Special Guests
Twilight Velvet stared down at the perfect grid of party favors on the kitchen counter; thirty six little bags filled with hats, noise makers, balloons, and a generous amount of star-shaped confetti. Her hoof tapped out seconds in time with the clock on the wall. In another minute everyone she’d invited would officially be half an hour late. “Stupid other parents… stupid public school… stupid scheduling conflicts… that’s what they’re all going call it: a scheduling conflict. Forget asking the Princess; I should’ve just put invitations on lamp posts.”
Night Light nudged the nearest party favor with his hoof. He looked at her with a cautious yet optimistic smile she knew well, the same one she gifted to each of her book’s dashing heroes. “She was the longest of long shots, dear… but we can still make the afternoon special. What if we go out instead? We could let Twilight pick a restaurant… maybe stop by her favorite book store…”
Shining Armor sighed, the short crop of his mane barely visible over the back of the couch. A book on military strategy floated over his reclining form. “Dad, we did that last week after she aced her entrance exam! She’s probably rereading her new teleportation book right now, that’s why she hasn’t noticed what time it is. Can’t I just go upstairs and get her? We can have the cake, and sing, and—”
Twilight Velvet swiped her foreleg across the kitchen counter, scattering the party favors across the floor. She stomped into the front room and focused her magic on the streamers hanging from the ceiling. One by one, the decorations came down and joined the party favors on the floor. “Not another word, either of you! Just… let me think.”
“Mom—”
“I said let me think!”
“Mom—”
She whirled around and glared at her son, an adolescent stallion already as big as she was, but not so big that he could escape cowering under her fiery gaze. “What, Shining Armor? What?”
He curled into a ball and held a spare cushion up as a shield. “There’s… um… there’s somepony outside… looks important.”
Night Light reached the front window first, and his tail stuck straight out when he did. “D-dear, you didn’t say anything… threatening to Princess Celestia, did you?”
Twilight Velvet gasped. “What? Of course not!”
“Shining Armor, did you commit some horrible crime that you’d like to tell us about?”
Shining Armor jumped off the couch and joined them at the window. “Are you crazy? I’ve got a week left before I go to the acad—whoa.”
Twilight Velvet pressed her nose to the glass. A golden chariot was parked on their front lawn, and no less than five royal guards, four fillies, and one bearded and bespectacled unicorn stallion were stepping off of it. “Go get Twilight.”
“Huh?”
“Go get your little sister! Tell her study time is over, the guests are here! Night Light, could you wait by the door while I… um… pick up the mess I made?”
Shining Armor ran for the stairs, while Night Light headed for the kitchen. “I’ll clean up, dear. If the royal guard is coming to arrest you for Princess harassment, who am I to stand in their way?”
She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “You’d better hope they do, because if they don’t my pillow’s got a date with your f—”
The sound of the doorbell made her jump. The soft clang of metal on metal, the sweet music she’d been fantasizing about since sending out invitations was finally calling out to her. “J-just a minute! Be right there!”
“How about that, they’re not just breaking the door down.”
She shot Night Light one last glare and marched to the front door. Twilight ran down the staircase and nearly collided with her. “There’s ponies here to see me? Really?”
Shining Armor came up behind her, laughing. “Really, Twily.”
Twilight Velvet smiled. “Let’s just remember to be friendly and accepting, no matter what they look like, okay honey?”
Young Twilight gave a vigorous nod. “I will, mom. I promise!”
Twilight Velvet took a deep breath, her eyes fixed on the new cutie mark on her daughter’s flank. “Why don’t you open the door, honey?”
Young Twilight’s horn glowed purple, and the front door swung open. Two royal guards in full armor stood in the doorway, their stern expressions as friendly and inviting as a brick wall.
Young Twilight gave a seconds-long gasp. “Are… are you here for my party?”
Twilight Velvet bit her lip. They’d better be. If this was some sort of sick prank, no jury would ever convict her.
The guard on the left spoke, his voice as level and stern as his expression. “Is this the residence of one Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia?”
Young Twilight gave her mother a brief glance before nodding. “Yes… That’s me.”
“And is this the date and time of her cute-ceañera?”
Young Twilight tilted her head slightly. “Yes…”
Both of the guards pulled off their helmets and grinned. “Phew, we’re at the right place! Can we please come to your party, Miss Twilight?”
Young Twilight gave her brightest smile. “Sure! That’s okay, right Mom?”
Twilight Velvet beckoned them inside. “I hope you’re all in the mood for cake.”
Five royal guards filed through door in a straight line, removing their helmets as they did so while the other guests rushed by them. In seconds, the quiet house was filled with conversation and calls for the special filly to tell them her cutie mark story.
