There's a First Time for Everything...by Majestic_DonutChaptersSeries Premiere 1: Are you sure this is a good idea?Series Premiere 2: How many things can go wrong today? (Let's find out)S1E1: "Never Give Up" (Even if it's easy to do so)S1E2: The Royal Sleepover! (Featuring 3 born royals, 1 royal by marriage, 2 commoners, and an alicorn princess in a pear tree)~The Deleted Chapter~S1E3: "Our weekend was fairly mundane and uneventful. What did you do?"S1E4: "Magic is easy!" (Taking over a kingdom... is not)Series Premiere 1: Are you sure this is a good idea?Author's Note Just some quick need-to-knows: Celestia: Age 12 (this will come into play later) Luna: Age 8 Series Premiere 1: Are you sure this is a good idea? Sitting before her now was a sight Flora hadn't been expecting when she received a letter about a king wanting to enroll his daughters in their school. For starters, he was a winged unicorn (though, I believe the term he used was "alicorn") with dark blue fur and a well groomed galaxy looking mane topped off with a very kingly crown. Also he could talk and write and levitate things easily and casually without a wand (more specifically, he was using telekinesis, an upper level spell in this school). "To what do I owe this pleasure King Cosmos?" The red fairy asked. The midnight king looked towards her after being snapped back into reality. "Ah, yes. As you may have seen in the letter I sent you, I am here to inquire about enrolling my daughters into your school. You see, we don't have any proper schools for royalty where we live and homeschooling... lets just say we make better rulers than teachers at the moment." Cosmos explained. "I see. And what classes would you like to enroll them in?" Flora asked checking over the school's list of courses. "All of them." quill snaps "All of them?" "Will that be a problem?" Cosmos asked. "Well, there may be some... practical issues regarding some of the courses. For starters, there is the royal etiquette class in which there may be some issues due to the differing anatomy-" "They'll be fine." Cosmos interrupted "Then there's our magic classes. In the short time I've been in your presence I've noticed magic works differently for you..." Flora stated, noticing how frequently Cosmos used magic (namely telekinesis) for the functions that human hands would have performed, like taking a sip from his coffee mug. "Different how?" -sip- "Well, I just don't know how practical it would be to teach your girls our system of magic when it seems your kind operates on a... very different kind of magic system. I'd recommend you teach them magic privately." "I intended to do that anyways. We already have a very promising tutor ready. However, I'm intrigued about your magic system here. Perhaps my daughters should learn it anyways. After all, knowledge is power, and a little magical diversity never hurt anypony." -sip- Just as Cosmos thought Flora was done, she said one more thing. "Your Majesty, I must make one other important note. Our school does not have any, oh how do I say this... non-human students. Your daughters would be the only alicorn students in the entire school." "And that is a problem because?" "Our facilities were not designed for... alicorns. Again, there may be several practical issues with having your daughters attend school here... Is there any other possible option for their education?" "Well, Ethereal and I did check out some other dimensions, but none seemed quite as welcoming and proper as Royal Prep nor as close in the multiverse." "Wait what?" It's not that this was the weirdest thing she had ever heard.. it's just that she's never heard of a multiverse... "Oh, I should probably explain. You see, I'm not from here. I used a mirror portal we have back at home to send the messenger here and then met with you. My daughters will be traveling through this portal, so we'd like to keep the distance between the doors as short as possible so they don't get lost in the multiverse. Luckily, your world is only two doors down from our world. There was another school right next door so to speak, but it was also a human school for commoners called Canterlot High, which is not what we needed given that we are royals and my girls are still in elementary school." "So, let me get this straight... You came through a portal from another dimension to enroll your girls in a school that wasn't in their home dimension because we're the only school nearby in the multi-whatever-you-call-it that is for royals and young ones at that?" "Yes. My requirements were quite clear and your lovely school 'checks all the boxes' so to speak. Nearby, school for royals, right age group, and from what I've heard you have very kind students here and my daughters are likely not the strangest beings that have ever graced your world." "... That is true. Well, I suppose if you have no problems and your girls and wife are okay with this, we can enroll them for this semester." "Oh they don't know I'm doing this. It's a surprise." "Oh sweet fairy godmother..." A week later, several things happened... starting with Celestia and Luna finding out they're going to school. "Oh my goodness really?! I wonder what classes we'll be taking will there be other royal ponies what games will we play when do I get to see some cute co-" "Celestia darling, calm yourself please. Your words are like a dam that once opened can never be shut again." Queen Ethereal interrupted. "And Cosmos, when exactly were you going to tell me this?" "Um, I just did. School starts in two days." Cosmos admits sheepishly. That is when the previously silent Princess of the Night let out a cry of panic. "What?! But I don't wanna go to school! I wanna stay here with you and mama! Other ponies scare me..." "Well lucky for you, you aren't going to school with other royal ponies, you're going to school with royal humans!" Cosmos said proudly. Surely that solves that problem right? right?... "So you mean to say we'll be the only alicorns in the school?" "Yes." "And we'll likely be the center of attention because of it?" "Yes." "..." "Are you okay sweetie?" Ethereal asked. "I think you broke her." Celestia quipped. "Oh hush you. I did not break her! Is she breathing okay?" Cosmos asked. Meanwhile, Luna didn't hear a word they had said. Being around other ponies and talking to them is hard enough, but going to school without any other alicorns AND being what are probably the biggest freaks they've ever seen?! I'll die of terror... I'm not going to school. They can't make me! I'll find a way... "Luna?" Celestia waves her hoof in front of Luna's face. "Are you still there?" Celestia asked, snapping Luna out of her downward spiral. "Huh? Oh, yes. I am completely fine! I'll survive school just fine..." "If you say so..." The next day, Celestia was getting ready for the upcoming school day while Luna was sulking on her sister's bed, scheming of ways to get out of going to school tomorrow. "I wonder what human children are like." Celestia mused. "I'd never heard of humans before daddy mentioned it, but they sound fascinating. They don't have horns or hooves or wings, but they can still perform magic. Isn't that amazing?! Luna?..." Perhaps I could fake my death by jumping off a waterfall and not coming back up? But then mama and daddy would be really sad and so would Tia... and what if I actually died trying to fake it? No... Maybe I could break the mirror so we can't pass through it, then we wouldn't have to go to school! But then I may get in very big trouble and have to deal with seven years bad luck... darn it. I could fake sick. That's innocent enough! It's not a very long lasting trick, but it can buy me some time... "LUNA!!!" Celestia shouted in the royal Canterlot voice. "Gaaah!! What Tia?!?!" Luna cried, violently ripped out of her own mind by Celestia's voice. "Can you not stare up at the ceiling like that?" "Why?" "You look like a dead body the way your face is like bLeGh..." Celestia noted, resting her face like Luna's to have a dull and "dead" expression on her face possibly akin to Wednesday Adams's resting face (Like I'd know, never watched the series...). "Now what I was trying to say was don't you think it's cool that humans have figured out how to harness magic without horns? I wonder how they do it... Where is the magic even coming from?" Celestia continued, slipping deep into her own train of thought (though Celestia looks more like "The Thinker" when she goes deep in thought, not like a corpse like how Luna allegedly looks). "Oh, yeah... nice I guess..." They can't make me go... "Celestia, Luna, time for dinner!" "Coming mama!" Celestia replied as she started down the stairs. "Are you coming?" "In a second..." Luna answered. They can't make me go... Series Premiere 2: How many things can go wrong today? (Let's find out)The time to go to school was only an hour away, so Luna would have to play this just right. If her parents didn't buy her lie, she'd have to fake her death! (Okay, so that's actually more of a plan Z than a plan B, maybe she could just go to school and suck it up?... nah) "I don't feel good mama... -cough cough-" Luna honed in that "dead body" look on her face while she was at it. "Oh, are you sure? You seemed fine yesterday." Ethereal asked. "Oh yeah -cough- maybe I shouldn't go to school... -COUGH- " Play it cool! I think I have her convin- "Oh look at that, your temperature is just fine! I've scanned you for any signs of illness and you are completely fine! And another interesting thing, alicorns don't get sick." Ethereal noted, obliterating all of Luna's not so carefully thought out plans. "Ah pooey..." stupid immortality... (just a note, my idea of alicorn immortality is age and sickness won't kill them, but an assassin still could...) "Oh Luna, you're going to have lots of fun! I've heard the teachers are very nice and so are the other students. You could make some new friends-" "But I have Tia! Isn't that enough friends? I don't want any new ones!" Seriously, why is everypony putting so much emphasis on this friends thing like it's such a big deal?... "I know you think you'll be fine by yourself, but I really think you could benefit from spending some time with other pon- beings. I mean, yes, ponies too. But in the instance of school, I think if you can make friends with humans, you can make some pony friends as well." Ethereal said. "So you mean I have to make new friends at school AND at home?" Luna pouted more so than asked nicely. "You don't have to, but I'd encourage you to at least try. What's the worst that could happen?" "Dying of embarrassment." Luna deadpanned. "Alicorns don't die of embarrassment Luna." Ethereal stated just as flatly. "Then what DO alicorns die of?" "Um, I think that's a conversation for another day. Just try sweetie. That's all I ask. One day, okay?" I suppose... "Tia will still be there right?" Luna asked. "Yes, she'll be at school with you too." Ethereal assured whilst nuzzling her. "Hahaha, okay... I guess I can try one day. As long as Tia and her mane is there for me to hide under if things go horribly wrong." Luna managed to say simultaneously cutely and cynically... it's a gift. "Thank you Luna. Now, let's get out of bed. You still have to get ready for school." After Cosmos set the door portal to Enchancia to open in front of the school gates, he opened it and it was time. "Are you girls ready?" "Yes!!" "No!!!" "I'm getting very mixed messages here..." Cosmos said. "I change my mind! I don't wanna go!!! Tia help me!" -hides in her tail- "Oh Luna... deal with it." Celestia said flatly as she dragged Luna within her tail to the gates of the school. "Quick! Close the door while you still have the chance!!!" "NOOO!!!!" Luna pops out of Tia's tail to realize too late that they are now at school and there's no going back until home time. "TIA!!!" Luna pouted. "Oh look, it's time for school! Lets go. We need to find out where our first class is!" Celestia said suddenly sporting a very smug/mischievous/~~trolling~~ smile readers may be able to envision right about now... "... You suck." Luna sulked as she followed very closely behind Celestia, stomping with every step. As much as Luna was trying to be menacing and angry right now, she failed dramatically by simply being Luna, Princess of Eternal Cuteness! "Aw, you're so cute when you're mad." Celestia fawned. "No I'm not!" Now Luna was even more cranky and adorable. Just as Celestia was about jab some more at Luna's ~~expense~~ cuteness, three bright orbs floated towards them and materialized into three fairies. "Welcome!" Flora said. "You must be the new students Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Merryweather continued. "Welcome to Royal Prep, where you will learn what it means to be a prince or princess." Fauna explained. "Come now, let us lead you girls to your classes." Flora said as they led them into the school with some of the other new students. While the girls were walking to the school, they noticed another nervous but eager looking princess with them. She had brown curly hair, sweet blue eyes, and a lavender dress adorned with pearls. Around her neck was a pretty violet teardrop pendant. Though, I believe it was more of an amulet given its size. "Um, hi! I'm Sofia. I'm a new princess!" Sofia introduced herself. Perhaps if she had been talking to Celestia she would've gotten a response, but because it to Luna she was talking to, Luna simply shied away and hid under Celestia's mane. "Aw, where did you guys come from?" "We come from Equestria. Forgive my little sister. She was... reluctant to come at all. I hope you don't mind, she's very shy." Celestia said. "Oh, wow. I've never heard of Equestria! I've also never seen winged unicorns before. I wasn't expecting you to actually talk..." Sofia marveled. "Oh. First off, we are alicorns. Second, are they uncommon here? Do we normally not speak?" Celestia was not expecting this type of reaction from another student. Actually, she wasn't sure what she was ever expecting coming here. "I don't know. I'm new to royalty, so I don't have much experience with magical things. Maybe they do talk? Winged unicorns are rare here, but we do have some normal unicorns and lots of pegasi!" Sofia explained. "I see." Celestia said as she noted the number of carriages being pulled by pegasi similarly to how they traveled in pulled chariots. "I suppose some things are the same." Then Celestia felt a tug on her mane. Luna was looking pleadingly into her eyes. "I wanna go home!" "Luna, why don't you just say hi to Sofia? Can you manage that?" Celestia asked. A shaking Luna just barely squeaked out a nearly inaudible "hi" and then tried to climb into Celestia's mane and hide again. "-sigh- I suppose it's a start. Today is our first day!" Celestia said while subtly trying to wring Luna out of her freshly brushed mane. "Oh, today is my first day too!" Sofia beamed. "Well, I hope you do as well here as I hope to do." and believe me, those hopes are unreasonably high... "Thanks! I hope you do well too! I guess we should head to class then." Sofia said. Upon coming into view of the school, the fillies received... mixed reactions. Some were amazed that such magical beings were in their midst, while some were just confused. But one student had the most startling (to Luna) reaction. "Oh my goodness it's two winged unicorns!!! They’re gorgeous!!! Can we pet them?" An amber haired girl in a green dress squealed (she didn't enter with Sofia). At this point Celestia had finally managed to pry Luna out of her mane and made her walk beside her... but now she had retreated back in after hearing the girl's loud voice. "Ugh! Luna can you please get out of my mane, literally?!" Celestia shouted, her patience wearing thin. "They can talk?!" A dark haired girl in a cyan dress shouted. "Quiet class, please! Thank you. I'd like to introduce your new students. Sofia of Enchancia and Celestia and Luna of Equestria!" Flora announced. "Hi!" Sofia chirped. "Hello!" Celestia said. "..." take a wild guess. Enter series of ooh's and ah's at the new students... namely the non-human ones. And now questions. Lots of them. "How do you guys talk?" "Do you use any magic?" "Do you live in a castle like us?" "I love your crowns!" "Where do you live?" "Did you bring your pets to class?" Needless to say, even Celestia felt overwhelmed for once and didn't know what to say (Especially to that last one. What even is a pet?). "Oh, um.. I talk with, my voice? Yes, I use magic regularly. We do live in a Castle in the Everfree Forest in Equestria. Thank you? I'm pretty sure it was just announced to the entire class where we hail from..." Celestia said as she managed to answer all their questions. "Luna? Do you have anything you wanna say?" Luna shakes her head no. "Okay, well. Hi again!" Celestia said awkwardly. "Um, no. These aren't my pets. They're my new friends! And our new students." Sofia answered the last question. Cue more oohs and ahs as they adore and compliment the three new students. As much as Amber (that girl who squealed before) loved these new winged unicorn princesses, she was not too pleased about her new step-sister getting more attention than her. Sure, winged unicorns were amazing and deserving of such admiration, but what was so special about her wannabe princess step-sister? She's a commoner by birth and typical at best. "I'll show her she doesn't belong here..." Amber muttered under her breath. When the tour had finished, Amber convinced James (her twin brother and Sofia's step-brother) to tell Sofia to get on the magic swing. In a matter of a few moments, the swing gained momentum until it launched Sofia into the fountain... no one laughed except, unexpectedly, Luna. "Haha, real funny guys. That's a good one! Heh..." Sofia only passably faked being amused. When Luna realised no one else was laughing she stopped. What happened next though was very unexpected by everyone/pony. "Weeeeee! Hahaha!" Luna jumps in the fountain with Sofia to make her feel better about being launched in. Luna begins to splash Sofia and Sofia splashes back, feeling a little better about the situation meant to cause humiliation. Celestia decides to get in on the fun and jumps in as well, splashing Luna and Sofia as they get progressively more wet and eventually there isn't much water left in the fountain. "Alright alright girls, that's enough! You still have classes to get to after all." Flora says as she uses her magic to dry them all off. "Thank you Luna." Sofia says. Luna just smiles and turns back to snuggle under her sister's wing for warmth. As the class got seated, the first of many problems began... starting with Celestia being unable to actually sit comfortably in the desk chair... "Ugh, how do you even- ow!" Now was definitely the most convenient time for Celestia's wing to get inconveniently pinched between her and the back of the chair. It also definitely did not hurt and feel like her wing was being lightly severed from her shoulders... -sarcasm dramatically intensifies- "Oh dear, are you okay? Do you need help?" Fauna asked. "Oh yeah, I'm fine! Just let me-" proceeds to rip the back off the chair leaving just the seat part. "That's marginally better..." Celestia smoothed over the spiky edges of the broken wood as best as she could before reseating herself. "Oh my..." The fairies said in unison. Meanwhile, the much shorter Luna seemed to do a little better in her seat, but she still wasn't quite comfortable for more trivial reasons... "This seat is really hard... I wish I had a pillow. Mama always lets me sit on a pillow at home. Or maybe I can try what Celestia did and get rid of the chair and just stand? Now I wish I'd just brought a pillow from home... Maybe I could've if somepony hadn't hastily shut the door on me..." Luna muttered to herself a little louder than she realized she was. "We'll figure out some better seating for you two as soon as possible. For now though, perhaps hold off on destroying school property?" Merryweather said giving Celestia a very stern but merciful glare. Celestia sheepishly chuckled as she quietly apologized for her actions. Later after the class day was done, the three fairies stopped Celestia and Luna before they left. "Um, Celestia?" Flora asked. "Yes?" Celestia answered. "How old are you?" "Oh, um 12. Why?" "Oh dear... You see, you're actually a little too old for our school program." Flora explained. "What?!" Both sisters cried. "Celestia darling, you are supposed to be in our middle school royal program. This school is for elementary students. I'm afraid you'll have to transfer to the next class up. We'll also be discussing this with your parents of course." Flora finished explaining. The following silence was met with what could only be described as a torrent of a thousand ambulance sirens rising to sound all at the same time. This sound, however, was not coming from a vehicle, but a very small and powerfully lunged blue alicorn filly. "NOOOOOOO! TIA IS SUPPOSED TO STAY WITH ME AT SCHOOL ALL DAY!!!! I CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL ALONE!!!!!" The meltdown was made complete with a large rainfall of tears while somewhere in the distance, the fairies could’ve sworn they heard lightning strike, even though the skies were clear. "Calm down Luna please! I'll still see you at home all the time. It's okay." Celestia said calmly, trying to soothe the little ball of tears that was her sister. "IT'S NOT OKAY!!! YOU WON'T BE AT SCHOOL WITH ME I'LL BE ALONE!!!" Luna cried, clearly unconvinced. "Luna, inside voice please. What's the worst that could happen?" Dance class. How the hay is a filly supposed to learn anything in a human dance class. It had taken quite a bit of bribing and pleading to get Luna to go to school without Celestia the next day. Pile that on top of a less than productive magic lesson with Starswirl and a poor night's sleep, and Luna was about ready to just storm out of the school and wait for her mom and dad to open the portal home (she could theoretically open it herself, but Cosmos and Ethereal chose not to teach her how for reasons just like this... that and they didn't want her to be able to go through the portal realm without adult supervision and get lost...) "Sofia! Here, use these shoes. They'll help you dance better." Amber said as she gave Sofia some weird looking red shoes. "Oh, thank