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“That was a great job tonight girls!” Twilight cheered as she and the others headed to the back of the stage. “I think it went even better than last year!”

“Oh thank you, darling!” Rarity giggled as she pulled off her Princess Platinum crown and the heavy purple cloak. She flipped her mane, somehow still flawless after hours of acting on the stage with a crown. “It really was our best show yet wasn’t it?”

“You think the princess will let me keep the armor this year? As a reward for being so awesome as the commander ?” Rainbow Dash struck a pose as she looked herself over in the mirror. The shining black and gold armor were rather fetching on her, Twilight had to admit.

Pinky Pie gasped, “Oh Oh! Can I be Puddinghead all the time!?” Unlike everyone else, she hadn’t started to take off her costume and was instead bouncing from dresser to dresser. How she managed to do so without knocking anything off was a mystery that Twilight would not try and solve. She was in too good a mood.

“Sorry girls,” Twilight shook her head with a tired smile. “ The costumes belong to the Royal Canterlot Playhouse. I don’t think they'd be too happy to part with such expensive outfits, not during the Hearth's Warming season.” This wasn’t the only play the playhouse would be putting on, after all, it was going to be performed at least three more times tomorrow on Hearth's Warming alone.

“I sure don’t want this thing,” Applejack grumbled as she pulled her vest off. “This darn overshirt thing itches something fierce!” Twilight winced as she watched her friend tug on the costume, they were top of the line but that didn’t mean all of them were comfortable. Poor Applejack had it the worst, the sleeves on her costume were made of some kind of shiny cloth and to make it worse Applejack was somewhat…..large compared to the actor that played Smart Cookie. The playhouse had just replaced the Smart Cookie costume and probably wouldn’t be too happy about Applejack stretching it out.

“Applejack please do be careful,” Rarity tutted from her dresser. “Twilight is right after all. These are exceptionally well made and we wouldn’t want to give them back in disrepair.”

“Then they should have given her a bigger costume,” Rainbow laughed. “ Did you guys see the mare that usually plays Smart Cookie? AJ is like twice her size!”

“And just what in tarnation does that mean-”

Twilight shook her head with a fond smile, she loved her friends dearly but they were a bit much sometimes. She was well-practiced in tuning them out at times, with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie as friends it was a skill that was sorely needed, though poor Applejack was getting roped in at the moment. With one ear keeping track on the conversion behind her she turned around to her dresser.

Her Clover the Clever costume was thankfully the simplest out of the six and since she owned it, as the playhouses weren’t made for an alicorn’s wings, she just had to pack it away in her bag.
Twilight ran her hoof over the dark gray cloak with a frown, still somewhat displeased with it.
The cloak hadn’t been hard to make or rather it hadn't been hard for her to ask Rarity to make it. Though it had been a little hard to get Rarity to not ‘improve’ it too much. So the cloak was of course well made and while it was a bit flashier than the ratty cloak Twilight had worn last year it was still an overall pretty simple gray cloak. She was happy with the enchantments she had placed on it, no one in the audience could tell that she was hiding her wings under it and she didn’t feel trapped under it either.

Yet she was still dissatisfied with it.

Twilight knew she was a perfectionist, she always had been and would always be and it wasn’t that there was a flaw in the workmanship but it was more that she was unsure how accurate the costume was to history.
When she had made her Star Swirl the Bearded costume a few years ago for Nightmare Night she had researched the details for days. It hadn’t taken her long because there was so little about Star Swirl but rather the papers and books written about him were staggering in both amount and conflicting facts. Some conflicting information she understood, things like his date of birth and early life were to be expected since so little information was saved during the Era of Storms but even later on in his life, the facts were somehow well known enough to be written about widely and yet very conflicting. If she hadn't had the deadline of Nightmare Night she would have probably spent who knows how much time combing through all of it.

Even after all that, her costume had been easy to make historically accurate, there were three statues of Star Swirl in Canterlot alone! His image was everywhere, with good reason this is Star Swirl after all, but the great amount of knowledge about him had made the research for this costume more confusing. When she realized that she would need to make her own Clover the Clever costume she had been rather excited, a reason to research was always nice and Clover the Clever should have been easy. As one of the Founders of Equestria, there should be plantly of information on her.
Yet Twilight found that this wasn’t the case.
All information on Clover was second hoof at very best but most were third or fourth. There was nothing from when she was alive, no birth date or death date was known. No murals or statues existed and it seemed like they never had. The very oldest written records of the Founding of Equestria only listed five members and had made a point to say Princess Platinum was alone. There was no unicorn named Clover listed as being in service to the Princess during that time and Star Swirl had never mentioned her in any of his works.

Yet Clover had to exist or she wouldn’t have such a big part in the story of Hearth's Warming. It was true that each town and city had its version but Clover was always the one that tried to bring the others together and afterward cast the Fire of Friendship spell. The Canterlot version of the play was said to have been performed unchanged every year since the death of Princess Platinum and it had Clover as a founding member.

The only written record she found from anywhere near that period about Clover was the surviving parts of Princess Beryllium’s diary. Even that had her only mentioned passing. How could there be so little information on such an important figure in Equestrian history?

Honestly, there is a reason why her least favorite subject was history. You can’t test history and every pony could try and tell the same story and each would be different because each saw it a different way. When she had written a history paper in school she’d go back to the raw material. Birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, surveys, housing records, medical, employment, court records but it was always fragmented and incomplete because it didn’t tell you who the pony was or how they lived. If only she had more time, there was so much more research to be done!

She was going to be in Canterlot for a few more days, she could always use the library here. Surely there was a book or two that she had forgotten about?

“Twilight, are you alright?”

Twilight jerked her head up in surprise making poor Fluttershy jump as well. “Oh, I’m sorry Fluttershy,” she said a little embarrassed. “I guess I got lost in my head again.”

“Is it your dinner with the princess?” Fluttershy asked. She was already free from her armor, she wasn’t a fan of it like Rainbow Dash was. “You did seem a little nervous about it….”

She winced around her smile. Twilight hadn’t forgotten about that, her inner schedule would never allow her too, but she had pushed it to the back of her mind. She knew that there was no reason to be nervous about the dinner, they have had private meals together more times than she could count. Maybe it was because sharing meals was so rare now? It seemed like the only time Twilight got to see Princess Celestia was when something broke out and was trying to enslave the world or something. Or maybe it was that she was an alicorn now?

Afterall Twilight hadn’t seen the Princess alone since she’d gained her wings. Even when Celestia had come to see her she hadn’t come to Ponyville alone, all three princesses had come. Cadance had been so excited for her and had promised to write to her often about what to expect since Celestia and Luna’s ‘change’ was so long ago. Luna had given her tips for flying and wing care but Celestia had simply told her that she was proud.

That had made Twilight’s heart fill with joy yet it had faded a little after the group had left because how was she going to do compared to them? She couldn’t control the sun or the moon, she had tried as a filly multiple times, and she really couldn’t do love magic. That type of magic has been banned from her home all together after Smarty Pants.

Twilight shook her head, no need to go down that rabbit hole right now. “No, no it’s not that,” She told her friend. “It’s the cloak….”

Fluttershy looked unsurprised as she nodded with a reassuring smile. All of her friends had heard, maybe more than they had wanted, about her failure to have a historically accurate Clover the Clever costume. Well historically accurate as possible since she doubted that Clover’s cloak had the same enchantments that her’s had. “Why don't you ask the Princess during your dinner?”

The amount of knowledge that Princess Celestia had…..The thought had occurred to her a few times during her quest for her research. She could only wish that she could one day know half as much. No doubt that she would know more about the topic, Clover would have still been alive during the beginning of the Classical Age and even if Princess Celestia had never met the unicorn she should have at least heard about her but….

Twilight shook her head, “Princess Celestia told me once that she didn’t like answering questions about the past. I think she’s afraid that ponies wouldn’t try to search for history if they could just ask her.”

“Hey Twilight,” Applejack cut off Fluttershy before she could answer, “you still staying here in Canterlot for a couple of days?” She now had her trusty hat back on and looked relieved about it.

“I’m not sure how long yet,” Twilight nodded with a smile towards Fluttershy. “I wanted to stay as long as my brother but Shiny refused to have a set day for him and Cadance to head home.”

She rolled her eyes, her brother was so annoying sometimes. You would think becoming a prince would make him appreciate a good schedule but if anything he was now worse about it. It was going to be good to see him, while he was getting better about writing her letters he was still rather poor at it. It was too bad that he and Cadance couldn’t make it to the play since their train had gotten in late.

“Oh dear, I didn’t know you were staying in Canterlot,” Rarity said as she finished making sure that everyone had put away their costumes properly. Having worked around high-end clothes herself she had warned all of them how much care they needed. “I do wish I could stay for a few days but Sweetie Belle and myself have plans with my parents and I can’t very well miss out on Hearth's Warming.”

“Awwww I didn’t know you were staying in Canterlot either,” Pinkie Pie pouted as she slowly stopped bouncing. As far as Twilight knew she hadn’t stopped since the play had ended but somehow the earth pony had already taken off her Chancellor Puddinghead costume and packed it away. “I didn’t bring your and Spike’s Hearth's Warming gifts!”

