Journey to the Brother Side of Equestria

Lumin Aria brought in her saddlebag a single book, Poetic Prophecies, penned by her favourite wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded. She knew that not all the poems in it were written by him, and that the others were written by Flash Back the Fortuitous. Her favourite poems in the book were Lucid is the Dreamer, Darkened is the Seeker, and The End of Magic, the three which they had co-written.

I can't believe it! Lumin thought to herself. I'm finally going into Princess Celestia's Magic Academy for Gifted Unicorns! Lumin could hardly contain her excitement. She let out a little squee of delight.

Lumin cantered to the entrance of the school, where she saw many Unicorn ponies practising spells in teams. She only saw two Unicorns practising alone, one lavender with multishaded-purple-mane and a purple sextant star Cute Mark that had five asters circumventing it, and the other one green-teal with a blonde-and-pink mane and a scroll Cutie Mark. They were both standing in opposite corners of the courtyard, neither one of them noticing or caring about the other.

Lumin decided that if she was going to make friends, she had to walk right up to those two of her fellow filly faithful students, starting with the elder, lavender one. "Hello, stranger!" she exclaimed. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Sparkle." the lavender Unicorn answered. "Twilight Sparkle."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Twilight!" Lumin exclaimed. "My name's Lumin Aria!" Twilight didn't seem like she wanted to talk. She seemed more focused on her task at hoof: teleporting other objects.

"While self-teleportation may seem easy once it's mastered, and very difficult beforehoof," Twilight explained. "teleportation of inanimate objects can be a bit difficult to muster even after its mastery. So I don't have time to talk, Lumin. I need to concentrate!"

Having nothing to say to Twilight, except things that she wouldn't want to hear or already knew, Lumin trotted over to the other lone Unicorn. This one seems a bit more... lighthearted than the other one. Lumin thought to herself. Maybe she'll have time to talk to me!

Before she could speak, Lumin was interrupted in thought by the green-teal Unicorn. "Hello, stranger!" she exclaimed "What's your name?"

"That's just what I was gonna say!" Lumin replied.

"Well, Gonnasay, it's nice to meet you!" the green-teal Unicorn replied jokingly, "My name's Aurora Flash!"

"My name's not Gonnasay, it's ARIA!" Lumin exclaimed, not knowing that Aurora's ignorance was a joke. "Lumin Aria! And aren't you a little... short to be a student? You don't look six at all!"

"That's right, Mario!" Aurora replied, still pretending not to know her new friend's name. "I'm five! I was recognised as an 'honours' Unicorn, so I was enrolled by my mother a year early!"

"Your... mother?" Lumin asked, wondering two things: what kind of mother enrolls her daughter in a genius academy a year early, and what kind of friend calls her friend the wrong name after being corrected?!

"Yes, Leonardo, my mother!" Aurora replied, this time sarcasticly calling her a genius rather than pretending to get her name wrong. "The one who gave birth to me, named me, cared for me, and taught me how to walk, talk, and use magic! Speaking of which, class starts in thirty! Don't wanna be late for our first day!"

"Thirty what?" Lumin asked, unaware of the current time. "Minutes?"

"Nope, seconds!" Aurora exclaimed. "Gotta run, Aria! Allons-y!"

Great. Lumin thought to herself. First she gets my name wrong thrice in a row, then, when she finally gets it right, she starts spouting Fancy at me! She heeded Aurora's command to run, the part of the sentence that was in a language she could understand.

After Lumin Aria and Aurora Flash arrived in the classroom, they saw the headmistress herself: Princess Celestia. They heard her speak in the new royal Canterlot voice, which wasn't as loud as the old one was. That must be so that she can actually appeal to her subjects, rather than strike fear in their hearts.

Lumin was simply buzzing with excitement. Simply buzzing! A casual observer would have thought that she and the pony next to her had nothing in common, them looking so different and all. But, for the first time in the six years since she opened her newborn eyes and saw her brother, Lumin had finally made a friend. A friend who called her by her last name, but a friend nonetheless.

"What do you like to do for fun, Aurora?" Lumin asked her new friend. "I like to hone my magic skills and sing songs."

"Me too, Aria!" Aurora replied. "But my favouritest, funnest, amazingest thing to do is to write poetry! I use made-up words that other poets can only dream of! It's super-duper-fan-pony-tastic!"

"I do that in my songs too, Aurora." Lumin replied. "I made up a word called 'Illucidity' for the title of a song I'm still writing. Do you want to hear it?"

"Of course I wanna hear it, Aria! I love songs!" Aurora replied excitedly. "But they're pretty hard for me to write. I can't seem to make up any music!"

"Okay, here goes nothing!" Lumin exclaimed, then she began to sing.

Once there was a mare,

Who dreamed so silently,

She'd sleep without a care

For Illucidity!

She's travelled into lands

Which no-one else can see,

For no-one understands

Her Illucidity!

Lumin stopped singing, in fear of everypony laughing at her. "It was all I could come up with." she lied to Aurora.

"Miss Aria." Princess Celestia said firmly. "Why are you singing to your friend in class..." she begun to ask. Then she spoke in a voice akin to that of an excited filly. "When you should be singing to all of us!? Take it from the top!"

Lumin her first two verses again, then sung the rest. After the song was over, she told Aurora "I lied about my song, I did come up with more than two verses. It's still incomplete, though."

Aurora, who wasn't really listening since the song was over, asked "What was your entrance exam? Was it music related? Mine was poetry related, so I could only assume it had something to do with your special talent, which Celestia should have sensed in you!"

"That's right, Aurora." Lumin answered. "My exam was to lull an Ursa Minor to sleep with a musical spell. Celestia had to send somepony to bring one in all the way from the Everfree Forest, miles away from here!"

"That sounds like it was funner than mine!" Aurora exclaimed. "All I did was recite a poem from Poetic Prophecies and say what it meant!"

"You actually know what those poems mean?!" Lumin asked surprisedly. "I've been trying ever since I learned how to read to find out what The End of Magic meant, but to no avail! I'll flip to it, since I have the book in my saddlebag."

"No need, Aria!" Aurora replied. "I've already memorised it!" She then began to read the poem to her friend from memory.