Luster Dawn looked on in awe as she sat in the middle of the large throne room, frozen in place as she stared upwards. She was flanked on both sides by her parents who stood talking away, yet none of it registered in her ears. All she could do was stare aimlessly at the large body before her, her vision obscured by a wall of purple. There she sat, taking in the majestic form of the ruler of Equestria, and her soon to be personal teacher.
She continued to stare as Princess Twilight engaged with her parents, who were letting the young mare sit in the shadow of the ruler quietly. Adding in the fact that Luster was barely more than a filly made the towering princess all the more overwhelming. She found it hard to believe that the same petite mare she saw in old photos her parents had was the same one standing in front of her now.
It wasn't Luster’s first time meeting the princess, however even with periodic visits over the years, she could never truly bring herself to speak with her. She always hid behind her parents, specifically in her father's cape, where she did her best to stay out of sight even when her parents tried to have her engage with the princess. Luster slowly opened up over time and eventually stopped hiding, yet not to great effect. Between running a school, raising a child, and having an everyday life, Luster’s parents were not able to visit Twilight with her as much as they wanted to.
A sudden nudge came from her mother, and the young mare refocused on everything around her.
"Sweetheart, say hi to your new teacher. Don't just stare at her," Starlight said casually as she gave her daughter a warm smile.
"Sorry Mom, I was just..." Luster's nervous voice trailed off as her wide eyes went back to scanning the princess. "I just didn't think ponies could get this big."
Both her parents and Twilight snorted with amusement in response.
"It was overwhelming for us to see how big she grew as well," Sunburst spoke up as he nudged his glasses upwards and looked to Twilight's face. "But she is still the same lovable friend she always has been."
Twilight smiled at Sunburst, before she turned her attention to the still nervous mare before her.
"If you want," Twilight began to speak, her voice oddly young for a pony of her size, as she started to shift her body, "I could talk to you like this and make it less overwhelming for you."
In a matter of seconds the princess had gone from standing up to laying her belly on the ground. For a second Luster looked on, silently comparing her body position to that of a swan, before the princess lowered her head to be level with Luster's. No longer feeling overwhelmed by her presence, Luster felt herself be put at ease.
"Is this better?" Twilight asked, her voice more calm and tender than before.
"Y-yes. Thank you, Princess Twilight," Luster replied, her voice still nervous, but not as bad as before.
"You can just call me Twilight," Twilight said as she began to crane her neck. "Or whatever makes you more comfortable. We're going to be seeing each other more often, so you don't need to be nervous around me."
Luster said nothing for a second as Twilight positioned her cheek near Luster's ear. Her nervousness continued to ebb away as she felt more and more comfortable around the princess, even to the point that she nuzzled the princess's cheek in response.
"Thank you, Twilight. I'll just call you Twilight," Luster replied sheepishly, knowing she sounded silly with her wording.
For a few seconds there was silence, as both teacher and student sat together, letting the connection build between them, until Luster pulled herself away and stood back at her parents’ side.
"Oooooo, I'm just so excited for you dear," Starlight said suddenly as she trotted in place before she leaned into her daughter's face and brought both of her front hooves to Luster's cheeks and squished them together. "To be studying under Twilight just like I did back in the day. It just… makes me so happy and yet so sad that my little filly-willy is growing up so fast."
"Mommmm, you're acting like Grandpa again," Luster groaned with embarrassment as her expression turned into an annoyed frown.
"I'm sorry dear," Starlight replied as she stopped herself and quickly wrapped her hooves around Luster’s body and hugged it tightly. "Just let me have this one last time. I… I just need to cope with the fact that my little filly is not going to be with me anymore."
Luster said nothing in response, knowing her mother had justifiable cause. Luster herself was actually more surprised her mother wasn't already crying, knowing very well how emotional she could get. Yet, as she stood there in the hug, she could feel her mother starting to tremble and sniffle as the waterworks started to flow again.
"It’s alright dear," Sunburst said suddenly as he drew himself in and wrapped his forelegs around the both of them. "We will make time and visit every weekend, so it's not like we'll never see her again."
Thanks to her father, Luster could feel her mother calm down. Pulling her head back, Luster stared at her mother's face. Though her eyes were slightly puffy and tearing up, Starlight kept herself composed as she broke the hug and reached up to wipe the tears out of her eyes.
