Every being has their own way of dealing with stress. Some ponies drown their anxiety in hard cider, others with food and still others tend to rely on more… untraditional methods. Even Twilight Sparkle had her own failings when it came to stress, something all of her friends and neighbors could attest to on numerous occasions. It showed from various experiments the alicorn had conducted over the past few years from hopping fruits to magically conjured facial hair.
Sunset and Starlight were watching with mixes of amusement and worry as Twilight darted about the library. The lavender alicorn was muttering under her breath as she read her notes on arcane matrices before running to the other side, weaving the threads of magic into the proper patterns and casting them before returning to her notes, frantically shuffling through them.
“Is she… normally like this?” Starlight asked, casting a worried glance at Sunset who was chewing thoughtfully on a cookie. The amber unicorn looked at Starlight with a confused expression, giving a half-hearted shrug and a muffled response that sprayed crumbs across the floor.
“S-sorry bout that,” Sunset apologized, brushing a few crumbs off her muzzle with a sheepish grin. Digging into her bag, she held up a pair of cookies with a frown before offering one to the unicorn beside her. “I said I was going to ask you that. You are the one living with her after all as a student.”
“I’ve never seen her like this… I mean, I’ve heard the stories from the others but to see it in person is… another thing entirely....” Starlight accepted the proffered cookie, breaking it in half and idly chewing on it thoughtfully. “I understand her stress, I suppose. The exams are in three days and it is a very important one, isn’t it?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“So why aren’t you nervous? You’re not going into study frenzy like Twilight is. You just read a few books when you got here, cast a few spells, but otherwise you’ve spent more time wandering the town and visiting with ponies...” Starlight swallowed her mouthful of cookie and looked at Sunset with a concerned look, her brow furrowing in worry.
The amber unicorn was taking a deep drink of milk as Starlight spoke, holding up a hoof to forestall any reply as she swallowed. Setting the empty glass down and wiping her muzzle, Sunset offered an embarrassed smile at Starlight. “To be honest, I’m a little nervous but… I learned that when it’s something you’ll eventually have to face, the most you can do is prepare and hope for the best. Compared to saving another dimension twice, stealing an Element of Harmony, and the other things I’ve done, I’m sure a test for the chance to become Princess’ Luna’s student will be a welcome reprieve.”
“But weren’t you Princess Celestia’s student?” Starlight questioned as Twilight tripped on a scroll, stumbling a bit and her books dropping to the floor with several loud thuds. “Won’t Princess Luna’s different teaching methods be difficult to adapt to? If you do succeed, I mean…”
Sunset shrugged. “I’ve got six teachers a day in the other world. You adapt to different teaching methods rather quickly if you want to stay afloat. The same thing applies here if I do somehow manage to make it through the stringent tests they’ll no doubt have us do.”
“And how do you think the other ponies participating will fare?” Starlight asked, nibbling on her cookie as Twilight finally stopped her pacing and breathed deeply, raising her hoof and pushing it away from herself before attending to the mess before her. The pair watched in silence as the alicorn quietly began reshelving her books, her body settling down as she attended to her tomes.
“Honestly? I expect that most of them won’t know what a royal tutelage is like…”
* * *
There was the slam of a plate on the table that had been set outside of Sugarcube Corner and the excited chattering came to a stop as Pinkie’s eyes narrowed at her opponent, the two toned unicorn grinning wildly at her. The DJ pushed her headphones down to her neck, shaking her mane out of her eyes and looking at the plate laden with cupcakes.
“Thirty cupcakes. First one to down fifteen wins. Do you dare to tangle with the cupcake champion, Pinkie Pie?” Pinkie declared, setting her hooves on the table as Vinyl set down her saddlebags next to the table, digging in the pockets with her magic. After a few moments of
rummaging, the unicorn set down a twin set of bottles capped with a bright red cork and glass a jet black.
“We’ll do this with these. I hope you’re up for some hot sauce and cupcakes, kid.” Vinyl smirked and levitated a bottle over to Pinkie, the ponies around them craning their necks to see what the bottle contained. With rapt attention, the crowd turned their attention to Pinkie who had paled somewhat as she stared at the bottle’s label.
“H-how did you get Tartarus Hellfire sauce?!” She exclaimed, her eyes wide and excited as she looked at her old friend. Vinyl offered her a smile and shrugged, brushing her hoof on her chest. “I thought it was illegal to buy in Equestria! How did you get it?”
