Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns

by enamis

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The darkness of the gentle autumn night washed through the stone and marble hallways. The clear windows reflected the starlight from the cloudless sky. A magic wisp the size of a young foal slowly glided through the carpet-strewn hallway, casting an eerie pale glow around it. The halls were silent, every single pony in their beds, sleeping the night away, looking forth to a new and exciting day.

Twilight churned under her covers with a pillow over her head. The filly was struggling to try and stay in the oblivious dreamland of sweet, sweet sleep.

With a soft grunt she sat up, launching the pillow all the way to the other side of the bed. The filly yawned and looked around to find the room still dark and quiet. The glow of the soft moonlight was gone, yet the sun was still somewhere on its way to a new dawn. She rubbed her violet eyes as her ears tried their best to pick up any and all sound around her.

All she heard were snores.

Geezus crumbs, Lyra, you need to get that checked out, that snoring could wake up Starshine of all ponies!
Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at that. For a filly as quiet as Lyra, that was… loud… geez…

Twilight raised her hooves up at the stars as she heard soft pops and cracks when her spine realized it wasn’t wedged in a ninety degree angle anymore. Twilight ran a hoof through her mane to somehow tame the damage sleep had caused before getting up on her hooves.

She crept along her mattress as quietly as ponily possible, but it was impossible for the old springs not to squeak and groan under the youngling’s weight. After what seemed like torturous hours of I-will-wake-up-every-living-and-unliving-being-in-a-ten-mile-radius-noise Twilight slid down the stairs that connected her bunk with the wooden floor.

She tip-hooved over to her suitcase and nudged the heavy lid open with her nose, not risking using her magic to not accidentally slam the lid open like last time. The filly withdrew her purple robe and as she worked her hooves around the soft fabric she felt two lumps around her sleeve.

Twilight fumbled with the fabric for the better part of five minutes and her result were two apples that she had stuffed in her sleeve yesterday… no, wait… was it two days ago?

The filly shrugged before warping her light purple magic around the two apples without paying any mind to the action and getting on her hooves, ready to sneak out of the door. This technically wasn’t breaking the Dark Hours rule, was it? I mean, she had to get up in two hours anyway, so it didn’t count… right?

Twilight pondered about that for a moment before disregarding that thought and snuck out into the stairwell. She took a few moments to let her eyes adjust to the dimmer light leaking through the velvet curtains. She shot a glance at the colt’s bedroom but quickly destroyed the idea. Star would have her head if she’d wake him up so early.

With nothing better to do, nor go to, the filly began walking up to the roof. Moonglow had mentioned it held the bird housing and amazing autumn breeze.

Twilight was halfway up the stairs until she remembered the noisy, somewhat living paintings. She quietly snickered as she imagined herself as a master spy, trying to get past the guards and manalights to get into the Royal Archives, as she crouched down as low as she could get and began hoofing her way up the cold stone stairs.

After about a minute in crawling in the dark, the filly got bored and decided to take a risk. She hated risks, but she had always loved her sister and foalsitter for taking them. So for once in her life she acted on impulse.

Twilight poked her head upwards and squinted her violet eyes trying to see if the picture was alive or not. After a few frightening moments she managed to see a light pink unicorn mare with a black mane sleeping in a pile of books in what looked like the School’s library. For a few moments she looked dead, well, as dead as a painting could be, but then Twilight saw the picture’s chest rise and fall. Ok, not dead then.

Not taking any more chances, the filly skirted up the stairs with her mind still working around and about the living painting. Weeeeeeeeeeird.

With her brain still half-asleep Twilight rounded the corner and ran smack-first into the door. Geez, what was with this school and running into doors…?
Cursed doors?
Odd thought…

Twilight rubbed both her hooves against her muzzle as it throbbed with ever heartbeat, but thankfully was fine otherwise. She cursed herself and mumbled something about ‘slowly loosing brain cells…’ before pushing open the door.

She was greeted by the most beautiful dawn of her entire life.

Twilight was stunned by the sight so very much she dropped the two apples she’d forgotten she was carrying. The filly’s mouth hung agape as her eyes didn’t want to leave the burning orange sun and majestic lavender sky of the retreating night.

