Class Zero

Chapters

First Session: Best and Brightest—Lesson One: Orientation
Lesson Two: History and Magic
Lesson Three: The Princess and the Archmage
Lesson Four: Social Intricacies

First Session: Best and Brightest—Lesson One: Orientation

“When I close my eyes, I can see a single kingdom. One where all three pony races live integrated and happy. The lines between the kingdoms no longer exist. Maybe they never have. I stand overhead and smile down at them. And they smile back. But I open my eyes and remember the long history of separation and strife.

“Ponies have always struggled. We sit in our divided lands and speak of harmony and friendship, yet so few have forged a bond with their brethren. Not one that lasts longer than a festival.

“I have tried, like so many others. And I will try again, like so many will. To create the push toward True Harmony. To bring to reality that dream in my heart. That when I open my eyes, I still see pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns standing shoulder to shoulder everywhere, not just in front of a tower.

“But I feel the cold against my skin, and I hear the laugh in the back of my head. I ask the question ‘what will change this time?’ And the cold and the laugh tell me, ‘Nothing. It will all be the same, one-thousand years hence.’

“But then, I look to the foals. Those who aren’t quite cynical to the ways of the world. Those who still believe in hope and change. In power and potential.

“In friendship and magic…”

“Old men can make war, but it is children who will make history.”

The fanfare ended. Left behind were fear and apprehension, bubbling in Twilight Sparkle’s stomach. The wrought iron gates squealed and clanked shut behind her. She gave one last wave to her parents on the other side, turning away before any tears came. Their proud smiles made it difficult.

I’m here. I made it. Twilight couldn’t quite get the fanfare to start again, but jolts of excitement countered any rising anxiety. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. ‘Here stand the best and brightest.’ The school motto, inscribed on the arches she had just passed under. She didn’t look back to check she had quoted it right, lest she catch sight of her parents again.

Before her was the long, sett paved promenade. Maple trees overshadowed the path with their yellowing leaves, their ancient branches intertwining and locking together in loving embrace. More of their turning leaves floated down to the path with each gust of wind. They crunched under Twilight’s hooves like loose gravel. With every step she took, her heart beat a little harder with trepidation. During the tour, she had only known excitement and wonder as she beheld her future, listening with rapt attention as Minuette explained the history and function of each building, then squealed like a foal on Hearth’s Warming when they arrived at the library.

That excitement dimmed as she stepped further away from her parents. In her fourteen years, she had never spent more than a single night away from them. Now, she would be spending months at a time here, with ponies she didn’t know.

But here was the most prestigious institution to learn magic in all of Lumen! As she stepped out from under the trees and marveled again at the full campus, her heart pounded in her chest, fear and excitement coming to a head.

She paused at the mouth of the quad and took a deep breath, inhaling the grassy aroma the last day of summer brought. Flowers pollinating for the last time in the small gardens to her sides tickled her nose. Four large grass fields fanned out in front of her, split by the stone path. A silver fountain of a rearing unicorn burbled at the crossroads, water flowing from its horn. Students spread out across the grounds, lounging, playing, talking, laughing, doing everything, Twilight noticed, but studying.

She raised her head, looking beyond the maple trees to the cathedral-like constructions bathing their ivory towers in the evening sun. Built with white brick, they shone with the purity of knowledge and were capped by spires of purple and gold.

A disk flew over Twilight’s head, eclipsing the sun for a brief second before continuing its arc to the next field, where another unicorn caught it in his magic. Twilight made a small, “Hmph,” at the display.

“Isn’t it a lovely sight?” Minuette inhaled deeply and smiled. She did that almost nonstop.

Minuette had met Twilight and her parents upon their arrival, introducing herself as the representative of Class Zero, and leading them on a tour of campus. Her warm aura and bubbly laugh dispelled Twilight’s fear of everypony at school being stuck-up, elitist snobs. But seeing the other unicorns frolicking, she now worried if anyone here took their education seriously.

“Why aren’t they studying?” Twilight asked.

Hiding a giggle behind her light blue hoof, Minuette said, “Twilight, it’s the last weekend before school starts. You really think we want to be studying now?”

“Yes,” Twilight said matter-of-factly. “I have a paper due the first day of class about the practical applications of using warp sigils instead of teleporting.”

Minuette whistled. “Glad I didn’t take Advanced Spatial Theory.” She patted Twilight’s shoulder, not noticing the subtle flinch she made. “Twilight, there’s a time for studying and there’s a time for relaxing. What do you do for fun?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her “I read. Or organize the notes I’ve taken on things I’ve read. You’re at the top of Class Zero. You got there by studying and practicing, didn’t you? Not by wasting time playing games.”

“Wasting time?” Minuette tapped a hoof against her chin. “I wouldn’t say I wasted it, no. But I didn’t spend every waking moment reading. I like to spend time with my friends and goof around. Oh, and I also learned that I enjoy gardening, so I’ve been doing that more often. I do read historical fictions for fun, so I guess you could say I do a lot of reading.” She looked at Twilight’s befuddled expression and smiled, showing off her perfect, sparkling teeth. “Well, now I see how you managed to ace your entrance exam.”

Twilight involuntarily flicked her tail and ears, and cast her gaze elsewhere.

“Don’t worry, Twilight.” Minuette continued across the quad, waving to several ponies as they passed by. “There’ll be plenty of time for study sessions and homework parties. Right now, let’s go meet your classmates. Making friends is just as important when it comes to learning.”

Twilight’s excitement died again. She didn’t come here to make friends, she came here to learn. She didn’t want to have ‘homework parties;’ they sounded distracting. She let out a quiet sigh, keeping a slow pace behind Minuette’s excited trot. She could only hope someone in Class Zero took being a student at Celestia’s School as seriously as she did.

They stepped off the main road and headed northwest across the field, slipping between two thick trees to find a narrow cobblestone path. It weaved itself through the grove, coming out near the wall of not just the school, but Canterlot City itself, overlooking the Unicorn Range from its perch upon the mountain.

A lavish two-story house sat nestled between the wall and the westernmost school building. Painted gold with a purple roof, it stuck out amongst the green grass and white walls.

“Welcome to the Class Zero clubhouse!” Minuette said, pushing open the large mahogany doors engraved with a zero. They stepped into a foyer with a crystal chandelier hanging above their heads. Twilight looked down and saw a lavender unicorn stare back at her through the meticulously polished checkered floors.

To Twilight’s right was a door labeled ‘kitchen’ and to her left was the ‘club room’. Upstairs, she could see the ‘art room’ and the ‘music room.’ Right across from her, between the staircases was a door marked ‘study room’. Her body leaned forward for the door, but Minuette gently steered her to the club room where Twilight could hear lively chatter.

“Oh good, I think everypony’s here! We can introduce you in one swoop!” Minuette opened to door and gestured Twilight in.

Twilight bit her lip, fighting not to fight against Minuette’s gentle prodding. She couldn’t stop the numerous scenarios from playing out in her head. What if they’re all lazy, or party goers? What if they’re jealous of my results on the entrance exam? What if they ask about the entrance exam? Twilight’s chest constricted, forcing her to take short breaths as she walked into the brightly lit room. It was spacious, boasting large windows and another chandelier. Three couches circled a central fire pit, currently unlit. Near the front, two ponies sat at a workbench, a blackboard covered in diagrams and equations behind them. At the window were two more ponies, one on a stand and wearing a pink dress while the other stitched the hems. At the back, a mare sat on a beanbag, her head in a book. She seemed to be the only one who didn’t notice Twilight and Minuette walk in.

“Everyone!” Minuette called, gesturing a hoof out. “This is our newest classmate, Twilight Sparkle! Can you believe it? Eight students in Class Zero! Anyway, make sure to make her feel welcome!”

Twilight didn’t have time to blush before a white, smartly dressed stallion materialized from nowhere. He hadn’t teleported; Twilight had seen no evidence as such, and he hadn’t been in the room upon Twilight’s first observation. He simply appeared, smiling brightly, blonde hair waving in a breeze Twilight couldn’t feel. He took one of Twilight’s hooves and kissed it before turning his artic blue eyes onto her violet ones.

“Miss Sparkle, the pleasure is all mine,” he said smoothly, wiggling his eyebrows, “and soon, it shall be all yours. I am Blueblood, or rather, the prince of your dreams, for surely, you are the mare of mine. When they told us that a mare was coming here straight from the entrance exams I thought, truly, she must be the mare for me. But, they did not speak of your beauty and grace! It is a simple elegance that no doubt hides—ow, ow, ow, ow!”

A green aura enveloped his ear, and Minuette dragged him away, her smile more exasperated. “I said make her feel welcome, Blue, not court her.”

“I can’t do both?”

Minuette deposited him on the couch before returning to Twilight and taking her to the workbench. A mint green unicorn with a cyan and white mane, and excited eyes sat on a rotating stool, spinning around and around. The mare next to her was white with a wild blue mane and wore red sunglasses despite being indoors.

“Heya, newbie!” The green mare stopped spinning and grinned widely at Twilight. “How’s it going so far? Did you like the tour? Minuette talk your ear off? She can do that sometimes, but I always learn something.”

She talked so fast, Twilight couldn’t get a word in even if she wanted to. There was a slightly longer pause, and Twilight tried to take it. “I’m good, I think. The campus—”

“Awesome! I’m Lyra Heartstrings, but you can just call me Lyra, everypony does! Isn’t that right, Vinyl? That’s Vinyl, she’s my bestie!”

Vinyl bent over the table, examining a pile of mechanical scraps. She picked up pieces one at a time with her magenta aura, holding them aloft without seeming to actually look at them before setting them aside. “Nice to meet you,” she said, still not looking up. “Mind if I call you Twi?”

“Hey, that’s a good nickname, Vinyl!” Lyra said, starting her spin again.

Twilight rubbed her fetlocks together. “I… guess not? If you really want to, you can.” It wasn’t a bad name by any means. Shining called her Twily all the time. She hadn’t expected a pony she just met to assign a nickname to her.

“Cool, Twi it is. Welcome to the class.” Vinyl finally looked in her direction and flashed a grin. “Heard you completely aced the entrance exam. Wish I could have been there.”

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane and laughed nervously. “Ehehe, well, you know, it wasn’t really anything special. I just… I should go introduce myself some more.” She pointed to the ponies near the window. “Excuse me.” Her hooves carried her off before either Lyra or Vinyl could speak again.

Both of the mares by the window had eggshell white coats and were equally beautiful. The one on the stool had gracefully long legs, making her the tallest unicorn Twilight had seen besides the princess. She had flowing pink hair and almond shaped eyes that held a faraway look. She wore a flowing ball gown, which the other unicorn was trying to adjust the hem. This one had a curled purple mane and a cutie mark of three diamonds.

They smiled as Twilight approached. The purple haired one said in a refined voice, “Hello, Twilight Sparkle, it’s lovely to meet you. My name is Rarity, and this is Fleur.”

“Charmed,” Fleur said quietly.

Twilight waved. “That’s a beautiful dress. Did you make that?”

“Why yes, I did!” Rarity beamed proudly. “I love to make clothes in my free time. It’s where my true talent lies if I’m being honest. Right now, I’m designing outfits for the Welcome Back Ball.” She gave her hair a light flip and turned to give Twilight her full attention, moving her head up and down in appraisement. “Oh, your coat is well maintained, and I love the accents in your mane.”

Subconsciously, Twilight rubbed the pink streaks in her purple hair. “Oh, thank you.”

“Would you like me to make a dress for you, too? I’m sure I could come up with something positively smashing for the dance.”

“No thank you.” Twilight took a step back. “I doubt I’ll be going.”

Rarity gasped. “But, it’s the premier event of the school year! Everypony is going to attend.”

Twilight took another step back. “Well, how about I think on it?” The sparkle in Rarity’s eye made it hard for Twilight to outright say no, even if there was little chance of her actually attending.

“Yes, give it some thought. But I assure you, you’ll have an excellent time!”

With one more wave, Twilight made her way to the back to the last of her classmates. The girl had on a purple hat and cape covered with stars and moons. She didn’t acknowledge Twilight’s approach. Finally, somepony I can connect with. Twilight felt bad interrupting her reading, but knew a kindred spirit like this blue mare would understand.

“Hello, I—”

“Go away,” the girl said curtly.

Twilight’s ears folded. “Oh… okay.”

“Trixie,” Minuette said from across the room, her voice like that of a scolding mother, “be nice. At least say hello.”

Trixie lowered her book and glared at Twilight, one purple eye hidden behind silver bangs. “Hi.” She pulled her book back up.

Minuette hurried over and led Twilight away. “Don’t mind her, she’s just a little harder to get through. Trixie’s very nice once you get to know her.”

Twilight made an uncertain grunt and settled on the couch opposite of Blueblood. He winked at her, and Twilight rolled her eyes. So these were her peers. Twilight couldn’t say she was impressed. Minuette was the top student in school, but she didn’t act like it. Vinyl looked like she was working on something but Twilight couldn’t tell what. Fleur was too quiet to make any proper assessments, and Trixie already hated her. Everypony else proved to be some level of weird.

“So, tell us about yourself, Twilight,” Blueblood said, still giving a flirty smile. “I’m sure a sophisticated and talented mare like you is deep and complex.”

Sweat gathered at the nape of Twilight’s neck. “I’m really nothing special. I just like to read and study. Which is actually something I should go do right now. School starts on Monday,” she said quickly, seeing a way out.

“Yeah, school starts on Monday,” Lyra said, bringing her chair to a halt, “which is why you should be relaxing. Speaking of relaxing, who’s down to get some ice cream? I could go for some strawberry, or rocky road, or wait, mint chocolate chip! Or maybe—”

“Sugar’s the last thing you need,” Vinyl said.

Twilight stood from the couching, tail flicking back and forth. “Thanks, but I should really go. Besides, I haven’t finished unpacking.”

Minuette bounced up. “Oh right, I bet you haven’t even met your roommate yet. Well, come on, I’ll take you to your dorm. We can all hang out tomorrow.”

Twilight wanted to protest to both suggestions, but Minuette’s cheery smile stopped Twilight’s words in her throat. She followed Minuette out, politely waving to the rest of Class Zero. They left the clubhouse and snaked their way through the grove to find the quad.

“I know some of them have their quirks,” Minuette said, “but they’re all a great bunch of students. Hardworking and fun. You’ll get to know them a lot more soon.”

“Great,” Twilight said, managing a weak smile. With the horizon now a bright shade of pink and orange, many of the students had turned in for the night, leaving the campus quiet. The dorms sat on the east end, facing the sprawling city and mountainside.

Minuette stopped at the front entrance. “Well, Twilight, I hope you had a good day today. We’re going to hang out tomorrow as well, and I really hope you’ll join us.”

“I’ll… think about it.” Twilight supposed she had to give them more than one chance to make an impression. Maybe they really were hardworking when school was in session. “Thank you for the tour, Miss Minuette.”

Minuette snorted and giggled. “Oh, Twilight, Minuette is just fine. I’m still a student after all.” She gave a goodbye smile and turned away. Twilight went inside and headed to the third floor.

I can’t believe I’m about to have a roommate. What if they’re completely disorganized? What if they’re a slob? What if they play really loud music? As her homesickness settled in, she reached her room, #306, and pushed the door open.

To her surprise, relief, and gratitude, the room was spotless. Her suitcase and boxes sat neatly on her bed, leaving her side of the room unremarkable, while the other side contained a perfectly organized bookshelf, well-made bed, and tidy desk where a beige pony sat reading with the lamp on. She turned, showing off the topknot in her red and purple mane, and the tape holding her thick black glasses together.

She stared wordlessly at Twilight for a moment before stuttering, “O-oh, you must be my roommate. I was wondering when you would… not that I was waiting for you or anything. I just wanted to know…” She cleared her throat. “Salutations. My name is Moondancer.”

Twilight stepped into the room and dipped her head. “Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you.”

Moondancer’s eyes went wide. “You’re Twilight Sparkle? You’re the mare that broke all the previous records at the entrance exam! You tied with Sunset Shimmer on the written portion and beat her magical aptitude score!” she gushed. “You’re in Class Zero! I can’t believe I’m rooming with you!”

