//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: A Thousand Letters // by afakebrony //------------------------------// Dear Twilight, We’re just checking in to make sure that you made it to Canterlot safely. Be a dear and write back to let us know when you get this. We’re already starting to miss you here in Ponyville. Good luck with everything, hope you have fun while you’re in Canterlot! Ta-ta! Sincerely, Your friends The letter was written in fancy cursive script. She had found it in a plain white envelope, propped up on an empty table in the middle of the room. It immediately caught Twilight’s eye as soon as she entered the room. Her friends’ signatures were written across the bottom of the parchment. I wonder how this got here so fast, she thought. She had just made it to the castle only a few minutes earlier. After confirming with the guards that she would be staying in her old room, she and Spike had made their way over to it to set their bags down. She set the letter down on the table and looked around, taking in the details of her childhood home. The room looked pretty much untouched since she had left. All the furniture had been in the same place she had remembered it, though the 4-poster bed in the corner looked like it had been just made that morning. Two mostly empty bookshelves lined the wall, still containing small stacks of Twilight’s old test papers and homework assignments. A familiar table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by 4 chairs. A light blue tablecloth covered the table. Usually topped by books and papers, the surface was currently empty save for the opened letter from Twilight’s friends. Even the lamps around the room appeared to have been untouched in her absence. A large window overlooked the streets of Canterlot, which currently bustled with activity. The blinds were drawn, and the bright glow of Celestia’s sun shone through. “See? I told you Princess Celestia wouldn’t move anything,” Spike said. Twilight laid down her bags on the hardwood floor. “Yeah, you were right,” she said, making a quick circle around the room for a more thorough inspection. She noticed the scent of detergent coming off of her dark blue sheets, as well as a lack of dust on any of the bookshelves or lamps, confirming that the maids had cleaned up her room very recently in preparation of her arrival. “It feels kind of weird to be back in my old room. I know I spent my whole fillyhood here, but... it just doesn’t feel like home any more.” “Oh don’t worry, you’ll get used to it again in no time,” Spike said, opening up the box that contained his personal belongings. Twilight unclasped one of her bags with her magic, producing a small stack of books from inside. She levitated the books over to one of the bookshelves and set them down on the shelf. One by one she went through all the bags and boxes, unpacking and moving everything to where she remembered them being when she still lived in Canterlot. “There, that looks a lot better,” she said, unpacking the last of her luggage, the basket Spike slept in. She set it down at the foot of the bed. As she was finishing unpacking, she heard a knock at the door. Twilight magically looked over to the door and magically opened it, revealing a white pegasus stallion in golden armor. “Princess Twilight,” the guard spoke, “Princess Celestia requests your presence in Day Court. She said to take as much time as you feel is necessary, and to simply let me know when you expect to be there.” Twilight nodded in his direction. “Oh, sure! I’m actually almost done here. Would you tell her I’ll be there in a few minutes?” “Yes, your highness, I’ll let her know immediately,” he replied. The guard turned around and left to go deliver the message. Twilight walked back over to her bed. Taking a look around the room, she confirmed that everyone was in the right place. She looked over at Spike. The young dragon was already sitting down at the table, face buried in one of the comic books he had brought along. “Spike, I’m going to go meet with Celestia. I don’t think it’ll take too long, so just keep yourself busy for a little bit while I’m gone,” she said. Unfortunately, she was met with no response from the young dragon. “Spike,” she said, louder this time. “Huh?” he said, suddenly peering over the comic at Twilight. “Oh, sorry Twilight. Did you want something?” “I said I’m going to go meet with Celestia for a while. Just keep yourself busy while I’m gone. It doesn’t look like it’ll be too hard, though,” she said, shaking her head. She turned the other way and walked out of the room, navigating her way through the familiar castle. When she made it to the throne room, Twilight noticed several groups of nobles making their way out Day Court, most of with having angry expressions on their faces. Guess she wanted to know when I’d get there so she could order everypony out, she thought. As she approached the door to the throne room, she walked past the last of the departing petitioners. They directed harsh looks at her, but kept quiet and continued on their way. A pair of guard stallions stood before the grand doors to the throne room, and upon seeing Twilight, bowed their heads. She suddenly felt