A student of her own

Princess Skylar was awoken early in the morning by one of the numerous nannies who looked after the young Princess. The light purple alicorn huffed and she pushed herself up into a sitting position. The nanny who had been given the quote-unquote impossible task of waking up the young Princess was a young unicorn mare by the name of Hazel Heart. She had been working in the castle for as long as Skylar could remember. Her coat was a beautiful light brown and both her mane and tail were a sort of green color that Skylar could never quite describe.

"Come along, Sky," said Hazel, using Skylar's nickname, a privilege normally only ever reserved for the Princess' parents and other members of her family, never a 'mere' nanny, as Zephyr would jokingly call her.

Groaning, the Princess rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Why do I have to get up so early?" she questioned as the unicorn helped her out of her oversized bed and placed her onto the floor, where the Princess picked up a brush and started to groom her own mane and tail.

"Because your father, the Crown Prince has requested you to come along to a very important event" Hazel explained, smiling as she pulled out a white hat and dress for Skylar to wear.

"Why, though?" the Princess questioned again. "He could go by himself" she muttered.

"Sky" Hazel smiled, "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get back home."

"I know that! it's just that I don't see why I have to go ... father said something about me being the most popular young Royal. Does that have something to do with this?" the Princess asked her nanny.

"Take it as a compliment!" Hazel smiled as she secured the hat perfectly onto Skylar's head. "And, apparently, a certain Royal Blue will be there" Hazel whispered.

At this, Skylar gasped and instantly lightened up. "Ro will be there?" she asked excitedly.

Hazel smiled and nodded, "It is her brother's first day at school, so it only makes sense for her to be there too."

"Oh! Well, come on then, we have to go! We can't leave Ro waiting!" Skylar said as she flew out of her room and down to the private dining room, where the Princess quickly gobbled up her breakfast of warm oats and honey.

As soon as breakfast was finished, Hazel smiled and waved goodbye as the young Princess raced down to where Ivory's room was. It was far away from almost everything and everypony else; in fact it was really more like a dungeon. Skylar knew her mother had originally wanted her and Wanda to share a room, perhaps to help Wanda settle in, but that plan had been swiftly changed.

Coming to a halt, the light purple alicorn knocked lightly on the old, hard wooden door and asked, “Wanda? Are you in there?"

There was no response, not even so much as the slightest sound of movement coming from the room. Skylar raised her eyebrow as she knocked once again, this time a little harder.

"Wanda! Is everything okay in there?" Once again, there was no response, just dead silence.

Skylar huffed and tried one last time. She figured that if Wanda didn't answer this time, then she must have been out having a lesson with Skylar's mother.

"WANDA!" she almost screamed.

nothing

Sighing, Skylar snorted and turned around to walk away. She paused for a moment, hoping to see Wanda opening her door just a little, but the only view that greeted the light purple alicorn mare was of the cold door. Sighing, she raced back to where she was told to meet her father and mother, her uncle - Lord Fancy Pants Fancy-Belle, the Lord of Canterlot, Royal Blue, and Aura Sapphire, who was to be presented as the 'star' of the day.

. . .

Twilight, the Crown Princess nudged Zephyr. "I've packed everything. Are you sure Celestia's happy with us staying in the manor?" she asked once again.

"She is more than happy with it. During her visit, she told me she wanted to spend more time with us ... to prepare us." Twilight raised an eyebrow at the dark blue stallion as he turned back to Fancy and began to speak with him. A little taken aback, Twilight shrugged and walked over to the waiting chariot.

Crown Prince Zephyr smiled when he finally saw his daughter racing towards him as Twilight got into the chariot. Turning to face Fancy, who was trying to adjust his monocle, Zephyr spoke. "You know, Fancy, I hope Sky does learn to settle down in the future, all of her flying and dashing around the castle halls and 'accidentally' blasting holes through walls is really starting to bother everypony working for my wife and me" he said as Fancy finished fiddling. "Why, once, I had to lay off six nannies in only one week!" the Crown Prince stated.

"Yes, I had the same problem with Ro when she was much younger; not as 'problematic', so to say, you know what I mean." Zephyr nodded slightly.

"But this will only be for a short period of time. She'll stop being like this in due time, trust me, Zephyr." Fancy smiled as she looked over at his daughter, who was deep in conversation with her brother.

"Yes, but Royal's always been so much 'easier' if that makes sense" the pegasus stated, "But with Sky it's been an uphill battle almost ever since she was born." Zephyr sighed, "Twilight was usually the only one who could calm her down."

"Well, she was born an alicorn Zephyr, and Twilight does have more experience than you, what with looking after her niece, Princess Flurry Heart" Fancy said as he and the Crown Prince stood up.

"Yes, Flurry was a big challenge for the Crystal Empress and Twilight's brother, yet she was more ... magical. Sky seems to always rely on her wings for transport, and whilst I appreciate that's not such a bad or horrible thing, I think about it this way - Sky's an alicorn; flight, for her at least should only be during special events. You do know that alicorns, like Twilight only have wings for 'show', right? They should have only been capable of gliding, yet Sky just swoops around the castle whenever she feels like it. Granted I am a pegasus myself" Zephyr sighed and he and Fancy made their way towards Royal and Aura, who by now had greeted Skylar.

"Girls!" Fancy called out to Royal and Skylar. "Go ahead and get into the chariot. I'll be there in just a second” he called, then turned to the dark blue pegasus. “Err, Zephyr, I don’t suppose you could go with them?" Fancy asked as Zephyr quickly nodded. Sighing, Fancy turned to his youngest, and so far only son, who looked unready. "Aura, it will be fine" Fancy smiled sweetly, "Just get settled in and before you will know it, you'll be the head of something." Fancy patted his son on the back as the two unicorns walked to the waiting chariot.