“Sorry girls, I must have forgotten,” Twilight sighed. “ I got so sidetracked by my Clover costume and then trying to plan around Shiny’s fear of planning that it slipped my mind.” Now she felt bad about it, she hadn’t told any of them besides Applejack and the only reason she had known was that she had asked if Twilight had wanted to come over on Hearth's Warming for lunch.

“You aren't staying long though right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

She shook her head, “Probably not. Spike and I should be back in Ponyville in a couple of days.” The young dragon had already left the playhouse, her parents had offered to take him home after the play so she could head to the castle for her dinner without backtracking to drop him off. No doubt he was looking forward to spending some ‘guy time’ with Shining.

When Twilight looked at the clock she winced when she saw the time. Must have zoned out for a while, but thankfully the Playhouse was close by the castle grounds. “Sorry girls but I have to get going. I’m meeting the Princess for dinner tonight.”

“Of course darling,” Rarity pulled her into a quick hug. “You must not be late on our account. Go along we’ll see you in a couple of days.”

After quickly saying goodbye to her friends, and promising to go to Pinkie’s ‘Welcome home/Happy Late Hearth’s Warming!’ party, Twilight headed to the castle. She hadn’t been there yet during her visit, she and the others only had time to grab a quick bite to eat before they had rehearsals at the playhouse. She also hadn’t seen either of the Princesses yet. Celestia rarely went to see the Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant, Twilight figured that it was both because she’d seen it too many times and being too busy. As far as Twilight knew Luna hadn’t seen it at all since she returned.

She pondered that thought as she walked through the bright lamp lined streets of Canterlot. Luna could have the information she needed on Clover but then again her banishment could have fallen around the Frozen Age and she would have missed the whole thing entirely. Then again Luna had seemed to have known about Star Swirl enough to appreciate that her costume had been historically accurate on Nightmare Night so chances are she would know about any apprentices that he may have had.

The Guards, a Night Guard and Day Guard since it was just after sunset, nodded as they opened the doors to the castle for her. They didn’t offer to guide her through the castle and whether that was because of her wings or that they remembered her from when she used to live there, she didn’t know. She had lived most of her life around the Day Guard and even she had a hard time telling them apart but offered a smile as she passed.

As always she took a moment to look at the artworks that lined the hallways, Princess Celestia changed them around often and Twilight rarely saw the same one more than once. Paintings of landscapes and grand armored ponies were the most popular but she could tell that Princess Luna now had a hoof at picking out what went on the castle walls. She paused at one painting after all Princess Celestia would have never put up a painting of what appeared to be a…. Rave? And a rather inappropriate one at that.

“Luna picked it to spite one of the nobles because he insulted her sense of humor. Why it had to be so close to my rooms instead of hers is something she refuses to answer.”

Twilight jumped in surprise, having not heard Princess Celestia behind her. “Princess!” She quickly went in for a nuzzle and a quick hug. “I’m sorry, I’m not late am I?”

“Not at all,” Princess Celestia’s smile was warm and Twilight felt her own grow at the sight of it. “ I was finishing up with Luna, she wished to join us but I’m afraid that she has a rather busy night planned.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

Princess Celestia opened the door to her private set of rooms with a waving hoof to stay her guards from following. It always gave Twilight a little bit of trill when she was allowed inside since these weren’t like the throne room where ponies got to see their princess in action. Being allowed in here meant that she had Celestia complete trust and it brought back old memories of her reading aloud to the Princess when she was a filly.

“I told her that you would likely be having breakfast with your parents,” the older mare told her as they settled down at a small table that the Princess kept in her study for meals. “ And that, of course, Cadance and Shining Armor will no doubt take up much of your spare time.”

“I’ll have to find some time to meet with her but it will be nice to see them both again,” Twilight agreed. “ It’s only been a few weeks since the coronation ceremony but I’ve missed them.”

The princess nodded with a small smile, “You’ve said that your brother still hadn’t gotten a hoof on writing letters?”

She sighed, “He’s better now but since at his worst he didn’t tell me that he had been dating, then got engaged to and was marrying my old foal-sitter until almost the last moment…. I don’t think he could have gotten worse.”

“Is Cadance writing to you at least? She had mentioned you a few times in our own letters.” Celestia’s horn glowed as she brought her tea set over to them. Twilight liked coffee more but had never and would never tell that to her mentor, she loved watching her prepare their tea too much. Celestia’s magic was so powerful but she never once had lost control of it. Watching the Princess use magic was like seeing a master artist using a brush.

“Oh yes, plenty.” Twilight nodded but then winced, “As much as she can. Running the Crystal Empire takes up a lot of her time.”

“I’ve heard as much.” The princess’s horn glowed softly as she heated the tea kettle. “She is doing a fine job, Luna and I are thinking of visiting soon.”

The soft glow of Celestia’s magic was truly a comfort and as the princess lowered the kettle and it faded Twilight missed its glow. “Wait both of you at once?”

Princess Celestia smiled at her and Twilight felt her heart start to beat just a bit faster. “Why not? I am allowed to leave, aren't I? While I do dislike leaving Canterlot I thought now that there was another princess around that Luna and I could go somewhere together. ”

“Of course you can- Wait what!” Twilight gasped as she realized what the older pony had meant. She jerked up, bumping the table and almost knocking over the tea set. “Me?!”

The soft laughter should have made her feel better but instead, her face heated up. She was glad her fur was darker than most and usually hid it well, though the amount of heat she felt may have caused her to blush so much that the other mare could see it. Her mentor would never laugh at her but she was still embarrassed at her outburst.

“Yes, you Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia took a sip of her tea, a sly smile over the rim. “I thought it would be a nice practice for you.”

“I-I can’t rule Canterlot! What if there is a law that needs to be changed? Or- Or the changelings attack again? What if there is a revolt !?”

“And when was there a revolt in Canterlot ?” The princess asked.

She knew what the other pony was doing. This was an exercise that they had done many times when Twilight was younger. When her mind started running like this being asked the right questions could help her calm down. Celestia was, of course, rather good at it and normally this question would have helped as Twilight would have not known the answer right away and would have needed to look up the answer.

But she had just spent the last week or two studying very early Canterlot history.

“Early Classical Era!” Twilight answered quickly. Her breathing picked up but she stopped herself from jumping from the table and pacing around the room. “Known as the Winter Revolt most sources place it around the year six but that and the death toll is unconfirmed. Most place the death toll from a few dozen to nearly a thousand. What is confirmed was one of the most well-known deaths of the revolt, Prince-”

“Twilight,” said her mentor in what she called Celestia’s Stern Princess Voice. She usually only used that when speaking with nobles that had dragged on too long. Or when Twilight had gone a bit too far inside her head. “I would like you to take a few deep breaths for me please.”

There was no honest need to tell her, she could already tell that she was losing control and had started to take the deep breaths needed to calm herself down. It may have been some time since she’d last had a freak out like this but she was well practiced with it. After a moment she slumped down, not wanting to look the other pony in the eye. “I can’t,” she softly repeated. Her voice broke, “I-”

How disappointed she must be. Twilight was supposed to be a princess! An alicorn like Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, not somepony that couldn’t do what was asked of them. She knew that she had grown since she’d started to live in Ponyville but actually ruling? Where she’d have to handle so many different ponies at once and anything could go wrong at a moment? No way, give her a crisis to handle or anything she could plan for. Something her friends could help with.

But ruling in Celestia’s name, and part Luna’s as well? No, there were simply too many things to go wrong and with the princess’s name at risk she couldn’t dare.

“If you truly do not believe that you can,” the Princess Voice was gone and was replaced with soft words, “ I will not be disappointed Twilight. Ruling, even for a short while, is hard and I would never, ever, think any pony less for not wishing to do it. Having said that; I also believe that you can, if not now then soon.”

She said nothing, not wishing to argue with her Princess but unwilling to agree. Twilight had saved Equestria many times but this was different. Knowing that she was a princess now was one thing, she’d been the Element of Magic for years now and that hadn’t done anything to her life and deep down she thought becoming a princess would be the same. This was her first step in becoming more and it wasn’t a step that she could take easily.

“You’ve faced so many dangers Twilight Sparkle. Dangers that threatened not only Canterlot but Equestria as a whole. You’ve saved countless lives more than once, my own included. You, my most faithful student, are the brightest mare in all of Equestria and I do not doubt that I would not be making a mistake in placing Equestria in your hoofs.”

Another blush spread on Twilight’s muzzle and she hoped that her dark purple fur hid it from the older mare. “I-I…. Thank you, Princess,” she finally muttered with some embarrassment. “That’s a huge honor.”

“Ah,” Princess Celestia chuckled and a smile that would have looked like a smirk on a less refined pony graced her lips. “I’m sorry, you are right of course but I don’t know if you will still believe that once you deal with the nobles.”

Twilight didn’t bother to hide her wince, her dislike of the nobles of Canterlot was well known between them after all. “It’s a shame that I can’t just close the Day Court,” she said with a sigh. “Maybe some of them won’t come to bother me since I can’t make any laws without approval.”

“You can’t?” The Princess tapped her hoof to her muzzle with an over-drowned face of confusion. Twilight’s heart dropped. “If I’m remembering the laws right; any princess can enact and change any laws in her court, as long said changes don’t interfere with the council’s legislative acts.”

