Twilight looked at herself in the mirror. A brush floated beside her, tending to her mane worriedly. "Always refer to her properly," she said to herself, staring into the mirror as if she could scold herself into getting it right.
She took a slow breath and held it a moment before it escaped with nervous giggles. The excitement was too much to contain. She bounced up into the air and brought her hooves together with a loud clop before she landed and bounded for the door. "I can't wait!"
Her magic wrapped around the door handle just before a new thought came to her. "What if I do it wrong?" She took half a step back, magic fizzling. "What if I make her mad?! What if she doesn't want to be my teacher anymore, and she sends me home. Maybe she'll knock my horn off so I'll never do magic again!" She raised a hoof to her little horn with a whimper.
A knock came from the door, a small but rapid clopping. "Twi! Are you in there?"
Twilight did know that voice. It was one of her new classmates. "Minuette?"
"Hi!" Minuette appeared, the door swinging open almost violently with permission apparently received. "Oh, hey, what's wrong?" Minuette saw Twilight's frazzled mien and looked worried.
Twilight quickly grabbed her brush with her magic and removed evidence of her little episode. "N-nothing! I'm fine! I have to go..." She slipped past Minuette and took off at a wild gallop.
Minuette shook her head slowly. "Crazy filly." Her smile was quick to return. "I wonder what Lyra is up to..."
Twilight dashed through the hallways until she was halted by a hoof stuck out in front of her. She collided with the armored limb and came to a rest in a heap.
"Miss Sparkle?" asked the low voice of a guard. "Princess Celestia is expecting you."
Twilight bounced right back to her own hooves. "Oh! Yes, I'm ready," she assured, giving the guard her biggest, fakest, smile.
If he noticed her lack of readiness, he didn't say anything. He turned and began to lead the way at a sedate walk. "It's a great honor to be chosen by Princess Celestia. I hope you mean to live up to that."
Twilight swallowed. The noise of it seemed deafening in her little ears. "I'll do my best, sir."
"Her last said much the same." He did not offer expansions on the idea. They had arrived at a door that he stepped to the side of and gestured at. "She's inside. Mind your manners."
"O-of course, sir." Twilight dipped her head, ears off to the sides before she focused her magic on the handle and soon had the door swinging inwards. She had expected a formal setting. Maybe a dinner table, or a court room, but it was neither. It looked like a study. Celestia was seated regally with a book hovering before her and a cup of something on a tray just beside her. Another tray had a selection of little cookies.
She looked so peaceful and relaxed. She also looked like the most powerful pony in Equestria, because she was! Twilight trembled as she stepped into the room with her ruling monarch. She wanted to say hello, but she wasn't sure how to do it just right. "Twilight Sparkle, reporting as requested, Your Majesty." She threw herself prostrate, still by the door.
Celestia looked up at the display as her book set itself down under the golden glow of her magic. "Young miss Sparkle, rise." When Twilight peeked up at her, Celestia smiled gently. "Come here, please." Her horn shut the door behind Twilight. "Do not think of me as your ruler. Starting tonight, we adopt a much more special relationship."
Twilight got herself upright and took a timid step forward on shaking legs. "M-more special than princess?" she asked, baffled by the very idea of it.
"Even more special than that." Celestia extended a wing slowly. "Please, have a seat."
"Yes, ma'am," squeaked out Twilight as she approached the vacated spot indicated by the wing. "What will I be learning tonight?"
"Ma'am?" Celestia gave a gentle smile. "You may call me teacher, or princess, or even Celestia if you like." There was some hope in the last option.
It was not an option Twilight would take. "Princess. I'm very honored you selected me." She raised a hoof to her chest. "I hope to make you very proud."
"You already have, and I feel confident you will continue to do so." A cookie lifted from the tray in the golden glow of her magic and moved to hover in front of Twilight's nose, teasing her with its delicious sweetness. "For now, we should become acquainted. Do you like butter cookies?"
Twilight sniffed softly at the treat. It smelled wonderful, but she was still trying to be polite. "I... find favor in them... in the proper circumstance." Yes! She had nailed being proper. She would have pumped a hoof if that wouldn't have ruined it.
Celestia watched the filly with growing amusement, waving the cookie left and right slowly. "Would this be considered a proper circumstance?"
"I'm ready to learn, as your student, Princess." Twilight's voice was stiff, denying the desire to chomp the cookie. She would be good!
Celestia raised Twilight's chin with the very treat she was taunting the filly with. "And what if the first lesson involves eating it?"
Twilight paled slightly. That threw everything out of order. "I... Is it, Princess?"
