Patchwork

by ObabScribbler

Prologue: Twilight Sparkle

Disclaimer: The words are mine, the characters are not. I write because I love.

A/N: I started this last October when I first saw this picture by Dr.Javi and the image wouldn’t leave my mind for days. I kept wondering what could have led up to it and what the creature was, which prompted me to do research, which I always love. ^_^ It turns out the picture spawned research, the research spawned an idea and the idea spawned a fic. This will be a pretty long one, so buckle up and bring a sandwich, everyone!

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Patchwork

© Scribbler, 2013.

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‘A mother's heart is a patchwork of love.’ – Welsh Proverb

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Prologue: Twilight Sparkle

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Twilight trotted behind Princess Celestia. She had to hurry to keep up with the Princess’s long stride but it was a small price to pay for more time with her. When they came to a stop she tried not to make it too obvious she was breathing hard. They had been walking for what felt like hours, although it was probably no more than thirty minutes.

“Princess?”

Celestia stepped aside, allowing Twilight to see a pair of thick doors inlaid with gilt metal that swooped and curved in such elaborate shapes it wasn’t immediately obvious it was a lock. Even from where she was standing Twilight could feel the pulse of protection spells. One of the first things Celestia had taught her was a catch-all ‘undo’ invocation for her own magic and basic protective spells. She wasn’t as good at creating shields as Shining Armour; making even small ones sapped her energy and tired her out quickly. Wards, on the other hand, she couldn’t do at all yet, though she could tell where somepony else had laid one. These doors had wards dripping off them.

Celestia noticed Twilight’s hesitancy. “Are you frightened?” she asked kindly.

Twilight drew herself up to her full height – which wasn’t actually very tall. She barely reached Celestia’s knees. “Of course not. You said you have something important to show me so I’m … I’m ...” She searched her mind for a more impressive word than ‘excited’. “Galvanised.”

Celestia raised one eyebrow, the corner of her mouth quirking like she was holding in a smile. “Galvanised?”

Twilight’s ears flattened in embarrassment. “Did I … misuse the word?”

The smile turned into a chuckle. “No, Twilight Sparkle, and I commend you on your efforts to use a wider vocabulary. Self-improvement is never a bad thing.”

Twilight swelled with pride. It seeped away as she looked again on the doors. “Why are we here, Princess? Why did you bring me down into the mountain? Why is the mountain hollowed out here like this? Did you do it? Did the ponies from Canterlot dig this? And where is here? Have you –”

Celestia laughed and held up a hoof. “So many questions! One at a time, remember?”

“Sorry.” Twilight pawed the dirt. “I just … I’m just so …” She searched for the right words to communicate her excitement, but none came. “Sorry. I’m just … galvanised.”

Celestia touched her horn to the lock, which furled back in filaments like ribbons spontaneously rolling into tight little spirals. The doors swung open and she led Twilight through to another corridor. This one smelled like compost, salt and something sweet Twilight couldn’t identify.

“We’re here because I want to show you something. This part of the mountain is spacious and secure. It’s lined with enchantments to strengthen the walls, so it won’t collapse even though it’s bigger than most natural caves. The caves were here before there ever was an Equestria. These mountains are full of naturally-occurring passageways that go right through the rock. Nopony, not even me, knows where they all are, though I’ve had a long time to explore a lot of them. This cave we’re going to now was made a long time ago by a dragon looking to take its Century Sleep. Afterwards it was used by ponies as a place to protect themselves during conflict, and eventually Canterlot was built on top of it. Right now you’re walking where your distant ancestors walked.”

Twilight’s eyes rounded. “Conflict? You mean war? This was a war shelter?” There had been several small wars in Equestria’s history, but certainly none she knew of that would have necessitated a shelter of this calibre. And what made this one so special Celestia would build the country’s capital on top of it?

“It has been many things and had many uses,” Celestia replied. “Now, however, it is a home for the Menagerie.”

“Menagerie?” Twilight heard the capital letter as if it had been drawn in the air with a sparkler. They had reached the end of the corridor, which opened out into a wide space like a viewing platform. She was about to ask more but stopped to gape at the scene laid out before her.

All this had existed beneath her hooves?

Dozens of pink domes sprawled throughout a massive cavern, far bigger than anything she could have imagined. The word ‘cave’ barely described this place. It was an underground palace, studded with stalactites that hung from the ceiling and stalagmites jutting up from the floor. Floating lights illuminated everything so well you could easily think you were still aboveground in the sun. Several stalagmites had what looked like doors and windows in their sides.

The domes effervesced, signifying they were made from magical energy. As Twilight watched, a unicorn the colour of melting butter came out of a stalagmite and went over to one of the domes. He wore a uniform and had his mane tied back so it didn’t fall into his face as he bent his head to examine where the dome met the stone floor. Frowning, he touched his horn to one spot and then another. The surface turned a brief, roiling purple where he had touched it before settling back to even brighter pink. He turned and called something to a pale blue pegasus in a similar uniform who had exited the stalagmite behind him. The pegasus grabbed the unicorn around the waist and lifted him up to touch his horn to other places farther up the dome.

“Custodians,” said Celestia. “They maintain the spells while I’m not around and keep everything ticking over.”

“Did they make all these?” Twilight asked, gesturing to the domes. What WERE they?