With no shame Twilight let her head hit the table, only mindful to make sure her horn didn’t hit the wood. “I’m a princess now,” she muttered to the wood.

“Yes, you are.” Her mentor leaned over and nuzzled her up to better speak with her. Twilight’s blush coming back full force. “Don’t worry, I will not be throwing you to the throne tomorrow. I was thinking that you could sit with me once or twice a week at my court until mine and Luna’s trip. It would not be for a few months, once spring is settled at the least.”

“Oh,” Twilight sighed in relief. “That’s much better than what I thought.” Of course, she wouldn’t just toss her into ruling and run out the door, this was Princess Celestia. In all the years she’s known her she’d only taken a few days off and very rarely closed her court outside of holidays. Finally, she was beginning to see the upside of this huge responsibility. Not only was she going to be taking notes for hours but it would be with Celestia!

Sure the annoying nobles would be there but she had so much practice ignoring them that they bearly mattered. The time she spent with her mentor was so rare now that spending time with nobles was a small price to pay for it.

“I’m going to need to pick up some ink,” she said with excitement. “Oh and more parchment!”

The princess sipped her tea, “I’m sure Silver Parchment will be glad to see you again. You made up half her business here in the castle.”

“Note-taking is very important to learning!” Twilight defended herself with a grin, finally at ease. This was her mentor, after all, a pony she’d once spent more time with than anyone else. While she probably would never be completely at ease with the Princess, she had to be careful to not embarrass herself, it was still so nice to speak with her alone and without danger. “You were the one that told me that!”

“So I was,” she agreed. Her horn lit up again to pour herself another cup of tea. Twilight own was still mostly full but she didn’t bring attention to it. “ May I ask why you knew the answer to my question so quickly? I hadn’t thought that you would know the answer, you hated early history.”

“I didn’t hate it,” the younger pony protested. “I would never hate any kind of knowledge, it was just how subjective it was.”

“Yes, I remember the letters that your teachers at the academy sent me over your essays.”

Somewhere a small tiny part of Twilight will continue to be angry over those letters that Mystic Chronicle had written for probably forever. So what if Twilight had ripped into the most well-known history sources in many of her essays! If the sources contradict each other than they should not be used, how was she supposed to know that Mystic Chronicle ancestor had written some of them?

“It was because of the pageant,” Twilight told her before she started that old topic again. She shook her wings, “I needed a new costume since the playhouses didn’t fit. I wanted the most accurate costume possible so I brushed up on my early classical history, for all the good that did me. I couldn’t find too many sources or even one clear unbiased image that dated from that time. ”

“You were Clover the Clever were you not?”

“Yes and I thought since she was both Star Swirl’s apprentice and Princess Platinum's advisor that it wouldn’t be hard to find an accurate costume but instead the only thing I found was a couple of mentions in Princess Beryllium’s journal !”

The Princess tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in thought. With a tap of her hoof on her chin, she said to herself, “That can’t be right, surely there is more than that.”

“Not that I could find. I wrote to the castle library but all of the books there used the same confiting sources that my own did.”

An actual frown graced her mentor's face, a rare sight to see. “That won’t do at all then. The next time I have a spare moment I will have to look through the old vaults, maybe see if I can find something to share with historians about her.”

“You knew her Princess?” Twilight asked carefully. It was considered impolite to ask the princess who they once knew. Her parents had drilled it into her head when she became her student, it was the fastest way to get Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to become upset. Or as upset as Celestia became, Luna had made it well known about her displeasure on it.

“Yes I did,” the Princess answered slowly. Her eyes were staring off into space, and her brows lowered in thought. “I remember hearing about her coming to court after Princess Platinum took her in. That had caused such a ruckus at the time since she wasn’t noble but Platinum insisted that her talent was too great to waste just because she didn’t have a lineage.”

“That seems nicer than the Platinum in the Hearth's Warming pageant,” she noted. She knew that the pageant wasn’t completely accurate, at the least of this was that years had been compressed to fit it into one play. That Platinum had been a better person didn’t seem like too big a problem. Not wanting to let this opportunity pass she asked, “What was she like ? For someone that took part in the founding there is so little about her.”

Twilight was surprised, and a little worried that she had overstepped, when the frown on Celestia muzzle grew. “No, it had been after the founding.”

Her own muzzle dipped into a frown now. “But-” she started carefully to not offend, “But she had to be part of court before the founding. Every play has her making the trip as Platinum’s advisor and then casting the Fire of Friendship spell.”

She thought back to the records of the Founding, few as there was. There weren't many from that long ago, many things were lost over the years, journals lost to fires or paintings to floods. Almost nothing besides spoken words, like stories, myths, and spells, from before the founding existed at all. It had always been a matter of debate which Hearth’s Warming was the most right since each city had different versions. Yet the Fire of Friendship, though the spell itself had been lost to time, was in all versions that she knew of and Cover always helped cast it.

The image of the fiery purple heart littered much of the early kingdoms artwork that still existed, it was part of what marked the classical age. Yet she found that few works showed Cover at all and instead usually depicting a group casting the spell with one being a gray hooded unicorn that could have been her but they were never in the spotlight. It had only been in the later renaissance when the images of a tattered cloaked Cover started to appear font in center.

Celestia laughed softly as she shook her head. “Yes of course,” she said. “Forgive me Twilight I must be misremembering it. Luna and I hadn’t been in Equestria during the actual Founding after all. I must have heard of her when we had visited Canterlot before they had left on their journey.”

“You hadn’t?”

“No, or else we would have stopped them before they attracted the Windigos.” The princess laughed again and her eyes softened. She leaned in as if sharing a secret with her, “I was a little upset over the whole thing, to be honest. It had been the first time we had left the area since we settled our castle. She had convinced me soon after we banished King Sombra that the tribes would be fine while we traveled. Imagine my surprise when we returned to hear that not only had the three tribe leaders almost died from Windigos but they had formed a stable union after almost three hundred years!”

Twilight almost reached for her saddlebag, wanting to take note of everything her mentor said, not an uncommon feeling around the older mare but this wasn’t a topic they shared often. Her heart swelled at the thought that Celestia was sharing her past with her willingly and not because danger was coming around again.

“The castle in the Everfree you mean?”

“Yes, though it wasn't called the Everfree at the time of course-”

Hours they talked, long after they ate the wonderful food brought to them and after the following dessert. Celestia told her stories from years past, light-hearted stories about how this captain of the guard had done this or this ambassador had done that. Twilight told her how things were going in Ponyville, little things that had never made it into letters because Twilight hadn’t thought her Princess would care to hear it but she told her now and Celestia never looked more interested.

It was only once Twilight glanced out the window and saw Luna’s moon high in the sky that she realized just how long they had been speaking with each other. While she loathed cutting the dinner short, though now it could be called a midnight snack, she knew that the princess would have to be up at first light. Well actually before then since Celestia brought said light.

“I hadn’t realized that it had gotten so late,” she said with disappointment as the stared at the moon outside.

“Hmm?” The mare in front of her blinked in surprise before she looked as well. “Oh my,” she laughed. “It has gotten quite late, hasn’t it? I’m sorry I kept you.”

“Oh no, I don’t mind!” Twilight rushed to reassure her. “I’m the one that wanted to talk about old magic theory after all. If anything I should apologize to you since you have to be awake earlier than I do.”

“Lack of sleep is a sacrifice I’m willing to make if the reward to speaking with a dear friend,” Celestia said as she and Twilight stood from the table.

And it was then that she finally felt the late hour. Late nights weren’t as common to her in the years since she moved out of the castle, too many plans with her friends to stay asleep all morning like she once had. But the aching feeling in her knees and the way her eyes dripped weren’t something she missed.

She spoke around the yawn fighting it’s way out of her chest before she could overthink it, “ We should do this more often.” Her mind caught up with her tongue and her face blushed once again. “I mean I know that you are busy, but-”

The nuzzle to her neck silenced her ramblings. “We should! After your Hearth’s Warming is over, come to visit me hmmm? Luna, Cadence and I always spend the evening together and although I invite your brother, he never comes.” She whispered in her ex-students ear and said with a chuckle, “I believe he is afraid I will embarrass him.”

The blush darkened from the feeling of her mentor so close to her but Twilight fought on. “Cadence did tell me some horror stories from when they started dating,” she pointed out. The princess did love to tease and once Shining was out of his armor and off duty all bets were off. “But I’ll get him to come, my family is usually done in the afternoon so it shouldn’t be a problem. I doubt he’ll be awake when I get there tonight but I’ll ask him first thing.”

Celestia’s head tilted and the way her mane followed after, flowing in the solar breeze like it always did, made Twilight’s exhausted brain want to giggle.

“I believe that my niece told me that they are staying at your parent's home are they not? I hadn’t thought you would as well.” She glanced at the clock and the late hour that it showed and shook her head, “Are you sure you wish to travel through Canterlot at such a late hour? I know that it isn’t far outside the castle walls but perhaps you should consider staying the night here.”

“It’s fine Princess,” Twilight reassured her with a smile as she picked up her saddlebags. “I used to walk there at night all the time before I moved into the castle remember.”

