As prestigious as Starswirl was, it lacked dorms for the students. Ponyville was pretty much a college town, so most of it’s visiting students managed to find lodgings in town, rent was pretty reasonable. Celestia however made special arrangements with a friend of hers, Twilight and her family could certainly afford to rent her own place if need be, but Celestia didn’t want to trouble them.
So Twilight and her brother made their way near the center of Ponyville, a ways off from Town Hall, not even that far from the train station, and a reasonable commute from the Academy to the Golden Oak Ponyville Library. A wide building of bricks, mortar and wood, with a great grand oak sprouting from the middle and it’s leaves spreading across much of the building.
“So… are we gonna be sleeping in the tree?” Spike asked outside, shuffling around their luggage.
“Ponyville was originally a small outpost here, they were forced to be… creative with the architecture, and they’ve preferred to preserve it when they can.” Twilight exposited.
“That’s nice. But are we gonna be sleeping there?” Spike asked again.
“Who knows?” Twilight asked, ringing the bell at the doors again. Soon enough an elderly woman came to see what the fuss was. “Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my brother, Spike. I’m training to be a Huntress, and the Headmistress made arrangements for us to stay here.”
“Oh yes, Celestia wrote ahead, nice to meet you, come in, come in.” She said in the kind of voice all old ladies have. She was a tiny thing, only slightly taller than Spike with her hair done up in a bun, and her knitted clothes all carrying the scent of old perfume.
“I’m Mrs. Ink-Spot, it’s so very nice to meet you.” She said, shaking both of their hands with her own wrinkled pair. “Do you two need anything?”
“If you could show us where to dump our things.” Spike said.
“Of course, this way.” She said leading them past the reception desk. “Now your room will be in the loft of the old Library.” They entered through a set of doors to the center of the tree, a rotunda with a set of computers and chairs in the middle, and carved into the walls bookshelf after bookshelf, the entire area well-lit by old gas-lamps. “Your room is just up the stairs, the balcony and upper floors in this part are off-limits to visitors, but our few visitors rarely come here anyway, preferring to use the computer rooms in the wings.”
“Wow!” Twilight said, looking around at all the old paper-bound books. “This place is really impressive!”
“Well thank you.” Mrs. Ink-Spot said.
“You guys ever have to worry about fires?” Spike asked.
“There’s a pretty comprehensive fire-system in here, but we’ve never had any problems.” The Librarian woman told them.
“What about lightning?” Spike asked.
“There’s a lightning rod at the top.” She said.
“We won’t trouble you anymore.” Twilight said. “We’ll just put away our things.” The brother-sister pair made their way up the spiral staircase that curled around the walls of the library to a balcony that let in a lot of sunlight from windows carved into the ceiling and walls that showed a blue sky and many green leaves.
Up on the balcony were several doors and a few more stairs, but they found their bedroom easily enough, it was a small enough place with plenty more books and bookcases, a writing desk, wardrobes and drawers for their clothes, and two beds on either side, one bigger than the other.
“Dibs on the bigger bed!” Spike said dumping their luggage, and dive-bombing for the larger bed by the window before Twilight casually used her telekinesis to grab him in the air, and drop him in the smaller bed. “So that’s going to be that isn’t it?” He asked, to which Twilight smirked.
“Come on Spike, let’s start unpacking.” She said, beginning to unzip their bags.
“Do we have to?” Spike moaned, not getting up from his bed.
“Come on, we’re going to have to do this eventually. Or would you rather I run through your things?” Twilight asked.
“Fine…” He whined, getting up. Soon enough most of their bags were unpacked, and the room felt just a little bit theirs.
“Done. For now.” Twilight said proudly. “I can’t believe that we get to live in a library!”
“Yeah, neither do I.” Spike said resting. It was a nice enough place. He would have liked to get his own room, but he supposed it wasn’t in the cards. “Hey, I just remembered, Celestia said she wanted to see me at the end of the day after we dropped our bags.”
“The Headmistress?” Twilight asked. “What for?”
“Didn’t say, didn’t ask.” Spike answered getting up. “Guess I shouldn’t keep her waiting though, first day and all.”
“I don’t know Spike, it looks like it’ll be dark soon.” Twilight said looking out the window.
“I can take care of myself.” He defended. “I’ll call if it’ll take awhile.”
“Well… if the Headmistress wants you, then I shouldn’t stop you.”
