It's Got To Be My Destiny

by 1Bluefur

Arrival At Ponyville (2015 Original)

~10 Months before Summer Sun Celebration~

Twilight Sparkle read over her plan once more, just to make extra sure everything was in place. She was so nervous! Her first day teaching with Cheerilee in Ponyville was going to be tough, but after years of study and authorship Twilight felt confident she was going to do fine.

So that last bit was a lie. Internally Twilight was freaking out, but externally she was as calm as the skies above. Or at least as calm as the skies above should have been, as Twilight peered out the train window she was shocked to see the pattering of rain.

‘Okay, so maybe Ponyville’s weather team isn’t the best’ she thought to herself as she gathered her materials. ‘This is not some bad omen or anything, everything will be just fine’ she told herself, trying to shake what she had read the prior night about omens in Predictions and Prophecies. Thankfully before that metaphorical train left the station, the real one pulled in.

“This stop is Ponyville! Ponyville everypony! Only the back four cars to exit for Ponyville!” pulling her saddle bags tight with her magic the purple unicorn trotted out and onto the shiny wet wooden platform. While she wasn’t thrilled about the rain she had to admit, it made everything smell incredible.

She hummed to herself while she arranged her belongings neatly: The wheeled trunk with her books, the bags containing her clothing and securely strapped on top of everything her owl, Owlowiscious.

‘I’m supposed to meet a Pegasus pony named Fluttershy’ she thought to herself. Until she was able to secure a house of her own Cheeraliee had decided to set her up with the Apple family. Initially, she was to meet Big Macintosh at the station, unfortunately the stallion had become very busy so they sent their honorary family member instead.

She looked around, her long indigo mane swaying at the turn of her head. She moved forward as the train behind her pulled away ‘Where in Starswirl’s name is she?!’ she thought to herself in frustration. A light poke at her flank became the answer. The unicorn yelped at the unfamiliar touch and whirled around to see a butter yellow Pegasus mare cowering in front of her. “Oh… Oh goodness! Please don’t hurt me! I’m sorry” the pony whimpered.

Twilight blinked “Oh, dear I’m sorry” she said “You startled me and…” the pony flushed. She was decent with foals, but adults? She was a mess at interacting with them. “Here, let’s start over, I’m Twilight Sparkle and I’m here to become Cheeraliee’s understudy for the upcoming school year. I also write books! You must be…”

She had read somewhere it’s nicer to let ponies introduce themselves, hopefully the tactic will work here. Much to Twilight’s dismay the other mare seemed to tense up even more. “Oh... Uhm… I’m… Fluttershy” the Pegasus mumbled.

Twilight thought she said Fluttershy, but she wasn't quite sure. “Oh I’m so sorry, could you maybe repeat that?” ‘Also, maybe stand up?’ with the mare still pressed against the ground Twilight felt pretty self-conscious trying to interact.

“I’m Fluttershy” the other pony responded in a whisper. Twilight sighed internally, realizing she probably wasn’t going to get anywhere by asking the pony questions.

“Okay! Fluttershy it is, right?” she said doing her best to straighten her expression into a cheerful and totally not frustrated one. To her relief the mare before her nodded, and finally straightened up. The relief was short lived however, when the mare simply took to staring at her with anxiety filled blue eyes.

“Well um, I’m very excited to stay with the Apples! It means a lot to me, I’m sorry about all this mess. You see, I initially moved to rent this house in town but a mare and her roommate beat me to it!” she laughed somewhat genuinely “I think they were musicians or something… Maybe you know them?”

Twilight gave Fluttershy her best friendly smile, but instead of responding verbally the mare gave a small shrug. Twilight quickly turned to her belongings so she could pull a very exasperated expression. ‘May as well get this harness on so we can get going’ she thought to herself.

As soon as she wasn’t standing between Fluttershy and her belongings the shy mare gave a loud gasp and rushed towards the pile. “Oh my goodness! Granny Smith didn’t tell me you had an owl ohh, he’s so cute! What’s his name?!” she gushed while gently hovering next to the cage.

Twilight took a second to recover from her shock. ‘I guess I found out what she’s interested in’ “His name is Owlowiscious I’ve had him for maybe a year now. He kind of… Found me I guess” she said, tightening the harness around her.

