In Praise of Twilight

by GJT_Productions

The Little Filly That Could (Fidelitas' Story)

"Man, look at them going at it! The Finance Minister seems to be more reluctant than usual to give Spike's request any serious consideration..."

"Well, sir, considering he suspects Princess Celestia's sponsorship of this year's National Dessert Championship is a backdoor excuse to fuel her habit of..."

"Aten, you know Celestia's dessert-eating is a topic that should not be discussed in public!"

"Captain, what other reason would he be so upset today?"

"Aten, shut up and watch. That is an order."

"... Yes sir."

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Lieutenant Captain Aten rolls his eyes again, unseen by Captain Gibraltar, as he is forced by order to watch the argument between Princess Celestia and her Finance Minister, with Spike sitting between them in mortified silence, over how much of the budget can be afforded to pay for Twilight Sparkle's time in Ponyville learning about friendship. Apparently the Finance Minister, as usual for him, wanted to pinch bits while Celestia insisted on a certain pay level.

The Finance Minister had a love-hate relationship with his job. On the one hoof, he was one of the few ponies that could say "no" to Celestia and get away with it. On the other hoof, he had developed a bit-pinching paranoia about everything, particularly Princess Celestia and her rumored sweet-bingeing habit. The fact that Luna was rapidly also following her sister in this supposed bingeing did not help matters, and Gibraltar sensed Spike's request had turned into a proxy issue over the larger "sweets budget" problem.

Aten, being forced to watch the whole argument by order, really cared nothing for budgets - it was rumored he did not bother budgeting for his command and used backroom extortion to balance his books - and just wanted to be back in his office doing his paperwork. Sneaking a peak at the ticking clock, now with the morning shift drawing to a close, only made him even more irritated.

Relief from this professional purgatory came in a bittersweet voice Aten recognized as his afternoon shift replacement: "Captain? Is everything ready for transfer from the morning shift?"

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Both Captain Gibraltar and Lieutenant Captain Aten turn to see Lieutenant Captain Fidelitas approaching, escorted by two Upper Class Guards. Gibraltar shows a slight degree of mortification, Aten a bittersweet relief.

"Sorry Fidelitas, we've gotten distracted. I should've told Lieutenant Biro to send you here." Gibraltar replies with undiluted honesty and a smirk on his face, pointing toward what was going on between Princess Celestia and the Finance Minister.

Fidelitas stops next to Gibraltar and Aten and looks in on the argument. After a brief moment, his eyebrows go up in surprise and he turns to face Gibraltar again.

"What's Spike doing back here in Canterlot?" Fidelitas asks, pointing in the direction of the young purple dragon. Spike himself, perhaps because of the distraction of the argument, does not seem to be aware of the officers watching him.

"Renegotiating the terms of Twilight Sparkle's financial support for staying in Ponyville, apparently. I guess Spike went by himself to make that kind of thing easier on all involved." Gibraltar explains in response.

"Does he need to be watching? I've got to get some reports from him..." Fidelitas asks again, pointing toward Aten as he speaks.

"Yes, I do have reports that I need to give Fidelitas before he can take over for the afternoon, so if you'll excuse me sirs..." Aten quickly replies, turning to leave with obvious relief on his face.

"I did not dismiss you yet, Aten. Sit back down." Gibraltar commands, stopping Aten before the latter had gotten more than a step or two away. The latter returns to his former position, his look changing to a sour glare.

"Something wrong, sir?" Fidelitas asks Gibraltar again after seeing Aten's sour expression.

"Aten here tried to use the old rule about dragons to get Spike tossed out of the castle. He's watching the meeting as punishment." Gibraltar explains again.

"Heh, I see Aten's dislike for him hasn't waned with absence. Not that I blame him, though. I remember almost doing the same thing first time I met Spike, during one of the early sparring sessions with Shining Armor..." Fidelitas comments through a chuckle.

"Oh great, Round 2 of storytime..." Aten thinks to himself, fuming internally as he realizes he's going to get another dose of "young Twilight propaganda"...

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In the Canterlot training hall, two unicorns stallions were testing their strength in the castle training hall. It was sword against shield, spectacular sparks of magic energy flying out whenever the two spells clashed against each other. These sparks were accompanied by flashes of light and sounds of fizzling and crackling, rather like sparks of electricity humans would've recognized.

The "sword" was Fidelitas, then freshly promoted to leading the afternoon shift in the Canterlot Guard. The "shield" was a younger Shining Armor, then a Guard Upper Class having just been assigned to Fidelitas' new command from the night shift. Fidelitas had heard much of Shining Armor's strength - rumors were that only an alicorn could break his shield when he applied it at full power - and wanted to see the effort for himself. Shining had been challenged by other stallions before, but the difference was they weren't his new CO and Fidelitas was.