It was an unusually quick ride to the city of Canterlot. Even by Twilight's best estimation, it had been swift. As the young mares and the colt looked out of the chariot's glossy windows to the sweeping city of Canterlot below, Ro saw something that made her gasp.

"Look! That's my school down there!" she cheered as she pointed out ‘The Academy for Young Unicorns’, a strict boarding school with only mare students and only mare teachers; Fancy's late mother had gone to the same school years before.

Skylar smiled as she and the white unicorn began to talk about the Academy in detail. "Oh, I wish I could go there" Skylar sighed.

"Well, why can't you?" Royal asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's accepting new students right now!" her unicorn friend beamed.

"Because Skylar will go to my aunt's school, once she is ready" Zephyr buttered in, speaking to both of the young mares.

"But I am ready now!" Skylar complained.

"No, Skylar, you most certainly are not" Zephyr hissed back, his eyes narrowing on his daughter. The light purple alicorn huffed and turned her back to the Crown Prince. "See what I was telling you about?" he said to Fancy, who nodded sadly.

"She's still young Zephyr - she's still growing up," Twilight spoke up, unimpressed with her husband’s outburst.

"If I may say something" said Fancy sliding into the conversation. "I think, well, partly think that Skylar's behavior is normal for a mare of her age. However, if I can be so bold as to suggest something, maybe you two should get her into a school sooner. If I didn't know any better, I would say she was only acting up because she was bored. You two do work extremely hard and for long periods, maybe a school would be good for her? She and Ro could board together, if you take my advice, of course" the forever charming unicorn said.

"You know what? Maybe you’re on to something" Twilight smiled. "Are you sure it would be alright for Sky to board with Ro; they're both still so young ..." Twilight trailed off as she looked at the two friends, who were still talking about the academy.

"I thought we had agreed to send her to Celestia's school" Zephyr interjected.

"As much as I admit I loved and enjoyed my time there, I don’t think it’s really the place for Skylar. Tell me, Fancy" said the lilac Princess looking to Royal’s father. "Does the school Ro go to offer etiquette classes?" she asked.

The unicorn pondered for a moment before answering. "Why yes, they offer several and Ro's enrolled in all of them" he said.

"And would those classes help sort out Skylar's 'unfavorable' habits?" the Crown Princess asked.

"Yes; remember how Ro used to eat anything?" Twilight nodded. "Well, thanks to the classes, I am pleased to say she has stopped doing that" he smiled.

Twilight smiled and looked at Zephyr, who sighed. "Fine" he groaned. “But can we do it tomorrow? The schedule is already full" he joked and cracked a small smile.

The three adults jumped as the wheels of the chariot suddenly came to a stop, in other words they had arrived. Royal and Skylar pushed open the chariot's door and leaped down to the concrete floor below. Skylar groaned as soon as she saw the waiting press, who were just ahead of them with their cameras and notepads ready. The three adults and Aura followed after that, making sure that their offspring were all looking 'presentable'. Twilight pulled Skylar back as she finally managed to get a knot out of her daughter's mane that had spoiled her otherwise perfect mane for months.

"Is everypony ready?" Fancy asked the young ponies, and in response they all nodded.

"THERE THEY ARE!" the voice of a mare screeched as cameras clicked and pencils scribbled.

"Lord Fancy!" a stallion called out and Fancy trotted over to meet him.

"Hello, my dear fellow" the white unicorn smiled.

"How do you feel about the Soleils being pictured with 'Snow White'?" the pony asked, pushing the magazine clipping in Fancy's face. The white unicorn smiled as he scanned over the article; it would seem that the rumours and gossip were true, there really was a “Snow White”. He had been reading small clippings on the topic for little over a week now. At first he had thought it was nothing, but now he felt a sense of pride rush into him.

"W-why I couldn't be happier" he stammered. “It’s about time, I think, to forgive and forget" he smiled as he moved on to where Zephyr now stood, much to the pony’s dismay.

"Zephyr" Fancy hissed. "Who exactly is this Snow White?" he asked his friend.

"Oh, you mean Ivory. She's Twilight's student” the pegasus said as he smiled for photographs, “For the time being, anyway."

"You didn't tell me about her" Fancy said, sounding a little hurt because he and Zephyr had always told each other everything.

"I was going to, but everything at the time was stopping me; I really was going to tell you” the Crown Prince assured as he looked behind him to see his wife stuck talking to a group of school-aged ponies. "Can we talk about this later?" he asked.

"I suppose so; just don't forget about it, Zephyr" Fancy said as he, Aura and Zephyr entered the main building of the Crown Prince's school

"I thought I was going to die for a few seconds back there. Thanks for backing me up" Zephyr acknowledged to his friend.

"No problem" he smiled as Twilight and the two friends entered.

"Alright, Twilight, Sky you wait out here" Zephyr commanded. "Royal, want to come along?" the Crown Prince asked his close friend’s daughter.

"No thank you, your Highness, Skylar and I still want to chat" the mare said politely.

"Okay, then. To your left is a place where you three can wait" Zephyr said, pointing to the allocated room. "Now, let's get you settled in" he smiled at Aura, who smiled back weakly. It was no secret that Zephyr had always wanted a son, and indeed in many ways he was Aura's surrogate father. If Fancy had to perform his duties as Lord of Canterlot, he was always more than happy to foalsit the young Lord.