The Gift-Giver

by vazak

Chapter 1

The Gift Giver
Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle let out a low sigh as she levitated another book back to its correct place on the library shelves. Her newly minted wings twitched in agitation as she heard yet another priceless book -all books were priceless- being dragged to the floor with a thud.

The normal peace and quiet that would make even the strictest librarians swell with pride was being painfully disrupted by the ten or so fillies and colts and their supposed chaperones, who did not seem to be of much help. Rarity and Applejack were currently chasing the Cutie Mark Crusaders around, which left all the other foals for Twilight.

Twilight silently practiced the breathing exercise Cadence had taught her, raising a hoof to her chest as she inhaled deeply, then extending it out as she exhaled gently, 'It's alright, just stay calm. They're only foals after all.'

This was not Twilight's best day, Cheerilee had wanted to bring the foals from the school to the library. The pink teacher had even asked Twilight herself to hold a talk on the general importance of libraries in education. Twilight had been ecstatic about it, only for the foals to barely pay attention and instead bombard her with questions related to her new wings, questions that had grown quite tedious over the past months since her ascension.

At first she'd been excited about becoming an alicorn, as had her friends and everypony else. Then there had been some drama when Pinkie had, incorrectly, determined that Twilight wouldn't be coming back to Ponyville with them and had been terrified of being forgotten. Calming her down had taken, well, not long, but there had been a large amount of donuts involved as she tried to explain her role as an 'honorary' princess, as opposed to the politically empowered princesses like Princess Celestia, Luna and more recently, Cadence.

Twilight had been made an honorary princess, much like Cadence had been back when Twilight had known her as little more than the best foal-sitter in the world. Theoretically, that meant she could be called upon to preside over a kingdom, as Cadence had been when the Crystal Empire returned, but for now she was still just mostly Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville librarian and occasional savior of all equestria alongside her friends.

Personally, Twilight had been quite proud of it. The doughnut presentation had been able to hold her pink friend's normally limited attention span long enough for her to explain that not much would be changing beyond her new wings and occasionally going to Canterlot for visits. Something she'd already done when taking lessons with Princess Celestia, if not as often as she would have liked.

Of course, just because her friends understood that, it hadn't stopped a great deal of initial bowing and offers of free meals from other ponies. She hadn't received such attention since she and her friends had first defeated Nightmare Moon, and that had quickly worn out its welcome amongst the Ponyville populace once they saw how big Rainbow Dash's appetite could be.

The 'princess pampering' as Rarity had humorously entitled it, had lasted a bit longer, though it had worn out more quickly in Ponyville than elsewhere. She still couldn't travel to Canterlot or any other city or town without free food and gifts being practically thrown at her hooves. But once all the excitement had worn out and Twilight had answered the same dozen or so questions about her wings, title, ascension and so on, the roar of excitement had dwindled to a dull groan of disinterest. With most of the town and a few reporters,having found that becoming ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle’ had not really changed her all that much. And that a pony who spent her days relaxing with friends, reading and studying was apparently very boring from a gossiping point of view.

Honestly, Twilight was happy for it. She was proud to have earned her wings and title, but she didn't know how Princess Celestia dealt with it all the time, 'Same for those hoof cups,' she thought.

None of that, however, was helping her resolve the foals situation so much as distracting her from it. Twilight internally went over her day, wondering just where things had gone wrong. The fillies and colts clearly hadn't been interested in her lecture on the importance and joys of books.

Still, she'd gritted her teeth and dealt with the fact none of the foals had seemed particularly interested in her twenty page speech on why libraries were obviously the best place to be and the fact not even the charts and graphs showing how important they were had interested them! She'd certainly made it a point to ignore the fact that Applejack, Rarity and even Cheerilee near the end, had seemed either on the verge of falling asleep or simply bored and impatient.

'Guess I should work on cutting down my presentations, or just never give lectures to foals,' she chuckled to herself derisively.

"Wee!" she heard a filly cry from upstairs in her bedroom, probably jumping up and down on her bed as Cheerilee tried to get her back down stairs. Twilight's eyes twitched in annoyance.

