Sand silently trickled through the hourglass on the long table, slowly counting down the minutes in the castle's quiet study. Nearby, trying not to take much notice of it, was a young unicorn. In front of her were three sheets of parchment; one filled on both sides with questions about magic, and the other two were covered in the unicorn's neat writing. They were formerly blank, but she was now close to filling the other side of the second sheet. After answering each question, she would peek at the hourglass and then promise herself she wouldn't look again. A promise she could never keep. She wanted to stay focused on the task at hoof, not worry about how much time was left.
At the other end of the table sat a large white alicorn. Her sun's late afternoon rays gently filtered in through the windowed door to the balcony, lighting and warming the room. She busied herself with signing documents she hadn't had time to do earlier while the unicorn, her personal student, finished her mid-season written exam; the final one for the year before her summer break. She had passed the physical exams with flying colours, but doing things in practice didn't mean much if she didn't understand the theory behind it.
She looked sideways at the filly and saw her quill floating just above her inkwell. She had noticed that when it came to exams, her student's expression and demeanour seemed very adult. She always looked so focused.
At the moment, however, the young unicorn's eyes were closed and she repeatedly thumped her small hoof against her cutie mark, a sparkling magic star, as she thought.
Come on, Twilight, you can do it! thought the alicorn. She glanced at the hourglass. After centuries of tutoring other students, she had learned to tell how much time was remaining simply from the level of the sand.
Fifty-seven seconds left. You must be on your last question. Think, Twilight...
As if she had heard the alicorn's thoughts, the filly opened her eyes, briefly glanced over at her tutor, and then quickly wrote down her answer. Her purple eyes flicked to the hourglass, then back to her answer sheets. She ran a hoof down the parchments, her eyes quickly scanning her writing, double and triple-checking everything from the answer itself, to her spelling and grammar, and even her sentence structure.
Twenty seconds...
Just as the hourglass reached five seconds, Twilight sat up.
“Done, Princess!” she exclaimed.
She looked at the hourglass and saw the last grains trickle through the gap.
“Wow! Close!”
“Very close, Twilight. How do you think you did?” asked Princess Celestia, levitating the three sheets over and setting aside her documents.
“Um... I don't know. I got really stuck on the last one. I don't think I got it right,” replied Twilight, sliding a hoof back and forth on the tabletop.
“At least you put something down,” said Celestia with a warm smile, “Remember, you have a better chance at scoring on a question if you answer it. The only way it's guaranteed to be wrong is if it's blank.”
Twilight knew that very well. There had been times before when she had left an answer or two blank because she thought she was going to be completely wrong, but when Princess Celestia asked her what she thought the answer was, it often turned out she had been right all along. Or close, at the very least.
“Princess, can I... may I go out to the balcony?” asked Twilight. She often made a conscious effort to speak properly in front of the Princess, even though she knew her mentor wouldn't mind if she spoke informally.
“You may. Be careful.”
With a smile and a nod, the filly headed towards the door. She gave a small grunt as she pushed one of the double doors open. Stepping out onto the sun-splashed balcony, Twilight breathed in the fresh outside air. She looked up to see two butterflies passing over her — one was cream-coloured and followed a slightly faster cerulean butterfly. She watched them silently flitter to her right, then down past the balcony and out of her line of sight.
She ran up to the balcony edge to see if she could get a longer look at them, but the thick, round supports prevented her from seeing much. The supports were evenly spaced along the balcony, supporting the ledge and had a corrugated design. They were supposed to look nice, but Twilight didn't like them, as the spaces were about the width of her head, so she could only see little bits of what was beyond. If she stood on her hind legs, she could reach up and touch the ledge with her forehooves, but she wasn't about to try and climb up.
Frowning a little, Twilight walked along the edge, peering through the gaps to see if there was anything interesting to watch. To the right, where the butterflies had gone, she could just barely make out the first few mountains of Unicorn Range. Her gaze moved to the immense floating pegasus city, Cloudsdale, which seemed a lot closer, due to its size. Twilight wondered what it was like to live among the clouds. Were they soft? Did they feel like sheep's wool? Did they tickle your hooves?
