//------------------------------// // IV: The Princess's Apprentice // Story: The Misadventures of the Renegades // by reading is magic //------------------------------// Scream. It was to suddenly cry out in a loud and high voice because of pain, surprise, or in this case, fear. As the renegades’ velocity increased with each second passing, Frost Bite’s screams became louder than ever. And it certainly was hurting Sing Song’s ears. By the time they crashed, she would be deaf. That was, if they even manage to survive. Flying at a speed only Wonderbolts would know, Sing Song gripped hard at Frost Bite’s horn. It amazed her how she could hold on for long. “Frost Bite!” Sing Song called out “AHHHHHHHH!” was the only sound that registered as a reply from her cowardly friend. “FROST BITE!” Frost Bite stopped screaming, leaving her mouth open. “Do something!” “Like what!?” “I don’t know, turn into a pony!” So Frost Bite did. After a flash of green, he turned into his pony self. “Not a unicorn, you raisin brain! Pegasus!” “Right!” Another zap of green light, and Frost Bite looked the same as ever. “What the hay, Frost Bite!?” “I’m a Pegasus! No problem!” Frost Bite said as he flapped his new wings. “Glide! Control the fall!” Even though Frost Bite knew she can’t even fly properly, he extended his wings against the punishing winds which only proved to be futile. “I can’t!” “Just try!” And try as he might, their speed made it impossible to actually gain control of their flight. “The wind is too strong! I can’t control it!” “So you’re just going to let us die!?” Before Frost Bite could even reply, he saw the quickly approaching tower in front of them. He knew they will crash into it, like a bug squashed into a speeding carriage. As a parent and child walk down the road in Canterlot, the child looked up to the sky out of boredom and lo, he saw what seems to be a miracle. “Look, ma! A shooting star!” A little colt tugged his parent. “Son, there are no stars in the day. It’s early morning.” The mother patted her child in the head. “But ma! Look!” “Oh child, this is-” And so her jaw dropped as she saw the sailing shining sparkle across the sky. “Dear Princesses! It’s a shooting star!” “Told you, ma!” “Princess Luna has blessed our day!” The mother picked up her child and hugged him. Though the child was happy to see the star, he couldn’t seem to shake off the thought that he heard the said star to be screaming… Princess Luna just woke up—still feeling a bit sleepy and wanting to go back to slumber—but decided against it. She's a princess after all; she should spend time wisely and be an example, like her sister. Princess Luna stood up and went through the balcony doors. The sun was rising and Princess Luna gazed upon her sister's work as she placed her hoof on the balcony railing. She couldn’t help but feel a bit useless. Then, she let out a big sigh. Her sister Celestia raised the sun and Luna herself raised the moon. And Luna's responsibilities ended there. Her sister, however, had seemingly endless list of them. Politics, leader, counsel, prime representation of Equestria itself and more, etcetera etcetera... Princess Luna knew that can't be helped; she did just have gotten free from her dark past. Or one could say, she just got out of jail, and just like any other prisoners, time moved on even while she was in captivity. There was no escaping time, and while she was gone, Princess Celestia became what Equestria needed and wanted. And Princess Luna? She was just an extra. Or so she so thought herself. At least in politics. So much of the laws have changed, and there were simply too much new ones to learn. While it would take a lifetime of studying to master them, she'd rather do something in the present. Other than politics, there wasn’t much. She did went on the Nightmare Night at Ponyville; it was her chance to actually learn about her ponies and the norms they have. While it was weird for her to celebrate a holiday about herself eating children and only appeased when given candy, her attendance was still a success. With the help of her saviors Twilight Sparkle and her friends, she gained the heart and trust of the little Ponyville. Without them, ponies would have been kneeling whenever she passed through. With her success at Ponyville, she thought she could recreate her success at other places. Needless to say, it was hard for her to actually do it herself; convincing ponies she's not Nightmare Moon was no easy task. So while the world still feared her (which in contrary, she was actually popular, and had fans all over), it made her think what she can actually do. Her sister had done a number of feats; first and foremost, running a nation. Second was raising her own student and even bring the said student to princess hood. Who could beat that!? Also, she brought sun AND moon in the sky during her absence. Raising the moon was already tiring, but both sun and the moon? When does Celestia ever get her sleep...? Princess Luna's body slumped into the railing and her muzzle laid flat on it. She let out another sigh. What must I do? And then, a star twinkled in the middle of the morning sky. Was it a sign? A guide from the heavens? It was very unusual to see such a star shine so bright under sunlight. So rare that the star seems to be coming closer... Wait, what? And as the star comes closer, a sound emanated, and as it came closer, the more it sounded like screams. What is going on? Princess Luna took a step back and observed the oncoming object. It seemed to have specifically targeted her. Perhaps it was an attack? A threat? Whatever