"Alula get down!" Cheerilee cried, Twilight could sympathize. A pegasus with a unicorn horn, even with their naturally weakened magic, would be a hassle to manage. More so than the regular chaos brought on by children and looking around her home she felt that, that was more than enough!

Twilight groaned, staring out at the chaotic mess her library had become. Rarity and Applejack were making some effort to reign in the foals, but their efforts seemed focused on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. 'I can't really blame them for that though' she thought. Her faithful ‘number one assistant’ was defying naming conventions and not being of much assistance at all. Initially, she'd hoped that the foals would be more inclined to listen to another child; sadly, the reverse had happened and the foals had invited Spike to join them in their games and he'd happily obliged.

The baby dragon, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and oddly Snails and Snips were currently using her atlases to build a giant stairway to nowhere. 'If they actually step on those books, I'll- I'll, probably cry,' she thought, letting out a low whimper. Twilight subtly levitated another book out of a foal’s reach. "The almanac of forbidden magical theorems is not for foals," she told the young filly, who immediately ran back to the shelves to find something else. "At least somepony is interested in reading," Twilight muttered, some enthusiasm returning to her as she reached out with her magic to ensure the door to her basement hadn't been torn off its hinges.

It would not shock most ponies to know that Twilight wasn't good with foals, she wasn't bad with them either; but the nascent princess had never quite known what to do with them. Treating them like adults sometimes seemed to help, but then the Cutie Mark Crusaders had fed their teacher a love potion. It had taken Twilight a fairly long time to become OK, to good, to princess of friendship in regards to simply being around ponies her own age, and despite having the best foal sitter ever, she'd never really spent much time around other children, which admittedly left her rather unsure of how to deal with them.

Well, except for Spike, but he was something of an exception as dragons matured differently from ponies. Besides, he'd mostly been raised by Celestia and palace staff until coming to work for her as part of an apprentice program.

None of that, however, changed the fact that the moment her speech had ended, the foals had dispersed into the library with mischief rather than education on their minds. All around her, books were being bent and twisted, their spines strained in a way they were never meant to be!

Seeing the damage being done to her library Twilight began silently wondering why she was bothering to subtly protect her books or even bothering to reason with the foal, rather than just levitating the veritable whirlwind of children out to protect the innocent reading materials. This intrsopection led Twilight to being rather unaware of three approaching foals who greeted her by jumping on her back.

"Ah!" Twilight shrieked, her wings flaring in fright as three voices cried out, "Hi Twilight!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders giggled joyfully, evidently unaware of the alicorns desperate attempts to get her heartbeat under control.

"Sorry Miss Twilight, ooh sorry “Ms Princess Twilight”," Applebloom corrected herself before continuing. "We didn't mean to shock ya; we was just wondering if y’all had any books on the tooth fairy? Snails is losing a tooth and we all wanna see if we can catch it!" she enthused.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, fairy catchers go!" Scootlaoo cheered from atop Twilight's head.

Twilight's tired, and at this point thoroughly frustrated, mind latched onto that sentence and she let out a small chuckle at the three ponies naivety. "Oh girls you can't really capture the tooth fairy," she assured them. A small blush spread across her face as she remembered her own unsuccessful attempts as a foal to capture the elusive trickster. They had lasted up until she was eight and her father had failed to sneak the tooth out from her pillow without waking her.

Twilight been rather put out to discover that she'd wasted so much of her time and energy embarrassing herself trying to capture an entirely fictional thing. 'I'd better put this fire out before it goes anywhere who knows what damage they might cause and they really are a bit old to be believing in foals tales.'

"We totally can, sure nopony's done it before but we're gonna try really hard, but we need to know her movement patterns and stuff," Scootaloo finished awkwardly.

"Yeah! If we're to make a solid strategy we need to do our research!" Sweetie Belle chimed in excitedly, "I bet you understand don't you?" she asked hopefully.

'They'll be so disappointed if they can't catch her; but it's better they learn now than get embarrassed later,' she determined. The three fillies had finally removed themselves from her back, Scootaloo making a special effort to slide down her wings as though she were a piece of playground equipment

Twilight prepared to break it down for them as gently as possible, 'it's for the best.' Sighing she started "That's not what I meant girls; what I mean is that there is no tooth fairy, or any of those other things either, they're just stories..." she trailed off when the three fillies looked like they were about to start crying. 'What did I do!? I didn't react like that,' she screeched internally.

