“So what’s next on the agenda, Spike?” Twilight Sparkle beamed as she walked up the stairs of the secret passage to the hidden library and stepped into the throne room of the Castle of Friendship. A refreshing morning of personal study served to put her in a cheery mood.
Her trusted assistant looked down at the checklist in his clawed palm and checked off the item marked Personal Study. “Umm, it looks like you have some Twilight Time with Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle.”
“All right. Let’s go see if she’s here.” Twilight finished locking up. Her magic lifted the last few steps of the staircase, evening the slivers of crystal stone with the rest of the cutie mark emblazoned insignia on the floor. The entire castle still felt new to her—the secret that lay beneath the throne room, newer still. Comforting in its own right, the books helped her overcome the disparity.
The hidden library was her refuge; the one place in the castle she truly felt at home. Each day she set aside a few hours for personal study. Her goal—to find a way to break through Sombra’s curse and free the Crystal Queen from her prison. Studying the ancient tomes locked away in the repository seemed a logical course of action. Unfortunately, she found only vague references to the events at the time of the fall of the Crystal Kingdom. Still, she kept looking.
Spike hurried to keep pace as they made their way toward the castle entrance. The pitter-patter of meticulously groomed hooves and the scratch of clawed toes tapped out a drumbeat as they made their way down the vaulted corridor toward the winding staircase leading to the Grand Foyer. Twilight didn’t want to be late to greet her one-and-only magic student.
Sessions with the young Unicorn had been challenging. Sweetie Belle, being more than eager to have Twilight as a teacher, drew parallels to herself as a filly. Due to the nature of the school situation in Ponyville, there weren’t a whole lot options for a beginner to get practical instruction in less commonly used forms of pony magic. Cheerilee was a great elementary teacher, but she couldn’t really do much in the way of magic instruction for her limited pool of Unicorn students.
Growing up, Twilight had been fortunate to live in Canterlot—the center of magical learning for all of Equestria. The best instructors and institutions were readily available in the capitol. Above all, she had the privilege to study under Princess Celestia directly, as her personal apprentice. Being a simple Unicorn residing in Ponyville, Sweetie Belle was otherwise left to rely mainly on her family for magical instruction.
Rarity, although she was Twilight’s dear friend, never took the time to delve into the finer disciplines of Unicorn magic. She was excellent when it came to levitation spells—most Unicorns mastered that art out of sheer convenience alone. However, like many others, it was about as far as she went in engaging the mystical crafts of her race. Simple teleportation, lighting, and levitation magic sufficed for the role of a luminary of fashion. Her younger sister’s aspirations in the broad field of magic study were much higher.
Sweetie Belle showed great interest in further enhancing her nascent magical abilities, whatever the form. The prospect of focusing on one branch of magic wasn’t at all appealing. She wanted everything she could wrap her hooves around. Lately, her inquiries bordered on the truly arcane. The most challenging and dangerous pony magiks became a common thread in her pleas to learn—runic binding, divination, temporal manipulation, and even pure sorcery. A nod to her curiosity answered, Twilight stepped forward to lend a hoof in her instruction.
Twilight was glad to assist with the basics and even suggested they explore some of the other foundational pony magic divisions such as Pegasus flight and weather skills. She hinted they could even take a look at Earth Pony geomancy arts. The alternate magic forms never captured the filly’s interest, however fundamental. The focus of the small one’s desires lay in advanced Unicorn studies. If Twilight didn’t get through to her soon, she feared Sweetie Belle’s curiosity could set her on a crash course straight toward the forbidden dark magic arena. As she bounced a few ideas around her head concerning how she would make that clear, she hoped for a breakthrough with today’s lesson.
“We really need an elevator,” Spike grumbled as he stared at the pit of stairs ahead. The castle was tall and not much existed in the section of trunk between the ground floor and the branch levels above—except for stairs.
Twilight smiled and tossed back her head. “Hop on.” Spike returned the smile and mounted up, careful to avoid scratching Twilight with his clawed toes as she spread out her wings and pitched herself into a downward dive. Avoiding the stairs altogether, they spiraled down the hollow trunk of the tree that had made itself a castle.