Unbeknownst to the two stallions, their sparring match was being witnessed. Princess Cadance, along with the young Twilight Sparkle and a Spike not much different from his hatching day, still burbling and sucking on the end of his tail. And sometimes, to the annoyance of everypony involved, burp up a fireball - usually aimed at the worst possible angle at the time it came up.

But Spike was well-behaved at that event, mostly sucking away at the end of his tail as he lay in a carriage that would normally be used for newborn foals. Filly Twilight Sparkle beside the carriage bounced up-and-down in eagerness in seeing her brother "at work", while Cadance was more restrained in her excitement - she was more curious about whether Shining could yet maintain his undefeated record in these informal duels of strength, partly a holdover from "duels of honor" that were performed in the pre-Equestrian times between two different stallions.

It was only during a lull in the action that the watchers made themselves known, through Cadance's hoofstomping applause and Twilight's excited bouncing. Both stallions, panting with exertion, found the flush of effort amplified by their embarrassment at being watched unawares. Both Cadance, using her magic to pull along the carriage with Spike sleeping inside it, and Twilight chuckled heartily at the blushing of the two stallions.

"Your Highness, I wish you had informed us you were watching, we would have put on a better show for you..." Fidelitas awkwardly tries to explain to Cadance.

"Lieutenant Captain, please. You two were entertaining enough, not like some stallions graced with four left hooves." Cadance replies with a practiced grace doubtless copied directly from Celestia.

"Unbeaten record, B.B.B.F.F.?" Twilight excitedly asks as she excitedly bounces over beside Shining Armor.

"Still unbeaten, Twily. He never broke it." Shining replies as he lays down to hug his much-beloved younger sister.

"Yes, I must say, harder than any stone I've ever come across. I think you would need to be an alicorn to break it." Fidelitas adds with a chuckle, looking in Twilight's direction as he's speaking.

"Cadance can make a shield too, she showed me once." Twilight proudly exclaims in response.

"Oh please, don't ask me to try to break an alicorn's magic shield. She probably could cut a horn clean off with that thing!" Fidelitas dismissively waves off with another chuckle, prompting both Shining Armor and Cadance to return nervously laughing in kind.

"I can make a shield too! I learned the spell from B.B.B.F.F. long ago, so I've had lots of practice with it. You wanna try to break it, sir?" Twilight asks with a bright eyed excitement on her face.

"Well, you are a filly of many talents, if all the rumors about you are true. But is it safe to be doing that?" Fidelitas asks with not unjustified concern.

"No more unsafe than keeping a baby dragon around the castle." Twilight points out in return, gesturing with a forehoof toward Spike in the carriage.

"That's true. Technically, he really shouldn't be here, against rules of both the city and the Royal Guard." Fidelitas carefully points out.

"Celestia has her own reasons for keeping Spike here, sir, even if she won't say what they are. And her will is..." Shining replies.

"Supreme over all others, yes I know. It is not necessary to keep reiterating that point, Shining." Fidelitas says with a smile, his expression making it clear he was not being too rough on the stallion that was technically his subordinate but was increasingly regarding as a friend.

"Good, now that that's out of the way, you wanna try? Pleeeease?" Twilight begs Fidelitas with the biggest puppy-dog eyes she can make.

"Well... Celestia doesn't have to know about it, right?" Fidelitas asks, looking over at Cadance.

"Not a word. I want to see her try, anyway." Cadance replies, using her unicorn magic to back the carriage to a safe distance. Meanwhile, Shining backs up beside her.

As soon as the others watching are at a safe distance, Twilight makes her most determined face and her horn glows a magenta color. An energy bubble of the same color quickly surrounds her, and she shifts to an almost cat-pounce posture, as if daring the stallion to do his worst. Fidelitas obligingly activates his own magic talent: a glowing silver beam of magical energy emanating from his horn, and prepares to test the strength of the filly's shield...

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"I hate to interrupt this riveting story, but it's time for the shift change, sir." Aten says with an edge of sarcasm back in the present, pointing to a clock hanging on a nearby wall.

"Spoilsport! I didn't even get to the best part!" Fidelitas indignantly exclaims in response.

"Sadly Fidelitas, Aten is right." Captain Gibraltar points out, looking back and forth between the clock and the still on-going argument between Princess Celestia and her Finance Minister. Aten shoots a smug smile at Fidelitas, who responds with a very dirty look.

"Sir, permission to return to my office to finish paperwork?" Aten asks the Captain, Fidelitas continuing the dirty look as he speaks.

"Granted. Easy, Fidelitas, you can finish your story another time." Gibraltar replies, first to Aten and then to Fidelitas.

Aten can't resist shooting another smug look at finally getting free back at the other two officers, which again produce dirty looks. Turning around, he steps off back to his office, holding snout in the air in the manner of many Canterlot aristocrats. He didn't care how the story ended, or even if he ever learned how it did...