Dear Princess Luna...

by TheAceofClubs

Chapter 1 - The Academy of Magic

Twilight lifted her head from the pages and blinked; what had she just read? She noted how similar the story was to the tale of Princess Celestia and Night Mare Moon, but was it merely a reimagining of it or a story reaching back even further? Twilight’s interest was especially piqued by Dayflash; perhaps the author had just re-imagined the story and switched the places of the princesses. With the thoughts of her research now pushed to the back of her mind, Twilight slowly turned the brittle page over to continue reading but stopped when she found that one of the pages had a large picture on it. In the centre sat an alicorn much like Princess Celestia but with a dark blue hide and a cobalt mane, or so it seemed with the faded colours; Twilight just took a guess that it was Princess Luna by the crescent cutie mark and looked on. Beside Luna sat a small filly with lavender fur and a purple mane highlighted by strips of pink beside a small horn. Now that freaked Twilight out; it didn’t take a genius to tell that the filly was her, but none of it made any sense. The young mare pondered the possibilities; a stalker? Or maybe the book was enchanted, in which case it’d probably be better off in Princess Celestia’s private library. But she was the princess’s protégé; surely this would grant her access to such a book. This was as good an excuse as any she thought and looked back down at the tome; she felt unnerved reading a book where she was unwittingly a character but her mind was set and she couldn’t possibly consider stopping so soon.

~*~

“Good morning Princess!” The ponies all called in unison as the large yet majestic form of Princess Luna entered the hall. The dark blue alicorn nodded in acknowledgement and took a seat, aware that all eyes were on her.

“Are the preparations for today’s admission exams complete?” Luna asked the nearest pony who flushed at the sudden attention.

“A-As far as we’re aware, Princess, everything looks set to go smoothly.” The mare answered nervously.

“Excellent.” Luna said with a smile. “As with every year it is vital that today’s event plays out with as minimal disturbance as possible; I understand that young foals aren’t always in full control of their magical potential but it is up to us to ensure the security of each and every pony is optimal at all times. If at any point an exam should become uncontrollable please do not hesitate to send word to me at once. Am I understood?” The room was filled with a chorus of “yes your majesty” and Luna nodded contently; all was ready.

“I’ll move from one exam hall to another at the turn of each hour starting from here in fifteen minutes.” Luna looked around at the attendance of examiners again and raised her head regally. “Thank you; dismissed.” There was a shuffling of ponies leaving the hall and heading to their own and once the remaining ponies had taken their seats not far from her Luna could hear the sound of a large amount of ponies from the courtyard below. She leant forward a little more upon the pillow as she awaited the first colt or filly to appear for examination.

~*~

Twilight Sparkle looked around at her surroundings nervously and shivered, moving a bit closer to her mother’s side; Princess Luna’s academy for gifted unicorns was huge. It certainly seemed daunting to walk among the vast amount of unicorns so much more acquainted with their abilities while clinging to your parents and a scrappy ragdoll for safety; maybe she wasn’t ready for this she thought. Twilight’s mother noticed the sudden contact and turned her head to her filly.

“Butterflies dear?” She asked comfortingly. Twilight, who had jumped at suddenly being addressed, shook her head, then nodded vigorously and finally lowered her head so that she couldn’t see her mother.

“I-uh-don’t-maybe-um-butter...flies?” She stuttered the comment completely lost on her.

“It means nervous Twilight.” Twilight’s mother laughed as the filly flushed red in embarrassment.

“M-maybe...” She murmured quietly. “Wh-what if I can’t do anything?” Twilight’s head was filled with various scenarios in which the entrance exam could go so very wrong, most of which resulted in Princess Luna personally coming to banish her from Canterlot or some other ridiculous yet frightening concept.

“Nonsense darling, you’ve done magic dozens of times at home.” Twilight’s father said from her other side as they approached the staircase up to the examination hall.

“But I always break something when I do; I don’t want to break something that Princess Luna really likes.” Twilight muttered, making sure to raise Smartypants, her ragdoll, so as not to trip and fall on the steps.

“Well this academy is made for helping you learn to control yourself.” Twilight’s mother assured her as a line of foals came into sight at the top of the stairway. “Nopony expects you to be perfect Twilight.” Twilight skittishly opened her mouth to argue her worries but could only manage a quiet squeak. Twilight’s parents smiled down at their filly and nuzzled her comfortingly.

“We’ll be waiting for you at the exit once you’ve finished; just be yourself, keep your cool and you’ll be fine.” They told her as they stood and turned to head for the exit, waving as they went. Twilight felt an urge to run after them but something kept her back; she had always wanted to meet Princess Luna and this could be her only chance, even if it was still unlikely. Twilight gritted her teeth and turned her head, pulling Smartypants from her back and holding it close as she edged into the line.