you!" Sofia said as she put them on. When it was time to dance, Luna found her self clumsily fumbling around trying to figure out how to get four legs to do what was only meant for two. Meanwhile, it seemed Sofia was having the same trouble, but not for the same reasons. "Ahh! Help!" Sofia cried. It was then that she realised the shoes were magical trick shoes meant to make her clumsy. Despite coming to that realization, she noticed too late and fell flat on her face. Sofia threw her shoes off just in time to see Amber snickering in the corner at her demise. "Oops, I must have given you the wrongs ones!" Amber said fake innocently. Aren't they supposed to be sisters? Luna thought to herself. Why is she so mean to her? Why is my sister not here? I want Tia... Just as Luna is ready to cry, she notices Sofia leaving the room and decides to follow after her. If I want answers, I have to ask for them Luna resolved. "Sofia?" Luna asked quietly. "Luna? You're talking to me?" Sofia asked. "Oh, yes... um, are you okay? Why is Amber being so mean to you? I thought you were supposed to be sisters! Sisters are supposed to be nice to each other and make each other feel better when they get scared and hug you at night and tell you bedtime stories even though they could use some more action at times and and..." Luna said, still trying to prevent the weight of the day from producing waterworks in her eyes. "-whimpering- I miss my sister..." and now holding back that dam is getting harder... "It's okay Luna, don't cry! We're technically step-sisters, but you're right. Sisters should be sweet to each other and love each other. I don't know why Amber doesn't like me, but your sister sounds really nice," Sofia said. "-tears falling- most of the time..." Luna added -insert flashback to that time Celestia tricked Luna into getting through the door by dragging her in while she was still inside Tia's tail, amongst other sisterly things that may prove annoying- "Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?" Sofia asked. "But I came to help you!" Luna responded. "We can help each other. I'll help you feel less alone without your sister, and you can help me feel less alone with my sister. We can navigate this new experience together!" Sofia exclaimed confidently. "Really?" Luna asked. "Really!" Sofia hugged Luna and wiped her tears away. As the two continued throughout their day, Sofia invited Luna and her family to come to the ball celebrating her becoming royalty. "I'm still not sure I even want a ball. But I think if you were there, I'd be a lot less nervous than if you weren't there." Sofia explained hopefully. Without giving it much thought, Luna said yes and promised to be there! So when her mom and dad came to pick her up, they were surprised to say the least to hear Luna seemed to actually enjoy the school day. "Today was so fun well actually no it wasn't it turns out I'm terrible at dancing like a human and Sofia's step-sister is really mean to her but that reminds me that Sofia invited me to come to her royal ball tonight and I said yes wait I can go right mama and daddy?" Said Luna now sounding more like a broken dam than her sister did a few days ago. "Oh honey, I'm sorry. We won't be able to take you then. We have a meeting with the griffin/griffon/gryphon* ambassador that we can't miss." Cosmos said disappointedly. "Can't I just go by myself then?" Luna asked hopefully. "No sweetie. We don't want you going through the portal by yourself. It could be very dangerous if you went through the wrong door. After all, you can't read the dimensional signatures yet (otherwise all the doors look the same)." Ethereal explained. "What if Tia went with me? Would that be okay? I made a promise! I can't break it..." Luna asked, desperate now for any way to turn this "no" into a "yes." "Hmm, maybe. You'd have to ask her if she can though. We might be okay with that." Ethereal mused. "Thank you thank you thank you yes thank you!!!" Luna blurted as she ran as fast as her little legs would carry her to her sister's room. "Wow, I've never seen her so excited to spend time with anypo-, I mean, anyone who wasn't Celestia..." Cosmos noted. "Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia TIA!!!!!" Luna shouted as she pounced on Celestia's back and bounced up and down with every repeat of her name. "Ow ow ow! What is it Luna?!" Celestia asked, lifting the blue filly off of her now tiny hoofprint covered back. What did Luna even run through anyways?? "Can you go to Sofia's castle with me tonight and attend her royal ball pleeeeaaaase?" Luna asked, arming her most irresistible puppy dog eyes. "Oh Luna please no! You know I can't resist your filly face!" -Expression intensifies- "-sigh- I wish I could, but I have homework to do and I need to finish it. I'm sorry." Celestia sighed, hoping Luna would understand. Those hopes were in vain. "B-but, I promised I'd be there... How am I supposed to tell her I won't be there? She was counting on me to be there so she wouldn't feel scared or lonely! And who's gonna help her stand up to her mean sister?!" Luna cried, the reality of her fate weighing down on her like ten six-foot tall teddy bears. "I don't know, sneak out?" Celestia burted foolishly. "..." "I did not mean that..." "Hmm..." "Luna, whatever you do, do not sneak out to go to the ball," Celestia implored. "Are you listening?" Absolutely not "Uh huh. I won't go. I promise." She said with her feathers secretly crossed. Later that night, a little form of something dressed in all black could be seen alluding to sneakiness as she made her way through the castle to the portal room. duh, duh, duh duh duh, duh, duh, duh duh duh, duh, duh, duh duh duh, duh, duh, duh duh duh ba da da, (duh duh) ba da da, (duh duh) ba da da, (duh duh) ba dum! (ten points to whoever can guess what I'm humming right now) "Okay mission control, do you copy?" Luna said to nopony in particular. -Moves a little to the left- "Yes, copy, over." -moves back to the right- "Okay. I think the portal room is just behind this door. Do you copy?" -left again- "I copy. We are ready for action! Over." -right again- "Let's do this." COMMENCE DRAMATIC ENTRANCE!!! -bursts open the door- "This is the kitchen..." RESCIND DRAMATIC ENTRANCE!!! "Oh, cookies." EAT COOKIES!!! After a much needed cookie break before dinner (gasp!), the mission to find the portal room continues. There is only so much time to spare to get to the Big Event, and we wouldn't want to miss anything important. Our moral support is needed and promised, and when a princess makes a promise, she never breaks it! Unless it was made to their dull older sister who is only sometimes fun and who's mane makes a good hiding spot for escaping all one's troubles... then you break the promise! (I may need to rethink my moral standards...) A door can be seen up ahead gleaming with possibilities! This is it. The moment we've been waiting for! I'm home fr- "Luna, what are you doing?" "ACK!!!" Luna squeaked as she visibly jumped in the air with no small help of her wings. "I do hope you weren't about to go through the portal realm by yourself." Starswirl said. "It would be a shame if somepony such as yourself got lost in there and we never heard from you again..." "Whaaaaat? I wasn't gonna do that no... I was gonna go to a ball my friend invited me to, not get lost for all eternity." Luna said, being only partially correct about her intentions. She was, after all, still intending to "go it alone." "I see. Based on those cookie crumbs on your muzzle, I believe this is not the first naughty idea you've had hmm?" Starswirl stated. "Um heh heh, -wipes off the cookie crumbs- no..." Luna admitted sheepishly. "Well, if it means that much for you to go and nopony else is available to take you, I can escort you my naughty little student." Starswirl offered. "Really?!" "Really." COMMENCE PURE ALICORN FILLY JOY!!! Just as Starswirl finished inputting the coordinates to Sofia's castle and pressed done, Luna rushed through the door to the castle gates. "Halt! What are you?" A guard asked. "I'm Luna! I'm Sofia's friend. I'm not too late for the ball am I?" Luna asked worriedly. "Don't worry, we have the invite." Starswirl assured as he pulled out the invitation. "Oops, I almost forgot that..." Luna realised. "You're just in time. The ballroom is down the hall to the left. You can't miss it." He said, now assured that this obviously harmless filly was actually harmless (for now). "Yay!" Luna cried. Upon entering the ballroom, it seemed as if everyone had just woken up or something like that. When Luna spotted Sofia, she ran right over to her and said, "Hi Sofia! Sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything?" Author's Note And end scene! Woo hoo! This is probably the LONGEST chapter of any story I have ever written on FimFiction 😂 If you're at all wondering about my frequent use of Luna hiding in Celestia's mane, it's based off of this picture: Is that not just the cutest thing you have ever seen??? I thought it was. In case you haven't noticed by now, these first two chapters take place during the events of Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess (the movie premiere of the series). While several things changed significantly (Like the fountain incident and dance class incident), one thing I decided to leave alone was a very major moment in Sofia's development where she fixes things with her step-sister Amber. I figured it'd be best to leave that entire section of the movie untouched just because of how important of a moment it is for the characters' development. I also realised that by changing the fountain scene, Sofia doesn't get her first gift (talking to animals). To fix this, just know that when Sofia and Luna comforted each other after dance class, Sofia got the gift of speaking to animals that don't already talk like Luna does. This throws some things out of order, but we won't address that right now because we've got an AU tag we can use to justify all our issues with canon and continuity As for the ending, yes, I will be leaving it at that. Watch this become a running gag of Luna just being like Next chapter: "S1E1: One of the Students"** (A play off of the original episode title "One of the Princes") In which Luna tries to fit in with the other students while also trying to try out for the derby (as a flyer), but oops there's some more practical hiccups she overlooked... This will go great! Edit: **This is not the exact plot. I changed it. One more thing: *There's apparently three ways to spell griffon, all of which are technically correct... so yeah. From here on out I'll probably use the spelling "griffon," but I'm keeping that three spellings bit in the chapter cause it's funny as heck to read * S1E1: "Never Give Up" (Even if it's easy to do so)An undefined amount of time after Sofia's Coronation Ball, a pink alicorn teen and a blue alicorn filly could be seen through their tower window getting ready for the school day. "And I had so much fun! I made up a funny new dance I could do in dance class and Sofia and I talked a lot and Starswirl talked to King Roland about our worlds and then we ate some fancy food and I tried a weird brown chewy looking thing... Tasted kind of funny and salty, but I think I like it. I don't know why Sofia looked at me so strangely, but I guess it's all fine now!" Luna rambled on as she told Celestia about her day for the dozenth time. "Oh, that's nice. Sounds just as fun as the first six times you told me about that night!" Celestia said, doing her best to mask her sarcasm as well as forgoing telling Luna what she ate... no need for Luna to know just yet. "Speaking of Starswirl, did you remember to do your magic exercises like he asked us to do?" Luna immediately stopped whatever she was doing and opened her mouth to say something, only to close it after. She opened it again, carefully stating, "Um, not quite yet... I was gonna do it... tonight! Yes, I'll do it tonight. Or even right now! Hold on one second..." Luna immediately began rapid firing her magic exercises. This had no adverse effects whatsoever, nor did it include levitating almost everything in Celestia's room and dropping it suddenly, nor was Celestia's room a complete mess right now. -sarcasm dramatically intensifies!!!- "... LUNA!!!" Celestia shouted. "Heheh, oops," Luna said. "I did them now..." -insert Luna's best "I am completely innocent" face here- "Fillies, it's time to go! You don't wanna be late for school," Ethereal called through the door. "Coming mama!" Both called back. When the girls finished galloping down the stairs, their parents lead them to the room that held the magic door. Originally, it was a mirror in design, but there had been a few accidents of ponies leaning against the mirror and falling inside a random world. They were fine and made it back to Equestria, but a door was framed around it to prevent this from happening again. Besides, it made more sense for it to be a doorway to other worlds rather than a mirror to look at other worlds. Cosmos opened the door and asked, "are you fillies ready?" "Yes!" "Yes!" "That's more like it! Let's go." As they entered the first door, they were met with another world full of more doors. To the untrained eye, every door looked exactly the same. But if one were to look closely, they would notice a slight glowing streak twisting and dancing along the grain of the doors ever so subtly. If one were to look even closer, they would notice that no two doors had the same streaks (or signature) on it. Every door had a fingerprint, so to speak. As a result, anyone who could read these lines would never get lost in this realm of doors. When they reached the door with the "signature" of Enchancia and the school, Cosmos wove together the magic code to specify where exactly in that world he wanted the door to open. As a reliable test, he opened the door and, sure enough, it opened in front of the school. "Have fun Luna! We'll pick you up after school," Cosmos said. "Bye Mama, bye daddy, bye Tia! Good luck at Royal Academy!" Luna called to her family. "Thanks!" Celestia said as they closed the door to activate the door to a different location in Enchancia. The door opened again to reveal another school with older students more Celestia's age heading inside the building. "Have fun Celestia!" Ethereal said. "Thank you! I will," Celestia responded as she galloped into the school. Back at Royal Prep, Luna had just met up with Sofia on her way to classes. When Sofia saw Luna coming towards her, she joyfully said, "Hi Luna!" "Hi Sofia!" Luna responded. "Guess what? I'm trying out for the Royal Prep Flying Derby team today!" Sofia exclaimed excitedly. "Ooooh... what's that?" Luna asked, intrigued but also confused. "Oh, it's a race to challenge racers' speed and agility in a flying course! Students ride flying horses and guide them through a course to cross the finish line first! It's absolutely thrilling to watch, and I can't wait to try out for the team! I've always wanted to ride in the flying derby," Sofia explained wistfully. "Wow, that sounds so cool! I want to try out too!!!" Luna exclaimed excitedly. "But, how are you going to do that?" Sofia asked. "I want to fly in the derby! Duh. I'm the fastest and bestest flyer in our entire castle! Besides daddy of course. I think he lets me win sometimes, but that's okay! I'll beat him for real one day! Especially if I raced a bunch in the flying derby!" Luna explained, just as determined as Sofia now to make the team. "Great then! We can go together," Sofia said. "I can't wait!" Luna cried. "Um, Sofia? The bleachers are over here. Sofia?" Amber called, being completely ignored by Sofia in lieu of a mission. "Good morning Sir Gilliam!" Sofia piped. "Ah, good morning Princess Sofia. The bleachers are over there," Sir Gilliam responded. "I'm not here to watch, I'm here to try out for the team!" Sofia announced. "What?!" cried everyone who wasn’t Luna or Sofia in shock. "What? What's wrong?" Sofia asked. "Um, only princes can ride in the flying derby," a dark haired young prince stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "So, princesses can't try out?" Sofia asked dejectedly. "Well, I-I mean, they could, but..." Sir Gilliam trailed off. "But they don't. The flying derby is just not a princess thing," Amber explained. Then everyone broke out into song and dance. ... W-what? Luna thought to herself as she watched everything unfold. By the time the song had finished, Sofia was not gonna let them stop her from pursuing her dreams. Meanwhile... "Um, Sir Gilliam?" Luna asked. "Yes Princess Luna?" He replied. "Can I try out for the team?" Luna asked. "As a flyer of course, not as a rider. I've only ever ridden on my daddy's back and I get the feeling it wouldn't be quite the same here..." she explained before the confusion could unfold. "Ah, I see." Sir Gilliam said. As he sized her up, one major problem sprung to mind. "Who will ride you?" he asked. "What?" "You will need a rider just like all the other flyers. Quite frankly though, I'm not sure anyone in the school would be small enough to practically ride you." Sir Gilliam explained. "But, can't I just fly without a rider? I really want to race!" Luna asked. "I'm afraid not. Flying derby is, in essence, a team sport between the rider and their flying horse-" "Pegasus," Luna corrected. "Um... yes. Having a rider is both an added advantage of more eyes and a disadvantage of new weight and requires a tight bond and synchronization. If I allowed you to race without a rider like the other students, it wouldn't very likely be a fair race would it?" He explained. "I suppose I understand that... what if I got a rider?" Luna asked. She would exhaust every option she had. "I'm not sure who you could find to ride you..." Sir Gilliam said, noting the fact that Luna was only maybe a head taller than Sofia and didn't have much back space comparatively for someone to ride on. "I'll find a way!" Luna proclaimed. "If you say so," Sir Gilliam sighed. The next day, while both girls were guided to the stables, Sir Gilliam announced, "There is only one horse left, but nobody wants to ride him..." "I want to ride him!" Sofia piped up. "You do? -sigh- of course you do..." Sir Gilliam deadpanned. "What about me?" Luna asked. I wonder of there's a rider nopony wants to carry... I wish Sofia could ride me! Maybe... "Hmm, maybe see if there's a saddle that will fit you." He responded. huh? "What's a saddle?" "Oh... You wear it on your back so that your rider doesn't fall off as easily." Sir Gilliam explained "Oh... okay!" While Luna went to find a saddle that wouldn't swallow her whole, Sofia met Minimus for the first time. "Oh you don't wanna ride me, princess! I-if only you spoke horse I could tell you," Minimus said. "I can speak horse," Sofia stated. "AGH! Wow, oh what, how???" Minimus asked. "Because of my amulet. It gives me the power to talk to animals," Sofia explained (condensed version). "Hahaha!" Luna laughed somewhere around the corner (I laughed when I heard Minimus say "AGH" too Luna), having given up on finding a saddle in her petite filly size. When she came back around to where Sofia was, she said, "Hi Minimus! I'm Luna." "You speak human AND you understand horse? Wait, when did they start bringing in winged unicorn fillies to the stables? Are you here for flying lessons? You don't want me as a teacher," Minimus said to Luna. "Heheheh... one, I'm an alicorn. Two, I'm actually a student here. Three, I already know how to fly. I came here to try out to be a flyer in the races! But Sir Gilliam thinks I'm too small to carry anyone..." Luna explained. I'm also bilingual, which I'm pretty sure Tia told me means I speak and understand two languages... but that is beside the point. "Well, at least you must be a good flyer! I may be rideable, but I've got short legs and these small wings! I don't fly very fast and I worry about everythi-" "Stop talking now." "Huh?" Minimus said. "Sofia wants to ride you, so she will. I made up a bunch of excuses why I shouldn't come to school here, but I actually like it after all. So whatever excuses you think you have, drop them and just get out the barn door already," Luna stated bluntly. Perhaps with more age (and the tact that comes with experience) she would've been less harsh, but we'll get to that character growth later. "U-uh, o-okay..." Minimus stammered. Sofia, having a bit more empathy than Luna for Minimus, then said, "I think you're perfect just the way you are!" So they went on outside and thus began the first challenges. Despite what his name implies, Minimus was still large by a child's standards. Therefore, Sofia had a hard time getting on him. First she tried jumping up high to get on him, but she couldn't gain enough altitude. Then she jumped higher and climbed up, falling off on the other side instead. Finally, James (Sofia's stepbrother and the one tasked by their parents to help Sofia in her efforts to join the team) said, "Here, let me help you." When James created a step up with his hands for Sofia, she stepped up and managed to get her leg over Minimus and mount him correctly. "Thanks James," Sofia said. As she tried to get Minimus to start flying, she realized something. "Now what do I do?" At that moment, Hugo (the adorable jerk prince with the singing voice of a grown man*) approached them on his flying horse/pegasus. "When you're done James, can you help my sister get on her pony? Hahaha!" After he left, James declared it would probably be best if they practiced in the back area where no one would see them. As practice began, Sofia could barely stay on Minimus for more than 10 seconds... Ride Fall on a crash pad Ride Fall on a crash pad and bounce a few times Ride again? Big fall with lots of bouncing around on the crash pads... "-sigh- what am I doing wrong?" Sofia asked. "I don't know," James replied. "We can stop if you want." "I am NOT giving up! I don't care how many times I fall! I am going to try out for the team!" Sofia proclaimed. "Hahaha, you've gotta stay on your horse first!" Hugo said. "I knew you were a bad racer, James, but you're a worse teacher! Guess flying derby isn't a princess thing after all." "You can make fun of me all you want Hugo, but not my sister!" James rebutted. Nearby, Luna didn't know what it was that was happening within her, but something just snapped. What exactly? She doesn't know. But what she does know is that Hugo is about to get the biggest chewing out of a lifetime! "YOU INSOLENT WHELP!!!" Luna shouted. "SOFIA IS THE MOST CAPABLE RIDER I'VE EVER KNOWN!!!" Somewhere deep inside Luna, a part of her noted that Sofia was the only rider she knew, but she disregarded that thought for the time being... "FLYING DERBY IS FOR PRINCESSES, AND SHE WILL BEAT YOU AND YOUR STUPID 'FLYING HORSE,' OR I'LL NEVER FLY AGAIN!!!