“Beautiful aint’ it?”

The sound of somepony’s voice snapped Twilight out of whatever trance she’d fallen in. She managed to take a deep breath for a scream before choking on air and stumbling backwards and falling with an amazingly loud thud.

As she entered a coughing fit she managed to catch glimpses of the pony that was already there before her. A sunny yellow coat… burning orange mane… bright and kind alabaster eyes…

Twilight managed to grasp a few shallow breaths as she slammed her hoof against her chest. Finally, she managed to gasp a lungful of air as she turned her watery eyes to the filly not much older than herself, staring back with slight worry.

The older filly sat with her body turned to a gap in the wall where the sun was starting to peek through, a cup of tea clutched between her hooves. Behind her stood so many perches that Twilight couldn’t even count. The birds came in all sizes and colors! There were blue-jays and canneries and a hefty bunch of owls ranging from massive eagle owls to polar ones to even a few adorable little pygmy owls. The few free-roaming birds that were awake, or awoken by Twilight's amazing entrance, gently chirped and hooted filling the world with a melody of wonder.

Twilight tore her eyes away from the birds, her mind still wondering which one was Lyra’s and come to think of it, what kind of pet did Starshine have anyway? The filly, still coughing for dear life, turned to the other pony in this ‘room’ with her.

“Aurora, what in the world are you doing up here?” Twilight managed to squeak, though her voice had gone a bit raspy after that short dance with death.

The older filly shrugged, her alabaster eyes still locked on Twilight. “Just sitting around, watching the sun rise, listening to the birds waking up… Looking how my best friend’s sister chokes on air.” She offered a small smile. “You alright?”

Twilight managed to nod. She let out a few coughs and walked over to the other filly and slumped down next to her.

“Did Moonglow show you this place?” The younger filly asked as Aurora passed her the cup of steaming tea she had been drinking before Twilight had so awkwardly stumbled in.

“Yep. I once told her I loved sunrises so she shoved me this spot. She said your brother always came up here.” She turned her head towards the horizon with a serene smile. Only now Twilight noticed two odd flying balls of fire circling around the yellow unicorn. They gave off an odd aura of sentience, gracefulness, warmth… ok, maybe that was just the tasty green tea doing its tasty-tea-magic…

Aurora caught Twilight’s gaze as the younger filly followed the little, bright red ball of flame as it lazily floated beside her and the sky-blue one’s light illuminating the small area around her.

“Their wisps, Twilight.” Aurora placed her hoof under the red flame, and like a bird, it perched on the tip of her slim extremity. “These two and another one always follow me around. Ponies have pets, owls, birds, dragons and lizards. I have these little guys.” She gently threw the red, flaming wisp into the air and watched as it gently fluttered back down and lingered next to her blank, yellow flank.

“Only a few ponies can see them. Mom, the Princess, Alex and Nyx… You, Moonglow…” The older filly shifted he gaze to the blue flame. “Sky can’t see them. Nor can Madagor’e and that aquamarine filly… umm, Lyra, right? Weird how these little, magical things work.” She smiled and turned away and suddenly changed the subject. “You wanna watch the sun rise, Twilight?”

The lavender filly was taken aback by these weird magical… beings, you could call them? She placed that thought on a shelf and recovered just in time to catch the most amazing sunrise since the Summer Sun Celebration Celestia knows how many years ago.

The golden sun peeked just above the horizon as the sky painted itself in crimson and violet. The burning diamonds of the night and the velvet sky faded into a clear blue. A few stray clouds lazily drifted across the equestrian plains and turned to shades of gold and pink. Twilight watched the far eastern horizon half-hidden behind the crumbling and snow covered peaks of the Griffon Kingdom.

She turned her head to face the last remnants of the night as she gazed across the lush green plains of her homeland. The golden rays of her mentor’s sun washed over the clear landscapes and tiny villages until it reached the border of the dreaded Everfree. But the golden sun kept going, further and further as it stretched across the waking world. Twilight could see Trottingham, Manehattan and the Emerald Shores that reached into the dark ocean.

