• Published 8th Apr 2017
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Teatime - A Novel Of Twilight & Celestia - bigbear



Twilight wants to reestablish the close relationship she had when she was Princess Celestia’s personal student. But, shared trials will require them to become much more than faithful student and immortal mentor.

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Chapter 24 - Student Vs. Teacher

The two princesses shared a pile of spicy comfort food and pleasant banter. Twilight felt more grounded. She was still nervous about the coming confrontation. But no additional preparation would make it any easier. Celestia embraced her with a final wing-hug, then teleported back to Canterlot, so Twilight could focus on speaking to her student.

Twilight hesitated when she got outside of Starlight’s bedroom door. It was a brown wood door with a brass doorknob. The door had a circular green stained glass window with a stylized tree of harmony. The matching transom window depicted the leaves of the tree. Twilight hoped she could find harmony with her student. She raised a hoof and knocked. “Starlight? It’s me.”

The door glowed with Starlight’s cyan magic and opened. Inside, moonlight filtered through three tall lancet windows, each with a pointed arch at its top. The cool light cast Starlight and the room’s furnishing in sharp relief. The room contained a pair of bookcases, a desk with an inkpot and quill for reading and writing, and a three-legged stool for Starlight to sit on. Next to the desk was a random pile of things that were a part of Starlight’s active interests: a pair of kites, a pile of ancient books, and a giant pot filled with rolled up scrolls. Scattered around the room were other items from Starlight’s studies: a sextant, crystals in various shades of blue and purple, a crystal ball, a globe, a pair of goggles, and a potted plant that hadn’t yet flowered.

The room also contained a bed with wooden head and footboard, white pillow, and lavender quilt. On the bed was an open suitcase. It contained a picture of Starlight’s best friend Trixie and a trio of levitation practice blocks that Starlight used to relax.

Twilight stepped inside and glanced at the suitcase. “Going somewhere?”

Starlight kept working and did her best to not look at Twilight. “I figured I’d visit Sunburst. I hear the Crystal Empire is lovely this time of year.”

“When will you be coming back?” Twilight looked to the wall behind the desk. The place where Trixie’s picture used to hang was conspicuously empty.

“I haven’t decided yet.” Starlight picked up a book, looked at the title then put it down. “No, this is your book.” She picked up a sextant and then put it down. “Yours.” She glanced at a crystal ball but didn’t bother to pick it up. “Yours again.” She slammed the mostly empty suitcase. “Forget it, the rest of this stuff is yours anyway.”

“Starlight, you’re my student and my friend. Feel free to take anything you need.”

“Your student and your friend?” Starlight glared at Twilight and sneered. “It didn’t sound like it this afternoon.”

Twilight stepped forward. “I was trying to keep you from doing something that could’ve gotten you in a lot of trouble.”

“You were protecting her, instead of listening to my side of the story!” Starlight cried. “She’s changing you, Twilight! Celestia’s making you just like her. You used to be the Princess of Friendship and went out of your way to give ponies second chances. Now you spend all your time in Canterlot or judging ponies rather than supporting them. She’s made you abandon who you really are.”

Twilight reflected on being part Future Twilight now. “You don’t know the half of the changes I’ve gone through,” she thought. But she let Starlight say her piece.

Starlight leaned into her rant. “I know she was your teacher, but Celestia’s not all powerful or all knowing. She and Luna together couldn’t hold back the storms from the Frozen North. They didn’t know the spells to fix the Crystal Heart or save the Crystal Empire.” Starlight began pacing as she talked. “My friend Sunburst had to provide the right spells to do all that. Celestia and Luna couldn’t even cast his spells by themselves. They needed our help to make them work.”

Twilight knew the situation had been more complicated than that but let Starlight continue.

“And that’s not the first time somepony has had to save the day when Celestia failed,” Starlight said with scorn. “She’s been overpowered by Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirek, and twice by Chrysalis! Most of the time she left you and the girls to fight them in her place.”

“She’s also taking you away from your friends, from Ponyville, from those who love you the most,” Starlight cried. “At first it took you a few hours to go to tea. Now you spend days getting ready for court, staying in Canterlot, and recovering once you get home.” Starlight sniffed. “Your friends miss you.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, but the accusation hurt. She loved all her friends dearly but had been forced to spend less time with them since she started serving as Princess of the Day.

“We also worry about you. With all the time Celestia is taking, you’re falling behind in your magic.” Starlight pointed to a large book on her desk. “Have you finished studying all of Star Swirl’s spells in the codex we found? I have.”

That comment stung Twilight as well. Her copy of the codex lay unopened on her nightstand. There had been too much government paperwork she had to study first.

“Without keeping up on your magic, you’re vulnerable,” Starlight continued. “I know you helped beat Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek; but that was years ago. I fought you to a standstill and I’m only one unicorn!” Starlight swept her hoof wide. “And you, the girls, and all the other princesses were taken by the evil changelings. It was up to me and my friends to rescue all of you.” Starlight stopped and glared at Twilight. “What happens if you get taken again? Celestia won’t be able to save you. But I could.”