Princess Celestia said she had been there many times, but told her that only pegasi and alicorns could walk on clouds. There was a cloud-walking spell, which Twilight had pleaded the Princess to cast on her the next time she was going to Cloudsdale on royal business, even if she didn't get to be with her all the time. Celestia had denied, however, saying that, even with her guards watching over her, she didn't want to risk Twilight falling off somewhere. The filly noticed that after the Princess had said that, her mentor closed her eyes and shivered.
Continuing to walk around the balcony, Twilight could see the rest of Canterlot spread out before her. From where she was standing, the Canterlot ponies were no more than coloured specks moving around. If she listened hard enough, she could almost hear the sounds floating over from the city.
With nothing else interesting to see, Twilight decided to sit and observe the royal guards below practice their drills. Watching them made her think of her big brother, Shining Armor. He was often away at the Canterlot Junior Cadet Academy — hoping to one day become a royal guard himself — but she got to see him on the weekends and holidays.
With a quiet sigh, Twilight wondered what he was doing right now. She couldn't see the Academy from where she was, but when it was visible, the filly would sometimes attempt to pick out her brother from the other colts in the Academy grounds. They all appeared the same from a distance, but she was sure there would be a tell-tale sign if she looked hard enough. But so far, she had had no luck.
The guards below were finishing their third march up and down the grounds when Celestia's musical voice called her.
“Twilight. Come here, please.”
The filly turned and trotted back into the study, “Yes, Princess?”
“Sit,” she said gently, nodding at a chair on her left.
Twilight clambered onto the chair and smiled. She always liked being near the Princess because she radiated what Twilight called a “Happy Glow”. Everything seemed a little brighter and she could feel a comforting warmth coming from her mentor that made her feel nice inside.
“I'm very proud of you, Twilight. Very proud.”
The young unicorn's smile widened as a blush appeared on her cheeks.
“You've done something no other student of mine has done.”
“What?” asked Twilight.
Celestia smiled at the young unicorn and levitated her parchments in front of her.
“Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle. This is the fourth written exam in which you have answered every question correctly.”
The filly's mouth dropped wide open. Remembering she was in the presence of royalty, she quickly closed it again. She looked the paper sheets over and saw a tick next to every one of her answers.
“My other students before you have come close. A few of them almost scored one hundred percent for three exams. But you, Twilight...” Celestia gave a happy sigh, “For the first time, I have a student with perfect marks on every one of them.”
“...Me?” said the filly in a small voice filled with awe.
Celestia used her large left wing to bring her student into a hug, “Exceptional work, Twilight. I think you deserve a reward.”
“A reward? What kind?”
“I believe you will like it. You have been in the castle gardens, yes?”
“Oh, yes! They're beautiful! I love them!” then she gasped, “Are we going to have a picnic there?”
“We are going to have a picnic, yes. But... not in those gardens.”
The filly cocked her head.
Celestia lowered her voice and leaned in a little towards Twilight, “You see, there is a garden here that only I know about. Well, there... was... somepony else who knew, but... never mind.”
Twilight's brow furrowed in concern at the pained expression in the Princess's face, but decided not to pry. Celestia smiled at her again, “I'm going to show you this garden. But you must promise not to tell anypony about it.”
“Okay. I promise,” said the filly honestly with a nod. Then a thought came to her, “Uh... Princess?”
“Yes?”
“Can Smarty Pants come, too?”
Celestia giggled, “Of course she can! Why don't you go and fetch her now while I have somepony put a picnic basket together? Meet me outside the study when you are ready.”
“Okay! Thank you!” said Twilight and hopped off the seat. She followed the Princess out of the room and then quickly trotted off to collect her doll. She wanted to run, but she was always warned not to, as she could bump into somepony rounding a corner, or trip up on something. Sometimes she ran anyway, usually if she knew some of the nicer guards were around. For the most part, they would just say her name in an admonishing, yet affectionate way when she ran past. She would smile at them and slow down to a quick canter until they were out of sight. There were times, however, when she would almost literally run into a not-so-nice guard who would tell her, “No running in the castle!” in a very stern voice with a sour face. The filly would grimly walk past them, then, when their back was turned and nopony else was around, would stick her tongue out at them.