A stern look appeared on the older ponies face, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips. “I hope it wasn’t too late since the library closes at sunset.” So there were times that Twilight wanted to read more books that night than books she could carry. Right before it closed she’d simply take as many books as she could, read them in the hallway that the library was in and drop them into the book return until she could carry them home.

Instead of answering, as her mentor would probably give her that mix of pride and disappointment that came with the times when she studied too hard, Twilight nuzzled up to her to say goodbye. “I’ll be fine Princess, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Good night Twilight.”

The young mare almost skipped down the empty darkened halls she was in such a good mood. It truly had been too long since she had been able to spend time with her princess. Before her coronation, the last time they saw each other had been with the Discord and the princess had left so-

Twilight froze suddenly, her eyes wide. Her Princess? At once her blush re-turned full force. “It’s nothing,” she muttered aloud to herself. “Come on Sparkle, you can’t do this again.”

As she made her way through the castle, nodding in greeting to the few Night Guards she’d seen, Twilight grumbled to herself. She was tired and it made her frustration build more than it would otherwise. How many times would she have to get over this crush of hers? It was such a foalish thing that seemed to happen again and again. Crushing on her teacher as a foal was expected but even though it pained her a little, the princess wasn’t her teacher any longer and this crush wasn’t something she wanted.

The stone halls turned into stone cobble houses and Twilight barely noticed, her hoofs carrying her as her mind wondered. A small part of her wanted to argue that by all right Twilight had a chance now. She was a student no longer and instead of an alicorn and a princess of Equestria.

But the princess was….more than just a princess. This was Princess Celestia, who raised the sun each day and ruled over Canterlot longer than many dragons had lived. She was the unrivaled paragon of beauty and magic, untouchable in ways no other mare besides Luna could hope for. Most importantly she was the mare that sparked her love of magic and learning all those years ago.

Twilight knew that she had worth, she was the element of magic and princess of….something. “But I can’t compare to her,” she muttered with a roll of her eyes, already tired with herself. With long used practice, she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. No way she would let this affect her meeting with the princess tomorrow.

She finally turned down the cobbled road that led to her parent's home. It was close to the castle, thanks to the fact that her family was a rather old one. Rarity had been upset to hear that she was technically a noble and her friend had demanded to know why Twilight had kept it from her. In all truth, it wasn’t something that affected her much in her day to day life. Her family had never been a very high powered one and all it meant was that she’d had an ancestor that had enough bits at one point to buy land in Canterlot and build a home.

As tried, and with the good mood from her dinner gone, the walk to said home seemed so much longer than it did when she was a foal. Why was it taking so long? Once again Twilight froze in the middle of the sidewalk, groaning aloud at her thoughtless.

“You have wings,” she slapped her forehead with one. “This whole walk could have taken five minutes instead of twenty!”

She raised them carefully, still a little unused to it even though Rainbow had been teaching her, and pushed off with a powerful downward flap. She caught herself and while her flight path was wobbly Twilight thought she was doing rather well.

However less than a minute into the flight, and thankfully before she gained too much speed or height, her chest tightened up enough that her wings slapped closed to clutch to her sides, throwing her to the ground. With a grunt, she tumbled on the stone but the tightening in her chest only grew, spreading to the rest of her body. Her breath froze in her lungs, her legs clamped close to her body, and at once all she could move were her eyes.

Suddenly her horn lit up, shining almost enough to blind as she began to cast a powerful spell without consent. The spell was not one that she knew, the magic complex and powerful. The power that poured into it only grew as the magic at the tip of her horn built and built but she was unable to dispel it, her body and her magic unresponsive. After a moment the spell was, leaving her pretty drained but she still had enough that she could begin to build power and dispel whatever it was controlling her.

It was for nothing. Before she could do anything there was a flash of light and for long moments all Twilight could see were bright waving colors, like Rainbow Dash had given her a front-row seat to her Rainboom. The colors flashed by too fast for her to be able to tell them apart. Was she being moved? The power taken to cast this spell was great, more than what a normal pony would have been able too. If someone was moving her and they had enough power to control her magic….

No. She would not let whatever this was keep their control over her. Her magic would not be used by some villain. Mixing magic was dangerous and she had no idea what trying to break this spell, whatever it was, would do. But she had to try. Twilight pooled every bit of her magic, every last drop of power she had and more that she only had begun to grow since her coronation. Whatever this was, whatever monster or villain had tried to take her would no doubt fall to her and her friends.

As the colors begin to slow down around her and with teeth clenched grunt, Twilight used all her power to teleport home to Ponyville.

Celestia bans health books

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Celestia woke slowly.

The world outside was a pale blue, only just nearly morning and not night as the sun had some ways to go before it’s beaming rays would fall upon Canterlot. There was a deep chill in the air but that was expected, winter was in full force and they didn’t have the ponies to spare to change the weather. Canterlot was lucky enough to be spared a blizzard but with the chill this far up the mountain, it was dangerous to stay outside for long.

After a moment of laying in her warm bed, the princess of the sun rose up with little grace. Her hooves dragged on the plush rugs that covered her stone floor and her head hanged low. With a little magic as possible, she opened the door to the small platform that had been built for this very reason and straightened her neck and posture. She didn’t bother changing her dead-eyed stare, the group of ponies far down below couldn’t see it.

What they saw was the full glory of a princess of Equestria, the power of Celestia of the Ever Free, sole riser of the sun. They didn’t see the way her coat was unruly in places, the way the underside of her eyes were darkened or the deep cutting frown on her face.

As soon as the first light spilled over the horizon she turned inside, ignoring the ponies down below and laid back down with a grunt.

She didn’t return to sleep and instead laid there halfway between rest and dreams. Were there meetings the princess had to attend? No doubt. They would have to wait until she felt like moving again and if she were to judge it didn’t seem likely that she would leave her bed until noon, possibly later if she could get away with it.

“You are still asleep ?”

Celestia clenched her eyes shut even tighter, curling up as much as she could. This morning hadn’t seemed too good at the start but she thought she had at least passed this.

“Come on now, Tia,”said the low mocking voice. “You would try to pretend to somber in front of me of all ponies?”

What would her nightmare say today? How much she had failed as a ruler? As a sister? Would she hear of all the ways she had failed ever since they had left the Ever Free to fight Discord? There was nothing she could do but accept what the day had brought her, be it a day filled with meeting with nobles that feared her or a day where she was mocked by a shadow of the pony she loved most in this world.

With dread, she opened her eyes to see….

Luna.

Grinning down at her, her eyes bright and shining like they used too from well before her banishment. It jolted her up and it was only her sister’s quick reflexes that stopped their head and horns from smashing into each other. For a moment Celestia thought she could cry, she didn’t care how Luna had gotten out, all that mattered was that her sister, with her soft blue coat that wasn’t darkened with shadow magic, and staring at her in confusion but not in anger and-

With a slow blink, Celestia remembered that Luna had been back now for almost four years. “Luna?” She asked with a tilt of her head. With a soft shake, she tried to clear her clouded thoughts.

Luna looked at her in confusion and a small bit of worry. She leaned away from her, her wing tucked in close. “Are you well sister? I was not expecting such a reaction. Should I have not awoken you?”

Not wanting to cause her to worry, and not understanding why her mind had caused such a trick on her out of the blue, she extended a wing to draw her sister in close. “I’m alright, I had a….strange dream was all.”

“I see.” She looked down at her hooves with a frown. “ I must apologize, I was so busy tonight that I didn’t watch over your dreams like I should have.”

Celestia nuzzled her little sister with a reassuring smile, “It is not your fault. It wasn’t even a bad dream I suppose…. It was strange how real it felt, I’ve never had a dream with such realness.”

Luna nodded with a small frown as she moved away from her. After a moment, as she looked at her sister over to make sure this dream hadn’t upset her too much, she nodded to the doors to Celestia’s balcony. “I woke you because I wish to show the gift I’ve made for Canterlot on this Hearth’s Warming morning.”

“A Hearth’s Warming gift?” she asked with surprise. “I thought you didn’t want to partake in this holiday, I usually have to drag you to dinner!”

The dark mare shrugged, “ While I do have….unpleasant feelings about it I do enjoy the spirit. But come sister, you have to help me.”

The pair walked outside and Celestia was surprised to see that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Canterlot had enough weather Ponies to handle just about anything but winter was always a hard time for them so high above the ground, let alone during the holiday season. Hearth’s Warming was kept safe from blizzards but beyond that, it was left alone. Yet now the sky was clear, the early morning light casting Canterlot in a wonderful blue tint. There was a chill in the air yet it was warmer than it had been lately, cold enough that the snow would not melt into slush but her little ponies ears would not be in danger of freezing off.

She flared her wings, letting the feathers feel the morning air and felt the last bits of sleep fade away. “You cleared the sky,” Celestia smiled brightly. “I’m sure Canterlot will enjoy it.”

“I did not merely clear the sky. I had endeavored to make the best morning possible, I moved the winds myself. It took me some time to change the humidity and air pressures to bring it to level but I was not needed in the dreams of ponies who are so eager and happy for this morning.” Luna looked over Canterlot with a smile, “Normally few ponies would be awake but is it not tradition for foals to wake their parents early for presents?”

“It’s wonderful,” Celestia pulled her close with one of her wings as she lit her horn to bring forth the sun.

