//------------------------------// // LP29: The Fifth Season [Slice of Life?] // Story: Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts // by HoofAndQuill //------------------------------// The Prompt: The fifth season. This ended up somewhat mopier than intended. Oh well. Here's hoping Season Five starts as strong as Four did! Princess Celestia sipped at her tea in the comfortable silence of her private study. Every pony needed a place where they could be alone from time to time, and Princess Celestia knew that nopony, short of her sister and possibly Twilight Sparkle, would interrupt her here even if Canterlot were burning to the ground. Here, she could sit on her nice, plush cushion, and sip at her hot, imported tea, and nopony would bother her. As she enjoyed the peaceful serenity of her little room, her eyes by chance caught on an old photograph on a nearby table. With a smile, Celestia lit her horn and brought the framed picture over closer. The image showed Twilight Sparkle, the day she earned her cutie mark, standing next to Princess Celestia with a look of shell-shocked amazement and wonder. Celestia couldn't help but let out a small giggle at the sight of the little filly. It had been the end of one stage of Twilight's life; her youthful, directionless days of foalhood, and the beginning of her schooling. Celestia almost regretted that she hadn't known Twilight before that day. She had heard stories, of course, from Twilight's parents, much to the horror of the over-anxious filly. Twilight always seemed to slightly resent stores of cute mistakes, bubbling foalish laughter, of imagined adventures with her brother, all the sorts of day to day things that young ponies always did. The story of Twilight's cutie mark was special to Celestia, of her first time seeing the Summer Sun Celebration, her immediate springing forth into magical study, and her parents' fateful choice to enroll her in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Now that she tried to recall, Celestia's own foalhood seemed distant and faded. It was certainly distant, in any case. The young Twilight Sparkle's life had certainly changed the day the photo was taken. With a thought and a spark of her horn, Celestia opened a small wooden chest she kept, and several small momentos hovered over to her. More photographs, old, faded school assignments in foalish hornwriting, hoof-made clay cups and other odds and ends... all painted a picture of Twilight's early years as Celestia's student. Celestia was, current ruminations excluded, a very busy pony. Even with as promising a student as Twilight Sparkle had been, even with the knowledge of what Twilight's unique cutie mark may mean, she could not devote her entire life to tutoring an apprentice. Twilight Sparkle had spent this second portion of her life in a school attended by many other unicorns, each growing, and learning, and meeting other ponies as they did. Though the latter did always seem to slip by unnoticed for Twilight. Still, in their weekly visits and training, Princess Celestia had been able to see how happy and excited the growing filly was. Each new lesson and every new excellent grade only seemed to bolster her confidence as a mage, and as a scholar. Of course, time did march on. After spring comes summer. Eventually, Twilight had to leave her school, graduating with highest honors to the surprise of exactly nopony. Her guided apprenticeship had continued, of course. Twilight Sparkle, for lack of more powerful wording, was special. She was unique, even among Celestia's other students. She glowed with life, with promise, and with curiosity. It was more difficult than Celestia would ever admit to send this young mare away, to live in Ponyville. Celestia had known even at the time that it would seem almost a punishment to Twilight, at least at first. But it had lead to what Celestia hoped were the best years of her life, thus far. Without even thinking, Celestia pulled over the stack of scrolls that lay lovingly tended to on a nearby table. 'Friendship reports', so called by Twilight and her friends. Those exciting first steps of Twilight's into this new world of friendship and camaraderie. Meeting new ponies, learning the intricacies of interpersonal relationships, and suffering the trials and tribulations of the dangerous times that came with it. More than just Equestria-ending threats such as Nightmare Moon and Discord, the stories of Twilight's mistakes and foibles in the safety net of her burgeoning friendships were what Celestia most treasured. In every word of the pages before her was a picture of the young, naive mare, finding her way through the difficult path ahead of her. The letters from her friends were no less telling. The same mark of exploration and learning was on each and every letter, and Celestia could not help but smile at the stories as she skimmed through the parchments. Though time did march on, and after summer would come the fall. Her smile still didn't fade. In truth the autumn, so to speak, had started before the first letter. The defeat of Nightmare Moon had brought about a great number of wonderful changes for Equestria, more than the average citizen knew. But it had also begun something that now could not be stopped. The Elements of Harmony had been claimed by Twilight and her friends, and their connection to the previous bearers had been broken. They could not be restored. Celestia did not like to admit weakness. It was a failing she and her sister shared. But she felt that even Twilight Sparkle, in her endless and unstoppable hero worship, had to have noticed that Celestia was waning. Perhaps she could be forgiven for not directly facing Nightmare Moon again, or for staying a distance from the released Discord. But falling to the queen of the changelings? Skirting actual combat with the wight that had once been King Sombra? Being abducted by plunder vines? Being thrown into Tartauros by Tirek? These things would not have happened only a few short years ago. Already, and especially in the light of her recently grown castle and new title, Twilight Sparkle was learning that she did not truly need her former teacher and mentor guiding her every step. She was coming into her own as a young mare, and as a princess. Already she felt comfortable disagreeing with Princess Celestia, at least when pressed, and she made her own plans, and improvised her own actions. This was a good thing, as after the fall would come the winter. It wasn't hubris or vanity to say that Twilight Sparkle, and indeed Equestria as a whole would soon suffer a sort of winter. For any other pony, it might be a bit of an overstatement. But Princess Celestia knew very well her position in Equestria, and she knew that when she... Princess Celestia knew that her permanent absence from Equestria would cause difficulty. She didn't like to think of the time that was approaching all too rapidly. Princess Celestia calmly placed her beloved keepsakes and mementos back into their boxes and covers, setting them aside again, safe and secure, and hidden from sight. Aside from that one image, with the young filly Twilight Sparkle, in awe next to her mentor. There would be a time of darkness, a winter of sorts. But Celestia hoped, rather, Celestia knew that there would be a rebirth. A new year, a new start for Equestria, and for Twilight Sparkle. She would be there, in some way, to see it happen. Princess Celestia had watched and guided Twilight Sparkle as she grew from an excitable but somewhat reclusive little filly into a responsible and well-respected mare, and she had every confidence in her student and friend's continued success in every trouble she was faced with. Princess Celestia sipped at her tea in the comfortable silence of her private study. The small clack of the picture frame as she set it down to the desk again served as a place to end her ruminations. Celestia smiled at the photograph, and then stood slowly, before donning her regal, calm, maternal demeanor and rejoining the rest of Canterlot Castle.