As graceful as a falling leaf, they landed in the middle of the Great Foyer. A cozy sitting room to their left and another to the right flanked the triple height portal leading to the outside world. Spike hopped off Twilight’s back and darted over to open the golden doors in anticipation of their guest’s arrival. As he drew back on the handle, the door swung open. Sweetie Belle casually trotted right on through, not even breaking stride.
If there was one thing that impressed Twilight the most, it was the filly’s punctuality. “Eleven o’clock on the dot. I love a pony who sticks to her schedule.” She greeted her apprentice and showed her in to the adjoining space.
A number of couches and high backed chairs dotted the otherwise stark interior of the sitting room. Rarity had been far too busy in recent weeks to make any progress with her decorating overhaul. Recent adventures left a pile of waiting orders and more than a few customer complaints about the associated delay. Twilight hoped that one day the walls would be covered with bookshelves containing a wide array of fascinating stories and practical information. For now, the room served as a private place to meet with guests and work on lessons with her pseudo-apprentice. Spike closed the inner doors as he left them to their meeting.
“Thanks for doing this for me, Twilight,” Sweetie Belle said, a somewhat sullen expression hung across her muzzle.
“Don’t mention it. I love having a student that’s so eager to learn.” Twilight grinned toothily with an uncertain half-smile. Trying to counterbalance the apparent gloominess of her student, she felt it was her duty to start the lesson off on the right hoof.
“If it weren’t for you, I don’t know how I’d be able to learn half the stuff you’ve taught me,” Sweetie Belle replied in a huff as she crossed the room making a beeline for her favorite overstuffed chair.
Twilight, a tad confused by the filly’s off-putting attitude, struggled to understand her situation. “I appreciate the thought, but I’m sure your sister would be more than happy to teach you.” The thought crossed her mind that perhaps she was overstepping her bounds and encroaching on a point of contention in the student’s family affairs.
“If I wanted to learn how to sew dresses, she’s the obvious choice—” Sweetie Belle stomped her hoof. “—but I don’t! I want to learn magic—the good stuff. Rarity doesn’t even compare to having you as a teacher, Twilight.”
Twilight’s expression took a turn toward serious. “I’m happy to teach you, Sweetie, but I don’t want to cause any problems with you and your sister. Is there something you want to talk about?”
Sweetie Belle plopped her rump down on the deep-cushioned chair. “I don’t know…” She tossed her forelegs over her head as she fell back into the crevice between a pair of dull-beige throw pillows. “She’s always too busy taking care of work to spend time with me.” A hoof reached out from the pillow-chasm and pointed toward the window. “She’s at some stupid fashion show in Canterlot right now; wouldn’t even let me come with her—said I’d ‘be in her way’.” Her hoof made a gesture of air-quotes before sinking back into the pillow folds.
“I’m sure she didn’t mean that. Maybe she was stressed about a deadline?” Twilight walked over and patted the filly’s knee. “I know Rarity can easily lose sight of everything around her when she’s in the zone, as she calls it, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about you. I can have a talk with her when she gets back. Would that help?”
Sweetie Belle bolted upright. “No way! If she wants to make up for this, she’s gonna have to do it on her own. The last thing I need is everypony else getting involved.” Slumping over, she crossed her forelegs in front of herself and scrunched her face into a heavy pout. A small tear formed at the back of her eye.
Twilight embraced her student in a gentle side-hug. “Sweetie, I hope you know your sister loves you. She’s always telling me about how great you are. I think she’s just a little overwhelmed right now. Big sisters can get that way sometimes. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to spend time with you.” She gently stroked Sweetie’s mane as she worked to calm her agitation.
Sweetie Belle brushed off the hug and sniffed, trying to maintain her failing tough-filly façade. “I just wish she would talk to me—like this.” The tear escaped her eye socket and swam down her cheek followed by a few of its friends. “I wish I had you for a sister instead!” She buried her head in her hooves and let the tears rain.