“No,” said Celestia. “It would take more power than they have. Each one of these is not a single piece of magic, but a collection of interlocking spells, enchantments and glamours criss-crossed into a unique pattern. Think of them like giant patchwork quilts – the same basic design, but each one individual. Your mother makes patchwork quilts, doesn’t she?”

Twilight wrinkled her nose. Her mother had tried to get her interested in sewing quilts as practise in how to use her magic for delicate tasks, but Twilight had found it boring. She was much more interested in reading about Equestrian history and the obscure magics that had been lost to time and dusty libraries.

“Did you make these things, Princess?”

Celestia nodded and descended the narrow staircase cut into the rocks. Twilight trotted after her, eager to see such extraordinary magic up close, but intimidated too. The amount of power needed to create something so huge was mind-boggling. Just one dome was bigger than the whole house she shared with her father, mother and brother. As she got closer, the roots of her mane prickled and her horn started to hurt, like somepony was twanging it with a rubber band.

“Are you all right?” Celestia asked, seeing her wince.

“It’s … it’s like static,” Twilight explained. “Or when your ears need to pop.”

Celestia understood immediately and stopped. Twilight came to stand beside her, grateful they wouldn’t be getting any closer. The dome was beautiful but painful. “You’re still new to your magic. When you’ve been at school for a while and have gotten used to casting spells beyond those you use every day, you’ll develop a resistance. At the moment you’re still very sensitive to the fluctuations of magic around you.”

“Can’t you feel that?”

“I can, but it doesn’t bother me so much.”

“Really?” Even though they had gone no closer, the backs of Twilight’s eyes were starting to ache. She tried to blink the feeling away, but it did no good.

“Someday you’ll be the same,” Celestia assured her.

“You think so?”

“I know so. You’re a very special filly, Twilight Sparkle. With your natural aptitude for magic, you’ll be able to do a great many things most ponies could never dream about.”

Twilight forced herself to be worthy of her teacher’s confidence. She stopped blinking, even though it left her eyeballs feeling gritty and dry. Instead, she pointed at the dome. “What is that thing, Princess?”

“That’s a Reality Bubble.”

“A what?”

Celestia smiled. “A pocket of space both bigger and smaller than our own. Imagine a bolt of cloth drawn tight and straight, but with a small portion twisted up and fastened at the bottom with a tie so that it is at once part of the cloth, and yet separate from it. That twist is a Reality Bubble. It can exist only within the magical barrier you see here. If the reality inside the barrier and outside of it, here with us, were to touch, then the magic would be broken and what is inside would be catapulted back into the world. Each Bubble is enchanted to be bigger on the inside than the outside, and to contain things that could not exist out here.”

Twilight gaped up at the dome. It was already huge. “Why would it need to be?”

“It needs to include an entire territory, which, can be anything up to fifty miles in diameter and might include such things as a lake, a forest, cliffs, a lagoon or even part of an ocean, along with animals and plants that stopped existing in our reality centuries ago.”

“Why?”

“Twilight Sparkle, do you know what a menagerie is?”

Twilight searched her memory. She had read about them before, but they had always sounded like zoos. “It’s a place to keep exotic animals in captivity.”

“Well this menagerie has one difference: all the creatures in it can no longer live in the outside world.” Her expression became sad. She stared up at the dome and around at the others as if she almost wished they weren’t there at all. “They’re the last of their kind; the ones whose territories don’t exist anymore, or who hibernated while the world changed around them and they no longer have any place in it. Outside this place they’re hunted or reviled because of what they are. They have no peace, no more of their kind, no family …” She trailed off, lost in thoughts Twilight couldn’t guess at.

“So you put them in here?”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“The first time, because he asked. The second because he could not ask and I could not watch him die a stranger in his own territory. The third, fourth, fifth, sixth …” She trailed off. “Sometimes I could ask permission. Sometimes the creatures here were able to tell me they wanted a false reality instead of the true one. Sometimes, however, it was to protect my land and those living in it.”

“Protect us?”

“Before I created this place, Twilight Sparkle, I thought the ends justified any means. If it would protect the ponies of Equestria I was willing to use magic in ways I hate to remember now.”

Twilight remembered reading an old lyrical poem, written hundreds of years ago, which made reference to ‘spells of stone’ and ‘the mare of the sun’. She wondered whether that was what Celestia was talking about.

“Then something happened that made me rethink the way I protected this land. Destruction no longer seemed a defendable act, even if it was keeping Equestria from harm. I instead chose to contain a terrible threat, and it is a decision I have repeated ever since.”

Twilight wondered what kind of terrible creatures would merit such elaborate magic from the princess. Her left hind leg edged backwards until she reminded herself that she was being brave. She brought all four legs together so sharply she nearly toppled over, and covered the stumble with a question. “Why would you keep dangerous animals?”

“Every creature has a right to life, Twilight Sparkle. It’s not for you or me, or anypony else to decide whether something should exist or not simply because we’re frightened of it.”

“But if it’s evil–”

“Dangerous doesn’t mean the same as evil,” Celestia said sharply. When Twilight recoiled at her unexpected tone she softened it. “Dark creatures have a right to life, the same as we do. What if something more powerful than us suddenly decided we have no right to live and wiped us out? Would that be fair?”