Twilight Velvet took a deep breath, exhaling week upon week of worry in the process. Little Twilight had some guests at her party, and she didn’t care that most of them were muscle-bound stallions clad in armor.
“Did somepony say cake?”
The room went silent, and Twilight Sparkle gasped. “Is… Is that—“
Princess Celestia ducked through the entryway. “Good afternoon, Twilight Sparkle.”
“You came to my cute-ceañera! Oh thank you, Princess!”
Princess Celestia smiled. “Your cute-ceañera is today? How convenient! I actually came to begin your private lessons early alongside a few late additions to the school roster, but that can wait until we’ve celebrated, don’t you think? I’m sure Lyra, Lemon Hearts, Minuette, and Moondancer would love to get to know you, considering how much time you’ll spend with them once the school year starts.”
Young Twilight’s smile faltered for just a moment, at least until she looked at the roomful of guests, especially the four fillies grinning at her expectantly. “Oh, wow! I guess that can wait… Since we have guests and everything.”
“Wonderful.”
---
An hour later, the party was still in full swing. Twilight Velvet sat at the kitchen table next to the remains of the cake, watching three royal guards in party hats tossing her daughter in the air amid repeated choruses of For She’s a Jolly Good Pony from Night Light and the fillies. Her attention wandered to the other side of the room, where the two other guards had her son backed into a corner.
“—heard you’re shipping off to the academy.”
Shining Armor gave a shaky salute. “Y-yes, Sir!”
“Think you’ve got what it takes to be a Royal Guard, eh? Maybe a lieutenant?”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Wrong! You’d better aim higher than that! If you want to last a month in the academy, you’d better be aiming for captain of the guard, got that?”
Shining Armor’s eyes went wide. “C-captain of the guard?”
“Say it!”
“I-I want to be the captain of the guard… Captain Shining Armor.”
Both guards chanted in unison. “I can’t hear you!”
“Captain Shining Armor!”
Princess Celestia slipped through the room, gingerly stepping through a battleground of confetti and balloons, and joined Twilight Velvet at the kitchen table. “I’m sorry we were late. Convincing Moondancer to come to an impromptu ‘friendship lesson’ took some work. Minuette on the other hoof…”
Twilight Velvet laughed. “Late? I wish you’d told me you were really coming, but… thank you. Thank you so much. This means the world to Twilight.”
A glass of lemonade rose to Princess Celestia’s lips, and was soon emptied. “I might as well get used to the favoritism accusations that come with having a personal student… although I’ve never had a student so eager to jump ahead to the ‘lesson’ portion of our time together. I just gave a command lecture on the magical properties of cutie marks, and Professor Hoofington is going to talk about their origin and historical significance next. I’m not sure either of us will get out of here with our voices intact.”
“That’s my Twilight. She’ll soak up every drop of knowledge you give her… but I hope you see the other side now, too: the filly that… doesn’t really get what friendship is.”
Princess Celestia gave a long, slow nod. “We’ll work on that.”
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- PonyTom · 57k words · 30 2 · 936 views
- Gapeagle · 14k words · 20 0 · 585 views
- Nugget · 1.4k words · 29 1 · 763 views
- Georg · 1.7k words · 248 11 · 3.8k views
- Moose Mage · 5.2k words · 153 6 · 2.3k views
- Ponibius · 33k words · 184 4 · 2.7k views
- Shrink Laureate · 1.4k words · 282 2 · 4.4k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.272 seconds
Total duration
851 users online
1,276,024 hits today, 2,591,549 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Absolutely adorable!
Wow, I never even gave a thought to what Twilight's cute-ceañera would be like. I'll accept this version!
Liked how Velvet pleaded her case and how Celestia maneuvered things to better placate the populous.
Yes, Celestia has her work cut out for her.
head canon accepted
Absolutely adorable, and very well written. Thank you very much for sharing.
I had always assumed Twilight's cute-ceañera was a quiet family affair, I like your version better.
Fits with "amending fences" expaling how an antisocial filly Twilight could still have some friends.
I think this deserves some more attention, honestly. Everyone was in character, it made sense, and it was very well-written aside from a couple of spelling errors. Liked and favorited.
This...was adorable and wonderful. Dang it, why doesn't this have more views?!
Twilight Velvet is best mom.
What's the point in having a personal student if you don't show them a little favoritism?
This was satisfying to read. Well-written, not sickeningly sweet like virtually every other filly Twilight story I've read on here, and most importantly, everyone is in character.
A damn fine story this is.
While I liked the thrust of this story, and it had a clever idea – and a conclusion which explained how Twilight ended up with “friends” that she barely seemed to care about – I'm kind of confused as to what it is trying to accomplish. If this is meant to show character, I would have liked to see more of Twilight Velvet and particularly Princess Celestia’s thoughts – it was a much bigger ask than it might seem on the surface, and there was some possibility to reveal some good character here. But instead, a lot of time is spent on various other things, and only about half the story’s length is actually spent on such, so I'm not quite sure if that's the point.
