Another Door Opens
A few weeks later, Twilight finally moved to student's quarters at the School building itself. It was bittersweet, leaving her room at the palace, but Cadance solemnly promised to keep it reserved as long as possible in case Twilight ever wanted to come over for a visit.
Saying goodbye to Cadance was even harder, but Cadance reminded Twilight of her promise, that she would be available whenever Twilight needed her.
Twilight and Spike were unpacking books and clothes in her new dormitory room, with Twilight carefully ticking off items on a checklist to make sure nothing had gone missing. Spike put himself in charge of reloading the bookcase, grabbing books Twilight levitated out of the boxes and hustling them over to the shelves.
Coming across Smarty Pants in one of the boxes, Twilight glanced over at Spike. Then she tucked the doll away in her toy box and shut the lid.
"So!" Spike said, dusting his claws after tucking away the last of the books. "There's still some space left -- we gonna hit the library after this, Twi?"
"You know it, Spike! Let's do this!"
"May I lend a hoof?" Princess Celestia strode into the room. "Oh, I see you're nearly done!"
She looked around the relatively small, windowless space. "Are you sure this is all right, Twilight? Some of the rooms in the central dormitory are larger, and have a better view -- or any view, for that matter."
"But they're not as close to the library, and to the palace," Twilight said. "Thank you, Princess, but this is fine for me!"
"I'm pleased to hear it!"
"So, what's my lesson plan for today?" Twilight said. Spike hurried over to stand next to her, quill and paper at the ready to take notes.
"No lessons today, Twilight," Celestia said. "It's the weekend, remember?"
"Awwww!"
"But... I do have a few hours free. And I hear there's a certain playground on the outskirts of Ponyville that has good reviews. And do you know how long it has been since I have had a picnic?"
She leaned close and stared narrowly at Twilight.
"You wouldn't want to disappoint the Princess of the Sun and Moon now, would you?"
"No way, your Majesty!"
"Fine, let's go then!"
"Oh, well..." Spike sighed. "I guess I'll get on with finishing the unpacking and... woooaaah!"
He found himself unceremoniously dumped on Twilight's back as she and Celestia trotted out the door to the Golden Chariot waiting outside.
"Wait. Uh, can we talk about this?" he asked, trying to make it sound like he actually meant it.
He also wasn't quite sure which of them had done it.
The End
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.
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First off, Twilight and Cadance already knew each other. Quite well apparently. Why does the fandom continue to ignore that?
Interesting au though.
The part about how Spike and Twilight get acquainted is new and SO similar to how it happened.
Although Cadence was Twilight's foalsitter before Twilight got her cutie mark, even if that's a little bit of a plot hole in the show.
Nice, liked and followed. Make more!
9016988
How is it a show plot hole? I can see Celestia letting Cadance have as normal as possible childhood as she could.
And teenagers take on babysitting jobs all the time. I remember mine very well.
9016988
"... SO similar to how it happened."
Just curious -- I've only seen the show up through season 4, so (without spoilers) could you tell me where the scene has been done before? I'd like to see what I missed.
9017181
Yeah, I hear you, and I know their relationship is presented as Cadance being Twi's foal sitter from before her entrance exam, but thinking about it for this story that didn't quite work for me. It either means Cadance, an uplifted alicorn Princess happens to randomly be Twi's babysitter, which seems a bit of a stretch, or she was assigned to Twi by Celestia to secretly evaluate her abilities beforehand, which (though not beyond possibility for the All-Knowing-Celestia) seemed a little too creepy for the Cadance we know from the show. (It's difficult enough not making Cadance sound like Celestia's henchpony in the story as written!) Also, how in the world does brilliant Twi not know Cadance and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza are the same pony if Cadance had been her foal-sitter way back then. You'd think she'd have noticed a relationship between Cadance and her brother given how he's her B.B.B.F.F. I decided to have Cadance meet Twi as a result of Twi's entrance exam instead, and see where that took things.
9017224
It hasn't been done.
9017181
Tirek knew Cadence a thousand years ago, Cadence was not a teenager during Twilight's fillyhood.
It would make more sense if Twilight never met ANY princess until she met Celestia. The idea of being acquainted with one prior is eyebrow raising.
9017365
Where does it ever say that? If it's never said in show, or shown, then it doesn't exist for me.
And that feels like a retcon into something that was two seasons old at that point. And the show has shown all arguments for something else are invalid.
9017365
By coincidence, the season 4 finale is next on my list to watch. It'll be interesting to see what new take on Cadance I get from watching it. Thanks!
9017395
I'm just saying it feels really odd for Twilight to have met Cadence prior to her cutie mark. Though it also feels wrong that Twilight hasn't seen Cadence for years until the Wedding episode.