"That's true," Starlight noted as she stepped back and took a big breath in. "I know. I'll be fine in a second, just let me get my thoughts together."
"Still as emotional as ever aren't you, Starlight?" Twilight broke in as she gave the older mare a cheeky grin.
"You don't even know half of it, Twilight," Sunburst spoke up in a sarcastic tone as he looked up to the ceiling and rolled his eyes. "You should have seen Luster the first day she went off to kindergarten. I didn't think anypony could go through two boxes of tissues and two buckets of ice cream in one day like she did."
Both Twilight and Luster chuckled softly, while Starlight's expression darkened as she gave her stallion an evil glare.
"Don't even act like I was the only one being emotional that day," Starlight replied as she flared up her horn and suddenly teleported herself out of the throne room.
For a few seconds an awkward silence filled the throne room as all three ponies waited for Starlight to reappear. When she did, she reappeared at Sunburst’s side with a scroll of some sort being held by her magic.
"May I remind you of this?" Starlight asked with a smug grin as she opened the scroll, allowing it to fall to the floor, before it rolled outwards and revealed a ten foot long page of contents.
As it rolled past Twilight, both her and Luster looked on with a curious glint in their eyes. While they looked at it, Sunburst grabbed the list with his own magic and looked at the top of the page. His reaction was instant and his face flushed as he began to quickly roll the scroll back up.
"Did you… just teleport home and-" Sunburst began to ask, his face becoming flushed with embarrassment and his expression scrunching up.
"Go through your old scroll drawer and pull out one of your checklists, specifically from her first day at kindergarten as well?" Starlight finished his sentence for him,her smug grin growing wider. "Of course. What, did you think you could tease me and get away with it?"
Sunburst said nothing more, his expression scrunching even harder as he finished rolling up the scroll, before tucking it away under his cape. Once it was away, he glared back at Starlight and got ready to speak until he heard Twilight laughing to herself.
"It's great to see that you two never change," Twilight sighed as she recomposed herself, before focusing on Luster. "Now this may be sudden, but I would like to take Luster for a tour around the castle. Since she'll be staying here now, I would like to familiarize her with the layout," Twilight added in as she began to pull her body off the ground and stood back up.
"That's a great idea, actually." Starlight got ready to speak but Sunburst quickly stepped in front of her and continued before she could get a word out. "While you two walk around the castle, Starlight and I will move the bags and books to Luster's new room."
"But, I want to go with them," Starlight spoke up.
"Dear, we will be spending most of the day in Canterlot anyways. Let the two of them get to know each other a bit more. Besides, don't you wanna see her chambers, or go check out the magical archives and grab a few books for the school, or even head into town to buy a ballerina music box?" Sunburst asked.
"Why do I need a music box?" Starlight asked, giving him an unamused frown.
"Because I just remembered a spell that can keep us in contact," Sunburst answered as a prideful smirk started to show on his face.
"Oh, I didn't know you knew that spell as well, Sunburst," Twilight spoke up with excitement, quickly remembering a spell that would be perfect for the situation.
"Wait Dad, you're not talking about that long distance spell are you?" Luster asked, her mind filled with dread.
"Oh right, I actually forgot about that spell myself. Thanks for the reminder, hun," Starlight added in as her body perked back up and her sadness quickly disappeared.
"Daaad, why did you have to tell her that? Now she's gonna visit all the tiiime," Luster groaned, realizing her parents would be able to suffocate her with love over long distances now.
"Don't worry, sweetie. I'll make sure she visits in moderation and doesn't overdo it," Sunburst told her as he reached up and wrapped one hoof around Starlight's body.
Luster just huffed at them and rolled her eyes. She didn't know the exact name of the spell, but knew exactly what it did. It would let ponies and any creatures communicate over long distances via two conduits, and while Luster recalled that her mother first told her about it, she was more surprised her father remembered it at the last minute.
"Wait," Starlight spoke up as she looked to Twilight with a widening smile. "Don't you still have that old music box from when I had that friendship problem between Luna and Celestia?"
Twilight got ready to answer, however both her and Luster quickly noticed Sunburst had moved his free hoof to his neck and was making a swift back and forth motion with it. Twilight thought about answering truthfully, but seeing his actions and noticing Luster wasn't saying anything either made Twilight second guess herself. Thinking about it for a second, she knew it would be a lot more beneficial if it was just her and Luster touring the castle.
