Celestia's Tiny Student

by CommanderX5

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 62658

Twilight is unable to control her powers during the entrance exam to the School for Talented Unicorns, and in order to reduce the damage caused by her power surges, Celestia shrinks her down until she would later learn how to control her powers.

During the entrance exam to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight completely loses control of her magic. Celestia tries in vain to calm her down, but having no other choice she's forced to use a shrinking spell on the filly in order to tone down her dangerous surge of power.

After the exam, Celestia takes the tiny Twilight as her personal student to teach the young unicorn control over her powerful magic, making sure that she will pose no threat to other beings.

Will tiny Twilight be able to step out into a world designed for someone far larger than her? And will her size impede her in the trials of life as princess personal student ?
Side stories: "My Little Twiny April Foals Day" and "My Little Medic"

[img]https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/109x149q90/138/zvuu.png[/img] [img]https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/136x137q90/843/7m25.png[/img]

Sub-autors:
Kydois (Audience <3!)
Georg

Editors:
kingtiger666
Ultra1437
Frozen Ice King

Pre-reader:
Rated PonyStar

Published 2013-06-14 15:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-08-22 17:17:44 UTC

Bonus Ch - Past and Memories ( updated )

Bonus Ch - Past and Memories

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Bonus Chapter

Past and Memories

//This bonus chapter focus on Celestia and Luna backstory, alongside with Celestia’s secret plan for Twilight and how she plan to deal with Nightmare Moon. If you are interested only in adventures of tiny Twilight, feel free  to skip it and go to Chapter 1.

Celestia look around in her bedchamber, it was comfortable, clean, well-decorated, and certainly fit for royalty. On the walls near the door hung a few majestic art pieces created by the best artists Equestria could afford, though many of them were gifts for the princess from her grateful subjects. Next to the door was a big bookshelf, packed with rare books for the princess to read for personal enjoyment. Opposite the entrance door was a balcony and two windows which gave a wonderful view over all of Canterlot. In the middle of the room was a substantial bed designed for an alicorn-sized princess. The bed itself was an expensive make and very, very comfortable with two large pillows embroidered with flowing golden lines and swirls.

It was her’s private sanctuary in which few would disturb her, save for the filly she now brought in, still curled up on her warm back. “You deserve a solid rest, my little pony,” Celestia whispered, before releasing the ropes and levitating the filly onto one of the substantial pillows on her bed.

She sat for a moment and gazed upon her future student, now sleeping peacefully on her giant pillow. I had no idea that my pillows are so big; this one pillow alone can easily serve as a bed for my new student.

Celestia leaned in to take a closer look at the sleeping filly, her nose almost touching the tiny unicorn.  So defenseless. So fragile. We can’t have that, now can we? Celestia thought as she lit her horn, charging a powerful spell. After a minute of concentration, a small, yellow wave made contact with Twilight’s tiny body, and soon the aura disappeared.

“That’s better,” Celestia whispered to herself. The protection spell would effectively double her student’s strength, endurance, and magical power to compensate for her small size, helping her defend herself from her now oversized environment. Celestia lit her horn again, and slowly the balcony door closed and the window curtains swept shut.

After ensuring that Twilight was sleeping comfortably in the darkened room, Celestia straightened up and prepared to leave. Come on. It’s about time, Celestia. You have duties to attend and a lot of preparations to finish. Everything will be all right, Celestia thought as she still continued to watch over the little filly in front of her. Move your flank already. Nothing will happen to her while you’re gone.

A few more long moments passed before Celestia managed to turn and exit the room, still uneasy about the safety of her little pony. I have always been so overprotective over my subjects, but I can’t let my emotions get in my way, Celestia thought as she closed the door to her bedchamber, her gaze now focused on the guards outside.

“Guards,” Celestia ordered in a quiet but commanding voice.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” both royal guards asked in unison as their attention focused on Celestia. She flinched at the loudness of their voices. She’s still sleeping in there.

“Many important events took place in the School for Gifted Unicorns. I will explain the details later, but the result is that I was forced to shrink a unicorn filly to a hundredth of her original weight. She is now very fragile and is resting after a very harsh day,” Celestia explained as the guards kept their full attention on the princess, listening intently. They are exceptionally well trained, but I am sure even *they** must be confused and curious as to what happened.*, Celestia thought before she continued.

“I assured this poor filly’s parents that I will train her in the field of magic as my personal student, and that I am to ensure her safety. However, I have royal duties to attend to and until I am back, I want you to keep this filly safe. Am I understood?” Celestia ordered quietly.

The guards gave a sharp salute and replied in unison, “Yes, Your Majesty!”

“One more request. This filly is very tired and she is sleeping at the moment. Make sure that her rest is not disturbed by any loud noises…or loud guards,” Celestia gave a smirk at her blushing guards before they straightened and gave a much quieter salute.

Having much to do and very little time, Celestia decided not to walk or ride her chariot in favor of teleporting from meeting to meeting, foregoing her public appearances for speed.

The first item in her itinerary Celestia visited was the Royal Hospital, where she asked surprised doctors to tend to her little student, giving concise details about what happened and making sure that Twilight’s condition would be kept a secret.

Once Celestia was sure that her student was going to be checked by professional doctors, she teleported to the School for Gifted Unicorns, making quick repairs to the building itself before entrusting the care of the newly hatched dragon to specialized caretakers.

With the more evident issues sorted out, Celestia cast a quick spell to locate three select ponies. Plans had changed, and they needed to be informed.

Even with no immediate problems, Celestia moved quickly as she led the last of her three ponies to their meeting place. She trotted down the winding steps towards the ancient shelter. This place was a refuge during the Griffo-Draconic War so many years ago. After so long, my subjects have all but forgotten such a place even exists, Celestia thought as she led a silent Fancy Pants into the caves beneath Canterlot.

A few minutes of walking later, Celestia stopped in front of an apparently featureless stone wall. She quickly located the hidden switch and activated it, causing a portion of the wall to shift and to move aside. She entered and swept her gaze over the two already seated around a large circular oak table.

“First off, I would like to apologize for gathering you all on such a short notice,” Celestia apologized as the ponies in the room rolled their eyes.

“Your majesty, as Captain of the Guard, I am always on duty,” replied an old pegasus stallion with two crossed blades as his cutie mark. Despite his age, he was still well suited for his occupation and a force to be reckoned with; though, Celestia mused, a new replacement would have to be found soon before his health truly failed him.

“And I am your secretary. I meet with you every day to help you schedule. It is not like I have very far to go to get here,” added a mare with a scroll, ink, and pen as her cutie mark.

“I am always glad to be at your service no matter what, Your Highness,” Fancy Pants proclaimed proudly before taking his seat.

“Fancy Pants, Silver Scroll, Brave Blade... thank you,” Celestia said gratefully, as she took her seat at the table.

“Brave Blade, what is the status of your guards? Is training proceeding smoothly?” Princess Celestia asked in a serious tone, her face carefully emotionless.

“Yes, Your Highness. An elite company of one hundred pegasi, trained in capture and immobilization, is almost ready. Every pegasus is equipped with an enchanted sword capable of cutting through any barrier, or a rogue alicorn, if needed,” reported Brave Blade, using his wing to place a manila folder on the table and pushing it towards the princess.

“In addition, fifty unicorns have been trained in stunning spells and are equipped with magic restraining rings,” continued Brave Blade as Celestia levitated his report open in front of her, this time placing one of the rings in question on the table. The restraining rings were created quite a while ago to constrain the magical abilities of any unicorn. At the very least, it prevented the captured unicorn from teleporting away. In this case, I hope that they’ll be enough to restrain Nightmare Moon until she can be contained where she cannot hurt anypony. She took a moment and reconsidered the ring, grasping it in her magic and turning it over, It’s a pity I can not use these on my new student. Even at her original size, I doubt that keeping that much energy restrained within her would be beneficial for her health.

“Are... are those soldiers truly prepared? Alicorn magic is not to be trifled with, and even with my help, capturing Nightmare Moon alive can cost the lives of many good stallions in your army,” Celestia warned, the weight of her words evident. I truly do not wish to harm you, sister. It is selfish of me to sacrifice the lives of ponies for your safety, but without them, I fear the loss will be much greater.

Celestia was deep in thought as memories flashed before her eyes.

Celestia was lying on the floor, scarred from the battle with her sister, Luna— or rather, the demon that had manipulated and possessed Luna. Nightmare Moon stood proudly above her. Unlike Celestia, she only had a few scratches, as Celestia had not attempted to hurt her.

“Stop this nonsense, Luna, before you do something you will regret!” Celestia attempted to sway her fallen sister once more. As she tried to stand again, her wings spread to their full span, to appear more intimidating.

“I am no longer little Luna!”

“You cannot order me around anymore, your sole rule over Equestria ends here and now! From now on, you will serve in the shadow of my moon,” Nightmare Moon exclaimed proudly, voice dripping with confidence.

“I am not the sole ruler of Equestria, Luna, we rule it together,” Celestia pled as Nightmare Moon laughed in her face.

All the commotion had drawn a response from the royal guard. Within moments, dozens of Celestia’s finest had poured into the chamber, “How dare you lay a hoof on the princess you MONSTER!” the royal guard’s captain declared as he signalled to his fellows to ready to strike the demon.

Nightmare Moon turned in their direction, “‘Monster’ you say... is that what you call a princess of Equestria?” Nightmare Moon asked calmly, with surprisingly little venom in her voice.

“Princess of Equestria! Ha! You are nought but a demon who finally showed its true colour, if you won’t surrender, I will slay you myself.”

Celestia watched the scene with horror, “N-no! Thats not-”

Nightmare Moon gaze back upon her, “We are equals you say? It was always nothing but a sweet lie to keep me on a leash, no wonder the Element of Honesty chose me.” In her anger Nightmare Moon sent a strong blast of magic into sun princess, sending her crashing into the throne. The moment Celestia recovered, she saw her guards launch themselves at Nightmare Moon, spells and swords prepared.

Nightmare Moon set up a black barrier around herself to parry the deadly spells sent against her, the moment the spells let up she turned into mist, swords passing through her new form without doing any damage. Nightmare Moon rematerialised in the air, flapping her wings as she cast spells over entire throne room, hitting guards in random order one by one.

Those unicorn guards lucky enough to evade the rain of fatal spells, tried in vain to retaliate with offensive spells of their own, while pegasi attempted to attack Nightmare Moon, hitting her with swords in their teeth. But Nightmare Moon held her ground, and swords broke upon impact with her flesh.

Celestia tried to order her guards to cease their attack, to retreat, but they were more eager to kill her sister than she anticipated, and once the battle was over, she could only stare in horror at her sister’s eyes, as her body was covered in bleeding wounds, while all around her were the bodies of what had once been her royal guard, broken swords and armor lying all over the floor.

“Luna, I...-”

Celestia wanted to say something, but was cut off by angry response of Nightmare Moon, “You steal them away from me, you turn all of our subjects against me, but today, I will take back what is rightfully mine!”

“They are, Your Highness. You have been taking care of this kingdom and your subjects for hundreds of years. The least we can do is to assist you in your time of need,” replied the Captain of her Royal Guard proudly and taking Celestia from her deep thoughts and into the conversation at hoof.

“Thank you, but it still pains me to risk their lives for myself...” Celestia gave a quick shake of her head to clear her thoughts and continued, “Now, the real reason I called you here... I believe the Elements of Harmony are restoring themselves.”

A stunned silence descended upon the three ponies gathered before Celestia as they stared at her with wide eyes.

“H-how... how do you know, Your Highness?” Captain asked, clearly in disbelief. It was no secret to those gathered here that Celestia and her sister had used the elements to defeat many powerful foes in defense of Equestria, just as it was no secret that they were currently useless hunks of stone in the Everfree.

“Though it has been a thousand years since I last used the Elements of Harmony, I have not forgotten their aura. I haven’t forgotten the sensation of using them, and what I felt when that rainbow wave passed above me was unmistakeable. I am certain that the Elements of Harmony are behind it,” Celestia elaborated confidently. She took a deep breath and paused before continuing.

“The filly who was taking the entrance exam today had an uncontrollable magic surge immediately after the wave passed. I’m positive they are connected, and just as she earned her cutie mark during its influence, I am quite certain other bearers have also earned their marks much the same way,” Celestia added to the group at large, though her attention was focused on the confused officer in front of her.

“Is it possible? Could the Elements have just chosen random ponies and give them their cutie marks? Would they really be able to wield the elements?” Brave Blade asked, uncertain and doubtful towards Celestia’s words.

Celestia gave a shrug. “The Elements of Harmony work in mysterious ways. Back when I was just a unicorn and my sister was a pegasus, we’d gone through countless books for powerful artifacts to use against Discord. The Elements tested us, and many who accompanied us... did not survive,” Celestia answered his question as she hesitated for a moment to continue her story.

Fancy Pants spoke up, curiosity evident through his refined accent, “Tested? You’ve already told us about your Elements, like generosity, kindness, and so forth, but you’ve never told us how the Elements tested you and your sister.”

“During our adventures, we’d managed to pass many dangerous trials before we could find the Elements. Those trials tested the strength of my bond with my sister and the strength of my magic, generosity, and kindness, as well as my sister’s loyalty, laughter, and honesty,” Celestia stated as every pony in the room gave her their full attention.

Groups of tired, but determined, ponies walked restlessly upon the mountain fields, as some mysterious force was calling for them, leading them to a mysterious cave what was never marked on any map. Without hesitation, one of ponies ran into a cave, screaming that the artifacts must be inside, and as he eagerly ran upon the darkness of the cave he vanished, everypony stopped once they heard a scream of pain, and a loud blood curdling roar.

Every pony watched in fear and awe as a beast emerged from the darkness, a dead pony in the maw of one of it is heads. Some of ponies in the group screamed and ran away, leaving only  those brave enough to face it.

A white unicorn recognized the beast, screaming one fearful sentence, “Ch-chimera!” Clambering backwards, she almost fell over herself.

“I am the guardian of this cave,” stated the Goat head.

“Turn back or you will end as my snacks, brave but foolish creatures!” added the Lion head while still chewing on the pony he previously had in his mouth.

“Only those proven worthy can pass,” finished the Dragon head.

There were many brave ponies who were determined to get the artifacts that could end Discord’s reign, one by one they attacked the Chimera with swords and spells, from ground and air, but despite everything they tried, they could not defeat the beast. A night blue pegasus with a sword tried for one last charge, but was captured in the levitation field of another pony, “Do not do this, it is suicide!”

The pegasus turned to her captor, “But sister, this beast is slaughtering our comrades, we can not let them die.”

“I know, and we will not let them, Selena,” replied the white unicorn, before she lit her horn.

A pony that was about to be squashed by the chimera was pulled away in a golden aura of magic, and so were all the other fighting ponies as the white unicorn grabbed them and placed them on the ground behind her. The chimera shot a fireball from his dragon head, but the attack was reflected by a golden forcefield.

The Chimera ran forward to kill the unicorn that was in its way, until a strong golden aura levitated him from the ground, pushing him back against the stones. “I do not want to hurt you, but I will if you will try to hurt my friends!”

Chimera shook his three heads, recovering from the impact. His dragon head spoke, “You do not wish to hurt us, even if we are in the way to your goal ?”

“I... I do not want to take life of any living creature, even from a murderous beast like you, but I will use all the power at my disposal to get those artifacts you are guarding, they are our only hope!” the white unicorn said with determination in her voice.

“I will let you pass, but only if you prove worthy,” the Lion head boomed with proud voice.

“Two trials you have passed, four are left for you to pass, you showed us kindness and magic, but still more we demand,” the Goat head added in riddle.

“If you pass those trials, salvation for your kind will be at hoof, but if you do not pass, then the artifacts will be nothing more than junk for you.” the Dragon head finished.

“Very well, if there is a chance we can solve this without more bloodshed, I accept.”

“Your first challenge will be to play a game of tag with me, are you brave enough ?” the Lion head asked with a growl.

The white unicorn hesitated, so did others, not brave or fast enough to play with a beast in game like this, expecting only one outcome from participating. Everypony except night blue pegasus who bravely walked forward.

“A game of tag, with fat beast like you? It will be easy!”

Every pony watched in awe as a midnight pegasus toyed with the chimera, not showing any fear of the beast far bigger than her. The white unicorn could only stare in horror as her sister was risking her life, but what surprised her the most was her laugh, as if her sister enjoyed this game.

“Congratulations brave soul, it took courage to laugh in the face of death,” the Lion head replied, as Selena walked proudly with smile on her face.

“Oh sister, you should see look on your face,” Selena laughed uncontrollably at her sisters expression.

“Now for the next challenge, I will ask you questions, and the answer will determine your worth,” the Goat head began.

Everypony gulped as they started answering, though Selena and her sister’s answers were always different.

“Am I pretty?” asked the Goat head simply.

The white unicorn replied, “Yes, you are, your beauty is really impressive and...” Almost immediately, the white unicorn’s praise was cut off by her sister.

“Tia, stop talking nonsense, this beast is ugly and disgusting, maybe except Lionhead... thought if I was a chimera myself, I would find you attractive... but no promise.”

Everypony watched in awe as Selena give one answer after another, every single one of them were anything but what the chimera should like to hear.

Dragon head was silent for a moment, until his face flushed red from anger.

Selena was not intimidated, “I will give you one chance pegasus, take example from ponies around you and answer correctly this time, or face my wrath.”

Despite other ponies pleading look, Selena just replied proudly, “Are you expecting me to lie? What I said was the honest truth.

If you cannot take a bit of criticism, than I am sure a solid kick with my hoof will change your mind.”

The Lion head replied proudly, “Honesty, even when it does not benefit you, I admire it.”

“You all underwent a lot of hardship to get to the elements, how much are you willing to pay for artifacts you seek?” the Dragon head asked.

Ponies in the group started to give offers in bits, food, but none of their offers seems to satisfy the chimera.

“And you, white horned one, how much are you willing to pay for the elements?” the Goat head asked.

“Everything.” Tia replied firmly, assuming that the beast meant horned one, her sister looked at her in confusion.

“Will you pay with all your food, water and the riches you posses ?” asked the Dragon head, as Tia nods.

“Will you give half of your blood for me to drink,” once again she nods in agreement, as her sister pled her to not acquiesce.

“Will you let me eat two of your hooves,” once again she nods in agreement.

Selena could not take it any longer and screamed, “Are you insane Tia?”

“You can not possibly consider it, we can just kill this beast here and now.”

“Only those worthy can use the elements. If you kill me, they will be forever out of your reach,” the Dragon head stated nonchalantly.

Selena started to accuse him of lying, but Tia just replied that fate of hundreds of ponies are more important than her own.

“Will you give up your freedom, and serve me for the rest of your life, or even die if I will give your companion artifacts you seek?” once again, she bobbed her head to the other ponies’ horror.

“You, the one called Selena, listen well. You proved yourself worthy, the artifacts are yours,” all three heads commented at once as every pony cheered. “However, your sister will become my snack.”

Many ponies were ready to attack as Tia replied, “I accept.”

Selena tried to protest, “are you out of your mind? I will not let you die!”

Tia wanted to respond, but the chimera was first, “Leave your sister and take what you come here for, save your kind and be the hero. Refuse, and you will share your sister’s fate.”

Tia plead to Selena, but it proved pointless as her sister was very stubborn, “I am not going to let you eat my sister, I will beat you and we will take those artifacts together, you hear me?”

“So you choose to defend your sister, rather than attain power and fame. Very well, time has come to take consequences for your choices.”

Tia and Selena were about to fight side by side, while the other ponies kept their safe distance, but the fight never came. Instead, six colourful stones levitated out of the cave.

“Selena, honest even when it is not beneficial, laughing in the face of death, loyal to your sister when abandoning her would give you victory, you proved yourself worthy,” the Lion head spoke firmly, looking at Selena.

“Tia, showed kindness to a merciless beast, willing to sacrifice everything including your own life for the greater good, and with magic who made this journey possible, you proved yourself worthy,” the Dragon head spoke as well, sharing a look with Tia.

“Go. Save your kind,” the Goat head commanded as Tia walked closer.

“Thank you, but before we go back, we must rest and heal our wounds. Despite the lives you took today, I understand that it was your duty as guardian... I know a healing spell that can close some of your wounds,” Celestia spoke with kindness in her voice.

“That will not be necessary kind one,” the three heads replied, and to Tia’s astonishment, the Chimera turned into stone.

“When we finally tried to use the Elements against Discord, he took my horn and my sister’s wings away and teleported the Elements to random locations... He gave us a map and a riddle so we could search for them as he watched in amusement. Well, until he got bored and left us alone,” Celestia gave a scowl as she recalled the dark times of early Equestrian history.

“Losing our magic and wings did not grant us any of the benefits of earth ponies, and Discord made sure that nopony could aid us in our search. But despite all of the hardships we experienced, and all of the dangers we endured, my sister and I managed gather them all. The moment we had all of the elements, they activated and we were once again reborn as alicorns.

After two years of hardship and traveling all over the world, Tia and Selena finally found the elements one by one, as Discord’s curse prevented any pony from helping them. Covered in wounds and scratches, Tia was missing an eye, while her sister had broken bones throughout her body. They finally found the last element inside a dormant volcano.

“We did it sister, we did it !” Selena jumped from excitement on her three unharmed hooves until she fell from exhaustion.

Her sister gazed upon her and smiled, “Yes sister, now we can defeat Discord, and free the ponies from his cruel jokes, and we will no longer be his form of entertainment.”

Selena looked around, using her broken foreleg to point at the road ahead, “It seems that we will have some climbing ahead of us to get back, sister... and then a week long walk back, I really miss my wings,” Selena spoke with sadness in her voice, resisting the urge to burst into a fit of tears, for two years she had to endure the worst fate any pegasus would face.

“I miss my horn too sister, and the uncomfortable feeling I have in my head as my magic can’t find a way out is almost driving me crazy, but I will endure... no, we will endure, as long as we are together, there is nothing we can not overcome,” Tia responded as she hugged her sister, closing her only working eye.

The sisters were so focused on their embrace they did not notice the elements had started to glow, surrounding them in a rainbow colored storm. Only to leave a pair of marks, one of the moon and the other the sun, burned in solid rock inside the volcano.

Tia and Selena opened their eyes, confused about what possibly had happened, as they were surrounded by wonderful white lights in endless space. Confused and curious, Tia and Selena walked around something what Tia called an Ethereal Plane, for lack of a better term.

Tia and Selena were surprised by multiple images representing their past flashing before their eyes, challenges and hardships they endured together, times they helped one another and other ponies endure Discord reign, all good times they spend together. But the little show they watched did not last long as orb of magic escaped from their own bodies and flew around them.

“I’m s-scared.”

“W-what is happening Tia?”  Selena asked, a trembling uncertainty in her voice.

“Worry not little sister, we endured so much, and we will endure this too.”

“We can do this together, do not lose hope,” Tia did not believe in her own words, but whatever was going to happen, calming her sister’s fears was the only thing she could do.

Tia slowly opened her eyes, both eyes, as she slowly stood, noticing her little sister doing the same in front of her, but she quickly noticing something different. Her sister had wings and horn. Out of curiosity she checked her own body to find wings and horn as well.

“Bravo, bravo... now that’s a show you don’t see often, you both provided truly enjoyable fireworks,”

“Discord!” Tia shouted, as she aimed her horn in the direction of the monster who put both her sister and herself through so much pain. To Tia’s surprise, she accidentally shot a powerful magical beam that struck Discord, it was not really much stronger than a magical attack she could perform as unicorn, but unlike any regular unicorn offensive spell that did nothing to Discord, this attack actually hurt him.

“Okay, now it’s not fun anymore. A spell that can harm me? I do not approve,” Discord stated in annoyance as he snapped his fingers, and then snapped them again, and again. After his failures, he gazed upon the small white-winged unicorn, “Look what time it is, time to leave,” Discord added as he snapped his fingers to teleport away, but he reappeared in the same place he was moment ago, captured in aura of golden magic.

With another snap of his fingers, he tried to teleport the coloured crystals flying around the two winged unicorns, but his actions received no result and Discord smiled awkwardly as the winged unicorns returned the gesture. A moment later, Discord could see a rainbow colored beam turning his body into stone.

A few weeks after Discord’s defeat, ponies declared Tia and Selena their leaders. In the beginning, Tia and Selena tried their best to refuse taking any titles, but there had to be some pony to take charge and unite all the ponies together as one.

A major problem presented itself when the sun was stuck in place, no longer controlled by Discord. This started to cause damage to the environment. To fix this situation, every unicorn from the land gathered together and tried to rediscover a spell to move sun and the moon in the sky. After several failed attempts, however, Tia felt something guiding her, and when she opened her eyes, she was herself, floating without a body in front of the sun. Confused at first, she tried to move around and escape wherever she was, but the moment she noticed a large planet behind the sun, the incredible sight made her watch in awe until she decided to try something.

Focusing her magic, Tia noticed that sun is moving, controled by her magic, but the magic she used felt odd, as if sun itself was giving her the energy to use, so she could push it in the sky, almost as if she was the sun. And when she opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground, ponies watching her confused and incredibly impressed.

The real shock for Tia came after her sister touched her flank, “Look sister! You got your cutie mark!” Tia, despite feeling drained and powerless, used the rest of her strength to gaze upon her cutie mark. After being blank-flanked for over thirty years, she finally found her destiny and she moved a celestial body by herself. With so many changes happening to her, it was only suitable to change her name as well.

“We had wings and horns that Discord could not take away, and our harmony neutralized Discord’s power. He failed to separate us from the Elements a second time and could not escape our combined telekinetic grasp. In the end, the Elements turned him into nothing more than a statue,” Celestia concluded.

The elements chose us and gave us power ponies could only dream of... but many friends died trying to pass the trials while my sister and I endured hardships I would not wish on my worst enemy. I wonder, will Twilight and other Element bearers also be forced to walk a  thorny road? Will they even manage to survive? Celestia thought guiltily. My student must already endure so much while being so tiny.

“So why did they banish your sister to the moon rather than heal her or turn her to stone like Discord?” asked Silver Scroll, a pained look on her face.

Celestia lowered her head before she morosely responded, “I was partially responsible for that. The power of the Elements came from our trials and bonds. My sister became less and less honest with me as I failed to listen to her and less and less loyal to the country that did not respect her. Her laughter was replaced with sadness born from loneliness. And I was too blind to notice.”

‘Knock knock’

“Come in,” Celestia called out firmly, while her full attention focused on several papers in front of her, signing them one by one.

“Sister, we need to...” Selena tried to say, only to be cut off by her sister.

“Oh, it is you Luna, would you be so dear and help me with those tax laws, you are so good with numbers, I am sure you can handle it easily.”

Luna sighed, “Tia, please, I need to talk with you, no pony wants to accept my proposal to organize a night celebration where I can-” Luna, once again, was cut off by Celestia waving hoof.

“This again Luna? “

“We talked about it before, ponies enjoy your nights, there is no point to organize such celebration,” Celestia interrupted Luna, not taking her head away from paperwork in front of her.

“But sister... nevermind,” Luna groaned, with her head hung low as she was about to leave room, but Celestia’s voice stopped her.

“You are not going to organize this celebration on your own, right Luna?”

Luna clenched her jaw in anger without even turning her head before answering. “Of course not dear sister, I would never do anything without your permission,” Luna remarked with a little hint of sarcasm and anger in her voice.

The moment Luna left her sister’s bedchamber and when she was alone in her own room, decorated by midnight blue wallpaper with many stars, she took a vase and threw it on the floor, shattering it into many tiny pieces. “We are ruling this kingdom as equals, nopony loves my night, and all my sister says is nothing but lies and ponyfeathes!” Luna screamed in her anger, as her coat became a bit darker, dark magic floating around her. “We will no longer going to live in shadows of our sister, no longer we will be ignored, no longer we will be obedient little sister!”

Luna transformed little by little every day, as more ponies feared or disrespected her.

Celestia, so focused on her work, did not notice any signs. Meanwhile in the royal vault, the colorful crystals of power, called the Elements of Harmony were losing their colour, becoming more and more gray, sensing Luna’s vanishing loyalty, lack of honesty and loss of laughter in the Princess of the Night, while generosity, kindness and magic were weakening in Celestia everyday. Their sisterly bond built on hardship hundreds of years ago was crumbling under Celestia’s blindness and Luna’s loneliness and jealousy.

“With only three of the Elements on my side and our broken bond, the Elements could not heal her. I still do not understand how the Elements work, but I believe that they probably knew my desire to protect my subjects, and to ensure that she would not harm anypony with eternal night, they banished her. The Elements rejected us, turning into stones, as they have remained until today.” Everypony in the room was silent as Celestia shed a few tears, forgetting to maintain the confident composure she often kept in front of her subjects.

After a moment of silence, Brave Blade gave a curt nod and confidently noted, “I will send my best ponies to search for the new bearers. If there are ponies who got their cutie marks when that weird rainbow wave passed, we will find them.”

“I will try to assist as well. I know many influential ponies that can help search without attracting too much attention,” added Fancy Pants.

“Thank you all,” Celestia replied calmly, blinking away a few tears. “I was going to ask you to help me secretly search for them, but I am glad that you are offering to help on your own.”

“It’s our pleasure, Your Highness.”

Confident in that aspect of her plan, Celestia turned to Silver Scroll. “Now, I also have a task for you, Silver Scroll. I wish to teach a candidate for Element of Magic personally, and I need your help to ensure that I will have at least two hours of time with her every day. For now, I want to cancel all of my meetings for today. Can you arrange it?”

“Right away, Your Majesty,” replied Silver Scroll as she levitated as she opened up a densely-packed calendar and began marking though appointments, already working on her assignment.

“Very good, I hereby end this meeting, and as always, our discussions are not to leave this room,” Celestia finished in a serious tone as those around her gave their nods of assent.

With the meeting over, everypony went to complete their tasks while Celestia went back to her new student. She soon found a smile working across her face for the first time in years, and she began to feel hope for the safe return of her sister.

Ch1 - Fears ( updated )

Ch1 - Fear

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Chapter 1

Fears

“Rise and shiiine, my little Sparkle,” said an unfamiliar voice. Before turning on the pillow, Twilight gave a drowsy, “Shmerrrr.”

“Rise and shiiiiiiiiine, my little Sparkle,” the unfamiliar voice spoke once again.

Twilight felt something shake under her body. Unable to ignore it any longer, she asked in a pleading voice, “Can I please sleep a little longer, mommy? Pretty pleeease?”

“Wake up or you’ll be late for your first day of schooool.”

Twilight bolted upright, her eyes wide in horror. “Oh no! I’m going to be late! I have... to...” Twilight trailed off, noticing the white face to her side, its large, pale magenta eyes looking intently at her.

“AAAAAAAAAA...” Twilight screamed, running off the side of the pillow that served as her bed and crawling underneath it.

Celestia watched her student with a small frown while she waited for her to calm down. It’s been two weeks already and she still cannot get used to her new life. Not that I can blame her; it *is** a big change, after all.* Celestia waited patiently for the filly to calm down.

A half-minute later, the tiny unicorn crawled out from under the giant pillow and climbed back onto the pillow, walking towards the princess. Her head was down, avoiding eye contact, as she sat down on the frilly edge of her pillow, saying, “I am really sorry, Princess. I did not mean to scream like that... I... I just forgot...”

Celestia sighed softly. “It’s fine, my little pony. I am sure that my appearance must be quite intimidating from your point of view,” Celestia reassured the tiny filly, giving a warm smile. It still saddened her that she was partially responsible for Twilight’s current state, although she hoped that she would be able to adapt.

“Are you hungry, my little pony?” Celestia asked, moving to sit next to Twilight while levitating a tray of food left by the servants between them.

Twilight flinched at the sudden movement, before quickly quashing the fear she felt. The princess wouldn’t hurt me, so why am I so afraid?

Tiny Twilight looked back to her giant mentor, who was currently using her telekinesis to cut off tiny bits of her sandwich left for the princess by her servants. Celestia rearranged the neatly cut pieces, putting it together into a miniature sandwich as she levitated it closer to her student. Twilight hesitantly took the sandwich in her tiny hooves.

“Bon appetit,” Celestia said cheerfully, hoping to brighten up the mood of her student.

“T-t-thank you,” Twilight replied hesitantly as she leaned in to take a bite of her tiny sandwich.

Celestia’s smile faltered. To think that this filly who had studied magic so intently before attempting to join the school is now too afraid to use it.

“Twilight.” Celestia’s voice was quiet, but firm.

Twilight turned towards the princess, swallowing the bits of sandwich in her mouth before replying, “Y-yes, princess?”

“I understand that it must be very hard to adapt to your new environment. Everything must seem so big and scary without your parents. My very presence terrifies you,” Celestia spoke as calmly as she could.

“N-no, princess, I... I’m not afraid of you, and I am fine with being here,” Twilight replied desperately. I am not afraid of you. I can’t be afraid. You are my idol! It was my dream to meet you! How can I be afraid now? Twilight thought, regretting the fear she’d shown before.

It was clear that Celestia didn’t believe her. “I... I’m not afraid. Really! And I can prove it,” Twilight said with fake bravery in her voice, but immediately jumped when Celestia raised a hoof towards her, dropping her facade of confidence.

Twilight frowned, realizing exactly what she had just done. Why can't I stop fearing her? I hate it. I do not want to be afraid! Why can't I be braver? Twilight scolded herself before approaching her mentor’s hoof, still raised in front of her. She raised a hoof to touch the one in front of her, but just as she was about to make contact, she hesitated, withdrawing it slightly. Twilight attempted a few more times, but after a few ineffectual attempts, she collapsed to the ground, burying herself in her hooves.

“I don’t wanna be afraid! I wasn’t afraid before! Why am I so afraid now? It’s so unfair!” the filly bawled, still trying to hide her tears behind closed hooves.

Celestia lowered her hoof, her expression filled with disappointment. It is not your fault, my little pony. You were confident back at the school when you were too excited to feel fear, but now... Celestia thought, waiting for the filly to calm down. “It is not your fault. Your fears will leave you sooner or later,” spoke Celestia calmly, restraining herself from raising a hoof to comfort the crying filly.

Twilight slowly wiped away her tears and looked back up at her mentor. “R-really... you r-really t-t-think so...?”

“I’m sure. Being brave is not the same as not being afraid. Being brave is when you continue on, despite your fears,” Celestia lectured calmly before raising her hoof again.

Twilight looked back at the hoof in front of her before attempting to touch it again. Her hoof came closer, but once again failed to make contact. Celestia gave a sigh and lowered her hoof again.

“As much as I admire your efforts, I feel that they are misplaced. There is another fear you should be fighting,” Celestia spoke now in more of a teacher tone.

“Another fear...?” Twilight asked hesitantly as she climbed back onto her pillow. “You don’t mean...”

“Yes, Twilight. It has been two weeks, and you have not used your magic at all. As much as I want to give you more time to adapt, you should at least try to face your fear. After all, the faster you can overcome your fear of magic, the sooner I can begin to teach you how to control it,” Celestia continued.

Twilight felt another surge of apprehension in her gut. Being Princess Celestia’s student is like a dream come true, but I can’t be her student if I can’t even use magic. Twilight knew that if she could not learn about magic from her mentor, she would not be her student any longer, and this fact alone terrified her more than using magic or her mentor’s intimidating size.

I’m sorry Twilight, but this is for your own good. I know that you love magic, but you cannot let your fears get in the way of what you love, Celestia thought as she levitated a sugar cube and put it next to Twilight.

Twilight, still trembling, jumped back as she looked at the ordinary sugar cube, which seemed to be the size of a stone block from her diminutive perspective. Fear slowly turned into confusion as she turned her gaze to her mentor again. “I don’t understand, Princess.”

“I want you to levitate it,” Celestia spoke calmly, hoping that her student would begin to fight her fear of using magic.

Twilight just stared at the sugar cube for several minutes, as if seeing it for the first time in her life. Celestia continued to watch her student patiently, trying not to move. This was one fight her tiny student would have to conduct entirely within her own mind.

You think you are so sweet, so square. You think that I cannot lift you with my magic... I will show you... and when I am done, you will become part of my mentors tea! Twilight thought to herself. Her mind was a mess and her logical young mind was breaking under the pressure.

Twilight glared at the sugar cube as if she wanted to destroy it with her gaze. After a long, awkward silence, she finally took some effort to focus, trying to channel some of her magic through her horn.

Celestia watched patiently as she saw her student finally taking action, slowly a small, purple aura was visible on her tiny horn, but Celestia’s hopes didn’t last long when the aura dissipated.

Hours passed as Twilight stared at the sugar cube, even though her mentor had left unnoticed some time ago to attend to her royal duties. Every time her focus began to form, images of her surge flashed through her mind and the magic she was forming would fade away. The pain of the surge. The pain she felt trying to stop it. The pain she inflicted on the Princess. The two potted plants that stood where her parents once did.