Twilight’s face grew redder and redder with each passing praise. She stammered out dismissals, but the stars in Moondancer’s eyes were bigger than the ones on her flank surrounding a crescent moon. “Please, it’s nothing, really.”

“Nothing? It’s the talk of the whole school! The second prodigy in less than a decade! Tell me, what spells did you use for the practical exam?”

“No!” Twilight threw a hoof over her mouth. “I mean, no, not today. It’s been a long day and I still need to unpack. Please, tell me something about yourself.”

Moondancer blushed. “Oh, I’m not that special. I’m only in Class Four.”

Twilight opened her first box and started levitating her books out one by one. “But you’re a freshman too, aren’t you? That’s really impressive to start in Class Four.”

“I suppose so, since most freshmen start in Eight or Nine. But you jumped all the way to the top.”

“Really, I’m not that special. I just…” Got lucky, Twilight finished in her head. Their conversation slowed while Twilight unpacked, Moondancer focusing her attention on her book, though Twilight caught her occasionally looking her way.

Last from her suitcase, Twilight pulled out an old, raggedy horse doll. With its mismatched button eyes, matted mane, and torn ear, it begged to be thrown out, but Twilight gave it a quick nuzzle, smelling home, and set it behind her pillow. With everything in its place, Twilight opened up her Advanced Spatial Theory textbook and pulled out a roll of parchment, some ink, and a quill.

“Are you working on homework already?” Moondancer asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am,” she said curtly.

To her surprise, Moondancer let out a sigh of relief. “I thought I was the only one. I wanted to get a headstart on the material.” She lifted her book, The Intermediate Guide to Starswirl’s Principles of Magic. “I didn’t want to feel left behind when class started since I’ll be with mostly juniors and seniors.”

“Finally! Someone who understands!” Twilight cleared her throat. “I mean, it’s nice to see more students taking their academic position seriously. We have to set an example for the rest of the kingdom. Just because we’re on vacation doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be studying.”

Moondancer bobbed her head. “I agree completely.” Her cheeks turned red again. “Does this mean… I mean, umm… you wouldn’t mind if we became… study buddies, would you?”

Twilight hesitated. Study buddy meant not studying in private. However, she would have an academic peer to bounce ideas off of. However, Moondancer might ask her for demonstrations in magic! Twilight swallowed. “Umm, well, sure… whenever I’m not busy with the amount of critical work the professors will give me.”

Moondancer’s crestfallen look sent a pang of guilt through Twilight’s heart. “Oh, right. I-I understand.” She adjusted her glasses.

“But, if I ever need any help or have free time, you’re the first pony I’ll come to!” Twilight added quickly.

It got Moondancer to smile, but didn’t absolve all of Twilight’s guilt. Still, as she laid on her bed, she took solace in the thought of rooming with the one other pony who liked to study.

Despite her reservations, Twilight found herself walking across the quad the next morning toward the Class Zero clubhouse. She would be spending a lot of time with her seven peers; the least she could do was learn to tolerate them.

She knocked on the large wooden doors, staring at the zeros carved into it with swirling patterns surrounding them as she waited for someone to answer.

Rarity pulled the door open and tutted, amused. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to knock. It’s open for you whenever you like.”

“Oh.” Twilight kept her head down as she walked in, muttering how she didn’t want to presume anything. Everypony had gathered in the foyer, caught in a discussion of how to spend their afternoon.

“Lunch on the terrace of the Azure Crown sounds positively exquisite on a day like today,” Blueblood said, his nose in the air.

Trixie let out a short laugh. “Sure, just let Trixie check her funds… oh, would you look at that, she can’t afford it!”

Blueblood smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “Perhaps I could pay for you… if you called it a date?”

“Trixie would rather starve.”

“Why don’t we walk down to Pony Joe’s?” Minuette asked.

Vinyl bobbed her head. “I’m down for some doughnuts.”

“Yeah, count me in!” Lyra said.

“Eeegh, commoner food! And unhealthy at that!” Blueblood stuck his tongue out. “Why do you insist on going to that poor establishment?”

“Because doughnuts,” Minuette said with a flick of her hoof. “How about it, Twi?” She turned to Twilight, making her jump in surprise at being addressed. “Doughnuts sound good? Plus, we’ll get to walk around town. That’s always fun.”

“Uhh, sure. I like doughnuts.” Great answer, Twilight. Very profound.

“Hey, if the new kid wants doughnuts, I say we get ‘em!” Lyra said. “Let’s go, Zero!”

“Still not catching on, Lyra,” Vinyl said, shuffling her hooves forward.

“Just wait for it!” Lyra trotted in front of her, and Vinyl picked up the pace.

All eight of them crossed the campus and headed for the front gate. Like Blueblood had said, it was a beautiful day to herald the start of autumn. The green grass began to fade to a dry yellow, and all of the trees held leaves of gold, purple and red. The sky boasted a beautiful blue and paraded a few puffy clouds that drifted in front of the sun. Lyra narrated all of these details, though it seemed to be directed more to Vinyl than anyone else.

Out the front gate and into the city proper they went, heading northeast to the main collection of shops and food. Around the school were parks and neatly organized rows of houses painted an assortment of colors, most of them purple and gold to show the regality of unicorns. Gardens and terraces covered in vines and flowers released fragrant aromas that wafted throughout the neighborhoods.

The city of Canterlot spread itself upon the cliffside of Horn Mountain, overlooking the Unicorn Range and the great plains—the Equus Charge beyond. The original architects had spared no expense during the city’s construction. All the roads were paved with smooth silver sett, constantly well-maintained. Even the older brick and mortar houses shone with resplendent beauty.

Twilight admired the scenery rather than engage in conversation. She appreciated the loving work and care that went in to keeping their capital city looking beautiful. Canterlot could be broken up into three sections. The outer terrace where the main entrance was located as well as their school and most of the parks. A canal split the outer half from Canterlot’s grand center, where all of the shops, art galleries, museums, and the wealthier nobles lived. Finally, there was Canterlot Castle to the west, raised a little higher on a hoof-made extension of the cliff. The school sat just south of it, separated by a smooth, marble wall.

Class Zero crossed over one of the many bridges linking the grand center to the outer terrace. The crystal blue water flowed beneath them from further up the mountain, and down to the waterfall that spilled off the side of the city. Twilight had never seen Canterlot from afar, but she knew the sight had to be breathtaking.

Crowds of unicorns walked up and down one of the many thoroughfares that led to the central plaza, stopping to ogle at the stores and vendors. Strings of lights shaped like diamonds hung from the rooftops. Music came from several directions, blending together to create odd rhythms that almost sounded harmonious at times, but more often added to the chaos of conversation and laughter.

Minuette led them off the main road to one of the smaller pockets. A modest shop sat on the corner with a pink awning and a sign that read ‘Doughnut Joe’s.’ To Twilight, it looked rather unremarkable, but the sugary smell sung a sweet song that lured her in.

“Well, if it isn’t Minuette and her posse,” the pony at the counter said over the jingling bell. “I had a feeling I’d see you soon.”

“Hi, Pony Joe! It’s nice to see you, too!” Minuette smiled and waved. She pressed her muzzle against the glass of the display counter. “Everything looks tasty as usual!”

Blueblood walked on the tips of his hooves like he was trying to avoid stepping in something toxic. “We have different definitions of the word ‘tasty’.” He found a table near the window, pulled out a handkerchief to wipe down one of the seats, and sat down.

Twilight looked past Minuette’s drooling reflection at the doughnuts on display. There were glazed, sprinkled, glazed with sprinkles, powdered, cream-filled, and doughnut holes. Her stomach rumbled and her mouth started to salivate.

Pony Joe chuckled at her. “I can see you’re already enticed by my sweet selection. So, what’ll it be?”

The class got a wide variety, though Minuette had skewed it so a majority had sprinkles of some kind. Twilight picked up a maple glaze and bit into it with a happy hum, pausing for a moment to savor the sweet taste. She now knew why her classmates favored this place: this was the best doughnut she had ever tasted. The title didn’t stick long, as she bit into a white sprinkled one and declared this the best doughnut she had ever tasted.

“By the look on your face, is it safe to say you like them?” Minuette asked with a sly smile. Twilight just nodded her head.

“Come on, Blue, don’t put on this song and dance again.” Lyra pushed a powdered doughnut in front of him. “You know you like them.”

Blueblood lifted one up in his magic and took a bite. “They suffice for street fair food.”

“I know they’re unhealthy,” Rarity said, taking a small bite out of hers. “But we’re allowed to splurge every once in awhile.”

Fleur gave an uncertain nod of her head, but partook in one as well. “I’m still surprised Minuette loves them so much. One would think you would hate sweets since they’re bad for your teeth.”

Minuette swallowed her mouthful of pastries. “I just make sure to get a really good brush in after I eat.” She narrowed her eyes. “As should the rest of you.”

Trixie rolled her eyes in return. “Yes, Mother.”

“I don’t like your tone, young lady. Am I going to have to take away your doughnut privileges?”

Trixie held her doughnut closer to her chest and stuck her tongue out.

“Which one do you want next, Vinyl?” Lyra asked, magic at the ready.

She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You know I’m not picky.”

Twilight found the exchanges between them odd. Even moreso, the fact that Vinyl still had her sunglasses on indoors. She supposed it was none of her business, but it seemed impractical.

Minuette wiped her mouth on a napkin, coating it with leftover sprinkles. ”All right, class,” she said in a strong and encouraging voice, “a new school year is upon us. Say goodbye to yesterday’s grades; we all get a clean start tomorrow. I know classes get harder with each passing year, but you’re all here for a reason.” She paused and beamed at each of them in turn, giving Twilight an extra second of silent praise. “We are the best and brightest. And we show it not just by working hard but…”

“By playing hard?” Vinyl said with a grin.

Minuette playfully rolled her eyes. “Yes, and...”

“By helping anypony who asks for it,” Rarity finished.

“Yes!” Minuette gave her an appreciative nod. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. So go out there, study hard, and set a good example for the rest of the school and Lumen!”

“As if you need to remind Trixie,” Trixie said with a hoof on her chest. “They don’t call her Great and Powerful for nothing.”

“Only you call yourself that,” Lyra said, earning a snicker from Vinyl.

As the two started a playful argument, Twilight felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. While she still planned to study on her own, maybe, just maybe, this group wasn’t as bad as she thought.

Author's Note

This story's Canterlot is based off of this image. It's one of my favorites now!

Lesson Two: History and Magic

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Twilight’s alarm went off at 6:45 A.M. Two seconds later, Moondancer’s sounded, creating a shrill cacophony of geese. Twilight slapped hers off and shot up out of bed. “Finally! School’s here!” She rushed into the tiny bathroom before Moondancer had shut her alarm off.

A quick shower, a thorough brush of her teeth and mane, a polish of her horn. Twilight ran out of the bathroom, passing a still groggy Moondancer, her mane a nest of red and purple tangles. She pulled her school uniform from the closet, inspecting to make sure it was wrinkle free before putting it on. A purple shirt and gold skirt with a white neckerchief and a badge that proudly displayed her school and name. “Have a good first day,” Twilight said, tossing on her saddlebags. “I need to make sure I get a front seat for my first class!”

Moondancer could only wave, as Twilight was out the door before any words could pass her lips.

Twilight stopped at the cafeteria to wolf down a bowl of cereal and an apple. She read the clock as she galloped out. “7:30. I’ve got thirty minutes to get to class and find a seat! I’m right on schedule!” She ran down the hall, passing Rarity and Fleur.

“Slow down, Twilight,” Rarity called after her, “you’ve got plenty of time!”

Yes, plenty of time to pick the perfect seat! Twilight exited the dormitories and trotted down the road at a brisk pace. The sun slowly crept up over the peak of Horn Mountain, driving away the chilling shadows and bathing Canterlot in the fresh light of a new day.

The buildings of Celestia’s School fanned out in a semi-circle around the central quad with the northernmost building housing the dorms. Twilight headed west to the biggest and oldest of the buildings: Harmony Hall, overlooking the Unicorn Range. It shared a courtyard with its sister hall, Starswirl, whose namesake also had a statue in the center of the enclosure.

He stood golden and immortal, staring down the promenade with a serious but thoughtful expression. In one hoof, he held a long, gnarled staff, and on his back was a thick tome. As Twilight had found out during her orientation tour, the bells decorating his hat were real and danced whenever the wind blew. They made a soft, crystal chime that echoed across the courtyard.

Twilight bowed in reverence to Lumen’s first and greatest archmage. She passed under the tall archway of Harmony Hall, stepping onto the smooth granite of the entrance rotunda, and into history.

Painted in vivid majesty, the entire back wall of the rotunda depicted the story of ponies and their migration to the continent of Equus. It started on the left, expressed in dull colors that gave the scene an empty feeling. A well-dressed unicorn stood on a ledge, pushing the sun through the sky, while a pegasus gathered a grayer than usual cloud, and in the gloomy field below, an earth pony harvested crops. The somber colors shifted to bright blues and harsh whites, painted in thin, sweeping strokes. The three ponies gathered around a dying fire, their faces detailed with anger and hatred. Snow fell around them, and storm clouds gathered overhead, swirling with a ghost-like horse, its eyes glowing a glacial white.

The next scene took place closer to the center of the wall. There, three ponies had moved out from the ice and snow, finding a field of bright greens and streams of calm blues. But the winter storm trailed over their heads as they argued in the center of the field again, looked on this time by three other ponies, one from each race as well. All six of them moved into a cave, where the first three were encased in ice. The remaining trio huddled around each other while the storm raged on overhead. From the horn of the unicorn, a pink heart blazed forth, pulsing with love and magic. The ghost horses fled, and the snow melted from the new land.

Twilight moved her eyes to the center. A tall tower stood in the middle of the field, the pink, fiery heart at its top. Ponies from each race gathered around, smiles and laughter painted on their lips and in their eyes. But as the next picture showed, the peace and prosperity did not last long. A silhouette of a serpent-like being with mismatched limbs and horns appeared in the sky over a thick, dark forest. Clouds turned pink and rained chocolate, roads were made out of soap, houses floated upside down, and the three tribes glared at each other in accusatory hatred once more. The pink heart at the top of the tower had vanished.

Twilight moved her head to the penultimate scene, the serpent lounging on his throne, its ebony color contrasting against the multi-chromatic assortment surrounding it. Six ponies stood before the monster, two from each tribe, and a glowing orb in each of their hooves. A brilliant rainbow of six colors burst from the orbs and overtook the serpent sealing him away forever.

But the damage had been done. Twilight sighed, looking at the final picture. The tower stood alone in the middle of the three kingdoms. The pegasi kept to their cloud cities in the west, the earth ponies had their crystal capital to the north, and the unicorns stood on the eastern mountains. So Equus had been divided, and so it had remained for a thousand years.

Twilight admired the artistic adaptation of history, adding in the details that couldn’t be summed up by pictures alone. Like the fact that the unification of the three tribes had lasted fifty years before the entity known as Discord showed up. Or that he was the sole cause of the disappearance of most historical texts from before the migration. Twilight hated him personally for that reason alone.

Her eyes wandered up to the clock. 7:46. She gasped and galloped down the hall. Staring at the mural had eaten up six minutes of her time! Luckily for her, she only had one flight of stairs to climb before she found her homeroom class. The door was already open, but to Twilight’s delight, the room was empty.

Sunlight came through the window at an angle, sliding up the middle of the room. Twilight picked her seat to the front left of a bright square, so she wouldn’t get caught in a glare when taking notes. The room itself looked like a typical classroom with nothing to set it apart until the chalk picked itself up and started scribbling neatly on the blackboard.

‘1. Roll call. 2. Refresher courses. 3. Principles of cross school magic.’ The chalk continued to write down a series of short notes while Twilight twisted her head every which way to see where the caster was.

Minuette walked in, smiling and humming a light tune. “I’m not surprised to find you in here so early, Twi. Itching to get started?”

“Yes, I am,” Twilight said absently, still looking at the chalk. “Are you the one doing that?”

“Hmm? Oh no, that’s Professor Inkwell. She’s enchanted the chalk to write out the lesson plan everyday in case she forgets.” Minuette set her saddlebag down in the chair next to Twilight. “She should be here any minute.”

