The Studying Obsession

by Lhmac

Revelations

Twilight walked slowly back through the castle after her lesson with the princess, head down with a soldier at each of her flanks. She'd wasted precious lesson time with Princess Celestia crying about lost friends, a loss of her old life. But wasn't that what growing up was all about? She would no longer be at the old Canterlot school, she'd be attending the prestigious school for gifted unicorns. Life was never going to be the same again.

Celestia said to the young unicorn that she had learned more than one lesson that day, and that Twilight should just think on what she could learn from her circumstances and the things she had accomplished. Twilight hadn't known exactly what that meant, but she had focused on the problem as she walked, deep in thought. As the princess's personal protégé, she didn't need other ponies. What else could there possibly be to life than building up the magical talent that Princess Celestia had been so taken by? There was no need to be upset at losing a few friends. And the constant looks and averted eyes that she received from the other ponies who had heard of her outburst, weren't they just a validation of what she could become?

Twilight lifted her head high once again, her confidence returning. She, out of all the unicorns in Equestria, was chosen as Celestia's personal student. That was something she should definitely be proud of. She'd make the princess proud. Other ponies were of no use at all.

She and the two guards stepped into in the entrance hall of the castle, and they nodded to her before heading off back to their posts, in the direction they had come.

She looked around the grand stone hallway. The roof taller than twenty ponies piled on top of one another, the beautiful gold-trimmed tapestries covering the walls and depicting great Equestrian ponies or artworks. Her mother would definitely be standing in awe of this place.

Back on her old train of thought, Twilight flashed back to her parents' reaction to her after the exam. There were some ponies who were worth her effort, and she would work hard to make sure they never worried about her again. And her brother, Shining Armor. He hadn't acted differently toward her at all, and she was glad to know that she was the same pony to her B.B.B.F.F.

The only path for her to choose was the one going forward. She'd learn to control the ability she'd unlocked through her rigorous study, and she would make everyone she loved proud to know her. Everything would be worth it. She just had to study.

With that thought, Twilight continued on her way. Celestia had asked her to stop in at her new school on her way home. Classes would start at the beginning of the next week.

The orange pony at the tall administration desk peered down at Twilight Sparkle from over the top of her square glasses.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Ye-yes. I'm here because P-p-princess Celestia wants me to make s-sure I'm able to start classes next week." The look she was getting from the older mare made Twilight nervous.

The administration pony gave a stern frown. "Name?"

"Twilight Sparkle."

The mare had begun to shuffle through some papers on her desk, but at the sound of the name, she stopped. "You're Twilight Sparkle?" she asked. No longer meeting the filly's gaze.

"Y-yes. Is that a problem?"

The older pony plastered on a smile and waved a hoof. "No," she laughed. "No problem at all. We'll just ..." she turned to look through some more papers. "You're enrolled in the intermediate class with Greystone. I’ll get all of your enrolment sorted for you. You can leave, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight waited for the orange mare to turn back around. When she did, she jumped to see that Twilight was still in front of the desk.

“Yes?”

“Um, if it’s not too much trouble, could I get a list? A list of what material we’ll be studying in classes. I don’t want to be behind.”

The mare grit her teeth and looked as though she was going to refuse, but instead gave a nod and this time used her magic to sift through some pages. One of the papers made its way to Twilight, the pony sending it still shuffling through paper. “I almost forgot,” she said without looking up. “That’s your timetable … Aha!” Another one of the sheets floated on a yellow aura through the air towards the purple filly. “And there’s your class outline. All the texts you’ll be studying should be written there.”

“Thank you very much.” Twilight took the sheets of paper in her own magical aura and turned to leave. Although the mare had helped Twilight with her query, she had left Twilight Sparkle feeling very uncomfortable, and she couldn’t shake the feeling, no matter how much she told herself that it didn’t matter how other ponies reacted to her.

The school’s library wasn’t too far from the front desk, and Twilight sought refuge within the books. Glancing over the list of texts her class would be going through, she wandered the aisles of books looking for the volumes she needed. Some of them she had already read, but there was no harm in going back through them and making sure there was nothing she missed.

After drawing books from the shelves one by one and stacking them neatly on a study table, Twilight settled down to read, feeling instant comfort from being surrounded by the bound volumes.

Author's Note:

This chapter ... is not long. I know. I tried. But I just needed to post something, I've been writing this chapter for so long.
I'm trying to get the right atmosphere before I do a time jump. Then we'll introduce the Twilight-history of another character for you.
Look forward to it. I'll try to post something new within the week. Hopefully what should have been the end of this chapter in the next couple of days.

Comments

[Usernotfound]

MORE PLEAse

[khatre]

I sense that it will take a lot of work for Twilight to win over the teachers and staff of the school.
I have no hope at all that the students will be welcoming to a much younger and much more talented student.
Twilight Sparkle, Breaker of Bell Curves.

[nomore]

Please write more.

[Lhmac]

1905426
Hey there, thanks for the encouragement.
The next chapter doesn't really want to piece itself together properly, but I'm working on getting it out soon. :)