“You useless. Stupid. Delicious cube of sugar!” Twilight yelled in frustration, kicking the cube with her tiny hoof. It bounced to the edge of the bed, and with one more furious buck, fueled by hours of failure, the sugar cube crashed to the floor, shattering into tiny crystals across the once pristine bedroom floor.

Twilight moved to the side of the bed, looking horridly down at the white powder. While it would not be a big deal to clean up for any normal sizes pony, for the tiny unicorn filly, it was a giant mess, and it was all her fault. “What have I done?” she wailed as her frustration turned into panic.

Twilight started to dance in circles around her pillow. “What have I done? What have I done? The Princess expected me to levitate it, but not only did I fail to complete my assignment, but I also made a huge, enormous mess in her bedroom. The sugar will attract ants, and the ants will get into her bed, and they’ll bite her in the middle of the night, and she’ll know that it wasmy fault!” Twilight yelled in panic as images of giant, disappointed princesses flashed in her mind.

“I need to clean up this mess before the princess comes back,” Twilight said to herself, calming down a little before she noticed a big flaw in her plan. “But... how?”

For several minutes, tiny Twilight sat on the edge of the bed staring down at the floor. The floor that was a very, very long way down.

Twilight tried to force herself to levitate the sugar from the floor with her magic, but couldn’t get over the terrifying images in her mind. Finally in desperation, Twilight slowly and carefully climbed down to the floor, using the little loops of lace in the bedspread as a ladder.

As soon as Twilight was on the floor, she looked around to search for anything she could use to clean sugar, but did not find anything useful. Undaunted, she decided to gather all the sugar with her own tiny hooves, no matter how long it would take.

It took Twilight an hour to gather all sugar from the floor into a pile. “I DID IT!” she screamed in joy as she jumped, only to fall on her face, completely exhausted. She sat up and massaged her aching face. I really need to stop doing that.

Twilight’s happiness from a job well-done faded as she looked at the pile of sugar gathered in front of her. I gathered all this sugar, but now what? I can’t just hide it under the bed, and I don’t have any cleaning equipment... Twilight once again conjured images of her mentor’s disappointed face.

In her desperation, Twilight decided that there was only one thing she could do: eat the evidence. She gathered a bit of the sugar in her hooves and stared at it only for a moment before stuffing it into her mouth, nearly gagging from the deluge of sweetness.

Twilight spent the next hour in a delusional sugar high before collapsing, sick to her stomach, on the small patch of fine white powder still remaining on the floor.

After a long day of her usual routine, Celestia walked impatiently back to her room, feeling that her student would get into trouble without her supervision.

Calm down. Twilight may be tiny and very young, but she is still a smart pony. What’s the worst that could happen?

As always, she passed her saluting guards as they opened the door to her bedchamber for her. Celestia slowly walked into her room, expecting to see Twilight reading a book that had been left for her on bed, or perhaps sleeping on her pillow, but what she saw caught her completely off guard.

What...is that? Celesia thought curiously as she saw her student laying on the floor on some sort of white powder. Celestia walked closer and lowered herself to have a better look.

Are my eyes are deceiving me, or is my little student sleeping in a pile of sugar?

“Oh, Twilight,” Celestia smirked, guessing what had transpired in the room. “What am I going to do with you?”

Twilight slept deeply until she felt a warm feeling inside her, spreading further throughout her body every second.

Celestia and Twilight were in the princess’s personal bathroom, which was as big as her bedchamber and even more stylish. There was a spacious bathtub opposite the sink raised to Celestia’s height. An artificial hot spring sat in the middle of the room, and behind another door there was a sauna. Gold trim and gems decorated the entire room and the furnishings, and a large mosaic of Celestia’s cutie mark dominated the space. All in all, it was more of a spa than a bathroom.

At the moment, Celestia was sitting in front of the sink sending healing magic into her student, who was lying in front of her on the countertop. The spell was supposed to neutralize poisons and toxins, Celestia thought. I never thought I’d have to use it to neutralize a lethal dose of *sugar***.

Pleased with the progress of the spell, she levitated Twilight closer to the tap and twisted the hot water on. Celestia, after removing her golden horseshoe, let the water run over her exposed hoof. Content with the temperature and pressure of the running stream, she levitated her student under the flowing water.

Twilight sputtered awake, shaking out her waterlogged mane and hastily clearing her vision with a hoof. After noticing the white porcelain sink under her and the golden tap above, it didn’t take long for her to discover where she was.

A bath?! Twilight struggled against the golden aura trapping her under the water.

“Let me go... let... me... GO!” yelled Twilight with all her strength, which amounted to a cute squeak. Baths were evil. The scourge of all that was fun and enjoyable. It didn’t help that she was completely powerless to fight her mentor, a mere toy in her grasp.

“You know I can’t do that, my student. You have sugar in your tail, mane and fur, and it is not going to clean itself,” Celestia replied sternly.

Twilight continued her pointless struggle until she got too tired to resist, grudgingly allowing her mentor to dry her wet body with a sponge before brushing her mane and tail with a tiny brush, which Twilight was positive came from a little filly’s toy set.

“That’s better. It doesn’t look like you have any more sugar in your mane or fur,” Celestia stated, satisfied as she examined her student. Twilight simply hung from her mentor’s grasp in defeat.

“C-could y-you l-let me g-g-go... p-p-please?” Twilight pled before giving a tiny sneeze, shivering in the cool air.

“Not yet, there is still one thing left to do,” Celestia replied as she levitated a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste closer to her tiny student. Twilight opened her eyes in shock and once again struggled but soon gave up as the princess began.

Celestia really began to focus now. As an alicorn, a millennia old and brimming with power, she had to develop her mind to control the flow of her magic, lest it rage out of control. With a subject as fragile as Twilight, it was much more difficult than one would expect to successfully brush teeth no larger than grains of rice with a normal sized toothbrush without harming her.

Twilight closed her eyes and decided to wait it out, suppressing the terrible urge to flee from the giant alicorn holding her against her will.

Her difficult task complete, Celestia levitated Twilight to the floor and freed her from her golden aura, knowing full well that her student hated this routine. It was no surprise when Twilight immediately bolted to a nearby towel and crawled under it.

“Twilight, you know you need to take a shower from time to time to stay healthy and clean. I apologise that I cleaned you so forcefully, but it is much safer considering the size of this bathroom,” Celestia said. She’d already considered finding a way to let Twilight clean herself, but didn’t give it too much thought in the last two weeks.

“Go away!” Twilight’s muffled screams emanated from under the towel.

“Did you say something, my student?” Celestia asked, feigning deafness. She moved to the towel and lowered her head towards it.

“I said... Go away!” Twilight yelled again, though more from embarrassment than anger.

Celestia sat silently for a moment before replying nonchalantly, “As you wish. I will leave you for now and come back in fifteen minutes. Please don’t do anything reckless until I return.” It wasn’t the first time her student hid under something in her bathroom after she was cleaned, and it would likely be several minutes until she reemerged.

Celestia, content to wait until the little filly calmed down, left to prepare dinner and more reading material for Twilight.

Half a minute after her mentor had left, Twilight crawled out from under her towel. She wasn’t angry at her mentor in the slightest; she was just embarrassed of being cleaned up like a doll. And after the episode with the sugar cube, facing her mentor was the last thing she wanted to do.

“I can’t be brave for my mentor. I can’t use my magic. I can’t even take a bath by myself. Is there anything I can do?” Twilight all but shouted as she gazed upon the giant, ornate bathtub next to her.

It took only a moment before inspiration struck the little filly. “That’s it. I’m gonna prove to my mentor that I can take a bath all by myself,” said Twilight, set in her decision.

Twilight walked around the bath, searching a way up, before noticing a towel hanging from the edge. She immediately scampered up with her tiny hooves, and after an adventure of epic proportions, Twilight stood on the edge of the tub, breathing lightly.

Now what? Twilight took a quick look around, noticing a shower head hanging from the wall. Without a second thought, Twilight walked towards it, her balance threatened by the fear making her body tremble.

I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of being unable to do anything,, Twilight thought as she fought against the uneasiness in her gut. She soon approached the shower head and braced herself against it.

As Twilight knew that using her magic would end in a failure, she pulled on the shower with all her strength.

The shower head, already holding on precariously, jolted loose from its hold on the wall, causing Twilight to lose her balance and tumble into the tub. The shower head, by sheer coincidence, hit the hot water knob before clattering to the bottom of the tub, pinning the tiny filly beneath. Water gushed from the nozzle and began to fill the bath, soaking Twilight’s fur immediately.

Twilight quickly recovered and urgently attempted to move the nozzle as the water started to burn her. She lit her horn and desperately wrapped her magic around the shower head to lift it off her before the water reached her head, her sudden, immediate fear of drowning quickly banishing all the fears of a power surge. The heavy shower nozzle barely budged as the water level reached her head and continued to rise.

Twilight drew up more and more magic from her core before losing control, her wall of self-control shattering under the flood of her energy. The shower head was thrown violently aside and Twilight shot up above the hot water, her surge shooting off tiny sparks that fizzled against the hot water below.

Princess Celestia bolted into the bathroom, severely worried by the loud clattering thud she’d heard only a moment before. Her worries were confirmed as she took in the scene: Twilight was levitating in a tiny power surge, just inches above the hot, steaming water filling the tub.

Celestia levitated her limp, unconscious student away from the hot water and waited until the power surge fizzled out. Wasting no time, she sent a healing wave into her student’s body before shakily patching up her student as well as she could with the help of her first aid kit and liberal application of cure spells.

Celestia quickly placed Twilight back on her pillow before teleporting straight into the Royal Hospital, abducting an idle doctor to assist her student.

“I’ve bandaged her injuries already, but she may need more professional assistance,” Celestia said to the doctor hurriedly. Unable to do much more, she began pacing, having been lost completely to the emotions boiling inside of her.

“Are you feeling alright, my little pony?” asked the unfamiliar voice.

Twilight gave a drowsy, “Shmerrrr,” before turning on her pillow. “Can I please sleep a little longer...?”

“I see you are feeling better. That’s quite a relief,” said the unfamiliar voice. Twilight took a moment to be confused before she suddenly remembered everything that had happened. She shot upright, taking a deep, gasping breath.

She held her panicked breath as she looked around the room, slowly realizing that she was safe from the scalding water that had threatened to drown her and remembering the surge that had saved her life. She breathed out slowly, taking in her bandaged body and the pillow below that served as her bed.

She looked to the side, gazing into the large, worried magenta eyes watching her every move.

Celestia flinched. Her student was looking into her eyes again, a simple act that would soon lead to the screaming and the—

Celestia’s eyes widened as the small purple filly jumped from her pillow, hugging her nose in a vice grip. Tiny tears flowed down Twilight’s face as she clung on.

“That was... t-terrifying,” Twilight said. “I f-felt my skin b-burning. I c-couldn’t breathe. It was horrible.”

Celestia watched the filly cry onto her nose for a moment before moving her bare hoof to hold her as lightly as possible.

“It’s all right, you’re safe now,” Celestia said, before tears began to roll down her cheeks as well, “You’re s-safe. I w-won't let you get hurt e-ever again.”

The embrace lasted for what seemed like hours. Celestia marveled at how the little filly was able to so completely break her composure twice in such a short amount of time, when even war and the broken, bloody bodies of slain allies couldn’t. They shared a moment and though what passed between them was for them alone, it was to define their relationship, full of trust.

Free of fear.

Ch2 - Learning ( updated )

Ch2 - Learning

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Chapter 2

Learning

Ch 2

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Chapter 2

Learning

Half a year had passed since Twilight’s life-threatening experience in the bathroom.

It was no surprise that Twilight had developed a fear of the place, such that Celestia had begun to clean her regularly in her own bedchamber with a clean bowl of warm water. Afraid of another incident occurring without her mentor’s supervision, Twilight instead immersed herself in the vast world of books whenever Celestia left for her royal duties.

When Celestia was present, however, the two trained Twilight’s magic. Power surges became common occurrences, yet the filly barely seemed to mind, her determination seeing her through their discomfort.

Twilight became close with the princess, placing her unconditional trust in the giant alicorn. The habits of earlier times had almost died out.

The incident was kept as secret as that of Twilight’s condition. Only her parents, who visited every week, the two Royal Guards constantly at her side whenever the princess was gone, the doctors, who repaired the internal damage from the surges, and a few castle servants, who regularly cleaned Celestia bedchamber, knew about the tiny filly living with the Royal Princess, and all of them were sworn to absolute secrecy.

Twilight sat on her mentor’s bed, so absorbed in the giant book propped up by her pillow in front of her that she failed to notice the door of the bedchamber open.

A light-yellow unicorn servant with a bucket and mop cutie mark slowly entered the room. She levitated her cleaning materials in after her and began busying herself with making the room spotless.

Twilight had turned the page with her magic, easily flipping over the light paper of her book, before she noticed that she wasn’t alone in the room.

The unicorn maid took a quick look around and noticed that the tiny unicorn was nowhere to be found. “It’s me, Clean Room. You can come out now,” the maid called out cheerfully.

A few seconds passed before Twilight emerged from behind the pillow, plopping down at the edge of the bed with her head low, “I uhh... I’m sorry.”

The maid gave her a warm smile, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure your tiny size gives you enough problems without me adding to them.”

Twilight flinched as Clean Room began to approach the bed, but quickly regained her composure. She’d seen the maid often, and there was no reason to fear her.

The maid took a look at Twilight before examining the bed, frowning. “Again?” she sighed and shook her head a few times, “What am I going to do with you?”

Twilight blushed as she looked down at the small holes peppering the eiderdown bedding, and pillow, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, “S-sorry.”

Clean Room simply sighed and levitated a thread and needle out, prepared for such an event. “How many times must I tell you? Practice your magic on the floor,” she said, already beginning her work. For such a tiny filly, Twilight seemed to have an unusually large number of surges, especially when she practiced on her own. Even if the power surges were nearly inconsequential at that size to larger ponies, they still wreaked havoc on the soft bed.

Twilight watched silently as the maid worked swiftly and efficiently before taking a breath and squeaking out, “Could you teach me?”

“Could you speak a bit louder, dear?” Clean Room did not shift her focus from the substantial rip in front of her.

“Could you please teach me!” Twilight yelled, ignoring all of the volume levels in between.

The surprised maid’s telekinetic grip on her needle faltered for just a moment before she recovered and looked at the filly, “Teach you? Teach you what?”

“How to sew!” Twilight replied enthusiastically.

Clean Room’s eyes widened, “I must refuse this request, my dear! Sewing requires a lot of concentration and precision and even with magic, working with a needle is no walk in the park.” She didn’t mention the danger of Twilight accidentally pricking herself with a needle.

“But it can’t be that hard! The needle is half as tall as I am and the holes you’re patching are easily the size of my head; I won’t need that much help if I can easily see what I’m working on!”

The maid frowned, “You have a point, but wouldn’t the needle be too large and unwieldy to—” Clean Room resisted the urge to facehoof as a needle and thread floated easily to Twilight’s side, wrapped in a light purple aura. Of course. How did I forget that she’s the *Princess’s personal student*.

”See? It’s not hard at all! I can do this easily, so can you teach me? Pleeeeaase?” Twilight looked up at Clean Room with the best puppy-dog eyes that she could manage.

“But but but, it could be dangerous! I’ve been doing this for a while and I still prick myself sometimes. Who knows what it could do to you?” the maid stammered out in desperation.

“I promise I’ll be careful! The princess says I need to adapt to my new life, and sewing would be perfect for that. And I can practice focusing on controlling my magic! You’ll be here the whole time, so please please please please pleeeaase?” Twilight’s pleading expression could break a stone wall.

Clean Room looked desperately to the two Royal Guards flanking the door for backup. Both of the heavily-muscled guards continued staring straight ahead, like statues, although the charcoal mare looked like she was suppressing a grin.

Clean Room turned back to the filly and sighed, her head down in defeat, “Alright, you win. I’ll have to ask the princess for permission later, but I’ll teach you to sew. For now.”

Clean Room looked on with a sense of pride as Twilight began on a new hole. It had been only half an hour since they began, but the filly was an exceptionally fast learner, already fixing holes with extremely high precision.

The maid frowned, suddenly worried, “Twilight, dear, I think you’re getting a bit close to the needle. Perhaps you should back up a little.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” Twilight reassured her, still concentrating on the hole in front of her as the needle continued on its path down.

Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened. “AAAAAAAAHHHH!” Twilight swung her hoof, flinging the needle that had pierced it aside and revealing a large, profusely-bleeding gash. Her screams startled the pegasus guard, who immediately burst out of the room, flying straight to get medical assistance.

Clean Room froze, her face a picture of shock and horror, before she quickly wrenched over the closest first aid kit, quickly extracting disinfectant and a roll of bandages from its depths.

“Ssshhh... Everything is going to be all right,” the maid cooed uncertainly as she attempted to calm the filly down.

Twilight kept her bleeding leg held out awkwardly, now bawling as she attempted to stay upright. Clean Room straightened out the leg with a golden glow of magic, resisting Twilight’s renewed attempts to yank her leg back as she began to disinfect the wound.

Twilight’s screams began anew as the disinfectant bubbled against the blood around the puncture point, but they quickly petered out as the maid swiftly wrapped a bandage around the leg, using her telekinetic hold to keep Twilight’s leg out.

A stressed Clean Room began to cradle Twilight in her translucent yellow magic, unable to ease her pain. She began to panic as the situation set in, fluctuating between reassuring Twilight and looking to the distressed guard mare at the door, who was desperately scanning for any sign that help would soon be arriving.

Princess Celestia lumbered back to her chambers, exhausted from a day of dealing with bothersome, self-serving nobles and from raising the moon. She pushed open the double doors and passed the two nervous-looking guards to see the little purple filly perched in front of a thick open book. The princess opened her mouth as soon as she entered, but her greeting died on her lips when she noticed the bandage wrapped tightly around her student’s foreleg.

It didn’t take long before Celestia managed to get the whole story from Twilight, who had threatened to break down into tears before the princess wrapped her up in a warm embrace.

“I’m glad you’re okay and I’m sure your hoof will heal in time. Such an accident won’t happen again, right?” Celestia stated, nuzzling a slightly blushing Twilight.

“No. It. Won’t. Because I’m never try sewing ever again,” Twilight responded, sounding every inch like an impetuous child.

Celestia sighed, “No, my faithful student. It won’t happen again because you will be careful in the future when dealing with needles. It does not mean that you should be scared of needles and it does not mean you should never try sewing again. You can’t stop trying just because of a few setbacks.”

Twilight looked up confused at her mentor’s words as she was set back down on her pillow, “W-what do you mean?”

“Twilight, half a year ago, you nearly drowned trying to clean yourself in my bathtub, but you cannot avoid the bathroom for the rest of your life because of that. Today, you caused a serious injury to yourself because you were too hasty with your needle in an art that requires patience, but you can’t isolate yourself from danger your whole life.”

“I won’t always be here to bathe you or to protect you, so you will need to overcome your fears. I’m sure you’ll be great at sewing when you grow up, so don’t quit now just because of what happened today.”

“Sooo... I shouldn’t be scared of bathrooms and needles?” Twilight cocked her head to the side, still confused.

Celestia gave another sigh, “I’m just saying that you should learn from your mistakes rather than let them take over your life. I can teach you how to sew and how to use the bathroom, but that means you’ll have to confront them, one way or another.”

Twilight looked down meaningfully and nodded. It wasn’t long before Celestia put a drowsy Twilight to bed, deciding to hold off on the magic lesson originally planned for the evening. She’d already learned her lesson for the night.

Two years had passed since Twilight became the student of Equestria’s beloved princess. While she continued to improve her magic and occasionally constructed fortresses of books on Celestia’s bed, she began to open up to the ponies around her. She conversed often with the servants and even succeeded in starting a conversation with the stoic guards at the door. Partially. Twilight learned that the muscular pegasus stallion was named Steel Blade, who bore a cutie mark of a single intricately-decorated sword, while the lean charcoal unicorn mare was named Overwatch, whose cutie mark was, strangely enough, a single apricot with a leaf. Overwatch, who also wore a non-regulatory heavy scarf patterned with wide stripes of gold and scarlet along with her armor, seemed to have no issues with conversing openly with Twilight while Celestia was not around. Steel Blade, on the other hand, seemed flustered whenever Twilight tried to talk to him and instead preferred to remain silent and listen, despite his co-worker’s teasing.

It became fairly obvious to Celestia that Twilight could handle having a foalsitter to keep her company, but she was disappointed to find that her trusted friend, Cadence, was already busy working disguised as a unicorn in the Manehattan Press. Though she soon found another foalsitter that she could trust to keep a secret, a good second best.

“Now Twilight, my faithful student, I’ve found a foalsitter to take care of you while I’m away on royal business. I hope you’ll be able to get along with her, alright?” Celestia stated encouragingly to Twilight, smiling softly.

“Alright then! But why couldn’t you have found my BBBFF? Couldn’t he help take care of me?” Twilight asked to the apparent confusion of her mentor.

“B-B-B-F-F?” Celestia replied slowly, trying to decipher her student’s meaning.

“Big Brother Best Friend Forever?” Twilight explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Celestia was floored, “Your... big brother?”

Twilight nodded energetically, “Yep! He joined the Royal Guard about uhhh... four years ago, I think. It was about two years before you took me up as your student.”

The princess blinked, “I-I’ll look into it. In the meantime, be nice for your foalsitter, alright?” She rushed past the foalsitter at the door and took flight, moving straight for the nearby barracks.

The baby-blue earth-pony mare at the door entered and sat, exchanging an awkward stare with the little purple filly sitting on the pillow.

“I uhhh... H-hello?” she began, giving a hesitant smile.

“H-hello,” Twilight replied quietly, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

A few more awkward moments passed.

Twilight began squirming nervously under the mare’s astounded gaze until the foalsitter broke the silence, “M-my name is Calm Song. Nice to meet you.”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to meet you too,” Twilight replied, relieved that the awkward moment had passed.

“I’m sorry. Could you repeat that, dear?” Calm Song took a few steps closer, her ears pointed towards Twilight.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle! Nice to meet you!” Twilight yelled at the sitter, cranking up her volume to far above an inside voice.

Calm Song reeled back stunned, but quickly reasserted herself, “Errr... I’m sorry; the princess has already informed me about your condition, but I still find it hard to believe. It must be a terrifying life for a filly as young as you are.” She had watched over a wide variety of fillies and colts, but this one took the cake. She knew magic could do some impressive things, but this was the first she’d heard of a shrinking spell being used on a filly.

Twilight shook her head. “It’s not that bad. I’ve had a few accidents in the past, but I’m used to it now! I spend most of my time reading books anyways, and it’s not that dangerous to read books! I don’t even need to squint at the tiny words anymore with my size!” Twilight responded cheerfully and sincerely.

Calm Song looked pitifully at Twilight. Awwww, pooor thing. Hiding her fears like that and staying cooped up in this room all the time. She really needs to have fun. Calm Song considered her approach. “I’m sure that reading books is really fun for such a curious, young filly,” she started. “But I’m sure we can find something else to do.”

Steel Blade, with the encouragement of Overwatch, approached Calm Song upon hearing those words and began whispering into her ear. Calm Song listened, confused, before her eyes widened in horror.

Twilight barely had time to react as she was swept up in a carefully not-quite-bone-crushing hug. “Oh you poooor thing, getting pricked in the leg like that!” Calm Song cried. “It must have been horrible!”

“I’m fine! I’m fine! Really!” Twilight attempted to push herself out of the embrace. Futilely.

It took ten minutes of seemingly never-ending foalsitter drama before Twilight was able to convince Calm Song to release her. Still worried for the filly’s safety, Calm Song spent the next few hours playing “safe” games with Twilight, such as pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, hide-and-seek, and several rounds of checkers.

After a long day and a bit flustered with her nearly continuous losing streak, Calm Song calmly asked the filly, “Are you tired, Twilight?”

“Nope!” Twilight yelled, not wanting to be sent to bed quite yet, “Best out of seventy-five?”

“NO!” Calm Song nearly shouted before resuming in a calmer, more cheerful tone of voice, “I mean, perhaps we should go out and explore for a bit?”

“B-but what if I get hurt?” Twilight stammered, suddenly a bit frightened.

Calm Song paused momentarily, thinking of a response to convince the filly to leave her gilded cage. She took a look around and noticed the guards at the door, “I’m sure it’ll be safe. After all, you’ll have these two strong guards here to ensure your safety.” Steel Blade shifted uncomfortably in his stoic stance. The blush blossoming across his face did not escape the notice of the mare next to him, who gave him a wry grin.

Calm Song smiled and continued, “Now then, Twilight, is there anywhere that you’ve always wanted to visit, but never had the chance to?”

Twilight responded quickly, a wide smile across her face, “The LIBRARY!”

Calm Song’s hoof swiftly met her face, This filly *really** needs to find a hobby outside of reading, but at least she won’t be in Celestia’s bedroom all the time*.

Steel Blade flew swiftly to the barracks where Princess Celestia was scheduled to make some sort of inspection, returning with permission from the princess to visit the library under the condition that Twilight’s size be kept secret and her safety certain.

And so, Twilight sat comfortably in Calm Song’s saddlebags as they were escorted to the Royal Library. Curious, the little filly peeked out of a small opening at the top of her hiding place, noticing as they passed pockets of disinterested nobles, busy servants, and statuesque guards.

Twilight’s brow furrowed as something caught her attention. All of the pegasus guards had white coats and sported dark-blue manes, exactly like Steel Blade, while the unicorn guards had grey coats and bleached manes, exactly unlike Overwatch, whose amber mane and golden eyes contrasted greatly with her dark coat.

When the group arrived at the library and Calm Song approached the librarian to explain the situation, Twilight poked her head out and called quietly for Steel Blade. Once she had his attention, she asked, “Why are all the guards the same color?”

Steel Blade thought for a moment before tapping his armor with a hoof. “Enchantments on the armor. They change our appearance as soon as we put them on,” he smiled, sounding much more confident than his other interactions with Twilight. “The uniform of the Royal Guards goes beyond just the fancy dress.”

Twilight glanced over at Overwatch, “So why is she a different color?”

Steel Blade shrugged, “No one really knows. Transformative magic just washes off of her. Hasn’t stopped her from being an exceptional guard.”

Twilight gave him an innocent smile, “Like you, right?”

A blushing Steel Blade was saved from responding when Calm Song turned back to them, stating that the library would be closed as long as the Princess’s Student wished to stay. The mint green librarian with a blonde mane gave them a warm smile, reaffirming the foalsitter’s words before trotting to herd the rest of the ponies in the library out and placing a “Closed” sign on the massive doors.

It took the good part of the hour before the group maneuvered through all of the rows, looking over the contents of most of the shelves. When Calm Song asked Twilight where she wanted to begin reading, the tiny filly guided them into the aisle devoted entirely to books about magic.

Twilight scanned the shelf in front of her quickly from her new perch on Calm Song’s head. It wasn’t long before she found what she was looking for, and with a surge of pink magic, she selected the thickest, heaviest tome from the top shelf and dropped it roughly on the table with a loud thump.

Twilight hopped down to her prize, an encyclopedia of nearly every subject in magic, and popped it open to the table of contents. It took a moment of complete silence before Twilight looked up and into the astonished face of Calm Song.

“H-how did you do that?” Calm Song asked, clearly still impressed, “Most of the unicorns I know can barely lift their own body weight.”

“Um... Practice? Princess Celestia makes me levitate heavy objects a lot. This book isn’t really that bad.”

Calm Song looked at Twilight in astonishment. If Twilight was the same size as a regular pony, she’d probably have no problems levitating a giant brown bear. Slightly embarrassed at the attention, the tiny filly turned back to the book in question, flipping rapidly through the pages on Transformation and Transfiguration. She turned back to the shelf and attempted to float out a large mass of books on the same topic, but was soon stopped when her field of vision was blocked.

“Only one book at a time, miss,” Steel Blade stated. “You know what happens when you try to carry too much.”

Twilight huffed and put back the books, selecting only one to begin flipping through. The librarian was nice enough to reserve the entire library for her, and she didn’t need to have a magic surge next to all of those precious books.

For the next few hours, Twilight spent her time reading books she had picked out. Calm Song felt more than a little bored as she watched the little filly reading books with an impressive speed, although her boredom was replaced with awe every time Twilight seemed to effortlessly float a book through the air with her magic. After all, if she were as small as the tiny filly, such a feat of strength would be well beyond her abilities.

To the relief of Twilight’s companions, no accidents occurred throughout the reading session outside of the one minor incident where Twilight had lost her focus over her magic, causing a book she was levitating to land on her instead of the table that Twilight had annexed. Thankfully, neither Twilight nor the traitorous book were harmed outside of a scuffed cover and a bruised pride. The guards had never felt so grateful for Celestia’s protection spell as they had then.

It was not long before the moon was raised. Calm Song returned the book that Twilight was currently reading to its correct spot and tucked the filly back into her saddlebags, motioning for the guards that they were ready to return to the princess’s bedchambers. Twilight gave little more than a soft whine, already lost in magical dreams of the adventures of Fort Book.

Ch3 - The Dragon and the Knight ( updated )

Ch3 - The Dragon and the Knight

Celestia’s Tiny Student -

Chapter 3

-

The Dragon and the Knight

A silent Shining Armor strode through the hallways of the castle, lead by a formal Princess Celestia.

He’d gotten the news only yesterday that his little Twiley had become the personal student of Princess Celestia and he was still in a state of shock about the whole reveal. He’d barely heard the princess’s offer to allow him to visit her as he dug through piles of unread letters from his parents. He was generally too tired by the end of training to even think about them, and now he was regretting that he had not read those letters when he had the chance.

“Sergeant Shining Armor,” Celestia formally began, drawing Shining Armor out of his contemplative silence, “First of all, I deeply apologize for forgetting to allow you to visit your sister until two years after I took her in as my student. I had wanted to give her enough time to adapt to her new environment and my duties as the Princess of Equestria demanded much of my attention. Although I allowed your parents to visit her anytime they wished, I did not realize that Twilight had a brother to whom I must also extend the privilege. Please accept my apologies.”

Shining Armor sighed. “I understand, Your Highness, but I feel that part of the blame is on me. I was too preoccupied with my training that I’ve completely forgotten to read through the letters that my own parents have been sending me. They were quite ecstatic about Twilight’s future as your student, and if I had known, I would have asked for your permission sooner. Please do not blame yourself for my carelessness; you already have plenty on your mind without concerning yourself with me.”

Celestia gave a small frown, “Have they told you anything else about Twilight?”

“Ummm... No, Your Highness,” Shining Armor shot a confused glance at Celestia. “I don’t know much else outside of Twilight becoming your student and a small portion of her ongoing studies, which I didn’t know until yesterday. Better late than never, I guess.”

Celestia grinned despite herself. It sounds like he doesn’t know about Twilight’s little condition. It’ll be amusing to see his reaction when he discovers how fitting the term “little sister” is. The two arrived in front of Celestia’s chambers and the two guards outside opened the door to allow them entrance.

Twilight waved to Calm Song as she left before levitating a few books over to the bed. As good as she was at keeping Twilight happy and occupied, Celestia decided that she needed a foalsitter that had the ability to help her student improve her magic. Cadence was still busy with the Manehattan Press, and it seemed that there were a few bumps that she had run into that she wanted to resolve, so word on that opportunity may be late in coming.

An hour and several books later, Twilight’s Serious Study Period was interrupted when the doors opened with a glow of magic.

“Hey Twiley? It’s me, your BBBFF,” Shining Armor stepped carefully into the room, though his excitement at seeing his sister quickly changed into confusion as he looked at the books piled on top of the large bed with no sign of the purple filly.

“Hey Shiny!” a small voice drew his attention to the little purple unicorn now bouncing on the bed, waving energetically at him.

Shining Armor slowly approached the bed, his eyes wide in surprise as the object of his attention crystallized into a tiny version of the little sister he had known. “Twiley? Is that really you?”

“Of course it’s me! Who else could I be?” Twilight replied, slightly confused by her brother’s behavior. She’d expected him to sweep her up in a warm hug, but the detached expression on his face was starting to worry her.

Shining Armor turned back to glare at Celestia. “What is the meaning of this?” he asked harshly, forgetting that he was speaking to the princess.

“I shrank her, Sergeant Armor,” Celestia replied, slightly amused. It was completely reasonable that he’d be a bit peeved that something happened to his sister that he didn’t know about. Then again, it was his fault that he didn’t read his parent’s letters very carefully.

“Yes, I can see that! But why?” Shining asked, beginning to lose his composure. The guards at the door had already begun watching him closely, and Steel Blade began to approach the officer until he was blocked by Celestia’s wing.

Celestia gave a chuckle. “So that she would not hurt anypony with her magic surges,” she replied calmly and simply.

Shining Armor let out a huff, but seemed to visibly calm down. “Magic surges? You’re going to have to explain that.”

“I’m not very good at controlling my power, Shiny,” Twilight interjected, causing her brother to face her instead, “The princess shrank me so that my surges wouldn’t be a danger to anypony. She accepted me as her student so that she could teach me to control my magic, but until I stop having surges, I will have to remain at this size.”

Shining Armor frowned, “But there has to be a better way than just shrinking you. There are too many things that could harm you when you’re so small.”

“Don’t worry, I have Princess Celestia and two of her guards to help keep me safe. The princess even casts a protection spell on me often, to compensate for my size.”

Shining Armor cast a glance at the princess and the two guards in question before turning back to Twilight, “Are... are you really okay with this?”

Twilight responded by nodding energetically. “Mm hmm! I can read as much as I want, I’m learning a lot about magic, and I get to spend time with the princess.”

Shining Armor continued to stare at Twilight, already relaxing. His sister seemed to be taking this well and if she was happy with the situation, well, it wasn’t his place to tell her otherwise. If anything, Princess Celestia would probably be the best choice in keeping Twilight safe.

A moment of silence passed before Shining Armor sighed and embraced his sister in a careful hug, “Alright then, Twiley. If there’s anything you want to talk about or anything you need from me, just ask, alright? I’ll try to visit as often as I can. Love you, lil’ sis.”

“Love you too, BBBFF. Hey, wanna play with me for a while?” Twilight asked, beaming up at him.

“Uhhh, sure. What do you have in mind?” Shining Armor asked.

“Hide and Seek!” Twilight exclaimed, happy that her BBBFF was back to normal.

A half an hour later, the two of them, Twilight and Shining Armor, rested comfortably on the bed while Twilight began to recount the past two years under Celestia’s tutelage, telling her brother what she had studied and everything that had happened. Everything. Celestia did not fail to notice the twitch in Shining Armor’s eye when Twilight went through the bathroom incident and the fake smile he wore when the needle accident was mentioned, and it pained her to recall these episodes of her life. Twilight concluded on a good note with a visit to the Library, smiling as she finished her recollection.

“Wow, Twiley. You have had a very interesting time here. I’m so proud that you’ve managed to adapt so well to your difficult life.” Shining Armor forced a grin onto his face and shot a glare at Celestia, who turned red and gave a weak smile, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

“Well, it wasn’t that hard,” Twilight replied, oblivious to the discomfort of the others. “I mean, the first couple weeks were the hardest, but they’ve already passed. Now, I can even visit the library and go through the books there, though I’m not allowed to visit for very long. Brave Blade said it was because I’m a classified pony, whatever that means!” Twilight finished cheerfully, though she made a note to look up what “classified” meant later.

“That’s good, Twiley. Anyway, could you pardon me for a second? I need to have a private talk with the princess, right?” He turned to look at Celestia, who pointedly did not meet his gaze.

“No problem, BBBFF! Just don’t take too long; you still need to tell me about what you’ve done!”

Shining Armor and Celestia moved outside, leaving Twilight to return to her books. As soon as the doors shut behind them, Shining Armor cast an opaque dome around the two while Celestia soundproofed it.

Certain that everything was in place, Shining Armor dropped his false front, scowling at the princess. “I don’t believe you’ve told me about the multiple times my sister almost died,” Shining Armor growled between grit teeth. “My parents left her under your care because they trusted you to keep her safe and this is how you honor that commitment?”

Celestia gave a deep sigh. “I am truly sorry that I had allowed her to place herself in such danger,” she admitted, sincere in her apologies. “But I did everything in my power to ensure your sister’s safety.”

“Everything in your power? You raise the sun and the moon every single day and yet you can’t keep one filly from almost drowning?” Shining Armor said, his words biting and harsh, “I don’t believe you are paying enough attention to her as you should.”

Celestia straightened up, looking gravely at the stallion, “I cannot watch her all day. I am doing my best to teach her and keep her safe, but even I can make mistakes.”

“Then perhaps you need better help. Ponies that are smart enough not to let my little sister play with needles.”