Celestia slid the cookie back out to hover before Twilight. "Only if you wish it."
The glow around the cookie darkened as Twilight took hold of it from Celestia. "Then... I will." That wasn't as graceful as she would have wanted, but she couldn't take it back. She tried to nibble at the cookie a little. Chomp! She took a great big bite out of it. It melted in her mouth. It was so delicious! Soon she had crumbs on her snout and there was no other evidence a cookie had ever existed.
"I see it meets with your approval," spoke Celestia, mirth in her voice. "Now then, tell me what you've learned today in class."
Somehow, with crumbly bits on her face and her elegant mien shattered, Twilight felt just a bit more... free. Still, she was embarrassed too. She blushed brightly as Celestia wiped her clean with a little napkin. She had been asked a question. She dared not disobey. "Today we covered the importance of clear visualization."
"That is important," agreed Celestia. "In order to weave magic, one must hold a clear image of the intended effect with crystal clarity in their mind. Do you remember, when you passed the test?"
Twilight shrank a little. "I haven't made a mess like that again, Princess."
"We have already placed that behind us," assured Celestia in comforting tones. "It does remain an excellent example of how magic can go powerfully awry when we lose that vision."
Twilight cleared her little throat. "Princess?"
"Yes?"
"Can we... talk about something else?"
Celestia gave a soft nod. "I did not mean to make you uncomfortable." She gestured to the book she had been reading earlier. "Have you started with this yet?"
Twilight's eyes fixed on the book as it lifted up in the golden glow of Celestia's power. It read 'The Methods of Thaumaturgic Control'. Twilight shook her head. "I haven't read that yet."
"You should." Celestia floated the book into Twilight's grip. "It was a great help to me once when I was not much older than you."
Twilight's eyes sparkled as she took hold of the tome in her hooves and flipped it right open to the first page. It had a foreword by a "Star Swirl the Bearded." Twilight had said it out loud as she read it. She looked up at Celestia. "Who is that?"
"He was a very good pony," replied Celestia. "He knew a lot about magic, and he wrote great portions of it down, to be shared with other ponies through the ages, now including you, Twilight. Can you understand it?"
Reading was one thing Twilight excelled in! She sat down on her haunches and flipped to the next page. She began to read eagerly, her lips moving to sound out the words quietly as she went. Many of the words were quite long, and she reached one she just couldn't get. She didn't want to admit failure to her new mentor so quickly, so she kept reading it over and over. She mouthed the word and started mumbling what she thought it sounded like. She wanted so badly to get it right.
Celestia's hoof came down gently on Twilight's shoulder. "That is the bulb at the base of a unicorn's horn, where magic is stored when not in use," she explained without prompting. "That is its scientific name. Even I can be troubled pronouncing it precisely." She leaned in close. "Star Swirl was quite the genius, but he was also something of a showoff. He liked using the most complex words at times when simpler ones would suffice."
Twilight gave a stiff nod. "I'll learn it." She had decided. She would learn the complex words that littered the book. It was a challenge. A challenge given to her by a pony she had never met and probably never would, but one she would accept. She felt determined and purposeful. "I will make you proud of me."
Celestia stiffened faintly. She had seen what could happen when a pony wished too hard to make others or themselves proud too much. "Twilight, I will be proud so long as you try. You will be a worthy student even if you should fail to pronounce a word or two. Focus on becoming a better pony."
They were kind words, and Twilight felt nice hearing them, but they did not entirely go to heart. "I will learn them," she assured, hopping to her hooves. "Thank you, Princess." She draped the book over her back to carry.
Celestia gently ran a hoof between Twilight's ears. "We will go over what you have read each day, so we can work together to absorb them into practice. This is not a replacement for school work. I expect you to finish the assignments given to you in a timely manner. Reading this book comes after that."
"Of course, Princess." Twilight was smiling brightly. Schoolwork was something else she understood. She would not fail her teachers. "Will that be all?"
"Not by far," breathed out Celestia, to Twilight's confusion. "Nevermind that. That will be all for tonight. Thank you for coming, Twilight, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening."
Twilight gave a salute so sharp she almost toppled right over with her book. "Good evening, Princess!"
She ran off back towards her own room, leaving Celestia behind.
Celestia considered the meeting silently for a time. It had not gone perfectly. It had not gone disastrously. She would have to be careful. She didn't want to lose another... "I will not fail you," she whispered to herself before rising. She had to get some sleep in order to do her own duties.
Author's Note
This was a patreon requested one shot. How was it?
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