“Nothing could ever do something that terrible with you around to protect us, Princess,” Twilight said staunchly.

Celestia chuckled. “My little stalwart student.”

Twilight thought hard; stalwart meant loyal, didn’t it? She swelled with so much pride so thought she might burst.

Celestia looked back at the dome. “The day I changed my ways I was given the advice to kill something dark. The ponies who told me to do it were convinced it was the only way to deal with it and save everypony. They were frightened of what it could do to them. I couldn’t do what they asked then and I can’t do it now. Killing isn’t the only or even the best way, Twilight Sparkle. It should never be anything but a last resort. Remember, as with all things, it isn’t committing an act that will linger but the consequences and the memories of committing it. If you kill any creature, ‘good’ or ‘evil, ‘light’ or ‘dark’, you must live with the consequences and regrets that come after, and those are far worse than fear. You have a good heart and a pure soul, so for you the consequences would ring far deeper and echo far longer.”

“P-Princess?” Twilight gawped up at her mentor. Maybe it was a reflection from the magic of the dome, but Celestia’s eyes looked shiny, as if they were filled with tears. “Are you okay?”

Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but something buzzed up behind them. Both of them turned to see a ball of floating white light heading unerringly in their direction from the mouth of the corridor. It halted in front of them and hovered, shining even more as a voice emanated from it.

“Princess Celestia!”

“Grimoire?” Celestia said in surprise. “I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed this afternoon.”

“Princess, we need you in the University Archive.”

“Right this moment?” Celestia glanced at Twilight. “Can’t it wait?”

The light ball dimmed and dropped a little, as if whatever magic kept it afloat had also lessened. It returned to full brightness a few moments later. “Not really, your majesty. One of the enchanted collections is loose and causing havoc. Apparently the hinges on the book cage had rusted through and nopony noticed until it was only hanging on by its lock. Oof! Ow!”

“Grimoire? Are you all right?”

“Yes, your majesty, one of them just knocked my hat off and gave my ears a few paper cuts. Princess, close to a hundred enchanted books are free. Not all of them had been catalogued yet, so we’re not sure what they can do or whether they’re capable of getting off campus entirely. Our unicorn professors are trying their best, but – ow! OW! Darn it, that one broke my reading glasses!”

Celestia’s brows drew together in a frown. She glanced down. “I’m sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but it seems we’ll have to cut our visit short today.”

“It’s … it’s okay.” Twilight tried hard to keep the disappointment from her voice. It wasn’t easy. She knew she had failed when Celestia bent to nudge her side gently.

“I promise we’ll resume this another day. You know I look forward to our time together.”

Twilight wondered whether they would resume it. Magic School was tough and far more demanding than any of her brother’s stories had prepared her for. All summer Shining Armour had liked to talk about all the cool things she would learn once she started, like energy-bolt archery classes and knockback spells that could flip a full-grown pony on its rump with just a flick of your horn. He had neglected to tell her about the long hours of homework or number of times she would have to recite the same elementary incantations over and over before her teachers said they were right. Twilight was a perfectionist and a natural scholar, but even she had her limits on how many times she could bespell a toilet to self-clean before she wanted to drown herself in it. She lived for the time Princess Celestia could spend with her and the promise that, if she did well in school and got into Canterlot University, Celestia truly would be her teacher. Until then, these unofficial, impromptu lessons were the bright spots that got her through the slog.

“Princess!” the voice from the light ball wailed.

“What is it, Grimoire?” Celestia raised her head to concentrate fully. “What’s happening?”

“Your majesty, the escaped books are … they’re …”

“What? What are they doing?”

“They’re EATING my manuscript!”

“Excuse me?”

“My opera! My magnum opus! They’re tearing it to pieces and eating it like a … a pack of flying wild dogs!”

“Are they all in one place?”

“Yes. They seem to like the taste of my genius. Ooh, get off, you horrid, horrid things!”

“Listen carefully; I’m going to tell you a binding spell to secure them until I get there…”

Twilight shuffled her hooves. She wanted to listen to Celestia’s instructions so she had a new spell in her repertoire, but her ears flicked as something else caught her attention. She turned her head, keeping one eye on the princess but listening for the noise again.

“Stop that!” yelped the light ball. “Leave my precious work alone, you ruffian reading material!”

There it was again; a thin sound that slipped into Twilight’s ear like silk sliding over steel. She turned towards it, tilting her ears. Was somepony else down here? Could it be one of the custodians? Something about it made her feel sad and want to comfort whoever was making it. She looked back to Celestia just as the princess stamped a hoof against the floor.

“Grimoire! Ignore them and listen to me.”

She was so busy calming down the bawling Grimoire that Twilight didn’t feel able to ask her to identify the sound. Celestia clearly had other, more important things to think about right now. Even so, guilt gnawed at Twilight when she considered ignoring the noise. Thought she couldn’t tell what it was, it definitely wasn’t good. Maybe somepony was hurt and calling for help. Maybe she should investigate and come back to fetch Celestia if it was important enough.

