Twilight slumped into the couch with a heavy sigh, having dropped her saddle bags in the middle of the room. She hadn’t even bothered with putting them away properly.

“I take it the excursion didn’t go well?” Spike asked with a tinge of worry to his voice.

She watched Spike approaching with a cup of tea in his claw, taking it in her magic as it was offered. “You could say that, yes, Spike.” Twilight sighed heavily and with a frustrated groan did a weak attempt at smothering herself with a pillow. “We found the manuscript… then it got stolen by a dragon.”

“A… dragon?” a soft, gentle, motherly voice asked.

“Well I think? She looked more like a hybrid between a pony and a dragon… she was really strange, not like the dragons I read about. She was… concerned about our well being. She introduced herself as Silver…” she shook her head lightly, “It was a really strange experience. Wait Spike when did you-” Twilight froze as she looked to her right to coming face to face with a gently smiling Princess Celestia.

“P-Princess!? How long have you been here?” Twilight asked shocked.

“Oh a little while,” she sat back sipping from her own cup of tea, “you were so occupied with your evening that you walked straight past me, Twilight.” She chuckled softly at her student's expense. “But do tell me more about this manuscript, my faithful student. If Silver was involved it must have been quite the interesting read.”

For a long moment Twilight simply sat there, blinking at the sudden appearance of her mentor. She was baffled at the fact that the mare was here and knew she would even be home. “But… how did you know I would be home?” she asked.

“Oh well let’s say a little birdie told me,” the Princess said while winking mysteriously.

“I… see, and the manuscript contained a spell that could let a pony ’survive’ by consuming emotions,” Twilight said, looking at her mentor for a long moment. “She told me to tell you it was in safe claws in her library…”

“I see. Well, I am happy that she is the one to have found it. Quite honestly I thought it had been destroyed. I had hoped it had been,” Celestia said with a soft sigh. “It is a terrible and dangerous magic. Luna and I worked on it for a different reason than you might think. We sought to counter the magic because somewhere in the Badlands there is a race who lives on the emotions of other creatures, we called them Changelings.” The solar princess smiled, sipping her tea again, “They’re not a threat anymore, haven’t been for far over a thousand years.”

“So… who is Silver?” Twilight asked. “I mean she seems to know you, Princess… she even knew about Luna!”

Celestia smiled fondly at her student, motioning to the plate of biscuits on the table. “That is a rather long story, my student.” she said, slowly lowering herself down onto a pillow with a sweet smile on her muzzle.

“Well… I have time, Princess.” Twilight smiled at her with that particular smile of hers, she was greedy for knowledge.

“Alright. I will give you the shortened version, I don’t have the time to recount three thousand years of history.”

“Wait… she is that old?” Twilight asked.

“To my knowledge, yes. She is probably older than even that, but dragons are not that open about their ages,” Celestia chuckled softly. “It’s a sensitive point to her, always has been actually. It is rare for a dragon living among ponies to show their true form to anyone, only to those they trust most.”

“Does she… trust you?”

“Me? Why yes, she does. But only because I grew up with her. She was my mother’s adviser back before Equestria was founded.” Celestia looked at Twilight for a moment, “Yes, I know her very well. In a way she raised me and Luna, taught us many things. About magic, about living life. She is a good dragoness at heart, even though her ancient charge might go against all that you believe, my faithful student.”

“Her… charge?” Twilight asked with a tilt of her head, looking a little confused at the princess.

“Yes. I will not tell you her true name, it’s not my place to tell.” Celestia smiled, “Her charge is to hunt down and lock away dangerous artifacts, tomes, creatures. Things that you might think need to be studied, preserved. It might be a failing in my method of teaching.” Celestia looked solemnly at Twilight for a moment, ”Somethings are better left untouched by us, Twilight. There are dangerous texts that could drive a pony mad… drive them to do horrible things. My mother set her charge and to this day she has been tracking down anything profane… any magic that could be used for evil.”

“Where does she live? I have never seen a dragon in Equestria aside from Spike.” Twilight looked at Spike for a moment, “She might have a residence?”

“Oh she does, but I do need to correct you, my faithful student,” the alicorn said with a gentle smile, “Spike is a drake.”

“Hey… isn’t that like saying I’m not a real dragon?” Spike protested.

“Oh no, not at all, Spike.” Celestia chuckled softly, offering the drake a maternal smile, “You are most definitely a dragon, but you are a dragon who lives on the land, you don’t have wings and you have digging claws… and much different dietary requirements.”

“Oh. I see,” Spike said with a smile.

“As for your question, Twilight. Her home is somewhere in the Crystal Mountains to the north. But… for the most part she lives and teaches in Canterlot.” A small mysterious smile crept onto Celestia’s muzzle, “Actually she has taught you in some magic classes. She is a teacher at my school for gifted unicorns… actually she teaches a very appropriate class for her occupation.”

Twilight blinked for a moment. “Princess… you mean to tell me that Professor Ardent is..” Twilight sat there stunned, staring up at her smiling mentor. “I… but how? Why…”

“Questions for another time, Twilight,” Princess Celestia said softly, slowly rising from her pillow. “Thank you for the tea, Spike. It was lovely as always.”

“Oh, my pleasure, Princess!” Spike chimed proudly.

“Now, Twilight I have to return to the palace, before ponies notice that I have gone off on my own. It would cause quite the stir.” Celestia grinned just a little, “I will be seeing you soon enough, and if you would like I could more properly introduce you and Silver.”

“Thank you, Princess, I would like that,” Twilight said with a smile and then after sharing a light nuzzle the princess vanished in a flash of magic.

Author's Note

This story was commissioned by Shooting Star1234.

I hope you all enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it, quite honestly this is my first brush with a romance adventure (with some Slice of life) kind of story. If you have and feed back or even critisism then please feel free to leave a comment below.

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Big thanks to my editing team for giivng this a well needed pass: Javarod

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