“Hi!”
Twilight felt her heart skip a beat as the pony in front of her turned with a smile. She was a filly with light blue fur highlighted by an even lighter blue mane.

“Oh!” The filly smiled apologetically. “Sorry for startling you. I’m Trixie; what’s your name?” Twilight regained her composure and picked Smartypants back up from the floor and held her even closer before smiling nervously back.

“Uh...h-hi.” Twilight stuttered. “I’m T-Twilight Sparkle.” The filly named Trixie smiled excitement evident on her face.

“It’s nice to meet you Twilight!” Trixie chirped confidently; she had no issue with addressing a complete stranger. Twilight couldn’t quite understand how she mustered the courage as she started conversing without relent as they waited for the line to shorten.

Twilight soon grew annoyed with Trixie’s talking; most of it was about herself and the many different magical tricks she had practiced at home and Twilight found it hard to inspire herself with stories of such skilful magic that far outranked hers. When it eventually came to Trixie’s turn to take the exam Twilight almost sighed a breath of relief. She quickly took the chance to take a seat in front of the door and comfort herself with Smartypants’ familiar warmth. It was then that Twilight caught a glint of blue from the room in front of her, no doubt from Trixie’s powers. A few more flashes of blue later and a mare came to the door and smiled friendlily down at Twilight.

“Okay dear, if you’d like to follow me; it’s your turn.” The mare tried to sound as gentle as possible as Twilight shakily got to her feet and followed. The new room was much, much larger than the hallway that Twilight had previously been in. One of the walls was made entirely from glass and the opposite side had rows upon rows of desks; this was clearly a lecture hall during term time. Finally Twilight noted the six ponies sat halfway up the row of seats; the examiners.

“Good morning.” Said one of the examiners without looking up from her clipboard. “Could we have your name?”

“T-Twilight S-Sparkle...” Twilight answered quietly; far too quietly to hear.

“You’ll have to speak louder than that dear.”

“Tw-Tw-Twilight S-Sparkle!” Twilight almost shouted in an unintentionally squeaky voice before clapping her hooves to her mouth in embarrassment. The pony didn’t look bothered by Twilight’s nervousness and instead started muttering her name over and over as she searched down her papers. After a few seconds Twilight started to panic; she wasn’t on the list! It was a mistake after all! Princess Luna would surely banish-

“Ah!” Twilight was snapped back to reality as the pony finally spoke. “Here you are, Twilight Sparkle. Very good; are you ready to begin?” Twilight felt such an overwhelming sense of relief and without thinking nodded enthusiastically; by the time she realised what she had done it was too late and another pony had started wheeling a portable desk into the hall. It stopped next to her and Twilight realised that there was an egg on top.

“This is a dragon egg.” One of the other examiner ponies explained. “Dragon eggs take many years to hatch but they also thrive upon magical energy.

“The task is simple; cast a spell, any spell at all.” The first examiner pony continued. “The more energy in your magic the faster the egg should begin to hatch. All you need to do is hatch the egg in this method; understand?” Twilight gulped nervously and put Smartypants down beside her; the task didn’t seem as hard as she had been expecting but it still seemed rather difficult for her standards; what if she was incapable of casting a spell at all? A few seconds later and she realised that the examiner ponies were still waiting for her response and she nodded hesitantly. She had little to no confidence in herself but she had to try; this was the only way she’d ever even have a chance of meeting Princess Luna.

“Alright then, you may begin when ready Twilight Sparkle.”