awkward, realizing her royal status as they bowed. She quickly made her way into the room. A long red carpet led straight through the middle of the room up to the throne where Princess Celestia sat. Clad in full regalia, the diarch’s multi-toned mane and tail flowed in the usual ethereal wind. The guards that normally stood watch in front of the throne were absent. Celestia noticed Twilight entering the room and gave her student a warm smile. “Hello, Twilight Sparkle. It’s good to see you again,” she said. “You too, Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, smiling as she made her way across the long carpet. She practically ran up the stairs, meeting her mentor with a warm nuzzle. “Twilight, please,” Celestia said, “Just call me Celestia. There’s no more need for the formalities. We’re both princesses and you’re not my student any more.” She looked up, feeling both a great sense of admiration as well as nervousness speaking to her mentor again. “Yes Pr- Celestia. I, uh, noticed a lot of the nobles leaving seemed a little mad. I hope this meeting isn’t getting in the way of anything too important! I know we never really planned for a time when I’d get to Canterlot and all so I didn’t know if you were busy or something and—” “My dear Twilight, please calm down,” Celestia said, halting Twilight’s rambling. “First of all, don’t worry about what the nobles think. They’re a difficult bunch, but understand that they have their reasons for wanting my audience. They can just be a bit abrasive at times.” Twilight nodded. She looked up at Celestia, nervously shuffling her feet around. “Also, If anything I should apologize to you for asking for such a quick response,” Celestia continued. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be here today even after you accepted the offer. You look a bit nervous though. Is something wrong?” Twilight winced at the remark, once again questioning if she really wanted to be back in Canterlot. “W-well, I still don’t really feel right leaving my friends, but they all think this is for the best, and I don’t want to disappoint you or anything. I just feel a little out of place right now.” “Twilight, I don’t want you to feel like you’re pressured to do anything. Please tell me right now: are you really sure you want to be here?” Celestia asked. “Of course I am!” Twilight replied. “Well, I mean, It’s for the best, right?” “If you really would rather be spending time with your friends back in Ponyville, you’re free to leave. I do expect that if you want to stay here you’ll be fully committed to staying though,” Celestia said. “I really don’t want to start working on a project and have you leave part of the way through.” Twilight stood silent. She pondered the idea of whether or not she was ready to be fully committed to this. She thought back to her walk through Ponyville, and to the way the all the guards treated her. This is part of my duty, isn’t it? she thought. “Yes, Celestia,” she said, straightening up, looking back at the other alicorn with determination in her eyes. “I’m the Princess of Magic now, and I know what that means. I might not like everything about it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try my hardest to do what I should. It’s my job to work on creating new magic, and I want to do it right, even if it means I’ll have to be away from my friends for a while.” “You’ve grown up a lot, Twilight,” Celestia said, walking over to Twilight and reaching her wing over the smaller alicorn’s back. “I’m very proud of you. I know it can be hard, but sometimes you will have to let go of your personal feelings to do your duty. It’s… It’s one of the most important parts to being a ruler. Sometimes you can’t let the ones you care about get in the way of doing what’s right.” Celestia stared forward, enraptured in thought. Her eyes wandered over to the window, staring up at the clear blue sky. Twilight noticed a hint of hesitation in the princess’s voice. “How do you know how much to devote yourself to your duty? I mean, isn’t there always something more you can do for everypony?” she asked. “I’ve had a very long time to learn. It’ll come with time and experience,” Celestia replied, snapping out of her thoughts and looking back at Twilight. She retracted her wing and folded it back to her side. “Enough of that for now. This isn’t really what you’re here for. We have plans to discuss! I’m sure you’re wondering what kind of projects I would call you here to work on.” “I do know about the kinds of magic the researchers at various universities are working on. Am I going to be expanding on any of that work? Summoning and geomancy seem to be very popular subjects right now.” “Good, Twilight. It’s great that you are still keeping up with the latest research publications,” she said. “You’re on the right track. I want to expand on some work research that is currently being worked on, but take it in a different direction. A direction that I think could greatly benefit Equestrian society if we can make it work.” “What is it?” Twilight asked. “Well, let me ask you something, Twilight,” Celestia said. “How do we keep our homes illuminated when it’s dark? How do we power our trains to travel around Equestria? And