Twilight Sparkle, My Mentor and More

Twilight Sparkle, My Mentor and More

By: Ruxify

This story takes place just after Twilight Sparkle moves to Ponyville in season one.

This story was written as part of Scout Feather’s Foalcon Writing Contest.

I’m not a perfect filly by any means, and they say every pony makes mistakes right? Well this time I was in quite a bit of trouble on this fine early autumn day. A small, periwinkle blank-flank unicorn filly with a bright yellow mane with eyes to match like me, Dinky Doo, shouldn’t have been able to do nearly this much damage with magic, but here we are.

“Oh Celestia! What have you done, Dinky!?” exclaimed one of my pegasus friends, Ruffle Feathers. “You’re gonna be in a whole lotta’ trouble now!” Her fine silver hair stood on end and her sky blue pupils shrunk down to the size of grapes, as her body trembled in fear of the consequences that were sure to come should she get caught here in this situation with me. Our pupils simultaneously shot back and forth between the large branch now sitting on the ground between us, nearly missing us upon its fall, and the huge gouging hole in the library of Ponyville.

“I… I… didn’t mean to do… THAT!” I exclaimed in retort, tears welling from my eyes.

“Well, ya did, and I ain’t takin’ any blame for this. You’re in big, big, BIG, trouble, Dinky! I’m outta here!” At that, Ruffle took off in an instant. Some friend she is, leaving me to deal with this mess alone.

“Ah, horse feathers,” I swore to myself as I searched around for my own escape route.

Upon seeing them, I started to gallop at full speed towards some bushes next to a nearby house to take cover in. Unfortunately, my escape plans were immediately ruined the second a small click followed by the loud screech of an old creaky door hinge entered my ears. I immediately froze like a deer in headlights and braced myself for the consequences that were sure to be dealt upon me.

“Uh… what in Equestria happened here!” exclaimed a luscious, feminine voice.

I gulped hard and reluctantly turned to face the owner of the damaged building. Standing before me was an adult mare unicorn, of a darker shade of purple compared to myself. Her mane was a deep navy blue, somewhat nearing purple, with a couple shades of pink lining through it from head to tail, and was somewhat square-ish in shape. Her cutie mark consisted of a big pink star surrounded by a few other white ones and was quite pretty as it glimmered a tad in the sunlight.

“Hey, you! Do you happen to know exactly why an entire branch is missing from the library!” she asked me with a frown.

“I... I’m s-so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, Ms… uh?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she answered flatly. At this point I couldn’t help myself, but to shed a few tears as I stammered my apology.

“Right, I was just playing and messing around with my friend Ruffle Feathers and I guess we got a taaaaad too crazy when I accidently cast a spell that just tore off that branch. Sometimes I lose control of my magic and I just always cause trouble for others,” I finished looking down at my jittering hooves.

A few moments passed where neither of us said a word. I was too scared to observe Twilight’s facial expressions, most likely contorted in anger while pending my punishment. Oh horse feathers. Buildings cost lots and lots of bits. I probably caused thousands of bits worth of damage in just that one branch alone, as the library of Ponyville, known as the Golden Oak Library, is one of the oldest buildings in the village. I learned that from my teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, in school one day as we were having a history lesson on Ponyville.

Twilight Sparkle turned towards the branch without saying a word and spent a moment observing the damage. Suddenly without warning her horn loudly sprung to life with a snap and beautiful glow that caught my attention through my peripheral vision. I quickly turned my head up at the unicorn as she, before my own eyes, pulled off an impressive feat without too much struggle. I gasped as she lifted the heavy piece of wood, levitated it back towards the gouge in the building and with a swish of her horn sealed the chunk back in place. Twilight’s soft, velvety coat glistened with sweat and she gasped for air, visibly fatigued. The fear that kindled in my heart then disappeared and I trotted up to Twilight in amazement.

“Woah… how did you do that!?”

“Oh, it was just a simple levitation spell followed by a moderately-sorta-complex binding spell, no biggie,” she replied with a modest smile, despite her not-so-modest display.