Twilight turned the corner leading to the corridor her room was in. As she approached her door, a maid walked out, one who she knew quite well.
“Hi, Miss Mayflower!” greeted the filly.
The yellow earth pony looked round at the small voice. She smiled when she saw the unicorn scampering towards her.
Twilight always liked Mayflower. She was usually the one who would tend to her room and would talk to her as she cleaned. She wore her turquoise mane in a way that framed her face, but also looked like the shape of a bike helmet; not that Twilight would ever say that to her.
“Hello, Twilight! Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“I did really, really well in my exams, so Princess Celestia is going to take me on a picnic and she said Smarty Pants could come, too!” said the unicorn excitedly.
“Oh, congratulations, Twilight! Well done! Go get Smarty Pants. You don't want to keep the Princess waiting, do you?”
“No, I don't! Bye, Miss Mayflower!” said the unicorn and cantered into her room. The maid had cleaned up the entire room, Twilight could tell from a glance. The stack of books on her desk that had grown in height over the past week were all filed away back on the bookshelf at last. Twilight had asked Mayflower not to clear the books away until today so she wouldn't have to keep taking them all out and could get straight into studying after her lessons.
Her bed was neater than it was when she left. Twilight always made her bed after she got up, even though she knew there was no need to. It was simply a force of habit her mother had got her into. She didn't know how Mayflower managed to get the bed so flat and neat, but it was always perfectly made. On her bed, propped up on the soft, smooth pillows, was her favourite rag doll, Smarty Pants.
She levitated the doll over and snuggled her.
“The Princess has invited us to a picnic, so let's get you ready! But we have to be quick, because she's waiting for us!”
She smiled as she looked into the shiny blue button eyes.
“Yes, she invited you, too! Come on, we need to get your mane brushed!”
She levitated a brush over and quickly, yet carefully, ran it through her own mane, then unsuccessfully tried straightening Smarty Pants' scraggly hair. After a few brushes, the doll was — in her child's mind — noticeably more presentable, despite the rational part of her brain saying it looked exactly the same. This was one of the times Twilight ignored the tiny voice in her head. Sure, Smarty Pants wasn't the prettiest doll in the world, nor was she an expensive, fancy doll like the ones Princess Celestia had in her room, or “bedchamber” as she called it, but Twilight didn't care. This doll had been with her since forever. It was her doll.
It was her friend.
With a skip in her step, Twilight made her way back to the study with Smarty Pants, along with the doll's miniature notepad and quill, held in a levitation spell. She was excited to see what Princess Celestia's secret garden looked like. As if having a private picnic with her wasn't exciting in itself! Even when she came across the grumpy guards, she happily skipped past them, ignoring their glares. They weren't having a private picnic, so they were just jealous. And grumpy.
A short time later, she stood outside the door to the study with Princess Celestia, awaiting the arrival of the picnic hamper.
Sitting on the floor, Twilight had Smarty Pants held out in front of her in her hooves. Gently swaying left and right, she softly sang a song her mother used to sing to her, humming the parts she couldn't remember the words to.
She looked up when the sound of hoof-falls could be heard coming towards them. A middle-aged unicorn levitated the hamper down in front of Celestia.
“The picnic hamper you requested, Your Highness,” said the unicorn with a bow.
“Thank you kindly,” replied the alicorn with a smile and nod.
The servant nodded back, nodded to Twilight, and then left the two alone.
“Well then, Twilight... shall we go?”
“Yes, please!” said the filly excitedly, getting to her hooves.
She followed the alicorn princess down the corridors of the castle and was confused when she led them up the stairs to her bedchamber. The closest thing to gardens up there was seeing them from the balcony.
Maybe she just forgot to get something... thought Twilight.
At the end of a short corridor at the top of the stairs were the ornate oak double-doors leading to Celestia's bedchamber. Etched onto them was a sun in the design of the Princess's cutie mark that seemed to shine softly at the two approaching ponies. On either side was a royal guard dressed in gleaming yellow armour. Faces stoic and eyes facing forward, they saluted, holding their salutes as the Princess and her student approached.
Celestia used her magic to open the doors as they got closer. With the exception of the latch clicking, the doors swung inwards soundlessly and they entered.