“Oh, he’s so handsome looking! I love his name” the Pegasus continued. She turned to Twilight and froze a horrified expression on painted on her face. “Oh, oh dear, oh I’m so sorry!” she squeaked. Twilight was taken aback and horribly confused.

“It's really no problem, he doesn't mind the attention at all” Twilight’s response was met with Fluttershy shaking her head, the pastel pink of her mane moving gracefully with her.

“I’m supposed to be helping you, here let me get that!” she said in a surprisingly firm (and somehow still soft) tone. Twilight looked at the harness she was wearing, then to her bags, and finally back at Fluttershy.

“Oh, well I enchanted most everything to seem a bit lighter; it’s actually quite a fascinating spell. It uses Starswirl’s infamous research into matter and ….” Twilight stopped herself abruptly. “Oh, sorry, you probably don’t really care that much about it”

Fluttershy flushed “Oh no, that was really nice sounding uhm, you seem pretty smart Twilight” she mumbled. “But please let me pull this for you, you’re our guest and you should be treated right” something in Fluttershy’s gaze made Twilight relent just a little bit.

In a few moments the unicorn was strapping the harness on Fluttershy instead. “If you get tired, just let me know okay? I really don’t mind moving my own things”. Fluttershy gave Twilight a very genuine looking smile.

“It’s no problem, that’s what friends do right?” Twilight bristled at the word friend. While she wasn’t a hermit, Twilight always felt that friendship was something she never really needed to bother with. She was a teacher and a scholar, and one who took her duties seriously! None-the-less, she did her best to match Fluttershy’s smile.

But as Fluttershy led the way to the Apple homestead Twilight couldn’t shake the weird feelings around what Fluttershy had said. “That’s what friends do right?”

Author's Note:

Heey, I like my chapters bite sized so I hope this is alright. Fluttershy, Twilight, and the Apple Family will make the foundations of the story essentially. If you have any suggestions you can count me as all ears :D.

Comments

[Evilpresident]

Interesting idea. I'm looking forward to seeing Twilight's first school day.

I did notice a few errors though. Cheerilee's name is spelled wrong in the first section of the story and you have an extra 't' in the word 'destiny' of the title.

[Cross Lament]

So far so good! A few small errors or bits of missing punctuation is all. And I might suggest adding an extra line between paragraphs for readability's sake.

Tracking!

[magicstorm4]

really cool idea, new way to twist the first meeting. I like it I look forward to more so keep up the alsome work

[1Bluefur]

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6218092

Thanks so much everybody! The edits have been made, haha, I'l comb through maybe later on to find those punctuation problems. Grammar was never my strong point, but I'm also not entirely sure where to snag a beta reader, particularly since I'm small fry in a big sea.

[Sunset_Sparkles]

6219122 If you're in need of a proofreader (someone to find mistakes in your story) I recommend you check The Proofreader Group. You can find any kind of proofreader there if you take a look at the Document, from novice proofreaders to expert proofreaders.

[Feather of Truth]

I like this plot idea. Please continue.

[1Bluefur]

6219128 Thanks mate, will do! :D

[DJ-Mad-3]

I like this. Well, I didn't Like it, but I don't like Liking something when it's just getting started.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

sorry Twilight shouldn't have owilious.

[1Bluefur]

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Well, technically it's not the same owl, but I so adore the idea of Twilight meeting an owl when she was still in Canterlot that just kind of, refused to go away. Besides, I needed a way for Fluttershy to open up and in the absence of Spike I didn't have too many options.

I supposed I could've just invented a different pet for her, but that feels cheap somehow.

[Comickook]

Hello there. Really good job on the first meeting (in this universe between Twilight and Fluttershy). The exchange, characterizations and future chapter set-up are beautifully done. Yeah, the introduction of this universe's Owlicious was a good way for Twi and Flutters to bond a bit.

Just one minor detail; I thought the "dragon egg" thing was meant to test the applicant's CHARACTER rather than their ability (otherwise there would either be far fewer students at that school or far more dragons). I mean, she would have probably gotten into the school anyway, just NOT as Celestia's personal student.

That little detail aside, this was a really good first chapter and I'm definitely going to be reading the next one right now.