A student of her own

It was now early in the morning. The soft sound of birdsong made Crown Princess Twilight smile, because whenever she heard birds sing, it always reminded her of when her good friend Fluttershy would come by every morning to help her and Zephyr with looking after the young Princess Skylar.

Crown Princess Twilight smiled as she saw her student Ivory Wand rush out of her room and up the stairs to where a small classroom had been set up. Just as Ivory reached the top stair, the lilac alicorn mare turned around and began to walk into the classroom; she had plans to teach Ivory a new skill today.

The young mare bobbed her head as she greeted the alicorn mare. "Princess Twilight!" the light blue unicorn gasped as she rushed forward.

Twilight smiled and bobbed her head in return. "Oh, Wanda, is something wrong?" Twilight asked, coming to her student's side. "You seem worried about something? Have the servants not been kind to you? Have other ponies not been kind?" The Princess of Friendship and Magic questioned her student.

Ivory's lip curled as she tried to think of what to say. "Well, yes... and no" the unicorn answered. "I don't really know" Ivory smiled at her teacher.

Twilight raised her eyebrow. "How can something be wrong and not wrong at the same time?" Twilight joked and smiled. Her smile quickly faded, though, as she saw that this was not a laughing matter.

Ivory's eyes looked to the ground for a moment before speaking. "You see, Crown Princess" Ivory spoke. "I was just wondering if I could ask you something" Ivory smiled sweetly as she puffed her white mane out of her face.

"Well, you can ask me anything, Wanda. That's what a teacher is there for, to answer questions" Twilight told Ivory as she smiled once again.

The light blue unicorn kicked her hoof against the glossy, crystal-like floor, like she was trying to think of what to say. Finally, she answered, "Why can't my family live here?" Ivory looked up into the lilac alicorn's purple eyes. "I know they did some 'bad things' in the past, but wouldn't it have been forgiven by now? I've read the Equestrian rights, and one of them is 'every pony has the right to be forgiven'" she stated.

"Well, you see Wanda" Twilight paused, trying to find a way to tip-toe around 'big subjects' that the alicorn didn't exactly know how to explain, "There's actually a lot of reasons as to why your family can't live in Equestria, not simply 'one reason'."

"What do you mean by 'not one reason'?" Ivory questioned.

"I suppose, Wanda, you will have to look into the past to truly understand the reasons ..." Twilight trailed off as an idea formed in her mind. Trying to explain what happened would be far too difficult for the unicorn to understand, but showing her would be a great way to explain it to her student.

"Princess?" Ivory asked concernedly, lifting her left hoof into the air like she was about to answer a question.

"That it!" Twilight shouted. "I can show you the past, just with a simple spell!" the Princess said as she rushed into her classroom and pulled out a single spellbook.

"What are we doing?" Ivory asked as Twilight began to flick through the pages.

"We, you and I, are going back into the past!" Twilight smiled as she closed the book.

"Oh, that sounds exciting!" Ivory beamed as she stood next to Twilight.

"Stay close" Twilight advised her student, "Next stop, the past!"

. . .

The pair arrived in the throne room of the Royal Castle in Canterlot, by the looks of things around the time the great war had ended. Ahead of them stood five sandy-yellow unicorns, three of whom were male. Twilight wondered for a moment if Ivory's father was among the ponies that stood in front of them, but the idea quickly left her mind as she saw Queen Celestia, Princess Luna, and Empress Mi Amore Cadenza come into the room from a side room on the right.

They were all dressed in black, suggesting that this must have been right after the war had finished, Twilight thought. She recalled that upon its final conclusion, how the whole kingdom of Equestria had gone into six months of mourning. Twilight remembered those days vividly. She remembered also dressing a very young, almost newborn, Skylar in a pitch black dress.

"That's Ma!" Ivory yelled as she pointed towards the front.

Twilight turned to the front as Trixie moved forward. The unicorn mare looked 'bigger' like she was swollen. She must have been pregnant with Ivory, Twilight observed with some surprise. Trixie cleared her throat and bowed with much difficulty.

"Queen Celestia, Princess Luna ... Empress Cadence," Trixie said, her voice hanging on Cadence's name. "I come to you all to ask that you lift these unfair and ruthless laws from us. Trixie thinks these rules have prevented many of us from seeking medical and legal practices. Why, just last week, some of our members were forced to use 'barbaric' medical practices to heal something as small as a cut" Trixie stated as she looked at all of the mares.

Celestia looked at her sister, Princess Luna, who shook her head dismissively.

"I am sorry, but as we have already explained, we simply cannot lift laws that are designed for the sole purpose of protecting our subjects" Celestia said as she closed her eyes.

"Why?" Trixie shouted.

"Because we have many reasons to be hesitant" the Sun Queen said, "One of those reasons being your all having aligned yourselves with King Sombra and the Umbrums. Now, you come crawling back here hoping that we will blindly forgive you all, but I am afraid your plan has failed you already, without even getting past the first phase of it. All of you are linked to some sort of crime, and that is another reason why we will once again be turning all of you back out to the wastelands. None of you deserve to be allowed in to the new ''model' kingdom; none of you deserve to even be in our presence" Celestia stated, her eyes focusing dead on Trixie.

