> A Compendium Of Cute > by TwilightTheAlicorn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Your Destiny's Uncertain > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Princess?" a little purple filly asked. "Yes, my faithful student?" I replied with a gentle smile. Inquisitive ponies were the best types of students. "What's my destiny?" I almost grimaced. Those three little words were the ones I dreaded the most. Most ponies assumed I was a goddess, which, in and of itself is true, but they also assumed that I knew the future. It pained me to hear those words out of my bright young student's mouth. "Oh, little Twilight, I don't know what it is." I fought the urge to hug the filly when she turned her sad little eyes on me. Still, I couldn't help myself from smiling down on her. "But you're Princess Celestia! You know everything about everything that ever happened, ever! How can you not know?" "Let me tell you a story, Twilight." I smiled gently as I began with the traditional Equestria opening. Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria… "Sister, I ask that you cease with your senseless pranks!" a loud voice rang out across Castle Everfree. The ponies of the castle smiled as they once again went about their business. The disturbance was almost an everyday occurance for them; the Royal Sisters were still fillies, after all. They had taken to pranking each other when their mother and father, Queen Galaxia and King Oceanus, were in Court. "Lullay, Moon Princess, good night sister mine, rest now in Starlight's embrace." the elder Princess sang. The Moon Princess, Luna, was still young enough to require naps in the afternoon, and so, Princess Celestia, or Tia, as she liked to be called, opportunity to pull jokes on her beloved little sister. This time, she had rigged Luna's bed with a spell to make her think it was still naptime. Luna had retaliated by using the Royal Equestrian Voice on Tia. "May these cool lullabies keep you in dreams, and ease you your passage of days." "TIA!" was all the younger goddess had to say to snap the elder out of her lullaby. "Alright, alright!" Celestia laughed before lighting her horn up with a cancellation spell. "Do you want to go watch Mother and Father in Court?" "We did that yesterday, Sister!" Luna complained. "Well then, Lulu, what would you recommend we do?" "Let's go to the Royal Archives!" Luna piped up, her mind already imagining the latest book she would read. Would it be about dashing knight ponies, traveling to distant lands to rescue a beautiful pony princess from a meany-pants dragon? Or would it be about a dragon, lost among ponykind since it's birth, learning who he was meant to be? "Easy, Lulu. Don't forget, you're raising the moon tonight. You have to save your magic." A few errant sparks had drifted from her horn, wandering onto the bedside table in the Royal Nursery. Celestia smothered them before they could cause a fire. "Princesses! Princesses! Please, I need help! My daughter, her magic!" "Sir Spell? What is the matter?" Tia spoke up, the first of the sisters to be shaken out of the silence the sudden visitor had brought. "It's my daughter, your highnesses! Her magic's gone out of control! She's started trying to burn down our house!" "Sir Spell, it will be fine. I promise." the elder princess said, her tone brooking no argument. "Will it, Tia? How do you know?" Luna asked. "I don't, Lulu. Let the ponies think what they think, as long as we can do this. Together?" little Celestia asked. "Together." Luna replied, her voice stronger than it had ever been before. Hours later, with the young daughter of the noble incapacitated for the moment, the Princesses were walking down Market Street. "Princesses, how did you know it would turn out as it did?" "Oh…" Celestia didn't know how to respond. "We are goddesses, are we not? We do have some powers beyond the average unicorn." Luna spoke, her voice haughty, as the royalty of the time was expected to be. What the unicorn noble didn't know was that Luna was leaving out how Celestia knew, which is to say, she didn't. The noble didn't need to know this, however. "Oh, Your Highnesses! Excuse me! I am so sorry!" "Does that answer your question, my faithful student?" I asked, my voice cracking as memories of those times came flooding back. "Yes, Princess- I mean, Goddess." "Twilight, nopony must know that I really am a goddess." "Yes, Princess." "But no, I do not know the future." I smiled. "Who was that other Princess?" I laughed, my voice gaining the qualities of the Royal Canterlot voice without my meaning to. My student was already light years ahead of me. I knew she would become my next sister, though I couldn't say how I knew… > And That's Sometimes Hard To Take > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "S-s-she-e-e do-oesn't-t lo-o-o-ove me-e! She-e ha-ates-s me!" The sounds of a distraught filly sobbing reached my ears even through the soundproofed doors. "Princess Celestia thinks I'm a bad pony!" I sighed. That little filly was awfully impressionable, if she thought I didn't like her anymore. "Twilight Sparkle, please, let me in. I need to talk to you." I asked, my voice gentle yet firm. "Princess! I-I… But… You… Why do you want to talk to me? I'm not a good student!" "Oh, Twilight. You are one of the best students I have ever had. Please, my little pony, may I come in?" "Y-yes, Princess." the filly sighed as the doors became enveloped in magenta magic. "Thank you, my faithful student. Now, why in Equestria would you believe that I don't like you?" I asked. "I was wrong! Teachers don't like wrong answers, and I gave you a wrong answer, so why would you still like me?" I held back a chuckle. This was what I had seen in the unicorn, the one thing that I feared could hold her back. I was glad to get to it early. "Oh, Twilight. You are the smartest and most powerful student I have ever had. May I tell you a story?" I asked. "Yes!" Twilight smiled brightly, her previous trouble almost forgotten. I began with the traditional Equestrian opening: "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two young alicorn fillies. "Can't catch me!" a blue filly with a crescent moon cutie mark yelled. "Can too!" an older white alicorn replied as she ducked in front of a tree. "Tia!" The blue alicorn had doubled back, attempting a pass at her sister. Tia had caught her, ending the game. "Told you, Lulu! Now bow down before the ultimate power of Tia Solaris Rex!" Tia crowed. The entire town square turned to look at the Princesses and promptly obeyed the order of the elder sister. "Ha! Not me! I am Luna Moonbeam Rex, Bringer of the Moon and Stars! You shall one day cower before Us as befits a Queen!" Little Lulu joked. The ponies in the square obeyed. All but one. "Luna Moonbeam Rex! Celestia Solaris Rex! We do not abuse power this way! Come with me immediately! We are sorry, citizens of Everfree. Our children will not behave this way again, and know that before they are grown mares, they will know the proper way to behave." an older mare, taller than the average Alicorn, with a starry, ethereal mane, boomed. Her children skulked over to her side. "Sorry, Mommy, but Tia started it!" "Lulu dared me to catch her! It's her fault!" The bickering began. "Girls, stop it! Now! That is no way for anypony to behave in public. You are both old enough to behave, so act like it! For now, you are to attend to your studies. Go see Mr. Books. Now." Galaxia chided. "Yes, Mommy." Lulu said dejectedly. "Yes, Mother. Right away." Tia said, her voice gaining an air of responsibility. "Come on, Lulu. We have work to do." "Those girls," Galaxia sighed, "will always be tricksters, but I will always love them regardless." "Wow! So Queen Galaxia didn't care what they did, as long as they made up for it? She sounds like the best mommy ever!" Twilight Sparkle's eyes sparkled, true to her name, and her voice was laced with awe. "She was, my little Twilight. She was."