it was, she must capture the projectile; she could learn more that way. She lit up her horn and created a special barrier around her. The magic was a field of suspension aura, stopping anything caught in it like they have been paused in time. The only thing left to do for the princess of the night was to brace for impact. And… silence. The barrier was made to make no sounds, so no booms or whatever there. Thought you’d hear a weird beam sound or some sort of magic funky tune? Ha, no. You get nothing. Princess Luna looked at her newly caught thing. Oh, it’s a pony…. Unicorn? No, pegasus? No… An alicorn. An alicorn!? The princess observed the caught pony even more carefully, and to her relief, the pony was a unicorn. But for a second back there, she saw an alicorn. It was clear, and her eyes weren’t lying to her. Then where were her wings just now? This blue pony obviously had them, but looking at her now, she was just an ordinary unicorn. What did that mean? What if it’s a sign? A sign for what, she asked herself. What if this pony… was to be her apprentice?! Yes, her sister did have a student, but this one was too old for the task. Could this pony be actually…? Frost Bite felt a weird sensation around her. To him, it felt like being in midair, but he was not flapping his wings, so he knew he was sort of floating or levitating. Of course, the answer was obviously Princess Luna's magic, but his eyes were shut tight, waiting for the indescribable pain that was supposed to come. Am I dead? Was that it? Well, that was painless. Frost Bite slowly opened one of his eyes, curious to how afterlife finally looked like. He was expecting all white place with a booming voice that probably represented an almighty being, but instead he was greeted by a dark-blue winged unicorn, grinning at him. Frost Bite wasn't sure which one was more surprising; his expectation or reality. Well, what better way to know than to actually ask. “Am I dead?” was the simple question Frost Bite asked.. The azure unicorn/pegasus seemed unfazed at her statement and gave instead rather an over enthusiastic response. “Fear not! Thou art safe in our care. Oh, thou art the one!” The pony lowered him from her magic barrier. Frost Bite observed the pony before him. She was a tall unicorn with wings and had wavy mane, like really wavy and sparkled like the night sky. Her smile so bright that it made Frost Bite feel a bit unsafe. After all, who said this pony isn't insane? Sing Song wasn’t moving from his head, which worried him. "Ah yes! Thou- I mean, you must be a student of magical arts, right?" Frost Bite was forced to smile, still not sure who was the pony before her, uh him. Better not disappoint the loony. "Yes, ma'am. I, uh, came from a school from, uh, Badlands. I am the top student there!" Frost Bite can only chuckle forcefully after that sentence. "The Badlands? I have not heard of an academy in such a place," the azure unicorn/pegasus said, raising her eyebrows. Then she returned to her happy face. "Oh, that does not matter! I haven't even heard of Ponyville when I came back." "So, ma'am-" "Please, call me Luna!" "Luna, what-" "Oh yes, you must tell me! What are you currently studying? Is it a specialized magic? Like friendship?" Frost Bite scrambled his head for an answer. What magic? I can barely lift a barrel! Wait, what kind of magic is friendship? The thought gave him an idea... "The theory of... Happiness...?" "Oh, what wonderful subject! I am sure that my sister will be delighted that I have found you! Why, you came right to me! Surely you are looking for my guidance?" One thing's for sure; this pony Luna was very excited. Way too excited, maybe, but she seemed nice, so Frost Bite thought he might as well go along with it. "Why yes, Luna. I am pretty sure you will guide me to the best of my studies," Frost Bite said with utmost perfect. Might as well act the part. "Then it is decided! Starting today, you shall be under my apprenticeship!" She turned around and started to walk toward the door but then stopped and turned around again. "I am terribly sorry, but I have not asked thy name." "You may call me Frost Bite," he said in a way royalty does. Maybe I'm overdoing it? "Well then Frost Bite, we must get things settled before we officially begin your apprenticeship. Come along, my faithful student." Frost Bite knew he might get busted for not actually being a student of magic, but he knew he cannot exactly back out now, so he bowed to Luna. "Yes, ma'am," he replied. For the next hours, Frost Bite had to fill up a bunch of papers he didn't know were needed for such apprenticeship. He could not even fill up some of the items on the papers, like who his parents were. He couldn't just write Her Majesty's name on the paper; that's asking for punishment. So had to guess false names. For his dad, Freeze Blast was what he wrote—which sounded a bit like a superhero name. For his mom, he wrote Ice Heart. Close enough to his true parent, he thought. But of course, how could he forget about Sing Song. She was still passed out, and when he checked again, she still was asleep. He decided to leave her in his mane for a while. And so he finished the papers. He never thought he would come to hate writing, but at that moment, he didn't want to write anything else. This reminded him of his journal that left it at Mango Jill's balloon along with his other stuff. He missed his journal, but he didn't want to write on it for now. "Excellent!" said Luna, seeing her new protégé was done. "Now we can test your magic capabilities! Come now." After a few minutes of walking, they