Starlight stood stock still, challenging Twilight to dispute her. Her barrel heaved from emotion and exertion.

“Attacking Princess Celestia isn’t going to help us solve our problems,” Twilight said.

“But she is the problem!” Starlight cried. “First her school steals Sunburst from me. And now you’re going to leave me for her!” She levitated a picture frame off the wall from over her writing desk. Behind glass, it held an image of an equal sign with a red circle and a slash over it. It was from one of Twilight’s first Friendship Lessons. The symbol was a reminder for Starlight to never go back to the way she used to treat other ponies. “I abandoned everything in my life to come here, but that doesn’t mean anything to you.” Starlight raised the frame in the air between them and dashed it to the floor with all her magical might.

The glass in the frame shattered like a grenade at Twilight’s hooves. Instinctively, she put up her magenta shield bubble to defend herself.

But Twilight and Starlight were standing close together. The expanding bubble knocked Starlight to the floor. “So that’s how it’s gonna be!” She lit her horn and fired a cyan beam of magic at Twilight. It washed across her shield making it ripple and distort. “Now we add a little shield breaker spell.” Starlight grinned savagely. Her beam grew sharp edges and Twilight’s shield buckled inward.

As Twilight’s shield collapsed she powered up her own magical beam. Magenta magic met cyan and blocked it. A ball of energy roiling with cyan and magenta grew suspended between the two. “Starlight this is crazy, you’ve got to stop!”

“I’ve got your number, Sparkle!” Starlight roared. “I’ve always been better than you at magic. You should be my student!”

The roiling ball of magic grew larger between them. Neither combatant could stop firing or they’d get hit with all the energy accumulated in the sphere.

Maybe I can leak enough magic past Starlight’s beam to startle her and end this,” Twilight thought. She shifted her beam from magenta to a rotating series of colors. Her magic flowed around the outside of the sphere, searching for a mystic frequency that Starlight had left undefended.

“Firing rainbows? How typical,” Starlight crowed. “Too bad for you I added chromatic reflection to my beam!” Twilight’s multi-colored magic bounced off Starlight’s beam. The ever-widening sphere between them began to boil.

Both spellcasters were sweating; their legs were locked and their teeth gritted. “And too bad for you that I read Starswirl’s codex and you didn’t.” With effort, Starlight cast a spell while keeping up her beam. Tendrils of cyan magic rushed out from her horn in a web that penetrated the castle ceiling, floor, and walls. The lights in the castle went out.

The room was illuminated only by the glow of powerful magics. Pulses cascaded back along the tendrils, empowering Starlight’s beam. The roiling sphere of magic, now larger than either of them, began inching toward Twilight.

The advancing magical sphere shot out bolts of lighting as it absorbed magic from the castle. Each bolt caused a rip in the air. Through the tears, Twilight saw the sickly green, angry red, and dark black magic of dimensional rifts.

“You can’t use Starswirl’s Syphon in the castle!” Twilight called. “The Elements of Harmony made it out of magic from other realms. You’ll cause the place to implode and pull half of Ponyville into another dimension!”

“What? That’s not the way it’s supposed to work!” Starlight yelled. She was shaken. “I’m cutting my beam… now!” Twilight cut her beam as well. But the growing sphere was now attached to the nearly limitless magic that created the castle. It kept expanding on its own.

The unstable energy around the sphere created hurricane force winds and arcs of mystic lighting. Starlight tried to contain the sphere in a multi-faceted shield but it had absorbed her shield breaker spell. Lightning from the sphere popped Starlight’s attempt at containment within seconds.

“Can you add chromatic reflection to your shield?” Twilight yelled over the wind. “That might resist the shield breaker.”

“I can. But even with that, I can’t contain it for long,” Starlight yelled back. “The power of the sphere is growing too fast.”

“Just leave me a hole for my magic,” Twilight replied. “I’ve got a plan.”

Starlight nodded and gritted her teeth. She surrounded the sphere with another multi-faceted shield, like a giant cyan diamond. Lightning from the sphere arced out but was reflected back. The shield was not penetrated but the sphere grew faster than ever.

“Open the hole!” Twilight called and Starlight complied. Twilight gritted her teeth and cast her spell. A cone of magenta webbing shot through the hole and surrounded the sphere. The sphere tried to dodge the siphon spell but it was held fast by Starlight’s shield.

Pulses of magic raced down the webbing and directly into Twilight. She opened her muzzle in a silent scream as the power of the sphere assaulted her from the inside. Her eyes glowed white and she rose into the air without flapping her wings.

The size of the sphere diminished and the glow from Twilight’s eyes intensified. Bolts of dimensional lightning arced from her horn leaving rips in the air all around her. The sphere diminished to the size of a foal’s kick ball but would shrink no more. Twilight writhed in mid-air, but because of the pain, was unable to siphon the last of the magic.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, this is gonna hurt,” Starlight yelled. She shrank the size of her shield as fast as she could. The magic resisted, hammering Starlight through her connection to the shield. With a final cry of pain, Starlight squeezed the remaining magic from the sphere down the web and into Twilight.