“I have already hired an experienced foalsitter and I have two extremely well-trained guards keeping an eye on her at all times. I even cast a protection spell on her daily. What else can I do?” Celestia replied, stern and unwavering.

“How about actually keeping her away from danger? How about actually caring for her safety? I bet you don’t even care about her any more than you care about the other countless subjects you rule over every day,” Shining Armor snorted loudly. “I bet you left her alone, hoping that she’ll have to use her magic to save herself from some danger that you—”

Shining Armor was cut off by a solid hoof to the face by Celestia’s golden horseshoe. “Do you think that I do not care about her? That I enjoy keeping her small and vulnerable? That I enjoy keeping her in a world suddenly filled with danger wherever she goes?” Celestia shouted, her voice cracking. “Yes, she is one of my subjects, and I try to treat all of my subjects fairly, but do you have any idea how I felt when the filly that I’d promised to nurture and protect almost died while I wasn’t watching her?”

Shining Armor shrank back, his anger giving way to guilt as he realized exactly what he had just accused the princess of.

Celestia took a deep breath, calming her nerves. “It broke my heart to see her nearly die in front of me, but returning her to her original size will only make things worse. As of now, she is safe from the magic surges that would otherwise tear her apart, and that means that she’s already safe from her greatest danger.”

“Then... perhaps I can assist? I know plenty about barrier magic and protective spells. Maybe I can—”

Celestia cut him off, her voice returning to its former calm tone. “And what would you do? Resign from the guard and spend every day and hour looking after your little sister? You can’t keep her in a bubble, and she won’t be happy that you’re interfering with her study of magic.”

Shining Armor turned away, and Celestia continued, “I encourage you to keep visiting; she needs the company. But don’t throw your own future away. She is in good hooves now.”

Shining Armor gave a nod, dispelling his shield after multiple reassurances that his words would not affect his life in the Royal Guard. They were greeted by a smiling Twilight Sparkle, who was perched on the head of a similarly grinning Overwatch and accompanied by a slightly surprised Steel Blade.

“See?” Overwatch commented to Twilight. “Told you everything would be fine. Call it a mare’s intuition.”

Twilight nodded and turned to look at the puzzled faces of Celestia and Shining Armor, “She said that there were a lot of bad feelings between you two, but it looks like it all worked out!”

Shining Armor breathed a sigh of relief and the group re-entered Celestia’s chambers, “Indeed they have. C’mon Twiley, I still have to tell you about my time in the guard!”

A year later, Calm Song returned from another fruitful day in the Royal Library with her charge safely tucked into a book-filled saddlebag. It may not have been fruitful for Calm Song, but it had  certainly been fruitful for Twilight.

A distant sound of running hooves echoed down to them as they trotted through the corridor. A baby dragon hurtled around the corner at top speed, closely pursued by a multitude of older unicorns. Calm Song stopped suddenly, blinking. Dragons were not exactly common fare, but as a foalsitter with plenty of experience working with others, it was clear that this little creature looked terrified, not terrifying. The dragon collided with her forehoof while it was looking backwards, knocking Calm Song out of her stupor. She looked down at the little dragon and asked kindly, “I’m sorry, little one. Are you alright?”

“We have you now, you little menace,” shouted one of the adult unicorns, a note of triumph in his voice as he dashed up and wrapped the little dragon in a magical spell. The little dragon fought against his magical bonds, but no avail, going limp as he looked up at the foalsitter with tears in his eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing to that poor baby?” asked Calm Song, sounding anything but calm as she tried to wedge herself in between the unicorn and his captured dragon.

A second older unicorn came panting up and shoved her aside, adding his magic to the little dragon’s magical bonds. “Look, miss,” he began, straightening up and catching his breath, “We’re the university’s experts on draconic culture here, and Princess Celestia put this dragon into our care because of that fact. We treat him properly, but he refuses to stay put, scurrying away whenever our backs are turned. Quite ungrateful, if you ask me.” He shot an irritated glare at the little dragon, to which the dragon responded by sticking out his long forked tongue and hissing.

As Calm Song and the unicorns argued bitterly over the proper treatment of the draconic youth, Twilight peeked out from her foalsitter’s saddlebags, instantly recognizing the baby dragon.

“Hey, it’s you! I remember you!” screamed Twilight as she tried to attract the dragon’s attention. Surrounded by the unicorn’s magical bonds, the little dragon stopped struggling and turned to the source of the new voice, his eyes alighting with a glimmer of recognition as Twilight climbed out of the saddlebags onto Calm Song, beginning her precipitous ascent up her foalsitter’s mane.

The unicorn professors went silent as they noticed the tiny unicorn climbing across Calm Song’s back, up her mane, and to her nose. Their fascinated gaze alternated between the tiny filly and the little dragon being levitated between them.

“It’s you!” the second unicorn gasped and staggered back, pointing a shaky hoof at Twilight. It wasn’t easy to forget the unicorn that had shown such a display of raw power during her entrance exam.

Twilight Sparkle looked over at the speaker and recognized him as one of the evaluators she had unwittingly assaulted during her entrance exam, although now, he looked terrifyingly huge. She blushed with embarrassment and, finding nothing to hide behind on her foalsitter’s nose, she settled for a timid wave and a meek, “H-hello?”

She quickly retreated to her foalsitter’s saddlebags as more of the university’s professors showed up, hiding away from the barrage of questions that quickly ensued. Despite Calm Song’s best efforts, the university professors hauled away the little dragon, still struggling and screaming inside his magical bonds until his voice faded into the distance. Twilight’s guards, aided by a few other guards who had heard the commotion, quickly dispersed the crowd of curious professors from interfering with Calm Song and her tiny charge, and they all went their separate ways.

Later that evening, Twilight recounted the events on the way back from the library to her mentor. Princess Celestia, concerned about the exposure of her faithful student, made a special note to visit the professors in question to remind them about their promise to keep Twilight’s condition secret.

However, Twilight’s questions about the baby dragon bothered her more. Twilight was very concerned about him, asking how he was being taken care of, what he was being fed, and if he had enough playtime to assure adequate physiological and psychological development in the critical formative years of draconic youth. Her reading quickly included several books on the subject, and after seeing how the university’s professors treated the little dragon, she was quite adamant about assisting with his proper care. After all, he had recognized her and calmed down in her presence in the hallway. She reasoned that a reassuring presence should make him much happier.

Celestia began to mull over the situation. It was Twilight’s magic that hatched his egg, and since she was the first living creature he saw after being hatched, he may even think of her as his mother. Now that he’s seen her again, it will be even more difficult to keep them separated, and the last thing I need is a baby dragon crawling into our bed in the middle of the night.

Perhaps I should visit his caretakers and make it certain that they are to take their important task seriously. If they can assure me he will behave, I shall allow him to visit Twilight under my close supervision.

Her plan of action set, Celestia gave her ruling on the subject. “I’m afraid you cannot raise a baby dragon by yourself. You are far too young and far too small. He could easily injure you by accident,” she began, trying to ignore the pleading expression on her student’s face. “However, I believe I can permit him to visit when I will be around to ensure your safety.”

“Huzzah!” Twilight bounced happily around the bed, doing the occasional flip as she hit a particularly springy spot. She jumped back over to the princess and wrapped the royal muzzle in her tiny hooves, bringing a welcome smile to Celestia’s face.

“You are very welcome, Twilight,” Celestia responded, waiting patiently for the filly to stop hugging her nose. Once the little filly had returned to her happy bouncing around the bed, Celestia asked, “Are you hungry?”

Twilight suddenly stopped. ”Maybe a little,” she admitted as she trotted over to the edge of the bed and looked at the food spread around the endtable, brought in only moments before when she was distracted by her glee. Before Celestia could levitate the food over to her, Twilight quickly called out, “Wait, could I try?”

Celestia blinked in surprise, but quickly realized her student’s intention. “You want to eat on your own, don’t you, Twilight?”  With an energetic nod from her faithful student, Celestia smiled and nodded back, “Go ahead, but please be careful.”

She watched carefully as Twilight prepared to use her magic. It had been three years since she had taken up Twilight Sparkle as her personal student, and her magical control had advanced greatly as she matured into the extraordinary ten-year old filly she was now. That said, Celestia still kept an eye on her faithful student, hoping to prevent another accident before it could even think of occurring.

It was not a problem for Twilight to levitate each part of the meal individually; she certainly had the strength behind her telekinesis. Her main problem was control, and the teacup to the side of the meal represented her ultimate challenge in telekinetic finesse.

The heavy porcelain teacup levitated slowly over to Twilight before stopping an inch in front of her. Seeing an impending disaster about to occur, Celestia quickly cast a chilling spell on the boiling hot tea, cooling it down to room temperature. It tipped slowly in Twilight’s direction as she stood on the tips of her hooves, sweat dripping from her brow as she leaned in farther and farther.

She stumbled, and the cup quickly upended over her. She gave a quick yelp before the cup dropped down, completely trapping her beneath it.

Celestia burst out laughing as she quickly grasped the teacup in her magic, revealing a dripping wet Twilight trying to hide her reddened face under her hooves. Celestia levitated Twilight up from the wet spot on the bed up to her face, grinning dastardly as she stopped her laughing.

“While I admire your efforts to clean yourself, Twilight, I feel that tea is not quite as effective as good old soap and water,” Celestia stated. “Which is what I think we’re going to need more of.”

Twilight’s embarrassment had threatened to turn into defeat, but she soon perked up. “Bathtime?” Her fear of the terrible bathtub faded once Celestia had allowed the little unicorn to share the bathtub with her, turning the once-dreaded ordeal into another time to play. In a few quick minutes, the princess had run a nice, warm tub of soapy water and climbed in, levitating her little student into its sudsy embrace. With an expansive wing on either side to keep Twilight from sinking and a little yellow rubber duck as large as she was, Twilight splashed and played on a giggling Celestia’s barrel until she was forcibly removed and dried with a fluffy towel.

After a final magical training session as the two waited for their coats to dry, Celestia tucked her exhausted student into bed, smiling. She looked so cute curled up on the pillow. It was hard to believe that this was the same student who had caused so much damage during her entry exam, nearly ruining the examination hall and smashing a giant hole in the roof...

Celestia suddenly perked up, “I almost forgot, Twilight. Since you were the one who hatched the baby dragon, perhaps you should be the one to name him. What do you think?”

Twilight raised her head and blinked sleepily. “Spike,” she declared after a few minutes thought, “His name should be Spike.”

“Spike. That’s a nice name for a dragon,” Celestia smiled and gave Twilight a gentle kiss before turning down the lights and leaving to raise the moon. The warmth that filled her heart was a strong reminder of the times she had spent with Luna, especially now that her hopes for the safe return of her little sister seemed closer than ever.

Source

Ch4 - Stargazing

Ch4 - Stargazing ( final version )

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Chapter 4

Stargazing

Eight years before Nightmare Moon's return

It had been five years since Celestia took Twilight Sparkle up as her faithful student.

In that time, Brave Blade had easily tracked down Rainbow Dash, the pegasus filly who had created the Sonic Rainboom. She had created it during an impromptu racing event and had earned her cutie mark soon after. Her involvement in the whole event, however, was obscured behind the wonder of the event itself. It was not easy to convince the filly to keep it quiet, but Rainbow Dash was quickly compliant when Fluttershy was mentioned.

The whole situation with Fluttershy had shocked Celestia. Perhaps it was assumed that all pegasi enrolled at the academy could fly, but that was little excuse for the lack of safety measures that nearly led to the death of the pegasus filly, who was nudged off the safety of her cloud by a speeding Rainbow Dash. Fortunately and quite remarkably, she had been saved by a passing cloud of butterflies and had earned her cutie mark soon after the Rainboom.

Fancy Pants had managed to track down a unicorn filly by the name of Rarity, who had gone missing a day before the Rainboom, having given a quick shout to her parents about destiny while being dragged away by her glowing horn. She had returned the late afternoon after the Rainboom with an unexplained massive stock of gemstones that she used to beautify the costumes used in the pageant the next day.

Fancy Pants had also received word from Manehatten that concerned a young farm filly named Applejack. The upper-class Orange family had lamented Applejack’s sudden conviction to return to Sweet Apple Acres soon after the Rainboom, where her cutie mark had appeared.

There was still one possible Element missing, but there was still eight more years left to find it. At the moment, the other four possible bearers had already settled or had prepared to settle in Ponyville. Rarity had been absolutely entranced by the Carousel Boutique, which was left to her rural family after the passing of a fashionista relative. Fluttershy had expressed her desire to settle near a forest filled with critters and Celestia had quietly provided a nice, cheap cottage next to the Everfree forest where the old castle crumbled away. To her parents’ surprise, Rainbow Dash was prepared to leave with Fluttershy, deciding that flight school had little else to teach her, and was already building her own cloud house with spare materials from her temporary internship at the weather factory. Applejack was already living at the edge of Ponyville and needed no intervention. Twilight, of course, was right with Celestia and could be sent to Ponyville whenever she wished, and with her resources, it would be easy to gather the bearers in Ponyville even if they eventually decided not to settle there.

It was not the most honest thing, Celestia knew, to manipulate her subjects like this, but if the Elements had already chosen them, they would need to be together. She just needed to make sure that they were together by the time Luna returned.

Nightmare Moon herself would be strong and experienced in combat, but with the resources of Equestria, Celestia would have no issues taking her down. The problem lay within defeating Nightmare Moon without hurting her sister inside, and since Nightmare Moon would never accept defeat, such a task was indeed formidable.

It was a gamble to rely on the Elements of Harmony activating once again at their full power, but if there was a chance that it could end the conflict without Luna or anypony else getting hurt, it was a gamble worth taking.

Celestia, as usual, was the first to wake, quietly stretching out the kinks in her back before looking to her faithful student curled up on the pillow next to her.

It still bothered her that she was forced to keep her student tiny. Even after so long, Twilight was still unable to withhold her surges whenever she overexerted her magic and as a result, she had to remain at her size, hidden away from any other ponies her own age.

Celestia cast her daily protection spell on Twilight before nudging the pillow on which her student rested, "Rise and shine, my little Sparkle."

Twilight woke with a quiet, “Shmerrr.” She yawned before straightening up and turning to face her mentor. “Good morning, Princess!”

Celestia gave a warm grin to her student when a quick rapping on the chamber’s doors drew their attention. Celestia gave a quick, “You may enter,” and the doors slowly opened with a glow of magic, allowing a few servants bearing breakfast and tea to enter, accompanied by a professional Steel Blade and a yawning Overwatch. The servants each left their offerings on the endtable, giving a quick nod before retreating back to the kitchens. The two guards took their posts at the door following a short acknowledgement of the Princess and a polite bow.

Twilight wasted no time levitating the teapot and a pair of cups. “Tea, Princess?” she asked cheerfully, determined to take every opportunity to practice her magic.

Celestia gave a nod, watching as Twilight slowly poured the tea. None of this was beyond her ability, but Twilight had proven consistently that she wanted to do everything she could to help out and this was no exception. She allowed the teacup to get close enough to touch with a hoof before taking it up in her own magic and taking a sip.

Celestia set her teacup down with a slight rattle as she surveyed the rest of the table. The castle’s kitchen had prepared a wide variety of foods, ranging from a deceptively simple hay sandwich to an elaborate cake that should never be eaten at breakfast. Ever. If there was a reason that Celestia may have put on a few pounds over the centuries, it would have mostly been the kitchen staff’s fault for waging war on her with delectables. It would not have been very sporting of her if she did not have a taste or two or three of everything they had cooked up.

Celestia cut out a large slice of cake and began eating as Twilight, who had moved onto the table itself, levitated her own small piece of food to eat. It was a rather unfortunate fact that though the kitchens cooked for two ponies, Twilight needed little more than an fiftieth of what normal ponies needed, leaving that much more as leftovers. Leftovers that a sensible, conscientious pony would not waste.

Celestia levitated another piece of cake over.

Twilight had levitated over a large cup of tea before carefully and deliberately tilting it so she could take a sip herself. It was a far cry from a few years back, when the cup itself would spill half of its contents on its way to her and the other half when she tried to drink from it. It was good progress, but Twilight needed to be challenged, and the teacup held little else for her to benefit from.

Celestia finished her breakfast, setting an empty teacup down as she lowered her head beside Twilight. “It’s time to raise the sun. Would you like to watch?” she asked, already knowing the answer to her question. Twilight gave a quick nod before clambering onto Celestia’s head. The Princess raised her head before levitating her royal accoutrements on, situating Twilight in a prime position behind her crown. She began moving to her normal spot to raise the sun before she suddenly stopped and looked over at the table. She quickly levitated another slice of cake over before trotting to her balcony, the little unicorn still perched on her head.

With a glow of her horn, Celestia reached out with her magic and began to lower the moon, staring at the cratered shape of a mare on its surface as it sunk below the horizon. Twilight, despite having seen it every day for the last few years, still exuded an infectious excitement whenever Celestia rose the sun.

Celestia paid little attention to her student’s praise as she looked to the horizon where the moon had disappeared. She lingered there on the balcony for a few more seconds before slowly turning to walk back to her chambers.

“It appears that our time for today is nearly over,” Celestia announced to her exhausted student, “I will have to go attend to my royal duties now, but if you wish to go anywhere today, just tell me now and I will have your guards escort you.”

The hour of magical weight training felt like it had lasted alot longer than it actually had and Twilight was already exhausted, though she had managed to lift more than sixty times her weight before surging, a new record for the moment. It was as good a reason as any to bend the rules a bit.

“Well, could I play with Spike then? Please?” Twilight replied.

Celestia gave Twilight a nod. “Of course you can, but be careful though. I’m sure your two guards will help keep you safe, but they won’t be able to protect you from everything. He may have good intentions, but he’s still a young dragon and unaware of his own strength.” Spike had been able to visit fairly often now, much to Twilight’s delight, and at the age of five, Spike was a fair bit more careful than when he was an infant drake. It was yet another friend for Twilight to have, a rarity since she needed to be kept isolated from the dangers of the world.

Twilight nodded energetically. “No problem, Princess! I’ll be careful,” she offered before plopping back in exhaustion.

Celestia gave a warm smile, levitating Twilight over to her pillow. “I’m sure you will, but for now, you need to rest from your training. I will ask the guards to summon Spike, so take care and enjoy yourself,” she said gently before departing, leaving her student alone with her two guards.

A light rapping on the door sounded, drawing Twilight’s attention. Steel Blade opened the door, revealing a pair of guards outside, Spike sitting happily on the back of one of them. After a round of formalities, Spike happily hopped to the ground, scurrying into the bedchamber as Steel Blade moved aside to grant him access.

"H-hi Twilith!" exclaimed Spike. The young drake did not take long to begin learning Equestrian, though he was advancing at a somewhat slower pace than young foals his age. It was assumed that since dragons lived to a longer age, draconic development also advanced at a slower pace, and although Spike had difficulties with language, Twilight understood him easily.

"Hey Spike! C’mon, wanna come read with me?" Twilight asked excitedly, sitting up on her pillow.

"Susss-sure" Spike slurred a bit, already attempting to climb up onto the bed. Twilight wished she could help him up with her magic. His diminutive size was betrayed by his scales’ combined weight. Spike was nearly thirty kilograms, which was extremely close to Twilight’s weight limit before she triggered a surge. It did not help that her magical reserves were now low, almost completely drained by her training. The issue was neatly solved, however, when Overwatch lightly levitated Spike up, placing him next to Twilight.

"Thank you, but could you please pass me that book over there?" Twilight asked, pointing to a book on a nearby table.

Overwatch looked to where she was pointing and levitated the book in question over. It was a colorful book filled with various foal-friendly tales and myths, perfect material to teach the young drake.

Twilight thanked the guard as the book was propped up in front of her and Spike. Though her magic was weakened, she still had no problems turning the light paper of the pages. "Okay Spike, say Equestria," she ordered softly to Spike, showing the baby dragon a drawing from the book. It was a beautiful hoof-drawn rendition of the country with the name “EQUESTRIA” written in large, flowing script at the top.

"Equesria," Spike replied.

"Almost! Try again. Ee-ques-tri-a."

"Ee-coo-est-ia," Spike sounded the word out slowly, trying to make sense of Twilight’s teachings. Unsatisfied, Twilight prompted him to try again.

"Ee-que-stra," Spike repeated, looking at Twilight, still unsure as to whether he got it correct this time.

Twilight smiled, "Very good Spike." His pronunciation was not quite perfect yet, but it was good to encourage him, and Spike loved her for it. His caretakers had taken to trying to teach him the language, but they seemed distant and distrustful, more interested in studying him than teaching him.

The guards returned to their spots around the door. This was not the first time Twilight had given Spike lessons in reading and writing and if the pattern continues, this session was going to last a few hours. They gave a collective sigh, but managed to smile warmly at the scene in front of them. This was going to be a long day.

Celestia finished with her duties late into the day, but had unfortunately gotten no word on the last Element bearer, who she had surmised to be the Bearer of Laughter after looking through the files on the other bearers. Despite the best efforts of her agents, none of the organizations related to entertainment had reported any strange events following the Rainboom, and Celestia was running out of ideas of where to look. Her thoughts ended as the two guards opened the door to her chambers to allow her entrance.

"You're back, Princess!" Twilight exclaimed cheerfully, looking up from the book she was reading, "How was your day?" She was surrounded by books that were for foals far below her current age and Celestia quickly deduced what had occurred in her absence.

"My day? Nothing special, my faithful student," Celestia answered, looking as disinterested as she felt. "I signed a few good ideas into play, politely rejected several bad ideas, and spent a while talking with nobles. " Not that I am complaining too much. An uneventful day means that Equestria is peaceful and that my ponies are happy, though those nobles could do with a bit of shaping up. Elite of Canterlot, my flank. The vast majority of them are arrogant and useless, but with the immense influence that bits can get them, all I can do is make sure that they don’t try to pass any stupid laws. She sighed. Keeping with the feudal system all those centuries ago had been a remarkably bad idea.

At least I have Fancy Pants. He’s been able to help out immensely on the nobility front and thankfully, his popularity could sway anypony to his side, whether he’s aware of it or not.

"Oh. That’s disappointing," Twilight noted with a frown, but quickly cheered up. "Maybe we can have some fun together?"

Celestia smiled genuinely. "That sounds like a wonderful idea, but let me raise the moon first," Celestia explained, picking up Twilight as she walked over to her balcony.

Outside, Celestia raised her horn and prepared to move the moon. It wasn't quite her element to be doing her sister's job, but daily practice over pretty much the last millennium had given her plenty of experience, and the moon moved smoothly to its rightful position in the sky.

"Wonderful, isn't it?" Twilight asked. She caught Celestia's attention and pointed a hoof upwards, "Your night sky is so wonderful. The stars are so bright and though ponies see them every night, there’s so much still unknown about them. I found an astronomy book about the constellations and though there were many things I didn’t understand, I’m sure that when I grow up, I’ll be able to learn everything about the night sky and the constellations that you’ve made." Twilight smiled, continuing to gaze up at the night sky.

Celestia gave a weak smile, thankful that her student could not see her face easily from her perch. I am so sorry, sister. I’ve succeeded too well in keeping you a secret from the ponies that would hate and fear you and now my faithful student has praised me for your work, even though I haven't changed it in the slightest since the day of your banishment.

But it needed to be done. No one would have ever seen you as anything other than a monster if the story of the Mare in the Moon was thought of as anything but a fairy tale. Please, forgive me. Forgive me for being so blind. You’ve done so much for Equestria, from protecting it from monsters that lurk in the darkness, to bringing about a beautiful, serene night to allow it to rest, yet our subjects...

No, not even I had shown you the love that you deserved.

I had done nothing when you needed me the most and I failed to realize it until it was too late. Celestia lost herself in her thoughts, gazing at the moon, hoping that her thoughts would travel to her sister so far away.

In the end, I am still unable to correct this mistake, having to resort to using a filly to help redeem myself. She will have to be my means to an end, and all I can do is make her happy and prepare her for what is to come. Celestia’s eyes watered, but another smile soon worked its way onto her muzzle.

I’m sure you’ll have much to talk about with my faithful student. She seems quite interested in your art, Luna. I’ll see you soon. She turned to re-enter her chambers when a voice stopped her.

“Could we stay out here for a little longer?” Twilight asked. She was trying to look down into Celestia’s eyes, “We could read that complicated book about constellations together.”

Celestia turned to stare at the unused telescope next to her on the balcony, disuse and dust tarnishing its once former beauty. A moment passed before she swept it into position, calling for a guard to bring her the astronomy book that Twilight had mentioned.

Perhaps it is finally time for me to learn something about you, sister.

Bonus Ch - Twiny's Flu

Ch5 - Lost

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Chapter 5

Lost

Six years before Nightmare Moon's return

“That’s enough for today my little student,” Celestia stated calmly as Twilight finished her eighth magic surge in the past hour, under the supervision of a medical professional. It had been seven years since Twilight had become her faithful student, and in the past few months, Twilight had demonstrated a powerful urge to succeed as she shifted from the theory of magic to the practical application of it.

“N-n-n-no. I c-can s-still—” Twilight demanded shakily. She attempted to rise, but her body failed to comply with her demands, and she plopped down on the blackened spot on the table, damaged through years of surges.

Celestia watched her tiny student with a smile. “Twilight, I am so very proud of you. You have worked far harder than I ever expected, and once again, you have exceeded my expectations,” Celestia stated before moving in to nuzzle Twilight warmly. Twilight returned the gesture as well as she could, despite her exhaustion. Celestia praised her faithful student often and enjoyed seeing her student beam in response. Her approval meant everything to Twilight, and the fact that Twilight pushed herself farther only made them all the more special.

Celestia straightened up and offered, “As a reward for your hard work, I will teach you a new spell.” Chuckling as Twilight immediately sat up beaming with excitement, she continued, “And considering your progress, I’d say we can move on to the more difficult spells.”

Twilight raised her hooves in celebration, giving an energetic whoop before collapsing on her back.

Celestia gave a mock look of worry. “But perhaps that should wait until you recover. You’re too tired to be trying advanced spells at the moment,” she noted, much to Twilight’s evident disappointment, “but while I’m gone, you can have a quick read through the subject and I’ll help teach you when I get back.”

A book flew over from the shelf, wrapped in Celestia’s golden aura, before presenting itself to Twilight and opening to the first page.

“Teleportation: A Study of the Theory and Methods Behind the Manipulation of Space,” Twilight read aloud before turning to Celestia expectantly.

“Yes, my faithful student. This book is a basic guide to short-range teleportation. You are making remarkably quick progress through your basics, so I decided to up the difficulty as it were,” Celestia stated as Twilight turned back to the book, speechless.

“You see, Twilight,” Celestia continued. “Unlike your general set of spells, the theory behind teleportation is so complicated that it requires a little less than one hundred pages to explain. That’s not even counting the ten extra pages detailing how to perform a successful casting.” She looked amusedly at Twilight, whose mouth still hung open.

Twilight failed to find words to express her excitement, instead bringing her hooves to her cheeks and giving a loud “Squeeee!” before attempting poorly to contain her jittery excitement.

Celestia levitated her student to her pillow and propped open the book in front of her on a nearby pillow, “Read through as much as you wish. I hope you’re not too tired to turn the pages with your magic.”

She turned to the nearby unicorn doctor as Twilight quickly began turning pages, asking, “How is she?”

“Better than I would expect,” the doctor replied. “Although her body is being damaged more and more often, she’s built up a very strong resistance to it. She will be all right, I believe, and I don’t think she’ll have to be admitted to the hospital this week.”

Celestia smiled, “That’s good to hear. You are dismissed, doctor; I do not believe she’ll be getting into any emergencies any time soon, as long as she’s distracted by that book. It’s very difficult material, and I’d be amazed if she manages to get through page twenty by the time I return.”

“You’re halfway done,” Celestia spoke in a flat monotone.

Twilight nodded energetically. “Mmhmm! Though I would have gotten farther if there weren’t so many complicated words and theories about submolecular transportation. Do you have any books on that subject? Also, did you knew that all teleportation spells have fail-safes to prevent the caster from teleporting into an object?” Twilight spoke quickly, moving from one topic to the next in rapid succession.

Celestia shook her head and chuckled, deciding to demonstrate the technique behind the spell instead, modelling for Twilight as she teleported a few feet inside of the bedchamber a couple times.

It did not take long before Twilight had finished the book. And finished re-reading the book. And re-re-reading the book. And reading all of the material on quantum materialization and transportation. By the end of the month, Twilight had all but completely memorized a number of texts that other unicorns took a full year to learn.

And she could not wait to try it out herself.

“I knew that spell was trouble!” Overwatch shouted as she pulled out all of the books on Celestia’s bookshelf to scan behind them. She neatly placed the books back in, briefly admiring her work before lifting the entire bookshelf up to check underneath it.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?!” Steel Blade was panicking, his restless hooves doing a little dance as he looked desperately around the room. He jumped at a distracted Overwatch, shaking her back and forth as the bookshelf in her telekinesis smashed against the floor, “She disappeared ten minutes ago! What are we going to do?!”

“Don’t worry, you blubbering blockhead.” The charcoal-coated mare pushed the panicked pegasus guard back before continuing, “Look, she’s not here right now, but I’m confident we’re gonna be able to find her, so just calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down?!” Steel Blade was hyperventilating, “The Princess’s personal student just disappeared from right under our noses. She could be anywhere right now, and we can’t keep her safe if we don’t know where she is! Oh sweet Celestia, we screwed up baaaad and we’re gonna end up banished! Or locked in a dungeon for the rest of our lives!” Having completely abandoned the stoic composure of the Royal Guard, he fell back, rolling around on the ground and already bemoaning his terrible fate.

Overwatch groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Nrrrrgggg...”

Twilight groaned as she sat up, shaking her head back into clear consciousness.

“What... just happened?” She blinked the double vision out of her eyes and looked around. She was now lying on the side of a cobblestone road flanked by rows of buildings that towered up over her. In her immediate vicinity was a large group of tables and chairs under a cloth overhang.

A small group of giant ponies had gotten up from their seats to stare at her curiously.

Think, Twilight, think. Okay. I was training my teleportation spell. So I looked around for somewhere to test it. And then I tried to teleport to the balcony. And then... She gasped, bringing her hooves to her muzzle. I accidentally teleported underneath the balcony. And then I fell. From the tallest tower in the castle. Twilight suddenly made a quick pat down of herself, wincing from the fresh bruises that mottled her damaged, but surprisingly unbroken, body. And I’m... still alive.

Chatter buzzed among the growing crowd as Twilight craned her head up to look at her tower. That’s impossible. I’ve been up on that balcony twice a day to watch the Princess raise the sun and moon and it was a loooong way down to Canterlot. No regular pony could ever survive such a...

Well, wait a second. I’m not exactly a normal pony, am I? Princess Celestia does cast a protection spell on me every day, and Mareleo Mareilei’s ‘Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences’ says that a small creature can fall much farther without injury than a large creature due to the Square-Cube law. She stood up shakily, but without any piercing pain, stretching out the kinks in her back. Urrrggg... That still doesn’t mean I should make a habit of this.

“Indeed. It is a unicorn. A unicorn the size of a small rat.”

Twilight jumped, suddenly aware that she was not alone as she looked up into the crowd of lavishly dressed ponies. Nobles.

“I disagree. It’s closer to the size of a young rabbit,” the stallion replied in a nasally voice as he adjusted his monocle.

“I must say, this is quite the rare encounter. I had no idea that foals could be so small,” a unicorn noble stated, leaning in closer.

“It looks more like a young mare to me,” stated another noble in an arrogant tone of voice as he casually levitated the tiny unicorn up to face level and began turning her around to be examined.

“A young mare? Don’t be preposterous. No normal mare could ever be that small. It must be a genetic disease or some magical curse of some sort.”

The unicorn who was levitating Twilight leaned closer to her. “Who or what are you?” he asked, his pompous, booming voice causing Twilight to cringe.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight shouted, hoping to be heard above the crowd, “the personal student of Princess Celestia.”

Silence descended over the crowd as they looked at her, shocked.

The crowd suddenly began laughing uproariously, and Twilight yelped as she fell from the grasp of the noble unicorn, who had been taken by an uncontrollable fit of laughter. She fell with a grunt and barely had time to stand up again before she was swept off her feet again with a glow of magic.

“How delightful that a clearly defective pony like you could have anything to do with the beloved Princess!” the lead noble laughed, “We both know that can’t be true, so I shall ask again: What are you and how did you get so small?”

“I’m not lying! The Princess shrunk me with a spell so that I could learn magic as her student without hurting myself and others!” Twilight shouted.

Silence descended over the crowd again, though this time, they began murmuring amongst themselves.

“Well, if the Princess can raise the sun and the moon, I suppose shrinking ponies wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for her.”

“I’d heard rumors that Celestia was keeping a big secret. Y’know. Ordering two portions of every meal and reserving the entire library for hours at a time.”

“I knew that I’d seen something falling from the Princess’s tower. Maybe she threw the little creature out herself.”

“And why would the Princess do that?”

“Maybe she got bored of her little plaything.”

Twilight scowled at the crowd. “How dare you! The Princess would never do such a thing! She’s kind and loving and way better than any of you will be! And I am not a toy!” she raged, though it was soon clear that none of the ponies had heard her or even bothered to pay attention to her.

With a cry of frustration, Twilight teleported out of the magical aura of the lead noble to the ground a few meters away, landing with a soft clack of her hooves on the cobblestones. It only took a moment for the curious ponies to notice their entertainment was missing, and they quickly began pursuit in an unexpected game of hide-and-seek that she found herself enjoying.

It was quite fortunate that the majority of the Canterlot nobility were soft and clumsy. Even though they managed to spot her and give chase, their fumbling hooves were easy to evade and their telekinesis even easier to teleport from. It was not long before the group began to tire, lagging behind the tiny Twilight as she dashed into a crowded marketplace.

Twilight dashed back and forth through the forest of hooves, hearing the sound of two Royal Guard landing behind her, most likely to control the strangely excited nobles. Lost in the heels of the market crowd, she hopped up into a nearby stall filled with various fruit, finding a good hiding spot between two melons near the back of the display rack.

It did not take very long for the commotion to cease, and Twilight passed the time by munching on a grape that had rolled behind the melons and probably would be thrown away anyway. Victory tasted delicious, and the grape fairly exploded with flavors that never seemed to exist around the plain grapes in the castle. Perhaps it was the exhilaration of the chase, or the excitement of surviving such a long fall, but her aching muscles and joints felt even better after the grape had been finished off and the seeds tossed to one side.

Once Twilight had caught her breath and was certain that no pony was watching, she squeezed past the watermelons she was hiding behind and prepared to return home. It had been a long run for the little unicorn, and despite her snack, she was too exhausted to attempt to teleport again with any degree of safety.

She looked determinedly at the castle, which had moved much farther away during her frantic escape. It was a long journey through back alleys and side-streets, but that was the only way to avoid the foolish ponies that would otherwise attempt to cage her away from her beloved mentor. Besides, she had survived the incredibly long fall with few injuries and the subsequent chase without a scratch, so a little trip across town should be easy.

Right?

Overwatch clung tightly to Steel Blade as he landed next to a large group of nobles. It was not difficult to tell that something was up when she spotted a group of weak and generally unathletic nobles attempting to run a marathon through the city. She landed unceremoniously with a clang of armor on cobblestone as Steel Blade stomped towards the nobles, who were now attempting to push their way through a marketplace.

“Alright! What’s going on here?” Steel Blade’s authoritative voice stopped the out-of-control nobles and they stared at him uncertainly. The rest of the ponies in the market backed away, unenthusiastic about messing with Royal Guard business.

A haughty unicorn noble trotted to the front, attempting to look like a figure of respect even as he gasped heavily. “Nothing... You need to... Concern yourselves over... Officers.” The noble straightened up and took a deep breath. “We’ve been pursuing a filthy rapscallion unicorn who claims that she’s the personal student to the Princess.”

Steel Blade narrowed his eyes, “And what does this filthy, rapscallion unicorn look like? Hmmm?”

“Ooh, a little lavender thing with two bands of color in her mane. Pink and a dark shade of purple, I believe. I hope you’ll be able to apprehend her, officer.”

“I sure will, but first things first,” Steel Blade forcefully swept up the noble in his grip, pulling the offender’s face uncomfortably close to his own scowling visage. “You do not assault Twilight Sparkle! Ever! Do you have any idea just how much trouble you’re in?!”

The noble responded with an incoherent blubbering, trying to cower away from the enraged guard.

Overwatch pushed Steel Blade back roughly. “Tsk tsk. You can’t be doing that. Shouting will get you nowhere,” she scolded him, much to the relief of the noble that had dropped to the ground. “Here, let me show you how to do it properly.”

