Life in Ponyville is wonderful for Twilight, but how was Twilight's life before it? Some vignettes showcasing Twilight's, Princess Celestia's and Spike's adventures before FiM.
Life in Ponyville is wonderful for Twilight, but how was Twilight's life before it? A series of random one-shots showcasing Twilight's, Princess Celestia's and Spike's adventures before FiM.
Twilight Sparkle's first lesson in magic went well.
She was led to a small room at the farthest ends of the castle. The room was gray and the only thing that it contained was a single, tall pedestal that supported a very beautiful vase. Princess Celestia trotted over and stood behind it.
She had a dazzling smile on her face.
"This," Princess Celestia started, pointing with a hoof, "is an extremely expensive vase."
She said this so brightly, Twilight could not help but feel a little dread.
"Your job is to clean it," the Princess continued, "with this."
Then she produced a single, bleached cloth that had probably seen one too many generations of housekeepers.
"Using your magic, of course."
Her thousand-watt smile was aimed directly at Twilight.
"Well?"
Twilight's eyes shifted from the vase, to the cloth, to her newest mentor's smiling face.
She gulped.
Twilight closed her eyes. She felt for the telltale signs of magic within her. A tiny spark... a very tiny spark of magic pulsed within and rose to the surface. Gingerly, she grabbed the cloth with it.
The cloth levitated. Slowly, surely... it moved towards its target...
smack
…and promptly pushed the extremely expensive vase to the floor.
crash!
Twilight's eyes widened. A gasp got caught in her throat. Panic. The cloth promptly followed the vase to the floor—
SMACK~~~
smack smack smack smack SMACK!
—and slapped it like Grandma did once to a smelly stallion that asked for her purse.
It was very impressive.
SMACK~~~~
A final clout resounded in the area, settling with a small cloud of dust.
Twilight stood still. The little cloth fell from her grasp.
Silence.
Princess Celestia's eyes were as widened as her own.
"Well," the Princess breathed, "you're certainly enthusiastic."
She gingerly approached the rubble and poked it with one hoof.
Then she smiled.
"You missed a spot, though."
Twilight Sparkle's first lesson in magic, indeed, went well.
Twilight Sparkle often visited the library. To go to the library she had to pass through a narrow hallway that broke up in a fork on both sides. In the middle of that hallway there was a door. In front of that door there were two pegasi guards.
The door made her curious. It was like all other doors she had seen in the castle: plain, with big square patterns in the middle, and brown. Nothing of significance to it, nothing extraordinary.
So why was it that it had two guards?
What was so important in it that it needed protection?
And if there was something important there... why choose a room so close to the library, a public area?
These questions tormented Twilight every time she had to go to the library. Every time, she would pass through the hallway and look in the direction of the door.
One day, her curiosity became too much.
---
Twilight approached the guards, fidgeting. She wanted to know what was in that door, but the guards were still very imposing.
She walked up to one of them.
"Excuse me... mister…"
But the guard did not respond.
Wondering if she had not been heard, Twilight tried out a little louder.
"Excuse me, mister!"
But the guard still did not respond.
A little annoyed, Twilight tried once more.
"EXCUSE ME, mister, my name is TWILIGHT SPARKLE. Could you please tell me what's on the other side of that door? Uhh… Pleeeeeaaassseee?"
But once again the guard did not respond.
Twilight's eye twitched.
"You know what? I'll check it myself!"
She took a single step toward the door, but before she could fully stand between the guards, two wings shot out and crossed with a metallic clang in front of her.
"Halt!"
"Who goes there?"
The guards glared at her.
Twilight was baffled.
"WHAT? I've been speaking to you for forty-five seconds, I even told you my name and you still ask who. I. AM?" Her eye twitched again. "Are you CRAZY?"
The guards kept staring.
A moment of silence.
Then Twilight huffed and threw her forelegs up.
"Argh! I give up!"
She left.
…Silence.
The guards did not move.
One by one, hoof-steps echoed from the other end of the hall. A brown unicorn stallion appeared and stood in front of the the guards. He watched them with a grin.
He had a wrench and a chip on his flank.
"Oh, how wonderful! I knew putting you in this place would eventually activate you… Ponies really are too curious for their own good, I'd say."
He placed a hoof on top of where the wings crossed and pressed down. The wings returned to their respective places and the guards shifted their positions to stand as stoically as how they previously did.