As if summoned, an elderly bluish gray mare limped in, both her fading mane and tail tied in a tight bun, and black and pink leg warmers on her front hooves. Even with the weather slowly getting cooler, Twilight didn’t think it was cold enough to warrant leg warmers.

The old mare paused in the doorway and looked at Minuette and Twilight in turn with her good eye. Her left eye permanently squinted at them. Her surly pout shifted into a smile. “Ah, the eagerness of youth!” She hobbled past them and up to her desk. “Always delighted to see you, Minuette! How was your vacation?”

“Excellent, Professor Inkwell! My family took a trip to Siren Lake, and I got to try out the waterwalking spell you taught us!”

“Good, good!” Inkwell inspected the board and nodded to herself. “You didn’t happen to see any kelpies, did you?” She looked over her shoulder with a sly smirk.

Minuette giggled. “Professor, those are a myth, you said so yourself.”

“Did I?” The old mare blinked. “Did I?” she asked, less sure of herself. She shrugged. “There’s a grain of truth in every myth, best remember that!” She turned her eye on Twilight. “And as for you, missy…”

Twilight folded her ears and took a step back. “Um…”

Inkwell stepped forward and booped her on the nose. “Welcome to my class. I’ve already heard a lot of good things about you, Miss Sparkle. And I see you got that look in your eye. You wanna learn something, don’t ya?”

“Y-yes.” Twilight straightened up, nose still twitching from the sudden contact. “Yes I do.”

“Well then, you and I are gonna be good friends!” She squinted her good eye. “Just don’t try to out-nerd me. I’m the first nerd! Minuette and Sunset Shimmer learned that the hard way.”

Minuette giggled again, watching Twilight’s head tilt in confusion. One-by-one (save for Vinyl and Lyra who appeared connected at the hip) the rest of Class Zero filed into their homeroom and took their seats. To Twilight’s surprise, none of them were shy about taking up the front row.

“Professor Inkwell, you’re looking radiant as ever,” Blueblood said.

“Pah! Flattery will get you nowhere, Bluey. I know I’m slow and pruny. Not everypony gets to age as gracefully as Her Highness.” She let out a snort of laughter that several of the others joined in on. “Ah, it’s nice to see you all again. Plus, a new addition to our little family. Sorry, Rarity, looks like you’re not the baby anymore.”

Rarity smiled pleasantly. “I think I’ll manage.”

Inkwell lifted a piece of chalk and a book in her magic. “All right, let’s get this show on the road!” She stared at the book, pursing her lips while her eyes moved across the page. The silence grew more and more profound as the seconds passed. Twilight glanced left and right; her classmates seemed unphased by the lapse in instruction.

She is a little old. I guess it’s harder for her to keep her train of—

The book snapped shut and Inkwell thrust a hoof at them. “What are the schools of magic? Five seconds!”

Twilight threw her hoof into the air, more out of instinct than anything else. “E-enchanting, Conjuration, Transfiguration, Abjuration, Thaumaturgy, Illusion, Divination, and while it isn’t taught and can hardly be studied, Chaos Magic!” The words tumbled out of her mouth so fast, she hoped Inkwell had understood her.

Inkwell nodded in approval. “Good job, newbie. Seven schools and Chaos. Some call it the antithesis of natural magic. Well, since there’s eight types and eight of you, why don’t we go around and give a summary of each of them. Just a wake-up exercise to make sure your brains didn’t turn to mush over the summer.”

Rudimentary, Twilight thought, resisting the temptation to roll her eyes. Any well-read first year could define the schools of magic.

Rarity cleared her throat. “Enchanting, the act of imbuing something or someone with your own magic. While historians argue about the order the applications of magic were discovered, many believe Enchanting was one of the first behind Conjuration and Thaumaturgy. Basic enchantments are designed to have only one function.” Rarity pointed to the wall lanterns around the room, currently unlit. “For instance, the light stones within the lanterns are enchanted to turn on when sunlight no longer reaches them. It is possible to give an enchantment a complex command, but it usually involves making a sigil.”

“Very good,” Inkwell said. “Well then, let’s just go in the order Miss Sparkle listed. Minuette, care to remind us what falls into the Conjuration school?”

Minuette gave her a pearly smile. “As Rarity said, deciding when exactly unicorns discovered which application of magic came first is difficult, but many believe Conjuration is the first as it encompasses basic levitation, something we all can do. Conjuration is also referred to as summoning, and ranges from basic push-pull levitation, teleportation, and for the highest and most focused unicorns, materialization.”

“Short and concise, excellent! Short and concise,” she repeated with emphasis as she gestured to Lyra.

“Transfiguration, arguably the most difficult branch of magic!” Quick and loud seemed to be Lyra’s normal way of speaking. “It offers the ability to turn one thing into something completely different. It’s the most scientific of the schools because you need to have a really good understanding of the structure of both the object you’re transfiguring and the thing you want to turn it into. Unlike Illusion magic which just kinda puts a veil over something, you’re altering the molecular structure of an object. It’s easier to transfigure things that are similar, like turning a quill into a pencil, or a reverting a desk back into a piece of wood. Animals and ponies can resist transfiguration spells if they have enough willpower, and—”

“That will do, Lyra.” Inkwell smiled. “Save all the details for your papers. Next, Abjuration by Bluey.”

Blueblood straightened his bowtie. “Abjuration deals with barriers and the suppression or even negation of magic, sometimes referred to as disjunction. In laymare's terms, it’s our defensive type of magic. However, if you want to negate someone else’s magic, yours must prove stronger. It’s easier to dispel sitting enchantments because of their passive nature. But if a pony is continuously pouring magic into a spell, it becomes a contest of wills.” He smiled. “Quite poetic.”

“Nicely done. Fleur, Thaumaturgy?”

Fleur looked at her hooves on top of her desk and spoke in a quiet voice. “Thaumaturgy is classified as the manipulation of the elements and raw magic itself. Notably used for combat spells, activation spells and healing also fall into this school. It is the third of the Original Three schools and is argued that it originated before Conjuration.”

“Aye. With the neat classification of everything else, Thaumaturgy is a little harder to define. Nicely done. Next—”

“Trixie will gladly define the Illusion School!” she said, throwing a hoof up. “Revered as one of the most mystifying of the arts, illusions allow the caster to deceive the minds of her opponent or audience, making them see, and if powerful enough, feel what isn’t really there! Unlike mind enchantments, it doesn’t alter one’s thoughts, just their perception of the world!”

Inkwell chuckled. “Delivered in good old Trixie fashion. Vinyl?”

She adjusted her glasses. “Divination is like the opposite of Illusion. It lets you see things that are hidden. It’s pretty cool because if you train hard enough, it becomes passive and you just naturally see through illusions. It also lets you see ‘the future.’ Vinyl made air quotes. “But since the future isn’t set in stone, prophesying is kinda pointless. Detection spells and echolocation also fit in here.”

“Indeed they do.” Inkwell turned her attention back to Twilight. “That covers all the schools. So, Miss Twilight, care to bring us home? What is Chaos Magic?”

Twilight swallowed, feeling all eyes on her. “Well, Chaos Magic is, like you said, the opposite of all forms of natural, harmonized magic. It can’t be controlled or predicted. It could potentially do anything, but it tends to always fall to the extreme side of possible magics. It can also combine magic in ways that should be impossible, breaking any and every law with the potential to warp the very reality around it. Practicality wrote in his book Chaos Theory, ‘Anything can happen and everything will.’”

Inkwell nodded slowly. “Yes. Chaos Magic is rare, but it’s dangerous and uncontrollable. While not inherently evil, we’ve yet to find a positive use for it. It goes without saying, I don’t want any of you messing with something that sounds like Chaos Magic. Of course, there are a slim number of exceptions…” Twilight swore Inkwell’s eyes pointed at Minuette for a brief second. “Good work, sprouts. Now, with all these schools of magic, you’d think everything under Celestia’s sun would fall into their place, right?”

Minuette raised her hoof. “Nope. Some magics are a cross between two schools. Technically, any mental resistance spells to enchantments fall under both Divination and Abjuration.”

“Correct!” Inkwell padded over to the black board and drew two triangles, one facing up and the other facing down, interlocked with each other. She then drew lines to connect the opposite points and drew a circle at the tip of each of them, finishing with a circle in the middle. Her horn flashed, and her drawing lit up for a moment. She tapped a hoof on the center circle. “The symbol of magic. While we can argue whether we blasted or picked something up first, Thaumaturgy is the center and basis of our magic.” She marked each of the points with a school. “The school’s positions are Interchangeable. The point is, all of them connect with each other and can be combined to make hybrid spells. Sigil spells are a combination of Thaumaturgy, Enchantment, and some other third thing depending on what you’re doing with it.”

Inkwell wiped the symbol off the board. Twilight raised an eyebrow, wondering what had been the point of the brief light show. Inkwell did this every time she doodled something, but as far as Twilight could tell, nothing ever happened.

They continued their discussion on combining schools of magic into more powerful and complex spells and devices, like the communication crystals, a hybrid of enchantments and conjurations. It was, at least, a detailed refresher course. Twilight supposed she should be grateful they didn’t do any practical lessons that day.

The school bell tolled slow, even gongs, and Class Zero filed out to report to their individual classes.

“Good answers in there, Twi,” Minuette said, joining Twilight in her walk to the fourth floor. “Don’t worry; things will get more stimulating as the semester goes by.”

Twilight nodded, unenthused. “Refreshers are important, I know, but I thought we’d be beyond that.”

Minuette wiggled a hoof. “Well, sure, but it never hurts to remember the basics. Without a strong foundation, everything else just crumbles apart.”

“That’s true.” Twilight took a meditative breath. School always started slow. In a few weeks time, she’d be learning more than she could have at a regular institution. She paused at room 405. “Well, time for Advanced Spatial Theory.”

Minuette continued down the hall, waving back. “Have fun!”

Following her spatial theory class, Twilight had lunch, then History of Equus which she shared with Moondancer. They sat next to each other in the front row, taking turns answering questions until Professor Hoofnote refused to call on them anymore.

The last bell of the day rang across campus, and students eagerly flooded out of the halls. Twilight followed Moondancer into the brisk autumn air the Canterlot Weather Factory produced, officially marking the turning of the seasons. In the quad, Twilight could see the gardeners helping the trees with their seasonal transition, turning their remaining green leaves to crisp reds and golds.

“So, how did your other classes go?” Moondancer asked.

“They were pretty good, if a little slow. Professor Inkwell can seem a little out there at times but she really knows what she’s talking about. And Professor Abra already praised the length of my paper. Wednesday, we’re going to have a discussion on the pros and cons of modern teleportation as opposed to opening spatial rifts!” Twilight swished her tail back and forth as she spoke.

Moondancer took notice and smiled. “I can see you’re excited.”

Twilight caught her eye and stilled her tail. “Just a little.” Celestia’s sun still shone brightly over Canterlot. Many of the students took it as a sign to relax and hang out. Twilight had to duck under another frisbee as it sailed over her horn.

“So, uh, do you wanna get something to eat?” Moondancer asked, eyeing a group of mares laughing and heading toward one of the small tea shops.

“No thanks. I’m going to the library so I can get started on my homework. If I finish early enough, I can start reading ahead, or find supplementary material!” Twilight made a little skip at the thought.

Moondancer smiled weakly. “That sounds like a plan. Umm….” She rubbed a hoof against her foreleg. “Well, I guess I’ll see you back at the dorms later?”

“Yep, see you later!” Twilight trotted off to the library with a spring in her step. It was only halfway there did she stop and wonder if she should have invited Moondancer to join her. Social etiquette told her yes, it would have been polite. However, Twilight did prefer to study alone. On the other hoof, Moondancer seemed pretty capable back at class.

Twilight shook her head. Next time, she’d give an invitation, just for the sake of being polite. She resumed her trot, reaching the marble archway and brass doors that separated her from the Magus Library. The arched columns continued inside, opening up to a central nexus of literature and learning. Five more aisles led away from the rotunda and deeper into the library, and a balcony full of more arcane treats ran along the walls. Light filtered in from the central skylight over the circulation desk in the middle of the nexus.

This wasn’t Twilight’s first time here, but she stopped to appreciate the grandiose presentation, savor the smell of musty pages and binding glue, enjoy the immense satisfaction of being surrounded by books and silence. She ghosted past the librarian on the tips of her hooves to not disturb his sacred duty of cataloguing books.

Twilight found one of the many reading nooks in the back corner and made herself comfortable. She pulled out her notes and textbook, flipping it open to the next chapter and readied her quill. Just as she got engrossed, her book spoke in a low, deadpan voice, “You’re in Trixie’s spot.”

“Gah!” Twilight clapped her hooves over her mouth and dropped the book from her magical grip. As it fell away, she found a blue muzzle and silver mane take its place. “Oh.” Twilight breathed a relieved sigh. “Hi, Trixie.”

“Move.” Trixie’s eyes held neither warmth nor patience. She fixed Twilight with an unblinking stare. She didn’t need to narrow her eyes to be intimidating.

Twilight tried to stand (or rather sit) her ground, but knew she was in a fight she couldn’t win. She gave a weak gesture to a bundle of pillows a few hooves down. “There’s more reading spots over there.” She followed her weak hoof flop with a weaker smile.

Trixie did not reciprocate. “Then you can take one of those. This is Trixie’s spot. Don’t think you can just waltz in here and take what’s Trixie’s just because you’re the school’s new favorite.”

Twilight folded her ears back. “I’m not trying to take anything, honest—”

“Then leave.” Trixie thrust her hoof to the next reading nook.

The battle was lost. Trixie still hadn’t blinked whereas Twilight had blinked, flinched, and looked away several times. She hurriedly gathered her stuff and ran to the next nook. She tried to get comfortable again, but an unpleasant lump settled in her stomach. She raised her head to Trixie who had her face buried in a book while notes floated around her.

Trying to sink back into her own studies, Twilight remembered another reason why she liked to work alone.

Unlike the first day, Twilight did not wake up with an abundance of enthusiasm. She weakly slapped her alarm off and squirmed out of bed, patiently waiting while Moondancer used the bathroom. Trixie’s words still stung like several paper cuts, but the words of the past paled in comparison to the possible words of the future.

You can do this, Twilight. Just sit in the back for this class and don’t raise your hoof, no matter how tempting. Yep, she just had to follow that strategy for the entire year and she’d be fine! She let out a short puff of air. Maybe that’s not true. You’re going to get special training from the princess. With that and self-practice, maybe you can get through this without anypony finding out.

“Are you okay, Twilight?”

She raised her head, looking at Moondancer who still had a smear of toothpaste near her lip. “Yeah. Just thinking.” She got off her bed and headed for the bathroom. “By the way, you might wanna wipe your face off one more time.” She watched Moondancer run a hoof along her mouth before closing the door.

Twilight took a little more time getting ready and eating. As long as she didn’t stand and recount history again, she would make it to homeroom with plenty of time to spare. Perhaps if Twilight took her time, time itself would move slower, drawing out the moments before she had to step into her Level Three Thaumaturgy class. Ludicrous thinking, as time moved at a constant speed, but at least Twilight could pretend it was moving slower.

But homeroom came and went, and after the short nutrition break, Twilight walked to Clover Hall and into her thaumaturgy class. The seats were arranged into four long rows along either side of the door, leaving a large space at the front of the class. A red and white target was strung up in front of the blackboard. Instead of finding the front and center-most seat, Twilight took one in the back corner. Already, she felt the isolation kicking in.

The other students walked in and took their seats, and to compound insult upon injury, Trixie sauntered in and sat at the front of the class.

“Good morning, students,” Professor Thoron said as he walked down the aisle. “I hope your first week back is treating you well.” His thick gray mustache quivered with every word. “Let’s jump right into it. If one wanted to make, say, a blizzard spell, which would be more practical, a direct spell, or creating a sigil for it? Yes, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight inwardly berated herself for already breaking her own rule. “There are pros to both actions, sir. Channeling the spell directly gives you total control and can be shut off at any time. However, if somepony doesn’t know the spell for blizzard, they could create a sigil ring and inscribe the rune for ice or snow and charge it with power. The downside to using a sigil is, the amount of power poured into the spell never equals the power the sigil will give off.”