It was easy to slip off unnoticed. Part of her knew it was wrong and that she should wait by Celestia’s side, but the noise drew her. She had to stop a few times to figure out which way to go next as she walked between the domes. There was nopony else about; even the two custodians she had seen initially were nowhere in sight. The domes themselves were opaque, probably to maintain the creatures’ privacy. Thought Celestia had called it a menagerie, this place was clearly not meant for ponies’ gawking like a regular zoo. The care that had been taken made Twilight feel bad about ever visiting a regular zoo. How did the animals there feel about her staring at them like they only existed for her entertainment? How did the familiars at school feel when they were left in the Crèche where everypony could see them? She resolved to fetch Spike out and take him someplace nice as soon as she could. He was just a baby dragon, after all.

The noise grew clearer as she walked. Eventually it resolved itself into a series of notes strung together in an endlessly repeating pattern. There were no words and it wasn’t quite a melody but there was something hypnotic about it anyway. Twilight trotted from dome to dome until her horn fizzed in response and she could hear the sound louder than ever. She looked up at the pink expanse and took several steps nearer until the pain became too much. Ambient magic rubbed against her senses like a cheese grater, forcing her to stop.

She should go back to Celestia, she thought, but her hooves didn’t move. She couldn’t go back; not yet. She wanted to know what was making that sound. No, she NEEDED to know. What could produce something so hauntingly beautiful? She never usually cared about music, but right now it filled her up like an overflowing cup of syrup.

She took a step forward. Pain jabbed until she backed off again. Sitting to catch her breath, she was irritated that she couldn’t just go up, find out what was inside and be done with it. She was good at finding things out and answering questions. How dare this answer not be available to her – and for such a silly reason! She just had to suck it up and push through the pain. That was what Shining Armour said when he was running laps to be as fast as the earth ponies in military school. You reached your limits only if you accepted they were your limits.

Twilight took a breath to compensate for the pain and started forward again, gritting her teeth. Every root of every hair burned dully, like toothache that had spread beyond her mouth. She hesitated, but the sound undulated and rose in volume. It was so gorgeous she could barely breathe; or maybe that was the magic affecting her. She panted with effort but gamely took another few steps. It was like trying to break through a wall of flypaper. She actually felt the magic sticking to her, tensile strength pushing her back. She shoved against it with her horn. She needed to see what was making that beautiful sound. She NEEDED it more than the breath in her lungs!

Her horn glowed briefly in response to her need. She recognised the wash of her own magical energy from long hours’ practising for school, but the sensation of it getting out of her control took her back to her entrance exam. Celestia had taught her a simple reversal spell that day, the first of many things she had shared with her youngest student. The princess’s face flared in Twilight’s mind, but more pressing was the raw power exploding from her horn as her magic carried her through the final steps to touch the surface of the dome.

The pink rolled aside like mist across the sea. The dome’s surface grew mushy and transparent, allowing her horn to sink in like a hot knife through butter. Through it she could water stretching far in every direction – much farther than the back of the cave. It should have been touching Twilight’s hooves, but the softening surface of the dome kept it contained. A cluster of rocks sat a dozen feet away, tiny wavelets sending up spray each time they ran up against them. Atop the rocks sat a pony with such a long mane it almost completely obscured its body. Twilight only recognised it as a pony when it twisted to face her.

She almost gasped; she had never seen a pony so beautiful in all her life. Even Celestia could come only a poor second. This pony’s features were both soft and sharp, the muzzle too delicate to be a stallion but the lower jaw too deep for a mare. Its mane shimmered when it moved, as if every strand was a different shade of green, blue or gold. Hair cascaded like a waterfall onto the rocks, tangled and damp but looking more stylish than any of the rich fillies at school who frequented hairdressers every other day. It reminded Twilight of seaweed, if seaweed could be so beautiful it made your breath catch.

For a moment Twilight met the strange pony’s gaze. The pony looked startled, gold eyes widening. The beautiful sound stopped as it closed its mouth and stared left and right, which would have been comical if somepony else had done it. When it looked back at Twilight it tilted its head to one side, which made its face shift colours too: blue to purple to green. When it slid off the rocks and swam towards her, Twilight could see this was because it had scales, not fur. Its neck and chest flashed and winked under the water, almost as captivating as the song it started singing again when its face broke the surface.

She was rooted to the spot as the strange pony powered through the water. Twilight had never tried swimming herself, but she was sure nopony could swim that well or that fast. Moments later she spotted the long, sinuous fish-tail working behind the strange pony. A tiny voice inside whispered that she should run away, but it was so quiet and the song so wonderful.

“Come to me,” it sang without words. “Come to me … come to me … come to me …”

“I … I …” Twilight blinked. A bead of water ran down her horn. Could she smell sea-salt? Had she been able to smell that before? It ran into her eye and the stinging brought her back to herself for a second.

She should get away. She should RUN away. Why weren’t her hooves moving? Why was she just standing here, waiting for the pony to rise out of the water in front of her. For a moment the fish-pony just stared and sang right at her, like a snake charmer with a cobra. Twilight got a good look at the gills on its neck and the webbed protrusions that fanned out around its face in place of ears. Then it bared sharp silver teeth at her and lunged towards the barrier.

“TWILIGHT!”

Blinding white light consumed everything. The song ended in a shriek that made Twilight’s head reel. Her world dissolved into snatches of images and sound: Celestia’s golden shoes hitting the ground in front of her; the sweep of the princess’s wings; being yanked her away from the dome; the pink magic sucking at her, trying to keep hold; somepony calling her name as she fainted.