enter a wide and tall room, which was like, every room there. This room however had a square platform that occupied the middle of the room. While Frost Bite was really impressed by the interior decor of the building, he could not appreciate it enough since he had to keep up with his new mentor’s fast pace. "Well then, we will begin with the basics! I know, for veteran magic users such as us would have no need for it, but I do believe in warming up for the main objective." "Of course, Luna." Frost Bite spoke like he knew whatever she was saying, but if their magic session was more than levitation, he knew he will probably be busted. For that reason, he was really, really sweating a lot. "We will start with levitation!" Frost Bite sighed in great relief. Okay, I can do this. Luna levitated a pair of mannequins out of a cabinet on the very right of the room and placed them in the platform on the middle. "The main objective is to levitate the manikins without faltering for two minutes. I know, this must be boring, but we must do so! Begin whenever you’re ready.” Luna went to the side of the square and sat down. And Frost Bite stepped onto the platform. Two minutes? While it sounded simple enough, he was worried the manikins might weigh heavier that they look. Well, I got myself into this mess. Frost Bite levitated the pair of mannequins with ease. They were light, much to his relief. Levitation was a breeze for him since he had done it with a pair of sandwiches. To actually think that that weird act could be useful in this… Two minutes later, Frost Bite lowered the manikins. Luna clapped her hooves joyfully. “Excellent, my little pony! Onto the next test!” Luna returned the manikins to the cabinet. “Now, we shall review… teleporting!” Oh dear. He knew this is going to be a problem; no one in their Hive could teleport, not even the Queen. It was weird for him that the Queen could not even do it, though she did have great magical prowess. Maybe the Her Highness never found it useful? “Are you alright, my little pony?” Luna asked. “You seem to be sweaty.” Of course he was. This was impossible for him. How could I get through this? There’s no denying that unicorns use this magic pretty often. How? How!? “I, uh, don’t know.” “I’m sorry?” “I don’t know how to teleport.” “Nonsense! An overachiever such as you should not be intimidated by a simple task. Perhaps you hit your head as you sailed your way into my balcony?” Luna teleported in front of Frost Bite, and he was really impressed by that. “Alright, perhaps I should remind you how.” Luna’s horn glowed in blue hue and she approached Frost Bite. She then tapped her horn into his. Frost Bite then felt something entering his mind. No, it was like an old memory resurfacing from being forgotten. Luna released her horn from his. Frost Bite remembered something. In his mind, the steps of teleportation floated. It was a bizarre experience, to remember something he was not familiar with; the instructions of teleport became etched on his mind. “I do believe this should suffice?” Before he even realized, Luna had teleported back to her seat. “Now make me proud!” Frost Bite wasn’t sure what had just happened. His mind suddenly had information on how to teleport! It was exciting for him since he had never tried this before, but also scared since he had never tried this before. Failing would disappoint Luna and she might suspect him, so he could not screw this one up. According to the instructions given to him, he should look to the target location, and imagine himself placing his hooves on that location. Sounds simple enough. Well, here goes nothing. Frost Bite closed his eyes and imagined stepping on the farther part of the platform. With that, he activated his horn. Did it work? Frost Bite slowly opened his eyes. Oh dear Hives, I did it! He managed to go from the center to the edge of the platform. He did little jumps over his new found ability. Wow, I know something that the Queen doesn’t! “I knew you could do it! Now do it five times in a row, and we’ll call it a day.” Frost Bite froze. Five times? In a row? Oh dear. Can I do it? His mind began to panic and he started to sweat. He gulped and looked at the platform. According to his handy instructions, it was the same as single teleport. He just had to do it while remember all locations. Frost Bite looked at different points in the platform, closed his eyes again and started to imagine his hooves touching each location. Frost Bite opened his eyes. He was in the same location as he was. Oh no, I failed. His mind panicked and began planning for escape routes, though there is only one escape route which was the door they entered from. “Bravo! Bravo!” Luna clapped her hooves louder than before. “Spectacular, Frost Bite! Not many ponies can actually teleport several times.” Wait, I actually did teleport? So I just returned to his position? A smile formed on his face. Frost Bite realized he could actually teleport not only once, but five times in a row. It was a feat only he had done, a feat that no other changeling can! The thought filled him with excitement. “Ah yes, it is lunch already,” Luna said, observing the clock above the room. “Come now, Frost Bite. We must attend to our daily nutrition.” Frost Bite decided to redirect his excitement to food. After all, both things were worth getting excited for. Ah, lunch. Now that was something Frost Bite looked forward to for today. He didn’t even notice that he had skipped breakfast doing paperwork and basic magic. At least he could eat to his heart’s content. He noticed Luna was pretty wealthy, having