**" Luna finished shouting in the Royal Canterlot Voice, on the verge of tears. "Is that a challenge? Bring it on! I hope you enjoy your flight ban," Hugo quipped poorly as he left. "Luna! That's not necessary," Sofia said. "Oh but it is," Luna stated, slightly more calmly (or at least not shouting or about to cry). "I'll help! With me teaching Minimus and James teaching you, how could we fail?" "Well, if you're not going to give up, then I won't either," James said as he fist bumped Sofia. Meanwhile, "Ooooh snap..." Minimus panicked. While James was helping Sofia learn to stay on her horse, "Royal Flying Boot Camp" began with Minimus. "Okay soldier, straighten up and chin up! I want to see you standing at your tallest and most noble!" Luna shouted (at least it wasn't the Royal Canterlot Voice, but the filly still has quite the set of lungs in her...) "A-ah ma'am yes ma'am!" Minimus stuttered as he saluted her with a wing. "You can just call me Commander Luna. I'm nowhere near old enough to be a 'ma'am'," Luna stated flatly. "Yes Commander Luna!" Minimus corrected himself. "First, let's start with something simple. Do 10 laps around the course as fast as you can. I need to see what I'm working with here," Luna instructed. So off he went. Minimus was doing passable at first, but with every lap he got progressively slower. Hmm... legs causing drag, inefficient use of wingspan, terrible pacing, poor stamina, posture aerodynamically fatal, is he even breathing? Luna mentally noted. "Stop." "Huh? Woa-" -crash- "What? Did I do okay?" Minimus asked while trying to recover. "Tsk tsk tsk, terrible," Luna stated. "You flap your wings like they might fall off if you don't hold them tight enough to you, your legs look like they're paralyzed, you spent entirely too much energy on the first two laps and had none left for the other 8, do they even teach you pegasi anything at all about flight efficiency???**" Luna ranted. "Well gee thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to hear..." Minimus deadpanned. "I'm not going to tell you what you WANT to hear, I'm gonna tell you what you NEED to hear. You need help, and if you and Sofia are going to cross that finish line in first, you need to follow my coaching (Second-hand from my dad's teachings of course)," Luna explained. "Oh, okay," Minimus agreed. First they started with endurance exercises to build up his ability to fly for long periods of time. Then he did wing lifts (well, he tried anyways), galloped in place for 15 minutes, and then had to carry Luna plus two feed bags on his back while hovering for as long as possible... less than 10 seconds. Luna is fine, but those bags of feed will never see better days... Since Sofia and James were back from their practicing, it was time to work on flight efficiency. "Minimus, since Sofia will need to practice riding you now, we'll move on to flying faster and with more agility," Luna instructed. "How did I do on endurance?" Minimus asked. "... um, it better be a short race," Luna said. With that, it was James' turn to do the coaching for Sofia. Of course, this didn't mean Luna wasn't still "helping" alongside them. "Make those wingtips touch Minimus! Tuck those legs in! You are a flying barrel and you have no legs! Neck outstretched straight like a bullet!!! There we go!" They actually did very well, soaring through the sky gracefully. Also, Luna's advice was actually what Minimus needed to improve his time. "Alright, it's time you tried the last hurdle," James said. "It's the toughest part of the course, right before the finish line. We go under the gate and through the steeple." As Minimus approached the steeple, he lost a lot of momentum stopping to staring up at it before flying up. After James flew up to the steeple and rang the bell, Minimus followed suit. However, "Uuuuugh we're not gonna make it Sofia!" Minimus panicked. "If James can do it, so can we!" Sofia encouraged. "Not necessarily!!!!" Minimus replied, ever the pessimist. They proceeded to spiral back down from the sky, gliding back to the ground. Minimus had given up, Luna noted. "You'll get it next time," James said. "I hope so..." Sofia replied. After Sofia and everyone else left school for the day, Luna asked her parents if she could stay a little bit longer. "I just need about ten more minutes," Luna said. As Luna walked to Minimus's stall, she asked, "Minimus, what happened today?" "It was my fault! I was terrible, I'm not good enough, I'm gonna fail Sofia, and-" "No. You were great. You improved your speed dramatically, you weren't out of breath when you flew, I could tell you sliced through the air more than you did before we started training, and you almost made it up the steeple!" Luna interrupted. "Almost isn't going to win the race," Minimus stated. "Minimus, what is it about Sofia that everyone loves so much?" Luna asked. "Um, well she's sweet and kind and pretty and she never gives up and-" "Stop. Repeat that last one," Luna interrupted. "She never gives up?" "Correct. The only thing you did wrong during that practice race, and I mean the ONLY thing, was that you gave up. When it got difficult and you let fear take a hold of you, you gave up," Luna pointed out bluntly. "Oh..." "Let's go through the course one more time. I'll race alongside you. Follow my lead and don't give up. Unlike my daddy, I'm not gonna just let you win." Luna smirked before taking off. They went through the course with Luna guiding him through the best way to fly the course. As they whipped and wound through the course, Sir Gilliam noticed Luna's skill. "Impressive," he noted. After several turns and maneuvers through the course, it was time for the steeple. "Are you ready?" Luna asked. "No!" Minimus responded. "Wrong answer!" "I mean yes!" "Good. Let's go!" Luna swooped up the side of the steeple, never missing a beat. As she climbed her way up the tower, Minimus followed suit. Luna whipped through the steeple and used her telekinesis to ring the bell on her way. Minimus, however, fell just short of the top while Luna faded from view towards the finish line. "Huzzah! That was fun wasn't it Mini- Minimus?" Luna looked behind her to realize Minimus wasn't there. -sigh- She walked around the side to see him still on the other side of the steeple looking more dejected than ever. "A filly raced better than me..." Minimus sulked. -SLAP- "OW WHAT?" "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK LIKE THAT!!! YOU ARE A FANTASTIC RACER AND YOU WILL WIN BECAUSE I SAID SO!!! YOU WILL PUSH THROUGH THE PAIN AND YOU GET THROUGH THAT STEEPLE AND YOU WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!?!" Luna shouted in probably her loudest Royal Canterlot Voice. "Y-Y-YES C-COMMANDER LUNA!!!" Minimus shouted/stammered back in shock, rubbing the soreness out of his face and ears. "Good. I didn't break your face did I? I forgot I have Earth Pony strength as an alicorn..." Luna asked. "You're asking this now?" Minimus asked annoyedly. "-sigh- I'm fine. 'Push through the pain' you said." "Okay good. I'll be back tomorrow morning to help you before the race! I know you can do it," Luna said. "But the important question is, do you believe you can do it?" "I don't know..." "Well you better know before the race. Sofia hasn't given up on you, James hasn't given up on you, I haven't given up on you, so don't you go giving up on yourself," Luna said. "See you tomorrow!" "See you tomorrow..." Things were going great! Minimus flew what was probably his fastest time and now it was time for the dreaded steeple. "Up Minimus! Up up up!" Sofia shouts. I can do it I can do it!!! Minimus tries to convince himself. -struggles- "We're not gonna make it Sofia!!" Minimus panics again. "Oh Minimus..." Luna murmured to herself. He didn't give up nearly as easily this time, but nevertheless he did eventually give up. "It's all my fault! You should switch to a bigger horse," Minimus said. "You're big enough," Sofia said back. "A faster horse then," he corrected. "You're plenty fast," Sofia rebutted. "You can talk to your horse all you want, but it won't get you through that steeple. If you can't even finish the race, why even start it?" Hugo said from behind and then beside them. "You should go back where you belong, with the other princesses." Luna didn't quite snap the same way she did before, but she came pretty close when she gave Hugo a very dangerously dragon-slitted death glare... Let's just say the stare was enough to make him go away without another word. The rest of practice continued to go a little better, but Minimus was still unable to get up the steeple. They tried and tried, but it was no use. If Minimus couldn't find some courage soon, they were gonna lose! And Luna hadn't forgotten about that hasty bet she made with Hugo... "Minimus, I think you should rest now. You'll need all the energy you can get for the race later today," Luna said. "How am I supposed to race? I'll never even cross the finish line..." Minimus sighed dejectedly. "Don't listen to anything that dumb prince has to say, listen to me. Forget everything I ever taught you! If you never remember anything I said, remember this: Don't give up. Don't give up, no matter how easy it may seem to do so. Nothing worth doing was ever easy, but you can do this!" Luna pep-talked. "I don't know..." "Then I guess you'll just have to do it not knowing." As the time for the race had drawn near, Luna met her parents and sister in the spectators' booth. "Racers to the starting line!" This is it. Nothing to be done now but watch... Luna thought to herself. "Oh this is exciting! I've never been to a flying derby race before. How creative," Celestia said as she watched the pegasi and their riders began to line up. "They certainly look like promising flyers," Cosmos noted. "Aw, that little purple one looks cute," Ethereal said. "That 'little purple one' is the one we need to win or else I'll never be allowed to fly again..." Luna said. "Remind me to never let you run negotiations when you're older..." Cosmos deadpanned. "So, I guess you never found a rider to race with?" Celestia asked. "Oh, I forgot about that..." Luna noted. But she also realized there was no possible way she could carry anyone bigger than a toddler and still race normally. "Oh, the race is starting!" Celestia cried. "Welcome to the Flying Derby tryout race!" Flora announced. "As everyone knows, the first two riders to cross the finish line earn their place on Royal Prep's Flying Derby team! So without further adieu, horses, on your wings, get set, go!" And the race is off! Minimus is up to a late start, but regains ground quickly. His smaller size makes him maneuverable, allowing him to wind through other flyers and pass them. As Minimus gained ground on Hugo and his horse, Hugo got an idea. "Looks like we're gonna have to take the princess out of the race." With that, he purposefully stopped in front of Sofia so she'd get thrown off her horse. "Aaaah!" Sofia cried, nearly landing head first on a haystack. She managed to correct her fall and land on her bottom instead of the more fatal neck snapping option. "HEY! HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE!!! DADDY CAN I SHOOT HIM WITH A LASER BEAM PLEEEEEAAASE?!" Luna shouted. "Luna, normal volume please! And NO, you cannot shoot the kid with a laser beam," Cosmos rebuked. "Hmph," Luna pouted. "GO SOFIA AND MINIMUS!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!" James helped Sofia get back on Minimus and the race continued on! Despite Hugo's efforts, the two were gaining ground again. "Sofia and James have caught the pack and passed them! But Hugo still has the lead," The announcer announced. "There's Hugo," James said. "And there's the steeple," Sofia continued. "Come on Minimus! We can do this!" "Oh, I don't know..." Minimus said. "Well I do!" Sofia remarked. As they rose up the steeple, Sofia chanted out, "Climb, climb, climb!" "Oh, oh, oh!" Minimus cried out as he rose up the steeple. ~"Never give up! You'll just have to do it not knowing. Sofia hasn't given up on you, James hasn't given up on you, I haven't given up on you, so don't you go giving up on yourself!"~ Luna's words rang in his head. "Now tuck those wings!" Sofia said to him. Before Minimus knew it, he had passed through the steeple and heard that glorious bell sing its song of victory. "I did it!" Minimus realized in awe. "How did she- WOAH!" Hugo started to ask before he nearly crashed into a tree. "Go Sofia and Minimus!" Luna cheered. "As they turn down the stretch, it's Hugo, James, and Sofia neck and neck!" the announcer announced. "Come on, you can do it!" Luna shouted, not in the Royal Canterlot Voice but certainly audible. The riders were neck and neck, no one having any plans of backing down! Sofia and James continued to gain baby steps towards the winning positions. Moments before crossing the finish line, James and Sofia passed Hugo and gained the winning spots! And the crowd goes wild! "Princess Sofia and Prince James have won the tryout race and made the team!" the announcer announced. "We won. We actually won! Wait, does that mean they'll expect us to win the next race? And the one after that?! I THINK I NEED TO LIE DOWN!!!" Minimus cried as he played dead on the ground. "Oh Minimus," Sofia chuckled. Sofia and James congratulated each other and attributed their wins to each other. When they had finished patting each other on the back (figuratively speaking), Sir Gilliam and the others came to congratulate them. "Congratulations! I proudly present you both with the official team jerseys," Sir Gilliam announced. "Wow, thank you!" Sofia said. "Brilliant," James said. They put on their jerseys and then their family and Luna and her family came to congratulate them. "Great job Sofia! I knew you two would win!" Luna proclaimed. "You must have been pretty sure if you were willing to bet your ability to fly on them winning," Cosmos surmised. "Heheheh, perhaps I shouldn't have made the stakes higher than they already were..." Luna admitted. "I think it was wonderful what you did for your friends Luna," Ethereal complimented. "I'm impressed, I thought for sure Hugo would win," Celestia stated. "But he didn't have me or Sofia helping him. So he was always doomed to lose," Luna stated matter-of-factly. "Right you are young princess," Sir Gilliam agreed. "Sir Gilliam?" Luna asked. "Your Majesty, your daughter is an incredibly gifted flyer!" Sir Gilliam exclaimed. "I've been watching her fly while she helped Minimus practice, and I must say I would hate to lose such a valuable flyer. Princess Luna, how would you like to help start a racing team solely for racing with flying hor- I mean pegasi? No riders needed since it seems you and your parents can translate everything for us and them," Sir Gilliam proposed. "Would I ever?! Yesyesyesyesyesyes YES!!! Thank you!" Luna squealed. "Oh Tia I could race against you and Minimus and some of the other pegasi at home, OH! We could race against the other pegasi here too! We could all practice becoming better flyers like the riders practice being better riders!!! Yay!" Luna ranted on excitedly. "Luna, you know you would obliterate me in a race," Celestia noted. "I know," Luna said innocently. "Well I think this is the best end to a race I can imagine," Ethereal announced. "There's a first time for everything, and we are definitely the first of our kind," Sofia declared as the first princess to be on the flying derby team, with Luna being the first royal student to (someday) fly in the races and make her own racing team. Author's Note AAAAAND end scene! Wow this chapter got long. I don't even know if that much really happened, but I tried to flesh it out. It's 9pm, my back hurts a little bit, and I know the chapter is dialogue heavy, but I'm not mad about it. There were a lot of conversations and I enjoyed writing and reading them, so I hope you do too. Feel free to point out any glaring errors in spelling/grammar/continuity/etc. and like/follow/track/fave! Notes: Like in last chapter, I glossed over the Sofia/James scenes and focused on Luna and Minimus on purpose so as not to interfere with the existing character growth/bond. I didn't mention this before, but if you have never seen the Sofia the First series before (or it's been a long time), I recommend you watch the corresponding episode for each chapter to "fill in the blanks" so to speak (It would fill in the blanks simply because I am leaving those glossed over bits untouched. Therefore, there are certain parts of the original episodes that remain unchanged from canon). *Like seriously, who was in charge of voice casting for these kids' singing voices?? They're heavenly! Is it wrong that my heart kind of fluttered when Hugo sang the phrase "Suits of armor with lots of spikes,"? That voice! It was just ✨👌🏻✨ The way his voice did a vibrato and the way he ran his notes so smoothly was just 🤯🫠 Disney knows how to cast its singers ❤️ (Also, I forgot what a massive jerk Hugo was in this episode! I also realized I still managed to sing along to the songs near perfectly like 10-12 years later 💀 **If you couldn't tell what was going on with Luna before, here's an explanation: Nightmare Moon is starting to grow into a more mature state at this time. While Luna doesn't understand what part of her is causing her to do/say the more irrational and bolder things she'd usually never do/say, she will soon. In later chapters, if Luna is acting more quiet and shy, she is her main self. If Luna suddenly gets severely triggered and becomes bolder in her words and actions, then Nightmare Moon has sprung in. Essentially, Luna = Quiet, shy and keeps her thoughts to herself (introverted), while NMM = Bold, confident, speaks her mind, will probably come across very blunt and harsh, but she is not yet evil (extroverted). In an ideal world where the two work in perfect harmony, Luna would be an ambivert. But no such harmony has happened yet 😉 Here's a super adorable image I found on the internet that indicates the current Luna/Nightmare relationship: Aww, they're buddies! 🥰 S1E2: The Royal Sleepover! (Featuring 3 born royals, 1 royal by marriage, 2 commoners, and an alicorn princess in a pear tree)The Castle of Enchancia was abuzz with activity as the preparations for the royal sleepover were underway. A massive cake that no one is actually gonna eat later was rolled by, while some other servants carried wash bins and rugs to their designated locations in the palace. "Look at all this! Our slumber party is gonna be amazing!" Sofia remarked. "Oh Sofia, this isn't just any slumber party. This is your first royal slumber party," Amber exclaimed. "I know! I'm very excited!" "Oh me too! And I want everything to be perfect!" Meanwhile, the castle steward, Baileywick, was directing the other servants on their tasks, sending some to the banquet room while others were sent to do other probably important things. "Baileywick? Did you set up the chocolate milk fountain?" Amber asked. "It's on its way to the banquet room right now, m'lady," Baileywick responded with a bow. "Ah, thank you Baileywick," Amber said with a slight curtsy. "Thank you Baileywick!" Sofia echoed. The girls then went to the elevator shaft to go to where they'd be sleeping for the slumber party. "Here, let me straighten your tiara," Amber said, fixing Sofia's tiara. "Thanks Amber," Sofia said. "Now wait until you see where we're sleeping tonight!" As the elevator made its way to its destination, the doors opened to a beautiful and massive observatory! The walls and roof could hardly be considered there since everything was glass and windows. The room's walls and ceiling were in fact one massive dome of glass with several supports maintaining the structural integrity. A beautiful telescope could also be seen in the corner waiting for use by a certain Princess of the Night to do some casual stargazing. The beds look comfy too I suppose. "Wow Amber! We're going to sleep here?" Sofia asked. "Yes, we are!" Amber exclaimed with enthusiasm. "This is amazing!" "It is, isn't it?" As they made their way to the beds they'd probably not be sleeping on tonight, Amber continued saying, "And, there's one more thing: The most important part of any great royal party..." "Yes?" "The guests!" Amber exclaimed. "I invited Princess Hildegard and Princess Cleo. They're the most popular princesses in the school. Who did you invite?" "Ruby, Jade, and Luna." Sofia responded. "Oh, how exciting! But, I don't know Ruby and Jade. What kingdom are they from?" Amber asked. "Ours! They're my friends from the village!" "-dramatic gasp- You invited village girls?!" Amber cried. "They're really awesome!" "-another gasp- But they're not princesses." "So? I invited one princess. Besides, I know you're gonna love them! We used to have the best sleepovers!" Sofia reminisced. "Ugh, Sofia. Must I remind you... again, that this is your first slumber party as a princess. You do want to make a good impression, don't you?" "Yeees, but Ruby and Jade are so much fun! Wait till you see this dance they do!" Sofia giggled. "They're going to make this the best party ever! I promise." -Meanwhile, in the Royal Sorcerer's lair- Cedric was just polishing his crystal ball, when he heard a knock on his door. -cue ball falling on his foot- "AAGH OW!!! Oh, what is it?!" "Cedric," King Roland greeted. "Oh, King Roland, Queen Miranda," Cedric greeted back, trying his best to hide the pain his foot was still feeling. "The girls are having a slumber party tonight," the King announced. "Oh, I can already hear the endless giggling now," Cedric subtly deadpanned. "And we were hoping you could put on a little magic show for them," Queen Miranda continued. "... You want me, your royal sorcerer, to uh, entertain the children?" Cedric asked incredulously. "Well we actually wanted the jester, but he's out sick," King