Fundamentals

by TwilightFox

Prologue

Fundamentals
by TwilightFox

Prologue

“Spike!” the frantic unicorn called up the stairs no sooner than she had closed the door to the library that also served as her home and private study. There was no immediate response so she echoed her call, much louder and more drawn out this time, “SPIIIKE!”

After a moment a small purple and green dragon came toddling down the stairs, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Geez, Twilight, can’t a guy get some sleep around here?” He cast a glance to the clock on the shelf over the stairs. “It’s four in the morning!”

Twilight Sparkle ignored her assistant’s complaint as she was too focused on pacing back and forth across the library floor. “Oh, Spike, I’ve really done it this time…” she mumbled as her pacing intensified. “But it’s not like I haven’t messed up before, right? I mean, everypony makes mistakes, right?” She looked to Spike for assurance, but was met with a confused, sleepy-eyed stare.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” her familiar asked. “How did you mess up?”

Twilight still paid him no mind. “I mean, I’m Celestia’s personal apprentice, right? … She’s gotta go easy on me, right?” She ran a hoof through her stress-frazzled mane as she looked at the bewildered dragon child as if she actually expected him to respond. Receiving no such reply, she continued her fit. “Ohh... Who am I kidding?... She’ll probably be harder on me because I am her apprentice!”

Spike finally managed to find an opportunity to slip a word in edgewise during one of the rare moments the unicorn mage was forced to pause long enough to take a breath. “Twilight!” he half-shouted to gain her attention. “What. Happened?” His expression was one of genuine concern for his mistress.

Spike’s outburst caused Twilight to stop her pacing long enough to screw her eyes shut in an expression that showed that it pained her to say the words she was about to speak. “I- I-” she hesitated. Finally, throwing all caution to the wind, she stomped a hoof in frustration as she blurted out the rest. “I- burned down part of the Canterlot Palace!”

Spike just stood there, mouth agape in awe. Words forsook the little dragon for several moments which didn’t help his mistress’s nerves any. Finally Twilight broke the awkward silence that loomed.

“Well technically, I didn’t burn it down…” Twilight’s face bore an awkward, sheepish grin. “But I’m not sure the guards saw it that way.” Her voice wavered a little, further betraying her lingering nerves.

“Wha-? How did... You burned down the Palace!?” Spike finally found his voice, though words were still a bit of an issue.

“Not all of it...” Twilight winced again. “Just part of it...”

The frustrated mare sighed loudly as she gave up her pacing once and for all and sat down on her haunches right where she was. Her ears fell flat as her head drooped toward the floor in a cruel mix of exhaustion and shame, the tell-tale glistening of moisture forming at the corners of her eyes.

Spike rushed to her side, carefully placing a small clawed hand on her shoulder. “Y- You wanna talk about it?” His offer was genuine. He had known Twilight literally all his life; it hurt him to see her like this.

Twilight just turned her head away from him, the tears that had started to form in her eyes falling to the floor with the sudden motion. “I don’t want to trouble you, Spike. It’s…" She hesitated again. "It’s kind of a long story…”

The young dragon was unfazed by the unicorn’s attempt to change the subject. “So? You’ve got me good and awake now. There’s no way I’m going back to sleep after hearing something like that anyway.” He started toward the door that led to the kitchen. “Just let me go put on a pot of tea. It’ll help me wake up. And maybe help you calm down…” he muttered just loudly enough for her to hear as he slipped through the door.

While he was gone, Twilight forced herself to take a seat at the nearby table. “He’s right…” she told herself, “I just need to calm down.” She took a much needed deep breath and let it out slowly. Once she had relaxed enough to stop panicking, she noticed something was out of place.

There were several stacks of books lined up along the sides of the library, sitting in the floor rather than their usual place on their shelves. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder at the reason so many books were out of place. “Spike?” she called to the kitchen, “Did you take all these books off the shelf?”

“Huh?” her assistant called from the next room, “No… I thought you did.”

Placing a hoof to her chin in thought, Twilight tried to puzzle out how that many books could be miss-shelved without either of them knowing. Spike offered an answer.

“Now that I think of it, Rainbow Dash did come by earlier looking for the new Daring Do book, and Sweetie Belle and her friends came looking for new ideas for their ‘crusades’,” spike offered as he emerged from the kitchen carrying a wooden tray and all the things they would need to enjoy their tea.

Accepting the answer for the time being, the unicorn turned her attention back to the dragon and the tray he carried. She grabbed a teacup and saucer with her telekinesis and placed them in front of her as Spike grabbed the teapot and filled his own cup. Once he had repeated the task for Twilight, he put it back down. “So…” he began as he added three cubes of sugar to his cup. “You were about to tell me how you ended up burning down the castle.”

He winced under the glare that Twilight gave him.

“I mean, part of the castle…”

The unicorn sighed loudly as she levitated three sugar cubes in front of her, dropping two in her teacup and popping one directly into her mouth. As the last of the sweet, sugary snack dissolved, she began her tale.

“Well, Spike, it all started when I visited the Royal Library in Canterlot…”

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A/N: This is my first fan fiction, so constructive criticism is welcome.

Thanks to Twippledash for proofreading and offering advice to a first-time fanfic author.

Comments

[Spamotron]

Good spelling, good grammar, good punctuation, interesting premise, your sir get a favorite

[Psycho Kid]

Passes my grammar nazi inspection, good start but I'm not exactly sure where you'll go with this.
For now have a mustache:

[Dusty Sage]

I'm always up for a "omigosh what did twi do now" story.

[TwilightFox]

1682677
I'm glad you approve. I hope I don't dissappoint.

1683044
I can't promise that it will go the same direction you may be expecting, but I thank you for the mustache. I like mustaches. And it's always good to have the approval of a Grammar Nazi.

[challenge_king]

1683044

Mr. Nazi? A semicolon after inspection with an 'it's' would have been more appropriate.

[appledash2011]

MORE

[Alamo]

Color me intrigued.