guards in uniform at almost every door they passed by in the hallways and not to mention, the place was huge. Each room had a chandelier, fancy wall décor and other stuff that Her Highness would had liked. This place kind of looked like Canterlot Castle. Frost Bite had never been to the castle though, just pictures from a magazine he found when he visited Canterlot during the invasion. Luna seemed to be very happy, as she always was since he met her. Maybe she really wanted a student? Few minutes later, they arrived at a dining room that had a really long fancy table with fancy cushions. This feels like royalty. The guards opened the doors for them. “Come, let us sit,” Luna said as she sat down. Frost Bite sat down next to her without hesitation. He felt the cushions were so comfy he could sleep on them; it made him wonder if he could take them. “Frost Bite, you are absolutely fantastic! I mean, we haven’t done anything else than the basics, but I’m very certain you will astound me even more with your academics.” “Uh, of course, Luna. Academics.” Oh boy. “Or perhaps you prefer practical magic? I do prefer activities done by our horns rather than paper.” Their conversation was interrupted by sound of opening doors. A white unicorn/pegasus entered the room, her mane flowing like water with iridescent colors. Much like Luna, she was very tall and had longer snout. She was breathtaking for Frost Bite. “Hello, my dear sister,” the white one said. Even her voice sounded majestic to Frost Bite. “Oh? I didn’t know we had a guest.” “Celly, you will not believe what had happened this morning!” Luna surely was very excited. “Perhaps you can start by telling me who is your friend here?” The tall pony named Celly sat down across them. “Celly, this is my personal student, my protégé, my apprentice, Frost Bite!” Frost Bite can only bow his head, blushing. “Your student? My, I didn’t know you took students, sister.” Celly’s face was of wonder. “Yes, even I thought so. But Frost Bite, she is a very promising unicorn, I must say.” Frost Bite zoned out on their conversation. He just stared at Luna’s sister. She was just so graceful, so caring, and so… majestic. Her voice was like music to him that he could listen to all day. Is this what they call a crush? He never had a crush, since he had always confused the genders of ponies whenever he saw them, but Celly was different. She just radiated kindness and beauty. “Frost Bite, are you listening?” Luna asked. “What? Oh, yes, I mean, yes.” “My sister was just wondering about your research on happiness. Perhaps you can tell us something about it?” Happiness? What are they talking about? Oh right. He did mention the theory of happiness; His little lie to convince Luna earlier. What was he supposed to say? What is Happiness? How do you even research happiness? Come on, think. Before Luna could even press him further, ponies entered the room, carrying silver trays. The ponies placed the food before each pony on the table and left the room. “We can talk about it later,” Celly said. “I am pretty famished from doing all my work since morning.” “Very well.” It was a close call for Frost Bite. He silently thanked the ponies who brought food to their table and looked at the grub served before him; it was salad of many varieties of vegetables. He had never seen this many vegetables in one bowl. It made his stomach growl, and his head down onto the food. Frost Bite relished every single bite. As he was munching loudly, Luna only stared at her student. Celly only giggled at the sight. Frost Bite looked up, chewing his last bite and noticed the sisters staring. “What?” he asked. "Oh, it is nothing," said Celly. Lunch proceeded without any sound while Frost Bite's munched noisily. The sisters were done, but Frost Bite still wanted more. "Will there be dessert?" he asked. "Of course," Celly said. "Just ring for the waiter and tell him what you want." Anything? Frost Bite's mind began exploring for dessert that he wanted, but was simply too many to choose from. Ice cream? Fruit salad? Oh! How about cake? But what kind of cake? Maybe simple chocolate cake? But what about Black Forest cake? Seeing that Frost Bite was distracted with dessert, Princess Celestia smiled. "Luna," she called. "What is it?" she replied with a joyful face. "May I speak with you for a moment?" "But of course." They left the room, telling Frost Bite they'll be back. "Well Luna," Princess Celestia said. "I did not know you wished to be a teacher yourself. Where did you find this little pony?" "Ah, I'm glad you asked!" Princess Luna exclaimed. "You see, she directly went to me at my balcony this morning. I am not sure how she managed to propel herself into the balcony, but I saw a sign, sister. A sign that she may be the next one!" "Pardon me, but the next what exactly?" "The next princess!" If Princess Celestia was drinking tea, she would have spit it on Luna's face. "Sister, what exactly did you see back then?" "An image of what she will become! She was sailing through the skies. When I caught her this morning, I saw Frost Bite, I saw her with wings! But then when I looked again, she is but a unicorn." Princess Celestia can't help but ponder at her statement. She 'caught' her? Princess Celestia was pretty sure visions important as a new princess didn’t come like this. They came in dreams and prophecies. And then, she remembered Twilight's letter this morning. It was about a changeling in Ponyville that Twilight's friend, Pinkie Pie sent flying away through a cannon. Soon, the dots connected in her mind, and then, a smile formed on her face.