C.1
Celestia was woken up by the pull of the moon later that evening. She remembered the day’s events and smiled at the little filly snuggled up next to her. He chuckled to herself when she realized how strange it must have seemed to bring the filly to her chambers with her, but she couldn’t help herself. She liked this Twilight Sparkle, and besides; if she was going to be her personal protege she was going to have to get used to things like this.
There was a light knock on the door and she opened it with her magic to reveal Quill.
“The tower’s ready, Princess.” She said simply.
“Thank you, We’ll be there once I raise the moon.” Celestia said. Quill nodded, closed the door and left. Celestia got up from the bed without disturbing Twilight and made her way to the balcony on the other side of the room.
Twilight awoke, feeling a strong wave of magic in the room. She looked around and was confused as to where she was. Another wave of magic washed over the room, this time it was vaguely familiar. She felt it almost every night, at least faintly, right about when the moon rose or fell. She looked towards its source and gaped in awe as she saw the princess.
Her horn was giving off a faint blue glow instead of the normal bright and shining one. Her wings were stretched to their full wingspan as she slowly followed the sun’s progress down, and then the moon’s progress up, with her horn.
No... She wasn’t following them, they were following her.
“Ah, you are awake.” She said with a smile as she trotted back into the room.
“P-Princess Celestia? Where am I?” Twilight asked, looking around again.
“My chambers, you were exhausted and we both needed a nap.” Celestia said. As the last rays of sunlight faded and became moonlight, the room darkened significantly. Celestia lit a few candles with a tiny flash of magic and Twilight was surprised to find that instead of the normal rainbow of color, her mane and tail were pink.
“It’ll be in a lesson later on. For now we have to deal with your lodgings.” Celestia said, anticipating the wave of questions.
“My... Lodgings? I passed?” Twilight asked.
“With flying colors. In fact, you did so well I made you my personal protege.” Celestia answered. “And look, it’s just another testament to your skill.” She continued, motioning towards the filly’s flank where a six pointed star had appeared. She gasped and nearly leaped into the air.
“My cutie mark!” She exclaimed and continued to exclaim as she bounced around the room.
“Alright, Twilight. We can celebrate when we get to where you’ll be staying. It’s not very far at all.” Celestia said, foregoing her regalia that was on a stand next to the door and going out of it. She looked back at Twilight, who had stopped and was staring at her, and beckoned with her head. The filly dashed after her new mentor.
They arrived at the tower and Twilight was even more awestruck than when she saw the princess raising the moon. It was massive with multiple floors and scores of full bookshelves. There were tons of astronomical equipment, but that was to be expected of an astronomy tower.
“Now, since this is the astronomy tower you might occasionally get ponies wanting to use the equipment. There’s a small section through that door up there that are living quarters and the bathroom and such so it’s not like they can invade your privacy.” Celestia explained.
“Is there a specific reason why you gave me the tower instead of a normal room?” Twilight asked after a few moments.
“Not really, it was my assistant’s idea. Maybe it was because of all the books. You’ll have to ask her yourself. For now, though, there is something I would like to teach you before you settle in.” Celestia said, walking up to the massive observation balcony and sitting down. Twilight cautiously joined her.
“It’s not a spell, more like meditation. It allows you to pretty much enter your mindscape at will, almost like dreaming. This is useful for a great number of things, like pulling out forgotten memories. For you, though, we can use it to face these nightmares I’ve been hearing about. I can enter your mindscape as well, if you will allow me, once you’re in this state of waking dreams. In order for this to work, though, you’ll need to be able to fight off your nightmares without my assistance.” Celestia softly explained.
“I... Why is this important? It’s just occasional nightmares...” Twilight asked, looking away.
“According to the orphanage staff you have them more frequently than just occasionally. Reportedly you nearly destroyed half of the building because of one.” Celestia retorted.
“That... That was different... It... It wasn’t a nightmare, more like a memory...” Twilight said.