Twilight screamed and turned her head so she could look out the bedroom door. At the end of the hall, she could see the central pillar that supported all the floors of the castle. Unfortunately, Starlight was between her and the pillar. Twilight barely kept the presence of mind to wave a hoof and get Starlight to move out of the way. As soon as she had a clear shot Twilight pointed her horn at the central pillar and poured all the power she’d absorbed back into the castle.

The castle lit up like a tree on Hearth’s Warming Eve. The two could hear magic light crystals shatter from the overload all over the castle. After the building was repowered the remaining energy raced up the central pillar and shot out the tip of the spire at the top of the castle. Outside the castle, the only sign of the struggle were harmless fireworks erupting in the sky over Ponyville.

When the power within her dissipated Twilight’s eyes returned to normal. Stunned, she dropped out of the air. Fortunately for Twilight, she landed on something soft. Unfortunately for Starlight Twilight landed on her. “Ufff!” they both gasped as the wind was knocked from their lungs.

After a few gasping breaths Twilight regained control of her limbs. She rolled off Starlight and thudded to the floor still touching her. “Are you Ok?”

Starlight groaned. “Yae. You? That was a lot of power to absorb.”

Twilight winced. “I’ve done that kind of thing before. I’ve held the power of all four alicorns and my part of the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight tried to stretch but shuddered. “This hurt a lot more than those times.”

“Probably dimensional interference disrupting your thaumic field,” Starlight said. “I take it you already knew Starswirl’s Siphon?”

“I learned it years ago from a scroll in the restricted wing of the Canterlot Archives,” Twilight said. She looked at Starlight. “Another inconclusive battle for dominance?”

“I’d call this one a draw,” Starlight muttered.

Twilight sighed. “You have to know I’m not going to leave you like Sunburst did.”

Starlight hung her head low but said nothing.

“You said you blame Celestia’s school for taking Sunburst away,” Twilight said. “And that she’s going to take me away as well.”

Starlight closed her eyes and grimaced. Twilight could see tears forming. “I’m so tired of losing the ponies I care about to her.” The pain in her voice cut like a knife.

Twilight reached out and put her wing on Starlight’s back. “I would never abandon a friend.”

Starlight flinched but didn’t move away. “I’m only a unicorn,” she said. “I can’t compete with everypony’s image of the ‘Oh-So-Perfect’ Princess Celestia. But if you saw how flawed she is, that she’s not better than me…”

Twilight gave Starlight a gentle squeeze with her wing. “It’s not a competition,” she whispered. “I don’t compare you to Celestia any more than I do to Spike or Applejack.” Twilight laid her cheek next to Starlight’s. “You’ve become an amazing mare, and I’m glad to call you my student and my friend.”

“But what about all the changes in your life?” Starlight whispered in reply.

“Our friends change us, it’s a part of life,” Twilight said. “You’re a very different pony since you came to live at the castle. And I’m changing all the time too. That doesn’t mean we have to grow apart. It means we can’t take things for granted and have to work hard to maintain strong relationships.”

“And if you were trying to warn me that I need to put more effort into staying connected with all my friends, then I thank you for advice.” Twilight looked around the chaos of the bedroom. The floor was covered with overturned furniture, scattered books and other items. Ink from the overturned inkpot spread in a puddle on the floor. “How did we get here?” she sighed.

Starlight kept her head down. “I never wanted it to go this far. I thought acting out of anger and endangering others was behind me.” She swallowed hard then looked Twilight in the eye. “I don’t deserve to be your student.”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. “There’s still a chance to save this,” she thought. “Starlight recognizes this was a relapse and is taking responsibility.” Twilight returned the look. “I still want you to be my student. But this was a step back. Together we can find ways to help you learn to control your anger. But ultimately you have to want to do it.”

“I do!” Starlight was quiet for a moment before shaking her head. “I’m just not sure I can.”

“If you want to, I know you can do it.” Twilight stroked a wingtip on Starlight’s back. “Today was hard, but I know if we take the time and work together we can get through it.”

Starling grimaced. “But you don’t have that kind of time anymore.”

“I’ll make the time,” Twilight said. “This is important.”

Starlight let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

Twilight glanced at the chaos again. “First things first. You need to clean this mess up. And I need to inform the Mayor and Canterlot that the fireworks display was nothing to be alarmed about.”

“That’s fair.” Starlight pointed a hoof at the broken frame on the floor containing the ripped picture of an equal sign with a slash over it. “How about I start with this?” Twilight smiled and nodded.

Starlight lit her horn and cast the reversal spell. The glass scattered around the floor imploded back into the frame. The wood straightened and cuts in the canvas mended themselves. Starlight hung the picture back on the wall over her desk.