//------------------------------// // The Sun Tells A Story // Story: Suddenly, a Filly! // by Pomfiance //------------------------------// *~~~~~* "P-princess Celestia!?" Applejack stammered as Celestia purposely stepped into the library, prompting the others to kneel. "There's no need to bow," Celestia said, motioning for them to stand back up as she scanned the library. "Where is Twilight?" "She's takin' a nap upstairs." Applejack said, pointing towards the stairs, still a bit dazed from shock. "A nap?" Celestia asked with a trace of an amused smile. "It's been so long since she's taken an actual nap. Does she still hold "The Advanced Theory of Magical Properties"?" They all stared at her in disbelief before Pinkie recovered first, nodding. "Yup! It's sooooo cute!" she cooed, putter her hooves to her smiling face. Celestia walked over to a table, waiting for the others to follow and gather around before sitting down. Before Celestia could ask another question, Rainbow blurted out, "How'd you get here so fast!? And where's your guards?" she said nearly flying upwards in exclamation. "I simply teleported." Celestia said lighting up her horn in emphasis, smiling. "As for my guards, I'm sure they'll be here shortly." Celestia looked towards the stairs again, her smile replaced by a small frown. "Now then; my guess is that this didn't just happen overnight." Rarity shook her head. "No, I'm afraid she's been like this for nearly a month." Celestia sighed, still staring at the stairs. "Do any of you know if she was going to inform me?" Applejack nodded. "She said she might have told ya after she changed back." A dejected look flashed across Celestia's face as she shook her head. "I... Thought as much." Fluttershy took a hesitant step forward. "Um, Princess Celestia?" Celestia turned to face Fluttershy, causing her to shrink back. "Yes Fluttershy?" Fluttershy shuffled a hoof. "Well, um, if you don't mind me asking. Why exactly did you rush over to see Twilight?" Celestia turned away, not meeting their curious stares. "I guess you might say for personal reasons." "Personal? What kinda personal?" Applejack asked. She looked back towards them, pausing a little before continuing. "Did Twilight ever tell you why she never made friends?" They all shook their head. "At first it wasn't at all by choice." "But what's that got to do with Twilight now, and you having a personal reason to see her?" Rainbow Dash asked. Celestia gave them a sad smile. "It's because of what happened to her that will lead to those reasons. It started quite some time before she came here." *~~~~~* "Twilight Sparkle! Are you paying attention?" Twilight looked up from her book to find herself face to face with an annoyed Mrs. Rosemary as the rest of the students around her snickered. "O-oh um-" Twilight stuttered with a small blush on her face, but Mrs. Rosemary cut her off. "Of course you weren't! This is the third time this week that I've had to address you directly. One more and I'll have to give you a demerit! Do I make myself clear?" "Y-yes ma'am" Twilight said meekly. "Good." Mrs. Rosemary said with a huff before turning back towards the board. "Now, as I was saying..." After a few minutes of listening to material she'd read weeks ago, Twilight felt something hit the back of her head. She looked back and noticed a paper ball, and the pink filly behind her looking conspicuously nonchalant. As she turned back around, she felt another weak blow on the back of her head, followed by a soft "psst". Twilight turned around to the pink filly to see that she was levitating a paper ball to bounce off her head while the teacher wasn't looking. The filly pointed at it, and motioned for her to open it. Confused, but curious, she picked it up with her hoof and started to unravel it. Before she could finish, it was suddenly snatched away by magic. Horrified, she looked up to see Mrs. Rosemary levitating the note in front of the class. "Passing notes now? Let's see what is so important that couldn't wait until class was over." Mrs. Rosemary cleared her throat. "'Can you help me with my magic? I can't even get a spark, and I don't want the other students picking on me anymore.'" Mrs. Rosemary looked down at her with an unsympathetic frown. "There is a time and place for such requests Twilight, and class time is not one of them. Also, I would recommend a private tutor for problems like that, not a student." "But-" Twilight cried before Mrs. Rosemary cut her off. "That is enough! You will see me after class with you parents. Do I make myself clear?" With tears in her eyes, Twilight let out a feeble, "Yes Mrs. Rosemary," and stared down at the ground. As the rest of class went by, she didn't have the drive to pay attention, hanging her head low, as tears slowly dripped down her face. *~~~~~* As Celestia finished, she gauged everypony’s reactions, a heavy silence filling the air. Rainbow and Applejack looked as if they were ready to knock sompony's lights out, while Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy looked as they were going to burst into Twilight's room at any moment to hug her and never let go. "How horrid!" Rarity said in disbelief. "How could such things go unpunished?" Celestia sighed. "This was some time ago, and it certainly wasn't happening at my facility." She shook her head. "But according to her parents, it wasn't the only time it had happened either. Because of that, she wasn't able to trust anypony that wasn't family. The exception being her foalsitter and I." Celestia glanced towards Twilight's bedroom door. "That was how she was when I took her under my wing. She rarely strayed from the royal library or the classrooms, and if she did, it would be for one of my lessons. I did not think it was healthy for a growing filly, so I let her raise Spike." She looked to Spike with a smile, and he smiled back. "I hoped that she might be more receptive to conversations if she started small, and to some degree, it helped. However, there was one time that I asked her to make friends. “She had been my student for nearly four months. I simply asked if she could try talking to some of the other classmates before coming to my lesson the next day. The next day, she was only five minutes early to my class, instead of her usual fifteen.” Celestia paused to chuckle for a moment. “Now, even on a regular day, this would have been surprising. I