Twilight looked at her friend from across her table.
"Fluttershy, do you really want to know about my childhood?"
The yellow pegasus nodded eagerly, sipping her tea daintily.
"Alright, now where to begin? Well, my parents were both unicorns. She was named Starshine Twinkle, and he was Moonlight Sparkle. They were...very nice ponies, but a bit strict at times. They desperately wanted to get me into Princess Luna's school of magic. I had no interest in going, however, my parents told me I was too young to know what I wanted. Magic to me was something my brother was good at, not something I could excel at. My mom tried her best to get me to love magic, but nothing worked. Then my dad had a brilliant idea: to take me to the Summer Moon Celebration, where Princess Luna raised the moon and stars.
"Standing there in the shadow of Princess Luna's moon, I realized what a wonderful thing magic was. I decided I wanted to learn magic so I could be just like the Princess."
Fluttershy smiled sweetly.
"How old were you, Twilight?" she asked politely, sipping again from her teacup.
"I was just about to turn eight. My parents told me that they were enrolling me in the school of magic. I could barely even use magic then, so I told them no way. They said, lets wait a year or two until you know more magic. So I poured myself into learning all I could about magic. I read countless books on the subject, and tried my best. None of it would work, though. The thing was, I just didn't know what I was supposed to do! My mother and father showed me over and over how to focus my magic, but even though I tried and tried, nothing worked. I was heartbroken and felt like such a failure. My mom had a successful career making new spells for ponies, and my dad was on the Counsel."
Tears were in Twilight's eyes as she remembered this particular part of her past.
"Oh my, Twilight, you don't have to tell me this if it makes you sad!" said Fluttershy, very alarmed.
"Oh, Fluttershy, I'm fine. It gets better I promise."
The yellow mare looked worried still but let Twilight continue.
"Okay. One day, when I was home alone, practicing magic, a loud noise shook the house. A bolt of magic lightening struck the house, and it floated up into the air. I fell out a window- yes I know, this is very strange- and when I landed, more magic struck the sky, turning it bright orange. My magic kept on coming from my horn, and it wouldn't stop. It started raining, but instead of normal raindrops, each was made of magic. I shivered from the sudden cold. Directly overhead, a storm was brewing, spewing out magic. Everywhere it fell, it caused chaos. The entire city of Cloudsdale moved above the Everfree forest! One pony turned into a potted plant, somepony else grew wings and Manehatten moved!"
Fluttershy shivered in fear.
"But don't worry, everything was okay. You see, Princess Luna had been watching from the castle tower, and with this, she flew down to where I was. Frowning, she laid a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up at her, and my magic stopped. With a flick of her horn, she returned everything to normal. She said, in the Royal Canterlot Voice,
'Twilight Sparkle! What are thou doing?' she asked angrily. I squeaked in terror. Noting how scared I was, she calmed down a little.
'Do not worry Twilight Sparkle, we would not hurt thou. Now, would thou tell us why this magic storm is occurring?' I shook my head. Luna tilted her head in confusion.
'Twilight Sparkle, ist thou saying that thou does not know why her magic is coming out in such an ineffective way?' I could barely understand her accent, so I just blinked in confusion and fear. Luna got annoyed and said,
'Twilight Sparkle, thou has much magical prowess. Why doesn't thou go to the Canterlot Magical School to learn how thou can control it?' I couldn't talk, I was paralyzed with fear.
'Twilight, answer us this: will thou come with us to learn the studies of magic?' I still blinked in confusion.
'Twilight, we are offering thou the chance to study with us. Will you accept it?'
'Yes! Yes yes yes yes!' I said, jumping around her.
'And one more thing, Twilight Sparkle.'
I gasped. 'More?'
She pointed to my flank. A purple sparkle with surrounding white sparkles had appeared.
'My cutie mark! Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes!'
Luna knelt down, actually letting me ride on her back, right behind where her wings were.
"The palace was an amazing thing, all made out of beautiful stone and stained glass. Luna showed me to a room decorated sparsely, with only a dark blue bed and a matching dresser.
'If thou doest not mind, this shall be your quarters. Please ignore the sparsity, we did not expect thou.'
I gaped at the little room. In my opinion, everything in this castle was amazing. Luna laughed.
'Now, willst thou accompany us to the Great Hall.' It wasn't a question, it was an order.
"In the Great Hall, which was beautiful, made out of the same stone with dark wood, Luna sat down, and told me to sit down next to her. She told me to focus my magic on one thing, and one thing only. She told me to envision a pencil, to engrave every detail of it in my mind. I did so, and then a pencil appeared in front of me! She told me to send out a ray of magic and envelop it. I did so, and then lifted it up in the air.
'Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle. You are learning very quickly.' said the Princess in astonishment."
"And that's pretty much all there is to tell. I studied magic with Luna for ages, until Corona came back and I moved here."
Fluttershy smiled.
"Wow Twilight, that's an amazing story. Maybe tomorrow you could tell me a little bit more about studying with Luna?" she asked quietly.
"Of course Fluttershy. I'd be happy to!"
Said Twilight, sipping her tea.