"But, Rarity says all those things are real so long as we believe in them,” Sweetie Belle said, her tone weak and disheartened.

"Yeah! I mean how does your magic explain tooth fairies huh?" Scootaloo interjected, Twilight's concern over the three fillies distress suddenly redirected as she tried to figure out the number of ways that statement didn't make sense.

"Applejack!" Applebloom cried and without a moment wasted the orange coated farmer was by her sisters side, concern evident on her face.

"What's wrong with ya'll, didn't break something did you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Is it true sis, you been lying to us about the tooth fairy and the-"

"Who told ya'll those were lies? It tain't so; just ask any filly and colt or parent and they'll tell you the same," Applejack insisted quickly; her face spread in a desperate sort of grin as she tried to reassure the fillies.

'What is she doing!?' Twilight wondered, but before she could speak Rarity appeared, the purple maned unicorn glared at her with half lidded eyes, 'Why is she glaring at me?' Twilight wondered, accompanied by a painful tightening in her chest.

"Applejack is completely right darlings. Sweetie, when you lose a tooth, isn't there always some money for you the next day?" she asked sweetly.

'That's because you put it there!' Twilight wanted to shout, she idly recalled saying something similar to her own parents when they had presented that equally flawed argument to her when caught red hoofed.

"Well yeah, but Twilight said-" Rarity tittered interrupting her sister.

"Well Twilight might know many things, but certainly not those things dears, trust me when I say that the tooth fairy does indeed exist and I imagine you'll be getting a visit soon, don't expect to catch her though, she's very tricky," Rarity finished, just as Twilight moved to speak the other unicorns tail whipped out and, lightly, slapped her on the side.

"Rarity's right girls. Don't worry bout what ole Twilight here said; she doesn't know what she's talking about. Come on, I think were done here; we''ll pick ya'll up some ice cream on the way home," Applejack said, making it a point to glare at Twilight, who could only respond with her mouth agape and a pain in her chest as she watched her friends leave.

"What did I do?" she whispered.

---

It had taken a great deal of time and effort, but eventually Twilight and Cheerilee had managed to collect all the foals, perform a head count, and Twilight had sent the pink earth pony and her students on their way, 'some of them even borrowed books rather than trying to destroy them!' she thought with some cheer.

But the alicorn’s mood soured as her mind turned back to her friends, they were angry at her that much was clear, and she wasn't happy she'd almost upset the Cutie Mark Crusaders but they were too old for stories like that and in the modern day superstitions like that were terrible. 'Did they all just forget Zecora?' she wondered, though she knew the situations barely resembled one another.

"Hey Twilight, I was wondering could I go stay over at Rarity’s for the night?" Spike asked suddenly, his words shocking Twilight out of her daze. His nervous tone giving a clear indicator that spending time with his favorite unicorn was likely second on his mind to avoiding the horrific clean up awaiting him a job Twilight would have been happy to saddle him with considering his part in making the mess, but she just didn't have the heart.

"Go ahead Spike I don't think I’ll be very good company this evening anyway, just remember to take a snack," she muttere, she could hear the tiny dragon pitter pattering behind her.

"What's wrong Twilight? I know the foals didn't like the lecture but..." he trailed off seemingly unsure of where to go, or having decided that reminding her of what might have been upsetting her wouldn't be the best idea.

'He's actually learning some tact rather than making jokes,' she realized with some pride, before turning to the baby dragons and speaking, "Do you really want to stay and help me clean up Mister, king of the book throne?" she queried.

Spike opened his mouth to reply, one claw extended as if he were a statesmen, concern warring with the desire to just slack off; Spike turned around and made for the kitchen in a blur, "Thanks Twilight, you're the best, see ya tomorrow!" he cried.

Twilight let out a small huff and levitated a broom to her side, her aura stretching out over the library and stacking up stray books while she swept, First sweep, then re-shelve, then mop, I should know a spell for that, then re shelve again and make sure the books aren't damaged; then maybe I can try to figure out how to make up with Rarity and Applejack.'

