Author's Note

Hello everyone. I had some technical difficulties with my PC last week, so this chapter took me a bit longer to make than anticipated.
I hope you guys are enjoying the story. If not, let me know why. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Also everyone that follows either the story or me, I don't know why you are doing it but thank you anyway.
As always have a great day.

Chapter 9: Start-up sequence

***POV Jordan***

Today were our first lessons with Princess Celestia.

The few days before we spend getting ready for our teachings. We got Twilight and myself some gear like notebooks (A lot of note books), writing utensils, but also some clothes for me from a local tailor. It only took a few measurements and about 10 hours to get an entire ensemble, it was pretty cheap as well.

We were going to be studying under Celestia’s guidance for five days in a week. So I needed some new clothes to live comfortably.

With the need for clothes came the question of why I needed clothes from Twilight. I gave her the brief explanation that ponies their fur were the humans their clothes. I know that there are some social norms bound to clothing and all that. But I wasn’t about to explain that to a seven year old filly. It just would’tn make sense to her.

Anyway, it was 8 AM when we were approaching the main entrance of the palace. We decided that we would leave a bit sooner so that we give off a good impression.

The palace looked gorgeous. It was mostly white with many ornaments and towers. Many of the roofs were decorated with golden patterns. It was somehow similar to a medieval building style but way more polished.

It seems as if the guards were expecting us. One of the entrance guards walked up to us with a stoic exprespion.

“Miss Sparkle and Mister Eckhart I presume?” He asked us.

“That is correct.”

“We were expecting your arrival. Even tho you two are a bit early. We were told to expect such a thing and were instructed to give you a tour of the castle and show you the room that both of you will stay in for the time being,” He explained,

“Both of you are expected to see the Princess at noon for lunch and to start your lessons from the Princess then. The lessons will be from 1 PM up until 6 PM at the very least. There is nothing scheduled between the end of the tour and start of lunch, so both of you will be free to explore the castle but only with a guard escorting you. This is the schedule for today, is this acceptable?” He asked.

“It is perfect. Thank you good sirs,” Twilight answered.

“Good, then let’s begin.”

Both guards led us inside. The inside of the castle was decorated very nicely as well. A lot of vibrant colors were used to make it seem cheerful. And it did, just looking at it made me smile.

“We will first show you your room so that you two don’t have to drag your luggage around.”

“Thank you sirs,” I responded.

The room was perfect. It had the same basic design as the castle but with a few twists to make it unique. Two tall bookshelves full of books and a large desk in the middle of them, two normal sized beds, some other standard furniture and in the back was an entire separate room, which was probably a bathroom.

All in all, this was not a bad place to spend five days in a week at. Not a bad place at all.

“I hope the room is to your liking.”

“Yes, thank you very much. It is perfect,” Twilight answered.

“Good. Now if you would follow us, then we can start the tour of the castle.”

The tour was wonderful. The entire lay-out of the castle was shown to us. Every single room and it’s purpose was explained to us.

We would have to be careful in the future, because it would be very easy to lose ourselves in this castle without any real guidance. It would certainly take a while to learn all the twists and turns to know where some of the more important rooms were, like the dining room, the kitchen and the library.

The castle basically had a room for nearly everything. Name it, they had it. Music and entertainment, relaxation, dinner, lunch, breakfast, library, chemical labs, a physics lab, a magical lab, little rooms for the staff to take a break in. Speaking of staff, there was nearly no staff, or at least not as much as I expected. Every hallway only had one maid that we could see and a few guards. And these hallways were long.

The tour around the castle took a few hours until eventually we ended back at our room. It was 11 AM already.

When we were back at the room the guard finished his explanation.

“I think that was everything. Do you have any questions?”

“No, not immediately I think. How about you Twilight?” I asked.

“Me neither. At least for now.”

“Good, then you both have about one hour of free time before you have a meeting with the Princess. My colleague, Stone Might, will escort you for the time being. Have a nice day,” The first guard said.

“Thanks for the tour,” We both said back to him as he made his way out.

The guard known as Stone Might took his place outside the door.

“If you two have want to go out, just let me know,” He called back to us.

“Thanks but I’m pretty beat from that tour. We still have our lessons in the afternoon. What about you Twilight?” I asked.

“Yeah, let us just relax for now. I’ll just rest a bit and maybe take a book from the shelf here. I wonder what kind of books these are,” She mumbled a bit.

“Only one way to find out Twilight,” I said while pulling a book out of a shelf.

**TIMESKIP**

One hour and 15 books later it was noon.