~*~

Luna was fairly pleased with the day’s results so far; every little filly or colt she had inspected had passed their exams with flying colours, although she knew that there had still been some that had only just missed the mark, if only a minority. She had personally congratulated every pony she had watched, wishing them best of luck for their attendance come the start of term and she looked forward to doing it again as she walked across the courtyard along the path that her little ponies carved for her through the crowd. It was 2:05pm and she was slightly late so Luna chose not to stick around to thank each and every pony that moved aside for her; it simply wouldn’t be fair not to greet the ponies that had worked so very hard and so she was brisk in her pace as-
BOOM!
The courtyard filled with screams and Luna span instinctively on her hooves to the source of the explosive sound. Her eyes widened as her vision was greeted by a multicoloured sonic wave in the sky, a smoking chunk blasted out of one of the examination halls and what seemed like an enlarged baby dragon sitting very precariously on the side with no clue as to what was happening around it. Luna squinted and noticed that a purple glow was still emanating from the hole in the building.
‘Could that be it; the element of magic?’ Luna’s eyes shone with excitement before she remembered her duties; there had never been an accident that large before and ponies could’ve quite easily been harmed in the blast. At the thought Luna broke into a run and leapt into the air, spreading her wings and angling herself in the direction of the ruined hall. As she approached she saw what looked like a tiny purple foal at where the energy seemed to originate. Turning, she prepared to land and selected a spell in her mind. As she touched down in the hall she loosed it; a magical diffusion spell. As the spell took effect silver light filled the room and replaced the purple; the baby dragon shrank back to normal size and various magically supported objects around the room dropped to the floor uselessly. In the centre the foal calmed a little but her magic seemed to resist the spell and soon started to spread again. Luna decided to take the challenge head on and pushed against the magical energy in order to approach the foal. As she came closer and closer she felt an aura of combined emotions; fear, nervousness and doubt. The filly in front of her had obviously been overly stressed by the examination and lost control of her power; this gave Luna the information she required and she quickly reached down to the small ragdoll pony that hung limply at her side and pushed it softly against the filly’s breast. Finally, with a burst of stamina Luna pulled herself beside the filly and spread her wings in cover around her, blocking the flow of magic. Steadily, with the comforting warmth and familiarity of the ragdoll the foal started to calm down. The energy discharging from her eyes dissipated and colour returned to them. Luna sighed with relief as the filly swayed steadily, her horns shine vanishing as she regained control over herself. A few seconds passed and Luna opened her mouth to address the foal but suddenly had to catch her with her own magic as her legs buckled and the filly fell.

“...Are you okay?” Luna asked the filly, still using a soft tone so as not to stress her further. The filly took a few moments to collect her senses but finally nodded, closing her eyes as if a migraine had just come over her.

“...Could I know your name?” She pursued, unsure if she’d receive an answer.

“Her name is Twilight Sparkle your highness.” One of the examiner ponies answered the question first; all of the examiners looked thoroughly shaken but otherwise unharmed. Luna nodded in thanks before turning back to Twilight Sparkle.

“Well, Twilight Sparkle, do you know if you’re able to open your eyes at all?” Luna watched the filly with her muzzle buried half in her ragdoll and half in the coat of dark blue fur as her eyes twitched and finally slid open revealing the large violet eyes underneath. Twilight held her breath when she saw the blurry alicorn sitting beside her but managed no more due to her pulsing headache. Luna smiled down at the exhausted ball of fur resting beside her and flashed her horn, a silver light illuminating the desk next to them as she telekinetically moved the sleeping baby dragon and letting it down next to Twilight.

“If your parents would agree, I’d like you to have this young creature; you’ve certainly earned the right to.” Luna continued, smiling as Twilight stared at the tiny purple dragon asleep beside her.

“Th-Thank you...” Twilight responded tiredly. “...Princess Luna...” Twilight would’ve been happy to continue talking with the princess but fatigue finally caught up with her and she steadily fell asleep. Luna realised that she wouldn’t be able to get anything more out of her and just sat in place, watching the content young filly clinging to her ragdoll.

“Is everypony alright?” Luna finally asked the examiner ponies nearby. They all nodded in response.

“We’re a bit stunned your highness but otherwise unharmed.” One of them said. “The foals outside were unharmed as well; I’d say we were lucky.” Luna nodded; it was indeed lucky to endure something like that without damage.

“Alright, you’re dismissed for today; keep a note of who has and hasn’t been examined yet and we’ll continue later in the week once the damages have been repaired.” The examiners all nodded and bowed, muttering thanks to Luna before heading to disperse the collection of foals waiting just outside. Luna turned her head back to Twilight and got to her hooves; there was no doubt that the parents below waiting for their foals to return would be in disarray and it would be impossible to find Twilight’s parents by ordinary means. Luna cast a spell through her horn and levitated Twilight up onto her back along with her ragdoll pony and the baby dragon. She double-checked that the filly was secure before turning and stepping from the halls’ balcony where the great glass wall had previously been, gliding lightly upon the wind as she made for the centre of the courtyard. Ponies moved out of her way and by the time that Luna touched down there was a good wide area of space around her. A few ponies were staring directly at her but most of the further back parents were still panicking and calling out for their lost foals. Another spell was cast through Luna’s horn and she felt her voice strengthen.

“MY LITTLE PONIES!” Luna’s voice rang out clearly through the courtyard and at once the crowd went silent. “AN ACCIDENT HAS OCCURRED IN ONE OF THE EXAMINATION HALLS BUT DO NOT WORRY; NOPONY HAS BEEN HARMED. FOR THE SAKE OF SAFETY THE REMAINDER OF THE PONIES AWAITING EXAMINATION SHALL RETURN LATER IN THE WEEK ONCE REPAIRS HAVE BEEN MADE. UNTIL THEN PLEASE CALMLY MAKE YOUR WAY TOWARDS THE HALLS THAT YOUR CHILDREN WERE ASSIGNED AND COLLECT THEM. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMPLIANCE.” Luna’s spell vanished from her throat and the ponies set about collecting their foals. Luna watched on but suddenly felt a movement from her back; she reminded herself that Twilight was resting there, quickly re-casting her spell and calling out once more.

