//------------------------------//
// The Filly and the Necronomicon 
// Story: Warmth of the Sun 
// by RoyalBardofCanterlot 
//------------------------------//

It was nearly evening in Equestria. The sun, guided by the Princess of the magical land, was long past its zenith. In the spired city of Canterlot, a purple unicorn filly had just finished up her lessons with the Sun Princess, Celestia. The Sun Princess was seated at her mahogany table looking over several documents related to Equestria's overly-complicated tax code. She had just finished teaching the unicorn prodigy she had taken under her wing and assumed that she had headed home for the weekend. Celestia sighed. Teaching Twilight was often the highlight of her day.

Twilight was so enthusiastic, so thirsty for knowledge and eager to please. She knew that lately Twilight had not been doing as well as she wanted to. She was still making excellent grades, but they had started to slip in a few subjects thought Twilight truly tried. Celestia had decided that the problem was Twilight had simply bitten off more than she could chew. She wanted to know every possible thing about magic, from levitation to divination to spirit-summoning.

Celestia, in turn, wanted to teach Twilight everything she could. She had pushed Twilight too far too fast and had gotten caught up in her student's enthusiasm. That meant she would have to cut Twilight's homework and coursework, although Twilight would cry and gnash her teeth about it. (What child complained about not being given enough homework?)

That decided, Celestia returned to the very boring paperwork in front of her. She almost hoped that Twilight would bounce in with one more question about how to create a sigil or summon the soul of Starswirl the Bearded. Celestia kept telling her that they would get to spirit-summoning once she passed the requisite divination exams, but that didn't stop her from asking.

Celestia smiled to herself as she thought of her rambunctious student. It was a welcome distraction from her duties to streamline the tax code. Trying to focus, she held up the incomprehensible paper with the jumbled numbers.

Equestria is getting rid of taxes on small businesses. I'll make the decree tomorrow. If I can't understand the tax code, how can an ordinary citizen?

She placed aside the paperwork and stretched out her wings. Then, she picked up another scroll in her golden aura. She picked up a pen and began to write out a strategy for a new, simplified tax code. Things had simply gone too far.

That's when the doors opened. Celestia looked up, startled. Two white-coated guards in glittering golden armor stood in the doorway. Twilight 
Sparkle stood between them, looking down at the ground.

Celestia stood. "Twilight? Lieutenant Star, Private Blade, what is all this about?"

The two guards saluted her. "We found her in the forbidden wing of the library."

Celestia looked down at Twilight, who refused to meet her gaze. "Twilight, is this true?"

Twilight looked down at the ground. Her lip trembled.

"Twilight. This is a very serious offense. Is it true?"

"Yes." She whimpered.

Celestia took a deep breath and tried to keep her calm. This could all be a big misunderstanding. "What was she looking at?"

Lieutenant Star spoke. "The Necronomicon, your highness."

The mask of calm shattered. "You were looking at WHAT?!"

Twilight whimpered. Celestia didn't care. "Twilight Sparkle! That book has been known to drive ponies to madness! Only higher level unicorns can look at it and only with protective runes!  I...your family...we could have lost you!" Twilight flinched at every word. Celestia paused. "Wait. The Necronomicon is locked at all times. How did she get in?"

"She knows a lock-picking spell."

Celestia once again turned her attention to Twilight.

"I sometimes sneak into the pantry. Sorry."

Celestia took more deep, calming breaths. "Take her to her room. She is to be confined there until further notice."

She didn't even look as Twilight was led away. She collapsed into her chair. Her first thought was to tell Twilight's parents and let them deal with it.

Even as she thought it, she realized she couldn't. Twilight's parents had entrusted her with teaching and caring for their daughter. This severe lapse in judgement had occurred under Celestia's watch. She was the one that had to deal with it.

She drummed her hoof on the table. She hated punishing ponies and left that up to the courts. Still, as a teacher she had been forced to discipline her students. Usually, that just mean giving them unpleasant tasks or revoking privileges. She had only rarely dealt out corporal punishment and had only spanked Twilight a few times when her tantrums got out of hoof. Her former student, Sunset Shimmer, had also gotten more than one trip across her knee.

It seemed that she would once more have to use a firm hoof with her. As soon as she calmed down. Celestia felt herself trembling. One other student had gotten a hold of the Necronomicon. That student had died in a foreign land, murdered by a rival and corrupted beyond all recognition. It had not been her personal student, but he had still gone to her school. After three centuries, she still felt that it was somehow her fault.

The fate that had befallen him would not happen to Twilight. Celestia would not allow it. Her parents had entrusted Twilight to her care and she would protect her, even if that meant protecting her from her own foolishness.

She still felt that she needed to calm down. A walk in the garden might cool her head. She stood, spread her wings and soared off of her balcony. From high up in the sky, the great city looked so small. She landed in the middle of the rose garden and began to trot along the stone path. The roses were blooming in shades of reds, yellow and orange. A cool wind blew and shook the flowers, spreading their perfume-like scent. The cool wind calmed her.
...
Twilight sat upon her bed, tears staining her lavender pillow. She had been crying on and off since being sent to her room at least two hours ago. Her supper had been sent to her, but Celestia hadn't come. Celestia hadn't even looked at her as she'd been led away. Did she intend to leave her in the room forever? Or was she only planning on an appropriate punishment?

Twilight knew she had done something really bad. She knew it was bad when she was doing it. Of course, she hadn't known that the book could drive ponies insane. It just looked like an ordinary book. It had been chained, which should have worried her. Still, her curiosity had over ridden her common sense.