She remembered her dream as they watched the sunrise together. It had been so long ago when she had truly hated her duty. The sun hadn’t felt part of her then and every morning only reminded her that her sister had fallen to darkness.

That dark feeling she had felt in her dream….Truly she’d forgotten it. Perhaps on purpose. It had taken her so long to not blame her little ponies for what had happened. After all, had they not been together for a thousand years? Had they not saved this ver plane of existence from Discord? But because they didn’t have the sense to love her sister like she did, didn’t respect her like they should have, she’d lost Luna completely.

Of course, that had been foalish of her to believe.

“How did your dinner with Twilight fair?”

“Oh wonderful,” she said with a smile. Glad to be rid of her darker thoughts Celestia continued, “She accepted my offer for her to come to the Day Court. I think once she adjusts to the idea some more she’ll take to it just fine.”

“Twilight Sparkle is truly exceptional,” Luna said. “I will be glad to have her in Canterlot more often.”

“I will as well.”

“Were you truly worried that she would not want to? I do not know her as well as you do sister but she would never let you down.”

Oh how aware of that she was. She had no doubt that if she ordered it Twilight would march up to Canterlot and take over for as long as she asked. No matter if she wanted too or if it made her unhappy. Twilight was no longer her student and in fact, by all rights, she was her equal in legal matters yet that didn’t change the fact that there was still a wall between them. One that Celestia hated but one that she would, or maybe could never break down herself.

“I don’t want to order her if she is ever going to help us rule she needs to want to do so on her own. Coming to Day Court won’t be enough of course, not completely and I fully expect to come home to some disaster or another but she will be amazing, I’m sure of it.” She turned to nuzzle her sister once more. “Would you eat with me or will you be retiring now?”

“And let you all the best again?” Luna scoffed with a soft glare. “No I remain awake for now, perhaps I will rest in the afternoon. Our niece is due this evening is she not? I will be happy to see her.”

As they started back inside and towards the kitchen area, all free from ponies on this holiday, Celestia answered with a happy grin, “Cadence is coming yes. Twilight as well, I asked last night.”

“Wonderful! Does that mean Shining Armor will finally come? I wish to speak with him more but he keeps eluding me ....”

“I fear Cadence told him to stay away,” she admitted. “Which is my fault, I was a little...forward with my teasing.”

“You of all ponies, Tia?” Luna scoffed loudly with a roll of her eyes, “No I would never think you would go too far in your teasing.”

Celestia hung her head, “I couldn’t help it. You know how I get.”

Her sister laughed at her as they entered the small kitchen. This one was simply used by their guards most of the time during the short breaks in their shifts. It didn’t have as much food as the larger main one downstairs but it was stationed in between their rooms so when they were working they didn’t need to travel all the way down to the ground floor. That and it caused the ponies downstairs so much stress when they were visited by the royal guests without warning.

While smaller there was still plenty of food here of course. Flowers of all kinds, cakes, and treats piled high on all the counters. While the rest of the staff was due back tomorrow her chefs always worried that she, Princess Celestia, would starve one day without them.

She picked out the flowers that she wished to eat, leaving all the lavender for her sister, and more than one of the cupcakes. There was no one else here to stare at her about eating cupcakes for breakfast so she would do so with relish.

“How do you eat such things so early?” Luna scrunched her nose at the sight of her sister’s plate. She only had a few pieces of lavender and instead had started to pour herself a large cup of coffee. “Tis most….gross.”

“Cupcakes are good at any time and a lot of cupcakes are the best possible breakfast,” she said with her muzzle pointed up for emphasis.

“That is not what the health booketh say.”

“I’m the princess I can change the heath books.”

“One day without ponies around and you turned into a tarent!” Cadence said from the doorway. She walked in with her head turned low and let out a broken sob. “What will Twilight say when she hears that you would change a book for your own gain?”

“Cadence!,” Celestia blinked in surprise. She lowered her third cupcake as regally as possible, “I thought you would be with Shining and Twilight till this afternoon.”

“It would seem Twilight overslept,” her niece said with a soft smile. She picked up a muffin off the counter and started to eat it. “Shiny asked me to come get her since I would be able to snap her out of her freak out that she probably will about oversleeping.”

“Twilight Sparkle slept over ?” Luna asked with a smirk. “You did not tell me of this-”

Celestia froze, her smile and all her good humor gone. “Twilight didn’t return to her parents home last night?”

Now it was Cadence’s turn to blink in surprise. “She- no. No, she didn’t. Shining stayed up all night like he always does for Hearth’s Warming but when Twilight didn’t show up he thought she had decided to stay here at the castle.”

Her heart dropped. Twilight was a powerful alcorn, who or what would have stopped her in the middle of her city without any of Canterlot’s guards seeing and more importantly where was she?

“Twilight left my quarters late last night, I had offered her a room here but she told me that she would be fine since it is so close by.” She took a deep calming breath but her heart started to beat faster and faster. Worry gripped at her, Twilight had been in danger before and Celestia had sent her to it but this sudden disappearance spooked her.

“Luna go to the Night Guard,” Celestia commanded. “See if and when Twilight made it out of the castle. Cadence and I will search the path along the way from here and see if we can find anything of note.”

“Should I go to Ponyville for the rest of the Elements?” Luna asked her. Her smile was gone as well and her face was as stern as it had been when they had faced Discord so long ago. It saddened her to see her good mood ruined since she had so few of them but it lifted her heart to see that Luna cared for somepony so much.

“Not yet,” she answered slowly. “After our search. There is still hope that there was simply a miscommunication and we will find Twilight safe and sound.”

With a nod, Luna left, herself and Cadence not far behind. Instead of walking down the halls and down the many stairs Celestia simply opened the nearest window and flew out of it. She had asked, a long long time ago when this part of the castle was built, for such large openings for this reason. While normally she would worry over a pony seeing her jump out her own window Twilight was missing and that mattered more than her image.

They scared the poor guard at the front gate, one of the few ponies working at the castle at the moment, and he quickly bowed to the pair of them. “Princesses Celestia and Cadence,” his voice quivered as he knelt, “Can I serve you somehow?”

He was young, barely old then a colt and that was no doubt why he was on duty on Hearth’s Warming morning. “How long have you been at your station?” She asked as nicely as she could. Her worry still made it sound harsher than she meant it too but thankfully it wasn’t enough to scare the poor guard more.

“Just this past hour,” he answered. “The Night Guard pony left at first light.”

“Have you seen or heard anything strange at all?” Cadence asked him.

The young stallion blushed when he met her eyes but shook his head. “No, nothing at all. Everypony knows that the public parts of the castle are closed on Hearth’s Warming so nopony has been by.”

“Thank you,” Celestia told him quickly as they made their way away from the castle gate. “Please have a Merry Hearth’s Warming”

“Shouldn’t we tell Captain Golden Comet that she may have to call upon the guards?” her niece whispered in her ear. “If something attacked Twilight….”

“If somepony attacked Twilight and won then there is little the guard would be able to do,” she pointed out. “Until we know something it’s best if we don’t cause a panic.”

Normally it caused a great deal of excitement to see Celestia walkthrough Canterlot, let alone her and Cadance both. Even this early in the morning with the sun had risen in the sky but only barely she would have been stopped every five minutes by some pony or another. This morning the ponies of Canterlot were too busy opening gifts and being merry to stand and stare at their princesses.

They walked slowly, too afraid that they may miss some hint of a clue if they tried to fly above. “I hope she’s alright,” Cadence spoke suddenly. “I’m so worried.”

“Twilight is a tough pony,” she said with certainty that deep down was hollow. It was true that Twilight was as strong as her now neigh perhaps even stronger, but Celestia had a feeling deep down that something was wrong. The city around them felt off and as much as she wanted to say that her dream was still fogging her mind she didn’t think it was. “I’m sure we’ll find her safe and sound.”

They found nothing as they walked, no signs of a fight, and nothing of Twilight’s. It should have made them feel better but instead, it made Celestia’s heart drop lower and lower. When she looked at her niece she found the same look of deep worry.

As they turned on the street where Twilight’s parents' home was Celestia tried to have hope that her ex-student wasn’t in danger. Besides herself and her sister, Twilight was the most powerful pony in Equestria. Discord had been behaving ever since he had spent time in Ponyville and it didn’t seem his style to just take Twilight. At the least, he would have come to her first to taunt her. King Sombra was gone, shattered to pieces. Perhaps Queen Chrysalis? No, no, if the changeling queen wanted to attack Twilight she would have done the same thing she’d done to Cadence. She would have never made the mistake of having Twilight go missing if she had plans to impersonate her. Who else was there? She had faced so many-

Cadence gasped suddenly, tears started swelling in her eyes as she pointed at the ground with a shaking hoof.

There laying innocently on the sidewalk was a small golden inkpot, it’s black ink spilled out and dry. Celestia recognized it well if she remembered correctly it was given to Twilight by one of her friends for her birthday earlier in the year.

“Cadence, go back to the castle and get Luna,” Celestia said with a steady voice. She had to take control of this quickly because every moment she didn’t was another moment Twilight was in the hooves of who knows what kind of villain.

“I need to tell Shining,” Cadence said with a shaking breath. She steeled herself, pushing down on her fear and putting on the face of a princess. Celestia had taught her well. “Velvet and Night Light should know too….”