Her eyes dared not to blink as everything she’d seen from the endless spires of nighttime Canterlot lit up with a brand new day. New lives, adventures and mysteries could begin this very moment… And then Twilight realized that a dawn like this will never come again. Because every new day was different…

“We should head back before anypony wakes up.” The soft voice of a pony besides her once more snapped Twilight out of this magical moment. She turned to once again see the sunny-yellow filly munching on one of the two apples she’d totally forgotten about, already up and standing next to the open doorway. Those kind alabaster eyes were like mini-suns on their own and Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she got up and walked over to her sister’s best friend.

Aurora led Twilight down the stairs. It was as if the yellow filly’s hooves made no sound when they met with the ground, all the while, Twilight stumbled downward like an inept foal she truly was. No way of getting into the Archives at this rate.

The two magical flames followed behind them.

Twilight shot glares at each and every painting the two passed on their way, granted, the trip downward was the shortest possible, but it never hurt to keep an eye on your surroundings.

As the two fillies came up to the small lobby-esk area that connected the two bedrooms with the stairwell Aurora turned to Twilight as her two wisps illuminated the area around them with an eerie lavender glow.

“Well… This is your stop.” Aurora looked down at Twilight. Geez, why was every single pony so tall compared to herself? Twilight mentally frowned at that thought.

“Yea, I guess… Hey, you never really told me why you were up so early?” Twilight tilted her head as she inched closer to the door to her bedroom.

“Oh, I-I'm a bit of an insomniac you could say, always been an early bird anyway, so that doesn’t help much…” Aurora pushed out a small smile. “But anyway, have a nice day Twilight.” Her alabaster eyes glimmered one more time before she turned to the next set of stairs leading down.

“Say hi to Moonglow for me!” Twilight whisper-shouted before the older filly was out of sight and probably earshot.

“Will do!” Came a muffled response and the blue glow of the off little wisp vanished. Twilight smiled and turned to the door only to see the red flame still lingering around.

“Shoo!” The filly quietly hissed at the small ball of magical fire. All the wisp did was shiver under the filly’s breath. “Go on, shoo, shoo, little buddy!” Twilight continued. “Go on, back to Aurora you go, shoo!” The filly waved her hooves before the little manabeing, but to no avail. Eventually she just gave up and left the red flame floating around in the stairwell and went back to bed.

---------

“Nonononono-NONONONONONO! Tardy! Tardy! Tardy! TARDY!” Twilight skidded around the room with a wave of papers on her tail as she ran back and forth and all around while constantly mumbling the same lines over and over again.

Pages and blank notes washed around her, and frankly, she’d turned the filly’s bedroom into her own personal one, as in, papers and books… papers and books everywhere…

Twilight rounded the corner of a bunk bed in a desperate attempt to find the book she was so desperately looking for. That maneuver didn’t go as planned and the filly stepped on a small stack of blank papers and slipped, tripping, and landing face first and skidding across the oakwood floor and ending up with her face under Lyra’s bunk. And there she saw her prize.

“HAH!”

Twilight shouted a grinned as she shuffled backwards out from under the bed with the book in her teeth. ‘Magical Theory for Beginners’. Speaking of which… SHE WAS LATE!

Twilight stuffed a quill behind her ear and bit down onto a pile of notes along with book she’d just found and stumbled her way out of the bedroom.

Class had started Celestia knew how long ago and Twilight had even slept thought breakfast! More importantly, it looked like nopony had even tried to wake her! Actually… no… she woke up with a wet mane and face so somepony had tried the ol’ dump-water-on-your-face trick. It didn’t work, only added another mess to the big pile of messy-mess-ness of Messington Twilight was already in. She wasn’t tardy! It was just… karma maybe? Or was that fate? Who cares!

Twilight had no time to ponder much, her tiny hooves carrying her across the red carpeted hallways in lightning speeds. She skidded around the last corner before the Gates of Tartarius -eeem- Mrs. Mandagor’e’s class, she meant to say there… and paused, taking a single second to make her heart stop pounding.

