The Student of Luna, Princess of the Night

The Student of Luna, Princess of the Night

My little phony

Celestia sat on her throne yawning heavily as the long, stressful day came to a halt. She was currently waiting for her sister to take the night and raise the moon, allowing her to get some well deserved sleep. As Celestia gave one last yawn before standing, Luna entered. She could tell her sister had a hard day, and asked, “Is your time that difficult to handle?”

Celestia giggled and claimed, “You have no idea. Paper work, complaints, scheduling and reordering the same thing you ordered somepony to do… It just piles up… but, then, that’s my life, and I say this with sarcasm. I may be worn out, but it pleases me to know my subjects are happy. You, on the other hoof are lucky. You don’t have any serious responsibilities.”

Luna smirked as she knew this to be true. Sure, she had to raise and lower the moon, but other than that, there wasn't that many troubles in her life, not like her sister, anyway. Pondering the subject, she asked, “Hmm… What could I do to bring myself more responsibility?”

Celestia shrugged as she hadn’t that much of an idea. “You could always… uh… Well, there’s… No, no that wouldn’t…”

After much thought, she received the perfect recommendation via magic mail. Her student, Twilight Sparkle had just written her a friendship report. As it floated in the air unopened, Celestia smiled at her sister and said, “You know what you could try?”

Luna, who stared at her sister with curiosity, asked what it was.

“You… my sister… could try teaching!”

Luna’s face was the kind one makes when greatly insulted. “T-teaching!? There’s no way I could teach at night!”

Celestia chuckled as her hoof covered her mouth. She then said, “No, no, you misunderstand. I took Twilight under my wing and made her my honorary apprentice. Why don’t you have one, too? I’m sure it would be fun, and worth your time to see a unicorn blossom before you with the magic you taught him... or her.”

Luna smiled at this. She never considered a pupil of her own, but now that she contemplated the notion a bit more, enthusiastic imagination dawned upon her mind. The possibilities could be endless.

“Yes… I like it!” she said with vigor. “But… who?”

Celestia offered, “Why not ask my student? Surely she could recommend you a unicorn that she’s met.”

Luna agreed to this and sent a letter to the purple mare in a hurry. As she waited for a reply, she thought to herself, "whoever it may be, the unicorn must be able to take painful exercises, and endure the hardest of trials early on, but with Twilight deciding, I’m sure I’ll get the perfect student!"

Meanwhile, in Twilight’s room, she struggled with an old friend who she was able to convince to return to Ponyville. The mare was a unicorn like Twilight, but her skills were highly undeveloped. Her spells were more like tricks and the motivation she presented was lackluster.

“Come on, Trixie… You can do it!” Twilight said to cheer the unicorn.

Trixie struggled with focus as she attempted triple levitation. One would think it to be easy, but the concentration required to hold three objects at once while they all had different shapes, weights and textures was actually very difficult, at least for Trixie. One was a hair brush. Another was a circular ball and the third object was a pillow. Trixie panted as she began to lose focus on the objects. This would be considered a medium spell weaver's practice warm up, and she was about to collapse from such simple strain.

“I can’t… I can’t…” Trixie said with squinting eyes.

“You can. Don’t say you can’t!”

“No… I… can’t!”

The three objects fell to the floor in a rather anticlimactic fashion. Trixie bowed her head with a sigh.

“It’s just no good, Twilight… I’ll never be as powerful as you.” Trixie’s motivation was low, so Twilight decided to give her some moral support.

“You only failed because you said that word. Can't is the single thing that will make you believe you can’t. Replace that word with something positive, and you’ll be able to do anything!”

Trixie rolled her eyes at this pep talk. “I’ll simply accept the fact that I’ll never be as good as you and return to Las Pegasus to continue my career as a show mare.”

“Not on my watch!” Twilight snapped back. “You get to your hooves and you work on getting those objects floating, but first, take a break. Are you thirsty?”

Trixie said she was and asked for some lemonade. Just as Twilight was pouring the drinks, Spike came down the stairs saying, “Uh… Twilight… I think I got a letter coming.”

Twilight turned and asked in a confused voice, “But… what could Princess Celestia want at a time like this?”

The green and purple dragon coughed up the letter as soon as she asked. Twilight unfolded the note and read aloud.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle. I request your assistance. This is of an urgent matter as I have decided to… to… adopt a new student?! But, I’m her student… Wait… Let me finish, I’m sure I misunderstand… Ahem! The nights grow dull as of late, and I find myself with little to do… But, Celestia sleeps during the… No, let me finish… As Celestia’s student, I could think of none other than you to recommend me a candidate for this position… Oh! I see. This is from Luna! Alright… Anyways; in response to this, I will send a chariot to the location of the unicorn to pick her up. Please reply quickly.”

Trixie gulped as Twilight’s eyes fell upon her.

“I can’t think of any other unicorn than you, Trixie, to be Luna’s student.”

Trixie claimed, “Oh, no, no, no! Trixie doesn’t think that’s necessary, I mean sure, She's wanted to perfect her magic, but… a student of Princess L-Luna? I don’t…”

Twilight put her hoof on Trixie’s shoulder to back her up. “I think you’ll do great.” She turned around and asked Spike to write a letter to Luna with her recommendations of Trixie.

Once the letter wafted out of the window and into the night air, Trixie started to feel nervous. She, of course, wanted to learn magic to perfect her abilities and live up to Twilight’s standards, but this might be a bit much.

“Twilight…” Trixie said to get the purple mare’s attention. “Are you sure about this? Because I don’t think I’m ready to take this challenge."

Twilight smiled and explained, “When I was starting out as Celestia’s pupil, it was hard. She expected me to practice my magic diligently. Not only that, but she also had me read a lot. Knowing Luna, though… I don’t know what’s in store. So all I have to say is… do your best!”

They waited for Luna’s carriage that night with anticipation eating away at Trixie. "What would the training be like?" Trixie thought as she lay in bed. "Would I be able to withstand the pressure? I hope so."