“After you get Luna,” she said softly. “It is important that she comes here as fast as possible. I must stay, no pony can touch anything around here. There may be a clue on what happened.”

Cadence nodded and took off towards the castle, faster than Celestia had ever seen her fly.

Anger wasn’t an emotion she had often, it was rather useless in her day to day life but as she stood out there on that empty street she felt it build inside her. Twilight had faced so many dangers but this seemed so….dishonorable. Attacking any pony on Hearth’s Warming would be. That she had been here, in Canterlot, in Celestia’s home where she should have been safe just dug at her.

“Princess?” Came Shining’s voice from down the street. She turned to see him walking down the sidewalk, free of his armor. Dark circles were under his eyes and his muzzle was turned into a deep frown. “Princess what are you doing here? Where is Twi-”

He stopped and blinked down at the ink pot, no doubt his lack of sleep made it take longer for him to realize what he was seeing and why she was standing guard. At once his face became stone and he became Captain Shining Armor. “Where is she?”

“We do not yet know,” she answered truthfully. “I hadn’t known she was missing until Cadence came to the castle to fetch her.”

“Do you have any leads?” He demanded. “Surely some pony had to have seen something!”

“We have only just begun, I sent Cadence to get Luna and they should be back any moment.”

For a moment he looked like he wished to argue but he stilled his tongue. They had never been too close, he had been in training when Twilight had started taking most of her classes in the castle and after he joined the guard he had always wanted to keep his professionalism at all times. A side effect of him and Cadence not being so professional.

“We will find her Captain,” she reassured him. And herself. “I will use all that I have to do it if I have too.”

its fucking WIMDY

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The first thing Twilight felt is a thin layer of ice matting her coat. The harsh wind made itself known next, all she could hear was the roar of it and the feeling of snow that it was pelting her with. When she tried to open her eyes the world around her was pitch black.

Growing up in Canterlot meant that she had dealt with cold before, Princess Celestia was the princess of the sun but even she couldn’t control the chilly winds that often escaped the weather ponies. Even in Ponyville, where Rainbow Dash had built up a team better than most of the larger cities, she’d been in winter storms.

As she tried to stand and felt the ice dig into her sides as it broke into sharp shards, Twilight knew that no pony had a hoof in making this storm. She must have miscalculated and gotten her teleportation wrong. Even at night, Ponyville was brightly lit. And while the winds were whipping up enough snow that she couldn’t see very far she should be able to at least see a building or a street lamp.

The snow was quickly burying her. Even though it hurt she stood and flared out her wings to shake out the snow and small bits of ice that had built between the feathers before she quickly snapped them shut because there was no way an inexperienced flyer like herself could possibly fly in these conditions. The winds were simply too strong, even if she managed to get herself in the air she could be knocked off course and with visibly so low she could fly straight into a tree or a building.

Her staddle bag was half-buried in the snow but when she tried to light her horn to pull it out she found that her horn only sparked weakly. Oh great, that's what she really needed right now. She must have drained her magic with that spell and her teleport. That hadn’t happened in a while but it wasn’t too surprising since teleporting from Canterlot to Ponyville was pretty draining on its own. Adding the other powerful unknown spell and she was lucky to have teleported at all.

She carefully unburied it, the snow and ice causing her face to burn, and it looked like her bags had opened either during her crash in Canterlot or when she teleported. Her Clover costume was still inside, thankfully kept dry by enchantments on the bag and the cloak.

Thank Celestia at least those held up. Twilight quickly put the cloak on, as hard as that was in the dark with the wind blowing around her. The soft fabric warmed her up with the light heating enchantments she’d placed. They wouldn’t warm her completely, they weren’t made to counteract this level of cold and it left her forelegs bare but it was better than nothing.

She began to walk, the snow up to her knees and her cloak pulled down so low that she couldn’t see. Even when she looked under the rim she couldn’t see anything. The black night around her showed her nothing, no lights from buildings, and not even the light from stars. She tried to keep as an even pace as possible. Too slow and she risked freezing while too fast and she could exhaust herself before she reached Ponyville.

Well, hopefully she was heading towards Ponyville and not away. Twilight couldn’t tell in this storm. If she was being honest with herself she couldn’t know for sure if she was walking in a straight line, her hoof prints were gone in only a few moments.

It didn’t matter. What mattered was she had to try. Laying down in the snow and simply waiting on someone to find her simply wasn’t an option. Everyone in Ponyville thought she was in Canterlot still, no one would be looking for her in the middle of the night on Hearth’s Warming Eve like this.

Twilight now admitted that perhaps her teleport home wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had. She of all ponies knew just how hard teleporting was. Let alone teleporting such long distances. Panicking while under a strange spell and trying teleporting miles and miles away was a recipe for disaster.

Yet… why was it so rough outside? This storm, which still hadn’t let up after celestia only knows how long of her marching, was much much too strong to be anywhere near Ponyville. Was the out of control weather part of a plan? Whoever had made Twilight cast the spell in Canterlot had to have a lot of magical power to make her cast against her will so maybe whoever or whatever it was was responsible for this storm as well.

Her forelegs were starting to ache deeply. Unlike Applejack or Rainbow Dash she was no athlete and her body wasn’t used to this. Even if she kept up her health as recommended by all major health books she simply wasn’t used to walking in deep snow after no sleep in the dead of night.

Her hoof tripped over an unseen rock that was buried deep in the snow. With a pained grunt, she collapsed, the snow and ice biting into her knees. After a moment to collect herself, she tried to stand only for her fetlock to not hold her weight and send her back down into the snow.

Alright... Deep breaths. What do you do when you are injured in the middle of a raging snowstorm, unable to fly, and don’t have any magic?

AppleJack’s voice sounded in her ears, you keep going until your friends showed up that’s what.

Every step hurt but Twilight kept walking. Her mind cleared of everything to push her body forward. The wind roared through her cloak covered ears and every bit of her coat that wasn’t covered was frozen, the soft fur caked by ice that shattered and bit into her skin as it did. Only to reform again in minutes.

The darkness seemed endless but when Twilight glanced up she saw that the sky had begun to lighten. Not much but enough that she knew dawn was coming. Every couple of minutes she glanced up, not caring that it let the snow and ice under the hood of her cloak. The sun meant Celestia and that meant safety. Even if the princess didn’t know she was missing, which was likely since Celestia had no reason to think she hadn’t gotten home safely, the sun would warm her.

A sudden gust of wind kicked up and it caused her hood to fall back. Twilight clenched her teeth against the chill, she felt her mane and ears being pushed back and then had to clench her eyes as well when the wind started to freeze the tears. Quickly she pulled her hood down again, the enchantments slowly heating the bits of ice and snow that had formed on her mane and face. Unfortunately, that water flowed down her uncovered chest where it froze again.

She took another step. And another. But as Twilight saw the sun finally cresting over the horizon, her knee gave out and then she felt nothing but the cold.

-----

“Stone!

“Keepeth moving Ivory, we needeth to arrive at Canterlot by at least midday-”

“There’s a pony! Thank the sun the lady still breathes. Quick, into the cart!”

“Wait, Ivory….What is a unicorn doing down the mountain? And in this weather?”

“Freezing by the looks. Doesn't matter, the lady clearly needeth our help. Tis no trouble to taketh her to the healer when we passeth through to the castle.”

“As you say, mine love.”

----

It was the smell of fire that woke Twilight up first. That smell could wake her faster than anything else in the world. When Spike had been growing up he hadn’t been able to control his flames very well and he’d set fire to so many of Twilight’s notes that he’d been banned from her room for ages. It hadn’t been until the princess had cast her translocation spell on him that he’d been allowed back in.

Still, while it had been years since he’d last set fire to anything by accident. But they lived in a library that was built into a tree. The smell of smoke woke her immediately, her eyes wide as she jerked up to search for Spike and the source of the flames.

A sharp pain ran through her when she did, her forelegs and chest burned at her very movement and her eyes clenched before she could see what was happening. With a grunt, she tried to stand again but was pushed down by a gentle hoof.

“You've woke up! Heigh-ho now, thee art hurt,” said a soothing voice. “ Thee wast out there in the cold much too long mine lady but me and mine wife got you out in time.”

Cold chilling winds and being so cold that it had burned. Then she remembered the spell that she’d been forced to cast and the dire need to get her friends. Twilight forced her eyes open, her body unwilling to move. “Thank you.”

The earth pony mare in front of her had a light grey coat but her mane and cutie mark were both covered in a beaten up cloak that was much thicker than Twilight’s own. What little she could see from her was bigger than what she would expect, she was at least the size of Big Mac. Yet the Mare had a gentle smile on her face as she carefully gave her a small water canteen. “ No needeth to thank me, I am glad to be able to help! Drink this. It should help thee warm up a little bit.”

Confused Twilight did as she was told, drinking the warm water. Unable to move she tried to look around, only to realize she was in a large wooden cart that was covered with thin canvas. There were small holes dotting it and large patch marks. The holes let in the cold air but the floor of the wagon was covered in a thick woolen blanket. It wasn’t large and what little there was taken up by Twilight and the other mare.

A traveler then? It was odd that a traveler would be out in this weather, let alone traveling on Hearth's Warming Eve.