Even though she had been in here three other times, Twilight was always filled with awe when she stood in Princess Celestia's large room. Paintings of famous historical ponies and beautiful landscapes hung on the walls, including a magnificent portrait of Princess Celestia, painted for her almost two hundred years ago by the famous unicorn artist, Hoovens van Colt. At the far end of the room was a four-poster king-size bed with pink and white lace drapes hanging over the edges and an array of pillows leaning against the headboard. All sorts of care products sat atop an elaborate dressing table at the other end of the room opposite the bed. On the right wall was a beautiful fireplace with soft, fluffy cushions sitting in front of it, and to the left were double-doors leading to the spacious balcony adorned by a gold-trimmed bannister.
But Twilight's favourite thing was the display shelf near the bed. It was filled with dolls from all over Equestria. From Saddle Arabia, to Fillydelphia, to Manehattan, to Coltland.
“Over here, Twilight,” said Celestia.
Twilight trotted over to the left side of the bed where the Princess was standing.
“Now, Twilight... remember that you promised not to tell anypony about this. The garden I am about to show you is rather personal. I would prefer it to stay between us.”
“I won't tell, Princess. I promise.”
Celestia smiled warmly, “Does Smarty Pants promise, too?” she asked, looking at the doll held in Twilight's magic field.
With her magic, Twilight made the doll's head nod.
“She promises.”
“Good. Shall we go?”
Celestia's horn glowed and she focused on a mounted golden candlestick. She slid it out of the wall slightly and then turned it ninety-degrees to the left and pushed it back in, eliciting a distinct click from the wall. She released her magical hold on the candlestick and it reverted back to its original position. Twilight gasped and took a step away as a section of the wall quietly slid back and moved sideways into a slot.
“Wow!” whispered Twilight, “A secret passage! Like in my storybooks!”
“This way.”
“A real life secret passage!” squealed the filly as she followed her mentor. With both of them in the passageway, Celestia pulled a lever and the wall slid back into place, cutting off the light for only a second as the hidden corridor lit up without any identifiable source.
“Where's the light coming from?” asked Twilight, turning this way and that, trying to see torches or windows to explain it.
“The light is coming from the magic in the walls. It's been there for as long as I can remember.”
Twilight gazed with wonder at the walls, now able to see them subtly glowing, somehow producing more light than their glow should have allowed.
“Come,” said Celestia, walking down a wide, spiral staircase, levitating the picnic hamper along with her. Her student followed, finding the large steps easy to descend.
“Is the garden down here?” she asked.
“It is. At the very bottom. It's not far.”
True to her word, the ponies reached the bottom of the stairs not a minute later. Before them was a door that still looked good as new, as if it had been put in it's frame only recently.
"Here we are, Twilight. I hope you like it."
Celestia opened the door, swinging it inward. The filly squinted against the bright sunlight that suddenly filled the passageway. Her eyes quickly adjusted and before her was the most beautiful garden she would ever see in her life. Being faced with such a sight brought her to tears.
"Oh, Princess... it's so beautiful..."
She inhaled deeply, breathing in the perfumy scent of the garden. Her large purple eyes drank in the view of the multitude of flowers swaying in the gentle, warm breeze, sending rainbow waves across the green field. A small waterfall gently cascaded down the castle wall into a clear pool, the sound of rushing water providing a soothing sound in addition to the songs of birds overhead. And at the far end of the garden, the only tree provided a wide canopy with its branches.
Movement from Princess Celestia made Twilight turn her head. The filly's eyes widened when she saw the Princess removing her golden hoofplates. Her jewelled necklace was next, followed by the Sun Crown.
"Oh, that feels so much better!" sighed Celestia. She shook her head, causing a few strands of hair to fall across the side of her face. She looked at her student and smiled.
Twilight just stared. She had never seen the Princess like this before. She looked so free. So pure.
"Let's go to the tree, Twilight. It's my favourite place in the garden."
"Okay."
Celestia leaned down and whispered in Twilight's ear, "Race you!"
Twilight looked back in surprise, then grinned. The Princess nodded and the unicorn took off. She ran as fast as her small legs would carry her. With a quick glance behind, she saw Celestia gaining on her. With an extra burst of speed, she pulled away from the Princess and reached the large tree.