“That was amazing, Twilight Sparkle! Could you maybe, possibly, perhaps, kinda maaaaybee teach me how to use such incredible magic?” I asked her with puppy dog eyes. Twilight put a hoof up to her chin and thought for a moment.

“Well, if such a small unicorn filly like you could cause so much damage then perhaps I could teach you a thing or two. By the way, what’s your name and how old are you?”

“My name is Dinky Doo, and I am ten years old!”

“I see… I’m quite impressed a ten year old like you could pull off such a thing. It kind of reminds me of myself when I was a filly,” said Twilight smiling down at me. I beamed for a moment, taking in the unexpected praise before I remembered one small, important detail. I frowned and sat down on my haunches before bringing up my concern.

“The thing about that though, Twilight is… well, other ponies don’t seem to be as accepting of my magic as you are.”

“Really? Why is that?” Twilight questioned with a worried expression.

“Sometimes my magic just goes out of control and it causes all sorts of problems for other ponies around me. I can hardly keep any friends because of it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Did your magic ever cause you problems like that when you were a filly Twilight?” She sat down next to me and placed a hoof around my shoulder for comfort.

“Uh… not really. When I was a filly, I didn’t really have many friends. I thought it was more important to work on improving my magical abilities and I stayed inside reading books all day. In fact, I was sent here by my mentor, Princess Celestia just for the sole purpose of making some friends!”

Just then, a small, timid reptile-like creature, dragon I think, creeped out of the library door. He was about the same height and overall size as me and his shiny, purple, scaly complexion was accented by long, green fins down the back of his head. He was wearing a simple pink apron with a large heart on the front.

“Is everything okay Twilight? There are no monsters out there are there?” Twilight giggled to herself for a moment before waving down the dragon.

“Everything is okay out here Spike. It seems like this little filly lost control of her magic and snapped a branch off the library.” I perked up when she mentioned me.

“My name is Dinky Doo! Nice to meet you Spike!” I said, introducing myself to the dragon in my usual chipper tone.

“Well, the pleasure is all mine!” replied Spike in an overly formal fashion, earning a giggle from me.

“Why don’t we go inside and we can talk more about your magical abilities, Dinky?” said Twilight, gesturing her hoof towards the door and beginning a light trot towards it with me following right beside her.

Once we entered the library’s main area, I got to take a look around at the many thousands of books neatly stored in their shelving which lined the walls from corner to corner. Despite the vast quantity of literature the room was spacious and well kept; it was the perfect place to dive into a good book. Before sitting down, Twilight sent Spike to the kitchen to fetch us some tea.

“So… I take it that you live here?” I ask Twilight.

“Yeah, I do. I can’t say I can complain about living around all my favorite literature, that’s for sure!”

“How long have you lived in Ponyville? You said Princess Celestia is your mentor, so does that mean you came from Canterlot?”

“Why yes, I did come from Canterlot, born and raised. I’ve only lived here for a couple weeks. As I said before, I was sent here by the princess to ‘make friends’ or something…”

“Woah…” was all I could say. This Twilight pony sure was something! I couldn’t wait to receive magic lessons from her.

“Make friends you say? Hey, I’ll be your friend!” I offered excitedly.

“Wonderful! I would like to be your friend too. I definitely think there’s some magical talent in you, Dinky Doo!” Once again, Twilight grinned sheepishly while putting a hoof around my shoulder.

I smiled back at her and accepted her embrace. She made me feel all warm inside and I felt like she would be a great friend, despite her somewhat antisocial past. I felt like I had finally found some pony I could relate to, and share my problems with. Not like all those other “friends” that hardly ever interacted with me and got scared off whenever I had some magical mishap. After a moment, I decided to wrap my hooves around Twilight in a full on hug to display my appreciation and welcoming her as my friend.

“Oh, my…” Twilight was at first surprised by my action, but quickly returned the gesture. Her coat was so soft, cozy and warm and she smelled of just the slightest bit of lavender. I felt safe. I felt like I belonged. I felt something that I had never felt before. Something that seemed so right, but I couldn’t quite place my hoof on it. Suddenly, Twilight backed off from the hug and flashed me a smile.