“Correct, very good, Miss Sparkle. Sigils, while convenient at times, have harder outcomes to predict. Today, they’re generally used to create mass spells or used in complex rituals. For today’s demonstration, I would like a volunteer. Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight’s hoof had not gone into the air this time. She shook her head, shoulders tensing as the class looked back at her. “N-no, thank you, sir.”

“Are you sure? You seem quite knowledgeable on the subject—”

“Trixie will do it!” Trixie said, standing from her desk. She walked to the center of the class and stood next to Professor Thoron, sticking her chest out proudly.

“Oh, very well then.” Thoron’s horn thrummed with energy. “I’m going to create a fire spell using a sigil. I want you, Trixie, to cast a direct spell. Nothing too big now, keep it campfire sized.”

“Yes, sir.” Trixie’s horn lit up and a single mote of fire appeared on the tip. She lowered her head and aimed at the target. As the spell went off, the ember enlarged into a blaze and left the target with a deep scorch mark.

Thoron nodded. “Very good. Now, if I apply a single fire rune to my sigil and charge it with a little power…” A ring of light appeared in front of his horn, teal like the color of his aura. The rune for fire appeared in the center, two long V shapes that opened to the right. He aimed it at the target, and a gout of fire shot forth, expelling a wave of heat that washed over the whole room. Everypony tugged on their collars to get a little air to their chests.

The target, which had before been scorched, now sat as a pile of ash on the floor, the blackboard stained with soot as well. “You see class, a sigil’s role is to also amplify the power of a spell. I merely charged it with the activation spell and this is the result.” Thoron brushed his mustache, looking over his own handiwork. “How much the sigil amplifies a spell is based on many factors, so the output is never fully predictable. Thank you, Miss Lulamoon, you may be seated.”

Trixie smiled and dipped her head. As she headed back to her seat, she gave Twilight a haughty grin as well.

“As you know, sigils are more often used for more complicated spells then just blasting fire.” Thoron’s horn glowed again, and a glass of water appeared on everypony’s desk. “Your assignment this class is to make a sigil circle and craft a spell that will transport just the water in your glasses to this tankard.” He gestured to the empty jug on his desk. “Remember, rune placement is very important. Sigils read clockwise starting at twelve. You’ll find the list of runes in the back of your textbook. Chop chop.”

Twilight flipped her book open to the rune index. Okay, this is easy enough. Sigils don’t require too much magic, just an activation spell. It’s mostly just figuring out the formula! You can do this! After a few calm breaths, Twilight pointed her horn at her desk. A ring appeared around the glass of water, shimmering in a violet light. Okay, runes only represent one word or short phrase. The main actions always comes first, so that would be teleport. She knew most of the runes in the book, but it never hurt to double check. She closed her eyes and imagined the shape of the rune, drawing it out within her mind. When she looked, the rune glowed inside the sigil ring at the twelve o’clock position.

Easy, Twilight thought, a confident smile on her lips. To her right, she could see some of the other students struggling to get the rune to appear, their faces contorted in pained concentration. She moved onto the next rune, water, envisioning it next to ‘teleport’ within the circle. After water came the rune for ‘within’. Once Twilight had the first three runes formulated, the real challenge began. There was no rune for jug or tankard. There was one for container, but it was a loose use of the word; anything close by with an opening could be considered a container. Twilight would also have to take into account the distance the water would have to travel to reach the tankard. She stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth, her brain running through various ideas and possibilities. She lived for puzzles like these.

“Very good, Miss Lulamoon! Very good indeed!”

Twilight jerked her head away from her project. Water sloshed within the tankard, while Trixie’s glass was completely empty. She lifted her head at her acknowledged praise, her eyes flickering in Twilight’s direction again.

Yes, she definitely hates me. Ears pressed against her head, Twilight tried to shift her focus back to her glass. She knew there would be a few students that scorned her for coming into the highest class in the school. And while she preferred to take her academic path on her own, the idea that ponies would show her contempt left a barb in her heart.

Concentrate. The glass and the sigil came back into focus. Teleport water within container… She just needed a few more words. The tankard was roughly northeast of her, and there were runes for cardinal directions. Teleport water within container northeast to large container? A little wordy, but it seemed doable. Twilight double checked the list of runes while she pondered the margin for error. This looks like the most efficient way to cast this. She envisioned the final runes and they came to life within the sigil ring, evenly spacing themselves out.

Okay, now it just needs the activation spell. You can do this, easy. What’s the worst that could happen? A hundred of terrible scenarios flashed through Twilight’s mind in rapid succession, ranging from either container exploding, to the water washing away everyone in the room, to a random dragon attack. Stop that! Half of these aren’t even possible! She put her hooves on the desk and lowered her horn. One spell. You can do one spell. She closed her eyes and reached for her mana pool sleeping within her. It wasn’t like telekinesis, instinctual and always present, casting spells required a little more connection with one’s inner magic, even if the spell was small.

Just a spark…

“We were greatly impressed by your written exam, Miss Sparkle, but if you cannot produce even a single spark, I’m afraid we can’t recommend you for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“No, no! I can do it, honest!”

Twilight clenched her teeth. Not now. Don’t think about it. But she could already feel her magic slipping further and further away, the river between her horn and her pool of mana becoming narrower with each passing second.

“Miss Sparkle, is everything all right?”

“Yes! I can do it—I know I can do it!”

No! Don’t lose control either! Twilight walked a tightrope. It was either too little or too much, and right now, it was far too little. She could feel the pressure at the base of her horn; a cork shoved in to stop all flow of magic. Relax. You have to relax. She opened her eyes and breathed. A few more students had finished their sigils and transported their water. They now chatted merrily amongst themselves, not batting an eye toward Twilight. Trixie had resumed ignoring her, choosing to read once more.

They’re not paying attention, Twilight. You’re not at the exam. Just breathe.

“Just breathe, little one. It’s all right. Just breathe. Yes, that’s it. Calm yourself. Magic as strong as yours requires a firm but calm control.”

Twilight raised a hoof to her shoulder. The touch of the princess still lingered there. She lowered her hoof to her chest, breathed in, then pushed it away as she exhaled. It’s just a spark. Little by little, the pressure ebbed away, and Twilight could feel a stream of magic flow to her horn. Relax and focus. She lowered her horn to the sigil, breathing deep one last time. Her horn flashed as she felt the spell release, and from across the room came a splash.

She opened her eyes. The water in her glass had vanished.

“Very good, Miss Sparkle,” Thoron said with a nod of his head.

Twilight slumped down, her shoulders sagging with relief. She had done it. One class down, hundreds to go. One spark at a time.

Lesson Three: The Princess and the Archmage

“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

The Hall of the Heavens shone with golden opulence, its marble tiles sparkling with royal light. The evening sun cast its gentle warmth through the arched windows. Despite the wide beams of sunlight, the air remained cool and comfortable, the aroma of honey and vanilla wafting from the flowers gathered in front of the throne.

“So I believe all of this can be summed up as a misunderstanding,” a voice, clear, serene, and motherly said from atop the dais.

Sunset Shimmer smiled. Her princess’ voice, the voice of peace. No matter how stressed a pony was, no matter how upset, a layer of tension fell away when they stepped within the sacred hall.

Princess Celestia, Shepherd of the Sun and Moon, Mother of Lumen, and the Immortal Hero sat tall on her throne of velvet and gold, a large pillow placed against the back. Her mane, an ethereal aurora, fluttered and danced with a will of its own. She smiled, a warm blanket that drove away the bitterest chill and reminded one that Harmony was alive and well.

Two unicorns—one brown, the other beige—stood before her on the red carpet. The brown one (Chestnut, Sunset vaguely recalled) ran a hoof through his black mane and looked at his counterpart.

“I’m sorry I blew up at you like that. I just thought—”

“I know, it looked bad,” Ray said. “But you’re my friend; I would never do anything like that.” He rubbed a hoof against his scraggly beard. “Sorry I said all that, though.”

“It’s okay, I should have let you explain things in the first place.” Chestnut turned back to Princess Celestia. “Thank you, Your Highness, for helping us straighten this out.” They bowed, touching their muzzles to the floor.

“It was my pleasure. And you’ve both learned a valuable lesson from this.” She gave them a gentle wave of her hoof. “Go now. And remember to communicate in the future.”

Sunset watched the guards escort them out as they discussed plans for dinner. And to think they came in here yelling and screaming. She had seen hundreds of instances like theirs before, but it still amazed her how one conversation with the Princess could create such a change. You are a true miracle, Your Highness.

“And that concludes the Day Court, Your Highness,” Raven said from her place at the foot of the dais. She adjusted her glasses as she read from the agenda. “Scouts from the Crystal Empire border should arrive in a few minutes.”

“Very good. Thank you, Raven.” Princess Celestia tilted her head to the right, turning her smile upon Sunset. “Would you like to stretch? You’ve been standing still as a statue for three hours.”

Sunset smiled in return. After all these years, her heart still fluttered whenever Celestia gave her attention. “I’m fine, Your Highness. I’ve stood at attention for much longer than this.”

Princess Celestia chuckled. “As you wish, my diligent pony. I do appreciate your company today.”

Sunset bowed her head, both out of reverence and to hide her blush. “I am always more than happy to give it, Princess.” Her words did her heart a disservice. Any time with her princess left Sunset the happiest mare alive.

Three knocks from the large, ornate doors at the front of the throne signaled the arrival of Swift Shade and Onlooker, two ponies from the espionage division of the border patrol. They followed the carpet across the gilded halls, quiet as ghosts. Both of them wore their black uniforms, mufflers covering their mouths, leaving only their eyes and horns exposed. They reached the front of the dais and bowed.

“Your Most Serene Highness, we bring more news from the Crystal Empire,” Shade said. Despite the muffler, she spoke loud and clear. “Following up on the reports of a mining operation on the far side of Ghastly Gorge, it appears the earth ponies have brought in full digging equipment. Large scale drills and platforms have been erected near the north end of the gorge.”

Princess Celestia’s warm, welcoming smile fell to a contemplative frown. The warmth was still there, but it was veiled behind caution. “Have you verified what it is they’re mining for?”

Onlooker raised his head. “We have, Your Highness,” he said slowly. “We’ve seen crystals, black and rough. However, they don’t match any type of mineral we could verify. I’m afraid we can’t get close enough to gather more information. Security around the mining camp is tight. Whatever it is they’re digging up, it’s important enough for the military to send multiple platoons.”

Sunset sucked on her teeth. “A drill operation and military forces that close to the border? Earth ponies aren’t known for their subtly, but even they have to know this looks… dangerous.”

“Indeed,” Princess Celestia said, closing her eyes. “High Chancellor Clear Bell isn’t one to show military force. What about these crystals makes it valuable enough for them to guard with such zeal? Can you confirm a current amount?”

“When we left the day before last, they had dug up perhaps only a chariot full,” Shade said.

“But the operation goes on all day and well into the night,” Onlooker added. “Whatever this is, they want a lot of it.”

The frown deepened, and Sunset shuddered at the absence of warmth. “I will confer with the ministers,” Princess Celestia said. “Perhaps on her next trip, Starlight can inquire a little more knowledge. The Crystal Empire should know they have nothing to fear from us.”

“Yes, but do we have something to fear from them now?” Sunset asked quietly.

“Worry not, Sunset.” Princess Celestia’s smile return, and warmth flooded Sunset’s body. “The peace will be kept.”

She nodded at her two spies. “I thank you for your service and reports. Take the rest of today to recover in the castle suites, then return to your posts in the morning. If there are any breaking developments, report to Captain Aegis at the garrison, and he can contact me via crystal.”

They both bowed and said in unison, “Very well, Your Highness.” Like the previous pair, the guards led them out, closing the doors behind them.

Raven, in her diligent secretarial duty, wrote on her notepad and said, “I shall schedule a meeting with the ministers this Friday before your private tutoring with Miss Sparkle.”

“Thank you, Raven.” Princess Celestia showered her with a smile. “As always, your organizational skills are remarkable.”

She straightened her red tie and collar. “Anything to make your life easier, Your Highness.”

Sunset smiled as well. In that regard, she and Raven shared the same duty. Though it technically wasn’t required of Sunset as Archmage, it was her personal sworn duty to serve the princess with every fiber of her being.

Princess Celestia stood and stretched her long legs out one by one, her golden horseshoes glinting in the sunlight. “Thank you, everypony, for your services today. That will be all.” She gestured at Sunset. “Would you care to take a walk with me?”

“Of course, Your Highness.” Sunset stepped away from the side of Princess Celestia’s throne, ignoring the small pops her legs made at the first movement in hours. She hurried down the dais after her princess, nodding her head to the guards and Raven as they bowed at the Princess’ exit.

The velvet carpet felt great against Sunset’s sore hooves. While she would never complain to the Princess, standing at attention for so long did start to wear on her.

Stained glass windows adorned the hall leading up to the throne room. Mosaics depicting bright, rolling pastures or sunny beaches, and scenes of history, like the defeat of Discord at the hooves of six ponies. The light filtering through the glass cast a strobe of colors across the floor. It was like walking on the paintings themselves.

“I must think of the most tactful way Starlight could bring up these mining operations to the High Chancellor,” Princess Celestia said, pausing to tap a hoof against her chin. “The north end of the Ghastly Gorge is firmly within their territory. They would no doubt question how we gained such information.”

“Mere surveillance from one of our passing airships? You could even have Starlight’s fly over it on her path to Crystal City.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “Yes, that sounds most reasonable.” She sighed. “Still, this is troubling. Using their military to guard an operation close to the border? It can’t be positive for us.”

Sunset looked at the carpet with a grim frown. “Perhaps they still haven’t fully forgiven us for Sombra,” she said.

“Five-hundred years is a long time, but… perhaps you’re right.” Princess Celestia sighed. “So much potential as an archmage, and he wasted it on a coup and conquest.” She continued her walk, Sunset trotting quickly to keep pace with her long legs. “But, this is a topic for Friday.” She smiled. “Let us discuss more merry things. I would love to hear more about your arcane thesis.”

Normally, Sunset would beam from ear-to-ear at the chance to brag about her scholarly leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, that particular subject only made her want to slam her head into the nearest column. Repeatedly.

“It’s… a work in progress,” she said, shuffling her hooves instead of taking her usual proud steps.

They reached a crossroads in the halls. The stairs to the left led to the royal suites, marked by golden tapestries embossed with the princess’ cutie mark: the eight rayed shining sun. The hall continued to the right, leading back to the entrance hall. A silver door laid before them, engraved with the sun and moon.

“Arcane theses are never easy, my diligent archmage.” Princess Celestia opened the door and stepped out onto a wide balcony overlooking the castle grounds.

Sunset could smell roasting carrots and asparagus bathing in melted butter wafting up from the kitchens. The delectable spices stirring together made her mouth water. Knowing her princess, a cake sat in one of the ovens. The setting sun painted the evening sky a relaxing orange that reminded Sunset of the pumpkins growing on the farms just outside the city.

They basked in the sun’s warmth and watched its dying light give birth to shadows across the city. Sunset rested her hooves on the railing. Below her sprawled the hedge maze and the sculpture garden. Silver unicorns held flags flapping in the breeze, pegasi flew in tight formation, and earth ponies reared on their hind legs.

“It isn’t that it’s hard,” Sunset said, keeping her tone neutral, lest she sounded like she was whining, “I like a challenge. It’s just that…” She scrunched her nose. “Teleportation already seems like a complete spell. I swear, I’ve looked at it from every angle and ended up wondering either how the heck we managed to pull this off or thinking ‘yep, this spell is already perfect.’”

She let out a pent up breath. “The only thing I haven’t tried is Chaos Magic, which A. I’m not dumb enough to try. And B. It feels like cheating if it did work.”

Princess Celestia slipped a hoof out of her golden horseshoes and rested it on Sunset’s shoulder. “What you’ve undertaken is no mere feat. Perfecting a spell is sometimes harder than creating a new one. Every unicorn who changed our understanding and increased our abilities with magic struggled with their hypotheses and practices. But they never gave up.” She raised her hoof and stroked it through Sunset’s ocean of crimson and gold hair. “You’re not one to give up either. I know you’ll master this ‘blinking’ spell”

Sunset closed her eyes and leaned her head back at the princess’ loving touch. Her heart melted like chocolate over a hearth. It was moments like this that Sunset lived for. Moments where the princess was happy, and Sunset was the only thing in her eye. Princess Celestia was considered the mother of the entire kingdom of Lumen. But in these fleeting moments when day turned to night and all was calm, Sunset felt like she was Princess Celestia’s only daughter.