9017431
I blame half of that on bad writting from Hasbro. Twilight isn't that scatter brained usually. Only reason I can think of.
9017459
Exactly. The Hearts And Hooves episode shows that Cadence does exist, but they could've done better.
9017411
They haven't revealed how they got to know each other. Just making sure you understand me now.
9017480
"They haven't revealed how they got to know each other."
Got it, thanks. I do want to find out what happens with Tirek in any case. I've had to be careful not to spoil myself too much for later seasons while researching the characters.
9017480
"The Hearts And Hooves episode shows that Cadence does exist, but they could've done better."
Are we talking about "Hearts and Hooves Day" from Season 2? That's a CMC episode (with Cheerilee and Big Mac as well) Or are you referring to a later episode that references H&HD?
9017611
The princess who originally took the love poison I think was Cadence. Or her mother.
And no, later episodes don't talk about it.
9017924
Okay, just to make sure I reviewed the episode (on fast-forward), and I agree the illustration in the spell-book does look a lot like Cadance. It may have been intended as an open door for connecting things up later on, which the show creators simply never made use of.
Given how the show's presentation of the "love poison" spell treats it simply as a legend of a prince and princess at some point in the past (might even have been before Nightmare Moon's time), I'm inclined to squint a bit and not read more into it than that. (BTW, another piece of semi-canon I'm assuming is the chapbook Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, which provides a handwave of backstory for Cadance, indicating that she was discovered by Celestia and uplifted to Princess rank relatively recently.)
9018484
Cadence still wasn't a teenager when Twilight was a filly though. And Tirek sure knew who Cadence was. And it could also have been Cadence's mother who was love poisoned. I'm just saying that Cadence's existence was never portrayed as impossible in any previous episode, but they could've handled her a lot better.
And I also hope I don't sound argumentative.
9019360
That's one of the cool things about the show -- the characters with the fewest lines end up with the most complicated backstories, usually fan created. I mean look at Derpy and Doctor Whooves, for example!
9046025
That's exactly where this comes from, though it's also because I wanted some justification for Smarty Pants being Twilight's favorite toy, and this seemed an appropriate way to give the doll its cameo appearance.
Even a chessmaster, staring down the barrel of a thousand years worth of revenge-rage aimed right at her royal head, needs all the help she can get.
9046045
Of course, this is young Twilight, i.e. before she starts freaking out about unexpected examinations.
This was a really charming read that kept everypony in-character while adding some nice twists and depth as well.
Well done, very well done indeed.
I'm glad I read this story!
9093396
You just made my day! I'm very happy you got so much out of it. And thanks a million for the detailed feedback -- it's always a pleasure finding out what works (and what doesn't!) for readers.
What a lovely little story.
9196970
Thanks -- I wrote it after seeing only the first season or two, so it definitely captures some of the totally-open-world wonderment I got out of the early episodes.
Fuller review here, but in brief: a delightful debut fic, strongly reminiscent of a (good) 2012 story, perhaps related to the fact that you hadn't seen much further at the time of writing. I enjoyed filly Twi's relationship with Celestia, and there was nice background for Cadance and Spike, though Cady is inevitably a bit lacking in depth for an up-to-date reader. Despite one or two minor irritations, this was a fic that made me smile a good deal. Faved!
Bravo! Truly majestic story telling.
9222911
Many thanks! A lot of this fell into place simply out of a need to express how much I got out of watching the early seasons of the show. Good to know it comes through so well!
This is a cute story that nicely fills in some of the blanks between Twilight's entrance exam and the show pilot. I like the detailed lessons on how unicorn magic works. However, I feel a bit cheated out of not getting to see a genuine infant Spike, since when Twilight next meets him he's nearly as cognizant as she is. Though it's still better than the comic making a small child raise a baby. I definitely don't consider that canon.
9242935
To each his/her own, by all means! Yet having a "street-smart" Spike team up with a younger Twilight Sparkle had way too many entertaining possibilities for me to pass it up. (In particular, see Spike's practical joke in A Real Cool Spell -- that scene pretty much wrote itself!)
To my mind Spike is a constant, and I take the scenes of him as a baby in the series as a nod to the fact that he'd just been hatched. In a comment on Twilight Runs Away I note that I follow the pattern implied by Naomi Novik in her Temeraire novels, where dragons are born with language skills and pick up the language they hear while still in the egg. This isn't everyone's cup of tea, certainly, it's just my justification for my head-canon in depicting Spike in these stories.
Thanks for the feedback!
9243217
I had actually thought of the Temeraire novels when I read Spike's explanation of picking up language in the egg! To be fair, there's nothing in the show that contradicts your depiction of dragon development. I just wanted to read about baby Spike being cute.
9243462
Sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you're looking for -- get cracking and write it! Show us what we're missing!