Spike said goodbye, and jogged down the steps, and towards the academy. He was quite surprised to find that all Celestia wanted was to give a letter to Twilight. He was tempted to read it, but figured he wouldn’t care for the contents, and wouldn’t put it past Celestia to put some kind of hex on it should he do it.
He found that he shouldn’t be surprised when he returned to the Library to find Twilight had ended up running amok. In the time it had taken to leave and comeback, she had taken down every single book from its shelf, and was telekinetically reshelving them.
“My sister go nuts?” He asked Mrs. Ink-Spot.
“Oh, no…!” She said, adjusting her thick bifocals, clearly not knowing what to think. “I’m just surprised she’s so… enthusiastic about books. They don’t get much use here, so I’m afraid I’ve let my organization of them slide and…”
“And Twilight found out and started taking over everything.” He surmised. He looked at the letter in his hand, and toyed with the idea of trying to get her to calm down, or just leave it be. He came to the conclusion that he had done enough lately, and would let Twilight deal with the consequences of her own actions, and made his way into the bedroom, leaving the letter on her bedside table, and nodded off to sleep at his first opportunity.
***
“We’re late!” Was what Spike awoke to, being pulled out of his warm bed, and onto the cold floor. He simply groaned in response.
“Late! Can you imagine it? Late on the first day of school!?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have been messing in the library.” Spike said more to himself while Twilight ran about half-dressed triple-checking everything. Most of her things were already neatly packed in her bag, so the next few minutes were spent rushing to get as presentable as possible before running out the door and towards the academy.
Still half-asleep they arrived at the massive steps just on time along with several other students making their way to classes.
Spike yawned. “We’re here.” Spike said. “What’s your schedule look like?”
“Nothing you’d be interested in.” Twilight said once catching her breath. “Half lectures, half combat classes. Unfortunately Starswirl Academy is more about taking various electives than advanced courses, but I can always do additional studies.”
Twilight was the only person Spike knew who always wanted to be doing more homework. “Well, I guess I’ll just head up to Celestia’s office then.” Spike said. “Hey, good luck with school and everything.”
“Yeah. You too.” Twilight said with a smile.
***
Celestia looked over a visual feed on her Scroll when she heard a knock. “Yes?” She asked.
“It’s me.” She heard from a certain pubescent voice.
“Ah, Spike do come in.” She said, putting away her scroll. Spike entered, and sat in the nearest chair he could find. “I suppose your hoping to find some work today.”
“Not terribly.” Spike said. “In fact if I could just nap in here, that would be awesome.”
Celestia chuckled. “Well, it wouldn’t do my conscious much good if I let you do that the entire school year, now would it? I’ve spoken with your parents that you’ve accepted work as my assistant. You and Twilight should give them a call soon.”
“Did the folks tell you to say that?” Spike asked.
“Yes they did.” Celestia answered. “Which reminds me, did Twilight receive the letter I sent her?”
“Well- when I got back she had started obsessively rearranging all the books in the library, so I just left it by her bed. I don’t know if she noticed it or not.” Spike told her.
“That’s alright. It’s not too terribly important, but make sure she reads it before the weekend.”
“Why don’t you just call her up and tell her whatever it is yourself?” Spike asked, shifting in his seat.
“You’ll have to excuse me if my methods are mysterious and confusing Spike. I’m afraid you’ll likely have to tolerate a great many things in my employ, and it will be easier for us to work together if you don’t question these things too much. That said, while I will have you running errands for me, I do expect you to continue your education. Classes for the lower levels will begin in a couple weeks, you will be enrolled for the lectures, but not the combat classes, I hope that’s fine.” Spike shrugged in response. “In the meantime we will start your training as my assistant, shall we begin?”
***
Twilight picked up many traits from Headmistress Celestia. Among them was an appreciation of the written word. And so she diligently copied every word given to the class by the professor into her notebook for later review.
She had downloaded the Starswirl Academy app on her scroll in advance, giving her, her schedule, a map of the academy, and any other relevant information. That and the occasional tour of the grounds meant finding her classes were easy, and she had all the necessary materials for study.
She had arrived at her first class ten-minutes early, the Professor was still setting up, and slowly more students piled in. She didn’t recognize many faces, one or two she thought she might have seen during initiation. She saw Lyra and her team, Lyra made sure to wave, but was too engrossed in their own conversation, thankfully, to try to socialize with Twilight while she sorted out her study materials.