"Shame you can only do this for now…" He clicked his tongue. "…Maybe in the future…" He chuckled and turned to leave. Before he left, he looked back at the door.
"If only they knew." He chuckled again and finally left the hallway.
Twilight had been called by Princess Celestia that morning, a mere week after her entrance exams. The Princess had said that she had something to show her and so they were now making their way through the castle.
Princess Celestia leaned her head to look at Twilight sideways. "You'll see soon, my little pony," she said and smiled.
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Twilight couldn't stop wondering about what she was going to see. They soon reached a hallway which led to a single door. The Princess stopped in front of it and her horn shone as she opened it with her magic.
The room was warm, but not uncomfortably warm. Well illuminated with big windows off to a side. The walls and ceilings were painted light blue and there were several toys scattered across the cushioned floor. It was a nursery.
On the other side of the room a door opened to somewhere Twilight couldn't see. A unicorn mare with a cradle on her flank suddenly appeared from within.
"Your highness! Good morning! Oh, I take it you have come for our newest charge and—oh! And who might this little filly be?"
Twilight was hiding behind Princess Celestia's foreleg. She had been startled when the mare had exclaimed and had ducked behind the Princess's leg on mere reflex. When she realized what she had done, she blushed and stepped out from behind. A quick sneak up told her that the Princess was smiling tenderly at her. Twilight blushed harder.
"I… I am Twilight Sparkle miss, uhh… ma'am."
The mare smiled hugely at her. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Sparkle. I am Nourish Wellspring, a nurse. You may call me Nurse Nourish, or Nurse Wellspring, whichever you prefer; although Nurse Nourish sounds a bit silly if I do say so myself… and oh! Are you here to see our young charge too?"
"Um…" Twilight hesitated. She didn't know; she looked at the Princess.
Princess Celestia nodded. "Yes, we are."
Nurse Wellspring stomped lightly on the ground. "Excellent! Follow me, then!" And without further ado, she took off to the opened door.
Princess Celestia stepped in front of Twilight and gently pressed a hoof to her lips, signaling silence. Twilight nodded, and they followed the nurse.
The nurse led them through a small office, and then to another room. This one was even warmer. The floor was covered in the same cushiony material that the nursery was covered in, and there was a lot of hay on the floor. Some of the hay was packed tightly in blankets, making small bundles that closely resembled nests.
The nurse led them all the way to the back.
On top of a small bundle, a little further from the rest, lay a little ball of purple that somehow seemed familiar to Twilight. Twilight approached it with curiosity…
And then hastily retreated as the purple ball uncurled and stretched.
The purple ball, a dragon, had rounded spikes on its head and tail, and big adorable green eyes that blinked at her cutely before popping his tail into his mouth.
Twilight recognized him. He was the baby dragon that she had hatched for her entrance exam. She suddenly felt very happy; she approached the little dragon with a skip on her steps, and sat on her haunches beside him. She reached out with her hooves and started stroking his head and his arms, and then poking gently his little stomach; making him gurgle and giggle happily with all kinds of other little sounds.
She played with him. A tiny, gentle game of tag that used tiny hooves and tiny claws instead of tiny, little bodies as their game. He would reach for her hooves and she would tap his claws softly; then they would giggle as if that was the funniest game in the world. She would even close on him sometimes, blowing a raspberry on his forehead, on his stomach, and on all other ticklish places that would make him roll and squirm; a kind of sloppy kiss that was meant to be motherly and graceful, but was anything but.
Eventually, the two new friends tired a bit, and the little dragon yawned before curling up slightly. Twilight yawned as well; settled her head beside him. The little dragon scooted closer and curled tighter against her head. Within seconds, they were fast asleep.
One of the two onlookers, both of whom had remained silent during the whole exchange, giggled quietly to the other. "Oh, they didn't notice us at all."
The Princess smiled very, very tenderly and approached the two youngsters. She settled beside Twilight and covered both of them with one wing, just barely touching. "No. No, they didn't."
The Nurse giggled again. "What is it that they say? 'Love is blind'?"
The Princess curled her head around the two and closed her own eyes.
"Yes, love is blind."
And the two new friends slept oblivious to the world.
"This seems like a good place to finish. Well done, Twilight Sparkle."