Roland responded. Of course he is... Cedric thought to himself. Second choice for a rather unwanted job anyways... "Let's say around eight o'clock in the royal playroom?" Roland asked. "And could you do a few card tricks? You know children love card tricks." "Oh and card tricks love children. Of course your majesty," Cedric said, wearing his cynicism well. "Great!" King Roland said. "Thank you Cedric," Queen Miranda said. "Yes, my queen," Cedric bowed. Once they'd left, all curtains fell and smiling masks were recklessly abandoned on favor of long faces with an entire dictionary of sorrows written on the under appreciated sorcerer's face. "Oh I can't believe this!" Cedric cried with an audible palm to the face. "FIFTEEN YEARS of sorcerer training so I can be a warm up act for milk and cookies!" -squawk- his raven Woodworm said. "Indeed Wormy. Well, I'LL SHOW THEM! I'll use this little magic show to steal the Amulet of Avalor from Princess Sofia!" Cedric cried dramatically. "The only question... is how." As Cedric spotted his puppets, an idea struck him. In short, he's gonna use his puppet show to make an object disappear and reappear right in his hands (Take a guess what object it'll be). Once he has the amulet, he'll take over the kingdom blah blah blah villain monologues etc. -Meanwhile in Equestria- "Oh Tia can you believe it? My first sleepover!" Luna cried. "I've never been to a sleepover before. What's it like?" "Well, I've never been to a sleepover either. But I suspect there won't be much actual sleeping will there?" Celestia remarked. "How can you when you're having so much fun? I wonder what games we'll play or what food we'll eat... I can't wait to spend more time with Sofia!" "Didn't you say there would be others at the party too?" Celestia asked. "Yeah, but I'll still have Sofia, even if I don't really know anyone else," Luna explained. "What should I pack?" "It's only one night, so maybe just your toothbrush and nightgown," Celestia responded. "Oh, and Mr. Fluffybear! Can't forget him! Wait, where is he?" Luna asked as she looked around for her Ursa Minor teddy bear. "WHERE IS HE?!" "It's okay Luna, don't panic! I'll help you find him," Celestia offered as she began looking around Luna's room for Mr. Fluffybear. "I can't go to the party without him! I'll never sleep if I do!" Luna cried. "You probably won't sleep anyways..." "TIA!!!" "Okay okay! Still looking..." About half an hour later, it was almost time to go for the party. Mr. Fluffybear was still missing and it was clear he wasn't in Luna's room. "Okay think, where did you last have him?" Celestia asked. "Um, I think, um... I don't know," Luna struggled. "Maybe the dining hall?" "Okay, we'll look there," Celestia said. "We have to hurry! I can't be late for the slumber party!" Luna urged. "Okay, you get ready and pack your other things, I'll look for Mr. Fluffybear," Celestia instructed. So Luna readied her saddlebags and got her nightgown, hairbrush, and toothbrush packed (putting the toothbrush and toothpaste in a separate bag, of course). When she'd finished packing and headed down to the hall where the portal door room was, Celestia was nowhere in sight. Come on Tia. Where are you? A few minutes later, Celestia came galloping down the hallway, ramming into the wall when she tried to turn the corner too quickly. She quickly recovered and met Luna at the door. "I'm here! I'm here," Celestia gasped, trying to catch her breath. "My hero!" Luna cried as grabbed the bear and held it tight. "Thank you Tia!" "No problem! Now let's get you to that sleepover." "And from the village of Dunwiddie, Ruby and Jade!" Baileywick announced as their cart rolled up. "Sofia, Princess Amber!" they cried. "Jade, Ruby!!!" Sofia cried in excitement. They then gathered together in a big group hug. "Welcome to our castle!" "I can't believe we're here!" Jade cried. "This is gonna be so much fun!" "Oh my goodness I'm so excited I couldn't even sleep last night! I was thinkin about bein in a real life castle and wonderin all sorts of things like do princesses brush their own teeth or does someone brush them for you? I brushed mine twice today especially for the party, see?" Ruby rambled on. Just before anything more could be said, a whoosh was heard as a magic door appeared and opened to reveal a filly about their size on the other side. "SOFIA I'M HERE!!!" Luna cried loudly as she ran out the door and then tripped. She promptly landed on her face, but ignored the pain as she quickly got back up again. "I'm here," Luna repeated more calmly. "And from the Kingdom of Equestria, Princess Luna," Baileywick announced. Due to the fall, Luna had more than a few hairs out of place and her tiara was crooked, but she was otherwise fine. "Did that pony just talk?" Jade said. Ruby just shut up. "Oh. Ruby, Jade, this is Princess Luna! She's from another dimension! We go to school together," Sofia explained. "Luna, this is Ruby and Jade from my old village!" "... Hi," Luna said quietly. Cue the incessant questions for all born royals. "Wow, Princess Amber I love your tiara! Can I touch it? Do you eat grass or normal food (to Luna)? How many tiaras do you have? How many dresses (both for Hildegard)? Do you live in a castle (Back to Luna)?" "Absolutely not!" Amber responded harshly. "Um, sometimes? I but I prefe- okay..." Luna responded before Ruby asked a question to someone else. "84. More than I can count..." Hildegard answered reluctantly. "Yes," Luna replied to the last question. This girl sure talks like a whirlwind... "Aw, what a cute white squirrel!" Ruby complimented. "Lulu is a mink," Hildegard corrected. My sister sometimes calls me Lulu... that's not awkward at all... Luna thought to herself. "I have a pet donkey!" Jade remarked. "Isn't he cute!" Jade asked as she and Ruby started making donkey noises and laughing loudly. Meanwhile Luna was trying to comprehend why you'd have a pet donkey and what on earth those horrible sounds were that didn't come close to sounding like a donkey. To be fair, actual donkey noises were not that pleasant to listen to either so... "Welcome to the royal sleepover!" King Roland announced. "Ooh! Come one Ruby! Last one in goes to the dungeon!" Jade cried as they ran to the palace doors. "Come on in girls. Our castle steward, Baileywick, will help you all get settled," King Roland said. "Thank you your majesties," Ruby and Jade bowed dramatically. They then resumed their running in, stopping to rap about the fact that they're at a royal sleepover. "They're coming to our party?" Hildegard asked incredulously. "They're just village girls!" "Sofia invited them," Amber explained. "Ruby and Jade are the best! You'll see," Sofia exclaimed. And what am I? The freak pet? Luna thought to herself as she walked silently in with the others. As they began unpacking their luggage in the observatory, Luna began to wonder if she'd massively misunderstood something about how long they were staying... "Luna, where's your things?" Amber asked. "Um, just here um..." Luna responded nervously as she pulled out her nightgown, toothbrush and hairbrush, and her teddy. "Did I need anything else for one night?" She asked. "I suppose not," Amber responded. "I underpacked!" Cleo cried, ironically probably having packed the most of all of them. "Your luggage, m'ladies," a servant said as he presented Ruby and Jade's bags to them. As they unpacked their things, Ruby asked, "Jade, did you bring the pinecones?" "Yep! Sure did!" Okay, now I know I'm missing something here... Luna thought to herself. "You look funny!" Ruby laughed. "La la la! I'm a pinecone princess!" Jade singsonged. -cue awkward beatboxing- "We're at a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover," Ruby "rapped." Then Sofia joined in. "We're at a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover!" "What are they doing?" Cleo asked. I was wondering the same thing... Luna thought as she watched them rap and dance with zero sense of style or rhythm. "What are they wearing?!" Hildegard asked, referring to the pinecones currently rolled into their hair like curlers. How they ever managed to get them out later is beside me... "Are those pinecones?" Amber asked. And yes, yes they are. "Want one? We brought extras!" Ruby offered. "Uh, thanks..." Amber said dully. Then music started to play. From where? We don't know. This again? Luna thought to herself. Yet another song and dance routine. "Our perfect slumber party is just about to begin! And at our perfect slumber party, everybody's gotta fit in," Amber sang. Where does that put me in terms of "fitting in?" Luna thought to herself. "There's a certain way we do things. We don't snort and we don't squeal," Amber continued. Noted... "Running around with pinecones really isn't part of the deal." How are you supposed to get them out of your mane- I mean, hair, anyways??? As Amber continued her song, it became clear that being royal was a lot of pressure. Not that Luna hadn't known royal pressure before (after all, someday she will be responsible for maintaining the solar cycle and ruling an entire kingdom with her sister!), but it never quite looked like this. This almost seemed like more pressure than knowing someday you're gonna have to run an entire kingdom with your sister... almost. Then Sofia began singing. "At a perfect slumber party, why should we all act the same?" True... certainly more interesting that way. "Cause at a perfect slumber party, isn't fun the name of the game?" Sofia asked. She continued her song listing all sorts of fun things you could do at a slumber party, while Amber rebutted everything with "proper princess activities." Quite frankly, Luna didn't know what to do. She was sent specifically to this world to learn how to be a proper princess, but what did that even look like? I'm so confused! Waltzing? Sing softly, no boisterous noises, can't be clumsy- oh... -reminiscences on her entrance from earlier and the fact that she can't dance- I have a lot to work on... By the time the song ended, Luna was conflicted. "Um, Sofia?" Luna asked quietly. "I'm gonna help them fit in!" Sofia finished as she went to find Ruby and Jade. "Oh, um, okay..." Luna sighed as Sofia walked right past her. I don't think she even heard me. I suppose I have speaking softly down on the list... "Um Amber?" "Oh, yes Luna?" Amber responded. "How exactly am I supposed to fit in?" "Well, I don't think you'll have any problems, being a natural born royal and all," Amber stated confidently. "While I don't think Sofia's village friends being here is a good idea, at least she did invite one real royal," Amber admitted. "Yes, I suppose that is good. It is a royal slumber party after all, right?" "Right, and you're royal." Jade and Ruby just came back from having a royal makeover. "They look just like princesses now don't they?" Sofia asked. "They look the part, but can they act it?" Amber asked. Jade then proceeded to trip and fall in much the same manner Luna did when she arrived. Amber and her friends were not convinced. "Okay! It's time for the first activity: fan decorating!" Baileywick announced. "Princesses one and all, follow me!" So they headed to the other side of the room where they had craft supplies and blank fans to decorate. The girls began painting on their fans and filling them with pretty paintings, except... "What flowers are you painting Hildegard?" Amber asked. "Roses." "What kind of flowers are you painting Cleo?" "Roses!" What kind of flowers are you painting Amber?" Hildegard asked. "Roses!" "Oh, I didn't know we could only paint roses..." Luna remarked as she looked at her fan. It was decorated to look like the night sky. It actually had a very striking resemblance to the Starry Nights painting by Van Gogh, only the moon was white instead of yellow. "Sofia, what do you think of my-" Luna was interrupted by Ruby as she shouted, "Say hi to Mr. happy fan!" Of course Sofia laughed, but then Amber scolded her. "Sofia!" "Ruby, can you just paint roses?" Sofia asked. "Don't make me Mr. sad fan!" Ruby responded. "Ruby." "-sigh- okay..." Do I need to change my fan? I was actually quite proud of it... I'm messing up being a princess already! Does Sofia even know I'm here anymore? Luna thought dejectedly to herself. "Baileywick? Is it almost time for pin the tail on the unicorn?" Sofia asked. "Say WHAT now?!" Luna cried. "It is now," Baileywick responded. Then he unveiled the poster. "What is that monstrosity?!" Luna asked. "It's a painting of a unicorn," Amber responded. "What's wrong with his face?! That is not any unicorn I have ever seen. I hate it! The picture scares me..." Luna humphed. Yeah, that's gonna be in my nightmares tonight... "Oh oh oh! Can I go first! Unicorns are my favorite animal in the whole wide world!!!" Jade pleaded. "Animal?" Luna asked, insulted by the term. Fortunately, no one heard her complaint. Jade began the game by putting on the blindfold, and then she attempted to pin the tail on the unicorn. Her friends tried to guide her to the right spot. Turn left, turn right, more to the left, no back right! And then she knocked over the model of the solar system... "Woah!" Jade cried. "Watch out for the planets!" Ruby warned the others. "... hahaha, look at me! I'm the princess of Venus!" Jade laughed. Cleo and Luna were laughing too, until Amber made a face that clearly implied "I am not amused so neither should you be." They stopped. "Did someone else want a turn?" Jade asked. Luna was about to try her luck (mostly so she could try stabbing the terrifying unicorn with the nail in the tail) when suddenly the bell rang. "The bell! That must mean it's time for a new activity!" Sofia stated. Already? Luna thought disappointedly. "Yes indeed! Cedric's magic show is about to start," Baileywick explained. Oh, magic show? That sounds interesting... Luna thought to herself, feeling a little better about the change in activity. "Sofia, can I sit with y-" "A magic show! Doesn't that sound like an activity we can all enjoy together?" Sofia asked rhetorically. ... I must be invisible. Luna mused sadly. "Ah, in just a few moments, the Amulet of Avalor will be mine!" Cedric said. He practiced his act and it went... it went. Then the girls arrived. Ruby proceeded to ask more questions to Luna, not catching a single one of the social cues that she did not really want to talk. "Do you have any pets? Are there humans in your world? How do you get to school? Do you fly with your wings or does someone else fly you places like with our carriages? How many tiaras do you have? What's your castle like? Do you have any siblings? What do you like to do for fun?" Please, just... stop... please... Luna thought inside. Outside, she was silent with the slightest sweat forming on her head with every added question. Luna was so overwhelmed, she looked like she wasn't breathing (which was probably true). Finally, she just snuck away while Ruby started to ask someone else questions. Amber then whispered, "Sofia! Do something about your friends!" "Uh hey Ruby! Did you know there's a chocolate milk fountain?" Sofia asked. "Why don't we get some before the show starts?" "A chocolate milk fountain?" Ruby cried in awe. As Amber, Hildegard, and Luna left with some chocolate milk (Luna especially needed some chocolate right now), Ruby said, "Sofia, this is so much fun! I'm having the best time! Thank for inviting us." Hmph, at least they're having fun with Sofia. I don't think I've been able to say even one word to her since I got here... Luna thought bitterly, heading to sit down at the show. "Jade! Save me a seat! Front and center!" Ruby called. As Luna has sat down next to Cleo, Luna called, "Hey Sofia, can you sit with m-" and then Sofia sat next to Ruby and Jade on the other side of Amber. F-FINE! PRETEND I DON'T EXIST! I didn't want to come here anyways... Luna silently screamed within the confines of her mind. "Now all they have to do is sit quietly and watch a magic show. What could go wrong?" Sofia said to Amber. Amber was not convinced. "Welcome to the greatest and only magical puppet show in Enchancia!" A puppet with a low voice announced. Then a wizard puppet knocked the other puppet out of the way as he said in a high voice, "For my first magic trick, I will make an object disappear!" Is this their idea of magic? I'm bored already... Luna thought, forgoing the cold fact that she was already bored before this (Except when Jade knocked over the solar model. That was kind of funny). "Now, who will lend me their amulet for this trick?" The puppet then hovered over to Sofia. "How about you little princess?" "How about a pinecone? Can you make that disappear?" Jade asked as she got right in the puppet's face. "NO! NO PINE- I mean, no. I need an amulet! Only an amulet," Cedric said, nearly losing his character. "Do you know any card tricks?" Ruby asked. "I love those!" Then James entered the room. Finally, another face I know well. Luna thought to herself. She certainly wasn't as close to him as she was with Sofia, but closer than Amber. "Hey! Mom and dad asked me to tell you that-" James was interrupted. "PRINCE JAMES!" Ruby and Jade ~~simped~~ cried. "Remember us?" Jade asked. "We met you last time we were at the castle!" Ruby said as they ran past the chocolate milk fountain, bumping it on their way. The fountain began to lean as Sofia shouted, "NO!!" but it was too late. The fountain fell over, covering the two village girls in chocolate milk and getting a spot on Amber's dress. Though Luna put up her wing instinctively, she and the others were left untouched by the sticky chocolate mess. Sofia gasped. "Merlin's mushroom!" Cedric cried in anger as he poofed away. "My nightgown is ruined," Amber said. "It's only a drop..." Cleo noted. "LOOK AT IT! IT'S RUINED!!!" Amber shouted. "It's ruined," Hildegard echoed. "We're so, SO sorry!" Ruby apologized. "So sorry," Jade echoed. "This was my third favorite gown!" Amber fumed. "Amber, it was just an accident!" Cleo tried to reason with her. "Yeah! At least you're not drenched in chocolate milk like they are!" Luna added. "Who's side are you on?" Amber asked. "I-I'm not... oh whatever..." Luna mumbled. "Oh no," Sofia sighed. "Oh dear oh dear. Okay you two, let's go to the dressing room and get you cleaned up," Baileywick said as he took them to the dressing room. "Hahaha!" James laughed. "What are you doing here, James?" Amber asked. "Hahaha, sorry sorry. Mom and dad wanted me to tell you there's dancing in the ballroom," James explained. "Let's go. Then maybe we can enjoy five minutes of our party without Sofia's friends getting in the way," Amber said. But, I can't dance! I thought I was Sofia's friend too, and she was mine... What am I supposed to do?... Luna thought to herself as she went with Amber and her friends, the only ones who seemed to be giving her at least some attention. Luna did contemplate just staying with James if Sofia was gonna ignore her and Amber was gonna divide her. But unfortunately, it didn't seem James was invited to the party. "Hey, you okay Sofe?" James asked. "-sigh- No! My friends are ruining the party!" Sofia cried. "What are you talking about? That was the funniest thing that's ever happened at one of Amber's sleepovers!" "Oh, it was awful! Jade and Ruby have done everything wrong since they got here!" "Says who?" "Amber, Hildegard, Cleo!" "So? Who cares what they think? What about Luna?" "Oh my goodness, Luna! This is her first royal slumber party too! Oh, I must look like a complete fool to her too!" Sofia cried. "I don't know about that, but what do you think?" "I don't know... I just don't want them to ruin the rest of the party! -sigh-" "Where is everybody?" Jade asked. "In the ballroom," Sofia answered. "But can I talk to you guys first?" "Sure!" Jade said. "I love to talk!" Ruby piped. "Yeah, that's the thing. I want you both to fit in with the princesses, and you want to fit in with them too, right?" Sofia asked. "We look just like them now right?" Jade asked, posing dramatically with Ruby. "Yes, you do. But now you have to act like them! Princesses don't talk so much or laugh so loud, or make so many messes," Sofia explained. "We talk too much?" Jade aksed. "We laugh too loud?" Ruby asked. "We were just having fun-" "But we're sorry. We didn't realize we were causing problems. We'll try to act, uh, more like the other princesses," Ruby promised. "Oh great! Thank you!" Sofia said as they had a group hug. Unknown to Sofia, however, they were not happy. While Luna was still trying to figure out dancing, Sofia and her friends finally came back in. Finally, now I can spend some time with Sofia! And then Sofia started waltzing with Amber while Ruby and Jade tried to waltz with each other. Can't waltz, don't have a dance partner, don't have any friends... Why am I still here?! Luna mentally cried and nearly started crying outside too. So Luna just went in a corner by herself while she waited for the dancing to be done. This is the worst sleepover of my life! Meanwhile, Jade and Ruby grew bored as well and sat in a different corner. "Are you having any fun?" Jade asked Ruby. "Nope." As soon as the dance ended, Ruby and Jade went to talk to Sofia. "Um, Sofia?" Ruby asked. "We're gonna go home." Jade said. "What? Why?" Sofia asked. One of the benefits of someday being Princess of the Night means that she has heightened senses of night vision and hearing. Luna may have been on the other side of the room, but she still heard what was going on. "We're not having a good time!" Jade admitted. Not having a good time? NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME?! OF ALL THE INSOLENT- "But you're finally fitting in! And the best news is, you're not embarrassing me anymore!" Sofia triumphed. "We were embarrassing you?!" Ruby cried. "Sofia, I'm sorry if we talk too much and laugh too loud for your fancy new friends! But we like to talk and we like to laugh! And if that's not okay with you now that you're a princess, then maybe we shouldn't be friends anymore!" Jade shouted. Luna had enough. "NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME? TALK TOO MUCH AND LAUGH TOO LOUD FOR HER 'FANCY NEW FRIENDS'??