“A good performer never reveals her trade secrets, Pinkie. You know that as well as me.” Vinyl levitated her bottle up and popped the seal, the heady scent of hot sauce filling the air and setting both mares mouth to watering in anticipation. With eager smiles, the duo took to spreading the dark red on top of the frosted cupcakes, several of the onlookers murmuring bets to one another.
The sound of stomping hoofsteps drew Vinyl’s attention and she felt a warm smile touch her lips as a familiar pony approached the table, a scowl upon her face. Octavia simply leveled a blank stare at Vinyl in return as the DJ shrugged before returning her gaze to her cupcakes to avoid the stare, a low smile touching her lips.
“Vinyl, don’t you have an exam in three days?! I thought you were out studying for that.” Octavia gestured towards the table where Pinkie was taking a cautious sip from one of the bottles. The pink pony’s face brightened near instantly and she stifled a cough into her hoof, rubbing her muzzle against her fetlock. “Instead, I find you out here doing… Celestia knows what to your body and for what reason?”
“Octavia. Breathe.” Vinyl raised a hoof, cutting off her next line of thought and setting down her now empty bottle. The earth pony glared at her roommate and the unicorn sighed, lifting her glasses and rubbing her face. At least Octavia was giving her a chance to explain herself even if she really didn’t deserve it.
“I have no idea what the test is going to entail and honestly, I don’t know what being taught by a princess entails. So for now, I’m focusing on the present and I’m just going to do my best when the time comes this Friday.”
“So… you decide to have a cupcakes with hot sauce eating competition?” Octavia asked dubiously, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the acidic sweet smell. Covering her snout with her hoof and taking a step back, the cellist shot an incredulous look at Pinkie who was now a brighter pink in her face, panting slightly as she fanned herself.
“Mental fortitude to emulate the stress of testing.” Vinyl answered, setting her glasses aside and lifting her first cupcake. “If you can push through physical discomfort mentally, I can do anything.”
“That… that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Probably.” Vinyl shrugged at her roommate, locking eyes with Pinkie and setting her teeth in a cocky grin. “But you know how I am.”
“...fair enough.”
“Are you ready, Vinyl?” Pinkie asked in a strained voice, her eyes slightly watering and lifting her cupcakes. “On your mark… get set... “
“Go!”
* * *
Canterlot was quiet as it was near the end of the day, ponies heading back to their homes and finishing up their shopping for the weekend. At this time, ponies were getting dinner or club lights were beginning to light up. Neon lights danced across the livelier districts as new age music began to seep from the buildings, younger stallions and mares already flocking to the noise with eager cantering and smiles.
Two guards were headed off shift, trotting past the crowd with tired expressions. One of the unicorns offered a smile to a passing civilian, throwing a wink in their direction. Raising an eyebrow as the duo disappeared around the corner, the threstal cast a look around at the glances being tossed his way and curious looks. He shook his head, adjusting his saddlebags and shuffling his wings as he turned down an avenue into a modest neighborhood, leaving behind the nightlife.
Passing the quiet yards as fillies and colts were called in, his golden yellow eyes flicking over the houses as the scents of various dinner touched his nose. Crescent huffed and adjusted his wings again, tucking them to his side as he approached a large two story house. A faint smile flicked across his lips as Luna’s moon rose into the sky, the night’s dark lighting up as bright as day to him. Taking a moment to compose himself, the threstal knocked twice upon the oak door and stepped back into the moonlight.
“Dusk! Can you see who is at the door, darling?” A mare’s voice came from the far side of the house and he heard the faint galloping of small hooves at the door, a genuine smile playing across his lips. The door flew open and he beheld the unicorn filly standing there, looking at him with a shocked expression. He had barely enough time to set his bags aside before she tackled him with an excited scream, knocking him over and wrapping her hooves around his barrel.
“Big bro!” She squealed, hugging her sibling with all of her young might. He laughed and embraced her with his forelegs and wings, squeezing her back. The sound of hooves and chuckling drew the siblings attention, their mother leaning against the door with a soft smile on her face.
“Did you know he was coming back, Mama?” Dusk asked in Lunaria, hopping off her brother and focusing her magic on her brother’s bags. He let her lift them off the ground and into the house, following the pair inside. “I thought you were still at the academy and training?”
The inside of the house was modest enough despite being two stories. It was decorated with a sense of pride in family rather than exercising their wealth on frivolous trinkets, family portraits adorning every wall. He breathed in the scent of warm food filling the building, fond memories coming unbidden as he followed his family.
It was home.
