Piecemeal Pupil

by Ice Star

Chapter 4: Ending the Long Wait

[The following letter is written on an ordinary scroll. It sits in a horseshoe box dated to the year that young Twilight Sparkle would have been turning ten years old. The hornwriting within is one rarely witnessed by the eyes of ordinary ponies, who can only hope that they might catch glimpses of it through library records and other methods of copying such elegant swirls of ink.]

...

To Missus Twilight Velvet of Canterlot & Mister Nightlight of Canterlot
690 Starburst Avenue
Old Forte District of Canterlot, Canterhornshire
Equestria

To My Dear Friends, Twilight Velvet & Nightlight,

I am in a strange position as I find myself writing to you this evening. I am aware that little Twilight Sparkle is now approaching her tenth birthday, and that over the years, she is far from the little filly I first encountered. While I am certain she remains the little daughter you are so proud of, I can only expect a little filly who has grown in magic and maturity. Four years ago, she became the youngest unicorn foal to ever pass the entrance exams to my beloved school... at least, she was the youngest since Sunset Shimmer, my previous Faithful Student. She passed her entrance exam at the same age and was only a few months older. So yes, it was correct when my secretary first wrote to you that your daughter is technically the youngest ever to pass her exam.

I have been pleased with the progress reports that have been sent over the years. The blend of a homeschooling curriculum devised for your daughter, summer classes, and foalsitting enrichment in her life has ensured her development into a talented and curious young mind. I am so endlessly pleased that my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, was content to limit her foalsitting duties to just Twilight when it became clear that I could not let your daughter's talent go to waste, or else her nurturance of so many other families' foals could have become a distraction. It is only a shame that I was not able to be a personal presence over those years. I would have loved to be a part of Twilight Sparkle's life as early as possible, as there is nothing in your letters to me or her own letters that does not serve to endear her to me completely. By necessity, I must have only one Faithful Student, as the process of sculpting them is one that must be followed strictly, and not over quibbles of mere tradition. It is over this that I am writing to you.

Every foal is unique, and your daughter is more than most ponies. I have found it to be my pleasure that my generosity has allowed your family to remain comfortable and healthy so that your daughter's education can feel much more like leisure. My previous Faithful Student was unique too, however, I found that she was unique in her troubles. Behavior problems may be uncommon in youth, but Sunset Shimmer had many of them, whereas your daughter is ever so lucky to be free from them. A good upbringing is essential in that. Sunset Shimmer had been my Faithful Student since she was no more than nine years old, a very tender age, the youngest of any Faithful Student that I have ever taken on. As I'm sure you realize, despite the remote place I have had in her education until now, I have considered Twilight Sparkle of Canterlot rather than Sunset Shimmer of Tall Tale to be my youngest Faithful Student.

And it is the matter of Sunset Shimmer that has caused me to write to you. Twilight Sparkle, I'm sure is the galaxy of your lives. She is of great importance to me too. Having had such a difficult burden in my life robbed me of much optimism. When you wrote to me in years past of worries about Twilight's future due to her autism and the difficulties you faced in getting her enrolled in school, I shared in your feelings of strife. Over these past few years, I have been going through such a similar experience when it came to trying to straighten out Sunset Shimmer and help her find her place in the world. You have seen on posters, milk cartons, and newspapers that she has been missing. You have written to me letters of sympathy that have brought gratitude to my heart over her ever-so-sudden disappearance. It is now that I may bring my news to you.

There has been no break in finding young Sunset Shimmer. At thirteen years old, she had the negative source of attention she wanted from her disappearance. The castle has been safety-proofed countless times since her absence. A fly could not buzz its wings without me noticing. Your daughter will never come to any harm. But it is now that I must say: months have passed, and there is no sign of Sunset Shimmer. My guards have found not a single shred of foul play or hint that harm may have come to her.

The unthinkable is not that this filly may have encountered tragedy or been ponynapped by it, but rather that she managed something unthinkable for the life of luxury, comfort, cheer, and high-quality education afforded to her. She left of her own accord, through means that no parent or guardian ought to ever worry about their own foal replicating. The posters for her have since been taken down. No more milk cartons will be printed. The search for Sunset Shimmer is to come to an end without ceremony, and her case grows as cold as she grew to me. The heart of such a young filly is quixotic, but Sunset Shimmer's was deeply troubled in ways I had not realized when I took on her education. In fact, her education was on thin ice and ready to be formally discontinued because of her ill-suited ways. One might see her as an ill omen, down to her very name.

All of this information is top secret, but I have every reason to know that two of my most trusted little ponies would not reveal private information concerning a child. The time for Sunset Shimmer is done. That her story has ended this way is a tragedy. Though, that is something we ought to be putting behind us. To endure loss is an unfortunate error that sometimes befalls good ponies entirely undeserving of it. To forget one's loss, to swallow one's heart is to be a pony, for being a pony is about how optimism brightens us, and I have bright news indeed: the news of change being needed. It is your daughter's time to shine. I am in need of a new Faithful Student, and your long wait has ended.

Sincerely,

H. R. H. Princess Celestia

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Thank you for the wonderful story about Twilight having autism and how the family handles it. It’s definitely sad about Sunset which… does make me wonder does she have something mentally wrong with her as well?

[Ice Star]

11571135
You’re quite welcome. As far as Sunset’s side of the story goes, I’ve explored that in other stories before. One of them is linked in the description of this one.

[Xanderfox]

I do still think in a Twilight's unique case(this being a fantasy setting) her autism has a likely source, namely her potential for becoming an alicorn. Being born a Unicorn with the mental wiring of a Alicorn could be described as nothing but Nero-divergence.

[NightFlame389]

Sunset Shimmer of Tall Tale

Is that an Equestria At War reference or is there a piece of official media that lists Tall Tale as Sunset's birth town that I'm not aware of?