"Actually," Twilight started to say, as she took a second to figure out an excuse. "That old box broke a few years back and I never got around to replacing it," Twilight answered, doing her best to seem genuine and truthful.
Starlight groaned and sulked her head down, while Sunburst relaxed and felt relief.
"See? Even more the reason to head into town and shop," Sunburst added in, as he let go of Starlight and began to trot for the throne room doors. "Besides, we can catch up with them afterwards anyways."
Starlight huffed and rolled her eyes at him, eerily similar to how Luster did so before.
"We'll even go to that all-day pancake house you've always wanted to visit," Sunburst added in a teasing manner.
"Fiiine," Starlight groaned as she pulled herself up and turned for the doors before she began to trot for them as well. "I'll see you in a bit, Lusty darling."
"See you two in a bit," Luster replied, unamused by the nickname her mother gave her.
Giving her head a shake, Luster watched as her parents continued to talk to one another as they made their way away from her, leaving both her and Twilight together. Looking back up at the princess, Luster felt a bit of anxiety building back up as the towering princess once again took up her vision.
At the corner of her eye, Twilight could see the mare looking back up at her and began to refocus on her.
"We can go for hayburgers and fries later if you want," Twilight said quietly as she lowered her head to Luster's level.
"Wait, princesses can go and eat hayburgers and fries? That doesn't seem very royal-like," Luster asked, tilting her head slightly.
“It’s a lot more laid back than you think. It also gives me more of a reason to visit the townsfolk and mingle with every creature,” Twilight told her as she lit up her horn. “Now, since we have a rather long tour ahead of us…”
As Twilight took a step back, Luster wondered what spell she was conjuring up. It didn’t take her long to find out, and as the soft magic started to wrap around her whole body, she felt herself get levitated upwards. She wasn’t quite ready for the sudden take off, and all four of her hooves flailed for a few seconds as she got lifted higher and higher.
“What are you doing?” Luster asked nervously as she began to float over Twilight’s backside.
“We will be walking around for a while and I know you’re still a bit nervous,” Twilight told her as she lowered Luster to her back, letting the small mare straddle over her. “So I’ll give you a tour while you can sit and enjoy the scenery.”
Luster’s eyes trailed up and down the large body she was on. As Twilight adjusted the young mare, she found it a bit tricky to position Luster right so her legs weren’t rubbing against her wings. It was a fruitless endeavor mostly, but finally Twilight managed to get Luster’s front legs to sit in front of the wing joints, while her back legs laid against the tips of Twilight’s feathers at her rear.
Even with her on Twilight’s back, Luster’s own head didn’t even reach up to Twilight’s horn. She still felt small, but also found herself filling up with immense enjoyment. As a filly, she always enjoyed riding on the backs of her parents when they walked around Ponyville, and to know that feeling again made her giddy all over.
“You cozy?” Twilight asked, the aura around her horn dying down.
No longer feeling bound by the magic, Luster wiggled her body, letting the feeling of the soft yet firm backside of the princess rub against her. It was a pleasant mixture of muscle, hair, and a hint of chubby horse fat as she moved her front legs slightly. She found it cozy indeed and could easily imagine herself falling asleep on the back of the princess after a long day of studying, and that thought occupied her mind until she shimmied her back legs.
Being careful not to ruffle Twilight’s feathers, Luster looked over her shoulder and blushed. In contrast to Twilight’s tight midsection, Luster now felt more chubb than anything. Though it didn’t look as big as she saw it from the floor, she could feel it now. The feeling of it reminded her of a soft marshmallow as she squeezed her back legs into Twilight’s rump, and she instantly knew why the princess loved hayburgers and where they all went.
“I’m… cozy now,” Luster replied quietly as she turned her head forward and saw Twilight staring back at her with a content smile.
“Perfect." Twilight gave her hips a slight shake, causing Luster to shimmy back slightly. “Now, would you like to see the highest vantage point in the castle? It’s just behind the throne room.”
Luster gave her a big smile and eagerly nodded her head in response. Twilight began to trot to the area behind her throne, and while Luster was content with where she was going, her mind filled with one last question.
“Twilight?”
“Yes my student?”
“Will I ever grow as big as you?”