how do we keep buildings warm during the winter?” “Hm...” Twilight said, putting her hoof up to her chin. “We have lamps and candles for lighting, and the trains run on coal. Fireplaces help keep buildings warm. But in the end, we’re burning some kind of fuel for all of them.” “Exactly. However, unicorns can cast light spells, yes? It would take a lot of magic, but a unicorn can certainly move large objects around, and creating fire is certainly a fairly common form of magic. What is it that keeps us from using magic instead of burning fuel?” “Well, in all of those cases, the caster has to constantly exert themselves to keep the spell going,” Twilight replied, “Most unicorns have no trouble keeping a simple light spell going for several hours when they’re not under stress. It’s just not very convenient. Unfortunately, it’s not practical for a unicorn to keep their home lit all night while the sun is down. Of course, a unicorn also just isn’t available in the homes of earth ponies and pegasi.” Celestia’s lips formed a wide smile at the response. “And that, Twilight, is exactly what we will be doing,” she said. Twilight’s face twisted into a look of confusion as Celestia continued. “As you probably know, there has been a lot of recent research into creating amulets for spellcasting. A properly tuned gem can be used to channel a unicorn’s magic into a wide range of spells, making it possible for a unicorn to cast spells they have never actually learned. While nopony has actually been able to prove these amulets have much widespread use, I think there’s much more that can be done with the concept.” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “We can make it easier to cast complicated spells, but I don’t see how this solves the problem of being able to magically light up a room for a long time without constant effort from a unicorn.” “Oh, the amulets currently don’t solve that problem. Not at all,” Celestia replied. “The amulets so far have been focused on allowing a unicorn to cast a spell they don’t know. However, the core concept is that we know it’s possible to create a gem that will cast a spell when magical energy is channeled through it. Let’s think smaller. What if we made a gem that would cast a light spell?” Twilight raised her hoof to her chin, looking down at the ground. “I’m not sure how that actually solves the problem. A unicorn would still have to activate the gem and keep it activated as long as you want light,” she said. “We’d still be missing something.” “That’s because, as you know, we don’t have a good way to store magic. Right now, we only really see magic stored outside of living things in the form of powerful artifacts that are immensely difficult to create. That’s where you come in. If we are able find a way to store raw magical energy into an object that we can later release, we could use that magical energy as a fuel source for these spell crystals. We know from the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart that an immense amount of magical power can be stored in a small object. Think of all the possibilities this could open up!” Celestia said, a wide smile on her lips. She put her hoof around Twilight’s shoulder as she gestured with her other leg. “Lighting, locomotion, heating, that’s just the simple stuff. Iceboxes that stay cold for days! Mass produced amulets that let anypony walk on clouds! Or even amulets that let anypony teleport!” Twilight’s eyes went wide. “That… That would be amazing!” she exclaimed. “When do we start?” Celestia let out a small chuckle at the excitement of the other alicorn. “Well, I did tell everypony I would be resuming Day Court after our meeting. I also have a lot of other meetings planned for later in the evening. I’m afraid I won’t have time today. Let’s talk about this more tomorrow after breakfast.” “Based on the crystalline structure of the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart, I’d guess that a uniform lattice structure is required to hold magical energy. I remember reading that spell amulets are based on the specific resonant frequencies of the gems being used, what if you took into account the specific magical energy signatures—” “Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia said, trying to get the alicorn’s attention. “If we account for the thaumaturgical properties of different gems, then maybe the best approach is to—oh, sorry. I spaced out there for a moment,” Twilight said, breaking out of her train of thought. “Tomorrow? Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” “It’s fine. I’ll see you later, Twilight,” she responded. Twilight skipped on her way out of the room, her mind filled with excitement. Her head still brimming with thoughts, she quickly made her way back to her room. This is going to be great! The rest of the day went by rather quickly for Twilight. She had dinner with just Spike, being informed that Princess Celestia was going to be in a meeting through dinnertime and was planning on eating afterwards. She spent the rest of the evening studying in preparation for the next morning. Before she knew it, the sun had already set, leaving only strands of moonlight to flow through the window of her room. Twilight sat at the table with three heavy books open simultaneously in front of her, focused on taking in as much information as she could. Spike rummaged through the bookshelves, finding books as Twilight requested them and shelving the ones she was finished with. Twilight glanced out of her window as she finished one of the books in front of her, noticing the dark sky. “Oh wow,” she said. “Today just flew by.” “Speak for yourself,” Spike said, carrying over another heavy tome. “I’ve been moving books around for you all day, and nopony else is around to do anything with.” She suddenly felt a longing for her own library. She looked around the table, imagining her friends were there, sitting in the empty seats surrounding her. She turned her head down, catching a glimpse of the letter from earlier in the day, reminding her that she still hadn’t written anything to her friends about her making it to Canterlot yet. “Oh, I still need to write my friends!” she said, “I almost completely forgot about it.” Spike looked over to Twilight. “Oh, don’t worry about that, Twilight. I wouldn’t have let you forget something like that. I’ve got ya covered,” he said, scurrying over to a box by the side of one of the bookshelves. He quickly procured a quill and a few sheets of parchment and held them up, letting Twilight grab a hold of them in her telekinesis. “Thanks, Spike,” she said. Levitating the parchment over to the table, she began to write. Hi, everypony! Your letter actually got to my room before I did! I guess that means you shouldn’t have any trouble reaching me if you ever want to write anything. Sorry that I didn’t respond right away. I had a meeting with Celestia and I’ve been really excited about what we talked about so I’ve been studying all day. I guess I got a little caught up in it. Pinkie Pie, thanks again for throwing the going away party. I can only hope my return party is even half as amazing. Also, let the Cakes know I’m sorry I won’t be around to be a customer for a while, haha. By the way, if you could find out who is replacing me as the librarian, could you let me know? I’m sure everything will be fine, but I’d like to know who’s going to be taking care of it while I’m gone. It was my home, after all. Rarity, hope you’re keeping up with all your orders. I know you’ve been taking quite a bit of time off to help me with things lately. I bet you’d like to hear about what I’m working on? I don’t want to get into the details, but Princess Celestia and I are basically trying to see if it would be possible to replace everything we use any kind of fuel for right now with gems and crystals powered by unicorn magic! Isn’t that exciting? Hopefully everything goes well. It could really help everypony out if we’re successful. Fluttershy, I hope the beaver family we helped out is doing well! It was really nice working with you on putting the dam together. I know you’ve always got a lot of work to do to help out all your animals, so don’t be afraid to ask our friends for help in the future. And keep me up to date on how the animals are doing! Applejack, sorry we never really got to talk much before I had to leave. I know you’ve been especially busy, so I won’t take up too much of your time. I’m definitely going to be missing your apple pies and cider while I’m in Canterlot. Let me know if anything happens, and good luck with everything! Rainbow Dash, it was great working with you to help Fluttershy. It’s only been a day and I’m already missing hanging out with everypony. Canterlot is just a little less awesome than Ponyville without you around! I hope you’re doing fine, and remember, you can do anything if you put your heart and mind into it. I’ll always be there for you. Everypony, don’t miss me too much! I’ll be back before you know it. Make sure to keep me updated. We’ll definitely be writing to each other a lot in the next year. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle She set the quill down and folded up the parchment. Spike had already found the box of envelopes and stamps on one of the bookshelves and laid them front of her on the table. She neatly inserted the letter inside of the envelope, sealed it, and wrote down Pinkie Pie’s address on the front, sticking the stamp in the corner. “Spike, could you go drop this off?” she asked, looking over at the young dragon. “Sure, no problem,” he replied. Twilight levitated the letter over to him, letting Spike grab the envelope out of the air. “I’ll be back in no time!” Spike quickly scurried out the door with the letter in his claws. Sitting back down at the table, Twilight dove back into her books, trying to cram in as much information as possible before the next morning. It was just past midnight when Twilight finally decided to go to bed. Her horn dimly lit the room, the lamps having long since been put out so Spike could go to sleep. She basked in the familiar silence of the dead of night, looking out her window to see the pale light of the moon staring back at her. She stifled a yawn as she made her way over to the bed, her soft hoofsteps echoing through the room. Laying down on the soft mattress, she felt a sense of familiarity start to return to her. Tomorrow was going to be exciting.