“Where are you headed?” Twilight asked. She needed to get to Ponyville as fast as possible but asking this kind pony, who had already saved her life, to take her if it was out of her way would be rude.

“Canterlot,” she answered with a smile. “I and the wife has some work up at the castle. I am Ivory of Stonehill, may I ask what is thy name mine lady?”

She answered without thought.“Twilight.”

Ivory winced as she opened a small box. “A poor name in these times, hm? May I asketh why thee was out in the snow?”

“I was trying to get home but that weird ice storm stopped me.” Twilight answered before the way the other pony was talking sunk in and stopped her short.

The way she spoke was… off. It reminded her of It was when Luna had come to Ponyville for Nightmare Night. But that couldn’t be right, Princess Luna had been speaking a mix of Early Modern Equestrian and Modern Equestrain as EME had been the language spoken at the time of her banishment. This pony couldn’t be speaking in that dialect because no pony spoke Early Modern Equestrian anymore unless it was in plays.

Ivory looked confused at Twilight’s answer but after a moment spoke, though she was now hesitant. “The storm? Aye, was a pow'rful one wasn’t t? Was fortunate me and Stone found thee, I don’t bethink thee could had lasted much more.”

Her mind, quick and powerful it was, still had a hard time understanding what the other pony said.Thankfully it was easier to understand Early Modern Equestrian aloud than to read it. Twilight herself had learned that when she and the Princess had gone to see a play after Twilight, a young filly at the time, had a hard time understanding it. Understanding it was a skill she never had to use on demand though.

“Right,” she said, knowing that if this pony wasn’t faking her speech pattern, which why would she?, then it was probable that Ivory was having the same problem she was having in understanding her. Harder even because at least Twilight had some experience in the dialect. “Thank you so much?”

“ I hath said it’s nay a problem, I’m joyous we did see thee. I assume thy were way to Canterlot as well?,” Ivory asked. Before Twilight could answer though her gray muzzle flushed red, “That wast prying wasn’t t? I’m sorry, mine own Stone sayeth I got a habit of prying into things yond arn’t mine own business!”

Surely this pony wasn’t faking this dialect? There was no stutter or hesitation like there had been when Twilight and her friends had been performing last night. She spoke it as quickly and surely as someone who’d always spoken it, like Princess Luna still did at times.

Twilight felt her heart drop, her tried muscles screaming as she tensed up. She’d been forced to cast a spell more powerful than anything she’d ever done before and it’d been enough to drain her magic completely. That had been rare before she’d become an alicorn and while she hadn’t tested her new power limits yet she knew that it had grown. And Mixing spells was a dangerous thing. Mixing spelling when you don’t know just what spells your mixing was even more dangerous and something that Twilight knew not to do.

She’d tried to teleport to Ponyville as another spell was taking effect and there’d been no buildings in sight. Twilight had never been that far off with her teleportation spell before. And here was a native speaker of a dialect that had faded away completely almost 500 years ago.

“I was on my way to Ponyville actually,” Twilight said carefully. It couldn’t be, there was simply no way-

“Ponyville?” Ivory asked with a small tilt of her head. “I’ve never hath heard of Ponyville. We’re new to the area though, just did get in from Manehattan. There's more w'rk here for us earth ponies, you see. While the stones art being lay down at least.”

Twilight let her head drop down as the reality of what the other pony said ran laps in her mind, ignoring the pain that raced up her neck. There had been a flood of Earth Ponies to Canterlot Classical era. The two reasons most historians stated were lack of unicorn masons or that Earth Pony mason work simply better and Princess Platinum had enough gems to pay for it and the mind to spend them.

“But h're I am going on!” Ivory said with a shake of her head. She stood up and pulled her cloak closer. “We’re outside the walls of Canterlot anon and thee can rest in h're for as longeth as thee want while we waiteth for our papers to be seen.” She hesitated and lowered her voice, “If thee wanteth into the city yourself I'd bethinking of a new name. Twilight sounds… much too dark for Canterlot in these times.” With that she left, and Twilight head her muffled voice outside, talking with another mare before both of their voices faded.

The idea of naming your child after Princess Celestia came and went in cycles just like everything else did in Canterlot. It was the reason Solar, Glimmer, and Dawn were all very common. But the trend of light themed names truly kicked off in the Classical Era when artwork and literature based on Princess Celestia was at its height. But that had nothing to do with the name Twilight did it?

Princess Celestia, and everything related to her, were everywhere in the Classical Era. Princess Luna, the princess of the Night, was very much not. Because she’d become Nightmare Moon and tried to cast the world into eternal night.

Twilight meaning the soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon.

So not only had Twilight somehow time traveled at least 900 years, when the Classical Era took place, but her name evoked Nightmare Moon. Who was probably a fairly recent villain for ponies if her math was right.

“Well,” Twilight sighed aloud to herself. “ Isn’t this just great Hearth's Warming ?”

Halfway to Daybreaker

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There was little that caused true fear in her these days.

She remembered how the years flowed without end during large parts of Luna’s banishment, how the most exciting thing in a decade was the Griffin’s sending a new ambassador or a young dragon overstepping his boundary. But this past decade had the most exciting of them beat twenty times over. No decade in her life, even before Luna’s banishment, before she was a princess, not even when they wondered a post Discord world together, had cased her as much fear and stress like this one.

There was one reason why: Twilight had been her protégé for a little over a decade.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that having Twilight around the castle caused excitement. As a foal, she’d managed to not only hatch a stone dragon egg but grow him to massive size. Her student’s power never decreased as time went on and her studies were varied greatly. A simple report could turn into an explosion if Celestia left her alone too long.

She’d thought after Luna returned and Twilight was off learning how to be a friend, a lesson she’d tried and failed to teach her again and again, maybe her worry would fade. Twilight would finally learn that not everything could be taught from a book and she’d stay out of trouble living in middle nowhere Ponyville. Equestria rarely needed the elements more than a few times a decade. Twilight would have time to enjoy life and Celestia able to enjoy having Luna around.

Yet Twilight and her friends managed to make a dragon leave of his own will, without using the elements. He hadn’t even complained to the dragon ambassador. Apparently, he’d even apologized for the trouble. She and her friends managed to find a way to make parasprites leave Ponyville alone completely when they cased millions of bits worth of damage elsewhere. She even had a hoof in whatever happened at Appleloosa to calm Chief Thunderhooves.

And that was before they defeated Discord, almost completely by themselves.

That spike of fear, knowing that Discord had broken free and she was powerless to stop it…. She hadn’t wished for control of the elements since the night of Luna’s banishment, the feel of their power only reminding her that she last used them on her sister. But in that moment she yearned for them.

But Twilight and her friends came through. They brought down Discord more swiftly than she and Luna had all those years ago. That was the moment that she knew that Twilight wasn’t her student anymore, that Celestia may have things to teach but Twilight would learn them as an equal.

So this fear gripping her heart shouldn’t be here. Twilight was an alicorn now, a princess of her own right. She may be the most powerful magic-user in the entire world, as the element of magic. No monster that Celestia had faced had been worse than Discord or King Sombra at their height and Twilight had faced them both in only a few years.

Nothing had escaped from Tartarus, nothing she felt yet in any case. Even then the only monster in there that would stand a chance against her would be Lord Tirek and he wouldn’t have kidnapped her, he would have drained her magic and left her in the street along with every other pony in Canterlot.

“Do you know who could have done this?” Shining Armor asked. He wasn’t wearing his guard armor but he was standing like he was. Stiff as stone with a harsh frown on his face.

He was family twice over and she wouldn’t lie to him. “No,” she answered. “Nothing I know of that could have taken her so quickly.”

“There have been no demands?”

“None to myself but it’s still early.”

He nodded, he’d been trained in disappearances like all her guards. The ex-captain knew demands weren’t always sent, let alone sent early. Whoever took Twilight may be waiting for this moment even, when the fear of a sudden disappearance of a loved one becomes real.

If there were demands; where would they go? To Celestia, her family, or maybe the rest of the elements?

“I’m heading inside to tell my parents and Spike,” Shining Armor told her. “I don’t want them to hear it from anypony else but me.”

“Of course,” she agreed. “If I hear anything while your inside I’ll send a guard in.”

She felt for them, Twilight Velvet and Night Light. Two completely normal ponies with two not so common foals. Shining Armor by himself would be a lot to take in, youngest Captain of the Day Guard in a century; only to give up that extremely promising career to marry a princess. And that still paled in comparison to Twilight.

It had to be hard to be parents to such powerful ponies.

As soon as Shining Armor disappeared into his parent’s home Luna landed beside her, Cadance a moment after.

The dark look on their faces didn’t brood well. “Did the Night Guard see anything?” she asked.

“No,” Luna answered. She started to walk the empty street looking it over like Celestia had done. Hopefully, she would see something she missed. “Only that Twilight Sparkle left the castle soon after you said she left your rooms.”

Cadence looked worried, “Should one of us go to Ponyville for the rest of the elements?”

“Not yet,” Celestia said carefully. “Go comfort your husband and his family, he came outside while you were gone. But Cadence,” she looked at her ‘niece’, “this stays with them and us until we know more, understand?”