The thought of punishment plunged her mind into a whirlpool of panic. Considering how serious the offense was, there had to be a serious punishment to go along with it. She shivered at the thought, fear clouding her mind and her eyes filled again with tears. Celestia must hate her now or that's what it seemed like.

She must have been trying to decide where to banish her to, Twilight decided. Or maybe she would make her parade through the streets while everypony threw tomatoes at her. Or maybe she would throw her in a dungeon.

Or maybe she would parade her through the streets and then banish her and then throw her into a dungeon in the place she banished her to! 

She would never see Celestia or Shining Armor or her parents or her favorite study buddy Moondancer ever again! She threw her head down onto the pillow and started crying.

After a few moments of this, she stopped. If she were going to be banished, as she certainly was going to be, she needed to pack. She got off the bed and began taking books off her shelves, packing them away in a travel bag she kept in her closet. It was the same travel bag she'd taken when she'd first moved into the castle. She began to methodically stack the books according to subject.

She picked up another bag and continued the task. Each book was connected to a memory, a lesson from the princess, all the things she had learned in her year as Celestia's student. There was her first levitation book which she and Celestia had read over. It was worn and dog-eared. 

Twilight remembered falling asleep with her face between the book's covers and Celestia's wing on her back.

There was the divination book which she had read long into the night. Her mother had had to drag her away from it so she would go eat her supper. Between its pages was her first divination test. Celestia had given her an A and written that she had done an excellent job. Twilight held the book to her chest before putting it in the back.

Twilight smiled as she picked up a Daring Do book Celestia had gotten her as a reward for passing her first exam. She wiped at her eyes. She was going to miss this place.
...
Celestia strode down the alabaster halls of her palace. After taking an extended walk in the garden and being socially obligated to have a conversation with a noble she had bumped into, she felt that she was finally calm enough to discipline her wayward student calmly and rationally.

She paused at the door to Twilight's room, catching the sound of sobbing. Celestia winced and opened the door. Twilight was on her bed, her face buried in the pillow. Travel bags were all around the bed and the shelves were bare.

When Twilight noticed Celestia coming into the room she looked up and then threw herself at the Princess, wrapping her forearms around her. Celestia wrapped her up in her wing, obeying an instinct to stroke her mane in an attempt to soothe her.

"I'm so sorry, Princess! I'm sorry I made you hate me! Please don't throw me in a dungeon in the place you banish me to!"

Celestia held Twilight close. "Twilight, Honey, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. And I'm certainly not going to banish you."

Twilight wiped at her eyes. Celestia pulled out a chair from a desk and sat down, holding Twilight in her lap. "But I do have to punish you. You understand that don't you? What you did was very wrong and I have to make you understand that."

Twilight nodded, seeming to have calmed down. "I-I already got a time-out."

"Yes, but I'm going to spank you."

Twilight looked up at her in confusion. "But I always get a spanking before a time-out, not after."

"There's no official checklist for disciplining foals."

Twilight blinked. "There's not?"

Celestia bit her lip to keep from giggling at Twilight's adorableness. "Alright, let's get this over with."

She gently bent Twilight across her knees. Then, she rested a hoof over her back and raised her hoof. Twilight let her hooves hang loose as Celestia's hoof came down upon her behind. Twilight jumped slightly as three more smacks fell in rapid succession. As Celestia landed the fifth spank, Twilight instinctively kicked her legs.

Celestia paused and tightened her grip around Twilight's middle. She continued landing hard spanks to Twilight's rump, peppering both the left and right side of her flanks. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut as Celestia continued smacking her bottom. Celestia continued the spanking, peppering the little pony's posterior with stinging swats.

Celestia counted the swats as she landed them on Twilight's bottom. Twilight occasionally squirmed as a particularly hard series of smacks fell on her rump. "You mustn't do this again, Twilight, understand?" She punctuated each word with a spank. Her bottom was taking on a pinkish tone. "Understand?"

"Yes, Princess!"

Celestia finished the spanking with five firm swats to Twilight's behind. Twilight whimpered and Celestia began rubbing the small of her back before gathering her up in an embrace with her wings. Twilight nestled into her chest and Celestia nuzzled her.

"I-I just wanted you to be proud of me." Twilight whimpered, throwing her hooves around Celestia's chest.

Celestia rubbed soothing circles into the small of her back. "Proud of me? What do you mean?"

Twilight looked up at her."I-I know you were disappointed in me when I failed that test."

"Failed a test? You mean that B-?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. I thought if I mastered a really advanced spell you'd be proud of me."

The logic train jumped right off the tracks and Celestia couldn't follow it. "I'm always proud of you, my most faithful student. I wasn't disappointed in you, I was disappointed in myself. I pushed you too far, gave you too much work because I thought you could handle it. I promise I won't do that again."

Twilight sniffled and nuzzled the Princess. "I promise I'll never sneak into the restricted section again."

"Good." Celestia held her close, wiping away what remained of her tears with a feather.

Twilight nuzzled closer to her warmth and Celestia realized she was starting to fall asleep. "Twilight? Twilight?"

Twilight was struggling to keep her eyes open. It was no wonder she was tired after the day she'd had, Celestia thought to herself. "Do you want to stay here tonight? I'll send a letter to your parents explaining things."

Her eyes widened. "Don't tell them what I did. I don't wanna get another spanking-or they might even take away my library card!"

"I'm sure you're parents wouldn't punish you again, but I won't tell them." Celestia said.

"Will you stay with me for a little while?" Twilight asked.

"Of course."

Twilight closed her eyes and leaned into her. Celestia levitated a pen and scroll, writing to Twilight's parents that Twilight had been tired after her lessons and would be going home tomorrow. After ordering a guard to take the message she laid Twilight on the bed and laid down next to her faithful student.