She woke to find herself in her own bed, staring at her own ceiling, with her own duvet wrapped around her. For a moment she wondered whether it had all been a dream. She would have liked the scary-beautiful fish-pony to be a nightmare. Her horn was still cold and felt damp, even though it was dry when she touched it with her hoof. When she sniffed her hoof, she smelled saltwater. Not a dream, then.

Twilight pushed back the covers and sat up, stopping only when the room spun. She waited until it had stopped and then gingerly rolled out of bed. Her hooves made no sound on the carpet as she crept to the door and eased the handle down. The moment it was ajar she could hear voices coming from downstairs. She considered going down, but when she realised who was talking and what they were saying, she crouched to listen.

“… didn’t realise it would be so hazardous.”

Twilight’s ears perked. That was Princess Celestia’s voice. The princess was here, in her house? She had never been to visit before. It had been at the entrance exam when she first asked to take Twilight on outings and give her the odd lesson, and had spoken to her parents only once since then to Twilight’s knowledge – at a school function when Celestia was the guest of honour and all the little First Year unicorns had to send up sprays of confetti with their levitation magic.

“Well what did you expect? I can’t believe anyone would be so … so stupid!” Twilight gaped at her mother’s tone. This had to be a dream. Nopony ever spoke to the princess like that! Evidently her mother realised this at the same time, because she followed the outburst with a much softer: “I’m sorry, your majesty. I didn’t mean to–”

“No, no,” said Celestia. “You’re quite right to be angry. I should have kept a better eye on her. You entrusted her safety to me and I let you down. It is me who should be apologising to you.”

Twilight’s mother made a grunty noise; the kind she usually made when biting down on harsh words. She was generally an even-tempered pony, but with a son like Shining Armour and a daughter like Twilight, even she sometimes lost her cool. All through colthood Shining Armour had loved to play at knights and princesses and cast his adoring little sister as the damsel in distress. Twilight would do anything he asked, which sometimes meant letting him project a magical shield around them both while his friends pelted them with mud-balls, and sometimes meant letting him levitate her up a tree for him to rescue. More than once he had thought up a rescue so daring and heroic it put premature white streaks in their mother’s purple mane and tail.

“Twilight Velvet?” Celestia said cautiously. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight’s mother said tightly.

“I think that’s an untruth.”

“Forgive me, princess, but when you brought her home today and she was so still … I thought the worst and it just about stopped my heart.”

“From the bottom of my own heart, I am sorry. Will you accept my apology?”

“How can I not? You’re the princess, after all.”

“Being the princess does not mean I should be automatically forgiven when I make mistakes.”

More grunty noises.

“You have something you wish to say.”

“You’ve been incredibly kind, taking my daughter under your wing – uh, so to speak – since she started her scholarship. As you know, I went to Magic Academy as a filly too, so I understand what a privilege it is for you to provide her with the experiences and opportunities that you have. We’re not …” Twilight’s mother paused, as if she didn’t want to say what she did next. “We’re not a wealthy family, as you know, so her schooling alone was a blessing, and on top of that you’ve been so kind to her, and to us.”

“I think you agreeing to let Cadence babysit for you is a fair exchange. It gets lonely for her in the castle while I’m working and she gets bored easily.”

Twilight remembered the pretty pink pony who babysat for her each summer when she came home. Cadence spent a lot of time away from Canterlot, sometimes attending schools in other parts of Equestria, sometimes on special functions she groaned about when Twilight asked her to describe them. This year Twilight would have marvellous stories of her own to share and was looking forward to seeing Cadence again, even though she didn’t really need a babysitter anymore.

“We enjoy having Cadence over,” said Twilight’s mother. “She’s a lovely girl and both Shining Armour and Twilight Sparkle adore her.”

“What else did you want to say, Twilight Velvet?”

She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure the benefits of my daughter spending time with you outweigh the costs. The field trips, the advanced spells before she’s even mastered the basics in school – did you know she injured herself trying to spindle too much magic on her horn after you showed her how?”

“She was having difficulty with the basic spell-casting her teachers set. Your daughter is a very gifted filly. Where most young unicorns have trouble summoning their magic to their horns at all, her trouble is that she can summon it easily but not control it once it is there. I was only trying to show her how to keep it around her horn and readied for a spell without letting it leak out.”

“Yes, and that worked SO well today.”

“Are you saying you no longer wish for me to tutor her?”

“I … I … yes, I think that is what I’m saying. It’s not that we don’t appreciate what you’ve done for her, princess, but Twiley … she doesn’t need the kind of help that puts her in harm’s way.”

Twilight’s whole body went cold. Before she could react, however, Celestia was speaking again.

“Twilight Velvet, please understand that putting her in harm’s way was never my intention.”

“You took her to your menagerie, where you keep dangerous creatures. You didn’t NEED to take her there, you CHOSE to. If that’s not putting her in harm’s way, I don’t know what is! If you WEREN’T putting her in harm’s way, how did she nearly get eaten alive by a SIREN?”

When Celestia finally answered, her voice was subdued. Twilight had never heard her sound that way before. It was even scarier than the thought of never being taught by her again. To her mind, Princess Celestia was the most intelligent, most talented, most amazing pony in all of Equestria. Intelligent, talented, amazing ponies didn’t sound like fillies being told off by their kindergarten teacher.