She fiercely took up the unicorn noble in her telekinesis, lifting him up to her own face as she growled through clenched teeth, “You have exactly five seconds to tell me where the Princess’s precious student has gone or I swear to Celestia, there won’t be enough of you to fill a bloody soup can.”

For over three hours, Twilight snuck around the back streets of Canterlot, attempting to get back to the castle. What seemed to be such an easy task at first had turned into such a maze of blind alleys and wrong turns that she started to feel just a little mousy under her purple coat, thinking unwelcome thoughts of cheese. Whoever had designed the streets of Canterlot had been a military genius, because any invading army would be broken up into many smaller groups as they wandered the confusing streets, thinking the entrance to the castle was just around the corner, or over this decorative bridge. Without being able to teleport to a rooftop to get her bearings, Twilight Sparkle found herself getting farther and farther away from the golden spires of home to a section of town she had never seen before.

It was a much longer walk for her little hooves than she had expected, and after much fruitless exploration and hiding, Twilight found herself beneath a table in an outdoor restaurant, looking for a few fallen crumbs the pigeons had overlooked. She was unsure Princess Celestia would ever be able to find her before some little colt with a glass jar would bottle her up, and she would be trapped in a glass terrarium with a turtle and some limp lettuce for the rest of her life.

If only Princess Celestia would swoop down from the sky to rescue me. I miss her majestic white wings, so warm and soft, just like her caring voice—

“Hello, little one. Do you need any help?” Twilight startled and turned to her new visitor.

It was a mare who was speaking to Twilight, she had a beautiful face with a long white horn and violet eyes, but there was no familiarity in her soft voice and the Prench accent made Twilight pause for a moment to figure out just what she had said. A growing fear tightened around her chest as she looked back into the concerned mare’s face and she wanted to flee as fast as her tired hooves would carry her, but there was something familiar about that compassionate look that held her motionless.

“Do not be afraid, little one. My name is Fleur de Lis, and I’m a friend.” The white unicorn smiled gently as she spoke, keeping her distance away from the terrified little unicorn. “I’ve been hearing that a small unicorn was thrown out of Princess Celestia’s tower, and I’m sure she’s going to be looking for you.”

“She didn’t throw me out of the window,” Twilight said quietly, causing Fleur to lean a little closer to hear. “I just... teleported. It was an accident! Honest!” She stomped her little hoof on the sticky floor of the restaurant and shouted, “It’s just so frustrating! Why does this happen to me? I just want to... make her happy.”

“I know you must be upset, but I shall make certain you are returned to Princess Celestia as soon as possible. I do not have the status at court to approach the Princess, but I know somepony who does. Would you accept our assistance?”

“Yes!” Twilight danced around in joy, leaping up on the surprised unicorn’s nose to give her a hug. “Thank you!”

“You are most certainly welcome,” replied Fleur, looking at the unicorn on her nose in a very cross-eyed way. “But I think you need to find a less obvious mode of transportation while we go to meet my husband.”

Twilight tried not to poke her head too far out of the ornate purse while Fleur trotted daintily along the street, but she was too excited to keep quiet. Her depression had turned to elation at the thought of meeting yet another famous pony in one day, and she could barely keep from jumping up and down to get her transportation to hurry up.

“Fancy Pants is your husband? The same Fancy Pants my mentor talks about all of the time? I can hardly wait to see him.”

“I am quite certain he will be overjoyed to meet you too, mon petit friend. Although I must ask you to please do not jump so inside my purse. It is an original, and quite expensive. We shall arrive quite soon.”

As promised, in a few minutes the two of them approached a huge mansion, decorated in soft curves of snow-white stone that drew a gasp of admiration from the little passenger. “That’s original pre-classical architecture in the Andrea Palomino style, with the original pillars and soffits, and it’s merged almost perfectly into the Roaman and Colthic styles of the Canterlot buildings surrounding it. I’ve never seen anything like it other than in photographs. Can we—”

Fleur laughed as they approached the building, “My, my. Such an impressive store of knowledge for such a young mare! Fancy Pants had always spoken in glowing terms of your advanced studies under Princess Celestia, and now I can see why.”

The impressive building began to seem more like a fortress than a house to her diminished size as they passed through the double gate and the outer yard, Twilight taking in every bit of the artistic elegance of the manor in open-mouthed awe, from the marble statues to the graceful fountain, lifting herself higher and higher on the purse until she was in danger of tumbling out.

“I take it you like our humble city home?” inquired Fleur, holding one hoof against her purse to prevent a certain young mare’s fall. “It’s a bit smaller than our country estate in Prance, but we enjoy it.”

“It’s huuuuuuugee,” gasped Twilight in wide-eyed wonder, trying to look in all directions at once. “I spent so many years inside the castle since I was shrunk, and I know everything is really just normal and I’m tiny, but look at that tree! And those gates!

Fleur was too slow to stop Twilight as the young mare dove out of her Gucci purse and onto the ground. Moments later, the little unicorn was dashing from interesting spot to spot through the outer yard. The older unicorn thought about chasing the little one before running a hoof through her mane-style and pausing in the gentle breeze. After all, grass stains took forever to get out of a proper hooficure, and perspiration would ruin the permanent wave in her mane. She really only had a limited amount of time before the evening photo shoot, and even though Twilight Sparkle was as cute as a button, Photo Finish needed a more mature mare to model.

“Mon petit, could we please... Can you come down from... I don’t think you should be doing... Can you please calm down juste une minute?”

“But there are so many things here!” called out Twilight from the top of a topiary bush. “I’ve only seen that kind of plant in books, and this sculpture over here is an authentic Pegasolopian Cloud Sculpture, I mean, you don’t see many of them still around without erosion marks and premature precipitation indentions. And over here, you have a....”

Fleur de Lis checked her watch as she followed the tiny unicorn around the grounds. For objets d'art outside of her own home, there was an astonishing amount of history she had never heard until now. She found herself getting caught up in the excitement, much as she herself had once been an energetic little filly just like Twilight, pestering her grandmother with questions inside her painting salon. However, after an hour had passed and a certain amount of calming-down had occurred with the tiny filly, she called a halt to the artistic expedition, and brought her inside the mansion.

“Welcome back, Lady Fleur. I hope your day was enjoyable. Please, come in.” The unicorn servant that met them at the door was the color of newly-poured bronze, and had nearly the same flexibility to his emotionless face. His blue eyes swept over Fleur once, and stopped at the tiny purple unicorn peeking out of her purse, looking back in his direction with rapt attention. “Pardon me, ma’am. Your doll appears to have become soiled with grass stains. Shall I send it out to be dry cleaned?”

Twilight did not respond, staring up into the crystal chandelier hanging over the entranceway. Tiny sparks of light crawled through the lines of crystal and wire, nearly duplicating a view of the night sky as it would appear if the sun were not out. The spell that drove the arcane mechanism was a thing of beauty, and she traced its delicate lines in the air, searching for the tiny flaw that made Orion nearly a meter too far to the south.

“Thank you, but no, Mister Tea. I had a most interesting day and have invited a most extraordinary guest to our residence. Twilight Sparkle, I would like to introduce you to our butler, Hot Tea. Mister Tea, this is Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s private student, a fact that shall remain within this household.”

“Welcome, Miss Sparkle,” said Tea, giving a short bow and looking around for Twilight, even going so far as to remove a pristine kerchief from his jacket pocket and polish his monocle for a second look around. “Ma’am, are you certain you have not mislaid your guest?”

“Huh? Oh. Pleased to meet you,” shouted Twilight, making a startled Tea hop back a step.

“Good heavens! It talk—” After a brief pause to pick up his monocle and gather his wits , the servant bowed politely to Twilight without a hint of embarrassment at addressing a guest the size of a small rabbit. “Good afternoon, young miss, and welcome to Maison de Pants. Might I offer you some refreshments before dinner? A spot of lemonade or a drop of iced tea? It is my specialty, after all.”

Fleur nodded. “She shall be joining us for dinner. I shall wish to speak with my husband at once about getting this young filly back to Princess Celestia. She must be so worried.”

Tea gave a terse bow. “I shall inform a messenger and meet you in the dining room. Good afternoon, ma’am. Young miss.”

This was the first time Twilight had been in somepony else’s house for years, but she still knew her manners. She was supposed to wipe her hooves, but the only thing she could find inside the purse was a kerchief, which turned out to be very absorbent.

Twilight was supposed to go into the bathroom to ‘tidy up’ before dinner, but at her current size, that involved a precarious porcelain perch above a large bowl of flushable water. Fleur was very understanding of her predicament and helped hold her steady for the embarrassing procedure nearly as well as Princess Celestia could have, gasping in fright when Twilight explained her accident in the bathtub.

“Such a dangerous and frightening thing to happen to a young filly. How generous of Princess Celestia to help you through this troubling time. I heard about the events of your exam, and I’m not certain I could have taken you into my own home after that. I would have been too frightened, afraid that you might hurt somepony in one of your surges, and afraid I might hurt you by accident.”

“I understand,” Twilight admitted, flattening her ears and rubbing against the rough washcloth. Fleur could not hear the little filly’s mumbled voice, but she could see the distress and she smiled gently as she stroked the washcloth down Twilight’s back, straightening her streaked mane and removing the last fragments of loose grass.

“My little Twilight Sparkle, you have come a long way from your fragile beginnings. You fell from the tower, and ran all through the city without getting seriously injured. I think you are stronger than you or even Princess Celestia realize, and I am certain she is quite proud of you. I am quite positive she will be overjoyed when you return, because I feel much the same way in your presence now.”

“You do?” Twilight had to repeat it twice in order to make herself heard, but she grinned happily when Fleur nodded. “Then let’s go meet your husband!” she declared as she bounded onto Fleur’s nose and climbed into a perfectly coifed mane for the trip to the dining room.

The dining room was smaller than she expected yet absolutely enormous in her eyes. There were only four chairs around the dark table, set for an intimate dinner for three, although it was still too early for dinner to be served. At the head of the table sat a unicorn stallion of impeccable grace, perusing a few papers at his side. Upon their entry into the room, he stood and smiled, his mischievous blue eyes switching back and forth between his wife and his tiny houseguest riding on her head.

“I say, my dear. Your new hat looks positively ravishing. I understand we have invited Princess Celestia’s talented young student over for dinner this evening. Perhaps you have purchased it in her honor?” he added with a lifted eyebrow and a growing smile.

Both Fleur and Twilight giggled as Fancy Pants wiggled his eyebrows. “Such a dashing fashion statement. I say, every mare in Canterlot will be wanting a Twilight Sparkle hat.”

Twilight’s giggle turned into a laugh, as she bounced down to the end of Fleur’s nose to get a better look. “He knows my name!“ The laugh turned into an impromptu dance as Twilight hopped in a circle, chanting “Fancy Pants knows who I am! Fancy Pants knows who I am!”

With a gentle nudge, Fleur bumped the happily dancing tiny unicorn onto a large stack of books sitting on a chair, and went over to give her husband a kiss on the cheek. “This little filly was in big trouble. How could I ever abandon her?”

“Of course, my love. I would not have it any other way. Princess Celestia should receive the messenger I sent within the hour and I’m sure it will lift her spirits immensely.” Turning his attention to the little unicorn who had stopped dancing in joy and was attempting to read the titles of the books underneath her, Fancy Pants put a note of concern into his voice.

“Young lady, the Princess places great store in your abilities and your intelligence. How in Equestria did my wife find you wandering about Canterlot unescorted?”

“Um. These are some uhhh...interesting books you have here on this chair.” Twilight looked sheepishly at Fancy Pants before giving a defeated sigh. “Do I have to?”

“Please do, miss.”

Steel Blade and Overwatch walked briskly down the road, neither speaking a word as they entered the neighborhood for the upper-crust families of Canterlot. The soft clop of their light steps seemed much louder than in the bustling marketplace, echoing in the widely empty neighborhood streets.

“Y’know, I didn’t think you’d do that.” Steel Blade broke the silence as Overwatch scanned the various manors and mansions.

“Neither did they, apparently,” Overwatch stated simply before stopping, closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath.

“And the noodle vendor?”

“Collateral damage,” Overwatch opened her eyes again and turned the corner. “Come on, I got a feeling it’s this way.”

Steel Blade trotted after her, “What is it exactly? Aren’t we supposed to be looking for Twilight?”

“Uhh, yeah. But we can’t be doing this blind. Two guards are never going to be able to find a pint-sized pony in all of Canterlot by themselves, so that’s why we’re going to someone who can.” Overwatch stopped in front of the Maison de Pants. “C’mon, Fancy Pants has a lot of influence around here and he’s a lot more likely to be able to locate Twilight. Celestia also trusts him with information about her, so this way we don’t risk spreading rumors about the Princess’s student any more than we already have.”

Steel Blade narrowed his eyes at her, frowning. “Still seems like a strange idea to suddenly have. There’s no guarantee he’ll be able to help us.“

“Oh hush, you. I’ve got a good feeling about this.” Overwatch rapped a few times on the door before readjusting the ever-present scarf around her neck.

“Mare’s intuition?”

Overwatch gave him a grin. “Has it been wrong yet?” she asked smoothly. “On that note, you’re absolutely dripping with concern and puppy love for our little charge. It’s really kinda sweet actually. Like chocolate.”

Steel Blade sputtered, “What in Tartarus gave you that idea?!”

“Well, chocolate’s freakin’ amazing. But you don’t have to agree though.”

Steel Blade facehoofed, “No no, not that. The whole, ‘I have a crush on Twilight’ bit. I’m at least twice her age!”

“You don’t have to be her age to care for her. I mean, c’mon, it’s not like you made your emotions any less obvious. Blushing... acting all awkward whenever she talks to you... Not to mention that little scene at the market. It’s not often I see you flip the buck out and it’s obvious that you’ve begun to genuinely care about her well-being. Trust me when I say that the intuition is just icing on the cake. But don’t worry, Steelie; I have a bit of a sweet tooth, you see.” She gave him a sly wink. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

The door opened to reveal a unicorn servant in a formal black suit. Overwatch turned quickly towards him before Steel Blade could answer. “Evening, sir! Could you please get the master of the house here? We’d like to speak with him.”

Twilight concluded her tale of the unfortunate chain of events that left her down in the lower city of Canterlot, having woven a daring tale of suspense and excitement. She finished with a smile at the faces of the two ponies present, Fleur de Lis and a blank flanked white unicorn colt who had wandered in partway through her story. Fancy Pants was unable to hear the very end, having politely excused himself from the table after Hot Tea called him away only moments earlier.

Once she finished her story, the fascinated little colt applauded, beaming with excitement. “That was amazing! You must be like... super pony or something to have fought off all those meanies and survived the fall from Princess Celestia’s tower. Can you teach me how to do that?”

Fleur blinked in obvious concern, placing a hoof on the top of his snow-white head and stroking his soft blue mane. “Now, White Path. You know roughhousing is for the guards. Those misguided colts who chased Twilight Sparkle were wrong to have gotten so worked up that they forgot even the basic rules of civilized behavior. And I don’t want you jumping off any tall towers either.”

“Aww, mom.”

Twilight giggled at his look of chagrin. “She’s right, you know. Falling off my tower was terrifying, and it hurt a lot. I’m just lucky I didn’t break anything. But playing tag with those big clumsy royals was kind of fun.” She giggled again at the quelling look Fleur gave her. “I wish I could stay longer and look around your amazing house, but the guards should be by in a little while to take me home.”

“Speaking of guards,” Fancy Pants interposed himself into the conversation as he walked back into the dining room, accompanied by two very familiar guards. “These two have been looking all over for—”

He was cut off as Steel Blade dove for Twilight, sweeping her off the chair with a wing and embracing her tightly. “Don’t you ever do that again! Ever!” he exclaimed after rolling upright from his short tumble along the dining room floor.

“Alright, you two. Break it up,” Overwatch said as Twilight popped her head up through the feathers of Steel Blade’s wing. “I hope this bumbling baboon hasn’t aggravated your injuries, Twilight.”

“I’m fine!” shouted Twilight, spitting out a feather and grinning.

“I must say, you are one of the most enthusiastic guards I have ever seen,” Fancy Pants noted with a small smirk. Steel Blade blushed and tried to hold his normally stoic expression, though he definitely saw the mischievous glint in Overwatch’s golden eyes as she traced a tiny heart in the air with her hooves.

The unicorn colt looked at Twilight and her two guards in awe. “You have two guards? Awesome! Can you tell them the part of your story where you ran right between one of those mean pony’s hooves and made another one crash into him? That’s one of my favorite. Or maybe the part where you ran up the stuffy stallion’s coat and made the other one hit him, that was cool too!”

Twilight giggled before replying, mostly because of the feathers surrounding her. “I think you just told them for me. But I wouldn’t mind filling your father in on the spots he missed. Or should I start from the beginning for Steel Blade and Overwatch?”

“As much as I would love to listen to this delightful young filly chat all evening, I’m quite certain Princess Celestia must be worried about your well-being, and these two gentleponies can hardly wait to reunite you both.” Fancy Pants slowed as he finished, the mournful expression on Twilight’s face matched by his own son.

“But dad!” whined White Path, trying his best mournful eyes expression. “Can’t she stay here just a little longer? I just met her, and we haven’t even had a chance to play or to eat dinner or anything. Please? Just for a few hours,” he pleaded.

“Son,” replied Fancy Pants with a sideways glance at the guards, “It’s not our decision. Twilight Sparkle is Princess Celestia’s ward, and as such, it is Her Highness’ decision to make.”

Twilight watched the discussion with great interest, and found the idea of staying for dinner more exciting than she first thought. It had been many years since she had even seen other little fillies and colts, let alone played with them, and even though he was a little younger and a lot bigger than she was, the idea excited her.

“Oh, please, Mister Fancy Pants? I’m sure Princess Celestia wouldn’t mind letting me spend just a few hours here. You have such a nice house and everypony here is so kind. I haven’t been able to get out of the Princess’ bedroom in like forever.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” muttered Overwatch.

“Well, I suppose it could not hurt to ask,” replied Fancy Pants, as his wife contributed her soft eyes to the pleading looks from the little ponies. “I’ll send another message, but I’m not promising anything.”

“Yay!” Twilight leapt out from between the feathers of Steel Blade’s wings, jumping around on his armored back with a clatter of hooves before stopping to bow formally at Fancy Pants. “I would be honored to accept your kind invitation, if my mentor agrees. Could I stay overnight some time?”

“Certainly,” beamed Fancy Pants, ignoring both of the guards who were silently mouthing, “No” and shaking their heads. “I’ll add it to the request to Her Highness, and we shall see what happens.

Once the messenger was off to the castle, Fancy Pants settled down to watch his son and the Princess’ tiny student play, despite the looming presence of the two guards who seemed to be quite determined not to leave the little unicorn out of their sight again. He made White Path promise to be very careful with Twilight, due to her size and relative fragility, and made both of them promise to avoid any tall objects, just in case they wanted to reenact Twilight’s terrifying fall on a smaller scale. Fleur had to depart before dinner for her modeling session, but not before the messenger returned from Princess Celestia with a very qualified “Yes” to their request for an overnight stay.

Dinner was a bit shorter than expected. Twilight sat on her tower of books next to White Path, giving a demonstration of just how precisely she could use her magic at the dinner table, though it was clear that both of them were eager to leave. In the end, Fancy Pants gave up on trying to hold the two impatient young ponies to the boring dinner table with the boring old ponies and allowed them to gallop off to the playroom, but not before making sure Steel Blade and Overwatch were situated securely inside the room with orders not to interfere unless either of the little ponies was in danger.

Once Fancy Pants had left the group to their own devices, Overwatch leaned in conspiratorially towards Steel Blade, a playful lilt to her voice as she whispered, “My my, it looks like you’ve got competition, lover-boy. You’d best keep your eye on him.”

Steel Blade groaned and rolled his eyes.

Ch5 - Lost

Bonus Ch - The Return of Fort Book

Celestia’s Tiny Student

-

Bonus Chapter

The Return of Fort Book

Twilight looked around the bedroom as her two guards settled into chairs for the evening, becoming as silent and obtrusive as statues, though one time, Overwatch had leaned in to whisper into Steel Blade’s ear, provoking a hilariously histrionic grimace out of his usually stoic composure. White Path’s bedroom was not nearly as big as Celestia’s, and although he did not have nearly as many books, it was quite neatly packed with such a huge variety of toys that her eyes sparkled with joy.

“So, what fun and cool stuff do you do at the castle?” asked White Path, hesitation and embarrassment in his voice. He had other little colts over to play before, but never a young mare, and the fact that the mare was far, far smaller than him did not make the situation any less awkward.

“Maybe we can read something together,” Twilight stated cheerfully, trying to break the awkwardness of the situation with the most exciting and fun activity she could imagine.

White Path did not share her enthusiasm, pausing to look at his collection of nearly untouched books. “Reading... I suppose, we could. But I was looking for what fun stuff you would like to do.”

After a short debate where Twilight had tried to convince the reluctant unicorn colt how exciting and fun reading was, she slowly came to the realization that not every pony shared her attitude towards books. However, an idea did come up that she had never tried back at the castle, and she decided it was worth a try.

“When I was a very little... I mean young filly, I tried to build a fort out of books. What would you think of that?”

White Path’s annoyed expression vanished as he smiled widely, diving for a well-worn box. “That’s a great idea! We can build forts and play a wargame! I’ve got some soldiers, and some catapults. We can wad up scrap paper for ammunition and I can show you the rules I worked out. It’s easy, but I never can get mom or dad to play.”

Twilight was a bit hesitant about the whole war game idea, but accepted nevertheless. With the similarly reluctant acceptance of the guards, and a sincere promise that they would not damage any of the books used, they began to pull books off the shelves. White Path was fascinated at Twilight’s ability to levitate even books many times her size and, after several false starts attempting to levitate the books himself, decided to ask outright. “How do you do that?”

“You mean levitation? It’s a basic spell for every unicorn,” Twilight answered as she rolled her eyes.

“I know, I know. But I can’t even levitate anything as heavy as me, and yet you just levitated all those books like it was nothing.”

Twilight sighed. She had gotten used to the new guards or servants asking over and over how she could levitate objects other unicorns could only dream to move with their magic. “It’s a long story. I will tell you all about it later if you want, but for now let’s just say that Princess Celestia would not take me as her personal student if my magic was not very strong.”

White Path was quite impressed, and despite the unusually small size of the young mare, the idea of playing with Princess Celestia’s personal student was thrilling. Every other filly or colt would love to be in his situation. “That’s so cooooool...”

Both Twilight and Whitepath busied themselves with their own book forts, drawing on a pile of around forty books in a heap between them. Twilight made good progress, a feat that would have been impossible without her powerful magic, although she was slowed by having to peek at the titles of each book that went into the construction project. Fortunately, she had read all the books so far, and her tiny size gave her a great advantage in precision placement of the walls, as she could put the massive slabs in place with near millimeter accuracy.

While Twilight levitated another book on the top of her fort, she noticed that Whitepath rarely used his magic, using his physical strength instead. It raised Twilight’s curiosity. “Excuse me, may I ask you a question?”

The young colt just looked back and smiled at the funny sight of the little unicorn looking out of a window in her book fort. “Shoot.”

“I noticed that you rarely use magic. Why?”

Whitepath patted his neck with his hoof several times while he thought. “I’m not sure. It’s not because my magic isn’t strong enough yet, it’s just easier to use hooves instead.”

Twilight thought deeply for a moment, while Whitepath watched her curiously. “Interesting. I’ve always relied on my magic to compensate for my small size since I became Princess Celestia student. I almost never use my strength at all. Maybe...” Twilight gave a determined look at a large book lying in the middle of the floor.

“Umm... What are you doing?” Whitepath asked curiously, caught off guard by the little unicorn marching across the floor in the direction of the large book. “That’s too heavy, you really shouldn’t...”

Twilight ignored his words as she shoved her head under the edge of the book, lifting it up as she crawled underneath it and standing up with a grunt.

White Path could not help but stare at Twilight in awe. “Wow... You are strong. Are you sure you’re not a super pony?”

Twilight tried to look up at the giant book she had now precariously balanced on her back, easily several times her own weight. There had to be more to her relative strength than the Square-Cube Law could adequately explain. Her additional lifting power was most probably due to the protection spell that Celestia had been casting on her every day.

Now that she thought about it, this kind of strength was, in all likelihood, completely necessary for her training under the Princess. Levitation was not a free lunch, after all; about four percent of the levitated weight became additional pressure on the unicorn casting the spell. In addition to the strain of casting, and with the weights she had been lifting—upwards to a hundred kilograms—Twilight had been experiencing forces of easily up to eight times her own weight.

By extension, that meant that if she wanted to improve her magic and levitation skills any further, she needed to be strong enough to withstand the strain, and that means a physical training regimen in addition to her magic sessions.

Slowly and with considerable care, Twilight managed to turn around and face White Path with the heavy book on her back. One cautious hoof in front of another, she walked up to the white colt, saying, “I’m starting to think I should not rely so much on my magic either. I’m going to need exercise too, if I’m going to be the kind of student Princess Celestia expects.”

As they continued to build their forts, Twilight began to use her magic to lift heavy books only when it was absolutely necessary. For the rest of the construction, she used her own strength, much like the little colt, who she glanced at frequently to study his technique. Being a unicorn left Twilight far weaker physically than any earth pony of the same size, but levitating heavy weights in the past along with her growing determination make Twilight both physically and mentally strong, and she would only get stronger the more she challenged herself.

Once both forts were ready and the little military toys were properly deployed, the combatants began their battle. Using magic to maneuver their respective forces around both forts, they fired paper ammunition in great barrages to provide cover for their feints and raids. White Path launched an aerial assault on Fort Book with his pegasi guards, but Twilight evacuated her soldiers into encyclopedic shelters, and moments later launched a counterattack from her unicorn forces hidden behind a wall of alphabet books. Tiny blobs of paper blasted into the air, peppering the wobbling pegasi and allowing her earth ponies to roll out a catapult so large it took two pages of paper to load. After a quick check of the rules White Path had shown her earlier, she fired, knocking a battlement of ‘Little Duckling’ books to the ground and scattering the forces who had taken refuge there. A momentary pause in the combat ensued as each side double checked their rules, marking the appropriate forces stunned, wounded, or almost-killed-but-not-really according to their posture on landing. Other little ponies might have cheated on those rules, tilting a soldier upright to show they had not actually been struck, but both little generals hewed to their morals with precise judgement, even though it cost White Path three more pegasi and a unicorn in losses than his honorable opponent.

The resulting war was relentless. Every time White Path marched his forces on Fort Book, Twilight’s brilliant strategy allowed her to counter each assault until the defeated warriors were forced to retreat. There may have been just the smallest of advantages to her defensive plans, due to a few well-timed “huh-uh” and “uh-huh” noises from her otherwise immobile and very attentive guards, but both little ponies were so tied up in their game they did not even notice the rapt attention of their audience.

Finally Twilight spotted a flaw in her opponent's defenses, bringing her reserves out from their concealment in a puppy book bunker to strike across the battlefield. Airborne and ground forces stormed the paper-littered grounds of White Path’s fortress, and soon he was forced to draw and raise a white flag over his conquered territory.

They played several more games that night after a drowsy Hot Tea dropped by to deliver a late-night snack and notification that Princess Celestia had approved an overnight stay, provided both of the little ponies were on their best behavior. Twilight was already making notes for her return the next day, planning out an exercise schedule and interview questions for the guards and servants on how she could repay the Princess for her generosity.

Furthermore, she made a commitment to train not only her magic in the future, but her own relatively minor physical strength. While she would never be a strong as an earth pony, she would at least be in good shape and not so defenseless even if her magic should fail.

As a symbol of her new commitment, she spent the night sleeping on a cushion in Fort Book. In some way, she was no longer just a defenseless filly, but a warrior of very small size. But even warriors were never too old to play with a fellow pony.

source

Bonus Ch - The Return of Fort Book

Ch6 - Games, Missteps, and Miscreants (Final Version)

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Chapter 6

Games, Missteps, and Miscreants

Final VersionFive years before Nightmare Moon's return

"Rise and shiiiiine, princess!"

Celestia groaned and tried to ignore the hoof that was now prodding her energetically in the cheek. Rise and shine... that seems quite ironic, considering I am the princess who raises the sun every day; I can’t believe it’s been about a year, since I’ve had to actually wake my student up in the morning.

Uuggghhh. I do not envy those ponies who have to wake up to go to work in the middle of the night.

She opened her eyes groggily to see the beaming face of her little student watching her with a smile. “Tea? Food? Or maybe just some refreshments, Princess?” Twilight’s voice was entirely too cheerful for this time of day, a perfect antidote for her morning apathy.

How the times have changed. "Yes, please," she answered drowsily before giving her student a good whiff of her morning breath with a long yawn. Twilight frowned as Celestia’s head plopped down on the pillow again, as always. She used her magic to lift the princess’s head back up, and levitated a cup of tea to Celestia’s mouth, hoping to rouse the princess from her slumber. With a drowsy murmur, Celestia opened her eyes again, wrapping the cup in her own magic before taking a delicate sip of its rejuvenating contents. Though many didn’t know it, the very fate of Equestria often rested on whether or not the Princess of the Sun got her morning tea.

She sat up, watching as her student trotted off towards the food waiting for them on the endtable. I don’t know why she decided to act like a servant towards me, but I really can’t complain. She’s obviously enjoying helping me out whenever she can, and who am I to keep her away from that?

Perhaps I need some of her energy. With nearly a thousand years of peace and a plentiful number of servants and government workers, I am nowhere near as fit as I should be, nor should I be as lazy as I am now.

"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia replied with a smile, rolling off of her bed and walking over to the mirror on top of her dresser. She took a few sips from her teacup as she brought a brush to her mane, which had formed an unruly corona around her head. The thing may be beyond the clutches of gravity, but it was certainly not going to be cooperative all the time.

Satisfied that she looked presentable and wiping the last of the crust out of her eyes, Celestia looked back to her student at the table, who was already levitating the first of her golden horseshoes. With a small smirk at her enthusiastic student, Celestia raised a hoof and allowed Twilight to fit the shoe on before repeating the process for the rest of her royal garb. It was not long before she had both her gorget and her crown on. After a quick casting of Twilight’s protection spell, she briskly trotted over to the balcony where her faithful student had appeared with a flash of teleportation.

With a burst of magic, Celestia began her daily ritual. The sun rose, spreading its warming embrace over Equestria, as the first tendrils of its rays crawled over the vast horizon.

Even after having seen it so often, Twilight still applauded briefly before looking to the princess and asking, “So, what are we going to do today, Princess?”

The princess’s eyes trailed upwards as she pondered the question, “Well, perhaps we should do something other than our magical training this morning.” She gave Twilight a devilish smile. “How does a game sound to you?”

“That’s sounds wonderful, princess! But what kind of game did you have in mind?” Twilight asked excitedly.

Her question was swiftly answered when Celestia’s giant hoof flew over to poke her lightly on the nose. “Tag! You’re it!” she called out, before rushing back into the room.

A large grin stretched across Twilight’s face. Tag was nothing new for them and the rules had been very clearly set to give both of them a fighting chance. The area of play was always confined to Celestia’s bedchambers—though considering the size of the room, “confined” was being applied fairly liberally—and Twilight was the only one that was allowed to use her magic. Celestia was to remain earthbound and without spells, but with her reach and stride, she was still a tough target.

“Not for long!” Twilight shouted, before teleporting back to her pillow on the princess’s bed.

She took a quick glance around as she landed softly, quickly spotting her mentor standing to the side of the bed away from the balcony. With another bright flash of teleportation, Twilight relocated herself to the night stand behind Celestia, leaping off towards the princess as soon as she could get her hooves under her.

With a grin, Celestia jumped wildly to the left as soon as her student disappeared and was rewarded when Twilight landed unceremoniously on the floor where she had stood. She quickly retreated while her faithful student shook out the stars in her vision.

Twilight quickly recovered from her daze, and after realizing her mentor had torn off out of her line of sight, she gathered up her magical energy and teleported to the bed again.

She found the princess standing next to the large double entrance doors, with a smirk still on her face. Wasting no time, Twilight again drew up the energy to teleport onto Celestia’s back, but as soon as she reappeared, she realized that the princess was no longer there. She gave a yelp as she dropped into thin air but managed to reassert herself enough to tumble out of a bad landing, soon galloping after her mentor.

Celestia jumped back slightly every time Twilight came closer, even bounding over her tiny student once she had backed herself up into a corner, blowing Twilight a raspberry as she prepared for whatever the tiny mare was about to do. Twilight had given an adorable pout, but had not begun to chase after her immediately. She decided to trot after Celestia, rather than sprint after her, and Celestia was fine to play along until Twilight disappeared in another flash.

Celestia once more jumped to the left, only to be surprised as Twilight landed squarely on her muzzle, having teleported not directly above Celestia, but above where she was going to sidestep her attempts to tag her. With a bop between the eyes, Twilight stated smugly, “You’re it.”

"Excellent work, my faithful student, but I’d start running now if I were you," Celestia commented, and without any further prompting, Twilight disappeared in a flash of light.

Celestia scanned the room quickly, but found no sign of where her elusive student had gone. “Hmmm, I wonder where my faithful student has gone this time,” she mused playfully, before she began trotting over to her bed smiling. Twilight may have been small and much better at playing hide-and-seek, than playing tag with the giant Celestia, but she was sorely lacking in imagination when it came to her hiding places. She bumped her shoulder against her bed, lifting it easily to find a tiny purple filly gaping at her from under it. Sure, she could have taken a quick glance down there as always, but the look on her student’s face was priceless.

“Gotcha,” Celestia boasted as Twilight bolted from her hiding place. The princess dropped the bed and began pursuing her target, trapping her in a corner of the room. Twilight looked around for someplace to hide, and in a panic she gathered up her energy to teleport away once again.

Without missing a step, Celestia looked to her bookshelf and, after seeing a flash from behind a few books, quickly removed the obstacles and extended her hoof into the opening, bopping her student in the nose.

“Tag. You’re it.”

A good part of the hour had already passed, and both of them were exhausted. "I will get you, my faithful student. You can’t escape from your mentor that easily," Celestia declared as she took a few steps towards Twilight.

"You won't get me that easily!" Twilight yelled back, before desperately running straight towards Celestia. She’d long since run out of magic to teleport, and for now she was forced to rely on her size and agility to avoid Celestia’s grasp.

Celestia’s attempt to stop Twilight failed, and her faithful student dove between her legs. With a yelp of surprise, Celestia attempted to reassert her four limbs on the ground, as to give her a good view of her prey under her. Her own efforts caused Twilight to squeak a few times in fear as the mouse-sized mare was forced to dodge a tangle of hooves stomping down all around her.

Twilight dove left and right, as the massive horseshoes shifted all around her, sometimes missing her by only half a hoof’s length. She tried to suppress her fear, hoping to predict where each hoof was going to move, but with all four of them moving at once, she failed to foresee the single hoof stomping down directly in front of her.

Twilight stumbled back, landing supine on the carpet in shock. She took a moment to shake out the disorientation from her surprise.

Just in time to see the shadow of another hoof directly above her.

Twilight felt intense pressure on her body, as her mentor’s hard horseshoe-clad hoof pressed down against her. Feeling as squashed as a bug, Twilight hoped that her mentor would mercifully lift her mighty hoof away soon, as the pain was making it impossible to focus on any kind of spell to aid her escape. The hoof’s pressure on her began to increase as her life flashed before her eyes.

Celestia looked under her stomach for her student, who had managed to disappear from her line of sight while she was fumbling around. It was not until she felt a squirming under one hoof, that she had realized what had happened.

She jumped back horrified as she looked upon the prostrate form of her student on the floor. “Twilight!” she exclaimed despairingly, before plopping down and sending a stream of healing magic into Twilight’s tiny body. “I’m so sorry, Twilight! I didn’t mean it! Please be okay! Please...”

Seconds passed, and there was still no movement. Celestia hung her head and shut her eyes before crying, "I'm so sorry, Twilight." She then looked back up, tears in her eyes as she continued, "Please... Don't leave me."

"W-why would I... leave you...?"

Celestia exhaled a deep sigh of relief.

My most faithful student. Barely a fifteen-year-old mare, and already tough enough to withstand an alicorn-sized weight, not to mention having survived falling out of this tower all the way down to the Canterlot streets.

A quick scanning spell revealed surprisingly few injuries, both internal and external, that could not be fixed with magic or with a little bed rest. It’s truly a miracle from whoever designed this protection spell. Celestia gave another, quieter sigh. It wouldn’t be necessary if you were your original size. You don’t deserve any of the punishment that you’ve taken over the years. I long for the day that you’ll be able to control your surges, and I can finally restore you to your glory.

Twilight slowly raised her head off the floor smiling weakly, "Please don't worry... I'm f-fine. It was... not y-your fault... and... we had some f-fun, didn’t we?"