“Beat you!” she exclaimed breathlessly, putting both chubby hooves on the large trunk.
“No fair, you're younger. You've got more energy,” said Celestia, feigning a pant.
“But you've got big long legs.”
“I'm not as young as I used to be. Not to mention, I also had to carry the picnic hamper.”
The filly looked at her mentor with suspicion, “You let me win, didn't you?”
“Maybe,” replied Celestia, looking away into the orange sky, a smile playing at her lips.
“I wouldn't have won, anyway..."
“Don't say that. You never know.”
“Hmmm...”
Using one of her large wings, Celestia brought Twilight close, hugging her with the soft plumage. The unicorn smiled at being in her princess's Happy Glow and nuzzled against her warm white fur.
“After that race, what do you say we eat something to get our strength back?” said Celestia.
“Okay!”
Surrounded by a golden glow, the food and drink inside the hamper floated out, expertly controlled by the Princess. As the food was laid out, Twilight gazed up at Celestia's face from under the large wing. She liked the way her mentor looked without her royal regalia.
“Princess... you look so pretty.”
“Why thank you, Twilight. Although... you don't have to call me 'Princess' right now,” said Celestia.
“Huh?”
“At this moment, I'm just another pony having a picnic with her friend. For now, you can just call me 'Celestia'.”
“Um... okay... Cel... Celestia...” said Twilight awkwardly.
“Is everything alright?” asked the alicorn.
“Yes. It just feels... um... weird and wrong to not call you 'Princess'...”
“If it makes you more comfortable to address me as such, then do so.”
“But don't you want me to call you 'Celestia'?"
“I want you to call me whatever you are comfortable with. We are supposed to be relaxing and enjoying ourselves.”
“Okay, Princess. Sorry.”
“It's fine, Twilight. Now, what would you like to drink?”
“What is there?”
Celestia levitated three covered pitchers off the red and white chequered fabric, “The usual juices: orange, apple, and pineapple. Well, I suppose I can rule out pineapple for you, hm?”
“Yeah. It leaves a weird taste on my tongue. Kind of, uh...”
“Kind of pineappley?”
Twilight smiled, “Uh-huh. I don't really like it. It's too... I don't know... tingly?"
“I believe the word you are looking for is 'tangy'?”
“Yeah, that. But I'll have orange juice, please.”
The Princess poured a glass of orange juice for the unicorn and pineapple juice for herself. With sandwiches in front of them, the two let the sounds of the garden wash over them. As Twilight leaned against Celestia's soft coat, she looked up at the balcony connected to the Princess's room and thought of something.
“Princess, that's your balcony, isn't it?” she asked, pointing with her hoof.
The alicorn's gaze followed the pointing hoof up to the gleaming balcony, “Yes, it is. Why?”
“Well... how come I've never seen this garden from there? Or... from anywhere?”
“Do you see the aura surrounding this place?”
Looking around, Twilight nodded. A light blue transparent dome could be seen overhead, extending down to the edges of the garden.
“It's a spell I cast here to keep it hidden from those outside. Birds and other such animals can see it, but to anypony else, the castle wall just appears to continue down to the ground. And the garden's position is out of the way enough that I don't need to worry about pegasi accidentally flying into it.”
“Can anypony hear us?” asked Twilight, lowering her voice.
“No danger of that, either,” replied Celestia with a shake of her head, "Like with my bedchamber, any sound in here can't be heard by those outside."
With questions answered, the two sat and enjoyed the food from the hamper, talking about anything that came to mind. The only sounds between conversations were of the garden, levitation magic, and Twilight making quiet eating noises while pretending to feed Smarty Pants.
"Princess, would it be okay if I picked some flowers?" asked the young unicorn after a while.
Celestia nodded, "Go ahead."
Twilight beamed and stood up. She looked down at her doll and then at the Princess.
"Could you look after Smarty Pants, please?"
Nodding, Celestia levitated the doll over and wrapped a hoof around it, as if holding a sleeping child, "She's safe with me."
"Thank you!" said Twilight and bounded off towards a large collection of flowers.