“Well some day you’re going to have to talk to me about this, but I think we can wait until we know each other much better for that. For now, though, I can’t have my faithful new student having nightmares. Insomnia will hamper you in your lessons, they can be incredibly trying.” Celestia said.
“I’m used to not sleeping all that often...” Twilight said softly.
“That may be, but this will be the first thing you do and until you make progress it will be the only thing we do. I will know when you have nightmares if I were to be so prying. Now, relax every muscle in your body. Think of it as if you’re getting ready to sleep, but keep your mind fully awake. It’s not the easiest thing to do, and if you can’t do it then there’s a spell that you can use, but like I said it can be used for far more than nightmare hunting.” Celestia explained.
Twilight sighed in defeat and nodded. It was a full hour before Twilight finally achieved it. There wasn’t too much of a difference, since she had closed her eyes in concentration. If she were awake or standing, this would merely look like she zoned out. But there was a feeling in the air around her, it felt as if there was nothing behind those closed eyes. Celestia then used a small spell to link their minds as she entered the same state.
She appeared next to Twilight in what seemed to be a black abyss.
“This... This is what it is most of the time. Just empty nothingness... Not even stars to look at in the sky, or dirt to push around at your hooves. No echo to talk to, no shadow to play with... Just nothing.” Twilight explained softly. She was shaking slightly. Celestia watched with worry as she slowly dropped to the ground and curled up.
“It just goes on forever... The loneliness...” Twilight started. “It’s the worst part...” She finished in a voice so tiny Celestia barely heard it.
“... This is going to be tough for you to fight... There’s no monster chasing you to face down, to embarrassment you could ignore...” Celestia said softly. Twilight’s vision snapped up to her, apparently she forgot the Princess was there. SHe had tears streaming down her face as she quickly rushed and clung to Celestia.
“Please... Don’t go!” She exclaimed. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment before slowly opening them and looking at Celestia’s worry-filled face, as if she was supposed to disappear.
“You’re... You’re really here...” The filly said with relief. It was the kind of relief that made Celestia never want to leave her. Funny how the universe likes to be cruel. She looked away as she felt Quill entering the astronomy tower. It was time for the night court.
“Oh Twilight... I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you for a little while... I can’t just ignore the rest of the world. My presence will still be here, though, and if you need me you need only call. I can afford to zone out for a minute or two.” Celestia said after a few moments. Twilight looked up at her, almost horrified, and clung to her even harder.
“Don’t leave me alone!” She exclaimed.
“No, not alone. You’ll never be alone again. As I said, you need only call for me and I’ll be back. Our minds will still be linked, so perhaps your first real lesson can be to reverse the bond so you can see what I’m doing. Remember one thing, though. This is your mindscape, your world. You control it, so don’t let it control you.” Celestia said, leaning down and pulling the filly into an embrace.
“Now, be strong and try to turn this place around.” Celestia said as she started to fade away.
“Wait! What if I can’t?!” Twilight asked frantically.
“Then try again. Keep your mind busy. Try reversing the bond. Fending off recurring nightmares doesn’t happen in one day. You must really want to be rid of them and try your very hardest to make even the slightest bit of progress. I will come back to you when the court is over.” She explained before completely fading.
Twilight just stared where the princess used to stand. It was a full five minutes before she turned her head. She looked at the vast emptiness and took a deep breath. She could still feel Celestia’s presence, like she said, but without her really there the loneliness quickly set in. She took a few more deep breaths and focused on that presence. She heard a violent sigh, one that she had heard before. She looked up and she was back in the hallway where Celestia had stepped out.
It was different, though.
She could see them talking, see Celestia from different perspectives.
The scenery changed again. It was when she tried to hatch the egg. She saw what happened to her, though she didn’t actually remember it. Her subconscious had remembered it and now she was seeing it all.