Celestia shook her head, but she managed to smile. Oh Twilight... Only you could forgive me so easily for hurting you. She carefully levitated her student with her magic and turned to place her on the bed...

That was now lying sideways, on the other side of the room. Against the wall.

Celestia stifled a sudden snicker before levitating the bed back to its original spot and straightening it out. She dropped the pillows back onto the bed with a fluffy plop and placed Twilight gently upon her designated resting-place.

With that matter concluded, the princess then took a brief look around the room. Many of the room’s furnishings seems to have relocated themselves during their game. Books littered the floor and the bookshelf was now laying on its side, far away from its original position. Most of the paintings that were adorned the walls were no longer upright, and her dresser was an absolute disaster with the contents of its drawers scattered about on the floor. We’ve... made quite a mess here. Celestia took a quick glance at a nearby clock, which also happened to be slanted. There’s still a good amount of time left. It’d probably be a good idea to clean some of this up so the maids won’t faint instantly, when they come to tidy up. Or worse, so Twilight won’t try to clean it up herself when she should be resting from today’s events.

Celestia quickly began cleaning up the room, turning it into a whirlwind of golden magic as objects flew back to their rightful positions in the room, though she had to consult an extensive list for the exact order of the books on the bookshelf; Twilight would most definitely notice if there was even one book out of place.

Celestia had just finished triple-checking the list when the clock had chimed the hour, announcing an end to her time with her faithful student. She straightened up in surprise, before turning towards Twilight, who was now alert and observing her every step.

“Please don’t be frightened by me again, Twilight. I was careless today, but I promise to be more careful with you, so such accidents don’t occur again. You have my word.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it too much, Princess. I know it was an accident, and I’ve already forgiven you,” Twilight affirmed and gave the princess a sincere smile.

Celestia returned the smile, her mood already rising. I’m so proud of you, Twilight. It takes a strong pony to forgive somepony who has just hurt them. It makes me glad that you trust me so. It makes me wish I’d been that way the last time I traveled as an ambassador.

Celestia gave a mental sigh as certain unpleasant memories began to resurface. Dragons. I don’t think they’ve ever been especially friendly with Equestria, but back during the Griffo-Draconic War, they’d been especially insufferable. It had gotten to the point when I couldn’t trust them to not lay a single claw on my ambassadors, and I had to go myself to impress upon them the might of Equestria. I still can’t believe that they’d pass off crushing me under a claw as an ‘accident.’ Twice.

She smirked slightly. Their attitudes had changed quite drastically when I dealt with them in their own language. Apparently, they could respect somepony who can stand for herself against a delinquent dragon. Regardless, it still took a long time before I began to trust them again, and—oh dear, I’ve been spending too much time here.

“Thank you for your kind words, Twilight. You have no idea how much they mean to me,” Celestia assured Twilight warmly. “However, I’m going to have to attend to my royal duties for now. Cadence and Spike will arrive shortly, to spend time with you so get your rest while you still can.” With that, Twilight gave a smile and a nod, and the princess departed from her chambers.

Twilight watched as the great double doors to Celestia’s bedchambers closed gently, with a soft click. A quiet exchange occurred behind them, which Twilight surmised to be Celestia telling her guards about what transpired just moments ago, in her room.

Twilight laid her head down between her forelegs as the giant golden horseshoe that had threatened to grind her flat into the ground started plaguing her thoughts. In that moment, her fear of Celestia had returned in full force. That fear of the monster that could swat her away like an insect or crush her to jelly, with even her smallest movements.

Twilight sighed. It was one thing to know that she was small. It was another to actually feel it. It truly hammered home the concept that, at her size, she was nearly inconsequential to the world around her, like a mouse among mares. The thought that the warm and gentle hoof that had comforted her these past several years could so quickly turn into an unstoppable force of nature was horrifying. Being so completely helpless without her magic was very frightening. A single misstep could end her life, and that was terrifying.

Twilight frowned, knocking on her head a few times to clear her thoughts. There was no point in thinking these thoughts, when she’d already genuinely forgiven Celestia. A single misstep in the princess’s years of love and kindness could leave no malice in the young unicorn. The freedom of those same years, the freedom from the fear of the giants that inhabited her world, could not be besmirched by a single, ultimately inconsequential incident. There would be times to dwell on the past, but for now, it was time to move on to the future.

And with that, she curled up on her pillow and slept.

Princess Cadence hummed a little peppy ditty as she trotted towards Celestia’s bedchambers, loaded down with items for her new position as the royal foalsitter. This assignment was the latest in a long line of jobs to occupy her idle time, and to be completely honest, finding odd jobs here and there was a bit of a downgrade, compared to her original status as the Princess of the Crystal Empire.  The nightmare that had poisoned the Crystal Heart and removed her realm from the planet’s surface gave her little choice in the matter, even with her aunts’ assistance in removing that... thing.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. There were more than a few unpleasant memories in their long lives. After all, Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna had given her all of their love, and a permanent home in Equestria. While she could not will herself to take up a job governing the Equestrian populace, helping out wherever she could was the least she could do as the former Princess of Crystal Empire.

I spent so much time learning illusion magic to blend into Equestria society as an common pony, but I only wish I had been with Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna when they needed me the most. Instead, I was away at my lessons when they fought in the darkness...

Guilt tugged at her heart from the memory of finding her aunt at the ruins of the ancient castle, their beautiful palace torn to shreds by their battle and only Celestia left in a pool of tears, looking up at the moon and unable to let it go.  She was the very symbol of love, she should have been able to see the fading love that triggered the conflict before it flared up, there should have been something she could have done to prevent that horrible long night.  It had taken hours for the two of them to raise the sun together, weeks worth of long sorrow where the wheels of government turned untended while the two of them grieved, only taking time to bring forth the day and night between their tears. Celestia’s bond with her beloved sun had weakened with her sorrow, and Cadence found herself with the difficult task of not only aiding the evening raising of the moon when Celestia’s will weakened at the thought of touching her sister’s place of imprisonment, but with the sun as well.

In the years that followed, Celestia rose from the ashes of her despair to both raise the sun and moon unassisted, and also to take over the governance of Equestria.  It was Celestia’s land, her little ponies, and Cadence could not find it in her heart to step into the shoes of her lost sister and rule at her side.  The irony of it all grated at her somedays, for while Aunt Celestia and Luna failed to save her Crystal Empire and took care of Cadence in the wake of their failure, now it was Cadence’s turn to take care of Celestia after her failure to save Luna.

Today is not the time to dwell on the failures of the past, but to look forward to the future.

Cadence had passed the throne room and prepared to open the door to the rest of the castle, when a golden aura beat her to it, revealing a surprised Princess Celestia standing on the other side.

“Auntie Celestia!” Cadence exclaimed happily before wrapping her aunt in a tight hug, much to Celestia’s sudden discomfort. “It’s been too long!”

“H-hello Cadence,” Celestia replied in a strained voice as Cadence released her. “Did you have fun in your last job?”

“Well...” Cadence murmured, shuffling her hooves and looking away from Celestia. “It wasn’t exactly fun, per se, but I learned an important lesson. That, and I’m pretty sure somepony else did too,” she looked back to Celestia, smirking.

"Oh? What lesson have you learned?"

"I learned that Manehattan Free Press is no place for an alicorn of love. I got really tired of writing those dirty articles after a few years; The boss there had no respect for other ponies’ privacy at all." Cadence gave a stomp of her hoof for emphasis before continuing.

“And when I tried to argue with him about it, he not only threatened to fire me, but also insinuated that he would ruin my reputation, and make it impossible for me to find another job if I’d left,” Cadence growled angrily before giving a triumphant smile. “Of course, I was still disguised as a regular pegasus when he said that. You should have seen his face when I dropped my illusion. Looked just about ready to sink into the floor, he did. Sounded like it too.”

Both of the princesses snickered.

“Let’s hope it’s a lesson he won’t forget anytime soon,” Celestia chuckled. Her tone turned inquisitive as she asked, “Now, just one more question: Why do you look so young? And why don’t you hide the fact that you’re an alicorn?”

Cadence looked back at her form. She did look exactly like a younger version of herself, complete with a subtle change in height. She looked back at Celestia and shrugged, “Well, you said in your letter that I’d have to foalsit your student; I’ve found that small fillies tend to be more relaxed around me if I look younger, perhaps only a few years older than they are. It’s all about less intimidation from size difference. As for hiding that I’m an alicorn, your student already gets a lot of exposure to you. I see no reason to apply an illusion spell on top of my temporary age-reduction spell, which already takes quite a bit of my energy to maintain.”

Celestia gave Cadence a sly grin before smoothly replying, “I think you’re going to need much more than an age-changing spell, Cadence, to reduce the size difference between you two.”

Cadence gave her a blank look and tilted her head to the side slightly before asking confusedly, “What do you mean, auntie?”

Celestia simply chuckled in reply. “Don’t worry about it, Cadence. You’ll understand soon enough,” she said before trotting past the confused mare. She stopped suddenly and looked back. “ By the way, my student is really tired and is resting at the moment. You may start your foalsitting in about two hours. I will be busy for most of the day, but the guards may bring Spike along to play with you two, and I’m sure you’ll have a good time with both of them.”

She continued trotting along, leaving Cadence alone in the doorway thinking, Who’s Spike?

The Day Court began as usual for Celestia, but it unfortunately did not stay that way for long. Prince Blueblood had managed to secure an early spot in the line to see Celestia, and when his name was called, he approached the throne as the crowd of nobles in the benches watched him closely, with some even sitting up in interest as he proceeded down the center aisle.

Celestia gave a mental groan. Prince Blueblood, as a chosen representative of the upper-crust of Canterlot, was insufferably arrogant and selfish in public. It was one of the only ways he could secure such an influential spot in royal politics, what with the nobility as it was currently, but he had not always been this way. When he was under Celestia’s care several years back, Blueblood had demonstrated notably good character and poise, but his time among the bit-hoarding upper-class had forced his personality to change for the worse. The worst part about it was, it was an act he needed to play, both to gain the admiration of the nobility and to chase away any gold-digging mares chasing after him.

“Princess Celestia,” Blueblood stated, standing firmly in front of her with only a token bow of respect.

Not a good sign; it means that the nobility are not likely to take no for an answer here.

"Greetings, Prince Blueblood," Celestia said, nodding in return. "Why have you requested an audience with me today? I find it odd that you could not speak to me in private about your petition."

“Oh, please. I’ve already tried to do that several times, and more than once, you changed the subject once I’d brought it up.” He had an arrogant tone in his voice, but Celestia could see through his facade, and knew his arrogance was just for show. She could notice some desperation in his behavior as well—Blueblood felt thrown away, since every time he had wanted to visit Twilight or had asked for permission to do so, his request had been politely denied.

“Is this about my student, Blueblood?” Celestia’s face was impassive. It would not do to show weakness in front of the nobility.

"Indeed, it is," Blueblood replied, holding his head high. "The rumors that you’ve taken on a student have gained credibility once several nobles claimed to have seen her nearly a year ago. I have requested to see her multiple times, but your guards have turned me, a Prince of Equestria, away at your door. Not only that, there have been rumors that you’ve been keeping a pet dragon as well. Unless you are finally going to introduce your student and this dragon to us, I do not believe the nobility will look upon you as anything more than a tyrant who toys with her subjects. You’ve been hiding your student away from us for too long. I expect that you’ll come to your senses and do what is expected of you.”

Celestia suppressed the urge to massage her forehead. It’s one thing to deal with nobles when they’ve always acted like morons. It’s another to know that the noble is forced to deal with you like a moron. When exactly did politics change so that Blueblood needs to act like a prick to keep his status, again?

“Very well. I will allow you, and only you, to visit my student, but only under one condition,” Celestia replied authoritatively. “Twilight Sparkle, as my student, is both an intelligent and a powerful unicorn. She deserves your respect as an equal. This means that you will not attempt to harm her, nor will you tell her of the frankly ill-humored rumors spreading about her. If I find your meeting satisfactory, I will consider introducing my student to the public, but if should you break this rule, I shall have to find a fitting punishment for your transgression.” Celestia raised her head slightly so that she was looking down at Blueblood, hopefully making it clear that she, not the nobility, was in charge here.

Blueblood translated Celestia's words in his head, My student is young and innocent, and I will let you visit her only if you'll be kind to her. Don’t be an arrogant snob around her, or I will personally spank your flank. He then snorted as he replied, “I’m offended that you’d think me so low as to take action against a filly. Don’t think that I will not show respect towards your student, even if she did come from a family of low breeding with an... imperfect bloodline.”

Celestia sat back slightly as she translated his words, How could you think I would abuse a pony you care so much about? I may act like I was a mean and arrogant pony, but you know I would never abuse those close to you. She dutifully ignored the quip about her student, barely. There was a reason that the nobles’ concerns were attended to separately from the rest of the populace. Still, it was disappointing that the upper-class had fallen so far as to promote this sort of language. "Good," Celestia replied. “Speak with my secretary, Silver Scroll. She will assist you in scheduling a time for you to see Lady Sparkle. You are now dismissed.”

Princess Cadence trotted towards Celestia’s bedchamber, eliciting a bow from the two guards flanking it as she approached. She eyed the large, ornate double doors for a moment before raising a hoof to open it.

"Princess Cadence?" one of the guards on duty, a white pegasus, turned his head towards her. "I’m sorry, but you may not enter at this time. Her Highness, Princess Celestia, gave strict orders to keep anypony out who does not have her authorization."

Cadence gave him a nod as she replied, "I understand, sir, but I do indeed have permission from the princess. I’m here to foalsit her student, Twilight Sparkle." She drew a rolled piece of parchment out of her saddlebags with her light blue magic and presented it to the guard.

The charcoal unicorn guard on the other side grabbed the scroll with telekinesis before the pegasus could get a good look at it. She took a few seconds to scan the letter’s contents, particularly Princess Celestia’s signature at the bottom, before giving an affirmative nod. “Yep. She’s good to go. Have fun on the first day of your job, princess. Twilight should be sleeping on her pillow right now; She’s had a rough morning, so be gentle.”

Cadence gave a curt nod, and the guards quietly opened the door for her. She trotted in confidently, despite the guard’s worries. After all, she had centuries to work on her foalsitting, and if Twilight Sparkle was growing to be a young mare, like Celestia told her, what’s the worst that could actually happen?

Cadence swept off her saddlebags with a glow of magic, placing it gently in the corner before surveying the room. She frowned. That’s odd... They said that Twilight would be sleeping on her pillow, but I don’t see her anywhere. Maybe she’s hiding?

“Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?” Cadence called as she walked slowly towards the center of the room. “It’s Cadence, your new foalsitter. You don’t have to hide, dear.”

Twilight?” she repeated, stopping beside the bed and glancing towards the balcony window.

“Shmerrr...”

Cadence jumped several leg lengths away with a yelp, her eyes darting about as she looked for the source of the unexpected noise, before she noticed the large pillow on top of Auntie Celestia’s bed. And the little spot of color turning on top of it.

Is that... a purple mouse?

Ch6 - Games, Missteps, and Miscreants

Ch7 - Cadance, Blueblood, and BBBFF (FInal Version)

Celestia’s Tiny Student

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Chapter 7

Cadence, Blueblood, and BBBFF

Final Version

Twilight sat up on her pillow, rubbing sleepily at her eyes. Someone unfamiliar had just called her name, waking her from her slumber, and she assumed that the voice belonged to her new foalsitter. She blinked against the sunlight beaming in from the balcony, and as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room, the bright pink blob in her vision slowly condensed into an alicorn the size—and age—of a filly. Twilight blinked again, this time in confusion.

I thought Cadence would look a bit older, considering that the princess told me that she’d been a guest in Equestria for hundreds of years.

It’s a unicorn.

A tiny... purple... unicorn...

Cadence stared at the ‘purple mouse’ in disbelief, her mind drawing up blanks as she searched for something to say. The tiny unicorn simply stared back at her before rubbing the back of her head nervously.

At least I know what Celestia meant when she told me that this size difference is one I wouldn’t be able to account for.

Oh my, I must look like a giant monster to her right now. I can’t believe she’s not running away from me.

"Uhhh...Hello! You must be Princess Cadence! Nice to meet you!" Twilight shouted cheerfully before giving a respectful bow. "My name is Twilight Sparkle!"

Cadence looked back stunned before slowly approaching the bed, all the while still staring at Twilight. She’s actually not afraid. “H-hello. It’s nice to meet you too, Twilight. I am indeed Princess Cadence, and I shall be your new foalsitter.”

Twilight clapped her hooves in excitement, “That’s great! So, do you have anything planned for today?”

“Of course, but could I just ask a few questions first?”

"Umm, alright. Go ahead."

"Are you afraid of me?" Cadence asked curiously.

Twilight frowned, "Why should I be afraid of you? That's just silly."

“Because I’m uhh... like fifty times your size? I’ve been a foalsitter for fillies and colts your own age, and they were cowed even when I was just twice their height. They didn’t really think of me as a friend until I used my magic to make myself look younger.”

Twilight gasped loudly. “You can do that? Are you doing that right now?”

Cadence waved the comment off. “Yes and yes, but it requires the strong magic of an alicorn, and it’s only temporary at best. But back to what I said earlier: Why aren’t you afraid of me?”

Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hmmm... I guess I don’t really have a reason to be. The princess has always put in a good word about you, and you look like a nice pony.  Besides, everypony is bigger than I am.”

Cadence gave a sigh of relief. I’ll have to remember to thank Celestia later for that. It’s so much easier to work with fillies when they aren’t intimidated by my size. "That's good,” she nodded, “But could you answer just one more question for me? Why are you so small?"

“Princess Celestia shrank me after I had my first magical surge. Do you remember the incident at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns about... eight years ago?”

“Of course I do. Back then, one of the applicants to the school had unleashed a dragon, and almost destroyed the examination room during her entrance exam because... of...” Cadence gasped in shock and pointed a hoof at Twilight. “That was you?”

Twilight nodded energetically. “Yep! The princess didn’t want me to cause any more damage if my magic goes out control again, so she used the energy from my first surge to cast a shrinking spell on me. She took me as her student so that I could learn how to control my magic while I’m tiny enough that my surges won’t be harmful.”

Cadence nodded in understanding. I can’t believe I forgot about the Shrinking Spell. I’d thought that that spell was lost after nopony found a use for it. To think that Celestia could still remember it... and to think she used it over eight years ago on such a young filly!

“Oh Twilight,” Cadence began. “I can’t imagine how difficult your life must be, being so small. And to be confined to this room the entire time as well! I’m sure there has to be another way.”

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t think there is another way, princess. Unless I want buildings collapsing whenever I surge. And besides, this isn’t really that bad. I can read as many books as I want, and I can practice my magic all I want without being afraid of leaving a line of transformed potted plants in my wake. Celestia spends time with me every day and allows me to go out, as long as I’m escorted by her guards. I get to see Spike often, and now I get to see you too! It’s really not as bad as you’d think, princess.”

Cadence gave a reserved nod. Well, as long as she says she’s happy... Still, I should be careful around her, and I will need to remember to talk with Celestia about this. She should have more interaction with other ponies than just her guards and... Spike?

“Who’s Spike? I don’t think I’ve met him before.”

“Spike’s the dragon that I, quote-unquote,” Twilight raised her hooves to trace mock quotation marks in the air, “‘unleashed’ on the school, though he’s back to the size he should be, as a baby dragon now.”

Cadence’s mouth was agape. “A dragon? Celestia lets you play with a dragon? Aren’t you afraid he’ll... I don’t know... sit on you or eat you?”

Twilight’s face turned quickly into an angry frown. “Whoa whoa whoa, princess. Time out.” Twilight made a quick ‘T’ with her forelegs. “Spike would never do that to me! He’s really nice and caring, and he knows to be careful whenever he plays with me, not to mention that he loves it when I teach him, so don’t say he’ll do something like eat me before you’ve met him!”

Cadence gave a sheepish smile. “I’m... I’m sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean to offend you by saying that. It’s just... I’ve had some bad experiences with dragons, and I was really worried about you.”

Bad experiences? ”Bad experiences” is putting it a bit lightly, Cadence, if you’re referencing the time when a horde of dragons decided to see if crystal ponies tasted like gems.

The pink princess gave an involuntary shudder.

Twilight gave the princess a reassuring smile. “Just wait until you meet Spike. I’m sure you’ll like him! Don’t worry too much about me. I’m already fifteen, and Celestia casts a protection spell on me daily. I’m perfectly safe! And I can provide empirical evidence!” she exclaimed before disappearing in a flash of teleportation.

Cadence looked around in surprise before noticing another flash from above her. She looked up, and gasped, her eyes widening, as she noticed the tiny purple unicorn reappearing at the top of the room, nearly five meters up.

“Twilight!” Cadence screamed, before launching herself under her charge, spreading her wings to catch the unicorn just before she landed on the unrelenting floor. The doors burst open and Overwatch and Steel Blade came in, alerted by the shout, just as the princess caught Twilight in her feathery embrace.

"What were you thinking, doing that?!" Cadence yelled as she wrapped Twilight up in her wings, holding her closely. "You could have broken something or died doing things like that! What possessed you to drop yourself to the ground from that height?!"

After a moment, Cadence opened her wings and slowly levitated Twilight back over to her pillow, both of them looking a bit frazzled after the experience.

Twilight stammered as she attempted to put together a response, “I-I’m sorry. I guess I... didn’t quite think that one through. I didn’t mean to worry you, really!” She looked down at her pillow, drawing circles on it with a hoof.

Cadence closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning to the two guards. “I’m sorry for disturbing you two. You may return to your posts now; the situation is under control.”

Overwatch shot a glance at Steel Blade before turning back towards Cadence. “No need to apologize, princess. It’s just part of the job.”

She gave a deep bow and trotted back out, muttering, “Celestia knows how we’re being more useful keeping Twilight safe from prissy nobles rather than herself. Girl’s a walking disaster area.”

Steel Blade gave the princess a sheepish smile and a quick bow before joining his co-worker outside.

The door clicked shut, and Cadence turned back towards Twilight. She took a moment to compose herself before saying, “It’s okay Twilight. I forgive you, but you really can’t be putting yourself in danger like that.”

Twilight looked back up at her foalsitter again before hesitantly asking, "Y-you're not mad?"

"No, I’m not angry, but you really caught me off-guard with that stunt. Why would you do something so reckless anyway?"

“I-I-I just didn’t want you to worry about me,” Twilight said uncertainly, “I’ve taken much more than this, and I managed to get through those without any issue.”

“Really? Like what?” Cadence narrowed her eyes at Twilight.

“Like that time I almost fell... off...” Twilight trailed off. Deciding that this was perhaps not the best time to tell Cadence about the time she fell all the way to the streets of Canterlot, she quickly corrected herself. “N-Nevermind. The point is that I’ll be fine. Honest! I have the protection spell and everything!”

Cadence brought a hoof to her forehead. “Regardless, you’re still small and you could still get seriously hurt doing such things.”

“I may be small, but it also makes me very light, so the kinetic energy I gain in a fall is reduced as well. Also, being small means that air resistance will slow me down more since I have more surface area per unit volume than a regular-sized pony, allowing me to fall at a slightly lower terminal velocity, like...” Twilight shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. “That doesn’t matter right now. I just don’t want you worrying so much about me, is all. It bothers me that others look down at me because they think I’m so small and fragile.”

“Hold on a second. You mean you tried to fall all the way from the ceiling because you didn’t want me to worry about you?” Twilight nodded eagerly, but her response was interrupted when Cadence swept her up in her hooves, holding the unicorn tightly as she gave her a soft nuzzle. “Oooh, you silly filly. You’re just making me even more worried.”

Twilight nuzzled her cheek and then pushed Cadence’s head back a little with all strength she could muster, creating a little space within the princess’s hug as she looked up into Cadence’s eyes, “Hey! I’m not a filly anymore! Don’t worry about me so much!”

Cadence chuckled as she released Twilight, placing her back on her pillow and sitting down in front of her, “I’ll make a deal with you then. I won’t try to coddle you and worry so much about your safety as long as you don’t give me a reason to be worried. Just give me a little time to get used to your limits. Deal?”

Twilight gave Cadence a suspicious stare. “What about Spike?”

Cadence blinked. I’d almost forgotten about Spike. Maybe that’s the reason she was so adamant on her safety. “I won’t try to keep you away from Spike, as long as he doesn’t try to wrestle you into the dirt or flambé you. Deal?”

Twilight gave a wide smile before she shouted, “Deal! So, what are we going to do now? Have anything fun planned?”

Cadence smiled back. "Of course, Twilight. I bought you some toys, but I'm not sure whether they will be of any use now, though. Auntie Celestia didn’t exactly tell me about your size when I met her earlier today," Cadence explained, although Twilight had already teleported to the saddlebags Cadence had put aside earlier and was curiously looking through them with only her rump visible. With a grin, the princess rose and trotted over to oversee her new charge.

"Hey, what’s this doll? It looks cute," Twilight asked, levitating up a stuffed doll that was slightly larger than her from inside the bag. The doll itself was a dark grey and its laced mane and tail were only more so. A pair of mismatched buttons, one a navy blue and the other a washed-out maroon, acted as the doll’s eyes and around the doll’s rear and hindlegs was a greyish-blue pair of pants speckled with white polka-dots.

"Oh, that one?" Cadence replied, examining the doll over Twilight’s head. "I made it myself, a really long time ago. It’s a bit old and ragged, but it has really held together over the years. I must have brought it by accident."

"Y-you made it... I understand," Twilight spoke with disappointment on her face as she levitated the doll towards Cadence.

“You really like this old doll, don’t you ?” Cadence asked curiously as she stare into Twilight’s eyes. Noticing a sad nod, Cadence smiled and spoke cheerfully, “Then I will gladly pass it to you.”

“I can keep it, for real?” Twilight asked, giving Cadence her best puppy-dog eyes with her bottom lip quivering in a pout.

"Of course you can keep it," Cadence replied with a smile. "I just hope you don't mind it being a bit worse for wear."

"Yay! I have my own doll now!" Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically. "We can have tea together and... and... and study together! What should I call her?" Twilight looked up in contemplation for a moment before her face lit up with an idea, “I know! I’ll name her Smarty Pants! Like Fancy Pants!”

Cadence gave a loud bark of a laugh, “I approve! Fancy Pants had always been a delight to talk with, and I’m sure Smarty Pants will be the same way. Now, is there any other toy you want to play with?”

Twilight dove back into the depths of Cadence’s saddlebags, clutching the too-large doll to her closely as she began levitating the contents of the bag out behind her, keeping them in her hold while she dug further. Once she was sure everything was out, she climbed back out to pick and choose, happening to glance at Cadence’s flabbergasted expression at her magic.

Twilight looked back at the large cloud of toys around her and gave a shy smile. Perhaps she could tone down on the magic just a teensy bit this time around.

Over the next few days as Cadence foal-sat Twilight, the unicorn was more than happy to play various games with her. Twilight’s favorites were either puzzles or logical games, as they were similar to reading, with the added thrill of competition. In the beginning, Cadence had been glad to simply read alongside her charge, as it was far safer than any game they could play, but hours and hours of non-stop reading soon changed her opinion.

Cadence found it adorable whenever the tiny Twilight tried to throw several dice without help of her magic, or would walk herself across a board as one of the playing pieces. They had also played chess a few times, and Twilight usually pushed the chess pieces around with her own hooves. Whenever Cadence had asked why Twilight was acting as a pawn on the game board, or why she didn't use her magic, Twilight claimed it to be more fun that way.

They had also played a role-playing game occasionally where Twilight would wear a toy-sized dress and play as a princess, while Cadence moved plastic knight-pony figures and a dragon toy around with her magic. Sometimes Spike joined their gaming sessions too, and took on the role of the dragon himself occasionally. He didn't really like the idea of playing the villain of the story though, and had even asked more than once to play the role of a knight in shining armor—which only made Twilight think of her own brother.

There were of course some more exciting games too, where Twilight and Cadence would use their magic to levitate the knights, and a bunch of soldier-pony toys, imagining the room as their battlefield. But whenever Cadence was about to defeat Twilight's army, Twilight herself just rushed into the front line kicking Cadence's toy soldiers down, or knocked them over with magic bolts. No matter what, in the end Cadence was always forced to surrender and join in the post-victory cookie feast.

As Cadence had spent more time with Twilight and had talked with Celestia about her situation, she had started to be more comfortable about Twilight's safety. On occasion, she even let Twilight play some more risky games too, though Cadence herself was still very careful around her, and always watched the young mare playing in case of accidents.

Still, Celestia didn't want Twilight seen by any more nobles, so Cadence snuck her little charge around the castle grounds under one wing or tucked up into her mane, making frequent trips into the garden and even more frequent visits to the library. After all, Twilight was a student who needed the exercise and experience of frequent outings, not some prisoner to be held behind the castle’s walls.

Prince Blueblood trotted briskly towards the Royal Gardens in the warm afternoon sunshine, his fine white coat resplendent with a recent grooming and his blond mane billowing in the breeze. Despite the beautiful landscaping surrounding him and generations of the finest flowering shrubs and plants filling the air with a breathtaking scent that defied description, his mind was far away, and a fierce scowl occupied his handsome face.

My one appointment to see Twilight Sparkle would have to be on the same day she decides to leave Celestia’s room without giving any warning.

He increased his pace as he drew within sight of his destination, ignoring his verdant surroundings with the determination of a pony on a mission. This was one opportunity he was not going to miss because of some silly oversight, no matter how inconsiderate it was.

One of the Royal Guards, a white pegasus, stood near the entrance gates and, as soon as Blueblood approached, snapped out his wing to block the prince’s passage. Maintaining the impassive expression of the Royal Guard, the guard spoke firmly, “Apologies, My Prince. The garden is currently closed by order of both Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence.”

“Yes, yes. Of course.” Blueblood waved off the order. “But I believe that Lady Twilight Sparkle is inside the gardens, and I have written permission from Celestia to visit her.”  He presented the document in question, levitating it up to the guard for perusal. Blueblood took a quick glance around as the pegasus read through the document to himself. Unusual. I was under the impression that the Royal Guard worked in pairs. Perhaps Celestia believes that one is enough?

The guard gave a nod and an affirmative grunt, bringing Blueblood’s attention back to him, “You are clear to proceed, Prince Blueblood. You may find Lady Sparkle enjoying the gardens with Princess Cadence, as well as with the dragon, Spike. I believe they are playing hide-and-seek at the moment.” He withdrew his wing and dropped into a curt bow.

Blueblood strode briskly into the garden entrance, scanning for the young unicorn as he walked among the statues dotting the area. Beyond a quick physical description, he really did not know much about her, besides that she was a powerful unicorn shrunk by Celestia and taken in under the princess’s wing as her student. Of course, there were still rumors that Celestia simply shrunk the unicorn for her own amusement. Considering the princess had ruled Equestria for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, there may have been a bit of merit in that rumor, although others meant it as a jab at the monarch. Then again, he also found himself wondering why Celestia would shrink the filly if she just wanted a bit of company. After all, it seems like it’d be difficult to play with a filly the size of a mouse.

Just my luck that of all things, they’d be playing hide-and-seek today. It’s going to be impossible to find such a filly of that size here. Perhaps I should focus on finding Cadence or that dragon. Spike, was it? They shouldn’t be too far behind her and I can’t be wasting time now.

“Twilight?” he called out loudly. “Cadence? Dragon?”

“Y’know, if you’re looking for someone, you could just ask rather than begin shouting.” Blueblood jumped and turned towards the source of the voice, looking upwards at the statue representing victory, to find an alert charcoal-black unicorn guard mare perched at the top, apparently very relaxed despite resting on the hard stone.

“Then again, nopony really tries to ask me anything,” she muttered, before straightening up and scanning the area. “Spike is on the completely opposite side of the garden from Twilight and I’m pretty sure Cadence has gotten herself lost in the hedge maze. By the way, if you’re looking for the princess’s student, you’d have a bit more luck over by that oak tree there.”

Blueblood turned towards the oak tree she indicated, murmuring thanks before trotting towards it. So Celestia did assign two guards to Miss Sparkle, though I’m surprised Celestia would assign such an unprofessional guard to her very own student. Wasn’t there some big complaint in the nobility about a guard a year or two ago? I’m surprised they haven’t gotten stricter with the guards’ behavior these days.

He approached the oak tree, scanning the leafy depths of its expansive foliage. “Twilight?” he asked. His search was interrupted when a single acorn, held in a lavender aura, floated in front of him, waiting until it had his full attention before moving away.

The acorn floated up towards the other side of the tree, which Blueblood obediently trotted towards, before stopping next to a small lavender shape huddled in a crook of a branch.

“Ahh, Twilight Sparkle, I presume?” Blueblood called up to her. “Could you please come down so that we may talk more easily?”

With a flash of light, Twilight quickly relocated herself to Blueblood’s muzzle, startling him into nearly knocking her off as she landed. She reasserted herself and sat down squarely in the prince’s vision before speaking.

“Sorry, I guess I should have provided more warning when I do that. Anyway, my name is Twilight Sparkle. You must be Prince... Blue’s Blood? I think the princess mentioned you before, but I didn’t quite catch your name. Nice to meet you!”

Blueblood blinked as he looked at the young mare perched on his nose. My... she really is tiny. I wonder if the rumors of her power were also true, such that Celestia needed to shrink her to keep it under control.

"First off, my name is not ‘Blue’s Blood.’ It’s Blueblood," Blueblood corrected her. "Anyway, it’s nice to meet you too, Twilight Sparkle. I can see why Celestia waited so long before granting me permission to visit."

“Permission to visit? How long did you have to wait?” her expression shifted into one of confusion as she tilted her head.

“Just about a year. I’m surprised it wasn’t longer.”

“Really? That’s kinda depressing. Why won’t Princess Celestia let you visit me? That seems a bit unfair,” Twilight said, now frowning.

Blueblood shrugged noncommittally before stating, “Politics. Don’t worry too much about it,” he said, before deciding to launch into an inquiry of his own. “I was wondering, though. Is it true that Princess Celestia shrunk you because you were too powerful?”

"Yes. She did it so I could learn how to control my power without hurting anypony. My magic is really strong — or at least that is what the princess says — and I sometimes have issues reining it in."

“Could you give me a demonstration, then? I find it hard to believe unless I can see it with my own eyes.”

"Of course!" Twilight replied cheerfully with a wide smile before jumping from Blueblood’s nose and landing with a practiced tumble on the ground.

Turning back to Blueblood, Twilight’s horn lit up as she focused more and more magic into it. Blueblood gave a very slight frown as he watched the tiny mare. I hope that whatever spell she is going to cast will have big enough effect for me to notice, he thought, before noticing the pink aura around him and that he was getting ever so slowly farther away from her. Upwards, to be precise.

Blueblood flailed his legs around slightly, not quite realizing that the ground was not where it was supposed to be. She’s levitating me? But I must weigh at least two hundred times her weight! If she can handle the strain when she’s that size...

A few seconds passed, and Twilight looked as if she was straining harder and harder, clenching her teeth in a tight grimace. Twenty seconds passed before Blueblood began getting impatient. “Twilight Sparkle,” he began. “As impressive as your show of raw power is, I’d appreciate it if you could put me back down.” The sooner, the better. She’s starting to worry me, and I’m afraid I might hurt her if I use my own magic to escape.

A few more seconds passed before Blueblood noticed something was definitely wrong. With a sudden bright burst of light, Blueblood was punted several yards back, landing clumsily in the lawn. He shook his head blearily before looking back to see Twilight levitating in the air, the bright corona of a magic surge easily three times normal size enveloping the young mare and shedding off magic bolts in all directions. No wonder Celestia shrunk her. A surge of that size, not to mention tossing me like a ragdoll, could cause irreparable damage no matter where she goes.

“Twilight!”

Blueblood turned towards the distant voice, spotting an unusually young Cadence flying over to them as well as the guard mare from earlier galloping from the hedge maze, likely coming over after finding Cadence. She landed a short distance from tiny unicorn before backing away uncertainly from the bolts emitted from Twilight’s surge and nervously fidgeting with her hooves.

“Stay back and do not interfere. Twilight’s magical surge will fade out on its own, but there is nothing we can do to stop it ourselves,” Blueblood commanded, earning a glare from Cadence.

“I know what this is, Prince Blueblood. This isn’t the first she’s had under my care,” she warily replied, reasserting herself and calmly watching as Twilight’s surge slowly shrank in size as it consumed her magic. As it ended, and Twilight slowly stopped floating above the ground, Cadence caught Twilight in her own magic and deposited the little mare on her back.

Looking back worriedly, Cadence asked, “Are you feeling okay, Twilight?”

Twilight gave a sluggish nod, “Y-yes. Just a bit tired. I tried to hold my surge back, but I think I overextended myself there.”