Twilight was at a loss. Her relationship with her own brother wasn’t perfect, but she never felt abandoned when he eventually left her for the academy. Her studies kept her busy and helped her through the transition. Looking back, much of her life was spent mane deep in whatever book was close at hoof. She resolved to have a chat with Rarity as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
After relieving her beleaguered eyes of more than a few tears, Sweetie Belle raised her head. The matted hair of her damp cheek and bedraggled mane belied her usual cheery nature. “Can we just get on with the lesson?” Trying her best to reconstitute her face, she pulled a hoof across her cheek, wiping what little liquid she could further back along her neck and into her mane.
“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea, Sweetie. It sounds like you need to have a talk with Rarity before we do anything.” Twilight spun around and dropped onto a nearby couch, unsure of how to proceed.
Sweetie Belle hung her head. “I’m sorry, Twilight. It’s just been hard lately, what with all my friends being out of town. I wish I could have gone to Canterlot with Rarity is all.” She stood up and walked over to Twilight. Her light green eyes stared up at her stand-in teacher and would-be big sister, imploring not to take the magic lessons away from her as well. “Please, can you show me something—even something simple?”
Twilight looked down into the pleading eyes of the lonely filly. The request could be translated in a number of ways, but it most sounded like, I just need a friend right now. “Only if you promise to have a talk with your sister when she gets back.” Twilight turned up a corner of her mouth in a weak attempt at a smile.
“Deal!” Sweetie Belle cracked into a smile herself before taking off in a trot circling Twilight’s chair. “What are you going to show me today?” The somber distress of earlier melted away, forgotten. She danced about with renewed excitement, having keyed into her special passion for all things magic. All thoughts of Rarity fell from her mind as she awaited the pronouncement of her next lesson topic.
Twilight drew in a breath as if waiting for a drumroll signaling the pending delivery. “Teleportation!”
Sweetie Belle ceased her cavorting and slowly turned her head in the direction of her teacher. She fired up her horn and burst into nothing before magically reappearing behind Twilight. “But, Twilight—” she called out with each associated and successive relocation about the room “—I—already—know—how—to—teleport.” The last word she spoke came from her original position in front of the princess.
Twilight grinned as she followed the popping sparkles left by the randomly transporting filly. “Yes, but do you know how to track somepony else and follow in their teleporting hoofsteps?” Twilight fired up her own horn and disappeared in a sparkle of light.
Sweetie Belle looked around the room. “Twilight? Where did you go?” She teleported from couch to couch and chair to chair, ripping up the cushions in a vain attempt at finding her.
After a meager twenty seconds, Twilight reappeared. “Not so easy to find somepony when they don’t leave an actual trail of hoofprints to follow, is it?” Twilight giggled as she realized how Sweetie had been searching the couch cushions as if finding her was akin to fishing out a lost bit from the seat crevice.
“So is that the lesson for today?” Sweetie Belle looked thrilled as she bounced on a particularly fluffy couch cushion. “Are you going to show me how to track somepony who’s using a teleportation spell to get around?”
“I thought we’d make it into a game.” Twilight smiled over at her bemused pupil. “That way we can have some fun while we learn.” Anything to cheer up the little filly would be time well spent at this point, she reasoned.
“All right—sounds good to me. How do we play?” The idea of playing a game in order to learn accepted, Sweetie awaited further instruction. It didn’t hurt that her desires to expose more advanced skills in the art of teleportation tracking were also being fed.
Twilight conjured up a blindfold and placed it over Sweetie’s eyes. “First, we’re going to make sure you can’t cheat.” Twilight began casting her spell to teleport to the other side of the room. “Now, you can only use your magic to track my movement. Let’s give it a shot—try and track me!”
The princess vanished from her current spot next to Sweetie Belle and reappeared on the far side of the room. Enough distance separated them that she could avoid giving away her position while still being able to keep tabs on Sweetie’s progress. She watched as her pupil tried to work out the problem and find a way to use her own magic to track the magic of somepony else. The task still ranked as basic in the categorical alignment of study—any second year student in Canterlot would be well versed in its uses. For a beginner like Sweetie, the chance to learn a new skill was more than enough to keep her enthralled.
Sweetie Belle used her horn. The soft glow explored the area directly in front of her for any trace left behind by the previous occupant. She focused all her energy as she made her best imitation of a magic bloodhound. The scent was fresh, but to the untrained horn, it wasn’t all that recognizable. “Twilight, I don’t know what I’m doing here—could you give me a few pointers?”