“Wow, these books were so interesting. I never knew that astronomy was so fun. I always loved stargazing but never knew that it was so intriguing,” Twilight concluded.

She found ‘some’ books on astronomy. And she was hooked.

“I noticed,” I remarked, “Judging by the books all around the room, I don’t think that you left a single page unstudied. But interesting or not, we have to clean this up now and we have the meeting with Princess Celestia if you remember.”

“Oh. How will we make it in time?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry about it. Just start cleaning up,” I said while gathering up some books and putting them on the desk.

“Are both of you ready for lunch with the Princess?” Might said while looking inside.

“We might be a bit delayed,” I answered.

“Oh boy. You two made a mess in here,” Stone said.

“She did,” I answered before I could process it. It sounded like a little kid pointing a finger, which it technically was.

“It doesn’t matter who made it. But don’t worry I’ll help you two youngsters out,” Stone said while putting books back in the correct order in the shelf.

After a few minutes the entire room was back in order, just like it was before we entered.

“Alright now, let’s meet up with the Princess for lunch.”

It took us a few minutes to get there. We were a tad bit late. The clock in the massive hallway read 12:30.

We entered a large room with a massive table in the middle, with at the head of the table miss white sunbutt herself, Princess Celestia. The rest of the room was void of other ponies, just the Princess which gave of a bit of an intimidating aura.

“Have fun,” Stone Might said with a bit of a smirk as he closed the door behind us.

“...”

Silence was all that there was in this large room. Both me and Twilight were waiting for Celestia to greet us or at least do something. But she just sat there at the head of the table with her eyes closed.

Both of us were unsure of how to approach this.

“Euhm, Hello Princess?” Twilight tried.

One of the Princess her ears faced in our direction.

“Just a moment,” Celestia said.

It took another minute before she opened her eyes and addressed us.

“Ah yes. Twilight and the little one as well. I was just ordering a cake for... one of the political meetings this week, yes a political meeting,” She rambled a bit.

It took a while before she regained her composure.

“Anyway, thanks for coming, both of you. Did you enjoy the tour of the castle?”

“Yes, it was excellent your highness,” Twilight responded.

“Good to hear. Now dears, come. Join me for lunch,” Celestia invited us.

I had a feeling that she was not all that she was supposed to be. Maybe a bit more carefree than I thought. Or at least more normal and caring.

Both of us took careful steps toward her.

“Now now, don’t be scared. I don’t bite ... hard,” Princess said while sipping a cup of tea or coffee. Probably the first.

Both me and Twilight took place on either side of the Princess.

The moment we sat down, staff started to come in with the items for lunch. They came in with large trays of food. Each one filled with at least a dozen different items. One tray would have been enough to fill us up, but they came with three whole trays.

They set down the trays and left the room. The Princess started to take a few items and addressed us.

“Go ahead, help yourselves. There is enough for each of us.”

During the lunch we talked about our interests. Well more like the Princess asked questions and we answered systematically. But it looked like the Princess was actually enjoying getting to know us a bit better. I also had to answer some questions about human society. It was mostly random trivia like fashion or our educational systems. You can’t blame her for trying to learn some new stuff that might be useful.

When we were done with eating the Princess asked us kindly to follow her. The moment we stood up the staff came in and started to clean the table. It was unusual but nice to see staff respond so quickly. Maybe they are paid well?

The Princess told us the learning schedule for this term. It would mostly be based on magic and studies around magical energy specific, with a bit of electrical projects on the side and ,because Twilight liked astronomy so much, there would be a few hour a week devoted to that as well.

Astronomy is not a interest of mine but I would be there just to support Twilight.

When we arrived at Celestia her study she started to lay a few small ground rules when studying under her guidance. Every teacher has those so no worries there.

“Now the first lesson will be spent making a base with all the knowledge you two already have. So let’s start with the basics of magic.”

And that was how this lesson went. We wrote down all the knowledge we already had of numerous different subjects. Math, physics, chemistry, magic, electricity, even language. It is logical because then Celestia can know where she could start with her lessons.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in this manner. Before we knew it it was 6 PM which was the end of our first lesson. So after that we had dinner and went to bed early.

It was a bit strange to see such a colorful personality shine through Celestia her facade. But it was a comforting personality, almost like a mother. I can definitely see why she is loved by her subjects.

But with her aging slower than normal ponies and her being separated from her sister, one can not stop and imagine the sheer loneliness she has to endure in all her life. One can only imagine what goes on behind that mask of hers.

I hope for her sake that her facade does not shatter before our eyes.