“Well, Twilight. Why don’t you just rest on my back for now? I can cover you up with some of my mane while I go find your more age-appropriate playmate Spike, and by the time we get back to Celestia’s room, you should be rested enough to play something a little less strenuous.”  Twilight barely nodded and curled herself into a ball, in exactly the same position she had been sleeping every day since she had been shrunk.  Cadence giggled a little at the sight before tucking a few curls of her mane over the sleeping filly and heading out to locate the hidden dragon.

To Cadence’s annoyance, Blueblood decided to accompany them on their relatively short trip. After a quick check to make sure the little unicorn on her back was really sleeping, she decided to at least get some current information out of the stuffy stallion.

“So what happened back there, little cousin?”

Blueblood huffed at the reminder of their relationship, and regarded Cadence rather coldly.  “I don’t appreciate your tone of voice, or your negligence towards Auntie Celestia’s rather special young—”

“We were playing hide-and-seek, cousin. The game isn’t nearly as much fun if you never get out of sight.  Now what happened back there with you and my little charge?” Cadence lifted the branches of a low bush and looked under it for a sign of the little dragon, still amazed at the ability of a purple creature of that size being able to hide in the middle of so many green plants.

“I’ve been wanting to meet the student that Auntie Celestia has been hiding from me for this long, so when Celestia finally gave me permission today, I hurried right over.  I’ve always wondered just exactly why Aunt Celestia would use such a peculiar spell on her, and never really did believe her story about Twilight having so much raw power, so I asked her to show me just how strong her magic really was.”

“Show her power?” Cadence cocked an eyebrow in curiosity, her search for the little purple lizard momentarily lowering in priority. She would have been angry at Blueblood for making Twilight perform tricks for him, if it were not for the obvious fact that Celestia had done the same thing to her many times now for many years, and it felt interesting to see the horseshoe on the other hoof. “So what kind of spell did you have her cast, Professor Blueblood?”

“Nothing fancy, really,” replied Blueblood with an irritated scowl. “She just lifted a heavy — I mean an average weight. Perfectly average.”

“Really? I would think from the reaction she had, she must have been lifting something extremely heavy,” remarked Cadence with a sly wink, keeping from laughing only by the light weight of the sleeping student on her back.  “So what, or who was she lifting?”

“M-me,” Blueblood replied with a glance around to make sure nopony was listening. “She levitated me above the ground,” his blush grew as Cadence tried unsuccessfully to suppress a giggle, saved only by her not wanting to wake the little sleeping unicorn who was using her as a mattress.

Once the fit of suppressed laughter died out, realization struck her. “Wait a minute. She actually lifted you off the ground? But you’re so heavy. I mean really heavy. And compared to her present size—”

“I’m not fat,” protested Blueblood, with a quite noticeable sucking in of his gut. “I have a large frame.”

“With very few miles on it, and quite a few doughnuts. Just because you’re Celestia’s nephew doesn’t mean you can eat more than her. She lifts the sun every morning, while all you do is lift drinks with your friends all night. I’ve told you to get some exercise before you turn into a blob.”

Ignoring Blueblood’s look of disbelief, she continued, “Anyway, I had no idea she had enough power to lift a full-grown pony. Alicorn magic and their raw power built up over hundreds of years is about the only thing that could make her look weak by comparison. I really can’t think of any other adult unicorn who could match her power now, let alone exceed it.”

Blueblood sniffed. “I don’t see why you’re making such a fuss over her. I can levitate far more than my own weight.”

“I know you think you’re strong, Blue, but do you think you could lift a couple times your own weight? Or a few hundred times your own weight, like Twilight, who has not even come close to her full potential yet?”

After Twilight’s short nap and a trip to Celestia’s bedchamber, the four of them settled down to much more sedate activities. Spike was set to work coloring an ornate line drawing of a dragon hoard with a huge box of gem-tinted markers while Twilight bounced on her sleeping pillow, feeling recharged and ready for the answer to the question that was just bursting to get out.

“So, how did I do on your test, Mister Blueblood? Did I pass?  Do I need to do any extra credit work?”

The look of annoyance that had finally been purged from the proud stallion returned in full strength. “Please, young Miss Sparkle. You really should address me by my title.”

“Oh.” The little unicorn drooped as she whimpered slightly, “Will this cost me points on your test, Mister Prince?”

“No!” he spluttered.  “You are to address me as Prince Blueblood, Duke of Canterlot...” Blueblood trailed off at the look of anguish on the little unicorn and the quelling glare he was getting from Cadence. “But as you are my Aunt Celestia’s student, you may simply call me Blueblood, in private.”

“You really need to learn the correct form of address for the nobility, for there are many insensitive louts who would take offence, if you do not use their correct title. As for your test?” Blueblood glanced at Cadence and allowed the faintest trace of a smile to slip onto his face. “I shall be forced to give you full credit and top marks, provided you continue to work on your control—”

“Yippeee!” Twilight gave a high bounce off the pillow, vanishing in mid-air to reappear on an astonished Blueblood’s nose, causing him a slight hesitation before continuing.

"I must say I didn't expect to witness so much power from young mare of your size," Blueblood replied in a neutral tone, considering the powerful subject of his words was still perched on his nose. "I may not be an expert in magic, but I must say it was quite an impressive display of power. I can see why my aunt was so interested in teaching you. Now I am better equipped to deal with the foolish rumors about you that some of the nobles have been spreading, as most of them are quite inaccurate."

“Rumors?” Cadence asked in confusion. “What rumors?”

Blueblood raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You haven’t heard? They’ve been fairly common talk among the nobles in Canterlot, and—”

He paused with a frown before suddenly blinking in understanding. “Ahh, you haven’t been in Canterlot these last few years, have you? No matter. You would be better off not knowing. Trust me,” he continued, with a wave of his hoof, once again looking cross-eyed at Twilight. “So, what would you like to do now, Lady Sparkle?”

He considered that it would probably be a good idea to stay on the tiny unicorn’s good side. Twilight was going to return to normal size one day, and when that day arrived, she would not be a pony he’d want to mess with. Hopefully by then, she’d have stopped teleporting onto other pony’s noses too.

Twilight was confused by the praise from Blueblood, but didn't know if she should be worried about whatever rumors were being spread about her. She didn't often have a chance to meet any new ponies — not that she really minded anyway, as she still had her mentor and enough books, and her family visited her from time to time too — but after meeting with Cadence and Blueblood, she was wondering if Celestia would begin to allow her to talk and play with other ponies as well.

"Um... maybe you, or Princess Cadence could tell me more about yourselves," Twilight answered his question. "My mentor has not told me much about you two, and I'd like to get to know you better."

Over the next few hours, both Blueblood and Cadence told her some stories from their respective pasts, while Twilight and Spike listened intently. Of course, Cadence didn't want to traumatize the filly, and left out the frightening details about how Sombra had taken over her empire and banished her. Blueblood, in turn, avoided any stories which could leave a bad impression for Twilight, as he believed the young mare wouldn't likely understand how life worked when it came to politics and social classes. After they had already shared several stories together, another guest approached the room, unbeknownst to them at the moment.

"Lieutenant Armor, sir. I assume you are here to visit your sister? Feel free to enter, sir," the guards at Celestia's bedchamber saluted before opening the door for the young lieutenant. Shining Armor snapped back a quick salute before entering.

Although he had at first visited his sister as often as he could, Shining Armor quickly realized that his little Twiley was not as fragile as he had once assumed. As such, he decided to focus more and more on his training, though he still paid visits to Twilight every so often. He still enjoyed his sister’s company, but his quick advancement through the Royal Guard’s ranks gave him much more than mere physical training to worry about, and his visits to Twilight waned.

As Shining Armor passed the guards into Celestia's bedchamber, he noticed that Twilight was not alone. In fact, she seemed to have quite a lot of company with her this time. He first noticed Spike, a now common visitor for Twilight, though initially, he had tried to convince Celestia to separate the two for Twilight’s safety. It took a long while and nearly constant surveillance by either him or Twilight’s guards before he began to trust the little dragon and welcome his visits.

The next pony he saw made him somewhat annoyed. It was Blueblood. While the guards in general didn't like him, Shining Armor himself absolutely loathed him. Whenever Shining was appointed to ensure the security of the nobles in Canterlot, he was annoyed to no end by his arrogance, and he hadn't expected that Celestia would let him visit Twilight in the first place.

The last pony in the room Shining didn't recognize. He had never been informed about there being more alicorns than Princess Celestia, and she seemed to be quite a young filly too. He would find more about her later, but there was the other pony he liked to deal with first.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Shining Armor yelled at Blueblood with authority in his voice. I don't know how he got here—maybe he blackmailed the guards to let him in or something—but I will kick him out personally and make sure he would stay out. As for that alicorn filly, I will need to ask Celestia who she is, and whether it is a good idea to let her be near my sister, Shining Armor thought, anger building in him as he walked in Blueblood's direction. The guards outside decided not to interfere. Even if it was technically their job to ensure the safety of the royalty in any situation, fighting their respected lieutenant to protect the arrogant prince was not worth it.

Twilight, Cadence, and Blueblood were stunned by his outburst and had no idea what to say. "You!" Shining Armor pointed his hoof at Blueblood, fire in his eyes. "Get out of this room, or I will kick you out myself!"

Fluffing up with anger at the clear lack of respect from the familiar Royal Guard officer, Blueblood looked Shining Armor straight in the eyes and snapped back, "How dare you threaten me, lieutenant? Aunt Celestia herself gave me a permission to visit her student, and I will not stand aside when a mere commoner shows a lack of respect for your proper superior."

"And why should I believe you?" Shining Armor replied, pushing close enough so that his nose made contact with Blueblood's. "An arrogant, worthless snob like you would never receive permission to visit my sister."

"It wasn't easy, but I convinced Aunt Celestia how unfair it was to keep me from meeting her student," Blueblood replied, trying to push his nose against Shining Armor's to push him back. To his disappointment, his lack of physical activity left him considerably weaker than the hard working, well trained officer, and his head was pushed back by Shining Armor's nose instead, forcing Blueblood to take a step back.

"I won't believe a word of that unless I hear it from her myself. Now get out!"

"I... w-won't," Blueblood stammered, fear obvious in his voice. "I waited too long to finally meet her, and I won't let a hot-blooded, disrespectful officer throw me out." Truthfully, he was afraid of what was going to happen, but he stood his ground. If anything, he was stubborn in getting what he wanted. It had taken a year of talking and asking to meet Aunt Celestia's student just this one time, and he was not going to give up that easily.

Cadence and Twilight watched the two unicorns yelling at one another with a growing sense of unease. Cadence finally decided to end the foolishness, but when she started to light her horn, she noticed a purple aura already encasing both unicorns, throwing them away from one another. Surprised, Cadence turned her head to see Twilight with an angry expression on her face. Once again, had Candence not been almost fifty times larger than the angry mare, she would have been quite intimidated by her.

Twilight's horn lit again as she teleported onto Shining Armor's nose. "Twiny?" Shining Armor asked his sister, using his new nickname for her shrunken form, but closed his mouth as he saw his sister angrily stomping her tiny hoof on his nose.

"You stop being a meanie right now, Shiny!" Twilight demanded, punctuating her words with a stomp of her hoof. "I never expected to see you being so mean and impolite to other ponies! Apologize, now!"

Wow, why is Twilight so angry? I guess I really shouldn't have acted like that in front of her, but apologizing to this jerk... why would I ever do that? Shining Armor thought. "But Twiny, I can’t let this jerk bully you!"

Blueblood was now sitting silently where he had been thrown, staring back at Shining Armor and his sister. How amusing, a big brother being lectured by his tiny little sister. I guess Miss Sparkle has not only more intelligence, but also more nerve than most of the other ponies in her family, he thought with amusement as he watched the scene unfolding in front of his eyes.

"He wasn't bullying me, but you were bullying him," Twilight replied, even angrier than before, barely keeping her balance on Shining Armor's nose. "And calling him a jerk was very mean of you! Now stop being mean and apologize!"

"But he entered without permission," Shining Armor retorted, before being cut off by his sister’s yell.

"He had permission! My mentor told me that he would visit me, and she hoped that we could get along. And I must say, I find it unfair she didn't allow her nephew to visit me in the first place."

Shining Armor was shocked beyond words. If what his sister said was true, not only had Princess Celestia allowed this jerk to visit his sister, but he also ended up assaulting Blueblood for no reason. He had jumped to conclusions and let his personal grudge take better of him, and that kind of hastiness was something a good Royal Guard Officer should have avoided at all cost.

"Now be nice and apologize!" Twilight ordered, pointing a hoof in Blueblood’s direction. Her anger started fading slowly as she saw her brother was starting to relent.

Shining Armor was silent for a moment and slowly walked to Blueblood, who was now watching him with a smile, laughing inside of his mind at the scene he had just witnessed. "I..." Shining Armor tried to apologize, but found it hard to do. Still, he was encouraged by a stomp of his sister's hoof on his nose, and continued, "I'm sorry."

Blueblood decided to have little fun from the situation as he mockingly asked, "You are sorry... for what, if I may ask?"

Shining Armor felt a bit of anger building inside him again, knowing Blueblood was just playing with him now. He decided to play along before he got another lecture from his sister. Small or not, she was good at lecturing. "I am sorry for assuming that you entered this room without permission, for thinking that you had ill intentions towards my sister, for insulting you with my words, and for not showing you any respect," Shining Armor admitted, trying his best to keep his composure.

"Good," Twilight commented, smile finally returning on her face. In a flash she was gone, and reappeared on Blueblood's nose in turn. The reason why she liked teleporting onto ponies' noses was because from there she could speak to them easily without yelling, and the pony whose nose she was sitting on was forced to speak slowly and quietly to prevent her from falling.  And, as much as Twilight hated to admit it, her tiny ears were sensitive, and she didn't want other ponies to speak too loudly when she was nearby.

"Prince Blueblood, would you please forgive my brother?" Twilight asked kindly. "I know he was very mean just now, but inside he is kind, brave, and caring. I'm sure that all was just a big misunderstanding."

She had just met Blueblood today, after all.  Twilight resolved herself to ask Celestia later why he wasn’t allowed to visit sooner. Certainly her mentor had hoped that they would get along, and they were doing just fine at that until her own brother appeared and started bullying him out of nowhere. At this point Twilight felt pity for the poor prince, and hoped to make him and her brother get along.

"Considering that he apologized, and since you asked so nicely, I will forgive him... this time. But I expect that events like this will not be repeated in future," Blueblood replied with a little arrogance in his voice. He spoke carefully since Twilight was sitting on his nose, but inside he was laughing. I must say, this mare is actually much more entertaining than I initially thought.

"Oh, I'm sure this won't happen again," Twilight replied, a smile adorning her face. She turned her gaze on Shining Armor, her expression turning to a more stern and serious one. "Isn't that right, brother?!" Twilight yelled so her brother could hear her loud and clear, causing Shining just to nod his head in agreement.

Content that the problem was solved, Twilight teleported back on Celestia's bed. Shining Armor turned away from Blueblood, and walked closer to the pink alicorn filly, who had been silent and rather thin-lipped during the whole argument.

"Greetings, young miss. My name is Shining Armor, lieutenant in the Royal Guard. I see you are an alicorn, just like Princess Celestia. I had no idea there were more than one of your kind.  May I know your name?" Shining Armor asked politely. He had made rather bad first impression just a moment ago, so he tried his best to fix it.

"My name is Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can call me Cadence like everypony else. It is nice to meet you... I think." She had no idea what had happened between Blueblood and Lieutenant Armor, but she was still shocked by the scene she just saw. I had no idea Twilight had such a handsome brother, Cadence thought, taking an appraising look at the young lieutenant.

"Nice to meet you too," Shining Armor added. "Please forgive me for asking, but are you possibly Princess Celestia’s daughter by any chance? One whom she has been hiding from public eye? I had always thought Celestia was the only alicorn in Equestria."

Of course he would get that idea. Time and a desire to ease the pain through forgetfulness had erased nearly every trace of Luna, and Celestia has never spoken of the past to anypony in centuries.  But her daughter? Nopony in Equestria—save for me, and Celestia herself of course—knows that alicorns are not born, but are ascended from once normal ponies. I guess my age changing spell isn't helping either.

The mental image of Celestia as a mother made blood rush to her cheeks. If she was Celestia's daughter, who was supposed to be the father then?  Of course, even if Celestia would have a son or a daughter, he or she wouldn’t be an alicorn, just a regular earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn, and her daughter or son would probably be a crystal pony.

Having a filly of my own actually sounds like an interesting idea... wait a minute. What am I thinking? Because my special talent is spreading love, I can’t make a family for myself, as the pain of losing them would be too heavy once I would inevitably outlive them. But Shining Armor seems like a nice hunk of a stallion... oh, WHAT AM I THINKING?

Cadence started to shake lightly as her mind betrayed her.  Shining Armor continued to watch her with his warm, blue eyes, still waiting for an answer to his question.

"W-well, I'm sorry if my question was too personal," Shining Armor apologized hesitantly, as he realized what he had just asked. He was about to say something else to relieve the tension, but his attention turned to his sister when she spoke.

"She's not Princess Celestia’s daughter," Twilight answered, ignoring the awkward silence between the two. "She is a guest, and she is a princess too!"

"P-princess?" Shining Armor asked with confusion. "But if you are a princess, why have I never heard of you before? What country you are ruling? I thought Equestria was the only pony kingdom on this continent."

Cadence's mood darkened as she heard what Shining Armor had just uttered, memories of losing the Crystal Empire flashing back in her mind. They must not know. I have to distract them somehow.

"Oh, I am a former princess," Cadence replied with a fake smile. "I no longer hold any power, but Celestia let me stay in Canterlot so I can live my life away from politics. My subjects merged with Equestria a long time ago, and since my kingdom was small, I wasn't needed to rule anything in Equestria."

Shining Armor was confused, so Twilight decided to explain what she had learned from Princess Celestia. "My mentor didn't tell me anything about Cadence's kingdom, only telling that she no longer ruled it, and during the last hundreds of years she had tried to start a new life in Equestria. Princess Celestia said that she was helping Princess Cadence to find different jobs, and two weeks ago she agreed to be my foal-sitter!"

Shining Armor blinked a few times as his brain tried to figure out how an alicorn filly would be hundreds of years old, and a princess at that.  He quietly stammered, “B-b-but you look so young, h-how?”

Cadence let out a sigh. "Well, when Celestia asked me to foal-sit her student, I used an age spell to make myself younger. It has always helped me to get along with other foals easier, and I hoped it would help us to get along too," she explained quietly, already knowing that Twilight didn't like when ponies spoke loudly in her presence.

Cadence turned her head and looked at Twilight with a smile. “In the end it didn’t matter with such a large size difference.  Did it Twilight?” Twilight nodded her head in agreement with a smile of her own.

"Wait, if you used an age spell on yourself, how do you really look?" Shining Armor asked casually, but with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

After a moment of thinking, Cadence decided to answer. "I suppose there is no point in maintaining this spell, now that I know Twilight is perfectly comfortable with an adult as her foalsitter, and it is a drain on my magic that I can do without.”

Blue magic encircled the young filly as Cadence lit her horn, her magic growing in size as she aged before their eyes.  In less than a minute, the transformation spell was complete and Cadence shook her mane and tail out in a cascade of violet, rose and golden hair that coiled up just short of the floor.  She was still significantly smaller than Princess Celestia, but she now stood just barely taller than Shining Armor, looking him straight in the eyes as she fluttered her eyelashes with a smile.

“So, Lieutenant Armor.  How do I look?”

The Royal Guard was unable to reply, frozen into an entranced stare at the newly revealed princess, with his sister perched on his nose, waving a hoof in front of his eyes.

“Princess Cadence, I think you broke my brother.”

Ch8 - Snowball War

Ch9 - Final Exam

Celestia’s Tiny Student

-

Chapter 9

Final Exam

-Three years before Nightmare Moon's return

A rock farm.

Celestia left her latest meeting with her confidants in annoyance, her hooves stomping out of their meeting place as she frowned deeply.

A ROCK FARM.

Apparently, the Canterlot Castle staff had recently requisitioned building materials to expand the university and had placed an order for five hundred tons of high-quality stone blocks from various suppliers. With the slow period in the Royal Guard leaving plenty of idle hooves, Brave Blade had suggested sending a few to help bring materials to Canterlot, which Celestia happily agreed to.

Guards sent to one of the highest quality suppliers returned with stories of a rock farm that was unnaturally, well, cheerful. It wasn’t a secret that rock farmers were big traditionalists and would devote all of their time to working rather than to any leisurely activities, perhaps due to the difficulty of growing rocks and minerals from soil. This, unfortunately, also made them gloomy and, all in all, just plain depressing.

So when one of these families breaks the norm despite their utterly dreary environment, interests were piqued. Curious guards were able to learn of a single, bright pink filly of that family of greys and brown who changed their entire demeanor several years back. In fact, they’d saved the exact date to commemorate that landmark change.

It was the date immediately after the Rainboom.

The filly, Pinkie Pie, was not present when the guards came to pick up the building materials, but they soon discovered that she had recently left to follow up on an opening at Sugarcube Corner at Ponyville, where Celestia had conveniently gathered the rest of the Elements.

Celestia gave another sigh. Of all the places I could look to find the Element of Laughter, it had to be from one of the most depressing professions to ever exist.

"Rise and shiiiiine, Princess!" Celestia heard her student’s cheerful voice welcoming her into the new day, a warm awaking that she always enjoyed.

I swear, as tiny as she is, my student grows a little stronger everyday, and I can feel it too, Celestia thought as she felt tiny hooves lightly shaking her head, Come on Twilight, you can do better than that. Celestia groaned and rolled around in her bed, turning back to her student.

Celestia felt Twilight squeeze under her head, lifting it a little bit for several seconds, only to give up and crawl out from under it. My poor Twilight, trying to lift my head without using your magic to help. As much as I admire your efforts, at this point it is still beyond your capability.

Humored by Twilight’s effort to wake her up, Celestia rolled again and slowly opened her eyes as she watched her student sitting on a pillow, her horn lit with magic. She could already feel her head and body being slowly levitated to a sitting position, while a wet towel washed her face, and once Celestia felt refreshed, she could see a cup of tea and a tray of food being levitated towards her by her student.

"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia spoke softly, smiling as she took the tea cup with her magic, drinking it gracefully. In the recent years her tiny student has been willingly assisting in her morning routine, Celestia didn’t need this kind of morning service, but it helped her student warm up in the morning so she welcomed it gratefully.

After Celestia and her student were done with the breakfast, Celestia rolled off her bed to stand on the floor, already knowing what was about to happen.

Celestia looked warily at Twilight Sparkle as the tiny mare maneuvered her way over, carrying all four of Royal horseshoes in addition to her peytral and tiara on her tiny back. Even under all the gold, it was obvious that Twilight was struggling under the weight, never mind the balancing act she had to pull as her tiny hooves were trembling with every step. Celestia took a dainty sip from her teacup, My little student, you’ve made incredible progress and became even more confident in yourself. Once levitating my golden regalia with your magic became too easy, you started to challenge your physical strength instead. She’d forgotten when this started, but her faithful student had recently taken to challenging her physical strength, It was quite a surprise when Twilight first attempted to lift up her sleepy head in the morning by burrowing under it.

Celestia gave a small frown. Now that she thought about it, there may have been some shrieking about a rat. Not exactly her finest moment.

Celestia took another sip as Twilight unceremoniously dumped her payload to the side after finally reaching the princess. She felt as Twilight levitated her hoof over before fitting the horseshoe on her with her bare hooves. Celestia, as a being who measures subtle changes in the political landscape over centuries, easily noticed the improvements in her student’s abilities. Twilight no longer struggled with trying to fit a single horseshoe on her, and she’d shaved an entire minute off her journey from across the room carrying her golden vestments. Not that she’d ever tell Twilight that she’d been keeping track.

The last horseshoe slipped on, and Celestia watched as Twilight trotted over to her golden peytral, raising an eyebrow. My  peytral is almost as big as my neck. At least 15 kilograms of gold and gems. Is she finally going to…

Celestia was only slightly disappointed when she saw her student’s horn light up, thinking that Twilight was simply going to levitate the rest of the golden regalia into their respectful places, but her mood lifted when magical ropes shot from the glowing horn instead, tethering Twilight to the tiara and peytral.

Standing resolute and strong, Twilight turned back to Celestia, taking a deep breath before beginning to climb up one of her mentor’s forelegs, the gold she was tied to rocking back and forth, trying to pull her down. After minute of effort, Twilight had finally reached her mentor's back, as she began swinging the peytral by its rope back and forth across Celestia's side.  Twilight grit her teeth as the heavy gold threatened to drag her off from her steady position, but a quick shift of weight allowed her hooves the traction to stay on until the peytral finally gained the momentum to swing entirely around Celestia’s neck. A quick rope caught the other side of the peytral before it fell back around, and the neckpiece was securely fastened without difficulty. Another quick climb, and Twilight had easily placed the tiara in its correct place, plopping down in exhaustion once she finished.

Celestia watched her tiny student exercise with amusement, waiting patiently until she was done and smirked, I do not know if I should feel sad or honoured that my student climbs around on me like I was a mountain.

“My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia began, “Most powerful unicorns would prefer to use their talent for magic and spellcasting to solve their problems, yet despite both your immense skill and size disadvantage, I find that your physical activities are more and more akin to an Earth Pony’s.”

Twilight wiped away a few sweat droplets. “Do I have much of a choice, Princess? If I were to levitate something hundreds of times my mass, the pressure would crush me unless I can resist it, and if my magic were to fail, there’s not much I could do with just my bare hooves.”

Celestia sighed. “Believe me, I highly admire your dedication to keep both your body and mind in shape. But for earth ponies and pegasi, they need to stay in good physical condition because they cannot use magic to levitate objects like you or I,” Celestia said, tapping a hoof on first Twilight’s horn before tapping her own. “Biologically, unicorns have become physically weaker for this exact reason since they tend to focus on learning and using their minds to go about their daily business.

“Twilight, you are a talented, powerful, and a very intelligent pony. You are already devoted to training your magic, but attempting to train like an athlete in addition to your magical studies will overwhelm you,” Celestia lectured, her concern evident in her voice.

Twilight hopped down on her mentor’s nose, planting herself down as she looked Celestia in the eyes, a defeated pout on her face, “I know, Princess. I’ve been unable to read as much as I used to before I started my training regimen, but,” Twilight paused as she gave a wide grin, “with my trusty checklist and scheduling, I can pull it off.”

Celestia blinked. “Checklist? Schedule? Could you please explain, my faithful student?”

Twilight nodded her head energetically. “Of course, princess! See, it’s actually very simple,” she stated as she began gesturing with her hooves. “Whenever I train my magic, I would eventually run out of magical energy until I can rest and build up more. Whenever I train my strength and agility, I eventually get tired, so I would need to take a break to recover my stamina. So after my magic becomes too weak to practice difficult spells, I begin my physical training, and when I get exhausted from that, I can switch back to magical training since my energy reserves will replenish during my exercise. Like this, I can switch back and forth between the two, though I still make time to study and read during my breaks. All my activities are on my checklist, and I follow it to the letter.”

Twilight finished by flashing another smile, before she jumped down from Celestia’s nose and began trotting over to the balcony, her mentor watching her in interest. Two years ago, Celestia mused, she would simply teleport to get where she needed to go. Now I find her forgoing her magic to run and climb with only her hooves. Quite the adventurer she has grown to become recently. With a short chuckle and a smile, she followed her little pony outside, preparing to raise the sun.

After witnessing and applauding yet another beautiful solar performance, Twilight trotted happily inside, followed by a faintly smiling Celestia. “So, what will we do today, Princess? Are you going to teach me a new spell, or more about Equestria’s economy? Or perhaps I should just practice what I already know or read a book?” she asked exuberantly as she began climbing up the side of the bed to her pillow.

“Hmmm...” Celestia hummed purposefully before continuing in a calm, yet authoritative, tone of voice. “None of those things, my faithful student. Today, I’m going to give you a test on controlling your magic. Or, should I say, your final exam on the subject.”

Twilight dropped from the bedding in surprise as soon as the word ‘test’ reached her ears, yelping as she hit the floor in a tiny, lavender heap. “A t-test? L-like... r-right now?” she exclaimed in shock as she attempted to pick herself up from her embarrassing fall. “But I d-didn’t know I had a test today. I haven’t had time to study for it yet! I’m not prepared for...”

Twilight blinked as she turned over the rest of her mentor’s words, "W-wait. D-did you say f-final-final exam?!”

Celestia watched as the unicorn collapsed back on the ground, already noting the signs of an inevitable panic attack. Poor Twilight, she has plenty of courage and confidence whenever I teach her, but the moment I give her a test, she just crumbles.

Celestia bit her lip nervously as she tried to think of a way to handle the situation. Twilight had always been more than prepared for any test she’d ever given her, theoretical or practical. Still, every time she had mentioned the dreaded ‘T’ word to her student, the tiny mare invariably began fiddling with her hooves or pacing around before diving into a mountain of textbooks in a display of power-reading that sometimes frightened Celestia. When encouragement and praise during her exams failed to bolster her confidence, surprisingly enough, Celestia had elected to simply remove ‘test’ from her vocabulary altogether, often testing her student’s abilities under the guise of a regular exercise. It was sneaky, but effective.

But the test she had in mind today should show that Twilight had managed to bring her surges under her full control. Afterwards, Celestia could finally return the tiny mare to her normal size, and a normal life.  This would be difficult, for the test could not be hidden as a simple exercise. Sooner or later, her perceptive student would ask her directly if this was a test, and she would not be able to lie to her.

Using her hooves, Celestia placed her faithful student onto the ornate pillow on her bed. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said reassuringly, calming the tiny mare with a motherly tone, “you have been working hard under my wing for many, many years and recently, you have not had a single magic surge in months. I’m proud that you’ve come so far, but I’m going to have to push you to your limits to make sure that you’ve gained full control over your power.”

She gave a reassuring smile as she watched closely for Twilight’s reaction.

It’s an exam.

A really important exam.

The final exam.

Twilight’s hyperventilation began to make its return evident. Oh no-no-nonono! What if I haven’t trained hard enough? What if I haven’t been practicing the right spells? Have I been levitating enough weight recently? What was my last record?

A single purple hair sprang out of place, curling in pointed angles. What if I fail?! What if Princess Celestia sends me back to school thinking that I’m a failure and that she shouldn’t have wasted her time on me? What if she grounds me for a decade before I can retake the test?

Celestia watched as a few more hairs on Twilight’s mane followed the first before moving in to nuzzle Twilight, giving her a warm smile as she said encouragingly, "Please don’t be afraid, my faithful student. I have full confidence that you will pass, and there won’t be any consequences in the rare circumstance that you are unprepared. I can just train you a little more, and you can try again next month. I won't think any less of you."

Twilight looked up at Celestia, giving a weak smile and trying to smooth out her disheveled mane and tail. Celestia looked unconvinced at her student’s show. "Please, trust in yourself. I know you can do it," Celestia said as she levitated her student closer, wrapping Twilight in a careful hug that the tiny mare reflexively leaned into.

"Y-you really think so?" Twilight asked hesitantly as she looked up into her mentor’s eyes.

“I'm more than sure, my faithful student. I would even say that calling this an exam is nothing more than a formality. As long as you do not surge a single time, you will pass," Celestia continued reassuringly before levitating her student onto her back.

"W-what kind of exam it will be?" Twilight asked hesitantly, her expression betraying her nervousness and anxiety.

"It’s is nothing you haven’t done before, Twilight. It will be a simple levitation exercise, but the most important part of this test is to use as much magic as you can without losing control," Celestia explained calmly before lighting up her horn in its golden aura and disappearing in a flash.

As soon as the pair reappeared, Twilight took a quick scan of her surroundings, noticing the various plant life. Her ears perked as she heard the scampering of animals running to hide in the bushes. "The Royal Garden... Why are we here, princess?" she said, looking up at her mentor.

Without a word, Celestia simply nodded her head vaguely at a nearby clearing, where several boulders of various sizes sat. With a small flash, Twilight relocated herself to the top of Celestia’s head for a better view. “Hmm... that first boulder is roughly Spike’s size. About… a hundred kilograms, give or take,” Twilight mused as she regarded the rest of them similarly. “One, two, three... ten. There are ten of them, each bigger than last one, so each one is a hundred kilograms heavier than the last, correct?”

Celestia gave a small nod, mindful of her student atop her head, "That is correct, my little student. These boulders have been weighed and specifically prepared for your training. You are correct in estimating that the first boulder is about a hundred kilograms and that the last one is one ton in weight. If you look closer, you can see their weights lightly marked on the side," Celestia explained, noticing a tiny gulp from her student as she gestured at the boulders with a hoof.

"Please prepare yourself, my student. Once you are ready, let me know, and we can begin," Celestia stated as she walked closer to boulders in front of her, feeling her student trembling on her head. Two years ago, Twilight managed to lift more than 200 kilograms before she had a magic surge and Celestia knew that Twilight would be intimidated by the idea of levitating the one ton weight.

Twilight nodded once before jumping on the soft grass, walking slowly toward her quarry. The mere look at them was intimidating, especially for a mare whose weight still did not exceed one kilogram.

My mentor believes in me, and I won’t fail her. No matter what, I will lift it! After a brief moment of thinking and meditation, Twilight steeled herself, her fears dissolving as she replaced them with determination and resolve.

With a wave of her hoof, Twilight signaled that she was ready. With a tiny smile, Celestia walked forward, only slightly behind Twilight now, "To begin, we will need to find out your limits. Your first task will be to lift each of those boulders for ten seconds each," Celestia explained calmly and encouragingly.

Twilight just nodded as she took up a more stable standing position, her horn lighting up as she focused her magic on smallest boulder. To her surprise, the hundred-kilogram boulder lifted easily off the ground. Her magic contained solidly within her horn, Twilight held the boulder in the air for the ten seconds before setting it down gently and moving to the next one, her elation growing as she began to discover the extent of her growth.

For the next few minutes, Twilight was levitating boulders off the ground one by one, each time she felt more and more pressure on her body. Her legs flinched a little when she reached a half-ton weight. Celestia watched in admiration as Twilight dropped the boulder to the ground. As she felt the ground under her hooves trembling, it did not took long before six hundred kilograms boulder was being levitated. Twilight, you never cease to amaze me. I knew that your raw power is strong, but being able to withstand pressure that increase your own weight more than twenty times while standing on your four hooves can put even the royal guards to shame.

Wasting no time, Twilight levitated the next boulder. Despite her best efforts, her levitation spell broke after six seconds, "I... 'huh' am sorry p-princess, 'huh', I cannot... it is... too heavy," Twilight spoke, panting heavily.  Celestia knew that there had to be limit of magic her student could focus at once, but the fact that Twilight just simply given up her hold on the weight instead of having a magic surge was encouraging.

"Oh Twilight, you have already passed my expectations," Celestia replied with pride in her voice, that only made Twilight blush, further boosting her confidence and dissuading her fears.

"Thank you princess, what is my next task?" Twilight yelled, so her mentor could hear her more clearly while she recovered from her short exhaustion.

"Now, my little student, this is where your final exam begins,” Celestia’s smile vanished as she turn her head and hang it down slightly, guilted expression on her face. “I am truly sorry, Twilight, but this next task I must ask you to perform will be a very exhausting and painful experience," Celestia admitted, sadness and regret prevalent in her voice, unable to look into her student’s tiny eyes.

"Please do not worry, Princess, I am ready to handle anything you ask of me!" Twilight replied cheerfully to her mentor, as much as Twilight was worried of failing her mentor expectation, she was not afraid to push herself to her own limits.

"Your task my faithful student will be to levitate the 600 kilogram boulder, and than keep it in the air as long as you can. To make this exam harder, I will feed my magic into you to refill your reserves, making this a test purely of willpower," Celestia informed Twilight about the rules of her challenge, her voice now professional but still encouraging.

"You will need to endure a lot of pain, but I trust you, my faithful student, that you will not drop this boulder without doing your best," Celestia continued with trust and expectation in her voice.

"Of course! I will not release it without doing my best, it would be cheating.” Twilight stated as she stood on her two hind-legs, putting one of her tiny forehooves across her heart, while other in the air, her eyes closed, ”I swear as your little faithful student, that I will not drop this boulder, as long as there is even the tiniest bit of strength inside me!" Twilight promised with pride in her voice, knowing well that by cheating during training or exam, all she would do is to lie to herself.

"You can start whenever you are ready," Celestia spoke as she stepped back, not wanting to break her student’s concentration.