“Perhaps discussing what you have so far with another peer will push you along."

Sunset snorted. "I doubt it. Barely a third of the students at the school know how to teleport. And Inkwell would just give me some cryptic advice before laughing and telling me I'm smart enough to figure it out on my own." Not that she's wrong.

“Still, it never hurts to get another perspective on things.”

“I suppose not.” Sunset opened her eyes, looking up at the now pink sky. Every archmage was required to invent or perfect one spell during their tenure. Technically, that could be their entire lifetime. But because Sunset Shimmer didn’t do anything on a small scale, this would only be her first arcane thesis. Mastery over teleportation; moving between two places with perfect speed and precision until it could be done within the same second, no delays.

She had unofficially dubbed it ‘blinking.’

Behind her, Princess Celestia raised her spiraled horn high, letting off a pulse of golden magic. The sun finished its arc over the world, paving the way for the moon as it crested over the mountain. With it came a curtain of deep blues and inky blacks. The stars awoke and punctured holes in the curtain, filling the night canvas with beads of light.

Sunset watched the transition of light, her eyes on the west horizon as it changed from orange, to pink, to blue, and then to black. “Maybe I’ll talk to Minuette,” she thought aloud.

“I’m sure she’d love to see you,” Princess Celestia said with an amused chuckle.

Sunset could already feel the upcoming tackle-hug. “Yeah, I’m sure she would.” A small smile pulled at her lips.

Twilight trotted down the corridor with a happy swish of her tail. She beamed at the A on her Advanced Spatial Theory paper. Hard work and meticulous studying had paid off once again! She carefully rolled it up and placed it in her saddlebag, making a mental note to mail it to her parents.

“Twilight!”

She turned around, finding Moondancer trying to weave her way through the crowd of students. She stumbled a few times, thrown off kilter from her brushes with the oncoming traffic. Twilight gave her a short, friendly wave.

Moondancer finally caught up and brushed her uniform off. “Hi,” she said with a bashful glance. “Um, how was class?”

“It was great! I got an A on my paper!”

Moondancer smiled. “That’s great! So, I was wondering, maybe we could have lunch together before history class? Only if you want to! I know how busy you are.”

Twilight lifted her hoof to politely decline, but remembered the promise she had made to herself. Moondancer was smart, and she seemed nice. And if they were going to be roommates, Twilight knew it would be best to keep their relationship cordial.

“Sure, lunch sounds nice,” she said.

Her face brighter than a Hearth’s Warming tree, Moondancer followed Twilight to the cafeteria in the dormitories. Six large bay windows placed against the east and west walls and a skylight ensured an abundance of natural light during all hours of the day. Rectangular tables were arranged in neat rows, broken up by six stone pillars.

Twilight sat down opposite of Moondancer. There was a long pause between the two mares. Twilight ate her sandwich, keeping her eyes down. From her occasional glances, she could see Moondancer was doing much of the same. This isn’t hard, Twilight. Just pretend you’re talking to Shining. Or a professor.

“Sooo, how are your classes going?” she asked.

“Oh, you know. They’re a little slow to start, like you said. But, we’ll be working on perpetual enchantments next week. I’ve started studying in advance for that.” Moondancer took a bite of her salad and chewed it thoughtfully. “How are your classes? Wait! I asked that already. Umm…”

Twilight forced a small laugh to hopefully ease some of the tension. “Uhh, what part of Canterlot are you from?”

“I live close to the pegasi neighborhoods near the airship docks.” She let out an irritable sigh. “It’s always noisy around there.”

Twilight had been to the airship docks and knew the construction could be pretty noisy. It didn’t help that pegasi were known to be boisterous and loud. “I live close to the front gate, near the welcome plaza.”

“Must be nice and quiet near the front.”

“It is. Plus, I live two blocks from the library!”

“Lucky.”

Just as their conversation started to slow again, Rarity and Fleur approached from the lunch line. “Twilight, good afternoon!” Rarity said brightly. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is my roommate,” Twilight said, trying not to emphasize the difference in front of Moondancer. She seemed nice, but they had only known each other for three days. That hardly qualified as a friend.

“My name is Moondancer,” she said, adjusting her glasses as she looked down at her food.

“I’m Rarity,” she said, setting her tray on the table. “And this is Fleur. Do you mind if we sit with you today?”

Twilight kept her resigned sigh to herself. This was supposed to be a simple lunch with friendly small talk before she went on her way. Now it was a social gathering. She put on her best smile and nodded though, vowing to make up for lost time later that night.

Rarity sat next to her and Fleur joined Moondancer. “What were you ladies discussing. If I may ask?”

“Just what part of Canterlot we’re from,” Twilight said.

“Lovely! Canterlot is such a marvelous city. I had dreamed of living here ever since I was a filly,” Rarity said with a dreamy sigh.

“Where are you from?” Moondancer asked.

Rarity speared a group of lettuce and carrots onto her fork. “My family lives in little Hollow Shades.”

Twilight looked at the geographical map in her head. “Isn’t that on the other side of the mountains?”

“Isn’t their economy dirt poor? How did you get here?” Moondancer asked.

Reading other ponies wasn’t Twilight’s forte. They tended to be a lot more complex than books. But, the weight of the silence, and the way Rarity shut her eyes and took a short breath told Twilight Moondancer might have said something wrong.

Rarity opened her eyes and put on a patient smile. “Yes, Hollow Shades is not known for its riches. But it’s still home, rustic charm and all. I raised the money to come here by selling the dresses I make.” She gazed out the windows toward the mountain. “Now I’m trying to save up so I can bring the rest of my family here. At the very least, make enough to afford tuition for my baby sister if she wants to attend school here.”

“That’s nice of you,” Moondancer said. “If a little overly ambitious. Selling dresses is really only lucrative if you have a big name behind you, especially in Canterlot. Being a student, most nobles won’t take you seriously.”

Rarity closed her eyes and breathed again. “While that might be true,” she said in clipped tones, “I have confidence in my abilities to make a difference.”

Moondancer opened her mouth, but Twilight decided now would be a good time to do something she normally never considered: socially intervene. “So, Fleur,” she said, her voice a pitch higher than normal, “where are you from?”

Fleur’s eyes widened, like she was startled that she had been brought into the conversation. “Oh… I am… from the high terrace… next to the castle,” she said, almost sounding like she was disappointed with herself.

Moondancer leaned toward her. “Wait… you’re Fleur Dis Lee! Your mother is Belles Étapes!”

Fleur made herself as small as possible in her seat. “Yes I am. And yes, she is. And I would very much like to not talk about it.”

Curiosity demanded Twilight to ask questions, but she didn’t need to be a social butterfly to see Fleur’s emotional shut down. Fleur kept her eyes on the table and slowly ate her food.

Twilight’s ear gave an agitated flick; she knew she would have to intervene again. “How are everyone’s classes going?”

“Well enough,” Rarity said. “Enough homework and reading to keep a girl busy, but I still have time to work on everyone’s outfits for the dance. Which reminds me, Twilight, you haven’t given me an official answer.” She looked at Twilight with a twinkle in her eye.

“Oh, right.” Twilight hadn’t given the Welcome Back Ball any more thought since Rarity had brought it up at their initial meeting. Did she really want to waste a Friday night standing next to a punch bowl watching other ponies socialize and dance? The short answer was no. And she would not be subjected to peer pressure, no matter how much Rarity fluttered her long eyelashes.

“I’m sorry, Rarity. Dances just don’t seem appealing to me. Besides, by next week, I’ll have too much studying to do to take a break like that.”

Rarity gave her a disappointed pout, but said, “Very well, I understand. I admire your studious drive, Twilight. Just don’t overwork yourself.”

The remainder of their lunch passed without incident and with the silence only slightly awkward. The bell came as sweet relief to Twilight, who hurriedly threw on her saddlebags. “Let’s go before the front seats are taken,” she said to Moondancer.

“Right.” Moondancer levitated her tray over to the discard table, then stood up to follow Twilight. “It was nice meeting you both.”

“Likewise,” Rarity said with a wave. Fleur remained quiet, still gazing at her empty plate.

As she and Moondancer walked out to the quad, Twilight gave into her curious nature. “Who’s Belles Étapes?”

Moondancer looked at her, eyes wide behind her glasses. “I’m surprised you don’t know. She was a big deal in theater.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I don’t keep up with pop culture news.”

Moondancer shrugged. “Well, Belles Étapes was one of the biggest names in theater twenty years ago. Beautiful, with a great voice and acting skills. Then, it got out that she was having an affair with an earth pony. It was a huge scandal.”

Twilight rolled her eyes again. This was why she didn’t bother with pop culture news. Ponies talked about the most pointless things.

But Moondancer lowered her voice and said, “Fleur was born not long after everypony found out about the affair. Her father is the earth pony Belles cheated with.”

“So she’s half earth pony. It might be rare, but it’s not that big of a deal.” Twilight paused and put a hoof to her chin. “Actually, the fact that she’s half earth pony and in Class Zero is really impressive.”

“Yeah. You’d think her magic would be diluted.” Moondancer shrugged and pressed on toward Luna Hall. Lowering her voice again, she said, “So… you really aren’t going to the dance?”

Twilight shook her head. “Why waste a perfectly good night of reading?” She looked inquisitively at Moondancer. “Why, are you?”

Moondancer’s cheeks turned pink. “I… My mom made me promise I’d go to a few of the social events on campus. She thinks I don’t have enough friends.”

Twilight smiled with nostalgia, remembering a similar conversation she had with her mother before being dropped off. Fortunately, she had made no such agreement, just the old promise made at the start of every school year that she would try a little harder to make some acquaintances. Moondancer and her Class Zero cohort counted as ‘some acquaintances.’

Moondancer opened her mouth like she wanted to say something else, but the words never came. She remained silent until they got to their history class. Once Professor Hoofnote began asking questions, she came out of her shell, joining Twilight in hogging the answers until he refused to call on them again.

Overall, Twilight couldn’t complain too much about her first week of school. Introductions and basic instructions were out of the way, meaning on Monday, she could finally sink her teeth into some new material! While a small hoof-full of students had gawked at her as she walked through the halls, nopony had really asked her about the entrance exam, and aside from Trixie, nopony seemed to hate her for being the second freshman to ever join Class Zero immediately.

With her Friday classes over, Twilight stopped by her dorm to switch out her textbooks, only to come across a slight hiccup.

“What do I even bring for my lesson with the princess?” She frantically paced in front of her bed, all of her textbooks lined out on the sheets. “Do I even need to bring anything? Should I bring everything? But that’s not going to all fit!”

Moondancer watched her pace from her desk. “Well, what exactly is the princess going to be teaching you?”

Twilight paused. “Uhh… private, advanced magic lessons. Yes, that’s it!” She put on a wide smile.

“Lucky,” Moondancer said with a longing sigh. “Well, if she didn’t specify bringing any book, maybe you’ll be reading from something in the Royal Archives. Or maybe it’s a practical lesson that doesn’t require a book.”

Twilight relaxed her smile. Perhaps Moondancer was right. Princess Celestia would have told Twilight if she needed to bring anything, right? And for the real lessons that would be taking place, Twilight had a feeling a book wouldn’t be the most helpful.

But going to a class without a book or a quill? It felt unnatural.

“You’re right.” Twilight took a relaxed breath. “These will probably be more practical lessons.” She trotted to the bathroom. “Now I just have to make sure I look presentable.”

She stopped in front of door and turned back toward her small closet. “Should I be wearing my school uniform? Maybe I should put on something more formal? Or maybe I can run and get it dry-cleaned really fast! No, there’s no time for that; I only have an hour!”

“I think the uniform should be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight headed for the bathroom. “I hope so. I really want to make a good impression. I mean, I guess I must have since she’s teaching me, but maybe that’s just out of necessity. I want her to like me too! I mean, she’s Princess Celestia, she likes everypony, but…”

Moondancer tapped the hourglass on her desk. “Wasting time, Twilight.”

“Right, thanks!” She scurried into the bathroom to give her mane and tail an extra thorough comb, and brushed and flossed her teeth until her mouth hurt.

After running a lint roller across her shirt and skirt, she examined herself one last time in the mirror. “Okay, I think I’m ready. I hope I don’t get sweaty walking over there.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Moondancer said with a warm smile.

Twilight breathed again. “Right. You’re right. Okay, I’m off.” She opened their room door.

“Hi, Twilight!”

“Gah!” Twilight jumped back, finding Minuette just outside her door and devoid of her school uniform. “W-what are you doing here?”

Minuette held a hoof to her mouth and giggled. “I knew you were going to the castle for your tutoring session with the princess, so I decided to meet with you. Sunset’s invited me to have tea with her.”

Twilight cocked her head. “You’re friends with Lady Shimmer?”

“Yep! I came into Class Zero in her last semester. We were the only two there, so we became really good friends.” Minuette made a soft wave with her hoof. “Well, that’s the short version. I was her friend. It took a little while for it to go both ways.”

“I see.” Twilight stepped out of her room, waving one last time to Moondancer. She gave Minuette another look over. “You’re going to meet Sunset Shimmer like that?”

Minuette nodded. “Sunset won’t mind. Neither would the princess, but she does love seeing us in our school colors. Plus, it looks great on you.”

Twilight felt a wave of relief as they proceeded downstairs. Outside, they stepped through the fallen maple leaves littering the campus. A group of freshmen had piled them together into a large heap and took turns jumping into it. Clouds gathered overhead, dimming the already weak autumn light and providing quick bursts of complete shade.

“Are you excited about your first lesson with the princess?” Minuette asked.

“A little nervous, actually.”

Minuette patted her shoulder, missing the sour frown Twilight gave her. “Don’t be. Princess Celestia is literally the perfect teacher. Kind, patient, understanding.”

“Wait, have you had private lessons with her?”

“Mmhmm. Everypony in Class Zero gets at least a few. Some get more than others. Sunset got lessons every week.” She smiled. “I’m still so happy she got to be the next archmage. I’m so proud of her.”

They exited the school grounds and turned left down the road, staying within the shadow of the castle until they reached the front gate. Without a wall to block the view, Canterlot Castle towered over Twilight, gleaming even in the gloomy autumn air.

Guards flanked either side of the front gate. They eyed Twilight and Minuette as the two passed under the portcullis but made no effort to bar them entry from the courtyard. Statues of rearing unicorns flanked the marble path rising up to the front doors of the castle. Verdant grass patches spread out before Twilight, still lush despite the changing weather.

The castle itself loomed like a royal colossus, silent and watchful over its city. A single building made up most of it, wide enough to house the entirety of Celestia’s School within it. Golden bridges connected towers and turrets that rose into the sky. Their shadows could creep across the castle walls when the sun hit them right. Many of them hung over the cliffside, no doubt offering a fantastic view, but a little too precarious for Twilight’s liking.

She focused on the half of the castle resting on stable ground. Walking up to the front steps and the jewel encrusted front door, Twilight felt like a flea. This was the home of Celestia: the immortal princess who had total control of the heavens. What business did she have in such a resplendent place? The guards manning the front doors crossed their spears, their narrowed eyes asking the same question.

“State your business,” one said gruffly.

Twilight’s legs trembled. “I, um, I’m here t-to see the princess?”

He rolled his eyes. “With what business?”

“Oh, right. You s-see, I’m from the school.” Twilight pointed to her badge. “I’m supposed to receive special training from Her Highness.”

The guard on the left leaned in, eyes narrowed. “And do you have confirmation for such a visit?”

“C-confirmation?” Twilight had never even considered that! Did she have anything to prove she was telling the truth? Had the princess given her something like that?

Minuette patted Twilight’s shoulder. “Okay, Rift Shield, that’s enough. You’re starting to scare her.”

The guard pulled out of Twilight’s face and broke into a childish smile. “You’re right. Might have laid it on a bit too thick. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sparkle.”