Twilight flashed back to her previous position. “That was a good first attempt, Sweetie. Let me give you a clue and we’ll see where you go with it.” Sweetie propped up the blindfold as Twilight fired up her horn again. Twilight magically drew a scene of a bridge in the air between them. “When you teleport, you use your magic to create a bridge in time and space between two points. That bridge has a magical signature that’s all your own—it’s unique to every Unicorn. You must learn to recognize your own magical signature and then use it to compare with another.” Twilight’s starburst cutie mark symbol appeared on the bridgework as a spectral version of herself crossed the illustrative span.
“I think I understand.” The dawning realization of what she had been told brushed against her senses. A spark of light ignited an otherwise vacant space in her understanding. Sweetie was excited to take another crack at it, Twilight could see it in her eyes. “Let’s try it again.” She pulled the blindfold down over her eyes.
“All right. Go!” Twilight zapped herself back over to the corner of the room and waited. Watching closely, she kept a mental cheer running—come on Sweetie, you can do it.
Sweetie Belle brought her blunted horn’s magic to bear once more, this time, specifically searching for Twilight’s magic signature. She fumbled with the ebb and flow of the energy surrounding her. Remembering she needed to find her own magic signature first, she altered course, focusing then on the simple familiar. Pouring out from her horn, the essence of the filly’s magic penetrated the space between reality and imagination. The magical bridges that her own teleportation spells created were not hard to find. They had Sweetie Belle written all over them.
A grin the size of Twilight’s upon finding the castle’s secret library spread over Sweetie’s face. “I got it!” She had a reference point. “Now if I can just…” She peered further into the space beyond and between. Reaching out and holding up her known form in comparison, the hunt surged on. In the span of a few seconds, which seemed to stretch into minutes, she closed in on her second target.
Sweetie Belle focused all her energy on the curious, unfamiliar bridgehead. She blinked away, a hound having acquired the scent. Guiding her own teleportation spell through the corridor the foreign bridge left behind, she rapidly approached the tunnel’s end. Blinking back into existence, she took off her blindfold.
“I did it!” Sweetie Belle yelled as she swung around taking in the view of the castle throne room. Standing in the middle of the six towering crystal thrones of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, she felt rather small. Another, more miniature throne sat off to the side of one of the large seats. That one felt more her size. Unbeknownst to her, the passage to the secret library lay directly beneath her hooves.
Her split-color mane swung to the left and then back to the right as she continued to look around, sure that she had followed the right path. The idea that Twilight would be waiting there seemed rational enough. Looking up, she caught sight of her sister’s cutie mark solidly embedded in the great throne above. The flood of emotion returned. As she started to consider the possibility of a magical error in bringing her to this place, Twilight blinked into position beside her.
“That was great, Sweetie!” Twilight clapped her hooves together enthusiastically. “You’re starting to get the hang of it.” Her excitement directed at the blazing progress her student was making all but glazed over the plain look of hurt that had returned to Sweetie’s visage.
“But, you just showed up.” Sweetie Belle, showing a look of confusion, was bordering on tears all the same. “Did I do something wrong? Weren’t you supposed to be here already?”
“I was here, just a bit ago.” Twilight tried to suppress another giggle. “You just followed the wrong path.” Still oblivious to the true source of the filly’s pain, Twilight brushed off the reaction as happenstance.
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle replied.
Twilight composed herself. “When I first teleported away from the drawing room, I came here. The next two times, I only crossed to the far side of the room. When you found my magic signature, you didn’t check hard enough to compare how old it was with the other teleporting bridge points in the same general...” The image of Sweetie Belle in near tears finally clicked.
“So there’s a difference in magical time too?” Slumping to the floor, Sweetie Belle felt overwhelmed with all the new information added to the fact that she now, literally, sat in the shadow of her sister’s greatness.
“Yes, Sweetie, and you just had your first lesson in temporal magic theory too.” Twilight bent down and placed a hoof under Sweetie’s chin. She lifted her muzzle off the floor as she rubbed her cheek along the rivulets of still matted hairs that streaked the filly’s upper jawline. A gesture of compassion, if nothing else. “I think we outta get you home.”