"You, Miss Lulamoon, are not a model citizen yourself, not even close to it. Who even is the father of your foal?" Twilight was surprised as the words left Cadence's mouth; the venom lacing the sweet mare's voice turning every word into poison, such that she sounded like a mad pony.

"Let us not forget you once held the small town of Ponyville under your control for a total of two days ... If we were to allow you and your family into Equestria, how can we be certain you will not try to take control again?" Luna took a step down towards Trixie, wearing nothing but a frown on her face. "Perhaps for even longer" the Moon Princess added, looking down at the unicorn.

"Trixie swore her loyalty to you and you only …" Celestia, Luna, and even Cadence shook their heads.

"We cannot accept you back into Equestria" Cadence spoke. "However, in my empire, I will allow you to have one medical checkup to check on your foal." Cadence smiled.

"That's it?" Trixie hissed as she raised her head to the sky. "That's it?" Trixie asked, looking ungrateful.

"Were you expecting more?" Luna asked, surprised at the unicorn's reaction. It was far kinder and better than anything she or her sister were willing to give to the small group and especially Trixie herself, who had been a sort of aide to Sombra during the war.

"Err, yeah! We have been cast aside for far too long, and only ONE medical checkup? Trixie is far too far along to just have one checkup!" Trixie began to climb the marble stairs. "You think, all three of you, that just because you wear tiaras and have sparkly, flowing manes that you are 'kind and caring' rulers who would never turn a blind eye to a pony in need''!" Trixie mocked, using words from a speech Twilight herself had read out a couple of days before this event.

A few of the Royal Guards in the throne room rushed forward and pointed their spears at Trixie, who showed no intent on stopping her advance. Celestia snorted and took a step back, placing her wings in front of Cadence and Luna. She and the two other mares all took a step backward just as Trixie reached the small platform where Luna's and Celestia's thrones stood proudly.

"Trixie will not allow this to happen!" Trixie growled as she stood right in front of Celestia, her shadow reaching the Sun Queen's shoulders.

"If you continue to do this, I will withdraw my offer!" Cadence stood in front of Celestia protectively as her horn began to sparkle.

Trixie looked shocked at this. Perhaps, Twilight thought, this was the first time anypony had threatened to do something if she continued with her bad behaviour. For a fleeting moment, she looked sincerely sorry, then for an instant looked like she was ready to charge, but didn’t. Finally, she looked down at the floor. "I only ask for a small thing, your Majesty” the unicorn hissed.

"And I am afraid we cannot give you that one small thing." Luna hissed back at the mother-to-be.

"You are lucky we have allowed you to live, Trixie! You are a traitor and Sombra's right hoof mare" Celestia stepped forward, forcing the unicorn back down the marble stairs and back to her family. "You not only sided yourself with your family when they rushed to Sombra's side but, you became one of his closest 'friends' ... how can we ever be expected to trust you again? Why, for all we know, that foal could be Sombra's …"

As soon as Celestia said the dark King's name, Trixie rushed forward with a scream that did not fit her. Her magic was unstable and her horn was unable to even form sparks, but everypony around heard the crackling sound of what sounded like bone as she aimed her horn at the Sun Queen's neck. Celestia was expecting some petty excuse for an attack and had formed a shield around herself and the two other mares, causing Trixie's attack to backfire and she was forced all the way back down to the floor, whimpering as she landed. Twilight was shocked, not only was her mentor and mother figure seemingly enjoying this but so too did Cadence; in fact, she seemed to want to take it further. One dusty yellow unicorn with a bronze coat rushed to the mare's side, only to be quickly pushed away by Trixie.

The blue unicorn tried to stand, but she couldn't, not even with the strength of a thousand stallions. The Sun Queen, Luna, and Cadence all walked down to where Trixie lay whimpering. The unicorn dared not even looked up, instead burying her face in the ground.

"You are all banished" decreed Luna, stepping forward as the other unicorns shivered and whimpered and rushed out of the throne room, leaving Trixie behind.

"As for you" Celestia spoke just as Trixie regained her stance and tried to race out the door. "You, Trixie, will stay here for the rest of your life, as a servant. As for your foal ... if it is Sombra's, I'll let you figure out what we would do, and if it is not, we will allow her to be a servant to us ... like her mother ..."

The scene faded out, leaving nothing but the haunting picture of three mighty and powerful alicorns standing around a lone, wounded unicorn. Twilight slowly turned to look at Ivory, who stood there, unmoving, her eyes wide and yet so 'shut' at the same time.

"Wanda ... I didn't know that was what happened" Twilight said. "I just thought, everything was ... forgiving" Twilight looked down.

"Princess Twilight?" Ivory asked, her voice betraying no emotion except for sadness.

"Yes, Wanda?" Twilight nodded.

"Are ... are my family the 'bad guys'?" Ivory asked, sounding more than a little confused.

"What do you mean?" Twilight looked at the young mare.

"They are, aren't they?" the unicorn looked defeated.

"No, no, no... err, it just wasn't the best day for them. Your mother loves you Ivory, and anything she did while she was working with Sombra I'm sure she regrets" Twilight stated, trying to tape together her sentences.

"I ... I think I need to go lie down ..." Ivory trotted back down the stairs to her room, leaving an unsure Twilight behind