"Phew…"
Twilight and Princess Celestia had been working on Twilight's magic for the better half of the morning. To say that Twilight was tired was a heavy understatement. To say that she was famished—
grooOoowwwWWwwllLLL-L-L-…L
—was an even heavier understatement.
Twilight slumped down on the floor. Her face was an impressive shade of red. She had seen that the Princess's eyes had grown very wide, her eyebrows almost all the way up to her mane. They stayed like that for a moment.
Then, the Princess chuckled. "Oh ho ho," she said jovially, "Perhaps lunch has been long overdue... Should we treat ourselves to something, then?"
At that Twilight perked up, and the inner (and not so inner) filly in Twilight nodded extremely enthusiastically and exclaimed in an even more enthusiastic voice, "YES!" before she reminded herself and added, "umm… please?"
"Follow me, then."
/°°°/
"Tell me, my dear Twilight. What kind of food do you like most?"
Twilight was so concentrated in feeling the fluttering of her heart at the term of endearment that she almost missed the question. Still, she didn't take a moment long to answer proudly, "My books say that it is important to eat healthy food. They say that young fillies must eat healthy food in order to grow properly, so I always try my best to eat healthy food all the time."
The Princess went silent for a moment; she inclined her head to observe Twilight intently.
Twilight felt her pride deflate a bit. Had she done something wrong?
The Princess hummed. "Tell me, Twilight Sparkle… Am I correct in assuming that you only eat pasture and grain?"
Twilight hesitated. "I sometimes eat some vegetables and a little bit of fruit." Twilight paused, still wondering if she had done something wrong, "I also drink milk sometimes."
"And you avoid all other kinds of food?" The Princess pressed.
"Umm… yes?"
"Hmm…" Princess Celestia turned to look up front; she hummed again. Twilight wondered what she was thinking.
Suddenly, she turned to Twilight once more.
"I believe a new lesson is in order."
Twilight blinked.
/°°°/
It turned out that they had been making their way to the Royal Kitchen. An earth pony with a toque on his flank and another on his head had greeted them briefly before leaving them to their own devices. All the other cooks had gone about their business, as well, trying not to stare. Twilight and the Princess then had headed further in, to a small corner more or less private.
The Princess was currently trying to teach Twilight on eating.
"It is important to eat healthy food, as your books said, but it is more important to maintain a balanced diet," The Princess started. "There is more to life than strict restraint, my little pony. And there is a difference between restraint, abstinence, and moderation." Her voice reminded Twilight of something light and very sweet. "If we are to truly enjoy our life, my little pony, sometimes we need to lose a bit of our control."
The Princess magicked an apron over herself and another one over Twilight.
"Which is why, Twilight Sparkle, I am going to teach you how to eat properly."
She then magicked several kitchen tools over to the largest counter.
"And for that we need to start with something simple."
She then levitated Twilight on top of a tall chair.
Once, Twilight Sparkle was deeply engrossed in a book.
She didn't notice she was late for her magic lessons.
She sat there, in the castle library, leaning against one of the low tables for little fillies and colts (right in the middle of the library) reading intently the theoretic principles of one thing or another; when suddenly she noticed that the library had gone unnaturally quiet.
Now, libraries were, of course, usually quiet places; silence often being encouraged to help ponies deal with their concentration...
But such a kind of unnatural silence was… well, unnatural.
Here nopony spoke, nopony moved... and Twilight, with a cold drop of sweat on her brow, looked up to see what happening.
Everypony was looking at her.
Or rather, everypony looked at the mare in front of her.
Twilight faltered.
"P-Princess?"
The Sun Regent, Goddess, Princess of Equestria, sat on her haunches on the other side of the low table (for little fillies and colts) that Twilight sat against; herself reading a book that floated upright in the air and that covered most of her face. The table, of course, was too low, and so it barely reached up to the Princess's fetlocks, which made for the whole sight to look particularly surreal.
Everypony stared.
Nopony spoke, nopony moved...
After a long, tense moment of silence, the Princess's eyes peeked out from her book.
She stared at Twilight.
With mirth.
"Peek-a-boo..."
Twilight Sparkle was never late for her magic lessons again.
Twilight Sparkle and Celestia would often visit their dragon hatchling in the nursery.
In those days, Twilight Sparkle would completely discard her usual persona of serious and diligent student. She would play all kinds and manners of games with the purple hatchling, and Celestia would either watch from a distance, or role-play to join in.