The filly used her forehead and horn to physically push open the door. To her absolute surprise it wasn’t slammed shut so tight that the wooden boards meshed together, like it always seemed to be. She quietly poked her head through the door an awaited a bashing and all her classmate’s most supportive expressions when Twilight would have her judgment passed. There was one of that.

Twilight traced the gaze of the filly in the first row on the door’s side and to her surprise she saw about a dozen pale wisps floating around and, basically, harassing her teacher.

Twilight had to bite down on the book, still firmly in her mouth, to not burst out laughing as she watched the teacher wave around a giant fly-swatter made from pure, rust-colored magic.

After a few moments of amusement Twilight took the opportunity and slipped into the classroom. She pressed her side against the wall and crouched backwards before jumping behind a desk and a slightly confused filly. Twilight snuck forward, keeping low to the ground, until she reached the nothingness that separated the two columns of desks.

The lavender filly peeked around the corner of the desk, ignoring the glances two of her classmates were showing, and looked for another opportunity. She once more saw her despised teacher trying to get rid of the ominous magical flames that constantly flew by her face and plucked at her tail. And then the youngling noticed something interesting.

A familiar, red wisp hovered above the rest, occasionally floating aide to avoid a stray swing with the magical-fly swatter. It seemed like half the class didn’t even see it, Mandagor’e included.

Twilight took a chance. Too many risks, not enough time between them, a thought zapped though Twilight’s mind as she flew through the air and landed just behind Starshine as the colt turned his confused face at her.

It took only a second to recover and jump into her seat and pretend nothing ever happened. Twilight spat her notes out on the table and ran a hoof over the small bite marks on the book to clear away any of her spit. She hated to do this to books, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Finally her heart decided she wasn’t in mortal danger anymore and stopped pumping a billion beats per second. Twilight slumped back in her seat and let out a very long and well-deserved sigh.

“What. The. Hay?” Starshine muttered as he finally regained his senses. His expression was next to priceless, the perfect combination of amazement and confusion. Or just Twilight looking at herself in a mirror whenever she saw Celestia use her amazing magic. Did she really look that bad? Wow, if that was her ‘Stunned and Amazed’ face and if it was so hilariously horrifying she’d better think up a new way to be Celestia’s fanfilly.

“Huh?” The lavender filly barely registered anything. Her brain had accidentally gone into overdrive. She shook her head and returned to the conversation.

“By Celestia’s mane, what is going on?” she whispered as she shot a glance at her teacher. Still swatting wisps. Good.

“I dunno, well, I do, but-” Starshine paused to compose himself. “Lyra and Blinky said they couldn’t wake you, Blinky's friend Rose even dumped a glass of water on you but you didn’t budge. So the rest decided to leave you…” He paused again, looking a bit guilty. “That class started but before anything could happen this weird little red wisp came out of nowhere and started doing stuff!” The colt energetically waved around his snowy white hooves and to avoid getting slapped, Twilight leaned backwards and met with Lyra’s aquamarine face.

The lavender filly raised an eyebrow. Lyra rolled her yellow eyes before whispering an explanation.

“I don’t know what red wisp he’s mumbling about, but something sure as hay went down the weirdo road.” The young unicorn took a moment to let a wisp the size of her head zip above before continuing. “First there was wind or something, it kept flinging all our papers around and then a dozen wisps just came through the door and from the small spark-gems in the ceiling and started doing…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence but Twilight got the idea. And just that second the rusty-magic fly swatter came down on Twilight’s desk and she was met with a frayed looking Mandagor’e.

“Hello Miss Sparkle. Didn’t see you there, it was as if you weren’t even around.” She held an odd, oblivious tone that didn’t sit well with Twilight. Not like her teacher the slightest.

“I dropped my quill.” Twilight glanced at the one stuck behind her ear. “Took a lotta’ effort to reach.” She pushed out a toothy grin as Mandagor’e’s expression shifted to her usual bored one.

“Must’ve missed you then. Keep up the good work.” She flashed smirk and went back to chasing the wisps that were picking at her papers.

“Do you really see the red wisp?” Twilight leaned close to Starshine once more and whispered in the colt’s ear.