Twilight’s own team meandered in as well. First was Rarity, making sure to come in early. She came in with a smile, and many a male eye was fixated on her. She gave a warm hello to Twilight, who returned a cordial hello of her own. She a couple attempts at conversation, but soon realized that her teammate wasn’t in the mood to talk, and decided to instead take out a pocket-mirror and focus on her makeup.
Next tumbled in Pinkie Pie, using her Scroll as a map, walking in with a befuddled expression until she saw her teammates and ran over to join them. She yammered on and on to both Twilight’s and Rarity’s dismay until the Professor had to ask her to quiet down, so she instead resorted to bouncing happily in her seat.
Applejack sauntered in quietly, not making eye-contact with anyone, and took her own seat next to her team, and lay back, putting her feat on the desk. Twilight was sorely tempted to tell her to show more respect, but held back for fear of a drawn out confrontation that could get her in trouble.
The bell rang soon after, and the Professor began introducing himself. Five minutes into this the rest of the team, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy came in and took their seats. Tardy.
Most of the class, especially Twilight, paid careful attention to the lecture. Especially Twilight. The rest seemed to doze off. And without much conversation, this continued in class after class. Between classes a few words may have been exchanged by a couple of them, but Twilight did her best do stay out of it, at Lunch she looked over her notes, her Scroll, or focused on her meal or a book. And in combat classes she did as she was supposed to.
And throughout all this, Twilight Sparkle slowly learned more about her team. She still didn’t like the idea of a team, and though her team had pleasantly surprised her in the Everfree Forest, she still didn’t entirely like them. It seemed that Applejacks initial assessment of them wasn’t entirely false.
Rarity spent half of her time on her makeup and her fashion rather than studying. The other half was flirting with the male classmates, who naturally flocked to her at every opportunity, and she just shined with the attention. It certainly seemed like Spike had stiff competition at least.
Applejack meanwhile didn’t seem like she cared about anything. She always said whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, regardless of who was in the room. And she didn’t take too kindly to being ignored when she felt she wanted to be heard.
Pinkie Pie was…. Nigh unbearable. It seemed like she didn’t know anything about anything, and she spent almost every single minute talking. She had no sense of personal space whatsoever, and seemed to run on some kind of inexhaustible energy source. And there was absolutely no getting rid of her. Most people gave her a wide berth whenever possible.
And then there was Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were practically never seen without the other. Rainbow Dash was almost as brash as Applejack was, and the two were constantly trying to get at each-others throats, if not for the others cooling things down. Not to mention how lazy she was, she hardly did any of the assignments, and slept through the lectures, the only thing she interested in were the combat classes.Fluttershy meanwhile was tolerable considering she never spoke. She recorded the lectures, and did the assignments, and at least seemed mildly disapproving of Rainbow Dash’s behavior, but her voice was never above a whisper.
So all in all, in a moment that she thought would never come, Twilight couldn’t wait for the weekend.
***
To my most faithful student-
Twilight Sparkle
Dear Twilight-
I wish to invite you to an outing between you and I this weekend, following the first week of school under my tuition. I will clear my workload specifically for the occasion. I can’t wait to hear how your classes have been, and the friends you have made.
Please meet me at Sugarcube Corner at 32 Sugar Street at lunch.
-Sincerely-
Headmaster Celestia~
***
Twilight was dressed, primped and ready, and arrived at Sugarcube Corner at precisely at 11:30 sharp. The place was done up like a gingerbread house, was reasonably busy early on a Saturday, keeping the married couple running it, and the few waiters and waitresses on their feet.
Twilight scanned the café for the Headmistress, and deciding she hadn’t arrived yet, sat down at a table for two in the corner, still visible in the door. She didn’t partake in any sweets or beverages, and waited for about an hour until Celestia entered the door with a tinkling of a bell.
She stood with Spike at her side, and smiled the two of them walking over.
“Wonderful to see you here Twilight.” Celestia said.
“You too Headmistress.” Twilight said with a bow of her head. “What are you doing here Spike?”
“He’s been helping me with my work, and I’ve been helping him with choosing his classes he’ll be attending.” Celestia answered.
“Have you been waiting here for us for hours?” Spike asked.
“No!” Twilight denied.