On that particular day…
“I will protect you, Princess Celestia!” Twilight declared valiantly in the face of the dragon. “I will vanquish this huge and ferocious dragon and save you! I swear on my honor!”
Twilight, Celestia mused, must have been studying the middle ages with a little too much fervor.
She chuckled.
“Oh, please, my little knight!” Celestia joined in. “Please protect me from this huge and ferocious dragon!”
And Twilight Sparkle did. She puffed her chest up, stomped a hoof down in front of the huge and ferocious dragon--
SQUEAK
--and accidentally stepped on a rubber duck toy in the process.
No matter, Twilight stared determinedly at the purple “menace”.
The huge and ferocious dragon took her challenge very seriously.
He grabbed his tail and started to very cutely suck on it.
Twilight faltered.
Slowly, she turned to Celestia.
“…Princess," Twilight started, with all the air of a resigned warrior.
She had been invited by the Princess to accompany her in praying.
It was night.
The sky was clear that day. The moon clearly seen among the stars.
At first the Princess was silent. Her eyes closed in contemplation.
Twilight thought that she had started praying already, and made a move to start her own.
Then Princess Celestia opened her eyes.
It was in an instant. The Princess flapped once, then twice, and her body went into the air just like it had been when she had raised the sun in the Summer Sun Celebration.
Eyes shone a brilliant white.
She prayed.
"IN THE MOONLIGHT A WORM
"SILENTLY
"DRILLS THROUGH A CHESTNUT!"
Twilight knew that from that moment on she would never look at the Princess the same way ever again.
She searched everywhere. In every single corner, in every single book. She searched throughout all the library and when she was done with that she went through the castle.
But still no ending.
The pages were... just blank.
It was terrible.
Now she would not know the end of the tale.
She cried.
It was by chance that Celestia seemed to pass by.
With a small tickle in her ear, she heard the filly crying around the corner.
“Oh,” she exhaled. “What do we have here?”
She went over, knelt beside trouble filly and covered her with one wing.
Her gaze was like calm sea.
“What troubles you so, my little pony?”
But Twilight could not respond. She could only sob.
Something stole Celestia’s glance.
“Ah!” she exclaimed, drawing Twilight’s gaze. “You found it!”
Twilight blinked her huge watery eyes. “What--?”
“My favorite book. You have found it, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you!”
But Twilight was aghast. “B-but… how can this be your favorite book? It doesn’t have an ending!”
The Princess smiled.
“Ah. But you assume that it has no ending because its last pages are blank. You assume that it was not finished… But what if its pages were meant to be blank? What if they were left blank on purpose?”
“HUH?”
“I prefer to think, my dear Twilight, that I can create my own ending every time I read the book. That every time I can make it so much sweeter. Or maybe, never ever end it.” She leaned close and winked. “The Journey has just started…”
Twilight Sparkle, it was said, was awful at dancing.
It was not uncommon to be unskilled, to say the truth -- particularly for a pony as inclined to studies as herself -- but it was of general interest to take note of this.
Because Twilight Sparkle was a very good study, they said. So good, in fact, she was excellent at replicating what she saw.
So the truth and interest of the matter lay not in that Twilight was awful at dancing, but from whom she learned dancing from.
~~~
“Today, Twilight, I must teach you on the importance of self-control,” said the Princess, while going to a phono-graph placed prominently in the middle of a room. She stood beside it. “Self-control, Twilight, is what allows us to do the many things we must in this life. Without it, nothing would be accomplished. Please meditate on this.”
Twilight vowed to not only meditate but to be the very best in self-control. Ever.
“There are many methods to teach oneself self-control--” Twilight listened attentively. “Some say to climb the highest mountains--”
Twilight was starting to reconsider that vow.
“Others, to bathe oneself in cold water every morn--”
Yep, totally reconsidered.
“Personally, I believe there is a better method to this myself.”
Oh?
Twilight perked up as she felt the anticipation. Princess Celestia raised her head in regal pride. Her eyes were closed.
“Dancing.”
Huh.
Princess Celestia’s horn lightened and, with delicacy and grace, picked the small, roundish needle-thing -- cartridge, her books would later say -- and placed it in the middle of the disk-thingy -- turntable-- for the music to play.