Cadence nodded easily if not happily, she was a leader of her own kingdom after all. If the news started to spread that Equestria’s newest princess had disappeared into the night in the middle of Canterlot, seeming foalnapped… It could cause a panic.

The three princesses looked up at the sounds of a group of hoof steps, Captain Golden Comet followed by a few of his highest ranking guards. Equestria was a peaceful nation and Canterlot it’s best-guarded city, she was thankful that even on an early holiday moring her guards could react quickly.

“I’m going to speak with Shiny,” Cadence said quietly, “Tell him what little we know so far.” She left the two of them, casting a sad and worried look to the spilled ink.

“Would you speak with the Captain?” Celestia asked her sister before the Captain was in earshot. “I wish to look around some more.”

Luna nodded, moving to intercept the Captain before she could speak to her. Golden Comet was a fine unicorn but she was still rather new. she may be older than Shining Armor had been when he’d become a captain but Shining had spent a lot of time in the castle before he even trained to be a guard. Comet, like most new ponies that worked in the castle, couldn’t quite handle working with Celestia closely.

Her sister didn’t have that problem, either she spoke harshly enough that a pony was scared into doing what she wanted or she charmed her way with easy. How she managed to do both while Celestia was stuck with star-struck awe had baffled her for a thousand years now.

The low shimming anger and fear also put her into a mood she’d rather not have her guards see.

With half an ear she heard Luna issues her orders. They’d were to block the street off from this point for a good messer on both sides, enough that a pony may be able to see that the Princess were there but not what they were doing. An easy enough task considering that the walkways in this part of Canterlot were rather narrow.

Most didn’t know it but much of Canterlot was new, or rather much of it was less than 500 years old.

Canterlot had been a mostly planned city. The general layout carefully planned for maximum beauty and most importantly for the time; reliable water. It had been rather different back then and unicorns never liked the hard work that earth ponies had to do. The Canterlot river ran in a huge curve in the city starting at the base of the mountain and formed an almost complete circle. At every bridge, a set of enchanted gems cleaned the water. At the farthest point of the circle sat the castle and the river ran underground so that it could have running water.

Inside the circle sat the best of Canterlot, or at least the richest. Beautiful gardens, shops, and playhouses lined the streets. The richest of Canterlot held houses there, massive estates with stone walls and their own guard ponies.

As Canterlot grew most of the growth had been done outside the circle until it had bloated to almost three times its size. Wealthy ponies rarely wanted new blood by their old estates. Foolish if anypony asked her. But Twilight’s parents home rested just on the south side of the river, as Sparkle was an old family but hadn’t ever been wealthy enough to buy a bigger estate inside. But they still firmly inside Canterlot even just off its center.

It meant that whoever attacked Twilight had to be able to walk freely inside. Guard duty had been light last night, Hearth’s Warming Eve was the most request night off of the year. But there had still been guards on active patrol. If Luna hadn’t already asked Midnight Sapphire herself, Luna’s own Captain of the Night Guard, for every guard on duty then they would need to do it soon.

But nothing had been reported last night so whatever happened must have been quite or sudden and Twilight may not be a trained guard but no pony smart would try and take on her magic. Celestia looked at the ink bottle again, trying in vain to make it do something to tell her what had happened to the owner.

“Thoughts?” Luna asked. There were now ponies starting to look at them from behind small barriers that the Day Guard had set up but most just stopped for a moment before moving on. Hearth Warming was a busy day for most ponies. Thankfully no newspapers ran today or tomorrow and what ponies saw today would only travel by mouth.

“How did they know that Twilight would be coming here?” she asked aloud. “She doesn’t stay at her parent’s home while staying in Canterlot.”

“It’s was Hearth’s Warming Eve. Didn’t you tell me that ponies spend this time with family?”

“Well, yes. But Twilight always considered the castle her home after moving out of her parent’s house. I kept her rooms open for her for that reason. And the only reason she was coming here was because of Shining Armor because from what I understand he missed not living in a castle. Even then that had only been decided a few days ago.”

“So Twilight Sparkle was probably being watched,” Luna tapped her hoof to her chin in thought. “But hadn’t she been in Ponyville until yesterday morn?”

“Yes, she had. ” she agreed grimly.

“I do not like the looks of this the more I think of it,” the dark mare said quietly so that the guards didn’t hear. “Twilight Sparkle was a powerful unicorn even before she ascended. That a villain watched her movements and caught her unaware enough that nothing was reported in the middle of Canterlot….It is must troubling.”

It was. Deeply so. And she needed to do everything in her power to find out what happened.

She thought of when Twilight left the castle, it had been a little under five hours until this sunrise, so some seven hours ago now. There was a window of time when she would have arrived here but it was a rather large one because she could have walked or flown. Celestia had to place her best bets on her being a slow flyer as there was no way she would be able to cast her spell for the entire window.

Even then looking back seven hours for any amount of time was going to be hard even for her.

“Thank goodness my court is closed for the rest of the month,” Celestia sighed. “At least I won’t have to deal with them with my magic so low.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Luna questioned her. Of course, she knew what she was about it do. Her sister knew her too well. “If whoever attacked Twilight Sparkle attacked you or Canterlot and you were weak….”

“You and Cadence are both here, Canterlot is well protected,” she replied easily. The other mare wasn’t truly trying to stop her, only warn her. They both knew that it was the only way to see what happened to Twilight and Celestia being a little weak for a few days was well worth the risk.

Celestia took a wide step away from her sister and started pooling magic in her horn as her sister watched her with a frown. It wasn’t directed at her, not truly, but at the use of the spell itself. It had been years since she needed to cast this spell and she wished she could have kept it that way. It was meant to show the past and for normal ponies, it was draining to see only minutes. The strongest unicorns could maybe see an hour in the past but only an inch.

The amount of power it took to see seven hours would kill a normal unicorn three times over.

She stood in front of the ink well, still untouched, and released the spell. Her golden magic flowed over the sidewalk but not far as some ten feet back. The spell didn’t show the past completely. Everything was deep gold, from the stones on the ground to Twilight herself if this was when she had been here. Nothing in the spell cast shadows and if magic had been involved it would be extremely hard to see the color.

But it was better than nothing.

The street looked the same for a full minute and she was starting to feel the strain of holding it and pushing the time back in chunks. A line of sweat dripped down her cheek and once again she was thankful that her mane was just sunlight as it wouldn’t matt down on her neck.

Finally, there was movement. A golden Twilight cashed down on the sidewalk, her inkwell and a few loose papers spilling out of her bag. Her horn was lit, shining a bright gold like Celestia’s own, but she wasn’t moving. Her eyes were wide and roaming never staying in one place, they looked into her own for a single moment, the spell making the normally royal purple gold but the fear in them showed just the same.

The golden light from her horn only grew bright until it stopped suddenly. At once Twilight jerked her head up but to Celestia’s confusion, a shining glimmer at the edge of the spell grew wider and wider. At the same moment that the shimmer was brightest her student’s horn lit again and she could almost hear the pop of her teleportation spell, the small spark of magic it left behind still clear, if golden.

Then the street was empty once again, the inkwell the only difference.

Twilight’s wide fearful eyes only served to fan Celestia’s anger again, as it rose higher than the deep pit of fear sitting in her chest. Whoever the coward was that attacked her, in Celestia’s own city where she should have been safe, would pay for it a hundred times over. Her ponies may have forgotten that she once defected the monsters in their bedtime stories but whoever this was would not be getting their sweet princess. Not for making that look appear in Twilight’s eye.

“She teleported away, sister,” Luna said in her ear, trying and mostly failing to soothe her. Had her anger over what she saw been showing? Must have since a few of the guards weren’t looking in her general way.

“Yes, but what was that other spell? She didn’t seem to want to cast it,” she said as she tried to push down on her anger. Finding Twilight was much more important right now.

“Perhaps she was forced?”

She shook her head in disagreement. “Mind control and anything like it has been banned ever since the Era of Storms. Even if there was a pony out there trying to learn it there would be no books to learn it from or master to guild their way.”

Luna snorted loudly, “There is always someone learning things they shouldn’t. Banned magic or not Twilight Sparkle didn’t seem to willing to cast the first spell. I also didn’t recognize it, seeing it through your spell or not.”

“I haven’t seen anything like it either,” Celestia said. After a moment she continued as she dragged up old knowledge from far in the past. Thank the sun her memory was as good as it was.“I don’t know much about mind control magic but I do know that it takes a long time to prepare and something from the victim.”

“We already think she was being watched. Tis not hard to believe something was stolen from her as well.”

“You misunderstand, sister,” she said slowly. Not calmly, no, that was lost the moment Twilight’s frighten eyes happen to glance at her while she was frozen on the ground. Now she was at a level of anger she didn’t even know she could still get too. “It takes a far more personal connection than ownership of an object. It has to be something from them and most commonly it’s hair or blood. And for such total control….. A lot of blood. Yet she wasn’t wounded as far as I can see.”

She glared down at the blasted inkwell again, “We need to find Twilight. Whoever cast this spell has been following her for who knows how long and somehow had her blood before this. Where ever she went she’s still in danger.”

Growing in Time

by Evilyoyo

This chapter is brought to you by foreshadowing

Celestia bans health books

its fucking WIMDY

Halfway to Daybreaker