One of Twilight’s ears involuntarily flicked. “Wha?”

Minuette gave Twilight another pat. “The guards like to haze the princess’ newest student. It isn’t the nicest thing in the world,” she said, giving a look that made both guards fidget, “but they all mean well. Consider it a little ‘welcome to the club.’”

This time, Twilight voluntarily flicked her ear. “Hilarious,” she said, scrunching her nose. “May we please go inside now?”

Rift Shield knocked the butt of his spear against the door, and it swung open without a sound. Twilight stepped onto soft carpet, keeping her eyes resolutely forward. She would have to have a talk with Shining about the unprofessionalism of the castle guards. Getting her worked up over a dumb joke. She felt heat rise to her cheeks. At least Minuette was the only pony around to see it. That said, Minuette seemed like the type to tell stories.

The height of the entrance hall nearly gave Twilight vertigo when she raised her head. The tall columns and wide arches gave the impression it had been built with dragons in mind rather than ponies.

They stopped in the middle of a crossroad, the path splitting off to the left and right. A large staircase rose before them, and the corridors parted again in front of a stain glass window depicting a blue unicorn with a mane full of stars.

Twilight sucked in her breath as a shadow appeared along the wall of the window. She sucked her breath again when it turned out not to be Celestia.

Her hoofsteps were precise and filled with confidence. Her crimson and gold mane flowed around her face, with her teal eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly to look like she was perpetually annoyed. The Archmage Sunset Shimmer walked down the steps to greet them. She wore a white sash and cape, held together by golden clasps with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark on them: the eight-rayed sun.

Her eyes met Twilight’s for a moment, and Twilight shrank into herself, hoping to vanish off the face of the planet. Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no! She’s going to vaporize me for beating all of her records at the entrance exam! I wasn’t even trying! Oh, do not say that! It’ll sound like you’re bragging! Tell her it was an accident! She can take the test again and shatter my record!

But Sunset’s eyes had moved onto Minuette, and a smile graced her lips.

“Sunny!” Minuette yelled when Sunset got to the bottom steps. She bounded over and tackled Sunset to the floor, fits of giggles coming from their tangled mass.

“Yep,” Sunset grunted from underneath Minuette, a smile on her face, “saw that coming.”

Minuette pulled her up and into a proper hug. “I missed you so much!”

“It hasn’t even been that long. And I’m literally right next door to you.”

“Pish posh, anytime away from friends is too long. So, how have you been? How’s being archmage? Still fun? Have you gotten your first thesis ready?”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” Sunset brushed out her cape and sash. “Hold that thought for a second.” She faced Twilight again, who instantly became rigid. “So, you’re Twilight Sparkle?”

“Please don’t be mad!” Twilight dropped to her back knees and put her forehooves together. “I didn’t mean to break your records! I swear I wasn’t showing off or anything! Please don’t turn me into a newt to use for experiments!”

Out of all things, Twilight didn’t expect Sunset to chuckle at her.

“I see my reputation still precedes me.” She gestured for Twilight to rise. “I’m not mad about some silly entrance scores.”

A wind of relief swept through Twilight. “Really?”

“Of course not. Now, if you asked me like, four years ago, yeah, I would have wanted your head on a pike.”

Twilight’s heart froze.

Sunset pressed a hoof to her lips. “Yeah, that didn’t come out right. The point is, I’m not mad. Honestly, I’m kinda impressed. Sure, it was more or less an accident, but to have a magic surge like that? You must have some raw talent in there somewhere.”

Twilight froze again. “Y-you know what happened?”

Sunset lifted her chin and smiled. “Of course. Her Highness tells me everything. It’s nothing to be ashamed of though. Ponies have gotten in on far worse circumstances.” She tapped a hoof to her mouth again. “That didn’t come out right either. Sorry, I’m still working on my social skills. Minuette’s the only pony I talk to casually.”

Minuette pressed her cheek against Sunset’s. “Which is why you need to come over more! The class has so many ponies you can talk to!”

“And Blueblood,” Sunset deadpanned.

“Oh, he’s mostly harmless.”

Twilight was never happier to hear the clop of horseshoes coming down the steps. The three mares turned and fell into a deep bow as Princess Celestia drew near, glowing like the first light of dawn. When her golden hoofguards stopped in front of them, they lifted their heads.

She beamed down at them. “Look at this vibrant gathering. Alumni, seniors, and freshmen. Getting along well, I hope?”

Minuette wrapped a hoof around Sunset and Twilight and pulled them in close. “Yep! Trying to teach both of them to lighten up a little.”

Celestia chuckled. “Your efforts are always appreciated, Minuette. But, I’m afraid Twilight Sparkle and I must adjourn for her lesson.”

“That’s okay.” Minuette let Twilight go and dropped her voice to a loud whisper. “This one needs a refresher course anyway.” She pointed to Sunset.

“Minnie, I can hear you.”

“I know.”

Celestia laughed again, soft as water rippling in a summer breeze. “You two have fun. Come along, Twilight.” She turned around and headed back up the stairs. “Do you prefer that or your full name?” she asked cordially.

“No! I mean, yes! I mean, Twilight is fine.” Twilight tripped over her words the same way she tripped over her hooves to hurry after the princess.

“Good luck, Twi!” Minuette called.

Luck? Why would she need luck? Was there another test she had to pass? Was the lesson going to be difficult? Her heart thundered in her chest. Here she was, cantering to keep up with Princess Celestia’s long gait. Aside from the occasional station of guards, she was all alone with the most powerful unicorn in the world.

“Relax your breathing, Twilight,” Celestia said, eyes forward.

Twilight stumbled over her hooves again. “What?”

Celestia looked down at her, still smiling. “You’re breathing far too erratically. You need to relax yourself. There’s nothing to fear here.”

“Oh… okay.” Twilight began taking deep breaths, but it was hard when she had to take eight steps for every four Celestia made.

“That’s better. Keep practicing until we get there.”

They walked along several corridors painted orange from the setting sun. They had passed the door to the library a while back, leaving Twilight to wonder where they were headed. Vases and painting of famous ponies were placed between the marble columns. Twilight recognized a portrait Sir Swifter, the first pegasi to make a full lap around the world. Next to him was Globe Trotter with his impressive, burly mustache. He had been the earth pony to prove the world was round to begin with.

Twilight followed Princess Celestia up a flight of stairs and down another hall to a round room at the end. The open windows let in the crisp scent of fallen leaves, and what Twilight identified as pumpkin spice from the kitchens somewhere below. The room was still warm, though—cozy and comforting like a blanket had been draped over Twilight. The room sported only a tea table with two pillows in the center, and a small bookshelf off to one side.

Celestia gestured for Twilight to have a seat. She closed the door behind them and sat opposite of Twilight.

“Our tea should be along shortly.” She put a hoof to her lips and chuckled. “Goodness, how rude of me. I didn’t even ask if you liked tea.”

“Tea is great!” Twilight said hastily. “I love tea!” She drew in a quick breath and tried to get control of her heart again. She found it a much easier feat with the seasonal aroma and the warm atmosphere.

On cue, the maid with the tea cart arrived, announcing her presence with a soft knock on the door. A silver teapot with matching cups, plates, and a sugar bowl sat on the top row, and on the bottom was a platter of cookies and a container of different tea flavors. The maid pushing the cart levitated everything onto the table, bowed, and saw herself out without a word.

Celestia poured herself a cup of hot water and selected a tea packet from the container. “Would you like to hear a secret, Twilight?”

Twilight nibbled on the inside of her lip. Was this a trick question? The princess seemed sincere. “Umm, yes?”

As Celestia dropped her tea bag into her cup, she said, “I was never good at the art of tea making. Everything I tried just tasted like hot water with some leaf juice and sugar.” She lifted the tea bag out of the water. “This has been one of my favorite inventions so far. So simple, yet so effective.”

Twilight couldn’t find a response that didn’t emphasize the fact that Celestia had been around for a very long time. Instead, she picked a cinnamon chai tea and placed it in her cup, watching the water turn a pleasant beige.

“Tell me, Twilight, how was your first week of school?”

“It’s been fine.” She took a pause to blow on her tea. “I’ve never been away from home this long, so it’s been a little bit of an adjustment. But, my roommate is pretty nice. And I got an A on my first paper!” She swished her tail.

“Congratulations. I have no doubt it was well earned.” Celestia raised her cup in a golden aura and took a small sip. “Do you like your classmates?”

“They’re… interesting. I’m sure they’re all nice ponies…” Twilight sipped on her tea, keeping her eyes down.

Celestia smiled again. Like Minuette’s, it was warm and motherly, but there was a much deeper wisdom buried within. “Making friends can be hard. But it’s well worth it to have a few companions to help you through school.”

Once again, Twilight didn’t know how to respond. She took another sip of her tea and nodded. She would never know if that had been the correct answer or not. Celestia said nothing, leaving them both to drink their tea.

Celestia finished first, setting her cup down to pour another helping. “You’re a very studious young mare, aren't you?”

Twilight’s cheeks reddened. “Well, I do like to read.”

“Do you have a favorite subject?”

“Honestly, I’m interested in everything. But the study of magic would have to be my favorite.”

Celestia selected a jasmine tea packet. “You remind me of Sunset. And myself to be honest.”

Twilight’s heart did a triple backflip and stuck the landing. She reminded the princess of herself? Twilight could barely get her mouthful of tea down, wanting to squee instead.

“Tell me, how do like to spend your free time?” Celestia dropped two helpings of sugar into her tea and stirred.

Twilight got her tea down, drowning the squee stuck in her throat. This was beginning to sound a lot like her conversation with Minuette a week ago. “I read. Or I practice magic… when… you know… when it wants to cooperate.” She folded her ears.

“Mmm. I see.” Celestia took a drink from her cup. “How do you feel now?”

“What do you mean?”

Celestia set her cup on the table and straightened up, giving Twilight her full attention. “How do you feel? Are you relaxed? Comfortable?”

Twilight shifted her weight on her pillow. Now that she thought about it, her shoulders were less tense than when she had first walked into the castle. And her breathing was under control now. “Yes, I feel really good actually.”

“Excellent. Now, I want you to hold onto that feeling and close your eyes.”

She did as told. Even in the darkness behind her eyelids, she could see Celestia’s smiling face.

“Now, deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Focus on feeling relaxed. That’s it, nice and easy. Even breaths.”

With Celestia’s soothing voice guiding her, Twilight fell into a rhythm. Quiet tranquility spread through her. But there was something else here. A familiar something, vast and deep somewhere inside her.

“You feel it now, don’t you?” Celestia asked. “Your magic.”

Twilight flinched, feeling an ocean of power rise up to the tiny opening at the base of her horn.

“No, no. Relax. Don’t run from it. It’s a part of you, Twilight. Like I told you before, magic like yours requires a firm but calm control. You have to be strong enough to use it, and focused enough to wield it.”

She could see it now, the vast mana sleeping within her. It was a beautiful violet, like the star of her cutie mark, only it shimmered, even in the surrounding darkness. As Twilight continued breathing, she felt her magic lap and roll like a calm wave, instead of writhing and churning like it usually did in its attempt to escape. How deep did it go, she wondered.

“Okay, come back now, Twilight. Open your eyes.”

Twilight did so, wincing at the weak evening light. She could still feel her magic, but it felt like it was growing more and more distant, settling down deep inside her somewhere. “That was… amazing,” Twilight said with a gasp of surprise. “I didn’t know you could see your own magic.”

Celestia nodded. “It’s especially easy for you when you have so much. These will be our lessons, Twilight; helping you gain proper control of your magic.” Her purple eyes read Twilight like an open book. “You struggle between letting off too much, and blocking off so much of it that you can’t use it at all. We will work on finding that balance, and from there, we’ll work on more advanced spellcasting.”

Twilight eagerly nodded her head. “Yes, Princess! Oh my gosh, this is so exciting! Which school of magic are we going to learn from first? Or are we going to start off with theoretical spells? I’ve been reading Paradigm Shift’s book on spell arrays and—”

“Easy, Twilight,” Celestia said. “I’m glad you’re eager, but let’s take one thing at a time. First, we work on your control. Then we can gush over magical theory.” She lifted the teapot again. “But before even that, tell me more about yourself.”

“There really isn’t much to tell,” Twilight said, lowering her eyes.

“Now, I find that hard to believe. Everypony has a story to tell.” Celestia dropped a new tea bag into her mug and followed it with a scoop of sugar. “And everypony’s story is a chapter in this narrative we call life. I have a feeling yours will be a very interesting one.”

Twilight blushed at the twinkle in Celestia’s eye. The Princess, Minuette, Moondancer; all these ponies seemed interested in her and not just her magic. Twilight admitted it was nice, but she still couldn’t afford to be bogged down by all this friendship business.

But the Princess thought she was worth something. She wanted to get to know Twilight. It wasn’t something Twilight could say no to. If she was going to open up to anypony, it might as well be Princess Celestia.

“Well, I was born the day before Hearth’s Warming…”

Author's Note

I rewrote 3/4 of this chapter, which is why it took so long.

Lesson Four: Social Intricacies

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Come the second week of school, all Twilight heard in the halls between classes were discussions about the Welcome Back Ball. Mares talked about dresses and trends for the new autumn season, and the stallions mused who they would like to take as dates.

Twilight looked forward to the day of the dance for entirely different reasons. While Moondancer was a quiet and considerate roommate, the walls and ceilings of the dorm were too thin for Twilight’s liking. Sudden thumps from above, or loud conversations and laughter from next door went a long way in irritating Twilight while she was studying.

The dance would also provide Twilight a night of practicing her magic in her room instead of trying to find the most isolated area on campus and praying nopony walked in on her. She had been following Princess Celestia’s instructions, relaxing her body and mind before casting spells. It proved highly effective, allowing Twilight to practice some of the more complicated spells her classes had been studying. However, she could only get herself to relax half of the time. Every time she thought she heard hoofsteps, the paranoia of another pony discovering her broke her concentration entirely.

But, come Saturday, she would have an entire evening of silence while the rest of the school squandered their time at a frivolous festival. She didn’t begrudge anypony for wanting to go. School functions—as much of a distraction as they could be—were a great way to bring the students together and raise morale.

Twilight simply wanted no part in it.

She did feel a little bad when it came to Moondancer. As the week slipped by, she grew increasingly nervous, looking paler than Twilight thought possible for her complexion.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the dance?” Moondancer asked again Wednesday night.

Twilight turned the page in her Enchanting Enchantments! Vol. 3 textbook. “Sorry, Moondancer. Maybe I’ll go to the next one.”

Moondancer wasn’t the only pony trying to convince her to go.

As Twilight hurriedly ate her lunch on Thursday so she could get to the library before class, Lyra, Vinyl, and Minuette sauntered up to the table. The amicable smiles on their faces told Twilight they wanted to be social, and all she could do was hope she wouldn’t have to intervene on behalf of Moondancer again.

Moondancer had stopped eating as the Class Zero members approached, spoon halfway to her mouth. “Uhh… hello.”

Minuette gave her the winning smile she had first greeted Twilight with. “Hey there! Have we formally met? I’m Minuette, and these are my friends, Lyra and Vinyl.”

Moondancer gave a shell-shocked sort of nod. “O-of course I know who you are. You’re the best in the school, Miss Minuette! I remember the speech you gave at the entrance exams! It inspired me to do my best!” Each of Moondancer’s sentences came out faster than the previous one.

Lyra gave an equally large grin. “Yeah, that sounds like something Minnie would do. I always said she could be an inspirational speaker. Or a cheerleader. Too bad there’s no cheer squad for the academic decathlon or magic dueling clubs.”

“Please, I would never join anyway. I know how catty those mares can be.” Minuette tapped her chin. “But the outfit would be cute though…. Anyway, Twilight, Rarity tells us you aren’t going to the ball on Saturday.”

Twilight breathed deep through her nose to stop herself from sighing in irritation. “I’m sorry, but dances aren’t something I see myself going to. I would rather be doing something productive.”

Minuette opened her mouth, froze for a split second, then closed it and nodded. “Okay. I’ll respect that.”

Lyra gaped at her. “Wait, that’s it? You’re not going to badger her like you did Twinkleshine? You’re giving up just like that? You feeling okay, Minnie?”

