"Nothing more embass… embra… embars… nothing WORSE"
As soon as Princess Celestia gave her THAT look, Twilight rushed to escape, knowing that otherwise, she would be in for a horrible fate. She galloped as fast as her short legs and small hooves could carry her, but her teacher, trotting only slightly brisker than usual, soon caught up with her and seized her in her magical golden aura.
“Do we really have to go through this EVERY time, Twilight?” the Princess sighed, levitating the desperately kicking filly close to herself and trapping her between her chest and her crossed forelegs.
Twilight didn’t answer; she closed her eyes, trying to prepare for the inevitable humiliation, of which – most unfortunately – she couldn’t tell anypony, at least not without the risk of being ridiculed. Most ponies would never believe that Princess Celestia, the majestic ruler of Canterlot and all Equestria, the master of the sun and the moon, acted towards her student like an overprotective mother, grooming her mane almost every day before classes. At the beginning, the filly had tried to be understanding – the Princess certainly had high expectations of ponies’ looks in her presence – but ever since the time when Celestia had decided to groom her in front of other students, everything had changed. Twilight wasn’t looking forward to be again laughed at by some meanies calling her ‘Teacher’s Pet’ or ‘the Princess’s Baby’. First, she was a big filly and could brush her mane on her own, and second, she hadn’t noticed the Princess treat her any different than she did other foals in the school… excluding, of course, the persistent grooming and the fact that rather than in the dormitory, Twilight lived in the castle, near her mentor’s chambers.
After a while of grooming with her tongue, teeth and magic, the Princess put her protégée at the forelegs’ length, and critically studied her work.
“Much better,” she said at last, nodding with satisfaction. “You no longer look as if you’d just gotten out of bed. Really, child, you should look in the mirror when you brush your mane.”
Twilight scowled and bristled up a bit, but still said nothing. All things considered, it would be ungrateful of her to talk back to the pony who’d taken her under her wing, and from whom she’d learned more in a few months than she had in two years at her previous school. Not to mention that her teacher’s one word was enough to get her banished from Equestria forever, like had been the case with the last student of the Princess; or at least, that was what Twilight had been able to comprehend from the bits of conversations among the castle servants, overheard in the moments when her mentor wasn’t around. No, definitely not worth the risk.
*
Cadance was torn between compassion and the urge to laugh. Sure, she still remembered all too well the times when she herself had had her mane groomed by Celestia – one’s parents or other guardians behaving like this was a dishonor for any foal from the moment they went to school – but she couldn’t deny that in the morning, Twilight looked terrible. Although she tried very hard, the filly was still incapable of precise manipulation of the objects with her magic.
“The worst part is that I can’t tell anypony, because they wouldn’t believe me,” said Twilight at the end of her confessions. “Even you are laughing…”
Indeed, Cadance had no longer been able to stay serious; however, she quickly reined herself in upon seeing the filly’s face.
“I’m sorry, Twilight,” she said after a while. “Contrary to what you might think, I wasn’t laughing at you.”
“There’s absolutely nothing to laugh at,” the filly whined. “I always thought there was nothing more embass… embra… embars… nothing WORSE than my mom grooming my mane in front of other foals. And then, it turned out there IS something even worse: being groomed by my own teacher, who is also the ruler of the whole country!”
Cadance looked at her compassionately.
“I know. I’d been going through it as well.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Before I became a princess, I was a little Pegasus orphan, brought up by Earth ponies; so when I changed into an alicorn and came to Canterlot, I had very unkempt wings and couldn’t fly well. Do you know what did Aunt Celestia do as soon as she saw me?”
Twilight shook her head.
“She took me to the bathroom, and spent almost three hours preening my wings. You can believe me or not, but she did so EVERY SINGLE DAY, until I learned to preen myself. And don’t get me started on her endlessly grooming my mane in front of courtiers and guards. Really, sometimes I thought I’d die of embarrassment.”
“So when did she stop grooming you?” Twilight wanted to know.
“Only after I mastered the precise levitation of the brush.”
The filly’s expression turned glum.
“Then I guess I’ll get this treatment forever, unless Princess Celestia throws me out of the school for non-precise levitation of objects…”
“That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about,” Cadance assured her, embracing her with a wing. “Auntie really likes you, and certainly will not throw you out, nor will she let anypony else do it. Besides, we can practice levitation together, if you want…”
“Of course I want!”
“And if you don’t mind, I can talk to Auntie about this incessant grooming.”
“Could you really do this?” Twilight looked at her foalsitter with hopeful eyes.
“Sure. Have I ever lied to you?”
“Never. Thank you, Cadance.”