“So, what about you Dinky? Were you born here in Ponyville?”

“Yep, born and raised!” I said, mimicking her own words from earlier. This made her chuckle and I glowed from her approval. Just then Spike emerged from the kitchen carrying a couple of tea cups and a kettle. He gently placed the cups in front of us and poured us each some tea.

“Why thank you, Spike,” said Twilight gratefully to her assistant.

“Yes, thank you so much!” I added.

“Once again, the pleasure is all mine! You girls have fun with your magic lesson. I still have some chores I got to take care of.” At that, Spike walked over to the next room, giving a playful wave in my direction before disappearing. I carefully picked up my cup, gently blew the steam away to cool it and took a sip, making sure not to drink it too quickly so as to not burn my tongue. The warm liquid had a slightly bitter taste to it, but the warmth felt nice as it traveled down into my stomach.

“So what are some other things I should know about you? I’m curious. We did technically just meet and all…” asked Twilight.

“Well, like I said before, I am ten years old and I was born and raised here in Ponyville.”

“Yes, go on,” urged Twilight.

“I live with my step mom, Derpy Hooves and have an older step sister, Amethyst Star who lives on her own, and uh,” I scratched my chin, trying to come up with something else.

“I’m apparently gifted with magic, and uh, oh yeah I love to goof off and just go crazy around town with other ponies, like playing pranks and what not… assuming they can tolerate me at least. I usually end up going too far and my stupid magic hurts some pony or breaks something expensive. My mom has had to cover for me to cover the damages more times than I can count! I always end up losing my short term friendships because of it,” I finished on a somber note dropping my head down towards my hooves.

“Well maybe with my help, we can get your magic under control and you can start making some more… permanent friends!”

“Yeah!” I exclaim, jumping up and clapping her hoof. But then suddenly an intrusive thought made its ugly way into my mind and I got all gloomy again.

“But… what if I mess up again? What if I accidently destroy your entire library, Twilight? What if… what if… I end up destroying all of Ponyville?!” For the third time that afternoon, Twilight pulled me into an embrace making me smile softly.

“Don’t worry, Dinky. With me by your side, I won’t let that happen! I DO know a lot about magic, ya know!”

“Alright, Twilight. I trust you.”

“Okay, Dinky, are you ready for your first lesson?” I bounced up and down excitedly.

“Oh yes, Twilight, I’m ready!”

Twilight’s horn lit up in her usual purple aurora and she levitated over a small wooden statue of a horse and placed it right in front of me.

“Let’s start with the basics. I want you to levitate this statue for ten seconds and then gently place it back on the ground.”

Taking a moment to take a deep breath, I focused on the wooden object before me, clearing my mind of all other thoughts and worries. All that existed then and there was the statue, Twilight and I. Once I reached a level of concentration I deemed acceptable despite my lack of experience, I made a swift swish of my horn and fired my magical energy.

For a moment the statue started glowing green, the color of my magic, and it slowly started wobbling back and forth. Clearly, more focus was needed, but I had to make sure I didn’t overdo it… which is unfortunately what happened. I finally had it levitating about two inches above the ground before a sudden surge of magic blast out my horn out of nowhere, sending the poor wooden statue flying at a high speed straight out of the library… or at least it would have flown out if Twilight didn’t quickly step in and catch the projectile with her magic.

“Uh… yeah that does seem to be a little tiny bit of a problem you have there, Dinky,” remarked Twilight giving a sympathetic chuckle. “It seems we definitely have a bit of work to do.”

“With you at my side, I won’t fail!” I exclaimed excitedly.

And thus, my training with Twilight Sparkle the unicorn had begun. I had just met the most amazing, talented, wonderful, kind unicorn ever and I was going to get good, no, GREAT at magic so I didn’t scare any more ponies away from me! Leaving me all alone…

Twilight’s company was certainly a sign of a new chapter of my life though, if I could have told myself then and there what was about to happen after a few weeks’ worth of training with her, I wouldn’t have believed me.