“Come let us sit. Spike, have you and Twilight been discussing how your week has been?” She said, grabbing some chairs for her and Spike.
“Nah, not really. Twilights been focusing on her notes.” Spike said. “I’ve just been reading comics, playing games. Twilight keeps complaining about her classmates.”
“Sorry, I’ve had a bit of a hectic week.” Twilight said.
“Yeah, well, it’s not been too interesting.” Spike said. “It’s all secretary work, same stuff you make me do. Still though, Celestia gave me some money.” He said fishing some bills from his back pocket. “Someone’s going to be eating his weight in rock-candy!”
Celestia smiled. “And you Twilight? Has Starswirl been everything you’d hoped?” She asked.
“Yes, most definitely.” Twilight said, trying to think of something positive to say about her first week. “The classes have been very enjoyable, and I’m learning a lot.”
Celestia nodded, but with a light in her eye that say said she could read between the lines. “Spike? I hate to send you off again, but if you could take care of that work I asked you to earlier?”
“Hm? Alright.” Spike said, getting up.
“Before you go however, I would appreciate it if you could get us some drinks and a bite to eat. A slice of cake and coffee for myself, Twilight, Tea I presume?”
“Yes please.”
“Do you want a bite to go with it?”
“Um… I’ll just have a cupcake”
“Excellent choice.” Celestia said. “And feel free to get something for yourself Spike. Just tell the Cakes to put it on my tab, I come here all the time for the cake.”
Spike nodded and did as told.
“I really am quite partial to the cake here.” She told Twilight. “I find it quite important to enjoy the little things. If I have one weakness it’s cake.”
Twilight nodded but didn’t say much. Celestia sighed, and stroked her hand. “Twilight, I get the feeling Starswirl isn’t everything you’ve expected.”
“It is! It’s just…” Twilight hesitated. “I don’t want to doubt your wisdom Headmistress! Especially considering the last time I did, you catapulted me into a forest filled with monsters.” Celestia smiled at that. “But I am not really getting along with the Team I’m a part in. Are you sure I can’t just study on my own?”
“No, I’m pretty sure.” Celestia said gravely. Spike returned with their order, and they waved him goodbye. “Twilight, I know these things are difficult for you. But you’re a strong person. If you can muster the strength to become a Huntress, then you can muster the strength to talk to people and make friends.” Twilight couldn’t really argue with that. “I’ve been having to explain to Spike, I can be a confusing person. But you understand that there is method to my madness.”
Twilight sighed. “I know.”
Celestia looked at Twilight, and took a bite from her cake before continuing. “Twilight, if you could, please tell me the basic principles of magic.”
The question surprised Twilight, but she was eager to answer it. “Magic is inherent to every living thing that possesses a soul. A majority of this is passive magic that can be used and manipulated through alchemical means. However intelligent beings such as Humans and Faunus possess active magic, that manifests itself as Aura and Semblance, unique to each individual.” She narrated.
“And how do we manipulate this active magic to our own means?” Celestia asked, enjoying her sugary treat.
“Through the use of emotion.” Twilight said. “Emotion is intrinsic to any being that possesses a soul, and is used to define the soul itself. The more powerful an emotion, the more powerful it’s effect on the magic of the user.” Celestia nodded, and she went on. “Negative emotions amplify destructive magics, but harm the user, whereas positive emotions amplify constructive magics, and improve the health of the user.”
“And each emotion has it’s own branch of philosophy, poetry, and magic to it.” Celestia surmised. “And both of us have pored extensive research into each.” She paused to sip her coffee. “However, there is one branch of magic I hope to do some research in. The Magic of Friendship.”
The conversation died a little at that, leaving only the sounds of the café. The Magic of Friendship. Granted Twilight lived in a world where magic was powered by emotions, but it didn’t stop what Celestia said sounding completely, well, nuts.
“I believe it’s a rather underutilized branch of magic. But I believe that under the right conditions it can be used as a multiplicative effect on the other branches, the benefits of this should be obvious.” Celestia went on. “And to help me with such an important task, I’ve hoped that my favorite student would be willing to help me.”
Twilight paused, and watched her drink swirl. “Well…”
“Of course, if you weren’t willing to help me, I could probably just coerce you to do so as your Headmaster.” Celestia said, wiping the frosting from her lips, and sucking her finger.
Twilight groaned. “This is what the teams are about.” Twilight surmised.