“At least I’ll have something to tell Rarity when she gets back from Canterlot.” Sweetie Belle ventured a broken smile as she gazed up into the face of her teacher.
Sweetie Belle’s mother was a gentle soul. When told of the breakdown and breakthrough her daughter had just experienced, she tried to apologize for the inconvenience caused. Twilight assured her that, for the moment, everything was fine and Sweetie just needed some time alone. Once Rarity returned, the two sisters would have a much needed heart-to-heart chat. A number of small nodding bows and just as many supporting thank you’s accompanied the mare’s flustered concession to the princess as Twilight took her leave.
After a quick stop for lunch—a daisy sandwich from her favorite café—Twilight lit upon the terrace leading up to the main entrance of her castle. Looking back, a feeling of pride, as a teacher, filled her heart. Perhaps she felt something akin to her wise mentor, Celestia, as she considered the future that lay before her own student. The burden of that future now resonated within herself as path of teacher and student now intertwined, if only for a time. Unshouldering that thought and finding herself sporting a satisfied belly, she charged forward, ready to tackle her afternoon schedule.
The castle doors closed behind her with a wave of magic as she ventured toward her assistant waiting at the foot of the great staircase. Spike started speaking without being prompted, “You’ve got a ribbon cutting ceremony with the mayor at three, but other than that, your afternoon is wide open.” He checked the Twilight Time w/ Sweetie Belle item off his list before turning to head upstairs.
“That doesn’t sound right,” Twilight replied in a puzzled tone. “Don’t I normally have less free time than that?”
Spike arrested his movement and peered down at his schedule once more. “I guess it makes sense—all your close friends are out of town at the moment.” He feigned like he had finished his comment, but then began listing each of the pony’s names, counting them off on his claws as he went. “Rarity’s in Canterlot. Rainbow Dash is visiting Gilda up in Griffin’s Nest. Applejack is helping her cousin in Appleoosa—first big harvest of the season going on right now. Pinkie Pie is visiting her family’s rock farm. Fluttershy’s visiting her folks in Cloudsdale. And… that’s everypony right there.” Spike ran out of claws at the same time he finished counting off names of friends.
“When you put it like that, I guess I do spend a lot of time with them.” Twilight heaved a heavy sigh. “I guess I’ll just have to find something else to do while everypony is away.”
As if in answer to Twilight’s non sequitur, there came a knocking at the front door. Spike dropped his list and ran over to see who it was. He pried back the heavy door by a little over the width of an average pony’s girth and beckoned the town mailmare to enter.
“Derpy!” Twilight called out in humble surprise. “It’s so good to see you. How have you been?” The unexpected arrival caught her a little off-guard. She trotted over to her guest and gave her a friendly hug. As quickly as it began, the hug was over. “Won’t you come in and join us?”
Twilight tried to keep in touch with all the ponies in town that she could. Part of her duties as the resident princess included making special appearances where she was able to socialize a bit. Most of the time, however, she preferred to just sit back and have a nice chat with the particular ponies that meant the most to her. Derpy was one such friend. It had been at least a week since her last visit and Twilight was anxious to catch up with her.
“Sorry I haven’t been around much,” Derpy sounded like she was making some kind of an excuse for not visiting more often. “I’ve just been really busy with my job and taking care of my daughter.”
Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “No need to apologize—I’m just glad you came by. I’ve got a couple hours of free time and I can’t think of a better friend to share them with.”
“Actually, Twilight, I’m just here to deliver some mail.” Derpy looked sad as she shrugged off Twilight’s hoof. The uncharacteristically reserved mailmare began to dig through her bags that she had unceremoniously dropped on the floor between them. “I wish I could stay and chat, but I really have to finish my route and get back home.”
“What’s the matter?” Twilight flashed a look of concern. “You haven’t looked this glum since that chocolate rain cloud dropped a load of tears on everypony.”
“It’s nothing,” Derpy mumbled. “I just didn’t think being a mother would be so hard.”