“I am sorry, Twilight Velvet. I only wanted her to understand something it took me much longer to grasp.”

“And what’s that?” By contrast, Twilight’s mother sounded angry and a little tearful. “That evil exists in the world? That magic is delicate and messing around with it can be fatal? That–”

“That dark things deserve protection too.”

“Why?”

“It is not for us to decide whether something lives or dies–”

“Ponyfeathers! Excuse me, your majesty, but when something is threatening my foal it most certainly IS for me to decide whether it lives or dies. If the choice is Twiley or a one-of-a-kind monster, I pick Twiley. Maybe most of the time what you believe is true, and I admire you for wanting to preserve every life you can, no matter who or what that life belongs to, but I’m not you.”

“Twilight Velvet–”

“The world can’t exist in perfect harmony all the time, princess. Bad things happen and nopony is perfect. That causes conflict and disharmony. I understand that dark things aren’t necessarily evil, but that doesn’t mean they’re good, either, and it definitely doesn’t mean they should be anywhere near my daughter. Sometimes you have to make choices you don’t want to make, and sometimes those choices are between the worst things in the world, but you still have to make them and you have to live with the consequences anyway, because the consequences of NOT choosing are even worse. Yes, dark things deserve protection too, but I’ll hold up my hooves and admit I’m a hypocrite, because if one of those dark things threatens my loved ones I’d do whatever it took to stop it. I’d die to protect my children, princess, and I … I’d kill to protect them too. I’d do it because I love them and love is the most wonderful thing in the world, but it’s not perfect either. Nothing is. Even love means making sacrifices. Everything has a price and a cost, and the one I would have to pay in exchange for you teaching my daughter and perhaps not getting there to save her in time next time is just … too high.”

By the end of her speech, Twilight’s mother was breathing hard. Silence reigned for several minutes; the kind that in nature usually came right before a thunderstorm.

“You make several good points, Twilight Velvet.” Celestia was so quiet Twilight could barely make out her words. “I admit, I have clung to my ideals with a resolve other might call stubbornness. It has been … a long time since anypony spoke to me the way you just have.”

“I’d understand if you … want to rescind her scholarship to the academy.”

“Her place there was not contingent on lessons with me. Will you tell Twilight Sparkle of this, or should I –?”

“Nopony has to tell me anything!” Twilight shouldered opened her bedroom door and skidded to the top of the stairs. At the bottom, both having leapt from their chairs in the living room, her mother and Princess Celestia looked up at her in surprise.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia sounded shocked to see her.

“But … I enchanted your sleep so you’d get some rest,” stuttered her mother. “You shouldn’t be awake for another two hours.”

Twilight cantered down the stairs, which was a bad idea as they were too steep for her short legs. She tripped over herself at the bottom and cannoned into the back of the sofa, skidding it forward a few inches to leave grooves in the carpet. Righting herself, she stalked towards her mother, filled with righteous indignation. “You can’t make the princess stop teaching me!”

“Twiley–”

“I love my lessons with her! I love them even more than regular school!”

“But you’ve always loved school,” her mother protested.

She was right, but Twilight was in no mood to admit it. Instead, she gabbled: “All we do there is boring stuff over and over. I actually LEARN things with Princess Celestia. You can’t take that away from me; you just can’t!”

“Twiley, please listen–”

“I’ve listened to you enough! I heard everything you said. You were really rude, Mom. You shouldn’t talk to the princess like that! Do you know all she’s done for Equestria? She’s really, really, really, REALLY important and she picked ME to be her student. She isn’t mentoring anyone else at school.”

“Twi–”

“If she doesn’t want to teach me anymore because you were mean to her, I’ll hate you forever!”

It was a stupid, hurtful thing to say. Twilight knew it and regretted her words the moment they passed her lips and her mother’s face crumpled.

“Twilight Sparkle,” said Celestia. “That’s enough.”

Twilight stared up at her. Celestia’s mane and tail flowed just as they always had, but at that moment there was something extra regal about her bearing. She was every inch the royal pony; a powerful alicorn whose magic was far more potent than anypony in Equestria, if not the whole world, truly knew. Under her scrutiny Twilight’s fury withered away.

“Princess, I-I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

Celestia shook her head, causing her mane to flutter above the mantelpiece and the selection of trophies and other commemorative items her mother had put there. “It is not me you should apologise to.”

Twilight looked at her mother. “But she was trying to make you not come to see me anymore. I couldn’t bear that, princess. I love our lessons.”

“As do I, but the fact remains that she is your mother and she has your best interests at heart. I may be princess, Twilight Sparkle, but I will not deny her wishes in this matter. She is your mother and I will not cause her distress to fulfil my own interests. Our lessons can resume when you are older and less …” She seemed to be searching for the right word, eventually settling on, “fragile.”

Twilight’s tail drooped. Misery made her tummy hurt. No more lessons with Celestia? It had only been a few months, but they had been the most wonderful months of her life. The idea of going back to the way things used to be before her exam brought them together was inconceivable. “Mom?” When her mother didn’t answer, her head drooped too. “Please?”

