First of Three

"Wait... So you just let her in?" Discord asked, incredulously "Because she was a little filly with a little body, big eyes, big head, and some parchment, while I, a draconequus with more knowledge about the weight of your duty and more sympathy towards you than anyone else, aside from your sister, had to bust my ass for centuries?!"

He took a deep breath, glaring at the Sun Goddess.

"How freaking shallow IS that?!" he snapped, much to the shock of the two young mares "Just because I'm not that aesthetically pleasing, it doesn't mean that you have the right to treat me like crap!"

And he kept grumbling to himself, while the princess looked away sheepishly, her face red with embarrassment.

"You don't suppose that she didn't sympathize with you because you were, I don't know... You bucked up the whole world in one go, scrupulously experiencing with your chaotic powers?" Trixie asked, sounding rather unimpressed "And yes, you are a grizzly-looking bastard! Out of all of us, YOU should be the one first accepting it! And by accepting, I mean: also understanding others' reactions to your skewed-up appearance!"

Celestia still kept looking away, ridden with guilt.

Discord continued to sulk.

Trixie sighed.

"Jus... Just continue!"

The Princess sighed...

***

The filly was having breakfast - a simple oatmeal.

Upon the Princess' question "What do you want for breakfast?" she replied "Vhatever there is.".

So she sat there, eating her oatmeal, her face half buried into the bowl, as she munched quietly.

"I've checked my dictionary..." Celestia quipped, sitting down next to her "It turns out, your name would be "Red Star" in General Equestrian."

She didn't reply.

"I've also translated the writing on your cutie mark..."

"Мой vhat?" she asked.

"Cutie mark." the alicorn replied, and once registering her confused look, she explained "That symbol on your flanks."

She looked down.

"Oh."

She stared back up at the princess.

"That's a символ выделения" she replied sharply "A symbol of allotment. It explains our fate, and our role in this world." and with that, she bowed back down into her meal, but not before casting a condescending 'of COURSE you didn't know that!' look at the Princess.

"Cutie marks represent a pony's special talent, which enables the prepare for their future."

She looked up again.

Celestia's expression wasn't sad, angry or patronizing - it was calm and patient, as she smiled at her.

"They're actually called "Acute Marks", as they point out one's specialty, and urge ponies towards achieving them." she explained "Their nickname, "cutie marks" has been rumored to have came from a vendor who had a few too many mugs of cider."

She blinked, then returned to her meal.

The Princess sighed, sitting down beside her. She decided to have oatmeal as well.

After she finished, the little pony sat beside her, her head hanging low.

As Celestia finished, she turned towards her.

"Vill you teach меня?"

The alicorn froze.

The letter the filly had handed over her was a request - from her parents.

The family had immigrated from the Northern Republic - or, as they emphasized it, not without resentment: the Northern Region of the Equestrian Empire. They were running away from the misery that had rooted and flourished in the wake of an economic deception, entitled and glorified as an economic "expansion" - ill-made decisions followed by ill-made actions that evicted thousands from their homes, and left a million in fear of it's personal safety.

Zvezda's parents claimed they "saw beneath the curtains - and saw the strings".

The Norther Republic was no more independent from Equestria than the Everfree Forest - a region with it's own rules that not many Equestrians visited, but a part of Equestria none-the-less.

The country embraced wild capitalism more than it had embraced civil rights, which especially pained the family, whom had also embraced the new economic idea, working in goods trading.

Coming to Equestria, they faced a friendlier world, but with the same hardships: instead of being ordered out of the office when asking for a loan or a plot of land, they were given a guilt-ridden head shake from the scholar at the desk.

Facing poverty once more, they sent their older daughter to Canterlot, giving her whatever money they had left - their savings barely worth a few bits, thanks to the dropping value of the Rubin.

With no other option left, they decided to send their older daughter to the one pony who they still trusted - the Princess. They didn't believe it was her fault, and even if it was, the guilt that came from the loss of her sister and the fact that she to result to such extreme measures with Nightmare Moon was sure to be the cause of her mind being clouded, not seeing reason.

Celestia was both baffled and touched by this genuine trust and honesty, and, right after reading the letter, she decided to accept the parents' request, and teach their daughter the best her experiences and expertise allows her. Admittedly, she had not dealt with foals before, her only potential lover being encased in stone outside, in the elevated gardens of the castle, wonders of contemporary pony architecture - and griffon steel-, and iron works.

According to her parents, Krasnya was an excellent, but willful student and something of an autodidact. She asked for help begrudgingly - even from her own parents. It was a symbol of deep trust and respect from her if she asked for somepony's aid. But beside her lexical knowledge, she lacked almost every form of practical skills - something which seemed to be bothering her increasingly. She went from a social butterfly into an introvert and almost emotionless scholar, her mind old before her age.

Her full understanding of the economy and the field of politics didn't help her mood, either.

According to the letter, the little filly had grown to loathe politicians like the page, often referring to them as one may refer to an alien ethnicity which causes grievance in it's wake.

Unlike her parents, she had acquired quite a vast sensation of distrust towards the Princess,

Coincidentally, she viewed Equestria's ruler as the most vast and solid source of knowledge in the same time.

She now looked at her, eyes filled with concern about her fate.

The Princess smiled.

"Of course." she said "That's why you're here for."

As they left the dining room, she spoke to filly once more:

"But first, we'll have to find out how much you know already."

The first one and half an hour they spent in the library was about Krasnya reciting her knowledge to the Princess, and she making notes. They touched every field the little pony said she knew about.

In the end, she gave a satisfied sigh.

"It seems you're quite the clever one." she chuckled "Although, your notions on geography seem a bit... Antiqued..."

"Ve had old maps." the filly replied bluntly.

"Well, you'll be able to bring your knowledge up to date, and expand it." said Celestia, gazing at the towering bookcases of the room "From now on this library will be your domain. You're free to study to your hearts content, and - only if you request it, of course - you have my aid."

Krasnya stared at her, before looking back down at the sea of books spread out before her on the table - all her's to plunder.

"However... There's one question you still have to answer."

Her stare broke away from the books at the speed of sound - well, at least for her, because locks of her mane whipped her in the ear.

Celestia wasn't looking at her.

Instead, she was looking at the table in front of herself, with a somber expression on her face.

"Do you hate me?"

Dead silence fell upon the room.

She couldn't see it, but the Princess could tell that the little filly was shocked, nay, mortified by the question. She waited patiently for her response.

She had every rational, and emotional reason to hate her. She had been short-sighted, naive and ignorant, letting a million or so live in misery for the extreme wealth of a hoofful because of her disregard towards the actual state of Equestria's newest (and last) conquest. Trough inaction, she brought for the destruction of many living-spaces and lives, allowing crime and corruption to flourish.

Her family's grievance stems from her, her men, and her country's economic policy her men pushed onto the Northern Republic - or rather, the Northern Region indeed.

Finally, Krasnya looked up.

"No..."

Celestia looked at her, surprise visible in her eyes.

"И... Don't know..."

"I... Understand if you do..."

"But... Нет. И don't hate you." she replied. Or rather, she decided. It was not a question of doubt or belief. It was her *choice*.

Celestia shivered. The filly's response to even the slightest, involuntary manipulation of mind or emotion was the sharp rejection of the option she was being manipulated towards.

Willful indeed.

Now, the smiled at her, expressing her first, honest emotion to the Princess (aside from shock, of course).

Celestia smiled back, shaking of that irksome feeling of vagueness.

Then Krasnya uttered her first frontal request:

"И vant to study magik!"