Twilight probed deeper, “Is something wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?” Her recent session with another young filly served to heighten the severity of the situation.
Derpy’s expression changed as she put on a happier face. “It’s nothing like that… I just forget sometimes what really matters. It’s worth it. At the end of a long, hard day delivering mail, I get to go home and play with my little girl—I’m teaching her how to make muffins!”
A smile grew as Twilight worked to switch gears from therapist to friend. “You had me worried there for a bit,” She wiped a touch of perspiration that budded from her forehead before accepting the item that Derpy pulled from the bag and delivered into her waiting magical embrace.
“Maybe I can bring her by the castle sometime?” Derpy questioned as she picked up her mailbag and turned toward the door.
Twilight cordially replied, “You are both welcome to visit anytime you can—and thank you for the… umm… scroll.”
Twilight waved goodbye to her friend as Derpy exited through the crack in the front door, heading back into town to finish her route. Spike carefully closed the door in following. Floating the delivery into the drawing room, Twilight sat down in one of the over-sized, high-back chairs before opening it. Spike plopped down on a little seat at her side, ready to assist in any letter reading duties she may prescribe.
Her recent honorific being so new, Twilight stared down at the correspondence. It didn’t fully click that the message was, indeed, addressed to her. Instead, the words, Princess of Friendship, spelled out in flowery golden script, stared back at her, foreign and detached. A heavy wax seal imprinted with an unknown sender’s mark accompanied a bright red ribbon in holding the scroll wound.
Twilight used her magic to undo the ribbon and peel back the seal. It proved harder than it should have been to accomplish such a simple task. A common ribbon and wax seal normally came apart without difficulty. In this case, it felt like her magic had to do a little extra work to pry open the double lock as it were. A small flourish of remnant magic fell away as the message unfurled.
The stubbornly rigid parchment submitted to the bearer and Twilight began to read aloud: “Princess Twilight Sparkle, please excuse the abruptness of this message. You are hereby summoned to appear before The Guardian. Make your preparations as I will be there shortly to escort you on your journey. Signed, Servant to the Master”
Twilight had to read the message twice, another time silently to herself. First, because it was so short that she wanted to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Second, she found it incredibly lacking in detail. Reaching up to scratch her mane, she contemplated what the note could mean. It had certainly escaped her recollection to hear of anypony called The Guardian before. Why would she be summoned to appear before somepony she didn’t even know? More importantly, who was this Servant that was supposedly coming to escort her?
Spike stared up at Twilight. “What do you think it means?”
“Sounds like a joke to me.” She didn’t give it too much thought. Perhaps it was just one of her friends playing with her. She thought she recognized the hoofwriting from somewhere. It could very easily have been Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie playing a practical joke. Why else would such a silly request have come to her in the mail? Formal invitations usually arrived by dragonfire—not mailmare. She crumpled up the scroll and tossed it aside, determined not to let a silly prank ruin her mood.
Spike jumped up and went to retrieve the litter. “We have a trashcan, you know.”
“Sorry, Spike.” Twilight blushed a bit and returned to her thoughts of how to fill her afternoon schedule.
The rest of the day slipped by as Twilight found various ways to occupy her time. Some light reading and an inspection tour of the castle’s upper rooms did little to pass the time.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony went well, and she was able to spend most of the afternoon socializing with the townsfolk where she normally would have been rushing off to another friend’s aid. It did seem like her regular friends took up quite a bit of her time—even if they were completely worth it. The extra space gave her time to reflect on how much they all meant to her.
As the sun set on another day in Ponyville, Twilight returned to the castle that she tried to call home. As awkward as it still might seem, it was all she had. Getting into bed just as the sun set, she quickly fell asleep—something that wasn’t all that common of an occurrence for her. Maybe it was all the extra time she had to focus on herself—no rushing from one item to the next all day—that allowed her a bit of rest. Feeling like everything she needed to do had been accomplished, peaceful rest was a welcome friend and it that was all that mattered at the moment.
Spike shuffled across the way and plopped down on his own bed in the far corner of the bedroom. He whispered a gentle good night, Twilight before shutting his eyes and following her lead. Day passed into night as they drifted off to dreamland.