She saw herself napping with Celestia. That she somewhat remembered, the warm feeling all around her. The feeling connected with another feeling she had felt a long time ago. She couldn’t remember what that was, though. She thought and thought, but the memory of the familiar feeling would not come. She sighed in resignation and sat there silently for a while as the world faded back into black.
Before the loneliness could set in she decided to do what Celestia had suggested. Reverse the link so that she could see what Celestia was doing.
She once again focused on Celestia’s presence and concentrated as hard as she could. She read about mental links before and the memories flooded into the area. It took her nearly twenty minutes, but she felt something. It wasn’t very difficult to reverse a link like this, it only took an extreme amount of concentration.
‘Oh hello there, so nice of you to join me.’ She heard Celestia’s voice. It was disembodied, but she saw a grinning Celestia sitting on a throne in front of a mass of blurred ponies. The scene focused slowly, revealing rather snobbish and annoying looking ones. Then sound came.
“Princess? I can hear you?” Twilight said.
“Well you are in a small portion of my mind right now. I’m afraid you came at a rather boring time... This pony that’s speaking right now is so full of himself and he doesn’t care about any potential consequences for what he’s asking.” Celestia explained, the scene’s vision suddenly focusing on the pony who was speaking.
“-t would be incredibly prosperous to the mining operation and would leave the village situated on the mine extremely wealthy.” The pony said.
“But there is a river there, it runs underground through the middle of where you want to start this project. Using magic detonation charges to clear out an entire cavern would not only cause instability for the entire thing, but it would pollute the water.” Celestia explained, apparently for the umpteenth time.
“But Princess, the wealth it would bring them would counter any potentially negative aftereffects. There’s only one city and a few villages down the river and if we do this to the mine then let it be unstable. It’s not like we need to go into it anymore.” The pony retorted, as if it was obvious. Celestia facehooved.
“But that’s stupid, it’s hurting other ponies... And in use or not, an unstable mine creates cave ins that are deadly even if you’re not inside.!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Exactly right...” Celestia mumbled to herself. “No, if you want your village to be prosperous you need to earn it with hard work. Sacrificing the lives of your fellow ponies for wealth is a terrible thing to do and I will not let you stoop to that level.” Celestia said. Her tone made it clear that the discussion was over. The pony growled and threw a map he had with him onto the ground and stormed off.
“Princess, go ahead and talk to Twilight for a little bit. I’ll rouse you if you’re needed.” Quill whispered to her as another pny started speaking. Twilight saw the pony’s face turn into some random thing that started blabbing, earning a giggle from the filly. Celestia nodded to quill in think and seemingly zoned out.
---
“So did you make any progress?” Celestia asked, back in Twilight’s mindscape.
“I don’t really know... I didn’t have a nervous breakdown again, though, and I was able to focus on your presence and keep the loneliness away at least a little bit...” Twilight answered.
“Very good, just work at it little bits at a time. Find something that abates it, I’ll definitely be spending more time with you. We’ll try to give you lots of good memories to review whenever you have this nightmare. By the way, I’m still very impressed you were not only able to enter the waking dreams state, but reverse the link in our minds. I think saying that you have a gift doesn’t do it justice.” Celestia said.
“Well... A lot of the books I read are at least somewhat related to magic...” Twilight said.
“You must have some pretty advanced books to be able to do all of it first time.” Celestia said.
“Well... The orphanage I live in lets me go to the royal library sometimes, with chaperones and stuff of course...” Twilight explained.
“Well then, now you get to have your own personal library. If you’d like I can even get you access to the private and restricted sections of the royal library. Only the best for my protege.” Celestia offered.
The look of utter happiness and awe made Celestia burst out laughing. She stopped suddenly and burst into laughter once more.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Apparently I snorted rather loudly in the night court.” She said when she stopped laughing.
“Speaking of that, I should probably give them my full attention again. It’ll be going on for a while so you should at least try to get to bed soon. I’ll come around at midnight to check on you. If you’re still awake I’ll think of something to do. If not I’ll see you in the morning.” Celestia said.