“It’s too dangerous, Twiley.” her mother said regretfully. “If anything were to happen to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’ll be more careful in future, I promise. The thing with the fish-pony, it was my fault, not Princess Celestia’s. Please don’t do this. I’ll do better, I swear. I’ll study every day and make sure I’m perfect so nothing like today ever happens again.” She blinked. “Uh … what did happen today?”

“Apparently your special talent for magic is so strong that you heard the cry of the siren through its barrier,” Celestia explained. “When you spindled your own magic in your horn and touched it to my spell, you actually managed to cancel out a portion for a time and almost broke through the barrier. If I had not interrupted, you would have dispersed my magic entirely in that spot and the reality inside the Bubble would have merged with ours.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Do not apologise. You were under the siren’s spell and not acting rationally. I have to say that I was astonished at what you accomplished in such a short space of time. I’ve rarely seen a unicorn with so much raw talent–” Celestia glanced at Twilight’s mother and looked awkwardly away, as if her words hadn’t come out right. Her regal bearing wavered but did not crumble. She raised her head and fixed Twilight with a stern eye. “Talent that you should use in your school studies. You shall remain an academy student, Twilight Sparkle, and you will use your time there wisely.”

“But you won’t be coming to visit me?” Twilight asked in a small voice.

“No.”

“Don’t you like me anymore?”

Celestia blinked at her. “Oh, Twilight Sparkle,” she sighed. “You are a prodigy among ponies; so much so that I sometimes forget how young you actually are. Of course I like you. You are a very special little filly and you are destined for a great many special things.”

“Can’t you teach them to me?”

“I shall, when you are older. For now, there are other things you must learn.”

“Why can’t you teach them to me now?” Twilight’s question took on a whiny, nasal quality. She was a heartbeat away from stamping her hoof in a tantrum. She restrained herself in front of the princess, but frustration clogged her throat and made her eyes burn with hot, angry tears.

“Now you need to make some friends and become the pony you are meant to be, in safety.”

Twilight sniffed. “But I want to be with youuuuu–”

Her mother stepped forward. “I think it’s time for you to go, your majesty.”

“I think so too.” Celestia nodded at them and turned to leave. “I shall see myself out. Thank you, Twilight Velvet. Study hard, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Princess Celestia! Princess, wait!” Twilight broke from her mother’s restraining hoof to run after her. “Don’t go!”

“Twiley!” her mother yelped.

“Goodbye for now, Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia ducked her head under their low doorframe and closed the door behind her.

Twilight whirled on her mother. “How could you?” she demanded.

“Twiley–”

“You spoiled everything!”

Her mother stood a little taller. “Young lady, go to your room. You can stay there until you’ve calmed down,”

“Fine! I will!” She ran for the stairs, but paused at the bottom. Resentment burned inside her in a way it never had before. Just like her magic, it blazed up and she couldn’t control it once it reached the surface. “I wish Princess Celestia was my mom instead of you!”

She didn’t see her mother’s face as she ran upstairs and slammed her bedroom door.

---

Someone opened the door and closed it behind them. Twilight recognised her brother’s hoofbeats but didn’t turn over.

“Hey, Twiley.”

“Hmmf.”

“Aren’t you going to come down to dinner?”

“I’m not hungry.” Of course, her stomach chose that moment to growl. She shoved her hoof into her torso to make it stop. She was ravenous, but no way was she going downstairs.

“Well if you’re not hungry, I guess you won’t want this slice of carrot cake I brought up.”

She spun to see he was carrying a plate on one upturned hoof. On it was a slice of cake the size of her head. It made the fork sticking out of it look tiny in comparison. Shining Armour grinned at her wide-eyed wonder.

“Hey, if you don’t want it, can I eat it? I already had my share but I could manage another–”

“Give it here!” Twilight reached out greedily.

“Nu-uh.” He held it away from her. “Use your magic. Levitate it to yourself, and then you can have some.”

She frowned at him. “You know I’m not supposed to.” It was a school rule: no unauthorised use of magic outside school until you had at least an elementary certificate. It cut down on collateral damage and injuries to have students practise only on school grounds, where protective wards and charms prevented too much of either, or under the watchful eye of a teacher off-campus. The penalties for being caught breaking school rules severe unless you had a really good excuse – like taking extracurricular lessons from somepony other than an academy teacher.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” It was such a Shining Armour thing to say. “I’ll even get you started. See?” His horn glowed and he deftly forked up a chunk of cake, which he brought to his mouth, all the while keeping his gaze on her.

Twilight puffed out her cheeks and concentrated. Her horn tingled as magic flowed into it. She tried to remember what she had been taught about winding the raw energy around her horn like a spinning wheel’s spindle and using only a thread from that instead of the full amount she had summoned. The forkful of cake spangled purple and turned in her direction, but turned back again when Shining Armour willed it.

“C’mon, is that all you got?” He actually took a bite of her cake and smacked his lips theatrically. “Yum yum.”

Twilight unspindled more magic and flung it around the fork like a lasso. She jerked it towards herself and then had to duck as it flew past and buried itself, prong-first, in the wall above her bed. Cracks spiderwebbed out from the point of impact. They both looked at the juddering cutlery in alarm.

“Wow,” said Shining Armour. “Mom and Dad are gonna kill you.”

