My Teacher Wild Horse
Chapter 4: Home
Diary,
Not much has changed from my last entry. Well, that is not quite true. The woods outside is covered in a thick blanket of snow. It is pretty. Some time I go outside to enjoy the quiet. The crisp air and lack of wildlife makes it feel like time has stopped.
Teacher told me how to meditate, the steps involved at least. She said it should help me to control my magic better once I am good at it. I find it easiest to do them outside at the moment. I am able to fade everything away, even the the cold. Teacher seemed surprised. I remember her waking me up after the first time I managed this. She looked, I don’t know, I have never seen that look on her face before.
Apparently I am really good at meditating, Teacher admitted that it took her much longer than just a week to learn the skill. I was really happy to hear that I beat teacher in something. However teacher told me to meditate inside from now on, at least until the weather warmed up.
I think I may have scared Teacher. I didn’t mean too.
Twilight Sparkle.
Diary,
I have noticed a change when I meditate. Before, I simply phased everything out and just focused on my breathing. It was relaxing, but then something started being there. It was just at the edge, I could feel it there. I think it is my magic. I know that it feels similar, and when I told Teacher she said that this was supposed to happen.
Oh by the way, Teacher is staying as a girl for now. It makes sense I suppose, as some of our time is spent gathering snow and ice to melt into water. Hot baths are just a memory at this point, one that I would love to have again. I never knew how hard winter was for those who don’t live in a city.
Teacher has me back to practicing forms. This time it is something called Judo. Before it was Karate and Taichi. When I ask her why there are so many, she told me her art is about taking everything and flowing it together. It is to give the fighter more to knowledge and flexibility. It is an interesting idea and it makes a lot of sense. I wonder if the guards do something similar.
Twilight Sparkle.
Diary,
Spike has gotten bigger. He has had to be moved off of my head which has set him to grumbling, but with his extra weight his claws dig into my scalp. Spike is now as thick as my wrist. His claws are sharper and his spines have more definition. I guess he is starting to leave the hatchling stage.
Teacher is teaching me to wrap my hair so that it doesn’t get in the way. She has also warned me that long hair makes a big target in a fight as well. She proved this by grabbing it and pulling, hard. It hurt, and I couldn’t catch up to teacher to make her let go. I guess I will have to cut my hair or something until I can prevent it from happening.
Twilight Sparkle.
Diary,
As you know already we are well into winter. It has been close to five weeks since winter started. That means that a certain special day is coming up. A day that means presents and warm fires and sweet treats…
A time I will be alone. This will be my first Hearths Warming eve without my family. I won’t have mom, humming away in the kitchen as she prepares dinner and treats. I won’t have dad, reading me stories about how the three tribes came together and stopped fighting. I won’t have Shining to go and play with in the snow. I won’t…
Ranma was brought out of her meditation by the sound of sobbing. She looked at where Twilight was sitting. Tears had just started to fall as she halted in her writing. Ranma approached her with a bit of caution, knowing she still wasn’t the best for comforting someone.
“Twilight, are you okay?” She asked her.
“I, I,” Twilight's sobs were starting to get worse, “I miss my family.” The little Spell-Weaver cried. She shook with the force of her sobs. Twilight curled in, bring her knees to her chest as she cried.
Ranma did the only thing she could think of and wrapped his arms around his student. She held Twilight tightly against her chest, slowly petting the childs hair and rocking her back and fourth.
“It’s, It’s Hearths Warming and, and I am not with them.” Twilight cried. “I, I want my momma, I want my daddy, I want my brother! I want to be with my family!”
It the candles they were using for light had burned low by the time Twilight had quieted. Twilight had cried herself to sleep while holding onto Ranma, almost as if she was afraid her teacher would vanish.
Ranma continued to rock her back and fourth. Brushing the hair from her own she listened as Twilight let out the occasional whimper. Ranma’s eyes held a light in them as she came to a decision. She dressed Twilight in the child coat before putting on her own. Ranma quickly gathered their loose belonging, moving them into the hidden space technique. Something she had picked up from Mousse.
