took so long; we can get going now.”
“It’s no problem, Princess Sparkle.” The guard offered a hoof to help her into the carriage.
Seeing that Twilight was in place, the guard walked around and strapped himself to the carriage. “Hold on, Princess Sparkle, we are taking off now.” Then, nodding to the other guard, they took off into the sky toward Canterlot.
Within a few hours, the guards landed gently in front of the Canterlot Castle.
“Alright, Princess Sparkle, we’re here. Princess Celestia has requested for me to tell you that she will not be able to meet with you until dinner. She also wanted me to tell you to just get settled in and relax until dinner. Now, if you want we can take your luggage to your room for you.” the guard said as he detached himself from the harness and walking over to Twilight to help her off the carriage.
“Thank you, but if you don’t mind I would rather carry my luggage.” Twilight responded, though she did take the guard’s hoof.
“As you wish, my princess. If you need any assistance at all, or have any questions for me, just ask.”
“Actually, I’m glad you said that! I do have a question for you: when will dinner be served?” Twilight asked with a small, polite smile.
“Dinner will be served in exactly three hours, but I would advise you to arrive a little early.”
“Thank you, that’s all I needed to know.” Twilight said as she began to levitate her bag out of the carriage and began to make her way to her room.
When Twilight arrived, she walked in and locked the door behind her. Twilight then placed her things on the bed and went directly to her personal library. Immediately, she began to peruse through all of the books, hoping that she would have the same book on Pegasus anatomy that she had at the Ponyville Library, but with the missing page.
After a while, there was a knock on the door. The sound broke Twilight’s concentration, causing her to drop the books that she was holding in her magic. Not wanting whoever was at the door to see the mess she’d just inadvertently made, Twilight shouted to the door, “I’ll be there in just a minute! I just have to put a few more things away.” Twilight magically lifted all of the books and floated them back to their usual places.
After quickly making sure that all of the books were in the right spot, Twilight made her way to the door and opened it. Behind it, one of Princess Celestia’s private guards stood.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia has requested for me to inform you that dinner will be served earlier today than usual; Princess Celestia did not give me any reasons as to why. I would advise you to head down now if you want to get there early.”
“Okay, I’ll head down after I finish up here. Thank you for letting me know.” Twilight said as she closed the door, wondering why Princess Celestia would want to have dinner this early.
Twilight made her way to the nearest mirror to make sure that her mane was just right and that nothing was out of place. When she made it to the mirror, she saw that there were a few stray hairs, but it wasn’t too bad, so she simply ran a brush through her mane until it was to her liking. Seeing that everything was all right, Twilight made her way to the Great Hall.
When Twilight had arrived, the first thing she noticed was how empty it was; there were only a few workers that were taking care of the final touches. The second thing Twilight noticed was that there were only two seats set up at the table. This struck her as odd, because usually the room was full with workers and the tables were usually surrounded with chairs for other royals and dignitaries.
Suddenly realizing that the only reason the meal was this early was because Princess Celestia wanted to speak with her alone, Twilight made her way to her seat with a slight smile.
One of the workers noticed her presence, and asked if she would like anything to drink while she was waiting. “I’ll just take water, thank you.” Twilight said in response. The worker soon returned with a glass of water before returning to what he was doing beforehoof.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Princess Celestia entered through the doorway. When she noticed Twilight was already seated, the Alicorn made her way over to greet her.
“Good afternoon, Twilight! I see that you received my message. So, how was the flight?” Princess Celestia smiled as she took her seat across from Twilight.
“It was nice! The ride was smooth and the guards were friendly.” Twilight beamed in response.
“That’s good,” Princess Celestia said politely. “I hope you don’t mind that I decided to make dinner a little early. I wanted to talk to you privately, and also wanted to make sure that you had time to rest before our lessons, which will start just after the sun sets and the moon rises.” Princess Celestia stated.
“It’s okay. I forgot to grab lunch before I left anyway. Now, if you don’t mind, I do have a few questions. Why couldn’t you just send me a letter explaining how to perform the spell, and why can’t we just work on the spell after dinner instead of waiting until after sunset?” Twilight questioned, unsure.
“Twilight, your two questions will be answered tonight, as well as others that I am sure you have. I would like to ask you to wait until tonight before we go over anything. Do you understand?”
“Alright, I understand,” Twilight replied, slightly disappointed.
“Now, Twilight, I would like to hear how everything is going in Ponyville now that you are an Alicorn.” Princess Celestia changed the subjected tactfully as a worker brought over twin salads with ranch dressing.
“Everything is going well so far. Ever since I got back after the coronation, most of the ponies are treating me the way they did before it.” Twilight said before taking a bite of her salad.
“How about the Elements of Harmony? How are they taking it?”
“Honestly, they seem to be fine with the whole thing, but I haven’t spent as much time with them as I would have liked, so I can’t really say for sure. The only real time I’ve been able to spend with them was during the week of the coronation. Besides that, I’ve been spending most of my time getting flight lessons from Rainbow Dash, as you had requested.”
“Well, it’s good that you and your friends are still doing fine.” Celestia replied with a smile. “How have your lessons with Rainbow Dash been going?”
“Well, let’s just say my flight at the coronation has been the best one yet.”
“Oh, I see… Have the lessons been helping at all?”
“Not really… The only thing the lessons have taught me is the pain of falling and that I have really bad balance. Rainbow Dash has been an amazing teacher and I know she would never give up on me, but I think we both know that it kind of seems hopeless.” Twilight’s eyes lowered in shame, and her ears were pointed downward.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I never would’ve figured that you would have that much trouble with it.”
“Neither did I! I always figured flying would be easy, but I guess I was wrong.” Twilight frowned as she ate the last bit of her salad.
“Well, the only thing you can do is continue to practice.” Princess Celestia responded with a hint of worry in her voice, so slight that only those who had known the princess for a long time would have caught it.
“Yeah, I know… That meal was really good. How about yours, Princess?” Twilight replied, changing the subject. She didn’t want to be reminded of her terrible flying, and wanted even less to upset her teacher.
“It was as good as usual.” Princess Celestia slowly stood up with Twilight following suit. “Twilight, as I said before the meal, I would advise you to get some rest. We may be up most of the night.”
“Alright, I’ll try.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I have some things I must address before we meet again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get going.” Princess Celestia nodded respectfully before heading out.
“Okay, I’ll see you at the lesson then!”
Well, that didn’t really help me learn anything about the spell… I wonder why Princess Celestia won’t tell me about it. Twilight thought to herself as she left the Great Hall and made her way to her room.
When Twilight had arrived, she asked the guard stationed outside her room to wake her up before the lesson. When he’d promised to do so, Twilight went to her room and shut the curtain, then lay down on her bed to try and get some rest. After about twenty minutes of silence, Twilight finally succumbed to sleep.