Celestia watched after her, then looked up at the soft orange sky.
I should prepare to raise the moon... thought the Princess. The thought of the moon and the feeling of the doll in her hoof brought up memories of she and her sister, Princess Luna, when they were younger. She remembered how they used to either come here to Celestia's garden, or go to Luna's, accessible through her own bedchamber.
They would take off the somewhat heavy and sometimes uncomfortable royal regalia and run around laughing and playing games together, just being sisters. Often, they would bring their favourite soft doll with them for no real reason other than to make them feel young again. They both knew what they were doing was childish and immature, but they never had much of a chance to be childish and immature as fillies.
Celestia smiled at the recollection of the two of them playing "Tag"; she dodging Luna's hooves, flying over her head and then engaging in an aerial chase. She felt her sister's hoof brush her side, but continued flying away.
"Cease! We have caught you!" said Luna.
"Nay. We believe our sister is mistaken," replied Celestia.
"We know you felt our hoof."
Landing softly, Celestia regarded her sister, who set herself down across from her, "We would agree that we have been caught, but our sweet sister is forgetting something."
"Which is?" asked Luna, raising an eyebrow as her sister approached and stood next to her, facing the opposite direction.
"She is forgetting that..." Celestia raised one of her wings and hovered it over Luna's back, "...she is it!"
She tapped her sister's back with her wing and ran off, laughing. Luna looked over her shoulder with a shocked expression.
"Trickster!" she cried, smiling, and turned to pursue the white alicorn.
The joyful memory was tinged with a bitter sadness. It reminded the alicorn of what she had lost. Celestia remembered crying herself to sleep every night for weeks after the necessary banishment of Nightmare Moon. The pain of that memory struck her heart and she squeezed shut her eyes to halt the tears.
Being so lost in her reverie, Celestia never noticed the young unicorn approaching with a bunch of carefully picked flowers.
"Princess, look what I—" Twilight stopped talking when she saw a tear rolling down the alicorn's cheek.
"Oh! Twilight!"
"...Are you... crying, Princess?" she asked with concern.
"It's okay, Twilight. Don't worry," replied Celestia, wiping away the tear with the back of her hoof and forcing a smile.
"But why were you crying?"
"Just thinking about somepony very special to me."
"Who?"
Celestia was quiet a moment as she gathered her emotions.
"I was... thinking about my sister."
"I didn't know you had one!" said Twilight in awe and sat next to the Princess, "Where is she?"
The alicorn's mouth twisted in thought.
"She, um... she wasn't feeling herself, so to help her get better, she... had to go somewhere far, far away," she said mournfully, looking at the moon.
"Will I ever meet her?"
"...Eventually..." replied Celestia, knowing that Nightmare Moon would soon walk Equestria again. Being long-lived, the intervening years would only seem like mere moments to her. To Twilight, however, it would be a long time, and Celestia would use those years to train the young unicorn. But that didn't mean she wouldn't allow time for moments such as these.
I hope you will be able restore my dear sister...
She looked down affectionately at the unicorn's large, bright eyes peeking up at her from under her wing. It was hard to imagine that this adorable, innocent little pony would end up bearing the most powerful magical items in Equestria. Celestia was glad, however, that she had found Twilight after the untamed Sunset Shimmer. Sunset was intelligent and talented, coming a close second to Twilight. Unfortunately, she was also arrogant and power-hungry, often displaying impatience at not being taught spells that were actually far beyond her abilities. More than once, Celestia had caught her in the Canterlot Archives reading from magic books intended for high-level unicorns.
What a waste of potential... thought the alicorn.
Celestia pushed the thought from her mind and focused on Twilight again.
"By the way, Twilight, what were you going to show me?"
"Oh!" exclaimed the unicorn, and levitated the collection of flowers in front of Princesses' face, "I picked these for you."
Celestia inhaled the scent from the flowers and couldn't help but smile at the colours the filly had chosen; blue, green and pink, with a single lavender flower in the centre.
"It's like, the flower in the middle is me," explained Twilight, "And the other flowers are you. They match your mane and tail. Except, um, I couldn't find any bluey-greeny ones."