“Um... Alright. I’ll probably be up looking through the books in the library.” Twilight said.
“Well then I’ll see you then. I’m afraid I’ve angered the nobility with my inattentiveness again...” Celestia said with a sigh before fading away once more. Twilight’s smile fell after a while and she sighed. She didn’t know why, at least aside from the obvious reasons, but she never wanted the princess to go. Her mood went from giddy happiness to near depressing the second she faded away.
“It’s fine, Twilight... You’re fine, let’s just get out of here... Go read books!” Twilight ort of rambled to herself. She concentrated long and hard but she couldn’t figure out how to ‘wake up’.
‘By the way, just try and use magic. That normally works’ She heard Celestia’s voice.
“Alright?” Twilight said to herself. She thought of a basic levitation spell and the second the magical energy began to build up in her horn she opened her eyes to see the night sky. She quickly looked around and remembered where she was, the astronomy tower at the palace. It was such a big difference from her drab room in the orphanage. She didn’t even really have anything she wanted to go back and get, save a few journals and books.
Speaking of books... she now had walls of books to go through.
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Never mind it loaded.
2573058 i hit publish and then realized it hadn't even saved when I pasted it last time... so a bit of derp was involved in the posting of this chapter
Haha I'm the same way when I write a new chapter. I'll have a vague idea I want to do, then think of something cool in the middle and run with it. It was pretty spiffy though, I'm digging the story so far. It's cute.
Thinking ahead a bit. This is a universe where it makes 95% sense that Twilight would become an alicorn. Instead of 70% (give or take).
2573149
Lol. When I actually bother to attempt writing longer stuff(I've never finished any such thing.), I tend to come up with different points of the chapter in my head in great detail, go to the computer, and ad-lib the hell out of things to connect it all.
This deserves all the love ever. Well written characters, nice idea, and adorkableness in droves.
So absolutely nopony at all so much as blinked an eye when Celestia went "Yoink, I'm taking this filly now!"? At the very least, the Orphanage staff should be up on her case when Twilight doesn't come back from the entrance exam, since you know, its kinda their job to protect their wards from strange ponies foalnapping them.
This pleases me.
2573513 You're serious? This is the Princess, confirmed by everyone there.
Red Tape tends to disappear when people/ponies that high want something.
The story seems interesting but the passing is to fast leaving barely time to the reader to picture the scene when it jumps to another.
th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/255/7/3/book_fort_twilight_by_dreatos-d49p4jw.png
Also, no Spike?
2573557
Being Princess does not automatically mean Celestia has blanket immunity to legal prosecution. And she HAS committed a crime here, since she waltzs right off with a twelve year old filly without either telling or getting the approval of her proper legal guardians. Celestia should have done things the proper way and contacted the Orphanage before she took Twilight home, so at the very least the staff wouldn't panic when Twilight doesn't come home that night and then contact whatever Canterlot has for law enforcement. And said law enforcement will be spending the evening combing the streets and alleyways searching for Twilight's battered and violated corpse or knocking down doors trying to find the foalnapper. At the very least some noble will be able to use this little incident as ammunition against Celestia in the game of politics.
2573647 I'll concede that very last sentence.
Everything else is nothing more than you trying to foist laws on a world that may or may not have them.
There has been no mention of a parliament in canon, or this story. Quite the contrary, the crown seems to have total control, as is evident by her ability to stop an event in a town with but a mere word.
Of course, now you're going to say that that's a bad thing, and blah blah blah.
Long story short, this is not your story. Don't question the politics of a story, until they begin to contradict each other. At which point, have at it.
2573647
Hmm. Perhaps Quill did inform the Orphanage when finishing up matters at the end of the previous chapter? And that also opens up an interesting twist on 'Celestia being Twilight's Mother' theme when the final paperwork goes across her desk.