Spike seemed to pick up on what was going on and left his place from the fire. The small dragon vanished into the midsection of Twilight's coat, before poking his head out the neck of the hood. Ranma Scooped her student up from the floor, strapping the child to her back with a makeshift harness.
Stepping outside Ranma saw the weather was calm, something the martial artist was grateful for. Ranma’s eyes traced across the sky until they found the target, the towers of the mountainside city that he arrived in. With a slight grunt of effort Ranma vanished from sight. The sound of rapid foot falls and the light impressions in the snow being the only indication that she was there.
Trees became little more than blurs as the martial artist traveled through the forest. The tails of their fur-coats snapping in the sudden wind. Most of the monsters avoided Ranma as he traveled, many of the more dangerous ones were sleeping due to winter. Soon the forest began thinning out, before fading completely to reveal the snow covered grasslands between them and Canterlot.
Twilight’s eyes fluttered open and a small yawn escaped her. Cool air and fur were the sensations that greeted her this day, just like many others this winter. A soft chuckle sounded from underneath hers. “I see you are awake my student.”
Twilight murmured something inelegant as she tried to wake up further. This seemed to only increase her teachers laughter. Finally the little Spell-Weaver opened her eyes to take in her surroundings and gasped. Gone was the aged stone that made their home all this time. Instead that were back in a city, a very familiare city.
“T-Teacher?” Twilight stuttered out questioningly.
“Do you know the way to your parents from here?” he cut her off with his own question.
Twilight blinked at that a few times and then began to look around. It was dark out, and teacher was walking down the street. Everything seemed different to her, but soon she saw a park that she knew was near her home. “I think I know where we are.”
With only a little difficulty, Twilight managed to direct them to her home. She was excited, almost thrumming with energy. She quickly cast the unlocking spell her parents had taught her to get in. All the lights were out, and there was nary a sound. Twilight carefully walked through the living room, only to bump into a table, causes quite a bit of noise as the contents fell to the floor.
“Who’s there!?” a baritone voice demanded as the sound of feet stomping on stairs could now be hear. Two figures stepped into view and any thought Twilight had to call out froze. It had been so long since she had seen them she was unsure of what to say. Her body moved on its own, propelling itself forward and her arms were soon wrapped around the the waist of her mother. A hesitant hand moved the hood of her coat back and she heard a faint gasp. Looking up she saw the surprised eyes of her mother.
“Twilight.” her mother’s voice called out. She smiled, she was crying but she smiled, because she was home now. The arms of her mother wrapped tightly around her, rocking her back and forth.
“Twilight, you’re home. My baby girl is home.” her mother said through tears of her own. Soon her father also joined in the reunion, and for the longest time they stayed like that.
The lights were on, the fire was lit, and everyone had a cup of tea as twilight began the regal her parents about her Teacher and what they had been up too. They were attentive, obviously concerned about what their daughter had been doing for that past half year.
Many time Twilight would tell them of a training exercise and the same reaction would follow. Her father would glare at her Teacher, and her mother would check her over for injuries. Meanwhile Teacher just sat their and shrugged off their accusations, stating that this was basic training and all things he had gone through when he was younger than Twilight.
When the tale was concluded it was Velvet, Twilight's mother, who asked the first question. “Twilight, why didn’t you come with any of the guards back to Canterlot.”
Twilight looked at her with a bit of terror in her eyes. “But the guards were going to throw me in the dungeon! I destroyed the princess school and the professor said I should be locked up!”
Twilight's father, Nightlight, seemed to let out a sigh at his. “Twilight, you are not in trouble for that.” Twilight looked at him with some confusion, he continued on. “That man broke the rules of the school. He was the one in the wrong and is currently sitting in jail. The guards you saw were supposed to bring you home.” Nightlight said to his overreacting daughter.
Both parents were not too surprised when Ranma covered her face with a hand and began muttering in another language. Twilight just sat there with a sheepish expression. “Oopsie.”