Twilight had barely started to straighten out her abused library when there was a knock against the door and somepony let themselves in. Her home being a public library this wasn't a shock but she still grumbled, 'Barely any patrons for weeks and now there's too many.'

Forcing down her weariness Twilight turned and faced the new presence in her home, which turned out to be Applejack, who was looking at her with annoyance clear on her features. The mare's stetson tilted over her eye and her blond mane hanging limply over her face, clearly she'd been working not long ago. "Applejack, I didn't expect to see you, look about earlier today I don't get-" she stopped as the farmer raised her hoof for silence.

Sighing the earth pony spoke, her tone clipped and clearly still irritated, "Look Twi, I don't know how you folks do things up there in Canterlot but the rest of Equestria likes to let foals figure things out for themselves. You had no right to go telling them something like that, Rarity and I had to sweet talk like you wouldn't believe," she groused tiredly.

"This hasn't got anything to do with Canterlot!" she snapped, tiredness and a bad day wearing on her frayed nerves. "My parents told me the same stories and I believed them. I remember how annoyed and upset I was that I wasted all that time trying to study that fairy, finding out that my entire family had been treating me like an idiot and lying to me!" Her hoof thudded against the library floor and Twilight was surprised to see Applejack jerk backwards.

"You calling me a liar?" the orange mare responded harshly, leaning forward and squinting at Twilight.

Twilight immediately backed away, 'Oh no that was the worst possible thing to say,' she thought.

Before she could apologize Applejack spoke again, "Look, that sort of thing, those silly stories, they're important, they're part of our culture and it ain't right for you to just come in and break their little hearts... and don't call me a liar" she ground out firmly.

Breathing hard Twilight spoke without thinking, always a sure fire way into disaster, "But isn't that exactly what you're doing?" she asked, "I was so embarrassed and insulted when I found out and if they keep believing in silly folk tales they'll never grow up," she insisted. Her tone was nervous, this was dangerous ice to be skating.

Grunting Applejack responded, her tone clipped and harsh, "What you feel is right, ain't necessarily what everypony else thinks is right! Stories like that are a part of Equestria and our foalhood; parents tell their fillies and colts those stories and when they grow up they tell their foals, it's important!" she slammed down a hoof for emphasis. "And don't go implying I lie to foals" she ground out harshly. "It's just a story an important one mind, but completely different from lying,” she insisted "Now don't you go flapping your gums like this afternoon; it'll just upset them," Applejack finished, turning and making her way out the door and down the street while Twilight stared gobsmacked.

"How did this happen?" she asked hopelessly, dropping to the floor, her wings and ears drooping miserably. She'd never had a fight with Applejack like that and she knew for a fact her friend could hold a grudge when she wanted to. 'And she still doesn't even see what I was trying to say, she barely let me speak!' Anger warred with sadness as Twilight rose to her hooves and set about cleaning the library, her mind a whirl with contradictory thoughts and feelings.

"Some princess of friendship I'm turning out to be, I go and make two friends angry at me and now I'm angry that they won't listen," she whispered sadly. Twilight glanced over at the case that held their Elements of Harmony, half-expecting them to somehow shatter or crack, but there they sat, perfect as always, her crown glimmered in the light as if teasing her. "A crown? That's it!” she cheered, arms shooting into the air enthusiastically. “One of the best lessons is knowing when to ask for help and I need advice," she decided, a quill and parchment appearing in front of her illuminated by her faintly glowing magic she began to write.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I fear I've made a mistake I just don't know how or why. I've done something to upset two of my closest friends and I'm not sure what the real problem is or how I should fix it."

"That doesn't seem like a good start does it? Even worse it makes me feel like a lousy friend and it doesn't really explain that they couldn't, or wouldn't talk to me about it. Let's start over," she decided. Crumpling up the letter into a ball and letting it drop to the floor, 'I can clean that up later,’ she thought dismissively, levitating a clean piece of parchment to herself.

Sticking out her tongue Twilight concentrated on the new piece of parchment.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I hope this letter finds you well and I am sorry if I am interrupting you in your duties, but I am writing to you for advice.