"That's okay, Twilight. This is... it's wonderful. So the one in the middle is you, hm?"
"Uh-huh. I mean, yes. The ones around it are taking care of it. Like you take care of me."
Celestia pulled Twilight into a closer hug with her wing, "I see. But why are you only one flower?"
"Because I'm so tiny next to you."
"That just makes you all the more cute," she replied, giggling at her student's blush, "And, you know... in some ways, you take care of me."
"I do?"
The alicorn nodded, "You give me friendship and companionship."
"What's com... companayship?" asked Twilight, stumbling over the unfamiliar word.
"Com-panion-ship," repeated the Princess patiently, "It's like friendship. It means to be with somepony. To give them company."
"Oh," said Twilight, a smile appearing on her face.
The two sat and watched fireflies gather and dance in the warm night air. A few minutes later, Celestia gently shook Twilight with her wing, noticing the filly's eyelids drooping.
"Come on, Twilight. I think it's time to go back inside."
"Okay..." mumbled Twilight.
They both stood up and stretched their legs. Celestia packed up the picnic hamper and, with Twilight's flowers resting on top, levitated it next to her."
Princess, can we come back here again soon?" asked the unicorn hopefully.
"Continue doing well in your studies and we will," replied Celestia, leading her tired student towards the door, "Now, don't be mistaken; you do not have to be perfect. We will return if you do well enough."
"Oh, I will, Princess! I want to come back here! It's beautiful!"
The alicorn placed a hoof on Twilight's head as they walked. They entered the doorway, Celestia lifting her royal regalia in passing, and ascended the stairs.
At the top, the Princess pulled the lever on the wall and the door quietly slid open. After stepping into her bedchamber and closing the hidden passageway, Celestia opened the double-doors. Without turning, the guards saluted.
“Sergeant Steel Shield?” said the Princess.
“Yes, Your Highness,” said Steel Shield, turning and standing at attention.“
Could you escort Twilight Sparkle to her bedchamber, please?”
“As you wish, Princess,” replied the guard, bowing his head.
Celestia lowered her head to her student, “Goodnight, Twilight.”
“Goodnight, Princess. I love you,” said Twilight, kissing her cheek.
“I love you, too," replied Celestia, giving her a kiss back.
Steel Shield waited for Twilight to join him, then took her to her room. On the way, the guard dropped his serious façade.
"Have a good time with the Princess?" he asked, looking down at the unicorn.
"Uh-huh! Lots of fun!"
"That's good. Hey, uh, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what was the deal with the picnic basket?"
"We had a picnic!"
"Well, yeah, but... in her room?"
"Um... yes... uh... the Princess cast a spell that made it look like we were outside," lied Twilight.
"That's kind of strange, but okay..."
Soon, they reached the door to Twilight's room. Steel Shield stepped forward and opened the door for the young unicorn.
“Do you need anything before I go?” he asked as she stepped into her room.
“No, I'm okay. I'm just going to go to sleep. Thank you.”
He nodded, “Goodnight, Miss Sparkle.”
“Goodnight, Mister Shield.”
The guard closed the door and briskly walked back to his post.
Standing next to her bed, Twilight stretched, and then clambered under the sheets with Smarty Pants. Smiling, she hugged the doll and yawned.
Today had been a good day.
Celestia dipped her quill in her inkwell and slid over a blank piece of parchment. With a contented sigh, she began writing to Twilight's parents. They were going to be very happy with the news.
Dearest Twilight Velvet and Night Light,
Your wonderful daughter, Twilight Sparkle, has finished her final exam. Her progress has been astounding. I have never before had a student as talented as she. Today, however, I am more proud of her than ever, as I am certain you will be once you read this letter.
Her prowess at physical magic use is rather exemplary. Within only a year, she has learned to control her magic, so I do not think we will be having a repeat of what happened during her enrolment here.
In regards to her written exams, I am very pleased to tell you that she has scored perfectly on every one of them. She still has a way to go, but I am confident of her continued academic excellence.
I also wish your son, Shining Armor, the best of luck in becoming a member of the royal guard. I would be glad to have him join the ranks, and I am sure Twilight would be, too.
With congratulations,
Princess Celestia of Equestria