“Exactly.” Celestia said with a smile. “Now, I could have taken a look at the psychological profiles, and assign teams based on projected results, but I decided to let the chips fall as they may.”
“To act as a control correct?” Twilight asked, as Celestia drank from her coffee.
“Well, I suppose that’s correct.” She said. “But I also thought it might be a little cruel to pair you with the most psychologically unstable students I could find.”
“TWILIGHT!!” Boomed a voice that spoke of twelve-cupcakes eaten that day. Soon enough Pinkie Pie out of nowhere bounced into view, almost knocking the entire table over. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! What are the odds we’d meet up here?”
Twilight did her best to keep some composure. “Hey…” She managed.
“Good Day Pinkie Pie.” Celestia said, still smiling.
“Oh, heya! You’re the Headmistress right? Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” She greeted.
“Thank you.” Celestia said. “Am I to understand that you work at this fine establishment?”
“Yep! My Papa set me up with a job and a room with the Cakes!” Pinkie Pie said. “It’s like the best job ever Twilight! In exchange for working, I get to eat all the cake I could ever want! Hey, I should totally give you the friends and family discount, you know, since you’re like, my best friend and all! In fact you should come here all the time so you can get free snacks and drinks! I bet I could even get you a job, and you can get paid, and we can work together! That way we can hang together like all the time!”
One of the managers soon called Pinkie Pie’s name before Twilight was expected to retort, telling her to get back to work.
“Righty-O Mr. Cake! Sorry Twilight, I gots to work, or else I don’t get any sweets, sorry! But find me when you’re done so we can make plans, kay? Bye!” And with that she zoomed off again.
“Well-“ Celestia said. “She seems energetic. Very perky.”
“I don’t think I’ve said more than three sentences with her.” Twilight said. “And she already thinks we’re attached to the hip. This is what I’m talking about Headmistress Celestia. It seems almost like everyone on my team is crazy. That girl cannot shut up, and has no sense of personal space. I can barely study or concentrate when I’m with her, and I feel like I’m always about to snap.”
“Do you think maybe that’s because you don’t know how to compose yourself in front of people?” Celestia asked, to which Twilight had no answer. “I’ve known you for a long while now Twilight Sparkle. You’re comfortable with your family, and thankfully with me. But with others you tend to isolate yourself.”
“You’re saying I need to come out of my shell.” Twilight said, seeing where this was heading.
“Well… yes, but I was trying to put it a little more… poetically I suppose.” Celestia offered.
“So this whole teams thing, and studying the ‘magic of friendship’, is meant to help me open up.” Twilight surmised.
“No.” Celestia denied. “I have other ulterior motives. But yes, getting you to be more social is one of them.” Twilight visibly scoffed. “I know you’re going to say you don’t need to open up, you can socialize on a surface level, which is enough to navigate to society. But I am going to be forcing you to do this. And as your Headmaster, I can do this.” Twilight whimpered in response. “Would it help if I told you I’d be assigning homework?” Twilight perked up at this.
“Maybe…”
“What I’d like you to do, is that at the end of every week, hand-write a letter detailing what you have learned about your team, friendship, and how it applies to magic.” Celestia instructed, finishing off her cake. “I have quite a busy schedule unfortunately, and as much as I would love to simply meet here each weekend, it wouldn’t be very practical. Simply hand your letter to Spike, and he’ll reliably deliver it to me. Or at least I hope he does, if not he’s not really the assistant I was hoping for.”
Twilight focused on her tea, and committed Celestia’s instructions to memory. When it became clear she wasn’t going to speak, Celestia continued.
“I would like the letters to be informal. You have quite the analytical mind Twilight, but it is ill-suited to the research we will be conducting. I’m not looking for detailed analysis of your teammates psychology, or the possible mechanical applications of your knowledge. Simply inform me what you have learned about any of your friends, and any possible lessons you may have learned while dealing with them.”
It wasn’t quite the silver-lining she may have been looking for, but it was something to concentrate on, so she’d take it. “I understand Headmistress.”
“Very well then.” Celestia said brightly. “As much as I would love to simply stay here a while longer, there is much work that needs doing back at the academy. I eagerly look forward to receiving your first letter. There is no pressure, I urge you not to overthink it, and try to enjoy the assignment.” With that she got up, and tucked in her seat. “Adieu dear Twilight Sparkle.”