Remembering the reason she was in her room at nowhere-close-to-bedtime, Twilight slumped down on her mattress and flung back her head. “So what?”

He gave her a funny look. “You’re still mad at Mom, huh?”

“Wouldn’t you be?”

“She did what she thought was best, Twiley.”

“How is not letting me see my teacher ‘for the best’?”

“She’s just worried about you.”

“Well she shouldn’t be. I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah.” Shining Armour cast a meaningful look at the fork. “It shows. How close were you to being eaten alive today?”

“That was different.”

“No, Twiley, it wasn’t. Princess Celestia has all these wonderful plans for stuff she wants to teach and share with you, but Mom’s right. You’re trying to run before you can walk. You need to learn the stuff they teach you at school first; make friends with colts and fillies your own age and have some fun before you get bogged down in studying all the time.”

“I don’t want to make friends with the colts and fillies at school.” Twilight pulled the pillow over her head and shouted through it. “I want to have my lessons with Princess Celestia!”

“Man, Twiley, if the ponies at school hear you talking like that they’ll call you a nerd for sure. Not to mention they’ll get offended if you reject them right out of the gate without giving them a chance.”

“I don’t care if they think I’m a nerd. In fact, I hope they do think I’m a nerd. That way they’ll leave me alone so I can study in peace and ace every stupid test those stupid teachers come up with so they can’t make me do it again ten stupid times when I know I got it right on the first try.”

“That’s pretty short-sighted.”

“I don’t care.”

“That’s obvious.”

“Well I don’t!”

Her brother fell silent. After a while Twilight pulled the pillow away enough to peer at him. He wore a trouble expression and sighed as he sat down next to her bed.

“Twiley, you’ve got to be reasonable. Mom’s just looking out for you. Yeah, your feelings are hurt and you’re upset, but don’t get ths out of proportion. It’s not like you’ll NEVER see Princess Celestia again. Didn’t she say she’d be your tutor when you graduate?”

“But that’s YEARS away,” Twilight whined.

“So? It’ll be worth it when you get there. In the meantime, you have to make the best of your time at school and not cut off your nose to spite your face.”

She frowned. “What’s that mean?”

“It means don’t do something that’ll hurt you more than anypony else.”

Her frown deepened. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does if you think about it.”

“I am thinking about it. It still doesn’t make sense.”

He tutted. “Twiley, forget that part. Concentrate on having fun and enjoying school. Make the most of your time there.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. Thoughts that had been niggling around the edges of her mind like tadpoles started to form into a larger, more solid idea. It hopped into the centre of her mind and ribbeted insistently as she worked out what she was going to do. “Okay.”

Shining Armour blinked in surprise. “Okay?”

“Uh-huh.” She tucked the pillow back into place and sat up. “I’ll do that.”

“Cool!” He beamed. “You’ll see; school is best when you have friends to share it with. Heck, ANYTHING is better when you have friends.”

Yet Twilight shook her head. “Oh, no, I don’t mean that.”

“You don’t?” His happy expression faltered.

“Nope.” She tossed her mane, jumped off the bed and went over to her desk. When she passed the Academy entrance exam their father had proudly outfitted it with a reading lamp, a fiddly set of drawers for keeping stationary, an enchanted automatic quill-sharpener and an inkwell built into the corner. Twilight planted her rump and levitated her homework out of her saddlebags. “I’m going to make the most of my time at school.”

“Um … okay?” Shining Armour came and peered over her shoulder as she dipped her quill and started to write.

“I’m going to be the best student they’ve ever had, so that I can get into Canterlot University and Princess Celestia can be my teacher again.” She burned with this promise and the hope that lay at the end of it.

“Twiley, that’s not what I meant–”

“Thanks for the cake, but I have work to do.”

Shining Armour backed away, clearly disappointed, but just as clearly recognising the steel in his little sister’s voice. “What about Mom?”

“What about her?”

“She wants you to come downstairs.”

Resentment sizzled in Twilight’s belly. It hadn’t gone away. Instead, it had pushed itself into a perfectly formed niche inside her, where it would fester and grow for a long time. What could have been just a childish tantrum took shape into a grudge. Though she didn’t know it, if she went downstairs now she could have fought against it, but she was too consumed by the anger that her mother had presented her with a portal to wonderful things by letting her take the entrance exam and bringing Princess Celestia into her life, onto to snatch it away again and expect her not to care. She took a quick breath. “Tell her I’m studying.”

“Twiley–”

She stabbed the quill against the paper so hard it left a blot. Grunting in irritation, she had to put it back in the pot and levitate blotting paper from the roll on her windowsill, since she couldn’t yet levitate more than one thing at once with pinpoint accuracy. she promised herself that soon she would be able to do all that and more; she just had to study hard and devote herself to her magic.

She didn’t look up as Shining Armour opened the door, paused as if waiting for her to say something else, and then closed it behind him.

---

Comments

[Eurobeat11]

Did you get this from Spore?

[ObabScribbler]

2117725

Who?

[Eurobeat11]

2117971
Spore is a game!
Spore Website

[Exuno]

Wow, this probably could have stood as an amazing story on it's own. I'm excited to see what's in store here.

[LucyHorseThing]

The cover itself scared the crap out of me.

[Daydream Sky]

Awesome!