Huh, Twilight seems almost Mary Sue-ish smart in this. I mean really, in the Cutie Mark Chronicles episode, she was what, 5-6 years old for the magic test? She seems to be doing really well at all this mind link magic within a couple of hours.
P.S.
This is kinda cute, but Twilight seems a little over uneducated and understanding even for a 12 year old (which seems a little old for acceptance into an academy where you teach magic, at least to me). Would she even know what is meant by 'mindscape'?
Pretty classy orphanage if you can get taken to the Royal Library, but then, anything to keep the crazy unicorn from blowing up the building, yes?
First chapter is in definite need of some polish. As for the second chapter Twilight seems to adapt to the idea of being Celestia's student far to quickly.
As for the mind chamber, that's not something you just spring on a child. And I can't imagine Celestia just springing that on her.would be a great idea for later down the road, but I think you spring it on too quick.
You can color me interested for now but this does need some work.
Best of luck- DangerBeans
It's a pretty unpolished read but really rather cute. I'll keep my eye on this.
You have a great concept to develop here, this AU is surely one of the best I've seen, and I hope to see you expand it even more.
That being said, I think you're going too fast with the story... You could explore more of Celestia's and Twilight's emotions. Make us feel them both more, and see the natural link that will result when the princess adopts our little adorkable pony.
You could, for example, show Twilight as being more introspective and detached to pony contact, perhaps even throwing a friend of her, and then taking him/her away as adopted, and see how Twilight would react to losing her only friend. Or perhaps a caring worker in the orphanage that likes Twilight, together with the counterpoint of a mean director.
For Celestia you could explore the loneliness of being an eternal monarch, and how the nearly 1000 years of her sister's banishment are making her wanting to have a someone to look forward after every stressing day in the court.
Give an objective for each major character to do something in the chapter, and don't be afraid to let it increase in size. For example, you could show how Twilight studied and got ready for the exam. Show what characters helped/hindered her. The same goes for Celestia, explore how day after day she keeps her loving face to all Equestria, but in the inside she is lonely and just want somepony to hug and cry.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful fic idea with us. I sincerely hope to see you develop it to a great story.
2573904 These are all good ideas, i don't really plan anything out. Though You forget, this story is just an idea I got that was inspired by the cover photo. I warned in the author comments that it isn't too linear or even much of a real story yet, I do plan to make it so once I figure certain things out. Suggestions like this definitely help out a lot, though.
2573926 I don't really know what I'm going to do with him. I think I'm just not going to have him in the story, since it's canon that they haven't seen each other since before she got into the school.
I really hope this story doesn't have jerkass Twilight Velvet, Night Light, and Shining Armor. I know this will be a good story regardless, but it's just personal preference.
Do they even exist in this AU?
Kinda cute, and an interesting start.
But let's see some exploration of emotions, some nice development.
What was it like at the orphanage? How does Celestia's feelings about Twilight change over time?
We can delve into more of Twi's memories, and just continue to build until we find out why she's an orphan.
All that aside, we have a nice start, but take it slow and really concentrate on the characters.
I really like this story, and is great for a warm fuzzy SHORT story. If you want to go into a longer story, you need to find some long term goal or obstacle to overcome. You could make Twilight's "rehab" into a story arc. How much does she really know about her past? Are her parents/Shining still alive? If so, in what condition are they in? How does Quill fit into the story? Since Twilight was an orphan, how will this affect her making friends (she has already found she is afraid of lonliness)? Was/ Will there be a sonic rainboom? What are the dreams/hopes/plans of your characters?
All of this is just food for thought. Write how you would like to. This has a lot of potential, but don't try to force it. Do things your way, your pace.
2574004 that's actually the premise of the waking dreams idea, stay tuned. it'll be a gradual thing but it'll get there eventually
2574065 I'm trying to figure out a storyline, I think I have an idea but for now it's going to be a bit mish-mash. I'm going to rely on feedback to see what people think would be nice. and as for that last part, that's what I always do
2573998 don't even know who the first two are and I've decided since it's canon that she hasn't seen shining since before she got into the school I'll keep it that way.