You see, today, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo asked me about the tooth fairy and I tried to explain to them it's just a foals’ tale. They're older than I was when I learnt and I remember how mad I was when I found out my parents had been lying to me for so long and I thought it might be better to tell them before they built their "fairy catcher" device. Old fashioned and childish superstitions have always had a place in story books, but to see them reinforced by a foal’s guardians upset me. It's lying to them, isn't it?

One of my friends came by just moments ago and she were so angry with me, and I'm angry with them as well. We had an argument and as much as I want to go and make it up to her I’m not sure if it would work as I am still so frustrated! But now I've upset my friends and their siblings terribly and I feel awful. I don't think I can talk to the others about this, they either don't have younger siblings or are too angry to speak to me right now. Princess, what do I do?"

Your faithful Student

Princess Twilight Sparkle."

'A little more rambling than I'd like, but I'm desperate right now.' With that Twilight lit up her horn and surrounded the rolled parchment with magic. One quick, but difficult spell later the scroll would find itself in Princess Celestia's private chambers. It was a shame Spike was gone his method was always preferable as it was designed to track the princess wherever she was and tended to, ironically, not singe the parchments on their travels the way teleportation was known to.

With that done Twilight once again set about the job of cleaning up her library. Most of the work was done and she'd have to start on a dinner soon and- "Did I just write that to Princess Celestia!?" she cried, horn flaring as she tried to cast the 'recall sent item' spell only to be rebuffed thanks to distance, her tenuous magical connection with the scroll evidently broken.

Twilight cradled her head in her hooves and groaned, "Grow up Twilight, you aren't her student anymore. " Saying that sent a faint stab of pain into her heart, she was proud but also saddened that, the chapter of her life as Celestia’s faithful student had closed,'No wonder I ran to her the moment I had a problem,' she thought glumly.

Suddenly there was a flash of golden light and a rolled up scroll dropped into the air. Twilight quickly caught it in her aura and unrolled the parchment delicately. Naturally what was contained inside was her -former- mentor’s elegant script.

"

My Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I am terribly saddened to hear there is such friction between you and your friends. However while this news troubles me I am heartened that you would still seek me out for advice and in such a direct manner even today, I certainly hope I can be of help to you on this, delicate subject.

I will simply assume Spike is out and that is why you contacted me with this spell? I'm quite impressed with your range my friend, though it did appear a tad scorched around the edges~

I believe I can be of some service to you when it comes to navigating this particularly sensitive issue. I personally believe that you and your friends can work this out between you easily enough, but you have sought me out and I would never think to turn you away.

In light of recent tidings, I would like to extend to you an invitation to a celebration held near the border of Equestria in a small town I am quite fond of. I hope that there you and I can discuss this matter in more detail and come to an understanding which will hopefully help you and your friends reconcile your different viewpoints. I also confess to wishing to simply "catch up" as it feels like an age since we have been able to relax in one another's company.

If you are not interested, please simply send this scroll back and I shall offer you my advice freely. But if you are interested, then I ask that you be ready leave by early morning, seven AM sharp as it shall be a long flight. I shall arrange for a carriage.

Your friend,

Princess Celestia

P.S. I assume you let Spike go for the evening, please enjoy this tray of doughnuts.

"

"Doughnuts?" she queried, only for a second spell to blaze into existence, perfectly timed of course, and a plastic tray layered with doughnuts and some other assorted pastries slowly drifted down to the floor. Being caught at the last moment by Twilight's magic. 'Not the healthiest dinner but after today I could use some comfort food.' she decided. "Princess Celestia always knows how to make me feel better," Twilight said to nopony in particular through a mouthful of jelly doughnut.

Her heart lighter than it had felt all day, Twilight dug into her dinner. The library could wait, she decided.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading the first chapter of 'The Gift-Giver' I hope you enjoyed it.

If you have any critiques, questions or just general comments i'd love to hear them.

On Alula, I know she's technically an animation error in Twilight's imagination but I came to enjoy the idea of a 'Pegacorn' too much not to use it.

I'd also like to thank everyone who beta'd this story for me, you all rock.

Comments

[Lucas]

No comments on the first page...