Kinda feels like you lost your way toward the end, but this was still a heartwarming and ineffably cute read. :)
9283071
Well that's just silly... my way's right there where I left it!
Ahem, don't mind Pinkie. Thanks for reading, and glad you liked it!
A very cute and entertaining compilation of connected dots, though Spike came as something of a shock and the mysterious Luna voice pops up and never gets explained. Still, lovely stuff and fascinating ideas for the most part. Thank you for it!
9542420
Ah! Devil's in the details, as they say.
I remain okay with this retcon.
This was a nice short tale. Surprised there was no mention of Sunset too though
9677596
Thanks! At the time I wrote this, I hadn't seen any of the Equestria Girls movies yet. My AU version of the pilot, Twilight Runs Away, does reference Sunset, though only in passing, as a means for Spike to be in the story.
Chapter 1
D'aaaww.
I can just imagine her parents thinking: 'Stop bouncing, Twilight! This is serious!'
LOL.
I like how respectful Celestia was, encouraging Twilight's parents to tell her if they were at all uncomfortable with the arrangement and assure them she wasn't trying to 'steal Twilight'.
Velvet, she's a foal.
An interesting look at Twi's first official visit to the palace. Very much how I expect it would've gone. Nicely done!
Chapter 14
And thus comes the end to our tale! I'm actually surprised that Twilight moved into the school, as I imaged that she would just stay at the palace and go back and forth as necessary. Still, it is different.
I liked reading this. It was very well-written and quite enthralling. Thank you for sharing it.
9687622
Thanks very much for reading and for your detailed feedback! This was my very first story for the site, and I poured a lot of what I'd gotten out of Seasons 1 and 2 into this, a lot of that early, wide open potential and positive feeling, so it's still among my favorites of the stories I've written. And it really helps, hearing that others pick up on that and enjoy it.
Thanks again!
I couldn't help but hum "for every closing door" to myself when I read the last chapter's title.
I'll start by saying that I find Celestia's "and then put them together, without being distracted by aspects that don't matter" from All the Myriad Spells deliciously ironic, because I found this story pared down to only what was strictly necessary. Breezing through the trip to Ponyville's playground in A Picnic Lunch with nearly nothing more than a short conversation between Twilight and Cadance is probably the best example. Another instance would be Celestia's staff not being described or even named in A Day and a Night, as there was simply no need to do so.
The narration is the other side of that medal. It's simple, to the point, and usually works that way. Some other times, though, I feel it becomes simplistic instead, stating things rather than describing them in any shape or form. The line "Celestia answered cryptically" at the end of And Get Her Back, in particular, stood out like a sore thumb right into my eye. And not only because of the point I just outlined; it also struck me as sorely wasted potential. Lines like 'Twilight had read the definition of the word 'cryptic' before, but this was the first time something outside of a book reminded her of it' and 'Twilight had heard other ponies sound cryptic before, but this was the first time Celestia did the same' are just two examples coming to mind that, I believe, would add nice bits of characterization.
Some words were also repeated often in some chapters, namely 'nervous(ly)' in An Invitation from Princess Celestia and 'hurried(ly)' in The Princess is Not in a Good Mood.
Mind you, as I said, the narration works most of the time. Here are lines I enjoyed throughout the story;
Moving on to characterization, I think you did very well with it in this story. I feel you nailed Celestia and Cadance' voices in their dialogues, especially. And outside of these, I found the former's inner voice to shine through the segments devoted to her mental narration, like the chapter A Day and a Night.
As much as I enjoyed Celestia's voice, though, it is Cadance who's my favorite character out of the whole story. No wonder Twilight has such good memories of her, with lines like these;
Not that Celestia had nothing to contribute;
But these are the times Celestia and Cadance truly shine;
"Selfless compassion" sums it up. Sums them up, even. The line with the spoiler is particularly powerful.
Moving on from characterization, I'm curious about just what this "Vault" from eons past was created to contain... and a little worried because it's not in there anymore. I liked the key fashioned for its lock as well, particularly because of the striking similarities with Twilight's plan to escape the place that may be Celestia's memory palace, Luna's dreamscape or something else entirely: "make a list. Of every room, of every thing in this palace."
Speaking of references, I also liked Celestia "materializing little animated ponies out of magic that danced and sang songs" in All the Myriad Spells, and Twilight glancing over at Spike upon coming across Smarty Pants in Another Door Opens. It seems she found her new best friend forever/number one assistant.
9706825
Thanks very much for your detailed commentary! It's definitely useful, and it's great to find out that so many of the little bits of humor and description I threw in there as I was writing it stood out so well. (And if this ever became a movie, I'd ask you to script the trailer for it -- I think you've quoted just about every great line in it!)