“Yep! Feeling peachy-keen!” She gave an honest smile. “But, I won’t pester Twilight into doing something she isn’t comfortable with. All I can say is that, I think you’d have a lot of fun, Twilight.”

A whole night of social interaction with a group of strange ponies while loud music blasted around her? That was near the bottom of Twilight’s ‘fun’ list. “I appreciate you respecting my decision, Minuette,” she said cordially.

“Of course. The girls and I were going to go hang out after class this afternoon. Would you like to at least come with us to that. You’re more than welcome to join us, Moondancer.”

Moondancer’s eyes widened to saucers. “Oh, I… I don’t… I mean, I would like to… but…” She dissolved into quiet murmurings.

Twilight looked down at the remainder of her lunch. On one hoof, she had already wasted valuable time today chatting with these girls and wouldn’t get that head start on her Language Arts paper she had hoped for. On the other, that was what Saturday was for.

“Sure, I’ll join you,” Twilight said. It would make up for not going to the dance.

Minuette did a little prance. “Yaay! Meet us at the front gate at four. Come on, girls!”

“See ya soon, Twi! Lyra said. “This way, Vinyl!”

Vinyl, who had not said a word, gave Twilight and Moondancer a grin before turning after Lyra.

“So, would you like to come along?” Twilight asked Moondancer.

Moondancer swallowed a lump in her throat. “I couldn’t! That’s all of the school’s best students in one place! Do you know how intimidating that is?”

Twilight shrugged. “Sure, they’re the best students, but trust me, they don’t act like it.” It was only after she said it that she realized how condescending it might have sounded. “It’s up to you, but I’m sure you’d be fine.”

Of course, that was if Moondancer could get through the evening without saying something to put the others on edge. Twilight noticed Rarity and Fleur had not visited them again since their last conversation.

After lunch, Twilight had her Mathematics class, then stopped by her room to drop off her book bag. Moondancer walked in a few minutes later, still looking nervous.

“I can’t do it,” she said, collapsing into her desk chair. “I don’t want to embarrass myself. And it’s going to take all my social energy to go to the dance this weekend. I might as well save it.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, and at a quarter to four, she set out alone to the front of the school. A purple scarf lay coiled around her neck, something she appreciated when the first gust of wind hit her.

The front gates were wide open, the occasional pair or group of students walking through them. Twilight waited patiently under the nearest tree to the gate, watching the leaves fall. In a week’s time, the trees would be bare. Canterlot’s weather factory would then create a nice rainstorm to sweep all the leaves off the street, as they did every year.

Twilight didn’t have to wait very long for her classmates to show up. They all filed down the street, chatting breezily with one another. Twilight noticed Blueblood and Trixie were absent from the group. Not that she minded too much.

“Hey, look who’s punctual,” Lyra said. “She might give you a run for your money, Minnie.”

Minuette just smiled and kept trotting, pulling Twilight into their little group as she passed. “Your little friend decided not to join us?”

“No. She was a little too nervous.”

Fleur muttered something, but was politely shushed by Rarity.

“That’s all right,” Minuette said, leading them out the gate, “maybe next time. I’m super glad you decided to come though! All work and no play makes us dull ponies!”

“You sound like my parents,” Twilight grumbled.

Their party of six walked through the neighborhoods, over the bridge, and into the heart of the city. Being a cool and cloudy evening, the streets weren’t as crowded as normal. Ponies out and about had begun to wrap themselves in scarves and thin coats.

Pumpkins large and small were on display at several fruit stands, some of them already carved with images of rearing unicorns, castles, and magic sparkles.

“They’re getting ready for the Unity Festival early this year,” Lyra said. She pointed to large pumpkin. “Oh, that one has a really good carving of the castle in it, Vinyl!”

Vinyl didn’t look. She merely bobbed her head, like she did at all of Lyra’s commentary. Twilight flicked an ear in confusion. Was Vinyl being rude? Or was she just so used to Lyra’s non-stop talking that she knew Lyra wouldn’t take offense if she ignored some things? It was hard to read Vinyl’s expression with those sunglasses of hers.

They stopped first at a fabric store, so Rarity could gather a few last minute supplies to finish the dresses for the dance. Twilight gawked when Rarity came out, levitating multiple bags of cloth, ribbons, and sequence.

“Do you make dresses for every social occasion?” Twilight asked.

“I certainly try,” Rarity said, batting her eyelashes.

“But, how do you have time to properly study if you’re… you’re…” Twilight wanted to say ‘frivolously wasting your time’, but settled with, “playing dress up?”

In hindsight, it wasn’t much better, but it made Rarity titter amusedly. “It’s called multitasking, Twilight. ‘Playing dress up’ is how I unwind and relax. And when I’m devoid of inspiration—which can happen at a moment’s notice—I throw myself back into my studies.”

It wasn’t as if Twilight didn’t comprehend being able to multitask, she could read several books at once, it just seemed like dressmaking was so important to Rarity and demanded a good amount of time. How was Rarity this far up the educational ladder?

Instead of doughnuts like the last time Twilight had ventured out with them, they went to a hayburger restaurant on the corner of a busy intersection, and took seats outside on the terrace.

“The perfect place for stallion watching,” Rarity said. The other mares giggled.

Twilight stared at them, raising a deadpan eyebrow. “That’s why you wanted to come out?”

“Aw, c’mon, you stick in the mud,” Lyra said, “It’s harmless fun. We sit here, eat a burger, ogle some stallions we think might make good dates, and maybe, just maybe if we’re daring enough, we’ll ask him out.”

This is inane, Twilight thought, pulling the menu toward her. Cheesy hayfries and a caramel milkshake almost looked good enough to justify her coming out today.

“Oooh, he’s cute,” Minuette said, pointing to a long maned blonde stallion strutting past.

Lyra shook her head. “Nah. He looks too much like Blueblood.”

“Honestly, guys, Bluey isn’t that bad,” Minuette said.

“To you,” Fleur said, “because he doesn’t hit on you every chance he gets.”

They took a pause from stallion watching to look at their menus. Twilight, having decided what she wanted minutes ago, sat with one hoof propping her head up. She tried to find something interesting to look at that wasn’t the passing pedestrians, stallion or otherwise.

Her eyes continuously roved over Lyra and Vinyl, who were sitting right across from her. Vinyl hadn’t touched her menu, but Lyra had hers levitated between them and appeared to be reading it to Vinyl.

“I’m getting the hayburger supreme! ‘Deep fried, smothered in our secret sauce, and piled with your favorite veggies!’ How does that sound?”

“Like I’ll be rolling you out of here in a wheelbarrow,” Vinyl said with a smirk. “I’ll just have the classic and some hayfries. What kind of drinks do they have?”

Everything snapped into place, and before she could stop herself, Twilight blurted out, “Oh, you’re blind!”

She took solace in the fact that nopony else, apart from their approaching waiter, was out on the terrace with them. Everyone froze and stared at her, and Fleur let out a disgruntled sigh and pressed her hoof to her forehead.

“Another one with no tact.”

Twilight felt like she had jumped into a fireplace. She shrunk into her seat as low as she could go a muttered, “Sorry. I just… ahem… forget I said that.”

None of them, aside from Fleur, looked angry, or even disgruntled, merely stunned at Twilight’s outburst. In fact, Vinyl made a small snort of amusement.

“Wow, I thought you had figured that out days ago.”

Some of the tension melted away. Lyra made a weak chuckle, as did Minuette. Everyone else stopped sitting with their shoulders raised. Twilight lifted herself up a fraction of an inch. She watched Vinyl, not daring to say anything yet.

“Yeah, I’m blind,” Vinyl said casually. “Have been since I was about three. One bad accident and, poof, all gone. I mean, I can still see some vague shapes and shadows, but other than that, it’s just a lot of gray.”

Her horn flared up, the same shade as her magenta sunglasses. “I’m real good at the echolocation spell though. Helps me turn those shapes into outlines so I can see where stuff is. And of course, I’ve got Lyra.”

Lyra gave a sheepish wave. “Yeah, me and Vinyl have been BFFs forever. I felt super bad when I found out she was blind, that I kinda smothered her and tried to help her with everything until she told me to calm down. Now I just help her with easy stuff, like keeping all her tools organized, setting up her sound equipment, and describing things for her.”

Vinyl grinned. “She never stops talking, so I always know where she is.”

Twilight gave a numb nod. She was glad Vinyl was taking this all in stride, yet her insides still squirmed with guilt. Looking back at her menu to double check what she wanted only provided a minor distraction. Twilight felt she should say something, but had no idea what, and the longer she waited, the smaller the window for appropriate responses became.

“Well, umm, the fact that you’re in Class Zero is even more impressive, right?” Twilight remembered using those same words when she learned Fleur was half earth pony. She followed up with, what she hoped was, a sincere smile.

Vinyl snorted again, while Fleur gave Twilight a look that bordered on contempt. Twilight instantly stopped smiling and turned her head to examine a flower pot. The awkward silence came to an end when their waiter stepped forward to take their orders.

Twilight no longer felt hungry, but ordered her fries and milkshake anyway. When the waitress left, she resumed staring at the potted plants, while Lyra pointed out another stallion walking by.

I should have stayed home, she thought, both to continue studying and avoid embarrassing social situations like this. She now had even more sympathy for Moondancer.

Twilight was glad when their food arrived, it gave her something to focus on rather than staring blankly into space. She ate slowly, her stomach still bubbling with mortification.

Minuette gave her a gentle nudge and smiled. “Relax, Twi,” she said in a low voice so the others couldn’t hear, “you’re not the first person to make a faux pas about Vinyl’s vision, and I doubt you’ll be the last.”

“Mmm,” was all Twilight could think to say. Her being counted among the number of rude and ignorant ponies Vinyl would have to deal with didn’t make her feel any better.

Their late lunch came to an end half an hour later, and they began their walk back to campus, Twilight lagging behind.

“I think I’ll just go to the dance by myself this year,” she heard Rarity say. “I’m too busy finishing up these dresses anyway to worry about a date.”

“A date would be nice though,” Minuette said wistfully. “But, as long as you’re all there, I’m sure we’ll have a good time!”

Twilight tried not to roll her eyes at the cheesiness of it all. As soon as they had passed through the gates, she took a shortcut through the trees back to the dorms. She had almost reached the doors when she heard a voice behind her.

“I’m guessing you didn’t have that good of a time?”

“Gah!” Twilight jumped and spun around. Minuette was standing by the last tree, a sympathetic smile on her face. Twilight looked around. None of the other girls were anywhere in sight.

“How did you…?” Twilight shook her head. “No, not really. I should have stayed inside.”

“Twilight, what you said really wasn’t that bad. Trust me, Vinyl isn’t going to hold onto this. You shouldn’t either,” Minuette gently.

Twilight cringed, her own words playing back in her ears. “Easier said than done. And it wasn’t just that. What did anyone even accomplish by going out today?”

“Accomplish?” Minuette tapped a hoof to her chin. “Well, Rarity got more dress supplies. But, Twilight, when friends hang out, they don’t have to accomplish anything. They just have to have fun, enjoy each other’s company, you know?”

Seeing as Twilight had experienced neither, she considered the afternoon wasted, but telling that to Minuette’s face seemed just as rude as blurting out Vinyl’s blindness.

Minuette seemed to read her well enough though. “Listen, I’m sorry you didn’t have a lot of fun. But, I hope you won’t let this one instance turn you away from hanging out with us more. We’ll do something really fun next time, I promise.”

The smile she gave seemed genuine enough. Twilight decided to at least meet her halfway and say, “I’ll think about it.”

Minuette nodded happily. “Great! Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Twi!”

Twilight waved her off before heading inside. Minuette’s smile contrasted well against Fleur’s scowl and Lyra’s look of second-hoof embarrassment. “Well, at least one of them doesn’t hate me.”

“Relax your mind, Twilight.”

“Yes. Sorry, Princess.”

“No need to apologize. Just relax.”

Twilight kept her eyes close, willing herself to dive down and find her ocean of magic. She could see it glimmering in the darkness, but everytime she got close, the events of yesterday would flash before her inner eye, and she would cringe.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to concentrate harder. With a final push, she made contact with her reserve of power, feeling her horn tingle.

“Now,” Princess Celestia, “hold onto that connection. Your magic is going to try to surge forth, but remember, you are the one in control. You decide how much power you want to use.”

Indeed, now that Twilight had found her magic, it was trying to rush out of her. She funneled the energy to her horn and could hear magic crackling and popping over her head.

“Tame it, Twilight. It’s yours to control.”

It was a balancing act. Twilight fought to keep the connection without the magic rushing up to explode out of her. She forcefully shoved it back down to get the popping to stop, but realized she was pushing herself away from the source as a result.

“Just relax, Twilight.”

“Relax, Twi, you’re not the first person to make a faux pass about Vinyl’s vision…”

Twilight’s eyes snapped open. A magenta blast shot from her horn, bounced off the ceiling, and hit the silver teapot sitting on the table between her and Celestia. The teapot grew six metal legs and started to scuttle around, steam puffing from its spout.

Celestia’s horn blinked gold, and the teapot returned to normal. She lifted it up and poured her and Twilight new cups of tea. “Is something wrong, Twilight? You seem distracted today.”

Twilight massaged the base of her horn. Managing her magic left her with a dull ache. “Not really. I just… I sort of embarrassed myself yesterday. Now, I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Ah, I see.” Celestia sipped her tea. “Yes, the wrong things we do have a habit of sticking with us longer than the right things. If I may, what did you do that troubles you so much?”

Twilight looked down at her cup, her ears folding back. “I… I didn’t know Vinyl was blind, and when I realized, I sort of just blurted it out in front of everyone.”

Celestia nodded in understanding.

“I mean, Vinyl didn’t seem to mind, and Minuette said it was no big deal, but really, who does that? I just pointed out her disability! I’m sure she doesn’t need somepony else reminding her about it! And the looks everypony else gave me! I knew going out with them was a bad idea, but I did it anyway! Sure, Minuette still likes me, but from what I can tell, she likes everyone!”

She wasn’t sure when, but at some point during her rant, Twilight had gotten to her hooves. She sat down again and took a long sip of her tea. It felt good to get that off her chest, she just wish she hadn’t unloaded it on the Princess.

“Do you know what I like to see, Twilight?” Celestia said once Twilight had finished drinking.

“Umm, no, what?”

“Ponies who reflect on their actions. It means they’re willing to mature and grow.” She gave Twilight a motherly smile. “I know you didn’t mean to put Vinyl Scratch on the spot like that. And having interacted with her, I can assure you, she is quite… I believe young ponies use the term ‘chill’. I am certain she’ll take it in stride.”

Twilight looked down again. “I mean, I guess.”

“Did you apologize after realizing your mistake?”

“Kind of? It wasn’t really a formal apology. You’re right, I should give her one,” Twilight said before Celestia could say anything.

Celestia chuckled and nodded. “Good. And just because you had one undesirable outing doesn’t mean you should shut yourself off from doing it again.”

Twilight circled her hoof around her teacup. “Minuette told me something similar,” she murmured.

“Minuette is a very smart mare. As are you, Twilight. Though, even you can admit, your social skills are a little lacking.”

Despite Celestia’s kind tone, Twilight still flinched. “Y-yes. It’s just… easier to spend time with a book instead of other ponies. Besides, I’m sure I’ll contribute more to society with my studying, not my social circle.”

Celestia gently shook her head. “I see no reason why you can’t do both.” She stood up and walked over to a portrait hanging on the wall of the circular room they were practicing in.

“Do you know how many friends I’ve made in my long life, Twilight?”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Um, no?”

Celestia smiled at the portrait. A bright pink pegasus with a messy blue mane smiled back at her. “Neither do I. I lost count a long time ago. But, I treasure each friendship I made. Everyone I met taught me something new, about myself, about the world, about friendship.”

She looked back at Twilight. “Now, do you know how Discord was defeated?”

Twilight straightened up. “Yes! You and the five other heroes used the Elements of Harmony on him and turned him to stone!”

“Correct. And do you know how the Elements work?”

“Oh, umm…” Twilight tilted her head to the other side. “They’re the most powerful magical artifacts in existence, aren’t they? So, magic?”

