Local

by Seer

Interval: A History Lesson

Princess Celestia read silently, trying to keep the look of amusement off her face. Her student, a lavendar unicorn filly of eight years old, had deigned to write her a formal, or her best approximation thereof, letter of apology. The document went to great pains to stress that the experiment that had preoccupied her was of great importance. Celestia's eyes flicked to her student, and saw the filly's eyes immediately rush back down to her book.

"Twilight," the princess began, "I formally accept your apology, please let this trouble you no further."

Twilight beamed in response, and then seemed to get back to properly concentrating on her reading. The letter had been in response to Twilight getting so caught up on some extracurricular work that she hadn't finished the reading assignment yet.
Said assignment had been a history tome, one of the most exciting in Celestia's collection. While she didn't want to coddle her students, she did have to admit that even the sharpest eight year old wouldn't quite have the appetite for the more academic pieces for a good few years.

How much more did Twilight have to get through? Twelve pages. Of a three hundred page book. As far as Celestia was concerned, there was no apology necessary, but she allowed the child her pretence. Besides, the letter contained one single important truth. Twilight's experiment, which metals did magnets stick to, was important. Not for the future of Equestria, mind. This information had been freely available for centuries now.

No, it was the fact that Twilight had decided to perform it in the first place. Most experiments children of her age were interested in were about explosions, funny smells and pretty colours. Nothing as dry and dull and genuinely useful as magnets. It was this which highlighted Twilight's two key strengths.

It was true that she was gifted. The filly was demonstrably a capable mage and budding scholar. But this was an aptitude that all in the school possessed. It was the prerequisite for entry, but not, in Celestia's experience, the predictor of how well one would perform.

Twilight's two most important qualities, was that she was not the most gifted student here, and that she was working hard enough to potentially become so. Her surge in the entrance exam had been impressive, but not earth-shattering. There were foals younger than her who's surges had obliterated wings of Celestia's palace. So waking up a dragon seemed a bit paltry in comparison.

In the initial tests that each student faced upon admission, Twilight had done well, but not blindingly so. She was smart, but there were students who were just naturally quicker, cannier, who's minds were simply able to access a level that she could not.

Yet.

Celestia didn't pick many students to tutor personally, and Twilight was one of them not because of any natural ability. It was because of drive, tenacity. She refused to be left behind, and was willing to work thrice as hard as other students to get where she wanted to go.

In a few short months, Twilight had been rising to the top, matching students who should have been leaving her in the dust. And while Celestia was no fool to think that merely hard work could allow you to rise above all ingrained limitations, she also didn't think that innate skill would carry you the whole way. It needed someone who could marry both, and it seemed Twilight was that pony.

So that was why she was here now, when they weren't. Because she simply wanted it more.

"Okay Twilight," Celestia began when Twilight finished her book, "Would you like to tell me what you thought?"

"Well, I liked the king a lot!"

"I thought you might!" Celestia replied warmly.

"He seemed really smart and kind, I didn't like Astral Queen though. She was mean."

Celestia would have rolled her eyes if not for her years of diplomatic experience. It was worth remembering that Twilight was still a child after all. Things that were obvious to her would far from it to Twilight.

"And why was that?"

"Well," Twilight began, brow furrowing in concentration. It was a humourously grown-up habit, and it always made Celestia want to giggle, "Why wouldn't she leave him alone? She would always be sending her armies to try and fight him and take control of the empire. I think ponies should get on, not fight each other."

"I agree with that Twilight. The problem is that Astral Queen this book refers to is me,"

Twilight blanched immediately and her mouth bobbed, like she couldn't find any words.

"So... you... the armies... the king..."

"The king depicted here is King Sombra, he was a tyrannical despot who lived in obscene luxury while presiding over a nation of slaves. He had anyone who dared speak against him killed, and he attacked Equestria many times. Put simply, Twilight, he was a very evil pony."

"But... the book said-"

"You're right Twilight!" Celestia exclaimed with genuine excitement, "The book said the complete opposite! Why would it do that? Actually, I know another question which might help us here. Did you read who the author of this book was?"

"Yeah! It was Midnight Shade! He was an adviser to the king!"

"Very good Twilight. So the simple fact, is that the book is telling you one thing, and I am telling you another. What does that mean?" Celestia urged.