After minutes of mental preparation, Twilight focused her magic into her horn, Celestia watching from a distance. Slowly but steadily, the 600 kilogram boulder was levitated off the ground. Even after Twilight absorbed the effect of my protection spell, I still find it impossible that she reached that level of raw power, not only learning how to control it, but also develop it further with demanding training, Celestia thought proudly. Twilight’s huge magic potential was not the only reason she was so proud, What is even more spectacular, is Twilight’s physical strength. While earth ponies’ inner magic increase their strength and endurance, aside from enhancing food to grow faster and more bountiful, increasing their stamina to work very long and hard. Unicorns’ muscles and bones are designed to improve their magical throughput, so they can cast more powerful spells and use magic more efficiently. As a result, their endurance and physical strength is much weaker in comparison.

Celestia was thinking about Twilight physical strength, as she observed her student from five meters’ distance, noticing that she struggled under the boulder’s heavy pressure, The levitation spell naturally occurs for every unicorn, no matter what their special talent may be. It is their magical muscle, and since most unicorns don’t levitate too much weight, they can hardly feel any pressure, but in your case, Twilight, it is much different.

“Come on, Twilight, don’t give up!” Twilight growled as she gritted her teeth in determination. She tried to keep a steady flow of her magic into her horn. Nearing the two minute mark, keeping boulder in the air as feeling pressure on her body was making her task harder. Twilight’s tiny hooves trembled as she did her best to keep standing upright, sweat falling from her head like water from a fountain.

Celestia cast a scanning spell, to check on Twilight’s magical reserves. As she expected, most of it was already depleted. To prevent the test from totally depleting the unicorn’s dry, Celestia walked quietly towards her student and lied on the ground as she lowered her horn carefully, and once it was several centimeters above Twilight's horn, she send a tiny bit of her magic to her student, refilling her exhausting reserves. Twilight slowly opened her eyes as she noticed the magic transfer, but she quickly closed them to focus on task at hoof.

As Celestia was done with magic transfer, she sent a wave of healing magic through her, to heal a little bit of the damage that Twilight’s body already received from the pressure alone. Once the test will be over, your body will need to heal naturally, but for the sake of the exam it should be enough to keep you from surrendering to easy.

As a bit of the pain in Twilight’s body was expunged, her resolve increased. My mentor shared her magic with me, she trusts me, she expects me to do my best, and I am not going to fail her!, Twilight thought as she tried to ignore her growing pain and exhaustion, even with Celestia’s magic and healing spell assistance, her body was slowly getting tired.

Twenty five minutes passed, and Twilight’s willpower started to wane. Despite being refueled with her mentor’s magic, and being healed over and over, her body was slowly reaching its limits. As Celestia watched her student struggle in pain and exhaustion she thought, Poor Twilight. Any other unicorn would have given up a long time ago from the pain alone, but you are fighting it with all your might. You are willing to endure such pain for me, I wish you would be as committed to your own happiness.

So far, not a single magic surge, but I need to be one hundred percent sure. Please, forgive me Twilight, but I will need to push you a bit further.

As Twilight was still doing her best to keep rock steady, Celestia started to send her another portion of her magic into Twilight. However, instead of fuelling Twilight reserves, she sent her more than Twilight’s body could store, making Twilight’s magic far stronger, at the cost of the same magic becoming more dangerous and harder to control.

I know it will hurt, but if you manage to use more magic than you have without losing control, I will be sure that you are ready, Celestia thought as Twilight’s magic was already pushing past one hundred fifty percent of her limits. Now, it’s time for the final push, Celestia teleported herself on the boulder hovering in mid-air, and the moment she was standing on it, her gaze focused on her student.

“Sssso h-h-heavy, but I h-h-have to endure, for m-my-myself, for C-Celestia,” Twilight told herself courageously. She felt increasing pain and pressure, as if the boulder she was levitating suddenly became more heavy for some reason. Princess Celestia probably levitated a 300 or 400 hundred kilogram boulder on top of the one I’m levitating, to increase the difficulty of my test, she thought, but decided to soldier on, after all she made a promise to give her all, and she was going to keep to it. Furthermore, she could feel her magic getting stronger than before.

The problem however started when Twilight felt pain in her hooves. Despite her best efforts to keep her trembling legs working, after ten seconds she fell, now lying on the grass and dirt while her body was pinned by thirty-six kilograms of pressure, yet her horn still working.

“I c-cannot withstand s-so much p-pressure... why I even t-thought it was a g-good idea to stand in the f-first p-place... as if the t-task was not h-hard enough already,” Twilight ruefully admitted to herself, as the pressure pinned her body to the ground.

After one minute of fighting the steadily increasing pain in her horn, and despite her best efforts to stay awake, Twilight lost consciousness. A few seconds later, the boulder with Celestia standing on it crashed down onto the grass, two meters away from tiny unicorn.

Celestia jumped from the boulder and bounded towards Twilight, lowering herself to get better view of her student. She knew that after using healing spells so many times on Twilight during the exam, they would no longer be effective. Instead, she cast a scanning spell on her student.

I hope that I didn’t push you too hard, Twilight. You have become very tough in past years, but even you have your limits.

The scanning spell showed several injuries on Twilight body, the worst being her sore hooves from resisting heavy pressure, and her tiny horn from channeling too much magic. Her other body parts were also injured slightly from the pressure itself, but nothing serious. She sighed relievedly as her fears for her student’s well being vanished. It seems that it is nothing that a doctor’s assistance cannot fix. What a relief.

I waited so long for this moment. You can finally return to your original size, no longer forced to work yourself to your limits, no longer living in fear of being crushed. But... as much as I would love to reverse the shrinking spell now, I cannot with you in your current condition, Celestia thought, feeling happiness and disappointment at the same time.

Celestia slowly levitated her student onto her back, and conjured several magic ropes to keep her student safe from falling off, and teleported to the castle’s medical wing.

Several hours passed as Celestia delivered Twilight to the castle’s medical wing, as it was a place destined to treat royalty, nobility and even guards around the castle.

Celestia herself, as a powerful alicorn ruling her kingdom peacefully for so long, had not needed medical assistance in hundreds of years. The last time she was required use its facilities was when she tried to negotiate with Dragons or Griffins, or when she stopped monsters and demons from escaping from Tartarus where her power and endurance was put to a test.  Other than that, most of the smaller threats were solved by her guards.

I must say, it has been a very long time since I had cause to use the facilities in this place myself, and as much as I am glad that the past couple centuries were peaceful, it was far too peaceful. After all, this world is full of powerful artifacts, demons and monsters. I feel as if it’s just a long silence before a powerful storm, Celestia thought outside of the room where her student was undergoing medical attention from her best doctors.

Usually, the doctors did not find Twilight’s wounds as anything what cannot be healed with a night’s rest, but after today exercise, one of the doctors politely advised Celestia not to push her student that far in her training, I am more than sure that the only reason the doctors didn’t yell at me for being so reckless with my student was because of me being a ruler of Equestria. I must agree with them, though. I still remember how careful I was when I took Twilight as my student. Over the years, I not only even started to neglect taking proper precautions with her, but I even started to push Twilight in her training, giving her tasks that could easily be dangerous, considering her size, Celestia thought, feeling guilt and remorse for the test’s harshness.

"No matter, your trying times are coming to an end very soon, my faithful little student. Once your health improves, I will return you to your proper size, and everypony will see you as equal. You will be able to meet and spend time with ponies of your age, your magic training and studies won’t be nearly as dangerous or trying as they were before," Celestia mused aloud to herself as doctor approached her.

"Your majesty," stated one of unicorn doctors who just moment ago emerged from room where Twilight Sparkle was being treated, he made a small formal bow.

"Speak," Celestia replied calmly, not wasting time with formalities.

"Miss Sparkle received far more damage than she usually does, luckily, her body’s healing abilities has improved during her studies. While she doesn’t recover as fast as earth pony, for a unicorn, she is quite tough," the doctor lectured as he explained princess her student health status in professional tone.

"We had to use a very strong healing spell on her, considering that the weaker ones were rendered ineffective," continued doctor as Celestia shake her head in understanding.

"She is stable, and slowly recovering. Though her bones fractured in several locations, they did not break. I assume that it is thanks to the protection spell you cast on your student?" the doctor asked, as he captured Celestia attention.

I stopped casting protective spell once her body absorbed it is effect, Celestia thought as she listened the doctor’s diagnosis.

"Her body was refueled with magic several times, at some point it even exceed her body’s capability. I assume that you shared your magic with her, princess?" the doctor inquired, as Celestia nodded in affirmation.

"I see... considering her condition, she should sleep at least two days, until she makes a full recovery, she really pushed herself today," stated doctor as Celestia felt a bit of sadness, but keep it hidden under her emotionless mask.

"I understand, I will inform her family, Spike and her foalsitter that she is currently being treated, are they able to visit her?" Celestia asked firmly.

"Just visit, yes, but nothing more, Twilight needs two days of undisturbed rest to fully recover from her training-" the doctor explained as Celestia nodded her head again. He continued, "-also, with all due respect... I would like to advise you to make your student’s training less strenuous for the near future."

Celestia did not break her eye contact with the doctor, which made him a bit nervous. She knew that as with every doctor, he wanted to keep his patients from continuously hurting themselves. "I don’t think it will be an issue any longer, now that I know that my student is capable to control her magic, even under tough circumstances. Once she wakes and heals up, I will return her to her proper size.” Celestia replied with authority in her voice, breaking from her neutral expression into a big grin.

"That’s... very good to hear, your majesty. I will inform her about it once she feels strong enough to talk, and of course I will send someone to inform you as well, though I would not want to disturb you from your duties," replied the doctor relievedly, a bit hesitant in talk toward his ruler.

"Please, do not hesitate to inform me the moment Twilight is in better condition, I will gladly postpone my duties to visit her," Celestia added as she turn around and made few steps towards the exit. "I must be on my way, please take good care of her."

The doctor just nodded his head in agreement and made a half-bow to Celestia, leaving to attend her duties. There is some extra work I have been meaning to do... I may as well get it out of the way while Twilight recovers, so that I will have more free time to spend with her when she gets better. Celestia thought as she kept walking towards her throne room. Since Twilight will no longer be vulnerable, I can inform the nobles that they can arrange meetings with her. I have given them my word, after all, and since Blueblood met my conditions during his meeting with Twilight, I will have to let her attend public appearances.

Bonus Ch - Dolls and Adventures

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Ch9 - Final Exam

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Ch10 - Student on the run

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Ch11 - Confrontation

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Ch12 - Celestia's Tiny Adventure

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Ch13 - Magic Duel

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Ch14 - Home Visit

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Ch15 - The Shakedown

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Ch16 - Princess, I Broke My Parents

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Bonus Ch - Magic Duel, Round 2

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Ch17 - Pegasus Magic

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Bonus Ch - The Return of Philomena

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Bonus Ch - Twilight The Pet

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Bonus Ch - My Little Twiny April Foal's Day

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Ch18 - The Wonderbolts

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Ch19 - Friends among Foes

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Ch20 - Camping Trip

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Bonus Ch - My Little Medic

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Ch21 - Twilight’s Birthday

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Ch22 - Best Wishes

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Ch23 - Sundown

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Epilogue

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Bonus Ch - Day Before Summer Sun Celebration

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Prologue ( updated )

Prologue ( Final Version )

Prologue (Final Version)

Source

Twilight stood nervously before the four ponies judging her. She had studied and reviewed and practiced for months, all leading up to this moment. This was the final test needed to secure her a place in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

"Well, Miss Sparkle?" a stern looking mare asked impatiently, her grey hair shifting only slightly as she made notes on the purple filly’s progress, or rather, the lack of thereof. The passive expression on her face was mirrored by those of the other teachers, who were all waiting for her to hatch the mottled dragon egg that had just been wheeled into the testing room.

Twilight hesitated. Failing this test would mean she wouldn’t be accepted into the school, and she had no idea how to proceed. Despite her ever-present fear of failure, she began frantically to try to hatch the egg and after several fruitless attempts, she gave up, exhausted and certain that she had failed her exam. With her head hung low, she apologized to the stern instructors, her voice quiet and almost heartbroken.

Watching the young filly try and fail to produce even the tiniest spark of magic, the instructors once again raised their notepads to take their final thoughts on the filly’s test, denouncing her poor performance under pressure yet praising her humble nature. They agreed that while Twilight severely needed help on building her confidence, she’d be an easy one to mold.

“This applicant completely loses her focus while under pressure and notably lacks confidence in her magical abilities. It took her a long time before she even made an attempt to hatch the egg. We will need to focus on building her confidence in the future. She has shown great potential in all her previous evaluations. And will prove to be a great asset to the school.”

Another teacher, a yellow unicorn mare made her own observations.

“She obviously knows this is beyond her abilities, but despite the lack of confidence tried anyway.”

Her stoic expression masking her satisfaction she finalised her notes preparing to comfort the increasingly downtrodden filly and discuss her conclusions with her fellow judges.

“All in all this has been a good trial. Hopefully in time Miss Sparkle will come to learn that we gain experience not only from our successes, but also from our failures.”

Another of the evaluators also wrote his conclusions on the filly’s performance, levitating his clipboard and pencil with a minty green aura.

“She apologized to us despite the fact that we gave her a near impossible task. In addition I didn't hear her complain even once during the test.”

The applicant is respectful towards authority and shown no anger or outwardly-directed frustration towards herself or others. She seems to be a student who can trust her teacher, but, she seems far too willing to accept blame even when she is not at fault. Indeed, she seems to be quite a humble one, and humble students are easy to teach..

Despite the bored or disappointed expressions on their faces, all four evaluators were impressed by the purple filly's behaviour. No pony would ever realistically expect a filly to hatch the egg, no matter how talented. The true entrance exam had been over before this final test, as the intelligence of the applicant was analyzed with paper exams, magic potential was measured using an apparatus attached to their horn, and there were a few other practical tests too, and the filly in question, Twilight Sparkle had passed them all with flying colors. The only reason this impossible task was included in the entrance exam was by direct order of none other than princess Celestia herself to test the applicant’s character, and while she was far from perfect, she had most certainly passed.

Suddenly, a great wave of multichromatic light surged across the city of Canterlot, a deep thunderous rumble following in its wake. Before anypony could comment or even ponder the amazing phenomenon, something else captured the adults attention.

The evaluators and Twilight’s parents watched in awe as the purple filly before them rose off the ground, emanating a pure white light before letting loose a terrific surge of raw power. Being far greater than any magic surge they had ever witnessed before, the surge froze them in disbelief at the immense amount of magic suddenly cascading from such a young student.

Before anypony could even consider escaping the surging filly, all four evaluators were captured within a bubble of purple force, suspending them helplessly in mid-air. Bolts of pure magical power flew in all directions from the ball of incandescent energy surrounding the young filly. One single bolt struck the dragon’s egg, reducing the wagon to flaming debris, while the mottled dragon egg began to hatch, as pieces of the steel hard shell began to snap and break off from the top of the egg the form of a small filly sized dragon baby appeared out of the debris, the ball of purple then started to chew on it’s tail. Even more bolts of power cascaded throughout the room as her surge grew in power. Even her own parents were not spared from the barrage, one bolt striking the both of them and, when the glare of magic had vanished, only a cacti and ficus remained. Another powerful bolt struck the newly hatched drake causing him to grow to gigantic proportions, bursting through the roof of the exam room with a crash.

Twilight Sparkle had never been more terrified in her entire life.

The helpless instructors gasped as the young filly cast spells far beyond anything they could imagine as  filly had lost control and the power had begun to consume her.

A wave of relief cut through the panic that had taken hold of the assessors as Princess Celestia swept into the room. Rubble fell everywhere, due to the prematurely aged dragon having burst right through the ceiling, but Celestia ignored that and went straight for the terrified filly, resting a hoof on her shoulder.

Twilight Sparkle turned around, only to see the pony she idolized standing in front of her, seemingly unconcerned at the devastation around the testing room, but looking straight into her eyes with a compassionate smile.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh... I need to stop! I can’t be destroying the princess’ schools! What if she locks me in the dungeon, or banishes me, or keeps me in magic kindergarten for the rest of my life! Twilight desperately tried to stop her magic from streaming out of her body, but it was a fruitless effort; every time she tried to stop it, she felt pain like a strong wave of water hitting her with full force until she got out of the way. The more she tried to stop it, the harder it hit.

Seeing there was no time to waste, Princess Celestia spread her wings and wrapped the panicked student in her golden magic, absorbing the destructive bolts while she searched for a long-term solution.

I cannot simply put a shield around her to stop her from destroying this school, as the magic pressure under the shield would crush her, Celestia thought as she was pushed back by several magic bolts. However as an alicorn, not only did she have the strength and stamina of earth ponies, but also enough endurance necessary to handle her own magic, so the filly's magic surge was no threat to her.

I could teleport everyone out of this room, or even from school, and wait until the magic surge ends naturally, but that would leave school half-destroyed. There must be some way to reduce the damage to both her and the school... That’s it!

I can use the filly's magic surge as fuel for a shrinking spell. With her size reduced and magic drained she would calm down much faster, and the damage caused by her would be minimal, Celestia thought as she lit her horn with magic. The spell she was about to cast required a great deal of magic and concentration, but despite being constantly struck by magic bolts, Celestia didn’t lose her focus. After a moment she cast her spell on the purple filly.

The fear in the young unicorn’s terrified eyes turned into confusion as the room and Princess Celestia began to swell upwards. Did I make them grow just like that dragon? Oh no, what have I done?! the filly thought. I'll be lucky if I just end up in dungeon for this! She began to realize her magic was becoming weaker and weaker. Something was draining her, but she was too afraid about what the princess would do with her to care.

Celestia gazed upon the results of her work, seeing the small purple filly shrinking more and more as her own magical surge fueled the spell. The shrinking spell was not an easy spell; only Celestia and one or two others had both the power and skill to cast it. In addition, there was barely any practical purpose to the spell, since it used the target’s own power as fuel. Without the target’s cooperation or an uncontrolled magic surge, the spell would do absolutely nothing.

After Celestia noticed that the filly had stopped shrinking and her magic surge was almost over, she cast another spell to reverse the effects of the burst, returning the dragon to his original size, and transforming the two plants next to her back into ponies. Age spell, transformation spell, enough magic to hatch a dragon egg... magic surge or not, this filly has incredible potential. Maybe even too much for her own good, Celestia thought, seeing that the tiny filly was now lying unconscious on the floor.

So small and fragile, yet so powerful, she lay down in front of the small filly. It will be best if I take her under my wing and help her learn how to control her power. She brought her face to ground level to take a better look as she cast a scanning spell. Her magical reserves are very low, but thankfully her body was barely injured. Celestia cast a quick healing spell on the filly.

The exhausted Twilight began to stir, feeling a comfortably warm wave of magic pass through her body. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the giant face of her princess looming over her. Screaming, she jumped back, panic and fear overwhelming her. Did I made her so big? Is she going to punish me?

She even considered escaping for a moment, but she was paralyzed by fear. Unable to move, Twilight shut her eyes and cowered, trembling helplessly. Please let it be the dungeon! I don’t want to be flattened, she thought, expecting the giant princess to stomp on her at any moment.

Celestia was deep in her own thoughts. That magic surge was far more powerful than I initially thought it would be. The shrinking spell managed to reduce her mass a hundredfold, making her just barely larger than a fat mouse. She noticed the filly was trembling, and obviously almost terrified to death.

The filly’s parents were watching in awe, still trying to comprehend what had just happened, and wondering why the princess was talking to some purple bug.

"Hello, my little pony. Please don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you," said Celestia in a calm, motherly voice. Celestia thought about the irony of the situation. She often called her subjects her ‘little ponies’, but this was the first time saying it to a filly smaller than her own snout

The purple filly slowly opened her eyes and watched her princess with a fearful expression. "Y-you won't?" she squeaked, as the words got stuck in her throat.

"Of course not. Why would you ever think I would hurt you in the first place?" Celestia said, confusion staining the warmth of her voice. The very idea of hurting any pony, let alone this tiny helpless filly, was impossible to imagine.

"B-because I d-didn't stop... I made you b-big... P-p-please don't be mad..."

"Oh no, my little pony, you are quite mistaken. You did not increase my size," Celestia said calmly, "It was I who shrunk you." Even though she didn't let it show, the very idea made her laugh on the inside.

"You... s-shrunk me?" the filly said hesitantly, slowly analyzing the situation. "I... understand. This is my punishment for being a bad filly." She dropped her head in shame, looking at the ground. "Will you lock me into the dungeon as well?" she asked despairingly.

Celestia felt sadness well up inside her chest. The poor filly had not only experienced such a terrifying magical surge at such a young age, but was expecting to be punished for it. "Oh, no my dear," she said, "I am not going to punish you. It was not your fault for losing control over your powers. That could have happened to anypony. You are a very special unicorn with power far greater than others of your age. I just shrunk you to help you deal with the magic surge and to ensure the safety of you and all the ponies around you. It was not a punishment," she stressed her last sentence, sounding almost apologetic.

As realization struck the filly's parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light, they also knelt down in front of their daughter, lowering their heads to the ground. "T-Twilight, is that you?" asked Night Light hesitantly.

Twilight turned around to face her humongous parents, but she resisted jumping back in fear—she would never be afraid her parents, no matter how big they were. "Y-yes" she answered slowly with a nod of her head.

"Oh, my little filly. Whatever happened to you?" asked Twilight Velvet, her voice uneasy; she was still unable to comprehend the situation.

"I... I was a bad filly. I could have hurt other p-ponies, so the princess made me t-tiny," Twilight answered with her cute, squeaky voice, as she was still trembling from the fear.

"Oh no, it wasn’t your fault. Please don’t blame yourself," said Twilight Velvet quickly as she turned her head towards the princess. "Could you... please turn her back to normal... Your Highness?" she asked respectfully. She tried to bow, but found it impossible as her head was already on ground level.

Celestia thought for a moment before answering. "I would like to return her to her normal size, but I’m not sure that would be wise. Your daughter has an immense amount magic inside her, far more than she can control at this point in her life," she explained, saddened at what lay in the filly’s future.

"If I change her back, she would have more magic surges like this one, and you’ve seen the amount of damage her they can do. As much as I wish your daughter could have a normal life, I cannot put her and those around her at risk," Celestia lectured calmly, sincerely apologetic towards the filly’s mother.

"But, Your Highness!" Night Light replied desperately, turning to face the princess. "Our daughter cannot stay the size of a bug. What if somepony accidentally steps on her? What if she has an accident? Just look how small and fragile she is now." He pointed out his hoof at his daughter, who was silently watching the princess and her parents talking, now trembling more from exhaustion rather than fear.

"Couldn’t you just make her a little bit bigger? At least big enough so that nopony would step on her by mistake?" pleaded Twilight Velvet, her pained expression mirroring her internal turmoil.

Celestia gave a short pause before shaking her head sadly. "I am afraid that is not how the shrinking spell works. Whenever I cast the spell on your daughter, her size will be determined by the strength of her last magical surge," she said, sitting in a regal position yet again. “I’m afraid that until she learns how to control her power, she must stay that way."

But before she could let Twilight's parents say anything more, Celestia spoke again, "Please don’t worry. I will ensure your daughter's safety, and I will teach her how to control her power. With your permission of course, if you will grant it.” Rising her hooves with regal grace, she awaited Night Light and Twilight Velvet’s answer.

Twilight parents were lost in thought until Night Light broke the silence. "B-but we can’t let you take our daughter when she needs us the most. W-will... you be able to ensure our daughter's safety? Will you be able to take care of her better than we can?" asked Night Light hesitantly.

"Yes I will. I have the resources and knowledge to train, house and protect your daughter. I’ll be very careful with my new student. You have my word," spoke Celestia in her regal voice.

Before Twilight Velvet could speak, they heard a quiet, raspy, and yet excited voice yelling at their hooves. "YE-eS Y-yEs YES Yes Y-yes..." yelled Twilight, stammering slightly as her excitement fought against her exhausted body.

Celestia and Twilight's parents looked down to the floor, and saw the tiny purple filly bouncing vigorously in a small circle at their hooves, still repeating her mantra of success. All three could barely stop themselves from embarrassing the filly with a simultaneous “awww.”

"Yes, you may take care of our daughter and teach her how to control her magic. It would be an honor to have our daughter as your student. My husband and I will visit as often as we can," Twilight Velvet replied, a warm smile across her face.

The smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a stern and threatening expression. "But I swear as her mother, even if you are the Princess of Equestria, if you hurt our daughter or let anypony hurt her, I will hold you responsible," Twilight Velvet stated, her voice low, yet determined. She finished with a small cough and made a quick bow toward the princess. With an innocent smile, she finally turned to her husband, who was staring at her, his mouth wide open.

Unoffended by the threat, Celestia lowered herself to the excited little filly. Celestia slowly levitated Twilight to her nose, surprised that the little thing still had so much energy after her dangerously powerful magic surge.

Twilight looked into her future mentor’s giant eyes, trembling and slightly unstable on her hooves, but barely able to contain her excitement. "I c-cannot b-believe you’re going to t-teach m-me! I’m so h-happy, I’m s-so h-happy!" the filly yelled excitedly before landing unceremoniously on her face.

"Please calm down, my little pony. You’ve had a very rough day, and you deserve a rest," Celestia spoke calmly. Twilight gave an adorable little pout, but it took only a moment until she yawned and fell asleep on her mentor's nose. Celestia grinned in response as she looked at her future little student, who was now curled up like a tiny purple ball, right on her nose.

Slowly, Celestia levitated her new student onto her soft back, careful not to wake her up, and cast small, magical ropes no larger than threads to immobilize the sleeping filly so she wouldn't accidentally fall off.

“Did you notice?” Celestia whispered to Twilight parents, who now looked back with confused expressions. “Your daughter got her cutie mark. It’s very small and I didn’t notice it until she fell asleep,” Celestia whispered, careful not to disturb the sleeping filly as Twilight’s parents came closer for a better look, just now noticing the tiny magenta star surrounded by five little white flecks no larger than specks of paint on their daughter’s flank.

“That’s wonderful, Princess,” Twilight Velvet exclaimed excitedly before quickly covering her mouth with her hooves. When she spoke again, her voice was much quieter, “My apologies... would you tell this to our daughter when she wakes up?”

“I will, once she recovers. As for now, I will need to put her to bed and take care of the mess in here, but I will ensure her safety. You have my promise. Goodbye Twilight Velvet, Night Light, it was a pleasure to meet you,” she said her goodbyes and took her leave from the classroom, walking slowly back to her bed chamber.

Celestia considered the day’s events. That rainbow-colored wave and the powerful magic surge couldn't have been a coincidence; there are strong resemblances here to the Elements of Harmony. Perhaps they’ve finally found their new bearers. If my theory is correct, I will have the next thirteen years to train this filly to become one of the new bearers. With that display of magical prowess, I would not be surprised if the Element of Magic chooses her when the time is right.

As for the other bearers, that rainbow wave will touch the lives of a great number of potential candidates for the Elements. I will have to track down whoever made it, as well as any other potential bearers linked to it. When the time comes, they’ll need to be close to the elements, perhaps in Ponyville. After creating her plan of action, she took a look in the sky. Though her sun stood high today, it would soon give way to her sister’s moon, and Nightmare Moon would be back.

I have a chance to save you from your corruption, my sister, and I am going to take it.

Ch7 - Cadence, Blueblood, and BBBFF

Ch8 - Snowball War

Celestia’s Tiny Student

-

Chapter 8

Snowball War

A thick blanket of snow covered the Royal Gardens, transforming it into a beautiful and wonderfully fluffy world, if a bit on the chilly side. Animal dens lay beneath the snowfall, filled with hibernating animals, and the tree branches were bare, save for the icicles and snow hanging from them. It would be a perfect, untouched world if it weren’t for the mass of guards, composed of ten pegasi and ten unicorns, in formation in the middle.

“Errr... Does anypony know why we’re here today?” a guard asked uncertainly.

“I don’t believe so, but it must be something really important if Lieutenant Armor asked us to be here. Did you see how serious he looked?” a reply came from one of the pegasi on the other side of the group. A low murmur spread through the crowd until they caught sight of the pony in question approaching.

“Attention!” snapped Shining Armor, who was decked out in his officer’s armor, though he left his electric blue mane free of the accompanying helmet. Certain that he had the attention of all of the guards present, he continued, “You’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today.”

The guards carefully maintained their impassive expressions despite their growing anxiety.

Shining Armor gave a snort and grinned, “I thought so... You see, I have gathered you here by the order of Princess Celestia herself.”

With impeccable timing, the princess took the opportunity to land next to Shining Armor just as he sounded the words to the suddenly nerve-wracked guards. “Have you gathered all of the guards that I’ve requested, Lieutenant Armor?” The princess’s tone was authoritative and steely, offering no room for pleasantry.

“Of course, Your Highness. I’ve chosen them personally for the upcoming battle,” Shining Armor gave a sharp salute, before turning his gaze to the other arriving guests. “And I see that the others are here as well.”

Despite the cold, the guards began sweating. None of them had been in an actual battle yet; Equestria had been at peace for over three hundred years and the most they had in battle readiness came from practiced drills and simulations. It didn’t help that Princess Cadence and the Captain of the Guard, Brave Blade, had joined the lieutenant and the princess at the front, along with Prince Blueblood, Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur de Lis, and a baby dragon, of all things.

They were accompanied by several servants and two more guards, a pegasus guard and the unusual charcoal black unicorn whose ever-present scarf finally fit with the season. They joined the group already gathered there, but to the guards assembled in formation, these ponies weren’t nearly as important as the many important figures present. All of the guards looked warily between the two princesses and the Captain of the Guard, wondering exactly what prompted this collection of authority.

With a curt nod, Celestia began speaking firmly, “Yes, it appears that everypony is here, Lieutenant Armor.”

With another sharp salute, Shining Armor turned to address his guards, only to be interrupted by a magenta flash and a tiny lavender unicorn landing on his head. “Is everypony ready, BBBFF?” Twilight asked excitedly, barely able to contain her grin.

The guards turned to look with confusion at the tiny pony standing on their superior officer’s head, though those more knowledgeable about Celestia’s prized student were already frantically attempting to figure out her role in the upcoming battle. Many worried for the safety of the tiny mare, though this was slightly overshadowed by the relief of fighting alongside one of the most powerful unicorns this side of Equestria and many more wondered if Celestia would finally dispel her shrinking spell to allow Twilight the use of her full power, for the good of Equestria.

“Yes they are, Twiny, but it’s still their decision whether they would like to participate or not,” Shining Armor replied warmly to the dismay of the guards present, who quickly realized that they were about to take volunteers for whatever mission they needed completed, a sure sign of a suicide run or something equally likely to separate them from that nice thing called ‘breathing.’

It didn’t help that Overwatch had the most devilishly evil grin plastered on her face, happily telling the guards around her, “Lighten up, it’ll only be the biggest battle you’ll ever have in your life.”

Shining Armor gave a loud, annoyed huff, quickly drawing the attention of the assembled guards, who were quite willing to ignore the crazy mare leisurely talking about their impending death. “Don’t think I can’t hear you, Specialist Overwatch,” he called, before continuing in his normal tone of voice. “But she’s right about this being one of the largest engagements you’ll ever have. You can back down now if you wish, but know that only the side with the stronger will to win will emerge from this battle victorious.”

“That’s right! We’re going to war!” Twilight added courageously, standing on her brother head and pumping her hoof into the air. Many of the gathered guards, sweat pouring from their nervous brows, eagerly took a step back, leaving those few who had either mustered up the courage enough to fight for the tiny unicorn or those who were too frightened to step back.

Shining Armor opened his mouth to speak, only to be beaten by his little sister, “Awww, only six? A snowball war would be a lot funner if more of you join, you know. It said so in my book,” Twilight began tracing tiny circles mournfully with her hoof on her brother’s head, oblivious to the fact that many of the assembled guards had suddenly decided that stumbling into the snow was much more preferable to figuring out exactly what the tiny unicorn had just revealed.

Silence reigned for a long moment, until one of the assembled guards raised a hoof and asked, “Is this a joke?”

Overwatch burst out into uproarious laughter, falling backwards into the snow as the gathered guards quickly aimed death glares at her, though Steel Blade simply rolled his eyes.

Shining Armor gave a synchronized facehoof with Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence, “Great job Twilight. Way to ruin the prank.”

“Prank? What prank?” Twilight asked, looking down at her brother cluelessly.

Shining Armor could not help but smile at the anticipatory look on Twilight's face as he explained the events to his soldiers. The idea of a huge snowball fight in the sacrosanct Royal Gardens that not only was permitted, but would have a princess on one side took a little while to soak in, but eventually they all agreed it made a delightful change of pace from their normal drills. When Princess Celestia offered them two free days of leave as an apology for the prank, none of them refused the opportunity.

With the circumstances clarified, everypony gathered around in a large group, save for the two team leaders standing in front of them, each wearing a distinctly colored band on a foreleg. The leader of Red Team was none other than Princess Celestia while the leader of Blue Team—to everypony’s surprise—was Twilight Sparkle, who was perched comfortably on top of the princess’s head with a band no larger than a piece of thick thread tied around her foreleg.

“As with any game,” Celestia began, peering at the attentive faces of the crowd before her. “We must cover the rules before we start. Twilight? If you would.”

Twilight gave an affirmative nod, “The goal of this game is to hit the opposing team’s flags, which, as you can see, are scattered throughout the Royal Gardens. Whoever can hit all of them will be the winner, but no one is allowed to gain an advantage by moving the flags to a more defensible position. You can only use snowballs to hit the flags or anypony on the other team.”

“And finally, we’re all going to be playing on equal ground, meaning that unicorns will not be allowed to use magic and pegasi will not be able to fly,” Twilight elaborated, levitating a large collection of magic-restricting rings as well as several sets of bindings.

Celestia continued Twilight’s explanation, “Indeed, all unicorns will have to wear an restraining ring and all pegasi will have their wings bound. In addition, because Earth Pony magic inherently increases their strength and stamina, all Earth Ponies will wear weighted vests to compensate.” She smiled warmly before continuing, “Just think of it as an extra workout.” She then levitated the leaden weights onto the ponies in question, nearly tripling the weight of the ponies wearing them, yet causing very little discomfort.

Celestia then turned to her own weight and eyed it warily. I feel like I’m going to regret this, she thought as she levitated on the large vest made specially for her, weighed specifically in tons rather than kilograms. She groaned as the weight settled on her. Oh dear, I haven’t been lifting anything during my time as a ruler, have I? What did I just agree to?

“As for me, I’m allowed to use my magic to compensate for my size disadvantage,” Twilight declared loudly as the ponies busily began putting on their handicaps. She reared up onto Celestia’s horn, standing on her two hind legs as she flipped through a tiny, but exorbitantly long, checklist that rolled down Celestia’s forehead and formed a little curl right over one royal eye. Satisfied, she looked up, and once she saw that most of them were finished, she continued, “If everypony understands the rules, we can begin forming teams. You can choose first, princess.”

With that, she hopped down to Celestia’s left with a soft crunch on the snow and moved farther to the side as the princess scanned the familiar faces of her ponies, once again with a hidden smile.

“I shall choose Lieutenant Shining Armor.”

“Whaaaat?! P-princess, why did you choose my BBBFF?” Twilight exclaimed, a pout on her face as Shining Armor hesitantly trotted forward, unsure of which side would win the upcoming battle for his body, but quite certain he was going to lose either way.

“It’s very simple, my faithful student. Shining Armor is one of the strongest ponies here, even without his magic,” Celestia explained plainly, before she noticed the disappointed pout on Twilight’s face. “Errr... but since I chose first, would you like to choose two for your team since I had my pick from everypony?”

“Sounds fair, I guess.” Twilight’s pout remained, but she quickly capitalized on the offering, already running through who best to choose for her team and who she personally wanted. Two immediately popped into mind as she declared, “I choose Spike and Princess Cadence.” With that, Spike began energetically skipping to her side as Cadence followed at his heels, happy that she would not have to peg the tiny unicorn with a snowball.

Celestia raised an eyebrow as Twilight’s group exchanged smiles and hugs, “An odd choice, my faithful student. You know that choosing Spike will leave you at a disadvantage, correct?”

Twilight simply shrugged, “We’re here to have fun, aren’t we? Does it really matter who I choose?”

Celestia smiled warmly at her student before turning back to the group at large, tapping her hoof to her muzzle in thought. “If that’s how you want to play it, my faithful student, then I shall choose Fancy Pants.”

Fancy Pants raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I say, I was rather expecting to be chosen last, given my shameful lack of interest in physical activities, but I appreciate being chosen so early, Your Highness,” he said before trotting over to Celestia’s group.

“Aww... I wanted Fancy Pants on my team. No matter. I choose Blueblood then,” Twilight exclaimed loudly as she pointed out the surprised prince, who had just then been staring at Fancy Pants in envy. He looked unsteadily at the heavily-muscled Shining Armor on the other team, but managed a weak smile as he walked over to Twilight.