But if this is supposed to be a fluff piece, I’m not quite sure that it quite came together as such for me either – while Celestia showing up is a very warm and fuzzy thing for her to do, the story doesn’t really present itself in a very warm-and-fuzzy light, and little of it is focused on such things. As such, I’m not really sure that it is supposed to be one in the first place.
7931227
Admittedly, the story doesn't stray too far from what's promised in the description: in pursuit of her daughter's happiness and wellbeing, Twilight Velvet sets out to secure a guest for the party. The stakes are low enough that I'm not sure the story could've stood to be very much longer… but it could've been a little longer, I'm sure. Thanks for reading!
How sweet! Just the read I needed this evening.
I had the honor of reading this during the Writeoff, and I can say that I love it even more now that you've fleshed it out.
Great job.
7931441
Thanks for pointing that out!
This was actually really good and I love seeing these origin stories that really capture the show. Thank you for writing this story!
This was cute in the WO and cuter now. Happy smile things, yay.
m8...have a like and fav
Friendship 098, possibly.
Beautiful! Didn’t expected that guards would be invited too. Nice how you pointed shining armor's future in the Military out.
7931965
It is implied in the official comics. She has a plaque on her wall that has "Daring Do" written on it, which is why a lot of people have decided she is either a publisher or an editor; however some people see it as an award named after Daring Do, which she perhaps won for writing something otherwise unrelated to Daring.
EDIT: This image was stitched together shortly before we learned that Daring Do and AK Yearling are one and the same: derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/11/1/461822__safe_rainbow+dash_daring+do_season+4_twilight+velvet_daring+don%27t_spoiler-colon-s04e04.png
Good story.
7931989
OMG twilight is her own mom? That's creepy
Where is Twinkleshine? Also it's spelled Minuette not minuet. Still this is a nice story.
7931989 Must have overseen that when i read that comic but still nice idea of the fandom
7931227 Can't it be a rather cold-and-melancholic bit of fluff about a princess who has to hide in a locked academy from her courtiers, and her new student who only seems vaguely aware of the existence of other ponies her own age?
7932245
Huh?
7932322
Good catch on Minuette!
And arg, I forgot Twinkleshine! Maybe she was out of town... or maybe I'll just sneak her in tonight
This story made my day. Thank you.
And by the way:
It's missing a word.
7933060
Glad I could help! And thanks for pointing out the missing word
And this is the point at which I audibly squeed.
Thanks for the humongous dose of heartwarming.
I reviewed this story as part of Read it Now Reviews #102.
My review can be found here.
7932709
The image of Twilight's mom looks like a stoned/petrified version of Twilight Sparkle.
7933424
Twilight Velvet is well established as looking like a recoloured Twilight.
vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/4/4b/Twilight_Velvet_id_S1E23.png
The picture on the right from my earlier comment comes from a toy, I think, where almost every pony is a recolour of one of the main 6.
So CUUUUUTE!
7934436 indeed, it is
7931965
For a long time, it was one of the few canon details we did know!
Andy Price expanded on this idea in the comics (#11) by having a Daring Do literary award on Velvet's wall, which—prior to the canon reveal of her actual literal in-universe existence—led many of us to draw the conclusion that she wrote the books and won an award for them.
You know I really love this little bit of head canon! Plus it's so cute to see Twilight get so excited that she has guests over for her party!
7934603 And that is a good idea!
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/172/737/ff1.png
But seriously, that was pretty creative of Celestia: to prevent accusations of favoritism, Celestia brought some other young fillies, which also gives filly Twilight a chance at being social.
Well done.
Well it was a nice short story and I liked characterizations of ponies involved. I can easily accept this as headcannon. Wish there was more to it but hey was enjoyable short read.
Even though it was short, I would have loved to see more.
Short and sweet, well characterized and quite enjoyable.
I loved this little tale... so nicely woven into the characters' backstories. Thanks so much for sharing it!
Some of the best stories I've found on FiMFiction are ones that find an empty spot tucked into the canon and make themselves at home.
Like this one.
This is adorable!! I especially loved the small bits of interaction between Shining Armor and the Royal Guard; it's nice how you fit them in there! Keep up the good work!
This was heartwarming, I love it!
At this point, I pretty much lol'd.
Thanks for the great read!
Thoroughly marvelous. :D
How dare you. That is downright adorable and precious and I'm outraged at the volume of "dawws" that came from my body. How dare you presume to warm my heart in this manner, sir. You should be ashamed.
(Also, I love this.)