"Well," the filly responded, dusting the floor with a hoof and looking uncomfortable, as if she had to say something terrible, "It means one of you is fibbing."

"You're right Twilight, one of us is indeed fibbing. So how are you going to find out who?"

The idea that her teacher, the apparently perfect princess could be lying seemed to terrify the foal. And while Celestia felt bad for stressing her out, she also needed her to grasp this. It was crucial for any scholar.

"Well... I know you, Princess. You're always so nice to me, I don't think you'd lie," Twilight said, her cheeks flushing with the stress of the abrupt difficult situation.

"I'm glad you feel that way Twilight, but I gave you this book and told you it contained history, and now I'm telling you it contains lies. Either I'm lying now, or I was lying then. The only thing you know, Twilight, is that I definitely lied to you once."

Twilight puffed out her cheeks in frustration, her brow knit even harder. Celestia let her think a little while longer before finally intervening.

"Don't worry Twilight, I won't keep you in suspense. The easiest way to find out would be to look through these other books. If you did, you'd find that no one ever knew who this Midnight Shade character was. He is only ever mentioned in the book you have there. Further to this, Sombra never had any advisers. He wasn't one to share power. The truth is that Midnight Shade was an invention of the king, and that book was something he wrote himself."

"But why would he lie?" Twilight asked.

"Maybe he wanted to make himself look better and everyone else worse. I think it's because that was how he actually saw his reign. It's not very common that you find ponies who are truly evil Twilight, most of the time they act that way because they think they're doing the right thing. If he were here now, he'd probably accuse me of being the evil one."

"So what's the truth?" the filly posited, and Celestia smiled.

"I can tell you what my truth is Twilight, and you can tell me yours. A lot of the time we'd probably agree, we'd agree that the sun rises every morning, as an example. But sometimes we might not, and that's okay. The lesson I want you to learn from this, little one, is to never accept the easy answer. If you think something's wrong, then pursue it. And if you think something seems too easy, then pursue it harder.

"While you don't need to prove the sun will rise tomorrow, what of a thousand years from now? Ten thousand? Your eyes and books can lie to you, my faithful student, but a mind like yours is a special thing. I hope you never stop using it."

Twilight looked at the ground for a little while, processing everything the princess had said. Finally, she piped up.

"If my books and eyes, even my friends could lie to me princess, why couldn't my mind do the same?"

"You're right, even the mind can fool oneself," Celestia said, gently stroking her student's mane. It was a startling astute point for a foal of her age to make, "But you of all ponies Twilight? I think you'd recognise if your mind was fooling you. I think you'll work to make sure it never does."

The lesson was learned, and Celestia cancelled the rest of the session's work in favour of sharing some tea, much to Twilight's delight. She sometimes worried she pressed her prized pupil too far, but a mind like Twilight's, such a perfect balance of enough natural talent and enough drive, was a strong thing. It would take quite a formidable mind to ever truly overcome it.

Equestria was large and old, nearly all of it was mastered and settled. More than this, though, it was kind. Celestia had little fear of any subjects truly trying to do her student harm. But still, the land had its secrets to this day, and the princess couldn't think of anyone better than Twilight to uncover them all.

Comments

[TigerCat111]

Okay, 1) YAAAAAAS UPDATE!! 2) Hoooo boy, I see what that meant...

[Dave Bryant]

10084908
Not sure where the author is based, but “to pry” is US English; “to prize” is the equivalent in UK English, if I understand correctly.

[zx29b]

The first great mystery that Young Twilight tackled: fucking magnets, how do they work? Later she would go on to unlock the secret of the cell phone-eating pelican.

[zx29b]

Extra word or two: "Celestia had little fear of any subjects truly trying to do someone her student harm."

[spoonlol]

Wait... if Twilight is Celestia’s student at 8, and she’s currently 24 in the story, that means Spike is at least 16. Interesting to know.
Loving the story so far btw

[SigmasonicX]

I know it's barely related to the rest of the story, but the fact that Twilight's magic explosion at the test was actually fairly mundane stuck out to me as an odd detail. Celestia also came off as kind of mean here; and possibly stoked young Twilight's paranoia.

[LeylaQuartz]

10591211
I always believed dragons aged slower than humans so maybe slower than ponies as well... to live thousands of years. That might be the thing going on in this universe.