“COULD THE PARENTS OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE PLEASE MEET ME IN THE CENTRE OF THE COURTYARD?”

~*~

“Ugh...”
Twilight’s head was throbbing painfully as she came to her senses; she struggled to remember what had previously transpired but to no avail. She stretched her legs out tiredly and felt them come into contact with something scaly; Twilight drew back in shock, unable to see the object in front of her. She squinted at where she had felt it and her eyes slowly came into focus.

“Is that...a ball?” She asked herself before she finally came into full focus; her eyes widened as she examined the purple scales and the events of the day came back to her. She remembered the examination, the egg, and her loss of control and the hazy silhouette of Princess Luna above her. Slowly moving from her bed, making sure not to disturb the dragon, Twilight tiptoed to the doorway and pulled it open; she never expected to see the image before her.

“Ah, you’ve awoken Twilight; I trust that you slept well?” Princess Luna asked with a smile, attracting attention from Twilight’s mother and father who rushed to greet her. Luna was sat in the centre of the living room by a table, levitating one of Twilight’s mother’s best china teacups to her muzzle. Twilight looked on with disbelief; surely this wasn’t happening. What would the princess possibly want here? Luna saw the filly’s awestruck face and laughed.

“I understand; this must be a lot to take in mustn’t it?” She chuckled, taking another sip from the teacup.

“Twilight, the princess here has a question for you.” Twilight’s father told her excitedly, followed by a confirmation nod from Luna.

“Indeed; a question of utmost importance.” Luna continued calmly. “Today during your examination you showed an extreme amount of magical power; more than I would’ve thought possible for a pony your age. The only issue is that you seem to have a severe inability to control that power.” Twilight blinked confusedly; she thought she understood what was trying to be said but kept getting mixed up on some of the more complicated words that Luna kept spouting.

“For this reason I think it best if you weren’t to study alongside the other students in the academy.” Luna continued; these words made Twilight’s face fall. She was a danger to others; a liability. She knew that it’d be too good to be true to attend the academy.

“Instead I would like to take you on as my own personal student and protégé.” Twilight blinked at the words; she felt her chest seize up and excitement gather in her head, threatening to burst out her ears.

“So what do you say, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked again and watched as Twilight’s stunned look turned to a grin.

“YES!” Twilight shouted, losing any composure she might’ve had before. “YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!” She suddenly felt her headache disappear in the matter of seconds and without realising started hopping on the spot. Luna laughed at the amusing display before her and the parents laughed even harder at their daughter’s delighted drop of character.

~*~

Twilight raised her eyebrows; it felt odd reading about herself and even more odd when she realised just how similar the day’s events that she just read were to the real ones with Princess Celestia. Maybe the book was just a biography of her life but with Princess Luna and Princess Celestia’s places swapped. The chapter ended there and she felt slightly cheated; was there any point in reading the next chapter if it was to be an event that she had already lived through? She turned over and was faced with another chapter title page just like the first but instead with the words “The Elements of Harmony” decorating the centre with fading ink. Twilight frowned; she had an assignment to work on and she didn’t want to waste her time, but she couldn’t help but hang onto the hope that maybe something was different. With a sigh she decided to skim through the next pages to see what the content was. As she flicked through she noticed some of her friends’ names.

“...Applejack...Rainbow Dash...Dayfl-“ Twilight paused as she saw speech from Dayflash; maybe something different would happen and wouldn’t just be a waste of her time. Reluctantly Twilight glanced sideways at her pile of notes before returning to the call of the tome and flicking back to the beginning of chapter two.

Comments

[MadxHatter123]

Ooo, I can't wait for the next chapter.

[Azarias]

Tracking, I am definitely interested.

[TheAceofClubs]

NOTE - This chapter is fairly close to the original; that's the purpose but the next chapter will include some huge differences in comparison.

172584 Aha, thank you; I'll try not to disappoint with future chapters.

172584 No worries for that; I'll try to get it done fairly soon.

[Anquietas]

Tracking, likely going to be a 5-Star story if you keep this up.

[TheAceofClubs]

175172 You think so? Well thanks 8D I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

[Alanith]

I think this is one of, if not the first time I've seen someone do this, switching which sister went evil and got sealed away. I am eagerly awaiting further additions to this story, and I hope you add a part 2 soon.

[TheAceofClubs]

178489
Really? Cool~ I'm surprised nobody did this sooner. I'm about three quarters of the way through chapter 3 as we speak