2574082
Those are her canon parents. From the wiki:
after your two and three chapter ideas that you mentioned I think it would be great if you really dug out and defined really really felt and investigated the whole celestia's family thing story. Dont allow this to drop to a story make this an epistle no a... a tome of the famliy life of celestia and prince blue blood and (eventually if you want to plan it into it) luna and Cadence and the whole of all the royal family.
MOAR... this story is awersome!!!
oh! another idea when (if you make it this far) she is up to date twilight age have her meet shining armor and (obviously not know him) and have her get strong feelings (cause she is his brother but doesnt know that) for him that complicates her princesshood.
2574180 I plan to keep this all before the events of episode one
2574205 but she is not and will not be a princess in this story. Neither will shining be in it as of now.
2574209 maybe it's because I'm so used to writing violence or romance (usually both) it feels off. *shrug*
Love this story!
Suggest slowing down a tad bit to have scenes flow a little better so readers have more to read and feel deeper into the story, of course within your ability to do so anyway, (this is the first story I've read that is yours so I will have to read the others to get a feel of your writing and stuff
) and expand upon her past and if Shining Armor is in this AU then maybe have him show up later on as a way to show that she DOES still have blood relatives and stuff? 
maybe as twilight and celestia grow closer, she has twilight move into quarters closer to hers or expand her quarters to accomodate twilight as well
This is a very well written story. I'm enjoying it.
2574280 you're going to have to look through my previous comments on what I plan to do with shining... I've said it like three times now lol
2574331 That's a bit too much, but I promise you that the scene in the cover pic is going to happen i the near future
2574332 glad you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it
This sounds so adorable! I must... read it later... sorry.
Poor Twilight
MOAR! 
I'm enjoying the story so far,keep it up. There is a few spelling errors but not a lot.
This "Mind Link" thing is awesome.
Totally gonna steal it
YOu got me with the premise.
The main problem is the dialogue. Little children, no matter how precocious, don't talk like that. And adults don't talk to little children like that.
It's a thing I keep repeating over and over to writers: You have to write it the way you would say it. Remember how you talked when you were young. Remember how you talk to children that age. Use it.
Your Twilight feels too mature, and your Celestia is too... I'm not even entirely sure what's wrong with here, but at a guess I'd say she's speaking to Twilight like an adult. It makes her feel weird and awkward, and the story comes out strange as a result. not bad, but certainly not what I'm looking to read, unfortunately.
Here.
Sorry for putting it this bluntly and overdone butt well.
I just kind of adopted you but I have that much faith in you I give you permission to the restricted areas.
Dafuq‽
I believe you mean to capitalize Quill, and and in thanks, not in think.
ideas? Ah has ideas! (can't use I because it keeps trying to italicise for some reason, though it seems fixed, for now...)
Antics involving Celestia trying to teach Twilight how to cook.
Antics with Celestia trying to teach her how to do... Umm... Swim?
Antics in general for teaching, I guess. Also... What, does that mean that Shining Armour died with her parents as well? That's harsh! Where's Princess Cadance?
2576742 the daww levels in your avatar is over 9000!?!
2576742 either that or they made shining an orphan too but they forgot to tell shining and twilight that they are related so they have no clue and Celestia finally made the connection at shinnings wedding. But that's probably just a buch of silly stuff!
2574489 not if I steal it first!
wibbly wobbly timey-wimey ball? why hello fellow whovian.
So, Celestia changed genders twice in a few seconds. Magical powers away!
First paragraph. It should be a “She” instead of a “He”.
---
trying? I believe it should be “tiring”.
---
pony.
---
lovely story.
i'll be watching this. :3
2580270 Actually, "trying" is a good word to use, when you use it in a sense like this, it means moderately difficult or straining.
I wish there was a doctor whooves icon.