Thanks for your thoughts about Celestia and Cadance. From watching the first couple seasons, I really liked the strong bond Twilight had developed with her mentor, the kind, caring, thousand-year-old demigoddess, and I wanted to explore that here. And I basically discovered in writing the story that Cadance is her equal, or perhaps superior, in that regard, because she has less of the weight of the world on her shoulders and can focus on being the bulwark of care that she is. So both of them wound up being pretty strong, well-drawn, likeable characters as a result.
That's one of my favorite moments, too. And if you've ever seen the Disney movie "Stitch", Twilight is totally channeling Lilo with that line. At least she doesn't think Smarty Pants needs a peanut butter sandwich, or controls the weather. I'm not quite sure where Cadance's response came from, but it seemed like exactly what the Greatest Foal-Sitter in the History of Foal Sitters would come back with...
I won't spoil it for you, but in the conclusion of Twilight Runs Away, I suggest that it's something more than just a physical room... and that there's a connection between the Vault and the pony it "belongs" to...
Thanks for pointing out the connection with Twilight's list-making tactic, I hadn't noticed that myself. The "lock" on the Vault is essentially borrowed from Zen philosophy, i.e. "everyday mind": being so aware of the present moment that barriers such as guilt, ego, fear, etc. drop away and one is simply able to act, to do what needs doing right now. The name for the entrance (The Gateless Gate) is kind of a giveaway here... it's an English translation of the title of one of the most famous books of Zen koans.
Thanks -- I threw that in there because I was fishing around for examples of firefly magic, and it occurred to me that My Little Pony is a pretty great example, so it's a nice meta-commentary as well...
As with a lot of the great stuff in this story, I think that fell into my hands as I was writing this. I don't argue with these things -- it's what makes writing such a pleasure. You plot out a story, get all the signposts and measuring tape in place, and then you start writing, and see what the practicalities and necessities of writing cause your subconscious to come up with. And sometimes it comes up with wonderful gems. Sometimes.
Thanks again for your detailed feedback! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
9707172
Thank you for writing such an extensive reply.
I've always seen Celestia as a hero, regardless of the mischaracterization the fandom apparently saddled her with. Or rather, I've always seen the potential Celestia as a hero, because the show itself didn't give me much to work with. I can't look at her canon relationship with Twilight without remembering how eager she is to keep her "most faithful student" in the dark or how cavalier she was with playing the fate of an entire civilization—possibly of the entire world, what with The Cutie Re-Mark's peek into alternate continuities—as a counter-intuitive "test."
As far as I look at the show, Celestia's greatest achievement is 'not turning evil.' That's an impressive feat considering she has the power to abide by "you live with my permission and will die by my command" diplomacy in addition to having lived long enough to grow disillusioned with the people she's ruling over, but there's a severe disconnect between the Celestia I want to see and the Celestia I do see.
As such, I enjoyed your story very, very much. To the point Celestia stole the show from the intended main protagonist—I didn't talk a lot about Twilight, did I?—even without Cadance then stealing that same show from her.
I don't know zilch about Zen, so I can tell you the reasoning behind the Vault's trick works by itself.
I've read afterwords where the author states some characters get away from them as they write their story. I guess it can apply to events falling into place as well. Your "sometimes" is very appropriate though; this can sometimes lead to characters or plotlines becoming darlings the author just refuses to murder, dragging the quality of their works down into the gutter.
You're welcome.
9707316
Celestia's a favorite of mine as well. And if you're interested, my story Daybreaker explores the question: what if Celestia did go evil -- that is, in the past? How the hay did Equestria survive? (It also has some good scenes with Trixie, so it has that going for it too...)
Nothing wrong with that -- My Little Student was always as much about Celestia as it is about Twilight. Celestia has to come to terms with Luna's eventual return, and finds an unlikely source of support in her faithful student.
Then you are already an expert.
Just knock down the flagpole in the yard on your way out...
True, sometimes an author can work too hard for a favorite joke, or an untenable plot or scene. But sometimes you do have to stick with a difficult story or idea, and see it through, even if it's not likely to be popular. The trick is in knowing which is which. "Kill your darlings" is a very sharp blade -- you have to exercise care not to cut yourself with it...
9710493
Any amount of strikebreaking is too much
9787851
This was changed since I read it. It now reads:
But from the version I saved to my device just after I'd read it says:
I'm guessing the author went in and changed it after they read my comment, realizing it wasn't as clear as it was supposed to be.
That was a fun read. I enjoy stories that do a good job of explaining magic.
9707316
I tend to think of Celestia as some kind of silent martyr. My theory is that Celestia is exhausted and maybe "withered" inside. But she does not show that wear and tear even before her family or her friends because the "mask" that she has used for so long as her ruler has remained "stuck on her face."