thought when she didn't arrive, she had been too caught up in talking with her new friends, but when I saw the state she was in." Celestia paused and frowned at the memory. "Her eyes were red and teary, and she looked as if she had been crying for quite some time. She looked up at me and said-” The scene played in Celestia’s thoughts 'I-I went out and talked with the other s-students. Does that mean I passed your test?' Celestia shivered slightly at the memory. "Needless to say, she treated it as another assignment. She herself never told me what happened that day, so I asked some students if they had seen anything. From what I gathered, she had been watching a group of students from afar for almost twenty minutes before trying to talk to them, and when she finally did muster the courage, she thought they were making fun of her. Even if it had been a misunderstanding, I've never forgotten what had happened." "But why did she think they were making fun of her?" Fluttershy asked confused. "They had asked her if she was lost, thinking that she was visiting another student." "Wait wait wait,” Rainbow said, waving her hoof. “I thought you sent her here to make some friends." Celestia sent a glance to Spike, and he looked away. “That was actually Spike’s doing. You see, I only wanted Twilight to oversee the celebration, but I never asked her to make friends. It wasn’t until later that evening during the celebration that Spike sent me the letter explaining what he said in my name.” “But it all worked out in the end,” Rarity said nervously, glancing over to Spike. “No harm done!” Celestia nodded. “Now, what progress have you made for possible solutions for changing Twilight back to normal?” “But she doesn’t actually want-” Rainbow tried to say, but stopped when she heard the sound of Twilight’s door opening. They all turned to see Twilight slowly coming down the steps, sleep still clouding her eyes. "Hello, My Faithful Student." Celestia said as Twilight stepped off the last stair. "Hello Princess, hello girls…" Twilight said groggily. It was a few moments before her eyes widened, all traces of sleep vanishing. "P-princess Celestia?!" She stumbled back onto the staircase. "When did you get here?!" Celestia put a hoof to her chin. "I'd say that I've been here for nearly thirty minutes." "Thirty minutes! T-that long?" Twilight stuttered, a tad flustered. Celestia lowered her head. "You don’t seem very happy to see me. Am I no longer welcome?" Celestia said in mock sadness, glancing up at Twilight slightly with a pout. Twilight's face paled. She rushed forward and tightly hugged Celestia's foreleg. "O-of course you’re still welcome! Why would you ever think that?" "I wouldn’t dream of it, My Faithful Student," Celestia said with a smile, nuzzling into her embrace. “However,” Celestia said raising her head from the affectionate hug. “I would like to know what I haven’t been informed of your recent transformation." Twilight hesitated, glancing up at Celestia before looking away. “I-I didn’t want to you to be burdened by having to look for a spell to fix this, or having you keep me under your supervision like you used to.” She looked up a bit ashamed and met Celestia’s understanding gaze. “I remember overhearing that I cut into your schedule a lot.” She all but mumbled, looking down again. Celestia frowned and put a hoof on Twilight’s head. “That is a reasonable concern, even if it is unnecessary.” Twilight opened her mouth to respond, confusion evident on her face, but Celestia continued. “You have never been a burden to me, nor will you ever be.” Celestia put a hoof to her chin. “An even more important question however,” Celestia said with a smirk. “How was your nap?” “It was-” Twilight’s face suddenly morphed from blissful to distraught. She turned to Applejack with a childish glare. “You! Why did you let me take a nap? The first few times were on accident, I was just tired!” Applejack gave a start at being addressed so suddenly, but quickly shook her head to clear it and retort. “Now wait just a minute! Yer the lump of a pony who didn’t want ta getup before noon! Ah had ta carry you here!” Applejack scolded in self-defense. “That’s my girl,” Rainbow said with a proud smirk. “Um, girls?” “I wasn’t thinking straight, that’s not an excuse!” Twilight insisted, turning to Celestia. “Tia! Tell them I-” Twilight froze midsentence, the whole room going silent. “Did… You just call Princess Celestia-” “N-no!” Twilight cut off defensively. “I’m pretty sure you-” “I don’t know what you're talking about!” Twilight said frantically, before spinning around and scrambling upstairs. They all turned to Celestia, who was looking at Twilight’s door with a faraway look. After a brief moment of silence of letting what happened sink it, Rarity coughed a bit in her hoof. “Should we…” Rarity said before trailing away. “I’ll go talk to her,” Celestia finally said standing up. They all nodded, though Celestia paid no mind. She climbed the stairs slowly before knocking. After she heard a soft, “come in”, she opened the door and looked around the room. She spotted Twilight curled up under her blanket. Celestia smiled at the sight, and walked over to her bedside. At the sound of approaching hooves, Twilight poked her head out to see who it was. When she saw it was her mentor, she immediately jumped up, her blanket flying up in a heap. “P-princess!” she cried, before the blanket floated down and enveloped her again. Celestia chuckled, lifting the blanket with her magic and folding it neatly before setting it down behind her. “Twilight. How long has it been since you’ve called me by that name?” “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me!” Twilight said fretfully. “It’s just… Being this old again, and seeing you, I-” “Its fine, My Faithful Student,” Celestia said soothingly, taking a seat beside her bed. "I never minded when you were younger, and I don't mind now." "I know you didn't!" Twilight said accusingly. "In fact, you would give me less work unless I did!" "You say that if it were a bad thing," Celestia teased. "But that doesn't explain why you became so flustered just now." "I-" Twilight heard a loud bang come from downstairs, followed by several shrieks of fright. A few seconds later, the door to the bedroom burst open, and a white stallion stepped into the room. “Alright, where is my little sister?” *~~~~~*