Celestia gave a nod. “Very well. I choose Overwatch.” The mare in question smiled and trotted soundlessly through the crisp snow.

“Hmm... Who should I choose?” Twilight asked aloud to the very attentive faces of the guards present. A few even raised one of their hooves, but Twilight managed to spot one familiar pegasus in the back, “I choose Steel Blade.”

Steel Blade trotted over shamelessly, giving a warm smile at Twilight before looking over to the other team, soon noticing that Overwatch was giving him a knowing, wolfish grin while idly tossing a snowball in the air. Steel Blade suddenly looked very self-conscious as his eyes flickered between Twilight and Overwatch before he gave himself a solid facehoof and a small groan.

Celestia looked amusedly at Steel Blade before turning to pick the stallion’s father. “Captain Brave Blade,” she stated, though she felt a bit guilty for taking the brilliant aerial mastermind and more than a bit dismayed at how one-sided the teams were starting to look, even with the advantage she’d left Twilight prior to the event.

“Fleur!” Twilight exclaimed, and the mare moved elegantly to her side, exchanging a sporting grin with her husband on the other side.

Celestia looked thoughtfully at the rest of the group before pointing a hoof to choose a guard near the front. Between Twilight and Celestia, the rest of the group was quickly split between the two sides, though many of the stallion guards and servants seemed strangely eager to be on a team with Twilight, Fleur, and Cadence.

With teams finally established, both sides quickly split up, ready to make the most of their one hour of preparation time.

“What’s the status on the fort, Cadence?” Twilight asked sternly, perched atop Spike’s shoulder as she levitated another block of ice over.

“The fortress is almost ready, General Sparkle!” Cadence replied cheerfully, a smile plastered on her face. “Thanks to your freezing spell, we’ll have a solid defense against the enemy’s assault. I never knew Celestia taught you such advanced spells, Twilight.”

Twilight blushed with pride, “She taught it to me after I levitated her for more than five minutes without having a power surge. I remember like it was week ago.”

“It was a week ago, Twilight,” Spike mumbled. “I bet the princess taught it to you just for today’s game.”

“I’m sure it was just a coincidence,” Twilight replied, dismissing it with a hoof before once again concentrating on freezing another bubble of water into an ice block. Spike shot her a deadpan stare before he turned to look at the pile of innumerable buckets of water left conspicuously beside every one of their flags.

Steel Blade trotted up, snapping a salute to the tiny unicorn. “General, the time we had to prepare is almost up. As you ordered, we have stockpiled snowballs behind each barrier near our flags, and we are ready for their assault.”

“Thank you, sir,” Twilight replied politely, checking a small timer. Noting its time, she cast a quick sound-amplification spell and shouted, “Everypony to your stations! The battle will commence in two minutes.” Her command instantly mobilized her forces, and though she lacked the military experience her brother had, her battlements were neat and organized, allowing her team coverage of nearly every zone.

Cadence watched as the other ponies galloped to their places for a while before turning to Twilight. “You know they have both Princess Celestia and Shining Armor in the lead, right? And not to mention the Captain of the Royal Guard, Brave Blade, as well. Even if your brother has only just begun his training as a leader, he’s still smart, strong, and a wonderf—” Cadence paused, shaking her head “— experienced officer. We’re up against the Princess and two of the best officers in Equestria. Are you sure we can win, Twilight?”

“Of course we can! I read all about it! And besides, we’re here to have fun, right? So let’s do our best!” Twilight shouted, to the enthusiastic whooping from the guards as they prepared for the oncoming onslaught.

“We are in position and ready to attack on your command, Your Highness.” Brave Blade snapped a practiced salute, along with a squad of pegasus guards right behind him.

Celestia nodded. “Thank you, Brave Blade. And just call me Celestia, please. This is just a game after all, not a real battle. There is no need to be so formal.”

“Yes, Your Hi—I mean—yes, Celestia,” Brave Blade quickly corrected himself before turning to the battlefield, scanning it with an experienced eye. “I must admit though, your student seems to have inherited the same defensive nature as her brother. I’ve never seen such a powerful defense prepared in such a short amount of time, even under pressure.”

Celestia beamed at this compliment. “I must agree with you, Brave Blade,” she replied pridefully. “She may lack formal military training, but she’s smart and has good instincts. I wouldn’t be surprised if she learned about fighting with a home advantage from her books. Or even from playing games with her friend...”

Celestia frowned slightly. “What was his name again?” she mused, before her face lit up in recognition. “Ah yes. White Path, Fancy Pants’ son. Twilight told me they’ve played a few war games together, though you can imagine my surprise when I heard that she was interested in such coltish activities. It’s a shame we weren’t able to invite him, but I’d fear too much for his safety to allow him to get pelted by a guard.”

“Perhaps it is better that he isn’t here then, Your Hi—Celestia,” Brave Blade remarked offhandedly. “I’m a little disappointed that we won’t be able to concentrate our attacks to take down her flags sequentially though. As much as I would like to blitz the entire game, it now appears that Shining Armor’s suggestion that we leave a few troops behind to defend has some merit, to defend against backdoor threats if our attacking forces are stuck sieging those fortifications.”

Celestia looked concernedly at Brave Blade. “You say that there is merit in his suggestions now, but did you find an issue with his plans when he first suggested them?”

Brave Blade shook his head. “No, Celestia. It’s likely just a difference in our methods. His plans are as solid as mine are, but we might have a few issues if two officers try to give contradicting orders to the same body of troops, especially in a group this small.”

Celestia simply nodded. “We shall have to work those out as we go along then; our time for preparation is up. Are you ready, Captain?”

Brave Blade stood straighter, looking powerful despite his age as he replied, “As ready as these old bones of mine will let me.” He looked over at Shining Armor near the front lines, already commanding soldiers to their correct places as a strong, charismatic leader. Such a vast improvement over these last few months, he thought, smiling. Carefully crafted by Celestia’s subtle hoof to such a fine, young stallion. I have no doubt he will become a suitable, nay, a superior candidate for Captain of the Royal Guard in the coming years.

If it weren’t for Nightmare Moon, I’d be able to rest easy hanging up my sword.

Red Team wasted little time in heading an assault against the first flag, with Princess Celestia herself at the helm of her little vanguard. They numbered eight Red Team ponies against the two Blue Team members, a pegasus guard and an earth pony maid, currently behind cover. Though the defending side had plenty of snowballs stockpiled, they were given little time to aim as snowballs continually pelted their little outpost. As four of the Red Team ponies provided covering fire, the other four were able to move up and so repeat the process to move the rest of the squad up. Blue Team wasn’t without their victories however; there was really no need to aim when there were eight targets on the field and the bounty of snowballs meant that they could simply continue throwing snowballs in the general direction of Princess Celestia to score hits on Red Team. Despite their numerical deficit, they were managing to hold their attackers at bay.

Princess Celestia quickly blew a bit of snow off her muzzle and shrugged off any hits made to her leaden vest as she hid behind some makeshift cover. She gave a pout at the withering barrage from the fortification before ducking to make more snowballs for her team to push up, all the while cursing the extra weight she needed to carry around. As a mostly stationary pony, she was never as fit as she should be, but dodging snowballs was nearly impossible when she was the largest and heaviest target on the field. That, and she was afraid she might crush one of her teammates with her increased weight if she tried to roll out of the way.

She felt a hoof tap her side as she finished with a small pile of ammunition and turned to see a pegasus guard, who spoke quickly. “I think we have enough for now, Your Highness. We’re ready to cover your initial push whenever you’re ready.”

With a quick nod, she turned towards the edge of their cover, tensing her legs. With a sharp “Go!” she sprinted from cover, a sudden barrage from her side forcing the two defenders to stop their enthusiastic bombardment. Quickly closing another few meters to the fortification, she jumped, curled up, and hurled herself through the air, leading with her broad back. She landed with a heavy skid, quickly piling up snow in another makeshift barrier, and her troops quickly moved up to their new cover. Just another stepping stone forward.

She grinned at her work, just before another snowball grazed the back of her neck and scattered little fragments of ice down the few warm parts she had left. With a convulsive shiver, she peeked over the edge of the barrier and blinked snow out of her eyelashes. Too bad this cover couldn’t stand to be just a teensy bit taller.

“Are you really sure that it’s proper for us to assault the princess like this?” the earth pony maid asked nervously before haphazardly chucking another snowball over the cover.

“Of course it is! Didn’t you hear her? Today’s the day I don’t have to act like a stupid statue all the time, and if the princess wants ponies to treat her like any other, I shall not refuse!” he exclaimed, throwing another snowball at the approaching ponies before ducking down again, avoiding the several frozen projectiles that just flew over his head. “And who else is going to be able to say that they pegged Princess Celestia with a snowball? This story’s going to be passed down through generations, I tell you!”

The maid quickly suppressed a laugh, chucking another snowball over. She ducked back down, taking a quick glance around before her eyes suddenly widened in shock. “Watch out!” she shouted, jumping at the pegasus guard just as he rose to fire off another shot. The guard face-planted into the snow under the leaden weight of the earth pony mare, who was now conveniently three times heavier thanks to her vest. A hail of snowballs pelted the side of their fortification that Princess Celestia was decidedly not on.

The pegasus guard spit out a muzzle-full of snow with a groan before peering over the cover at the new attackers. “It’s Captain Brave Blade. He’s flanking us while the princess pushes forward,” he stated to the mare before looking at their meager supplies of snowballs. He gave a defeated huff, “This post is lost. Get the rest of these over the walls at them and we’ll get back to the next defensive position.”

The two worked through the rest of their stockpile exceedingly quickly, stomping out what they couldn’t throw before fleeing and allowing Red Team to take their first flag.

“General, we’ve lost most of the flags on our front lines, and most of our forces have been pushed back to their secondary defensive positions,” a pegasus guard reported to the tiny mare perched on Spike, looking out from their central fortress.

“Do we know how many are attacking?” Twilight’s voice was calculating as she tapped her hooves together in a tiny pyramid.

“I counted six pegasus guards, five castle servants, and a single unicorn. Captain Brave Blade and Princess Celestia are leading the charge.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That’s a majority of their forces, though if I know my brother, he will probably be defending their flags at their base, which just makes things harder,” she mused aloud. “But if they keep pushing like this, they’ll be extended too far from their base to defend it. It’s a lost cause to hold our first line of defense, but they’ve brought us enough time to prepare for our offensive. Prince Blueblood!”

Blueblood flinched. “Y-yes?”

“I need you to take the majority of our remaining forces on a special mission.  Your orders are to circle around into the rear of enemy territory and take out their flags from behind. It won’t take long before this fort is surrounded, but with most of their forces here, you should be able to overcome any of their remaining defensive forces,” Twilight stated authoritatively.

Blueblood’s eyes widened in shock. “You can’t be serious! Everypony on their side is just waiting for the opportunity to peg me with a snowball. I’m sure that all of them will ignore the rest of my guards to aim for me!” Blueblood replied incredulously, not looking forward to facing the accurate snowy wrath of Shining Armor at all.

Twilight gasped. “That’s brilliant! If you can distract the troops they’ve left behind and draw their fire, the rest of the strike team will be able to tag all of their flags with barely any resistance! That’s a wonderful plan, Blueblood!” she exclaimed happily before turning her attention to the ponies left in the base. “Everypony, Blueblood has offered to act as a decoy so that we can win this war! Let’s give him a big ‘hurrah’ before he goes!”

Blueblood’s eyes opened further, but anything he was going to say was drowned out by a resounding ‘Hurrah!’ throughout the fort. He simply groaned, muttering a quick, “Thanks.” He straightened up after a moment and departed from the fort at the head of his chortling soldiers, determined to get through this with at least a few shreds of his dignity, if not his frostbitten well-being intact.

With Blueblood gone, Twilight turned to the dragon she was still using as a perch. “Do you understand the importance of your mission, Spike? I’m counting on you to bring us a win!”

Spike gave Twilight a wide grin. “Of course I’m going to bring us a win! With Spike on the job, we can’t possibly lose,” he said proudly before handing Twilight to Cadence and departing after Blueblood.

Cadance looked around at the ponies still left in the fort, a small group of volunteers including herself, Twilight, and Steel Blade. “So it’s our job to buy Blueblood and Spike more time, right?” Cadence asked Twilight hesitantly. “Just remember that even if you can use magic, you’re still small, and what would be a harmless snowball for us may actually hurt you.”

Twilight rolled her eyes on top of her new perch on Cadence’s head. “You promised you wouldn’t worry about me.”

“And you promised you wouldn’t do anything I’d have to worry about, and allowing yourself to get hit by a speeding ball of ice bigger than you are doesn’t exactly fall in that category,” Cadence replied firmly.

Twilight pouted and opened her mouth to reply, but she was interrupted by a shout from the sentry, “General, the enemy is advancing!”

With a nod, Twilight teleported to the observation tower where she scanned the attacking forces, quickly spotting her mentor at its head. “Listen up everypony,” she called. “The time has come for us to make our stand against them! They may have taken down our outposts, but as long as we hold this point together, we can hold out long enough to win this! So LET’S WIN THIS!”

She was answered with a resounding cheer from her gathered forces, and they prepared to unleash their avalanche of snowballs.

“Hold on a second,” Celestia said, hiding behind a bit of cover as her forces prepared to move on the fort. “Exactly how many of the Royal Guards are hiding crushes on my student?”

Overwatch grinned widely. “A lot. Dead serious. And can you blame them? She’s soooo cute, and she’s growing to be a fine, young mare. If it weren’t for the fact that she’s your student, and well, the size issue, I’m sure she would have received a polite request for a date by now.”

Celestia blinked. “And you’re sure about this?”

“Princess, you and I both know that stallions are terrible at hiding their emotions. You just need to take a look around, and it’ll be painfully obvious,” Overwatch spoke sagely before her mouth curled up in a sly grin. “But hey, at least you won’t have to worry about her love life. I imagine she might even have a cute line of candidates when she—”

Anything Overwatch might have said further was cut off as she quickly ducked under a snowball speeding past where her head was. She raised a hoof in anger, shouting over her snowy barrier, “I saw that, Steelie! You get over here and fight me like a stallion!”

She was quickly beset by a few more snowballs, one managing to pelt her right on her muzzle. She shook off the snow and narrowed her eyes at the fort, “Oh it is on, Steelie.”

Celestia focused her concentration on the suspiciously well-aimed barrage that was pinning down her forces instead. There’s no way they should be able to hit us at this range, she thought, before noticing the light-magenta aura around each of them. “Watch out everypony. These snowballs are being levitated somehow.” She watched as several of the snowballs thrown by her own side landed miserably short while the enemy’s snowballs actually changed direction in mid-air to fling themselves at exposed ponies, easily making the distance. So she’s actually redirecting the snowballs rather than throwing them herself. No wonder they’re so accurate at this range.

She was quickly distracted by a speeding snowball from her own side, which flew like a laser directly at an unfortunate pony on the fort. “Bam! Right in the kisser, Steelie! How'd you like me now?!” Overwatch shouted, before doing a short victory dance and squinting for her next target.

Celestia gave a confused blink.

Steel Blade wiped the snowball from his muzzle and shook out the stars dancing around his head. He looked up at Twilight on her observation tower. “Permission to engage the sharpshooting unicorn?”

“Permission denied, Steel Blade,” Twilight replied. “You know as well as I do that we cannot spare any more ponies merely to chase down just one of their—”

The snowball that hit Twilight plucked her off the observation point so quickly that Steel Blade thought for a moment that she had teleported away.  That is until Twilight came burrowing out of a loose snowdrift behind him, sneezing twice to clear her nose of impacted snow before looking him straight in the eye.

“Get her.”

Steel Blade gave her a salute, “Yes sir!”

A distant call echoed over the snowcovered battlefield. “You afraid of getting your flank handed to you by a mare, Steelie?”

Steel Blade quickly straightened up, furrowing his brow and quickly returning to his snowball pile, flinging them with renewed vigor at his distant target.

There was a certain nervous prance to Blueblood’s trot as he led his mismatched forces on a circular route in the direction of the distant enemy flags.  Even despite a dusting of snow, perspiration beaded his flanks in anticipation of a sudden ambush or assault that would pound him into a frosty heap while his soldiers merely laughed at his predicament.  Or worse, joined in.

“Nervous, Prince?” asked Fleur softly while trotting by his side.  There was a natural grace in her tone that meshed perfectly with her effortless gait as her pace matched the prince’s unsteady hooves.  Even though her presence was a welcome distraction from his thoughts, when she brushed up against his neck in a manner that was supposed to be comforting, the reaction was anything but relaxing.

Blueblood jumped away as if he had been stung, but he recovered within a few steps and gave a short laugh that had not a single trace of humor inside it, only worry. “Nervous? Moi? Why would I, a Prince of Equestria, be nervous while playing some silly game created by low class ponies?”

Fleur laughed, reading Blueblood just as effortlessly as if he were an open book with large print and little drawings on each page detailing his exact actions. “Oh! My dear, brave prince. Of course there is nothing to be nervous about! It is not like every pony on both sides would love to see you buried.  Under snow, that is.” Fleur chided him softly, swishing her tail over his back while laughing in soft tones that brought involuntary smiles to the rest of the strike force.

Blueblood rolled his eyes, “Fine... I am tired of acting. You and Fancy Pants could always see past my facade. So what if I fear the slings and snowballs of outrageous fortune today.  Why should you care? Are you not concerned for your own safety?  Admittedly, it is only snow, but do you think none of those handsome stallions would even dare to throw a snowball at your beautiful face?” There was a bit of annoyance in his normally snobby voice that only grew as he noticed the stallions trotting along with him all shaking their heads at the thought of actually assaulting the beautiful fashion model.

“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Fleur asked innocently, pausing to toss her mane back and take a dramatic pose alongside a male servant, who blushed and almost fainted. Although some of the guards may have had a crush on little Twilight for being such a brave and strong mare, every male in the city just seemed to lose their mind when even looking at Fleur.  Even some of the female servants tended to long, speculative looks when they thought she was not paying attention.

To Blueblood’s immense relief, his conversation with Fleur was disrupted by a short barrage of snowballs from a nearby bush.  To his regret, they nearly all struck him instead of his followers.

“So, you were brave enough to show your pretty face on the field of battle after all,” said Shining Armor, hefting a sizeable snowball on one hoof as he emerged from behind a tree, along with several other well-armed stallions.  “I had expected you to hide inside my sister’s fortress or just run away with your tail between your legs.  Now you have blundered straight into my ambush!  Attack!  For Celestia!”

As Blueblood and Shining Armor’s forces began to engage in battle, it quickly turned into something more like target practice than an actual fight.  Besieged by a constant bombardment of snow from the enemy’s forces (and the occasional snowball that fell ‘short’ from his own), the handsome stallion quickly turned tail and fled. Unwilling to allow Blueblood to depart the field of battle unvanquished, Shining Armor and several guard pressed their pursuit, following him with a great deal of enthusiasm (and snow).

“I may lose this game,” shouted Shining Armor, heaving another snowball at the hated rump of his nemesis, “but this is a once in a lifetime chance to repay this jerk for his behavior. Generations of snubbed mares and embarrassed colts will long remember this day, when justice finally caught up to his craven actions. Forgive me, Princess Celestia…”

Taking a dramatic stand on top of a low snow mound, Shining Armor pointed at Blueblood and bellowed in a voice that could be heard outside Canterlot castle.

TODAY... WE... BURY THE PRINCE IN SNOW!”

As the stampede of enemy forces departed in pursuit of the rapidly accelerating Blueblood (taking a few friendly ones too), Fleur gathered her remaining soldiers and struck out for the field of red flags, now nearly defenseless.

“Stallions,” she scoffed with a flip of her perfectly curled mane.

The battle in front of Twilight’s fortress turned into a siege once the outlying fortifications had fallen, forcing a general retreat of the defenders to the final refuge of their icy walls. Twilight did her best to coordinate the defensive fire by way of levitation-guided snowy missiles while using her small size and teleportation spell to evade the few snowballs that wound up directed at her, but the situation was grim indeed and about to get worse.

Unluckily for Twilight, a fortress made of ice did not make for firm footing, and eventually the inevitable slip occurred.  Surrounded by the enemy and unable to teleport for freedom, she quickly used the shielding spell Shining Armor had taught her as she became the target of the entire attacking force.  A veritable blizzard of snowballs bombarded her barrier, bashing and beating against the magical pink bubble until her knees trembled and sweat dripped from her face. The relentless assault continued without pause, keeping her pinned down just a few yards from relative safety.

“Back! Back you fiends!” shouted Cadence, attempting to provide covering fire for Twilight by a steady stream of ammunition that took a heavy toll on the exposed attackers.  But even as she attempted to jump outside the fortress walls on a suicidal rescue mission, the same slippery ice that had so rudely interfered with Twilight’s stability made her slip, the heavy lead vest she was wearing only making her embarrassing slide backwards on her rump down the inside wall of the fortress even more humiliating.

Celestia hesitated for a moment in her throwing to admire how well her student was keeping her barrier up despite the constant attack.  Although she did not want to fight against the tiny brave unicorn, she steeled her will to continue. It would not be fair to hold back her efforts, for both her ponies who were depending on her to lead them to victory and her student would not want her to play favorites, even if it was just a game.  With a steady eye, she took aim at her student’s magical shield and raised her well-packed snowball for a powerful throw.

I’m sorry, Twilight.  This is going to hurt me a lot more than it’s going to hurt you.

Despite the massive load of lead on her back, Celestia’s strength made the snowball fairly sizzle through the air, obliterating itself against the pink shield protecting her student and causing a spiderweb of little cracks to splinter across the impact point.  The shield spell jerked back in recoil from the kinetic energy released, plowing Twilight’s little hooves backwards through the densely packed snow beneath her before she tripped and landed on her back.

Ever so slowly, the little unicorn opened her eyes.  The pounding of snowballs against her fractured shield spell had ceased when Celestia had put a crack in it, but now the huge white alicorn towered over her student, with snowball in hoof.

“Please, Twilight.  Surrender.  Your forces fought long and hard, and there is no shame in surrendering when the odds are against you.”

“No!” shouted Twilight, scrambling to her hooves as the shield spell resonated with her voice so everypony could hear.  “I have ponies who are counting on me.  I will not surrender!  Do your worst, Princess Celestia.”

“Very well.”  Celestia raised her snowball high above the cracked shield that still protected her student, and threw it straight down with no small amount of worry.  The tightly packed ball of snow hammered the magenta hemisphere down into the surrounding snow, and when Twilight struggled back to the surface, there were cracks all the way through her battered shield, even though she still held her head high.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” she shouted, the cracks in the shield making her voice sound warped and distorted.  Bracing her hooves against the snow, Twilight nodded at the princess and shouted, “Again!”

Packing up yet another snowball, Celestia took a step backwards and aimed, trying her best to estimate just exactly how much was left in Twilight’s shield as to flatten it without hurting her student.  Certainly once her shield was down, she would surrender.  Right?

A splatter of snowballs from the rest of her forces speckled the damaged shield over Twilight before Celestia spread her wings and commanded, “Hold your fire!  This is between my student and myself.  Do not interfere.”  Hefting her own snowball once, she leaned back and flung it with calculated force at Twilight, feeling a sense of relief as the shield shattered under the impact without hurting her student.

“Princess, is that the best you can do?”  Twilight shook off the dusting of snow that had sprinkled her coat and braced her hooves.  “I can take that all day,” she mocked with a note of challenge in her voice that matched the look of concentration in her eyes.

“Surrender, Twilight!  Your shield is down, and you are defenseless!”  Celestia punctuated her demand for surrender with a snowball, thrown as gently as she could manage.

Twilight did not even bother to evade the attack, lowering her glowing horn and meeting the missile in an explosion of snow that left her coat and mane tipped with little crystals of frost when the remains of the snowball had cleared.

“Is that the hardest you can hit, Princess?” shouted Twilight, shaking her coat to scatter little bits of snow in all directions.  “You’re stronger than that.  I can take it.  Don’t hold back on my account.  I can take whatever all of you can dish out!”

Nearly crushed beneath my hoof by accident a year ago, and you are still trying to prove yourself, my wonderful little student.  After this, no pony will look down on you because of your size.  I will respect your wish, even though it will hurt both of us.

“Very well, my student.  Catch!”  Hefting another snowball, Celestia flung it at her student with more force than she felt comfortable using. A sense of pride filled her chest as the impact threw the little unicorn over a meter backwards, making Twilight land on her hind legs but still managing to maintain her balance.

“More!” Twilight’s voice echoed across the battlefield, bringing a barrage against the small target that Celestia would have been horrified about just a few minutes ago. Due to her small size, many of the enthusiastically flung missiles actually didn’t hit Twilight, and those that did, she met head-on, in explosions of powdery snow that caused more than one sneeze to emerge from the obscured target. “Are you even trying, Princess?  I’m right here!”

Ignoring a twinge in her back that a more rigorous exercise program would have prevented, Celestia hefted a last snowball and took careful aim. It was time to put an end to this before Twilight got hurt, and even though this might be dangerous, it was far better if she did it then one of her soldiers, for she would find it far harder to forgive them than herself.

Twilight spotted the determination in her mentor’s eyes, as well as the massive snowball in her hooves, and prepared herself. With hind legs braced firmly, she lowered her head and steeled her will for what was coming.

The snowball was launched.

It flew in a straight line, kicking up a rooster-tail of loose snow in its wake.

Unstoppable.

Until it hit.

This time there was no simple explosion of snow upon impact. The purple target flew backwards, far harder than before as she smashed into the unyielding icy walls of the fortress and remained pinned there, surrounded by tiny cracks in the ice.

“G-good one, Princess,” said Twilight, coughing out a little snow and shaking her head.

“Are you prepared to surrender now, Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia spoke with all the authority of her position, but behind the mask she felt disappointment at having hurt her student when they should have been having fun instead. Certainly there would be other times when they could cast aside the burdens of their positions and just enjoy themselves in simple things like she and Luna used to do before…

“N-now there’s the strength I hoped to f-feel f-from you princess,” said Twilight firmly, her breath showing in little white clouds as she was trapped against the ice.  “B-but I am not g-going to surrender y-yet.”

Celestia shook herself from her memories and made another snowball while she looked at her trapped student.  Oh, Twilight. You are so much like her.  If only I could make you happy without hurting you like this.

She hefted the snowball and threw, a much more carefully calculated toss that did not meet its expected target, but instead stuck a much larger pink obstacle as Cadence dropped down in front of her student.

“If you want to get Twilight, you must pass me first,” Cadence growled, fierce determination in her voice as her wings snapped forward, launching two large snowballs into Celestia’s surprised face.  As if that had broken an informal cease-fire, Celestia’s forces responded in kind, peppering the pink alicorn with precisely propelled projectiles, preventing a proper rescue of her pinned prodigy by the pretty princess.

Not to be outdone by a foalsitter, Steel Blade and six guards followed right into the withering fire, returning snowballs as rapidly as they could despite being severely outnumbered.

“What are you d-doing?” stammered Twilight, still stuck to the icy wall of the fortress and unable to see the fight due to the number of defenders who had flung their bodies in front of her.  “You’ve opened the door for the enemy!”

Cadence spread a wing to shield her little charge while laying down a pattern of fire against several of Celestia’s soldiers.  “We just couldn’t leave you face Celestia alone.”

“And we’re not going to leave you hanging,” said Steel Blade, carefully freeing her from the ice wall and tucking Twilight under his wing to keep her warm, despite a sudden twitch when tiny icy hooves met warm pegasus underwing.  The twitch was only amplified as a snowball caught him right upside the head, the voice of Overwatch giving firm indication as to its source.

“Steelie! You’re doing it all wrong! You’re supposed to buy her dinner first! DINNER!” The final word was punctuated by yet another snowball finding its mark on Steel Blade’s muzzle.

The pegasus stallion stood flabbergasted for a moment, blushing deeply as Cadence took a break from her barrage to giggle at the guards’ antics. Twilight simply popped her head up from under his wing, diving out of the warm feathers for other cover as Steel Blade quickly recomposed himself and rushed towards the source of the taunting.

He quickly scooped up a pile of snow on the run, not once breaking stride as he boomed, “You asked for this!”

The whirr of flying snowballs faded for a bit as the two sides watched Overwatch and Steel Blade fling themselves into a running battle, diving for cover and returning deadly accurate fire as they vanished over a nearby hillock with only the sounds of mortal combat filtering back.  For a brief moment, all eyes were on Brave Blade as he shook his head over his son’s abrupt disappearance, and faint snickers and snorts could be heard across the battlefield.

The moment of levity was broken, however, by Celestia’s abrupt call.

“The doors are open!  Now is our chance!  Charge!”

It didn’t take long for the rest of the flags in Twilight’s fortress to fall as what seemed like the entire Red Team rushed in. A ceasefire soon came into effect once the last flag was hit, and both teams began relaxing around the site of their battle, with some of the unicorns lighting small fires here and there. Hot chocolate was provided by a few servants who had not chosen to participate and the atmosphere loosened up as bodies began to warm.

Celestia wrapped her cold student in her expansive wings, fluffing them out to release the warmth trapped within its feathery layers as she spoke reassuringly, “Don’t worry about it too much, my dear student. You may have lost, but the odds were against you from the start. I’m still proud that you still put your all into this game.”

Twilight beamed up at her mentor from between the feathers. “I don’t think you’ve seen our all quite yet, princess.”

“Indeed, I say. Princess, I have some err… bad news for you,” Fancy Pants spoke as he approached Princess Celestia from behind, a considerable amount of snow clinging to his winter clothes.

Celestia looked up from the fire in front of her with a note of concern, made only stronger by Twilights suppressed snort of laughter from under her wing. “Report, please,” she commanded, her tone sharper than she intended due to the distraction of tiny frozen hooves warming themselves in her underwing.

Fancy Pants flinched at the stern tone from his princess, but quickly composed himself. “But of course, Your Highness,” he said, his refined accent calm and collected. “While you all were attacking this fort, Twilight’s forces launched their own counterattack on our flags.”

Celestia eyebrows drew together, although there was a sparkle of laughter in her eyes caused by a faint squeal of joy from under her wing. “What about Shining Armor and his defensive squad?”

“He led a squad to chase down Blueblood when he appeared near our fortifications. When the bulk of Twilight’s forces attacked after he left, I was left the task of regrouping our rather meager defense. Needless to say, it didn’t quite work out in my favor,” Fancy Pants said apologetically, becoming slightly dejected as he continued to talk.

“Very true, my love.” The light, airy voice of Fleur caused all heads to turn, and one stallion to be pounded on the back as he accidentally inhaled a few marshmallows from his hot cocoa.  The Prench unicorn was gracefully trotting in the direction of her husband, a large snowball balanced on the top of her head and a look of mischief in her eyes. “I’m hurt that you ran away before I could give you my little gift.”  Abruptly she burst into a run, darting for her husband at full speed.

“Stop her!” shouted Brave Blade, and a few weakly thrown snowballs lofted through the air at the fashion model, who dodged them all without even disturbing the ball of snow balanced on her head.  Some of the female combatants put more effort into their throws, but even then, Fleur danced through the line of fire unharmed, showing more agility than anypony had expected.

“How careless of me, my love,” called out Fancy Pants, quickly scooping together a large snowball of his own. “I must find a gift of my own to return your—”  The two meet in an explosion of snow as their mutual missiles found their respective targets, and when the icy flakes had finished flying, both snowcovered ponies were wrapped in a passionate embrace.

“How romantic,” said Cadence, so stunned by the open display of love that she nearly dropped the cocoa she held in one hoof.  Other ponies blushed, and Celestia turned her head to give her trusted subjects at least a little bit of privacy.

“We won!” shouted Twilight as she burst out from under Celestia’s feathers and began leaping from soldier to soldier to their surprise. Even Fancy Pants and Fleur could not help but snicker at the ecstatic little unicorn, in particular when she bounced off their own heads on her leaps of joy.

“Twilight?  Twilight Sparkle,”  Celestia attempted to get the attention of her student, finally  resorting to simply shouting.  “Twilight!  My forces took out all of your flags before yours.”

“I don’t think so.”  Spike climbed up the ice fortress with his sharp claws and took a dramatic stance at the entrance.  With his announcement, he became the focus of every pony’s attention even as the rest of Twilight’s forces began to straggle in behind him.

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Oh, that’s simple.  Before the battle even started, Twilight ordered us to make a small igloo over one of the flags and cover it in snow, a flag which you all missed,” Spike stated with a sly grin.

“Twilight and the rest of the defenders tried to buy as much time as possible while Blueblood was acting as a distraction so that Twilight’s army could take out all of your flags,” Spike explained.

“And what about fortifications that Lieutenant Armor ordered to build?” asked Brave Blade, looking up at the little dragon with a growing sense of unease.

“Oh, those? I melted them with my flames. After all, the rules stated that we could only use snowballs to attack ponies and flags, it didn’t say anything about using flames against fortifications,” Spike replied proudly.

Brave Blade chuckled and walked towards Twilight. “While we were busy attacking fortified positions one by one to take all of your blue flags, we expected that every one of your flags had a fortification.  We didn’t expect you to hide one.  To think, the ruler of Equestria, in addition to two of the most brilliant officers in the Equestrian military were outsmarted by a miniature-sized mare.”

A bright red blush that had nothing to do with the cold snow rose around Twilight’s cheeks. “T-thank you. I am trying my best.”

“Hey everypony, did we win? Did I miss anything?”  Shining Armor asked as he trotted up to his sister’s ice fort, looking around the ponies gathered around drinking cocoa and laughing.  For half of the ponies, the laughter abruptly stopped, while for the other half, it grew.

”We won... right?”

“No, we did not win, you imbecile,” growled Brave Blade. “You cost as the victory. While you were off throwing snowballs at Blueblood like some happy foal, your sister outsmarted us.”

Shining Armor glanced through the angry expressions of the ponies around him in mild shock before simply smiling contentedly. “Worth it,” he proclaimed with a broad grin to the begrudging agreement among the soldiers of both sides.

Twilight relaxed in a small nest between Celestia’s wings, using a small mug of cocoa for both internal and external warmth.  It had been a remarkable day, topped with a triumph,  and even though Brave Blade was chasing her brother around with a mutual snowball pelting, they were both laughing nearly as hard as Celestia.  It was a warm sensation that filled her heart, only partially from the amount of cocoa that was spilling whenever her mentor laughed, and it was a day she would treasure forever.

So, despite his flaws, Blueblood really did do everything he could to distract my brother and his forces to give us the victory. When I grow up, I hope to become as brave as he is, ready to sacrifice my own good for good of everypony else.

* * *

Celestia’s laughter slowed as her two officers finished their snowfight. Twilight went over to her brother to help brush the snow off his back as Celestia went to Brave Blade instead and pulled the old pegasus up out of the snowdrift where the younger and stronger lieutenant had eventually dumped his commanding officer.

“Captain, before we both take our old bones inside and sit in front of a fireplace for the rest of the day, we seem to be missing some ponies.”

Brave Blade quit knocking snow out of his ear and looked around, slowly beginning to smile as he took inventory of the missing.  “Your Highness, I don’t think you should worry.  My guards are off-duty as of a few minutes ago, and there are more than a few budding romances among our armies.”  Both of them carefully turned away from where Cadence was helping brush the snow from Shining Armor with Twilight’s assistance, with the older ponies trying their best to keep from breaking out in giggles at the sight.  After a while, Celestia suddenly blinked as a thought occurred to her.

“Brave, where do you think your son and Overwatch have gone?”

Brave Blade merely shook his head in a motion that had become quite familiar.

“They’re probably just hanging around somewhere with each other.”

Meanwhile, deep within the Royal Garden…

“I thought you weren’t allowed to use magic!”

“I didn’t.”

“Then how did you set this up so quickly?!”

“Tut, tut. You’re just not thinking broad enough, Steelie.”

Steel Blade scowled as he swung slowly back and forth underneath the spreading willow tree, its broad snow-covered branches providing an effective cover preventing any noise he made from reaching the rest of the garden.

Regrettably, its branches also gave a stout tie-down point for Overwatch’s scarf, which had been somehow wrapped around his body during the treacherous ambush.  Now with his legs and wings pinned together, he was experiencing the ‘joy’ of being upside-down and helpless, with the smirking unicorn giving him little pushes to make him continue swinging to and fro under the branches.  In desperation, he decided to use his absolute last option.

“We’re missing the cocoa.”

Overwatch gave the hogtied pegasus an extra push with just the slightest rotation, before she hopped down from the tree, landing with a soft crunch. “Nope. Just you, dear Steelie!” she called back as she trotted away. “But don’t worry, I’ll be back with your cocoa soon!”

His shout of frustration was just out of hearing range from the rest of the celebrating army, headed back into the castle for warm fireplaces and great steaming mugs of delicious cocoa after a long day filled with excitement.