“Your father pulled a few strings so that your brother could be here.” Their mother, Night Shade, plucked the bags out of the air and set them beside the door, nodding to her son to close the door behind them. “Elusive sent a letter and wished you luck, saying he wishes he could be here but he can’t very well abandon his company in Zebrica.”
“No, I guess not.” Dusk replied absentmindedly before turning to her brother, flashing a wide smile up at him. “Oh, guess what I learned the other day?”
“Oh? What did you learn, firefly?” He followed his sister into the kitchen where Dusk had piled a stack of books, one open halfway through and marked with an indigo bookmark. Hopping into her seat, his sister levitated the book up so he could see it. Crescent’s eyes ran over the script taking in the words before he frowned. To him, it was just a long math equation that he couldn’t make head or tails of. “What is this, Dusk?”
“It's the base fo-formula for magical disguises! If I take a bit of light and move it with my own magic, I can make myself look like anything I like!” Dusk bounced in her chair, her magic faltering and dropping the tome to the ground. “I’ll be able to be a tree or a rock or a chair or-”
“That excited huh?” He reached out with a hoof and ruffled her mane, the unicorn giggling and squirming away. “I was the same way when my name was announced for the Night Guard.”
“Yup!” Dusk scooped up her books and began stacking them neatly, moving them to the shelf as their mother continued to cook, humming a faint tune to herself. Crescent was tempted to ask if she wanted help cooking but he had long since learned that the prideful threstal enjoyed doing it herself. He took a moment to lament the fact he was so culinary handicapped before realizing that his sister had been tugging on his wing with her magic.
“I’m sorry, what did you say, Dusk?” The threstal offered an apologetic smile, looking down at her as she pouted at him. He was never able to resist her when she did her infamous begging face.
“I said: can we go flying before breakfast?” Dusk had been perfecting her technique and he felt his meager resistance crumble with a chuckle, nodding and settling down for her to clamber onto his back. Night Shade cast a nervous look at her son as he climbed to his feet, adjusting his sister so she could hold onto him comfortably.
“Crescent, please be careful…” Her words were gentle and kind but he had long since grown used to that nervousness of his parents had shown with his flight. It wasn’t like he was young anymore but parents will worry nonetheless, Crescent mused. He smiled at his mother and ascended the stairs to the roof, his parents having installed the small lookout on their home for their children.
Taking a deep breath of the crisp night air, Crescent felt his muscles relax as the moonlight washed over the pair of them. On his back, he felt his sister relaxing as well as the moon greeted them, their heads bowing in reverence before looking out at the city skyline. He flapped his wings once and began stretching them, mentally preparing himself for the flight.
“It's so pretty up here.” Dusk muttered, holding onto her brother’s neck tightly. “How could anypony shun Princess Luna’s night?”
He paused his stretching and sighed before backing up a few steps from the edge, his wings spread out as Crescent gathered himself. The threstal responded simply :“Not everypony is of threstal blood, little firefly. Now hold on.”
With a burst of speed and a hard flap of his wings, the duo launched off the roof and into the night sky. Crescent felt the immediate shift in weight and flapped hard to steady himself, his sister whooping in joy on his back. Spreading his wings out wide, he felt the familiar strain with trying to keep himself airborne on his body.
The threstal kept his wings extended and glided in a wide circle over their neighborhood, flapping when absolutely necessary to keep them above the houses and kicking off others when they got too low. His muscles screamed with pain but with the sound of his sister’s joyous laughter in his ears, Crescent kept his discomfort to himself as they circled the night sky. He did enjoy the flights but he wished sometimes that it didn’t come with such a high price.
After two more circuits of the neighborhood, he touched down gently and shook out his wings before tucking his trembling limbs against his body. Dusk slid down onto the roof and gave Crescent, squeezing his barrel as hard as she could and earning a low chuckle as he returned the gesture.
“Big bro… If Princess Luna accepts me as a student, I want her to give me wings.” She murmured against his coat, refusing to budge an inch. He looked down at his sibling in surprise before lightly pulling away. He knelt down and looked his sister in the eyes, doing his best to keep his voice lighthearted.
“Why is that Dusk?”
“Because then I can carry you when we go flying and you won’t have to hurt anymore.” The little unicorn filly murmured, burying her face into his chest again and squeezing him tight. He chuckled breathily and rested his chin on top of her head, taking the moment to enjoy the naivety of youth.
"I'm glad to see that some things don't ever change..." Crescent said to himself, a small smile gracing his muzzle.