“Yep. I don’t know what Ly’s getting at, it the most obvious thi-o-O-” His turquoise eyes widened as the small red flame appeared beside the two foals. The two flinched at its sudden appearance, but then again, magical floating objects didn’t make a sound when they moved.

The little red being gently bobbed above the desk and Twilight couldn’t help but bob her head along with it. She placed her hoof under it, like she’s seen Aurora do it. The red flame happily obliged and Twilight could’ve sworn she heard it purr. Fire can’t purr, can it?

She lifted her hoof upwards with the wisp still hanging on. Twilight turned, only to see the widely grinning face of Starshine but she ignored him and instead scowled at the wisp.

She turned her body to Lyra and extended her hoof with the wisp at the filly’s direction. “Can you really not see it?”

Lyra raised an eyebrow and glanced at Twilight’s empty hoof. “There’s nothing there.” She hissed and frowned as her yellow eyes look at Twilight.

“But it’s right there!” Starshine butted in as he leaned on top Twilight’s head and pointed at the red flame.

“There’s nothing there!” Lyra raised her voice but the overall background chaos of a disgruntled teacher shouting something about ‘where’s that useless sack of dragon blood when you need her?’ drowned out the aquamarine filly’s small shout.

“But-” Starshine tried again but was abruptly cut off.

“Is this some kind of cruel joke?!” She screamed at the two, her voice breaking as tiny tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Twilight’s own eyes widened, unsure how to react. Lyra took a few sharp breaths, still staring down the two frozen foals, before turning and shoving her stack of blank notes in a pile and stomping to the far end of the classroom with them clenched between her jaws.

Even if the room was in chaos, silence lingered around Twilight as she tried to come to terms with what just happened. Obviously, she’d done something wrong, not all ponies were over-the-top simple as Starshine. Something was clearly wrong. Something was bothering Lyra, that much Twilight understood. But what? Geez, when she thought making friends was easy she waaaaay off…

“What’s her problem?” Starshine mumbled as he blew a stray red lock out of his face. And then Twilight snapped.

The lavender filly lurched backwards and shook the snowy colt off her and turned to him with her violet eyes bearing the same hidden storm of Mandagor’e, that was still chasing the annoying wisps around the room.

“Stupid!” That was all Twilight hissed at him, and frankly it’d scare the pants of off him if he’s had any. The lavender filly snapped backwards and took a look back at Lyra who had stuffed herself in the far corner of the room, as far away from the two as possible. And then, the disgruntled youngling exhaled.

She sunk into her seat, and scooted as far away from the still shocked colt by her side. Twilight lifted her hoof and looked at the little red wisp that was still hovering in place. Without much thinking, Twilight gently threw the little flame into the air and followed it with her gaze until it was back at the ceiling. And a flash. And it was gone. Huh?

And that very second, every pale flame in the room disappeared with an audible pop, leaving behind one last gust of air and a floor littered with paper.

In the middle of it all, with a tattered purple cloak and a bleak, black mane going in every direction stood an amazingly surprised and confused Mrs. Mandagor’e.

Her pale gray eyes were wide as the magical, rusty red wisp-swatter popped into nothingness. She straightened her little, crest shaped glasses with the tip of her hoof, before looking around just to make sure whatever happened won’t be happening again.

“Okay then… I have no idea what just happened but don’t worry, I’ll simply drown Celestia in paperwork for this.”

Was that… laughter? Ok, what crazy mirror-world was this? Or maybe Twilight was still dreaming?

…

Nope… defiantly real. Oh brother, this can’t end well…

Comments

[Obsidian]

I love all these little oddities that your adding. Unique wisps that are only viewable to a few unicorns. Aurora who's probably Celestia in disguise, shennanigans and a magical fly-swatter... most excellent.

[Yobikir]

1143311
Uhm i don't want to rain into your parade but wouldn't the line

Did she meet amazing friends? Check.

make it Alternate Universe itself?

[AceCombat101fan]

1926448 Your story is awsome! Hey want to check out my story Ace Combat: Divided Feelings?