“In a sense.” Celestia walked over to Twilight and lowered her head to whisper into Twilight’s ear. “Would you like to hear a secret?”

Twilight nodded fervently.

“Friendship is magic.”

Celestia lifted her head, smiling at Twilight’s befuddled expression. “In my opinion, it’s the most powerful magic of all. That’s how we defeated Discord all those years ago.” She carried herself to the window and looked at the pink and orange sky.

“All of ponykind: unicorn, pegasi, and earth ponies would be so much stronger together. I’ve seen individuals from each race come together and form lifelong friendships. But as a whole, they’re all still too hesitant.”

Twilight watched her, unsure of what to say. It wasn’t like she was against the idea of making friends. She just had more important things to do. And if yesterday was any indication, she was bad at it.

Celestia returned to her seat across from Twilight. “I instill not only magic lessons in my students, Twilight, but friendship lessons whenever I can.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. Oh no.

“So,” Celestia smiled in a way that made Twilight certain she could read minds. “When we aren’t practicing magic, I would like you to try and make some friends, get to know at least a couple of your classmates. I promise you, your life will be richer for it.”

“But, but, but!” In lieu of an actual retort, Twilight felt stammering might prove her case of why she thought this was a poor idea.

Celestia’s volume didn’t increase, and her look didn’t harden, but she said in a firm voice, “No buts. Consider it part of your education under me. Not something to be graded on though, and I don’t want any written assignments. You alone will know how much you’ve truly progressed from this.”

“But, I’ve already shown that I’m not good with social interactions,” Twilight said, bordering on a whine.

“And the only way you’ll get better is by doing it again.”

Twilight wanted to drop her head against the desk, but considering there were cups of hot tea sitting on the surface, she settled for hunching her shoulders and sighing deeply.

Celestia placed a lump of sugar in her tea and stirred. “Sunset had a similar reaction. Then, Minuette showed up and they’ve been best friends since.”

Twilight knew there was no way out of this. Even if it wasn’t going to be graded or properly evaluated, it was an assignment from the Princess. Who was she to say no? But how did she even go about doing this? Did she just walk up to somepony and ask if they wanted to hang out? Twilight supposed she already had Moondancer. She was always asking Twilight to spend time with her.

“Might I recommend going to the school dance tomorrow?” Celestia asked. “It’s put on mostly to welcome new students.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, heart starting to beat faster. “There’s going to be a lot of ponies there. And I was going to spend tomorrow studying and writing one of my essays.”

Celestia hummed quietly to herself. Her horn lit up, and a wrinkled old parchment suddenly appeared next to her. “How about I make a deal with you? You go to the dance for one whole hour, and I’ll let you read some of Starswirl's earliest notes on his magical theories.”

Twilight’s eyes enlarged to dinner plates and her jaw hit the floor. Sweet, ancient, arcane knowledge floated right before her, written by Starswirl the Bearded no less! All she had to do was attended a social function for an hour.

The Princess drove a hard bargain, but Twilight nodded, only because her vocal chords no longer wanted to function.

“Excellent.” Starswirl’s notes disappeared, and Celestia took another sip of tea. “One day, I’ll be able to encourage friendship without the use of bribery.”

Despite what she had told everyone, Twilight found herself getting ready for the Welcome Back Ball on Saturday evening. If there was any consolation other than ancient writing from history’s greatest sorcerer, it was that Moondancer no longer had to go alone.

“I’m so glad you’re going!” she said for the third time as she pulled her mane up into her topknot. “I was worried I was going to stand in a corner all night. At least now I’ll have someone to talk to.”

Twilight nodded, running a brush through her own mane. She hadn’t told Moondancer about the bribe, or that she was only going to be there for an hour. She didn’t intend to ditch Moondancer, but Twilight was not going to stay a minute longer than she needed to.

From her closet, she pulled out a simple pink gown her parents had packed for formal occasions. It had fake diamonds sewn into the hem, and puffy shoulders.

Moondancer wore a large purple ball gown with even larger sleeves than Twilight’s. Twilight didn’t know much about fashion, but she thought Moondancer might be overdressed by the way she waddled more than walked. Her thick glasses didn’t help either, but Twilight kept her thoughts to herself.

At a quarter to six, they left their dorm and headed for the grand ballroom in the back of Harmony Hall. Students flocked toward the dance in pairs or in groups, some dressed casually, others wearing extravagant dresses and suits.

An archway of balloons stood before the doors to the ballroom, gold and purple like their uniforms. A banner reading, ‘Welcome home!’ hung just inside the large doorway. Inside, the lights had already been turned low, so it was hard to see anything, but Twilight could make out a large oval room held up by six marble pillars. Streamers coiled from the chandelier in the center to the pillars and wrapped down to their base.

Hundreds of small balls of light floated around the room, flickering in different colors. Twilight held a hoof out as one passed by. It was pleasantly warm.

“Will-o-wisps,” Professor Inkwell said, hobbling toward Twilight. Save for a pearl necklace, she hadn’t dressed up for the occasion. “The friendly kind. Professor Forethought has a collection of them in the greenhouses. Gives a bit of atmosphere, eh?”

“Yes, they’re very nice,” Twilight said politely. “I’m surprised you’re here, Professor.”

Professor Inkwell let out a hoarse laugh. “Why should I let you sprouts have all the fun? Maybe I can’t move the way I used to, but I still like a good party. But, I’m here to make sure it doesn’t get too good, if you know what I mean.” She chuckled again.

Students congregated on the outer edge of the dance floor, talking and getting snacks from the long table against the wall. Against the back wall of the room, a turntable and sound system had been set up, and to Twilight’s surprise, she saw Vinyl and Lyra doing soundcheck.

“Excuse me,” Twilight said to Moondancer and Professor Inkwell, who had started a small conversation about matter transference.

Twilight strode down the middle of the dance floor. When she got to the center, the marble vanished beneath her hooves, replaced by verdant grass and bushes, yet, she could still feel the stone beneath her hooves. She looked up to see the pillars were covered with vines and branches, and the walls had melted into thick canopy.

The other students, ‘oooh’d’ at the sight around them, waving their hooves through the illusions. Twilight followed suit, stepping through a very convincing bush like it was air. It was some of the best illusion magic she had seen.

She finished making her way to the back wall just as Vinyl slipped on a headset and adjusted her mic. “Ready, Lyra?”

“Hang on,” she said, dropping to cables from her magic. “Twilight’s here.”

Vinyl looked in her direction. “Oh hey! What’s up, Twi?”

Twilight rubbed her fetlocks together. “Umm… well, I wanted to formally apologize for what happened on Thursday. I really didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable in any way.”

Vinyl lifted the mic away from her mouth. “Geez, are you still on that?” She hopped down from the DJ stand and felt her way toward Twilight. Lyra quickly nudged a few things out of her way.

“Twi, do you want to hear a story?” Vinyl asked, putting a hoof around Twilight’s neck and bringing her close.

Twilight locked up for a moment, but forced herself to relax. “Sure?”

“It’s my first day of second grade. I just moved here from Fillydelphia, so I’m the new kid, you know? It’s recess and my aide goes off to use the bathroom real quick. He tells me not to go anywhere, but I’m like, seven, I’m not gonna listen. So, I go off and try to pretend I’m still normal and stuff, usin’ my echolocation to try and see. Then, wham, I walk straight into somepony.

“Next thing I know, some crazy filly is yelling at me and jabbing me with her hoof, telling me I should watch where I was going and only an idiot would bump into her. She goes on and on, and finally asks me if I’m blind or something. I tell her yes.”

Vinyl snickered. “That shut her up real quick. My aide comes over and asks what happened, and now she’s apologizing so hard, she starts crying and promising to make it up to me. You wanna know who that filly was?”

Twilight’s eyes drifted over to Lyra, whose face was very pink.

“I… um, had some anger issues back then.”

Vinyl clapped a hoof against Twilight’s back. “So yeah, don’t sweat it. Nopony has ever come close to being as bad as Lyra when she first met me. And look, we’re best friends now.”

That was the part of the story that confused Twilight. How did Vinyl become best friends with someone who had acted so belligerent toward her at first? Was that how friendship worked? Vinyl was so relaxed and calm, while Lyra talked a mile a minute and was so excitable.

Twilight couldn’t piece it together. She shook her head and moved on, at least feeling better about what she had said. She felt a little bad about the embarrassment shifting to Lyra, though Lyra seemed to have already recovered because she was enthusiastically digging through the collection of records.

“So, you’re DJing the party?” Twilight asked.

Vinyl nodded. “Like, I love building things, but music is my true passion. I usually DJ small parties, but Minuette put in a good word for me, so the event committee agreed that I could host this!”

“That’s really cool!” Twilight looked at the turntable and sounding board. “Did you build all this?”

“Yep. Took awhile, and Lyra was a great help, but I finished it last year. Having a setup I built from scratch helps me know where everything is.”

“But, I’m always right behind her if she needs help!” Lyra said proudly, wearing several records around her horn.

“Lyra, I told you not to do that, you’re going to scratch them,” Vinyl said, not even looking in Lyra’s direction.

Lyra pouted but gently removed them and set them in their proper packaging.

Twilight bid them farewell so they could finish their soundcheck. A few minutes later, a steady beat bounced off the tree-covered walls, and students flocked to the dance floor.

“CSGU, make some noise if you’re ready to par-tay!” Vinyl said over the mic. The crowd made an ecstatic cheer in response. Vinyl whooped and started mixing sounds, nodding her head to the beat. It was a far cry from the calm demeanor Twilight normally saw.

“Yeah, she’s like a whole different mare whenever she’s on stage.”

“Gah!” Twilight jumped, finding Minuette standing next to her. “When did you…?

“Having fun yet?” Minuette asked. She wore a wavy blue dress, the same shade as her coat, and like Professor Inkwell, had a string of pearls around her neck.

“I mean, the party just started. The illusion effects are nice though.”

Minuette nodded. “Trixie spent all day putting illusion spells around the room.”

“Trixie did this?”

“Yes, she did, Sparkle,” a haughty voice said from Twilight’s other side.

She jumped again at Trixie’s appearance. But, whereas Minuette appeared silent as a specter, Trixie had come in a puff of blue smoke which she now waved away. Instead of a dress, she had on a purple cape and hat decorated with stars and moons. She lifted her chin and gave Twilight a gloating smirk.

“Trixie is glad you’re impressed. Not that she needs your approval. But go ahead, be amazed at Trixie’s illusionary prowess. She doubts you could do much better.”

Minuette furrowed her brow. “Trixie, there’s no need for any of that. It’s not a competition.”

Trixie waved an airy hoof. “Yes, yes, of course. But if it was, Trixie would be winning. Just something to think about,” she said with a final smirk. In another puff of smoke, she vanished.

Twilight folded her ears and sighed. She still wasn’t fully on board with making friends, but she wished Trixie didn’t hate her.

Minuette patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t mind Trixie. She’s just… Trixie. She’ll come around eventually.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Minuette put a hoof around Twilight’s shoulder and pulled her in for a hug. “Cheer up, Twilight! It’s a party! Hey, I know what’ll turn that frown upside down! How about some snacks?”

What is with these ponies and physical contact? Twilight nodded her head in the hope Minuette would let go. It worked to an extent; Minuette released Twilight from her hug, but took her hoof and guided her to the snack table.

It was quite a spread. Vegetables, hummus, glazed oats, chips and salsa, cubes of cheese, stuffed mushrooms, and a large punchbowl.

Twilight levitated a few delectables onto a plate, then shuffled awkwardly out of everyone’s way. As she reached one of the moss covered pillars, it shimmered and dissolved, turning into a palm tree. The grass beneath Twilight melted into white sand, and the far wall fell back into a midnight blue ocean. The ponies gave a loud cheer at the change of scenery, and Vinyl began to play what Twilight could only describe at tropical dubstep.

“Honestly, what’s the point of making these dresses if there isn’t going to be a consistent theme?”

From the crowd, Rarity and Fleur emerged wearing their beautiful ball gowns. Rarity’s was pink with golden frills decorated with gemstones. It had a lacy v-neck, and sleeves that went down to her elbows. Rarity had even given herself a golden tiara to top it off.

Fleur’s was similar, only sky blue with pink frills, and no tiara. She and Rarity were certainly the best dressed of everyone there.

“Twilight!” Rarity hurried toward her, her bottom lip out in a pout. “You told me you weren’t coming. I would have made you a lovely dress.”

Twilight didn’t directly meet Rarity’s eyes. “It was a last minute decision.”

“Well, I’m glad you decided to come out anyway. You’re having a good time, yes?”

Twilight took a bite of her mushroom to save herself from having to answer. Her action was proven redundant a second later.

“Ladies! What are you all doing gathered around the table?” Blueblood strode toward them, straightening his boutonnière and flashing them his charming smile. “You should be dancing with me.”

“Pass,” Fleur said bluntly.

Rarity lifted a hoof to her mouth and giggled. “No thank you, Blueblood.”

He turned his attention to Twilight and wiggled his eyebrows. “What say you, my sparkling flower? Shall we become the envy of the dance?”

Mouth still full of mushroom, Twilight shook her head.

Blueblood actually deflated a little. He turned his head to the side and muttered, “Come on, somepony has to say yes.”

Minuette smiled in sympathy. “Come on, Bluey. I’ll dance with you.”

As she took Blueblood’s hoof, his face went bright red, like a bad sunburn. “O-oh, okay!” He allowed Minuette to drag him to the dance floor.

As soon as they left, Moondancer came and stood next to Twilight. “This is, um, nice, I guess,” she said.

“It would be better with a proper theme,” Rarity said. “But, no use crying over spilt milk. Come, Fleur, let’s get back to the dance floor!”

Fleur nodded and followed Rarity’s lead, not sparing a glance back to either Twilight or Moondancer.

Twilight finished picking at her plate. An hour had surely passed by now. Twilight could see why other ponies would enjoy functions like this. Everyone on the dance floor seemed to be having a good time, and even those lingering along the invisible wall were talking and laughing heartily.

Yes, Twilight could see the appeal, but as she already knew, this wasn’t for her. There were too many ponies, the music was too loud, and Twilight wasn’t even sure what she was supposed to do. But, she had kept her promise to the Princess. And if Minuette invited her out again, Twilight supposed she could attend.

“Umm,” Moondancer said, bringing Twilight out of her thoughts. Her cheeks had a faint rosey tinge to them. “You, um, don’t want to dance or anything, do you?”

Twilight looked to the dance floor then back to Moondancer. “No thank you. I’m actually heading back to the dorms now.” If it wasn’t too late, she could still get a little homework done.

“Oh, then, let me come with you. I’m kinda done here, too.” She and Twilight slipped out just as the scenery morphed to an open grove surrounded by red and gold trees.

“I talked to Professor Inkwell for a while,” Moondancer said halfway to the dorms, “so I guess I had a good time.”

Twilight nodded. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But parties aren’t my thing.”

“Same.”

When they reached their room and relieved themselves of their dresses, Twilight asked, “What did you and professor Inkwell talk about?”

Moondancer’s face lit up as she launched into an explanation of matter conversion and advanced transfiguration. Twilight listened with rapt attention, taking occasional notes and adding on to what Inkwell had told Moondancer. Soon, their conversation left the topic of magic and moved onto magical creatures, like Timberwolves and dragons. Moondancer told Twilight the urban legend of a dragon sleeping in the catacombs beneath the city.

Twilight scoffed. “The Princess wouldn’t let a dragon sleep this close to Canterlot. Besides, their snoring creates a massive amount of smoke. Somepony would have smelled it by now.”

“Maybe. But remember, the catacombs are a labyrinth and extend deep into the mountains. It could just be really well hidden.”

They talked about places they wished they could go someday, like the Gaia Sunfalls in the Crystal Empire, and maybe even one of the ruins lying in the Everfree Forest south of Canterlot.

Before Twilight knew it, it was past eleven, and she had barely worked through a page of her history book. She sighed, disappointed her plans for studying had been reduced to nothing. Yet, as she watched Moondancer tuck herself into bed, Twilight thought, maybe the day hadn’t been completely wasted.

If this is what it’s like to have a friend… maybe it’s not so bad.