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! YOU ONLY JUST STOPPED HAVING FUN FOR 10 MINUTES!!! I HAVEN'T HAD FUN SINCE I GOT HERE!!! I WANTED TO SPEND TIME WITH THE PERSON WHO INVITED ME HERE, INSTEAD SHE DITCHED ME TO SPEND TIME WITH HER 'FRIENDS', WHO WERE MORE INTERESTED IN GAWKING OVER HER PRINCESS LIFE, RATHER THAN ACTUALLY CONSIDER HOW SHE WAS MAKING HER OTHER FRIEND FEEL!!! YOU SO CALLED 'FRIENDS' HAVE GOTTEN TO SPEND ALL NIGHT WITH SOFIA, BUT I DON'T THINK I'VE EVEN GOT ONE WORD WITH HER ALL NIGHT!!! SO JUST GO!!! I WAS GONNA LEAVE MYSELF, BUT IT SEEMS THE MAJORITY OF MY ISSUES WILL BE SOLVED WHEN YOU LEAVE!!! I WON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR UNENDING QUESTIONS THAT FLOOD MY BRAIN WHILE I DIE INSIDE, NOR WILL I HAVE TO RUB MY EARS FROM YOUR RIDICULOUSLY LOUD VOICES!!!! NOW, IF YOU DON'T MIND, I AM GONNA GO TO THE OBSERVATORY AND HUG MR. FLUFFYBEAR WHILE I SCREAM INTO A PILLOW!!! GOOD NIGHT!!!!!" Luna ranted and screamed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, slamming the door on her way out. A lesser door would've broken under such violent force... "Oh yeah! Well fine!" The girls said as they too ran off. Obviously, Sofia was shocked and heartbroken. "Don't worry about them, Sofia. You're with us now," Hildegard said. "But I wanted to be with them," Sofia said. She then broke away from the others and ran up to find the girls. "Ruby! Jade! Luna!" She found Ruby and Jade's princess dresses on the bed, while Luna was nowhere to be found. "Oh no..." "Sofia?" Queen Miranda called. "Jade just asked me to summon her father. Is everything alright?" "I told Jade and Ruby to act more like the princesses! I was trying to help them fit in, but I just made them feel bad and accidentally ignored Luna while trying to help them," Sofia admitted. "It seems to me the only one who needs to act more like a princess, is you," Miranda said. "Me?" "Being a real princess is all about how you treat people, Sofia. And if someone is your friend, you should like them for who they are. You shouldn't try to change them, no matter who else is around. Especially if that gets in the way of spending time with your friends," Miranda explained. "I really messed up," Sofia sighed. "Now it's too late to do anything about it!" "Well, it's never too late to start acting like a princess. And saying you're sorry is a great place to start," Miranda advised as they drew into a hug. "You know, Ruby and Jade are probably still here, and Luna is likely somewhere around the castle. Go on, you better hurry!" "Thanks mom!" Sofia said as she ran for the elevator shaft. If I run quickly, I can catch Ruby and Jade before they leave! Hopefully Luna hasn't left either... Sofia ran out the palace doors and down the steps as fast as she could without falling down and breaking her neck. As soon as she saw that Ruby and Jade were still there, she ran even faster and called out, "Ruby! Jade! Wait!" They continued walking on. "I'm sorry! Please don't leave!" "Hmph, I thought we were embarrassing you," Jade said. "And what about Luna?" Ruby said. "You're not embarrassing me, you guys are perfect just the way you are! You're sweet, and loyal and so much fun to be around! Luna's outburst is my fault. If I hadn't been so busy trying to make you guys fit in, she wouldn't have felt so left out! She doesn't really know anyone here except me anyways, so that just made things worse," Sofia explained. "We are pretty fun," Ruby said. "And it does sound like Luna wasn't having any fun either," Jade admitted. "And, you guys are my best friends! I'm sorry about the way I acted tonight, and I'm really reaaaally hoping you give me a chance to make it up to you!" Sofia pleaded. "We can start over and have our own slumber party, like we used to! What do you say, just the four of us? I still need to apologize to Luna too, and I think you guys would be great friends! She's not like the other princesses." The two thought about it for a minute, before being in agreement. They then formed a group hug and all was forgiven. "So where's Luna?" They asked. "Oh no! I still haven't found her yet. I hope she hasn't left already! Can you help me find her?" Sofia asked. "Sure Sofia," Jade said. "No problem," Ruby said. "She wasn't in the observatory when I first went up there," Sofia said. "Maybe she's somewhere else," Ruby theorized. "Like where?" Jade asked. "I-is that Luna on a cloud?" Ruby asked. They looked up high and sure enough, a couple dozen yards in the sky was a lone, low lying cloud with Luna cuddling her teddy on top of it. "How is she doing that?!" Jade asked. "Never mind that, Luna!" Sofia called as she went outside the balcony. "Leave me alone!" Luna called back. "No Luna! I've already been doing that all night! Can we please talk?" Sofia called. "Why do you care? You've been with your 'friends' all night. Why do you need my company too?" Luna asked bitterly. If they could see Luna right now, they might have noticed her eyes were draconic. But they couldn't see it, so they didn't notice. "Luna I'm sorry I've ignored you all night! I got so carried away trying to make Ruby and Jade fit in, I completely forgot to spend any time with you," Sofia explained. "Please don't be mad at me!" "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you? I'm not mad! I'm heartbroken..." Luna said, starting to cry again. "I didn't mean to hurt you Luna, honest! Please come down! We're having our own slumber party in my room. No princessly expectations! Just a bunch of girls laughing and having a good time!" "You really mean it?" Luna asked. "Really. We can just have fun without having to act like proper princesses. Would you like that?" Sofia asked. "... I would, actually," Luna responded as her eyes reverted to normal and she came down to the balcony. "I'm sorry too, for my outburst earlier. I suppose I can't have really blamed you two for Sofia's actions." "It's fine, we understand! You were kind of right to be mad at us too. We at least had some fun before we had to act princessy," Ruby admitted. "We promise we'll show you what it looks like to really have fun at a slumber party!" Jade proclaimed. "I would love that!" Luna admitted. "-sigh- Finally, some peace and quiet," Amber said. "Now this is a perfect slumber party!" Hildegard stated. "-sigh- No. Sofia's friends were kind of fun..." Cleo sighed. From the observatory, music and laughter could be heard from Sofia's room. -In Sofia's Room- "Hahaha, that's a silly dance!" Jade laughed as Ruby did a silly dance while Sofia and Luna also laughed at the silliness before them. "Oh oh wait, I have one too that I did at Sofia's ball. Watch!" Luna said as she began kicking her left front and back legs out and then putting them down and switching to the right legs, and repeat. "Hahaha, I love it!" Ruby and Jade cried as they got down on all fours and did the same thing Luna was doing. Sofia then began singing a wacky song to go with the new dance as the just giggled and laughed. Meanwhile, Amber, Hildegard, and Cleo were outside their door, listening in on the fun. Finally, Amber decided to peek in and see what they were up to. "Sofia? Can we talk for a second?" "Sure Amber. What's up?" Sofia asked. "W-well, we heard a lot of laughter and noise coming from downstairs.. a-a-and we were just wondering if, everything was... alright?" "We're fine! In fact, we're having a blast!" "Really?" "Yeah! How about you guys? How is your slumber party going?" "Oh, us? W-well it's going... it's kind of a different kind of- a-and w-well... it's... different..." Amber struggled to answer. "Amber, it's no fun without us is it?" Sofia asked point blank. "Oooh... YES SOFIA!!!! We are so bored without the four of you!" Amber admitted. "Well, would you like to join in our slumber party?" Sofia asked. "We've got extra pinecones!" Jade offered. "Really? That would be great!" Amber cried. "We can worry about how to get them out later," Luna said. "Right now, I'm having fun!" And so they danced on and forwent all royal formalities as they just enjoyed being kids!!! Too bad someday they'll have to grow up and rule nations... Author's Note AAAAAND END SCENE!!! I'm surprised how quickly I wrote this... I don't know if it's even been a full week between posts... oh well My back hurts (A sign I've been sitting with horrible posture for too many hours) but my heart is happy! The idea of the mood behind this chapter is "You invited your introvert friend to a party but then forgot about them and hung out with your fellow extroverts leaving the introvert alone in a world of strangers." (I am personally guilty of this... please forgive me!) The next episode is "Let the Good Times Troll," but let me just say I will be skipping the events of that episode. I honestly hated that episode and honestly don't know how to incorporate it into the story, since it's an episode more aimed at Sofia's personal life (Like, what would Luna have to do with any of that?). So, I'll be having a slice-of-life chapter instead that just focuses on Luna and her family going about their normal weekend (Kind of like how "Let the Good Times Troll" puts more focus in just Sofia and her family). Because the entire chapter will be original instead of an episode rewrite, it will take longer to write and will probably be waaaaaay shorter, but there will be a chapter S1E3 (Just not involving any trolls or Sofia). My usual picture! I wonder if I'll run out of these by the time I reach the end of the series... Nah (Pretend the horsey is an Ursa Minor teddy) Like, follow, fave, and all that other stuff! Feel free to let me know if there are any glaring grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors from me typing too quickly and not always checking my work because I'm too impatient to post (Y'all would probably catch them easier anyways since I've been staring at this story for about 8 or more hours intermittently ... I have been sitting for far too long going back and forth between writing this chapter and rewatching "The Big Sleepover" episode and generally goofing off on YouTube...) ~The Deleted Chapter~Author's Note Remember when I said I was deleting more than half of what I had for S1:E3 and rewriting it? (Blog post) Well, turns out it was waaaay more than over half. It was nearly the entire chapter save for 800 words!!! Soooo, I have much more writing to do than I thought, at least 1 ten-page paper due in less than 2 weeks, some books reviews for books I haven't read, a midterm I still have to take (eek...), and lots of other things I've been procrastinating besides writing for FimFiction. So to bide some time, I'm gonna post the redacted chapter anyways and you'll get the real one later. Enjoy this little (3.8k word) deleted chapter! ~The Deleted Chapter~ It was the weekend now, but it wasn't just any weekend. On the last week of every 2 or so months, the king and queen would take the entire weekend off from royal duties to spend exclusive time with their daughters. They wish they could do it more often, but ruling a kingdom keeps one (or two) very busy. It was all the strings they could pull to get 2 days every 2 months! So when the two alicorn sisters awoke that morning, they awoke to their parents faces 6 inches from their face... It's tradition. "Surprise! Guess what day it is?" Cosmos boomed. "My birthday?" Luna asked. "No silly. It's pancake weekend! You girls get to spend all today and tomorrow with us," Ethereal said. "-GASP- YES!!! I LOVE PANCAKE WEEKEND!!! Can I make little faces with the fruit again?" Celestia asked. "Of course! That's the best part of any pancake," Cosmos exclaimed. "I just want pineapple and chocolate chips on my pancakes," Luna stated. "Alright, well let's get out of bed! Those pancakes won't make themselves!" Ethereal announced. So they got out of bed, brushed their manes and teeth (to get rid of that morning breath), and were ready to make and eat pancakes in a record time of about 60 seconds... They may still have a few tangles in those manes. "We're ready! Can I add the ingredients to the bowl?" Luna asked. "Sure sweetie. We need two cups of flour -Luna adds 2 cups flour-, some sugar -adds what may or may not have been a cup of sugar-, and several other ingredients," Cosmos said before lifting his head from the recipe to find Luna had added some of the ingredients already. "Oh, I didn't think you were doing that right now. I was gonna measure out the ingredients for you..." "Oh," Luna said as she stopped herself from adding the entire baking powder container into the bowl. "Looks like these will be pretty sweet pancakes, but I think we'll be fine," Ethereal said as she noted the large amount of sugar in the bowl. "Heheh, oops..." Luna said. "Let me help you with the rest of the ingredients Luna," Cosmos said as he measured out the other ingredients. After a decent sized mess in the kitchen was made, the royal family was left with varying sizes and shades of golden-brown/ink-black pancakes before them (they may have let Luna help pour and cook the pancakes too. Despite the seeming failures, it was still good to let her help anyways). "Hey look Luna! Say hi to Mr. Happy Pancake! 'I'm so happy to meet you! Too bad you must eat me soon...' hahaha!" Celestia said, equipping a silly voice for the pancake when talking to Luna. "Haha, hi Mr. Happy Pancake! Pleased to eat you!" Luna greeted. "Don't you mean pleased to meet you?" Mr. Happy Pancake asked. "No, I mean eat you," Luna said as she grabbed the plate and took a bite out of the pancake. "Hey wait a second, that was mine!" Celestia cried. "Luna, you need to ask before you grab something from someone else," Ethereal scolded. "Sorry Tia..." Luna said as she gave the plate back. "Here's your plate Luna," Cosmos said as he gave her a plate with a pancake and several pineapple slices piled on top. "Oh, one more thing." He then sprinkled the top with tiny chocolate chips. "Here you go!" "Thank you daddy!" Luna cried as she devoured her pancake. Once the girls had finished their pancakes, it was time to play off all those pancakes. So the family went outside to play in the garden. They began playtime with a game of what can only be described as volleyball without the net or boundary lines. There was a line drawn on the ground. If the ball fell on your side of the line, that was a point for the other team. There is no out field. Luna and Cosmos played against Celestia and Ethereal. At first, the game was pretty even with all four volleying the ball back to the other side. But then the parents got competitive. Very competitive. It slowly escalated until the parents were basically dominating the gameplay while the girls sat and watched, volleys getting more and more intense. The ball hadn't dropped yet, and it didn't seem like it would anytime soon with the way the ruling pair were playing (oh the things one can do when the pressures of maintaining a mask of perfection and regality are temporarily removed). Finally, the ball ended up flying out of Cosmos's range and that's when Luna took her chance to volley the ball! "I've got it!" Lune cried. "Be careful!" Ethereal and Cosmos said. As Luna ran deeper into the forest, the ball never came near in sight. Instead, the castle got further away in the distance, until the dense forest trees blotted it from sight. Suddenly, that ball doesn't seem so important anymore... "Momma? Daddy? Tia?" Luna cried out. Well, there in the tree branches was the ball, but home is nowhere in sight. "Hello? Where are you guys?!" What am I gonna do? I'm trying to look for anything familiar, but all these trees look the same! I think I can from that way... or maybe it's the other way... or over here? "Aaaagh!!! Where they hay am I?!?!" "You're in the Everfree forest." "Gaah!" Luna screamed. She turned to face a strange looking bug pony with lots of holes in her body (how does that even work anyways?). "Who are you?" "I'm Chrysalis, but you can call me Chryssie! Who are you?" Chrysalis asked. "Oh, hi Chryssie! I'm Luna. Do you live here?" "Hi Luna! I live a little bit away from here. I felt like exploring today. Where do you live?" "I live in a castle. It's somewhere outside this forest," Luna explained. "Outside the forest? Wow. What does the sky look like?" Chrysalis asked. "What do you mean? You've never seen the sky before?" Luna asked. "No. We aren't allowed to leave the forest..." "Why?" "I don't know. But I think I know how to get you back to the edge of the forest! You should be able to get home from there. I think I've even seen the castle you're talking about," Chrysalis explained. "That would be great! Oh thank you Chryssie!!!" Luna cried. So Chrysalis guided Luna back to where she entered the forest and Luna could see her home from there. "Thank you for helping me Chryssie!" "No problem Luna." "Will I see you again?" Luna asked. "I don't know. Maybe kick your ball into the forest again and we'll see what happens!" Chrysalis quipped. "Hahaha, I hope I the ball doesn't go that far again. But thanks again! Bye Chryssie!" "Bye Luna! I hope I see you again!" Meanwhile, Luna's family was waiting for her back at the gardens. "Where is she? Luna should've been back by now," Ethereal worried. "Do you think she got lost?" Celestia asked. "I sure hope not. Maybe I should go in and look for her. She can't be that far in... Luna?" Cosmos called as he approached the forest. "I'm here daddy!" Luna cried as she came out of the forest with the ball. "Oh good! What took you so long?" Cosmos asked. "I got lost." "Told you so," Celestia said. "But then a nice bug-pony named Chryssie helped me get home!" Luna finished. "A what now?" Celestia asked. "Surely you don't mean you saw a changeling, do you?" Cosmos asked. "Um, are they bug-ponies?" Luna asked. "They're evil shapeshifting creatures who steal life from our ponies to become more powerful," Cosmos explained. "I thought I'd banished them all from our lands, but it seems some still live within our forests..." "The changeling I met didn't seem evil. She was about my age and she was really nice! And she didn't steal my life," Luna countered. "That may be, but you can never be too careful. Perhaps this little one is biding her time, until the right moment to catch you off guard," Cosmos speculated. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Perhaps it wasn't a changeling she saw. It could be have been anything else," Ethereal tried to reason. "Exactly how many creatures in our lands can you describe as a 'bug-pony'?" Cosmos asked. "... one." "Exactly. Luna, I don't want you going back in the forest. Do you understand?" Cosmos commanded. "But-" "No 'but's!" "Yes daddy..." Later after bedtime, Luna snuck into the library to look for a book on changelings. Hmm, 'ca', 'ch', aha! 'changelings'... Yup, this is definitely a picture that looks like Chryssie! But, it doesn't look as nice as Chryssie. Why? And back in the Hive, Chryssie was telling her mom about this new creature she met. "Her name is Luna! She seems really nice. She didn't have any holes in her body and she had wings like us, but there were feathered like a bird. She also had a horn on her head like the unicorns you've told me about! I think she was a princess too. She lives in the castle outside the forest! Mom, are you listening?" Chryssie asked. "Do you mean to tell me you met an alicorn? And not just any alicorn, but a royal one?" Lepidoptra asked (I know this name has been used before as Chrysalis's "before evil" name, but this is unrelated and I have no idea what else to name Chryssie's mom). "Um, I guess so. Why does that matter?" "Those ALICORNS banished us from our original home and have forced us to starve in this forest! We used to feast on love! Now we can barely survive. You are far too young to remember what's it's like to feel full of love, so you do not even miss it. But I want vengeance for you! Tell me, will you be able to lure her here again?" Lepidoptra asked. "Y-you won't hurt her, will you? I promise she's really nice!" Chryssie asked. "Of course not! I'm not a monster. I just need her to... help us. Yes. She could help us get out of this forest." "Then I could see the whole sky? Not just a small sliver of it through the trees?!" "You can explore all you like if you help me get your little friend to the Hive!" "Yay!!!" The next day, the royal family decided to play hide and seek with the kids. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, (etc.)," Cosmos and Ethereal started counting. Okay, now is the time to go see Chryssie again and ask her about this. Luna thought to herself as she pulled out the changeling book from its hiding place. Just as she was about to sneak into the forest, Celestia appeared behind her. "What are you doing?" Celestia asked. "Aah! What are YOU doing?" Luna replied back with a jump. "Please tell me you are NOT about to back to see your little changeling friend." "Whaaaat? No. Why would you say that?" "You are literally holding 'The History of Changelings in Equestria' in your hooves." "Oh..." "For the Princess of the Night, your aren't that great at hiding your intentions and being a sneaky and stealthy," Celestia noteed. "I'll get there eventually..." Luna responded. "Wanna come with me? We could invite her to play with us!" "I don't know... Father said they were dangerous." "But Chryssie wasn't dangerous! Pleeeeeease!" -sweet big baby doll eyes- "... fiiiiiine!" Celestia caved. "I've got to learn how to say no to you one of these days..." "Yay!" Luna cried as she began skipping into the deep dark forest like it was a cotton candy trail. "-sigh- I'm definitely gonna regret this aren't I?" Celestia asked to no one in particular. Back again at the Hive, Chryssie was coming up with ways she could invite Luna to her home. What if I play it off as a playdate? Yeah! We can have a playdate! I already have mom's permission and command to invite her over anyways, so it's a plan! We're having a playdate today! "LUNA!!! YOU IN HERE?!" Chryssie shouted through the forest. "CHRYSSIE?! IS THAT YOU?" Luna shouted back. "Luna, can you use your inside voice please?" Celestia asked. "Oh snap there's somepony else..." Chryssie panicked under her breath. "Chryssie!!! This is my big sister, Tia! But only I get to call her that. To you she's Celestia, okay?" Luna introduced. "Um, ok. Hi Luna's big sister!" Chryssie said. "Hi Chryssie. You don't look quite as scary or intimidating as in our books... You're kinda cute." Celestia noted. "I am NOT cute!" Chryssie pouted. "But, um... do you two wanna come to my place for a playdate? It'll be lots of fun and my mom said you can come over an-" "Slow down! Say what now? Your mom knows about us?" Celestia asked. "Yeah. She said I should invite Luna over today. I think she'd be fine with you too!" Chryssie explained. "Give me one moment to speak with my precious little sister will you?" Celestia asked. "Luna, I don't think this is a good idea. Chryssie may be okay and innocent, but I'm not sure what her mom is like. She may not be as nice as her daughter is," Celestia whispered to Luna. "But how will we know if we don't just go see her? It'll be fun! What's the worst that could happen? We could bring mom and dad if that'll help," Luna whispered back. "You heard them yesterday. They'd never come with us to see them. They'd tell us not to go." "Which means we're going without them!" "No." "Yes." "No!" "YES!" "So you're coming?" Chryssie asked. "YES/NO" Luna and Celestia said respectively. "Catch me if you can!" Luna cried as she began running into the forest. "You can't hide from me!" Chryssie cried as she ran after her. "Wait, no! Come back here! Luna!" Celestia cried as she ran after both of them. The three ran through the forest, Chryssie making sure to subtly guide them towards the Hive. A hop skip and a jump later, they had arrived at the Hive. "Hey look, we're at my house!" Chryssie announced. "Wanna see my room?" "Yeah!" Luna exclaimed, following suit to Chryssie's "house" (I mean, I guess it's a house). "Luna wait! Come back! You can't run into the house of someone you just met!" Celestia cried, panicking internally at what their parents would think right now. "You can if it's a friend!!!" Luna shouted back as she and Chryssie turned a corner. "Luna what do you even know about this changeling?!" Celestia shouted back. "You know, I can hear you both VERY well..." Chryssie said to them both, trying to hide the knowing expression on her face. Luna is so sweet and fun! Celestia is right to question my motives... I wish it didn't have to be like this, but mom said she wouldn't hurt them, so maybe she just wants to talk to them? Yeah, just talk and ask questions... but if that's the case... why don't I quite believe that's what'll happen? "Well, I have nothing to hide. What about you?" Celestia asked. "TIA!!" Luna cried in embarrassment. "Uh oh look we're here!" Chryssie said as she stopped outside, presumably, her bedroom door. "Wanna play?" "Sure!" Luna said as she trotted in with her. "You coming Tia?" "Um, no. I think I'll just look around if that's alright..." Celestia said timidly. "Um, ok." Chryssie said. So Luna and Chryssie played with some of her toys while Celestia wandered around. After awhile, she got the feeling that her surroundings were changing. Have I been through here already? Or maybe not... umm... what's this room? Celestia entered to realize she walked into the throne room. "Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" a voice boomed. Seated on her throne was Queen Lepidoptra. "Eep!" Celestia cried. "You look like the alicorn my daughter described to me, but the colors are all wrong." "Oh, um, you mean my sister, Luna... I'm Celestia... I guess you're Chryssie's mom?" "So there's two of you? Interesting..." This could work even more in my favor than I thought, Lepidoptra thought to herself. "Are there more of you?" "Um, well, I have my parents..." "And what have they told you about our kind?" "... I don't know if I should say." "So nothing good." "I-I didn't mean-" "Relax, I won't hurt you little one. My issue is not with you. This is not your battle." "W-what?" "Though I do hope you forgive me for this. It is what must be done for the good of my subjects." Lepidoptra said sincerely before she encased Celestia in a cocoon. "Wait- ahh! Lff me oot!!" Celestia cried through whatever that liquid was. How she wasn't drowning she didn't know, but that's not what mattered. Luna is in danger! "So what's your family like?" Chryssie asked. "Well, they're really kind! Mommy and Daddy are busy a lot ruling Equestria, but they make time for us every other month or so. Sometimes I wish they didn't have to work so much, but I guess I understand. They said my sister and I will rule one day, and I'm not exactly looking forward to it if it means being too busy for everypony unless you pull lots of strings..." Luna rambled. "... That was more than you asked for, wasn't it?" "No, it was fine! You sound close with your family..." Chryssie noted. "As close as we can be. I love love LOVE my sister! When Mommy and Daddy can't play with us, we play together and Tia tells me fun stories and we laugh a lot!" "Ugh, I hate my siblings." Chryssie grimaced. "How many do you have?" "275." "WHAT?!" "What?" "That's a lot of siblings to hate." "Sometimes they bug me so much I wish I could just kill them!" Chryssie nearly shouted, nearly... "-gasp- I could never imagine wanting to kill my sister!" (Oh yes you could, Luna, yes you could.) "Well good for you!" Chryssie suddenly snapped. "Can we get back to playing with dolls now?" "Um, sure..." Luna replied, not a little surprised at Chryssie's outburst. A little later, there was a knock on the door. Then, without any permission or announcement, Chryssie's mom waltzed in and made herself at home (I mean, it is her home, soo....). -Awkward silence- "So, you must be Luna," Lepidoptra stated. "Yes ma'am," Luna responded. "-sigh- And this is my mom, the one who always forgets to knock before entering," Chryssie subtly seethed. "Oh like I'm not allowed to enter whatever room in MY castle whenever I like!" Lepidoptra shouted. "Are you enjoying your visit, Luna?" "I was..." Luna responded. "Was?" Lepidoptra asked. "... You're kind of scary," Luna stated bluntly. "Well, forgive me for being what I am. I hope your parents don't mind if you stay over for awhile," "Well... they don't actually know... I guess I should tell them I'm here..." Luna admitted guiltily. "Oh that won't be necessary. I'll let them know." "Really?" Luna and Chryssie asked. "Yes, really. You two have fun and don't leave the castle without my permission. Wouldn't want you parents to come and realize you aren’t here now would we?" Lepidoptra asked. "Of course not. Thank you!" Luna said. She was about to get back to playing with Chryssie when she noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong?" "I don't think my mom is gonna let you and your sister go," Chryssie said. "What?! Why would you say that?" "She had that glint in her eye. Her 'scheming' face if you will. She's up to something, and I don't think it will be good for you two. We need to get you home, now!" "WHAT?!?! BUT I THOUGHT YOU WERE NICE!!!" "I AM! But my mom is a different story! Let's go!" Chryssie opened the door to find herself face to face with her mom. "You know, these walls are rather thin," Lepidoptra mused. "Uh, mom... I didn't mean-" "Such a shame when you can't trust your own family. I would have let you play quietly with Luna in your room, but now I'll have to take her with her sister." "Wait what?! What did you do to Tia?! Where is she?!" Luna cried. "Oh you'll know soon enough." "Mom no!" Chryssie cried. But it was too late. Lepidoptra took Luna who knows where in the hive and Chryssie was alone... again. Meanwhile, back at the palace it was utter chaos. "How could you lose the girls?!" Ethereal cried. "Hey you were looking for them too! We both lost them!" Cosmos cried back. "Please tell me they did not go into the forest!" "We've looked everywhere else! Knowing Luna's curiosity, she probably DID go into the forest..." "-sigh- and knowing Celestia, she probably tried, and failed, to stop her..." "Let's go. I think I know where in the forest they are." But before they could take another step, a letter appeared in front of them with the Changeling Royal seal on it. The Rulers looked at each other in deep fear before opening the letter. King Cosmos and Queen Ethereal, If you ever want to see your two daughters alive again, you will allow my subjects and I back into open society. You know what we want, what we NEED. If you refuse our terms, your daughters will be terminated. Don't take too long to think about it. I don't have all day, and neither do they. -teleports to the Hive immediately- "3... 2... 1..." Lepidoptra counted down. "WHERE ARE THEY?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR DAUGHTERS?!!!" Both rulers shouted, fully clad in armor and ready with swords. "Took you long enough. Relax, I've done them no harm. You really need to learn to loosen up, take a joke! I won't kill them, but you won't get them back if you refuse my offer." Lepidoptra warned nonchalantly. "Some sense of humor you have. You know why we can't accept your terms!" Cosmos announced. "Ah yes, because your precious ponies are more important than my changelings' need to eat," Lepidoptra noted. "Eat?! You were sucking the very life out of our ponies and killing them! Why would we ever allow you to continue doing THAT to ur subjects?!" Cosmos shouted incredulously. "If THAT is what you think we were doing, then you are right, you'll never accept the terms and you'll never see your daughters again. Leave! Or I may do well on my written words." "No, you won't." Ethereal said. "You're right, I won't. But the threat still hangs in the air does it not," Lepidoptra said, subtly angling her hoof up. Cosmos and Ethereal look up to see their daughters suspended in chrysalises hanging from the ceiling… ROLL CREDITS!!! S1E3: "Our weekend was fairly mundane and uneventful. What did you do?"It was the weekend now, but it wasn't just any weekend. On the last week of every 2 or so months, the king and queen would take the entire weekend off from royal duties to spend exclusive time with their daughters. They wish they could do it more often, but ruling a kingdom keeps one (or two) very busy. It was all the strings they could pull to get 2 days every 2 months! So when the two alicorn sisters awoke that morning, they awoke to their parents faces 6 inches from their face... It's tradition. "Surprise! Guess what day it is?" Cosmos boomed. "My birthday?" Luna asked. "No silly. It's pancake weekend! You girls get to spend all today and tomorrow with us," Ethereal said. "-GASP- YES!!! I LOVE PANCAKE WEEKEND!!! Can I make little faces with the fruit again?" Celestia asked. "Of course! That's the best part of any pancake," Cosmos exclaimed. "I just want pineapple and chocolate chips on my pancakes," Luna stated. "Alright, well let's get out of bed! Those pancakes won't make themselves!" Ethereal announced. So they got out of bed, brushed their manes and teeth (to get rid of that morning breath), and were ready to make and eat pancakes in a record time of about 60 seconds... They may still have a few tangles in those manes. "We're ready! Can I add the ingredients to the bowl?" Luna asked. "Sure sweetie. We need two cups of flour -Luna adds 2 cups flour-, some sugar -adds what may or may not have been a half a bag of sugar-, and several other ingredients," Cosmos said before lifting his head from the recipe to find Luna had added some of the ingredients already. "Oh, I didn't think you were doing that right now. I was gonna measure out the ingredients for you..." "Oh," Luna said as she stopped herself from next adding the entire baking powder container into the bowl. "Looks like these will be pretty sweet pancakes, but I think we'll be fine," Ethereal said as she noted the large amount of sugar in the bowl. "Heheh, oops..." Luna said. "Let me help you with the rest of the ingredients Luna," Cosmos said as he measured out the other ingredients and did his best to scoop out the extra sugar. After a decent sized mess in the kitchen was made, the royal family was left with varying sizes and shades of golden-brown/jet-black pancakes before them (they may have let Luna help pour and cook the pancakes too. Despite the seeming failures, it was still good to let her help anyways). "Hey look Luna! Say hi to Mr. Happy Pancake! 'I'm so happy to meet you! Too bad you must eat me soon...' hahaha!" Celestia said, equipping a silly voice for the pancake when talking to Luna. "Haha, hi Mr. Happy Pancake! Pleased to eat you!" Luna greeted. "Don't you mean pleased to meet you?" Mr. Happy Pancake asked. "No, I mean eat you," Luna said as she grabbed the plate and took a bite out of the pancake. "Hey wait a second, that was mine!" Celestia cried. "Luna, you need to ask before you grab something from someone else," Ethereal scolded. "Sorry Tia..." Luna said as she gave the plate back. "Here's your plate Luna," Cosmos said as he gave her a plate with a pancake and several pineapple slices piled on top. "Oh, one more thing." He then sprinkled the top with tiny chocolate chips. "Here you go!" "Thank you daddy!" Luna cried as she devoured her pancake. Once the girls had finished their pancakes, it was time to play off all those pancakes. So the family went outside to play in the garden. They began playtime with a game of what can only be described as volleyball without the net or boundary lines. There was a line drawn on the ground. If the ball fell on your side of the line, that was a point for the other team. There is no out field. Luna and Cosmos played against Celestia and Ethereal. At first, the game was pretty even with all four volleying the ball back to the other side. But then the parents got competitive. Very competitive. It slowly escalated until the parents were basically dominating the gameplay while the girls sat and watched, volleys getting more and more intense. The ball hadn't dropped yet, and it didn't seem like it would anytime soon with the way the ruling pair were playing (oh the things one can do when the pressures of maintaining a mask of perfection and regality are temporarily removed). Finally, the ball ended up flying out of Cosmos's range and that's when Luna took her chance to volley the ball! "I've got it!" Lune cried. But she too missed and it landed on one of the fence spikes and popped the ball... "... now what?" Celestia asked. "Did we win?" Luna asked. "No," Ethereal responded, "but perhaps now is a good time for lunch." "Sounds good to me!" Cosmos said. "We're still winners because your mom agreed to marry me." Cosmos continued as he gave his lovely wife a kiss. "You keep telling yourself that, but even then it's still Ethereal 972 and Cosmos 1," Ethereal quipped. "Pft, if you say so but I mean, who's counting?" Cosmos huffed. "Mom, apparently," Luna laughed. "Indeed..." Inside, Luna insisted she make her own sandwich. With her past track record, Luna was one-hundred percent qualified to make her own sandwich! Thank goodness sliced bread is a thing in this AU timeline! Otherwise, we may have some hemoglobin in that sandwich... To everypony's shock, Luna actually did a good job making her sandwich. Filly steps I guess. Her sandwich consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, and a single slice of cheese. Sure, it wasn't exactly all inside the bread slices, but it was an improvement. "Good job Luna!" Cosmos cheered. "Do we have bacon?" Luna asked. "Say what now?" Cosmos halted. "I want to make a BLT! A bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich. Some royals at school had one and let me have a bite. It tasted good!" Luna explained. "Um, bacon is meat sweetie..." Ethereal said. "And?" Luna asked, clearly missing the problem. "We're meat, Luna. More specifically, we don't eat meat either," Celestia stated more bluntly. "It's not like I would eat a pony! Besides, our pigs aren't exactly sapient and neither are the pigs in Enchancia," Luna explained with surprising authority. "So, you knew it was meat?" Cosmos asked. "Yes" "And you ate it anyways?" Ethereal asked. "Yes. It's good! How can you not like bacon?!" Luna started to whine. "Okay you know what? Fine, you can eat bacon. But, uh, not here. We do not have bacon..." Cosmos explained. "... okay..." Luna reluctantly accepted. "I guess it's just a LT then..." So bacon/meat crisis averted (and a secret that would be kept from the subjects for the time being), they decided to draw in the sunroom. As per usual, Luna drew a night sky scene while Celestia drew a green field with flowers, a blue sky, and that sun with sunglasses we've all drawn at least once in our lives. Also a castle that looked... close enough \('~')/ "You'd think being older would make you a better drawer..." Luna quipped to Celestia. "Hey! It's good! It's just... um... I drew it and I like it ok? We can't all be artists you know," Celestia responded. "Be nice girls! I think you both have done a wonderful job with your drawings," Ethereal placated. Though I have to admit, Luna's art skills are quite impressive... Ethereal thought to herself. After drawing for awhile, they played hide and seek in the castle. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..." Cosmos started. Ethereal hid in the throne room, Celestia hid behind a curtain, and Luna was... uh, where was Luna? After searching for nearly 2 hours, they called out for Luna. "LUUUUNAAAAAA!!!!! YOU WOOOON!!!! COME OUT NOW PLEEEAAAASE!!!!!!" Celestia shouted just loud enough for the sun to hear. "Okay okay! You don't have to shout so loud! I wasn't deaf before, but I may be now..." Luna said, popping out of nowhere. "Gah! Where were you?" Celestia jumped. "Why would I tell you that? I have a winning hiding place now. I'll never give it away! Mwahahaha!!!" Luna beamed. "You were hiding in the secret passageways weren't you," Cosmos deadpanned. "... yes," Luna reluctantly admitted. "Oh goodness gracious you know you aren't allowed in those, right?" Ethereal asked. "Yes ma'am..." Luna said. "But I still won!" "Yes yes, you are the hide and seek champion, bravo! Anyways, why don't we play a nice simple board game?" Cosmos suggested. "Sure." "Fine with me." "What game?" -~~One fictitious game I made up just now~~ later- "DON'T YOU EVEN TRY TO STEAL MY TOKENS!!!!" Celestia cried at Luna. "Hmm, mercy or no?" Luna murmured as she contemplated her next move. "Mercy, please!" Celestia begged. Luna didn't necessarily have to beat her parents, just Celestia... and she was beating her... by a lot. "Hmmmmmm... no," Luna said as she played her steal card on Celestia. "Noooooooo!" Celestia cried as she tossed her remaining cards in the air and knocked over "I win!" Luna triumphed. "Well, you still lost to your father and I, but yes, you won against Celestia," Ethereal noted. The family played one more round of the game (with Celestia coming dead last again) before it was time for dinner and then a movie. For dinner, somepony else cooked, but the Royal Family still had their quality time talking over dinner. "How is school going, Celestia?" Ethereal asked. "It's good! I've been making lots of new friends. I may even have them over sometime," Celestia said. "That's good," Ethereal responded. "How about you Luna?" Cosmos asked. "School has been interesting," Luna answered. "Make any more friends besides Sofia?" Ethereal asked. "Do I need more friends?" "Well, perhaps. Are you at least trying?" "I have Sofia and Tia. That's enough," Luna stately plainly while taking a bite of her salad. "Sofia won't always be with you Luna. Remember when you found out Celestia wouldn't be at school with you? It was nice having someone to be there for you where somepony else was unable to. I just think it would be wiser for you to branch out more and at least try to make more friends." Ethereal explained. "I suppose..." "What about any pony friends?" "I think Maximus is my friend, sort of..." Luna said. "I mean in Equestria. And don't say 'Tia', she doesn't count." Ethereal stated just as Luna was about to open her mouth. "Um, its... um..." "Luna..." "What your mom is trying to do is help you Luna," Cosmos intervened. "We just don't want you to grow up alone." "Why would I be alone? I have you guys," Luna stated. "Luna, you're not ready for this conversation yet," Ethereal said. "What conversation?!" Luna cried. "When you're older Luna, okay?" Cosmos pleaded. "... f-fine..." Luna sighed. "But I won't be alone!" "As long as you surround yourself with a good group of friends, you won't be. But you can't rely on one pony or person being there forever. Making friends isn't a one time deal, you always make new ones," Ethereal explained. "I'll always be there for you Luna, even if nopony else is!" Celestia promised. "Celestia dear, can we talk for a moment?" Ethereal asked. In the next room over, Ethereal spoke solemnly to Celestia. "You can't make a promise like that." "Why not? I'll never leave Luna!" "Not everything is within your control." "What does that have to do with anything?" "It means you may not always be able to be there for Luna. Other priorities can get in the way and make it very difficult for you to spend time with her." "Then I'll just cancel those and make time for her, like you guys do for us!" "Celestia, it's not as easy as we make it seem." "I'll never hurt Luna!" "-sigh- If you say so. Don't say I never warned you. You're old enough to know better..." When they returned to the dining room, the mood of the room was a little darker and quieter. A little bit later, the mood was lifted up again by a funny movie on a TV they "borrowed" from the human world (their counterparts wouldn't mind, right?). Finally it was bedtime, and the girls were tucked into bed. "Goodnight girls," Both parents said. "Goodnight momma, goodnight daddy!" both girls replied. The next day was about the same, minus the drama of yesterday. When the weekend was over, Luna met Sofia at school. "Hi Sofia!" "Hi Luna! How was your weekend?" Sofia asked. "Pretty normal," Luna replied. "My family played games and spent some quality time together. What about you?" "Well..." Author's Note AAAAAND END SCENE!!! This took a lot longer than I anticipated, and honestly wasn't super duper fun to write... But I'm past this chapter now and can move on to the next episode: "Cedrick's Apprentice" I'm actually really excited to tackle this episode for next chapter! I have an idea of what'll happen and Luna's presence drastically changes the course of a few things, so look forward to that. As per usual, a picture Not filly Luna, but funny nevertheless Hope y'all enjoyed this chill(ish) chapter and we'll see how long it takes me to write the next chapter!!! Like, fave, follow, comment, all the good stuff Thanks again! S1E4: "Magic is easy!" (Taking over a kingdom... is not)"Okay Luna, now pick up the flower pot," Starswirl instructed. Hovering around Luna was a wide array of various objects ranging from quills to chairs and now a flower pot. Also she was blindfolded. "Ugh, why is this harder to reach out then the quill?" Luna asked. "You weren't levitating 19 other items when you reached out for the quill ha ha," Starswirl laughed. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't dropped anything yet. I thought for sure you'd max out at 10 items. You're advancing well in your magic exercises!" "Hmmmmm, FOUND IT!!!" Luna exclaimed as she lifted... Starswirl? "Um... I don't think you did heh heh..." Starswirl acknowledged. Luna removed the blindfold to notice just how much was floating around her, including Starswirl. Though, now that her focus was on her surroundings instead of the multitasking levitation spell, everything dropped. Including... "AAH, OOF!!" Starswirl... "Sorry!" Luna cried. "Oh it's quite alright, I'll be fine! I've survived worse bumps," Starswirl explained. "You did very well my young student. Would you like to try again?" It was at that moment that Luna noticed the position of the sun... "OH NO!!! I'm gonna be late for school!" Luna cried in panic as she quickly teleported to her room to grab her bag. "Ugh, I don't know if I'll get used to that twisty feeling in my stomach..." Luna groaned. "Ok books, check. Map of the school, check. Schedule, check. Oh, we're learning magic today!!" Luna teleported again to the portal room... or close enough. According to the schedule, class would be starting soon. Luna leapt through the door to school and hastily teleported to the classroom. "Okay I'm- uh oh..." Luna paused. Wrong classroom. Again. Wrong classroom. "Why do they all look the same?!" Luna cried. "Maybe I should think about Sofia instead of the room! I can envision her easier than I can the classroom." So Luna fired up the spell one last time and was successful... sort of. "Today class, we will be learning-" "Aaah, oof!!!" Luna teleported above Sofia and crash landed on top of her desk. "Uh, heh heh, I'm here..." "I can see that. Please take your seat Luna. As I was saying class, today we will be learning one of my favorite spells: turning a rock into a ruby," Fauna explained. "You hold your wand just so, say the magic words, and flick the wand! Mutato rubio!" Fauna then demonstrated the spell as the class watched in awe. "Now it's your turn!" "Wave the wand and say the magic words..." Sofia said to herself. "Mutatorubio!" -cue apple- "MUTATORUBIO!" -cue potato- -Meanwhile at Luna's desk- Does this spell last indefinitely? Do I use the wand or my horn? I don't even have wrists! I suppose I could try horn first?... Luna thought to herself. Luna pointed her horn at the rocks and said the magic words... nothing happened. "I suppose I really do need to use the wand..." She tried again with the wand, concentrating (a little too much) on the spell's end result and envisioning the transformation in her mind as Starswirl had mentioned to her about transfiguration spells (they weren't actually learning them yet, but she had been taught the basic concepts). "Mutato rubio!" Luna said as she flicked the wand rather awkwardly... and it exploded into ruby dust. "Gah!" She tried again... another explosion but bigger and messier. "I think they will be finding this glitter in several places for years..." Luna muttered to herself. "Alright children, you can practice more at home later! We have three new spells to learn today," Fauna announced. To Luna's chagrin, they were all object transfiguration spells. "And you'll be tested on all of them at the end of the week," Fauna stated. "Great..." Luna sighed. "There's a test?!" Sofia cried. "There's always a test..." James sighed. After class, Luna and Sofia had decided to help each other study at Sofia's home. "Ooooh!!! Why can't I do it right?!" Sofia cried in frustration as she conjured up a tomato. I mean, it's red so... "At least in this world the side effects of a failed spell are harmless! Where I'm from... let's just say things happen and advanced magic is usually taught in an open, uninhabited field or inside a well fortified castle..." Luna explained as her spell also failed and created another ruby dust mess. "I think these spells are great!" Clover (Sofia's bunny friend) said as he took a bite out of Sofia's tomato. "It was supposed to turn into a ruby, not tomatoes or ruby dust..." Luna sighed. "This is much better," the food loving Clover stated as he took another bite of the tomato. "We have all this sorcery to learn in two days!" Sofia cried. "You need help learning sorcery, why not ask a sorcerer?" Clover asked. "Of course! Mister Ceedric can help us," Sofia realized. "Who?" Luna asked as she attempted to fix her glitter mess (she failed... we all know fine glitter never dies) "He's our royal sorcerer! Come on, let's go ask if he can help us!" "Oh I don't think we shoul- ah!" Luna started before she was whisked away by Sofia and dragged to his tower. After going up we won't bother counting how many flights of stairs, Sofia knocked on Cedric's door. An audible explosion could be heard through the door along with some angry grumbles gone unnoticed by the bubbly princess. "Yes yes WHAT IS IT?!" Cedric shouted as he opened the door. Oh, it's her... "Hi mister Ceedric!" Sofia greeted. "It's Cedric. As in, Ceh-drick," Cedric corrected. "-gasp- it's so good to see your amulet- I mean you!" he continued with the subtlety of a coffee mug crashing down to what is clearly not the countertop at 4am in a formerly soundly sleeping household. "I see you brought a... pet?" Cedric asked. "I am no pet!" Luna cried indignantly. "That's Princess Luna. She's my friend from school! She's from another world," Sofia explained. "Really?" Cedric asked. "Mm hmm! We need your help." "Well, do come in," Cedric welcomed as he checked to make sure no one else was around and then shut the door. While Luna trailed a little bit behind and observed the many potions and spell books around the workshop, Sofia said hi to Cedric's raven, Wormwood, then got to her request. "So, we have this sorcery class at school and I was hoping, since you're such a great sorcerer, that you could help us learn a few spells!" Sofia explained. "I am a -clears throat- royal sorcerer, not a schoolteacher," Cedric quickly stated. "I know... but we have a test coming up and we'd be sooo grateful!" Sofia pleaded. "Oh can't you see I have more important things to do?! I can NEVER find anything in this MESS!!" Cedric exclaimed. That was when Sofia got a probably great, probably not, idea. "I know! We can help clean up your workshop in return for some magic lessons!" she proposed. "We will?" Luna asked, suddenly snapped out of reading one of Cedrics spell books. "Hmm, like an apprentice?" Cedric asked. "A what?" Sofia asked (man, there sure are a lot of characters with questions right now...) "Oh it's a very special helper! It means you get to come here every day and assist me with my spells and potions and tidy up and so forth! And in return, I teach you all the magic you need to know for your little test," Cedric explained. "So, Princess Sofia and Princess Luna, will you two be my apprentices?" Cedric offered as he conjured up a purple wizard hat and a blue wizard hat. "Um..." Luna hesitated. "Yes yes YES!" Sofia answered for the both of them with enthusiasm. "Alright then, we start first thing in the morning! Now off you go, I have to prepare for you girls' first lesson," Cedric explained. "Thank you mister Ceedric!" "It's Cedric," Cedric corrected with an eye roll as he slammed the door behind the two princesses. "Oh Wormwood this is it! This is what we've been waiting for! I am going to brew up a potion that will make me INVISIBLE!!! Then, when Sofia and her little friend is busy tidying up the workshop, I'll pour the invisibility potion on myself and disappear. I'll be able to steal her amulet without her even knowing it!" Cedric monologued. "Once the Amulet of Avalor is mine I can use it's magical power to take over the kingdom! I'll be the first sorcerer to be King! King Cedric the First," Cedric fantasized. He then approached a portrait of his parents and looked longingly at it. "Oh mother and father, if only you could see me now!" "We can Cedric." a male voice responded. -cue magical twinkly lights exiting the painting- "Why do you think we gave you this portrait?" -cue magical twinkly lights manifesting themselves in the form of his father- "Uh, for my birthday?" Cedric answered uncertainly. "SO YOUR MOTHER AND I COULD KEEP AN EYE ON YOU!" Goodwyn the Great shouted, pointing a finger at his son. "A sorcerer's place is by the king's side, not on his throne!" "Oh, nothing I do is ever good enough for you is it father?" Cedric complained. "Goodwyn, let Cedric plan in peace," a female voice followed as another glitterball materialized and manifested into Cedric's mother. "Oh Winnifred, why must you encourage him?" Goodwyn asked as he went back into the painting. "Oh, don't mind him! You'll go get that amulet and make your mummy proud!" Winnifred said as she too hopped back in the painting. -cue villain song- Meanwhile, back at Luna's home, she was trying to find some way to get out of having to apprentice under mister Cedric. "We don't need help! We can manage just fine on our own. I've advanced so quickly in my Equestrian magic studies, so why is human magic so hard?!" Luna ranted as she angrily slammed her face into a pillow. "Are you sure about that? A little guidance never hurt anypony," Celestia asked (Yes, she's still a character in this story LOL). "This is supposed to be easy. What am I doing wrong?!" "Perhaps that's where an apprenticeship becomes useful," Celestia stated matter of factly. "Even Starswirl couldn't understand how the spell was supposed to work!" Luna cried. "Then you accept help from somepo- someone who does know how it works. What's the worst that could happen?" "We're supposed to help him clean up his workshop in exchange for the magic lessons." "And?" "You know me! I tend to make more messes than I fix..." Luna sulked. "Oh Luna, you're getting much more coordinated now, especially after all the magic you've learned with Starswirl! You have nothing to worry about," Celestia encouraged. "Don't lie to me, I have plenty to worry about. Failing the test for example," Luna snapped. "Okay, perhaps the wrong choice of words, but you know what I mean. Don't stress yourself out over this. It's one test. Even if you don't do well, you'll do better next time." "I'd rather do well the first time." "Then calm down and relax yourself. You'll do great," Celestia said as she nuzzled her little sister lovingly. "I'll try-hahaha," Luna said as Celestia proceeded to tickle Luna to loosen her up. "You'll do more than try! Always so tense," Celestia stated as she intensified the tickle attacks. "Hahahaha stop it! Hahaha I am not, haha, and you know it!" Luna exclaimed between fits of laughter as she began to fight back with her own tickles. -One tickle fight later- "Feeling better?" an out of breath Celestia asked. "Much," an equally out of breath Luna replied. "Thank you for the pep talk and tickle fight." "You're welcome." The next day, it was time to begin the apprenticeship at Sofia's castle. When the girls approached the door, it opened before either of them could knock and Cedric welcomed them into his workshop. "I'm ready for my first lesson!" Sofia said eagerly. "Of course of course, right after I finish my invisibility potion heheheh uh, why don't you tidy up in the meantime?" Cedric suggested. "Okay!" Sofia said as she grabbed a broom and began sweeping. Luna meanwhile began organizing some of the various potions and bottles strewn all over the place using her recently mastered multi-levitation spell. "Now, all that's left is eight emu eyelashes," Cedric muttered to himself while counting out the necessary ingredients and putting them in his potion. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8! Presto!!" -cue little cauldron shaking dramatically- "Huh?" -cue potion contents rising from the pot and shooting to the ceiling just to explode into a bunch of confetti- Cedric looks on with obvious disappointment as the confetti falls to the still messy ground. Meanwhile Luna was just happy the explosion was harmless and wasn't glitter (oh gosh that would never go away...), even if it meant the two would have more to clean up... "Are you done with your potion yet?" Sofia asked, eager to get started on her lessons. "Mmm, I'll finish it later," Cedric responded dejectedly. It was at this moment that he noticed for the first time that Luna was using magic. A lot of it. What creature is this that uses magic without any wand or verbal commands? She's using telekinesis and multiple levitations quite naturally for a child supposedly just recently learning magic... "Great! Can you show me how to turn a rock into a ruby now? It's a big part of the sorcery test!" Sofia asked, snapping Cedric out of his thoughts for a moment. "Oh, uh, why not. It's a simple enough spell. When it comes to magic, my father always said 'slow and steady does the trick.' First, read the spell carefully." Cedric instructed. "Hold your wand straight in front of the rock..." Sofia read aloud. "Then, slowly say the magic words and wave your wand with confidence like this," Cedric continued instructing as he demonstrated the proper wand flicking technique. Luna watched while finishing up placing the potions and bottle back on their respective shelves. "There's no need to rush, the stone isn't going anywhere. Now go ahead, you give it a try." "Mutato, rubio!" Sofia said as she flicked the wand with confidence as instructed. Instead of another piece of produce, she finally conjured the spell correctly as the rock became a ruby! "I did it. I REALLY did it!" "Yes, well, it's a simple enough spell..." Cedric explained. "You're a really good teacher mister Ceedric," Sofia praised. "I-I am?" Cedric asked. "Can I try now? I think I know what I did wrong," Luna chirped. "Oh, uh, sure. Just like I told Sofia before, slow and steady and with confidence," Cedric reinforced. Luna hyper-focused on the rock before her and slowly said the magic words, flicking the wand with confidence (and not awkwardly) as she said the magic words. "Mutato rubio!" -cue the rock actually exploding like a grenade.- No one was hurt by the pebbles, thank goodness. "AAAAAAAGGH!!! WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?!? I DID EXACTLY WHAT SOFIA DID!!!" Luna screamed in frustration. "Cedric?! What's that noise? Oh, Sofia, Luna, what are you two doing here?" Baileywick (the castle steward) asked. "Learning magic!" Sofia responded. "One of us anyways..." Luna sulked while picking up all the tiny rock pieces. "Oh how wonderful. You'll have to teach Cedric some when you're done," Baileywick stated. "Very funny Baileywick... What do you want?" Cedric asked annoyedly. "King Roland needs you right away." "-gulp- the king?" Cedric asked nervously. As the group approached Sofia's stepfather/father, Sofia's mom asked how the apprenticeship was going. "Great mom! Mister Ceedric is really helping me learn my magic spells," the purple princess praised cheerily. Luna withheld any comment while trying to replay in her mind what went wrong. "Cedric?" King Roland called. "Y-yes your majesty?" Cedric asked nervously. "We have a very important visitor coming to stay with us, King Magnus... He's always bragging about how great his kingdom is," Roland explained with visible annoyance. "So, I want the castle to look its very BEST. Could you transform these gloomy old gargoyles into, s-something more inviting?" Roland asked. "Oh, b-b-but o-of c-course your m-majesty!" Cedric stammered. "Um, how about golden horses? I know just the spell." "Great!" Cedric went over to Sofia and asked her for a wand. Once she dug around and found it for him, Cedric began the spell. "Um, aero-equssium!" Cedric shouted uncertainly as he flicked his wand to the gargoyles. Said gargoyle then transformed into a real pegasus and flew away... "Ah, Cedric! You were supposed to turn the gargoyles into golden horses, NOT bring them to life!" Roland criticized. "Oh, my apologies your majesty! I'll get it right this time!" Cedric insisted. But Rolland would have none of it. "Not everyone can be as gifted as your father. We'll just have to clean up the rest of the castle and hope... King Magnus doesn't look up..." Roland sighed. "But..." Cedric tried to redeem himself, but his request went on deaf ears. "Don't be late to dinner Sofia, King Magnus is coming," Miranda reminded her. "Okay mom," Sofia replied. Now back in the workshop, a dejected and defeated Cedric sulked on his chair whilst Sofia and Luna were cleaning up around the workshop. After a moment of awkward silence, Sofia broke it and asked, "So, your father was a royal sorcerer too?" Cedric stirred from his stupor and turned to face her with shock. "You don't know who Goodwyn the Great is? He was only the greatest sorcerer to have ever lived in Enchancia! Saved your grandfather's life nine and a half times!" He practically shouted. "I'm sure you're just as good as he was!" Sofia tried to encourage him. Cedric hmphed. "I've never saved anyone's life. Not even once, NOT EVEN HALF!" How do you even save half of a life? Luna thought to herself, but she dismissed the question while also catching a bottle she nearly dropped when she wasn't paying attention. At that moment, Sofia swept into the nearby table with some potions on it and one fell off the edge of the table. -Wobble wobble fall crash ~~KABOOM DEAD~~ lots of smoke- "Oh... I feel funny," Sofia said as she slowly shrank. Then she transformed into a lizard. "PRINCESS SOFIA!!!" Cedric panicked as he ran over to where she was. "Oh my gosh," Luna exclaimed as she realized what had happened to her best friend. Sofia squeaked in panic as she seemed to look to Cedric for help. "Don't worry Princess Sofia, I can fix this!" Cedric backed up and prepared his stance. Then, with a wave of his wand, he said the magics words, "Lizardo chango!" and the magic swirled around her and transformed her back into a human. "Ah, thank you mister Ceedric!" Sofia exclaimed as gave him a big hug. "Oh... oh uh, it's an easy spell... I learned it the first week of sorcery school..." Cedric explained, not quite sure how he felt about Sofia's show of affection just yet (given the circumstances). "Hm, you're so good at magic mister Ceedric. Why couldn't you turn the gargoyles into golden horses earlier?" Sofia asked in confusion. "Oh I don't know! Every time I get around King Roland I get a bit w-well, a bit..." "Well, what?" Sofia asked. "NERVOUS!!! There I said it!" Cedric shouted. "Well, I'm going to find a way to show dad that you're a great sorcerer!" Sofia exclaimed. "And... why would you do that?" Cedric asked. "Because you're my friend," Sofia responded. "F-friend?" "Anyways, I've got to go clean up for dinner. Bye Luna, bye mister Ceedric! See you tomorrow!" Sofia said as she left the room. "It's uh... Cedric..." Cedric said, a little more hesitant to correct her than he would normally be. "Um... I still have time to keep practicing... if you want to help me..." Luna said barely audibly. "O-oh! Yes. I almost forgot you were here..." Cedric realized as he turned to notice Luna was still in the room. She's so quiet when she's not angry... "Um, what do you need help understanding?" "I don't know! I've watched and listened, taken note of everything and did exactly what you and Sofia did and I only got worse!" Luna explained. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I'm gonna fail the test and fail in human magic or create a horrible disasteror-" "Woah woah woah, slow down and turn down the volume! Take it easy," Cedric said, trying to calm down a filly on the verge of tears. "This is supposed to be easy -sniff-. I've excelled at my magic studies at home -sniff-, what's so different about human magic that I'm failing here?" Luna sniffled, holding back tears. "What are magic spells like back in your world?" Cedric asked. "Well, most of them rely on will of the mind and concentration. Some are emotionally based too or can be effected by emotions. It's honestly a very complex system and I've only just finished learning the basics..." Luna explained. "How exactly does magic here differ?" "Well, not as much as you might think. Our magic also relies on a certain level of concentration and sometimes even emotions. But it seems the biggest difference is our magic is typically performed with verbal commands," Cedric explained. "I've noted you never speak when performing your magic unless it's the spells for the test, nor do you need a wand to perform them," Cedric noted. "Well, I do sort of have a wand. It's on my head. Unicorns can perform magic using their horns to cast spells and the input for those spells come from the mind," Luna explained. "Fascinating! Do you ever unintentionally use your magic by thinking about something or feeling strong feelings?" Cedric asked. "I don't think so, but it is possible..." Luna admitted(1). "So is it possible that all this pressure you're feeling and nervousness is affecting your magic like it did mine?" "I... I never thought about it like that... OF COURSE!!! How did I not consider the interference of my alicorn magic with the wand magic?!" Luna exclaimed as she actually started to get excited about this revelation. Finally, progress! "So if my magic can be fixed by calming myself and not letting nerves get to me, the same can happen for you!" Cedric realized at the same time Luna did. "Do you want to try again, but this time don't think too much about it? Just follow my instructions. Wave the wand with confidence and say the magic words. No extra thoughts or pressure. Just wave and speak." "I think I can do that," Luna replied. Luna pulled out another rock from her bag and readied herself. "Remember, don't overthink it and don't be nervous. You can do this," Cedric pep talked. "-exhale- Mutato rubbio!" Luna exclaimed as she waved her wand at the rock. It floated and shook for a moment, and for a second Luna was ready to shield herself from the inevitable explosion that was to occur. But then, it popped and turned into a ruby. "I-I did it... I DID IT!!!! HUZZAH!!! I HAVE SUCCEEDED!!!!" Luna shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice with increasing volume once again. "Y-yes, you did," Cedric agreed while he readjusted his hears to be able to hear again. "Bravo Princess Luna." "Thank you so much mister Cedric!" Luna said at a normal volume. "Oh, it's no problem at all really. Perhaps tomorrow we could share magic notes? I'm very interested to hear how your magic works," Cedric suggested. "Of course! I can show you everything my teacher mister Starswirl the Bearded is teaching me!!" Luna said giddily, happy to nerd out about magic with a sorcerer. "I have to go now. I too have a dinner I cannot be late to heheh... Bye mister Cedric! Thank you so much for helping me!" Luna cried as she too left. "Goodbye Princess Luna..." Cedric said. As soon as the door was shut, Cedric had a thought. "Hmm, Wormy... It seems I have a bit of a fallback plan... ah, just in case stealing Sofia's amulet whilst invisible fails. Why use a measly little amulet's magic, when I could harness the magic of a very powerful alicorn?! I'll see what she knows tomorrow, then I will find a way to use her magic to TAKE OVER THE KINGDOM!!!" Cedric monologued once again. "Now now Cedric, what kind of teacher are you to take advantage of your students?" Goodwyn said as he appeared out of the painting. "You've just done a very good thing, helping two princesses with their magic, and you're going to try to steal her magic?" "Oh leave him be and let him take over the kingdom!" Winnifred said as she too popped out of the painting. "Don't listen to your mother, do the right thing!" "No! Don't listen to your father! Do the wrong thing! Mommy loves you!" "Ugh, why don't you both go back into your little painting and let me make my own choices?!" Cedric said as they both went back into the painting. -Later that night- "I'm doing WHAT the night after tomorrow?!" Cedric cried. "That right! You'll be performing a magic show for dad and his friend King Magnus! Isn't it great?" Sofia exclaimed. "Oh well, yes it is... King Roland has never asked me to put on a royal sorcery show for him before, and CERTAINLY not for a visiting king!" Cedric said, realization slowly dawning on him. "I'll have to perform for, uh... two kings..." "Your show is the same day as my test! We can help each other get ready," Sofia suggested. "So let's get started!" The next day, Luna showed up to find Sofia and Cedric had already started on further working on the spells. "Oh, you've already started?" Luna asked. "Oh, hey Luna! Mister Ceedric is gonna get to perform for my dad and King Magnus tomorrow night! Isn't that exciting news? He'll get a chance to prove that he's a great sorcerer," Sofia explained. "That's great news!" Luna agreed as she dropped her saddlebags down and began pulling out several things. "What are those?" Sofia asked. Luna had pulled out various random small objects and some big objects too. It wasn't initially obvious how Luna actually fit everything in her bag until she noticed the confused expressions on both Sofia and Cedric's faces and began to explain. "Oh, it's a space saver spell. It makes the inside of the bag bigger than the outside so you can carry more things at a time! It was actually very heavy because of the extra stuff..." Luna admitted as she heaved an exhausted sigh from having carried it through the castle and up the countless flights of stairs. "Have you ever considered getting a shorter tower or something like that?" Luna asked (the bag was too heavy to teleport with...) "Ah, that's a problem for another time. You were gonna show me some of your magic tricks from your world, correct?" Cedric asked. "Oh, of course," Luna remembered as she got back on track with unpacking her bags. At some point she just turned the whole thing over and shook everything out. "How many things do you need for this spell?" Cedric asked incredulously. "I'm about to perform a multi-levitation spell. I figured it'd be better to bring my own stuff to levitate rather than levitate your stuff, since I can tend to drop everything when I've reached my concentration limit... Mainly, I wouldn't wanna drop and break everything in your workshop heheh," Luna explained. "Aw, that's so considerate!" Sofia noted. "Indeed it is..." Cedric said as he noted just how many things Luna had dumped out. "Are you going to levitate all of that?" He counted roughly 35 different items in varying shapes and sizes. "I hope so..." Luna said as she the blindfolded herself. "Wait, what are you doing?" Cedric asked. "It's actually easier to life this many things blindfolded than it is to do it while seeing everything. Makes concentrating easier and blocks out visual distractions," Luna explained. Though, not so easy to actually find everything... "But how do you know what you're picking up?" Cedric asked more. "I reach out with my magic and feel for it, kind of like reaching out with your hands blindfolded would work. My magic to me is like hands for you. Now no more questions! I need to concentrate," Luna explained quickly as she began lifting the various things she'd spread out around the room. Cedric and Sofia just watched in awe as more and more things started floating in the air, at first effortlessly. When she got to item 20, effort started to show on her face even though you couldn't see her eyes. More things continued to float despite the effort it seemed to take to find and lift them all. Luna almost got everything until she fumbled a little and, like before, grabbed the wrong object. Namely, Clover (who was a part of Cedric's magic show). "Hey! Put me down!" Clover shouted. Everything had been relatively quiet until Clover yelped. With that sudden distraction, Luna lost her concentration and dropped everything, Clover included. "Duck!" Cedric shouted as he moved Luna away from a heavy book falling from the sky. "AH!!" Luna yelped as she felt herself suddenly moved to the side. She removed her blindfold to find a huge mess of items absolutely everywhere and an angry bunny. "Oops... I told you might drop everything heheh..." Luna laughed sheepishly. "That was amazing!" Sofia exclaimed. "I didn't know you could do that!" "Neither did I! What else can you do?" Cedric asked. So Luna proceeded to demonstrate to them several tricks she'd learned so far. Short distance teleportation (at least, short for alicorns. It was somewhat accurate), some other cool telekinesis tricks, and even a shapeshifting spell she actually wasn't supposed to learn yet. "Um, I read one of Starswirl's shapeshifting spell books and learned to do this!" Luna explained as she became a blue cloud and moved around the room and in/through/under all sorts of tiny, otherwise impossible to reach spaces. She then rematerialized in the middle of the room. "Starswirl told me not to use that spell, but it's just so fun! Now I can sneak around really easily!" Luna explained as she became a cloud again and poured herself into an empty bottle and her eyes looked out from the bottle. "Indeed you can..." Cedric noted. Perhaps a useful tool to have if I need to break into a specific room. How to convince her to steal something for me though... "Well, we have more magic to learn! We want to be ready for that test and show tomorrow, right?" Sofia said. "Of course! We're gonna ace the test tomorrow. I can't wait!" Luna agreed as she poured herself out of the bottle and made herself solid again. They continued studying and practicing the various spells they needed to learn for the test. After Luna had left, Sofia was finishing up cleaning for the day. Then she noticed a smudge on Cedric's spell book and cleaned it off. As it turned out, two of the ingredients were covered up by that smudge, which explained why his invisibility potion kept failing. With this revelation shown to Cedric, Sofia headed off to bed while Cedric successfully prepared his potion. "Finally, FINALLY I HAVE DONE IT!!! Now all I have to do is swipe Sofia's amulet with the help of this invisibility potion and I can take over the kingdo-" Cedric stopped as he noticed something on his worktable. It was a heart shape made from the rubies Sofia conjured. "O-oh... sh-she did that... for me?" Cedric asked. The ever increasing dilemma was dramatized when his parents butted in once again to play angel and devil. "Oh Cedric, how can you do something so terrible after such a sweet gift left to you by your friend?" Goodwyn asked. "Friends shmends. Who needs them?! Steal that amulet and become the most powerful sorcerer king in the lands!" Winnifred commanded. "Do the right thing!" "No! Do the wrong thing!" "I WILL DO MY OWN THING THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!" Cedric shouted as he shooed his parents back into the painting. "Ugh Wormy... what am I gonna do?" -The next day at school- (2) "Are you ready for the test Luna?" Sofia asked. "More than ready! You?" Luna rebounded the question. "Yes!" In the classroom, everyone got seated at their desks which were already prepared with the objects they would need to transform. "Alright students, take your seats! We’re about to start the test,” Fauna announced. “You may begin.” They passed the test (and my computer just randomly restarted and didn’t save anything past this... AAAAAAAGH-) "Hey Luna! Do you wanna watch the magic show at my place tonight? Mister Ceedric and I will be performing for my dad and his king friend!" Sofia offered. "Sure! I'd love to," Luna replied. Backstage, Cedric and Sofia were getting ready for the magic show. While setting up Cedric's things, Sofia noticed the lizard potion from before. "Oh, I better put this out of the way." In the audience, King Magnus was rambling on and on about his "amazing" kingdom. "My royal sorcerer is the greatest in all the land! He once made an entire zoo appear!" "I'm sure he did, Magnus," Roland acknowledged politely. "And my chefs prepared the finest feast I'd ever tasted!" Magnus continued. "I'm sure they did..." Roland said with marginally less politeness. "We do not, however, have a pet baby winged unicorn in our palace..." King Magnus noted. "I am NO pet or a baby OR a 'winged unicorn' as you people keep saying! I. AM. AN. ALICORN! And I am Sofia's friend from school," Luna corrected with far less patience and politeness than Roland currently possessed. "Fascinating. I need to get me one of your kind..." Magnus stated in awe. "Oh, I don't think it works quite like tha-" Roland started before being interrupted by the show starting. "Introducing our royal sorcerer, CEDRIC THE GREAT!" Sofia announced as Cedric appeared with a puff of smoke. "For my first trick, I will make a rabbit appear out of thin air!" With the magic words, Cedric made Clover appear on the magic tabletop. "Hmph, generic," Magnus criticized. "U-uh, but have y-you seen a f-flying rabbit?! Raberto levioso!" Cedric cried. But instead of making Clover fly around the room, he floated up in the air with his ears spinning like a helicopter propeller. "I-I mean rabbitus floaticus!" Now he was bouncing around haphazardly on the stage. -cue panic Cedric mode- Oh no, he's too nervous! Sofia though to herself. If only he was doing a spell he knew really well... Then the lightbulb went off in her mind. Like, a spell he learned the first week of sorcery school! Sofia pulled the lizard potion out of his bag and (not very subtly) pretended to accidentally spill the potion on herself. "Sofia!" Miranda cried. "Somebody help her!" Roland cried in panic. "Oh don't worry, I can fix it! Lizardo chango!" Cedric shouted confidently as he successfully saved Sofia from being a lizard for all eternity. "That was amazing Cedric!" Miranda praised. "You saved Sofia's life! Thank you Cedric!" Roland said. "I-I did?? Yes, I did! Indeed I did!" Cedric welcomed the praise. The rest of the show went on swimmingly. "Now, it is time for my final trick. Within this vial is a potion that can turn anything it's poured onto INVISIBLE! It will be my finest moment, one that will change our lives," Cedric declared ominously. "I will be using it ooon-" At that moment, Cedric looked to see Sofia looking up to him with a sweet smile. She seemed so proud of him. So trusting. Ill placed trust. "On..." That face. What is it about that sweet, innocent face that makes me not want to hurt her feelings? Cedric thought as he hesitated on his plans. Memories of their fun together and how much she loved him, even called him friend, flooded his mind. Those kind words, that cute heart made of rubies (even if the effects of the spell aren't permanent), the way she believed in him when no one else did... he suddenly realized he couldn't do it. All this work and time getting close to Sofia so he could steal her amulet and... he. couldn't. do. it. I can't betray her like this. Not today at least... Cedric sighed. "On, my trusty rabbit." With that, Cedric poured the potion on Clover and he magically disappeared right before their eyes. "My royal sorcerer... has never done that before," Magnus admitted, genuinely impressed. Everyone gave Cedric a round of applause for his and Sofia's performance. -Later backstage again- "How did that potion end up spilling on you again?" Cedric asked. "I guess I'm just clumsy," Sofia said with a wink. "-gasp- you did that on purpose!" Cedric realized. "I knew you were nervous. But I figured, if you could do a spell you knew really well, then you wouldn't be so nervous anymore!" "You did that, for me? Thank you," Cedric said, grateful he didn't betray her that night. "What are friends for? Oh, I also want you to have this," Sofia said. "What is it?" "It's a gold star. Luna and I got one for passing the test, so I figured you deserved one too for your great performance!" Sofia said as she stuck it on his coat. "Th-thank you..." Cedric said, shocked at how amazing this felt. Back at his tower, Wormwood cawed at Cedric for chickening out on his plans. "Oh Wormy, I know it didn't work out today." Cedric admired his star for a moment before sighing. "But we can always take over the kingdom tomorrow..." Cedric finished while relishing in this little victory. Author's Note Aaaaaand end credits!!! I did not mean for this chapter to take so long to get out. I just suddenly found myself paralyzed for what to do. I'd hyped up this particular chapter in my mind for so long that by the time I got to it, I was suddenly afraid I wouldn't meet my own standards or expectations (not to mention I feared I may be losing my touch on this series with so much time away from it). I struggled with some writers block and self-induced pressure to do well for this chapter and procrastinated until I finally just decided "You know what, just write. It's all you've done so far anyways right? Just write, don't think." That actually ended up inspiring the life lesson I chose to teach for this crossover episode! As you may have noticed, Luna was struggling with something we all struggle with. No, not turning a rock into a ruby (I WISH we could do that. That'd be so cool) but putting more pressure or criticism on yourself than anyone else is doing. Essentially, the old as time issue of being one's own worst enemy/critic, getting in your own way, etc. That's what I did for 2-3 months (and also watched YouTube/played games/did nothing productive and called it "I'm busy" 😅). Something I've always loved about writing and both series (MLP and Sofia) is it's a gateway to learning lessons you'll value for life and those lessons are ageless. Regardless of the target audience, you can learn something important and vital to one's growth as a person/pony. Sorry to get all introspective on you guys, that doesn't normally happen here, but today it did, and I like it 😊 I hope we can have chapters like this in the future that hit the heart where it matters (-sigh- yet more high expectations I set on myself... yay) As per usual, another adorable Woona photo randomly found online (though not actually related to the story, still very cute) Notes: 1. Luna isn't yet aware that she uses some magic to partially become Nightmare Moon when she's very VERY angry or distressed. So as far as she's aware, she's never unintentionally used emotional magic, even though she has. 2. At this point, I stopped referencing the episode for what happened when and wrote from a bit of memory as well as letting myself have some AU free reign to do whatever with these scenes. Also, I'll probably update the test scene for Sofia and Luna later, but for right now I don't see it as very necessary to do so. I've also decided to link the corresponding episode for those who haven't watched the series (I'll go back and do the same with the past chapters at some point) Cedric's Apprentice: S1 E4 Okay byeeeeee!
Series Premiere 1: Are you sure this is a good idea?Author's Note Just some quick need-to-knows: Celestia: Age 12 (this will come into play later) Luna: Age 8 Series Premiere 1: Are you sure this is a good idea? Sitting before her now was a sight Flora hadn't been expecting when she received a letter about a king wanting to enroll his daughters in their school. For starters, he was a winged unicorn (though, I believe the term he used was "alicorn") with dark blue fur and a well groomed galaxy looking mane topped off with a very kingly crown. Also he could talk and write and levitate things easily and casually without a wand (more specifically, he was using telekinesis, an upper level spell in this school). "To what do I owe this pleasure King Cosmos?" The red fairy asked. The midnight king looked towards her after being snapped back into reality. "Ah, yes. As you may have seen in the letter I sent you, I am here to inquire about enrolling my daughters into your school. You see, we don't have any proper schools for royalty where we live and homeschooling... lets just say we make better rulers than teachers at the moment." Cosmos explained. "I see. And what classes would you like to enroll them in?" Flora asked checking over the school's list of courses. "All of them." quill snaps "All of them?" "Will that be a problem?" Cosmos asked. "Well, there may be some... practical issues regarding some of the courses. For starters, there is the royal etiquette class in which there may be some issues due to the differing anatomy-" "They'll be fine." Cosmos interrupted "Then there's our magic classes. In the short time I've been in your presence I've noticed magic works differently for you..." Flora stated, noticing how frequently Cosmos used magic (namely telekinesis) for the functions that human hands would have performed, like taking a sip from his coffee mug. "Different how?" -sip- "Well, I just don't know how practical it would be to teach your girls our system of magic when it seems your kind operates on a... very different kind of magic system. I'd recommend you teach them magic privately." "I intended to do that anyways. We already have a very promising tutor ready. However, I'm intrigued about your magic system here. Perhaps my daughters should learn it anyways. After all, knowledge is power, and a little magical diversity never hurt anypony." -sip- Just as Cosmos thought Flora was done, she said one more thing. "Your Majesty, I must make one other important note. Our school does not have any, oh how do I say this... non-human students. Your daughters would be the only alicorn students in the entire school." "And that is a problem because?" "Our facilities were not designed for... alicorns. Again, there may be several practical issues with having your daughters attend school here... Is there any other possible option for their education?" "Well, Ethereal and I did check out some other dimensions, but none seemed quite as welcoming and proper as Royal Prep nor as close in the multiverse." "Wait what?" It's not that this was the weirdest thing she had ever heard.. it's just that she's never heard of a multiverse... "Oh, I should probably explain. You see, I'm not from here. I used a mirror portal we have back at home to send the messenger here and then met with you. My daughters will be traveling through this portal, so we'd like to keep the distance between the doors as short as possible so they don't get lost in the multiverse. Luckily, your world is only two doors down from our world. There was another school right next door so to speak, but it was also a human school for commoners called Canterlot High, which is not what we needed given that we are royals and my girls are still in elementary school." "So, let me get this straight... You came through a portal from another dimension to enroll your girls in a school that wasn't in their home dimension because we're the only school nearby in the multi-whatever-you-call-it that is for royals and young ones at that?" "Yes. My requirements were quite clear and your lovely school 'checks all the boxes' so to speak. Nearby, school for royals, right age group, and from what I've heard you have very kind students here and my daughters are likely not the strangest beings that have ever graced your world." "... That is true. Well, I suppose if you have no problems and your girls and wife are okay with this, we can enroll them for this semester." "Oh they don't know I'm doing this. It's a surprise." "Oh sweet fairy godmother..." A week later, several things happened... starting with Celestia and Luna finding out they're going to school. "Oh my goodness really?! I wonder what classes we'll be taking will there be other royal ponies what games will we play when do I get to see some cute co-" "Celestia darling, calm yourself please. Your words are like a dam that once opened can never be shut again." Queen Ethereal interrupted. "And Cosmos, when exactly were you going to tell me this?" "Um, I just did. School starts in two days." Cosmos admits sheepishly. That is when the previously silent Princess of the Night let out a cry of panic. "What?! But I don't wanna go to school! I wanna stay here with you and mama! Other ponies scare me..." "Well lucky for you, you aren't going to school with other royal ponies, you're going to school with royal humans!" Cosmos said proudly. Surely that solves that problem right? right?... "So you mean to say we'll be the only alicorns in the school?" "Yes." "And we'll likely be the center of attention because of it?" "Yes." "..." "Are you okay sweetie?" Ethereal asked. "I think you broke her." Celestia quipped. "Oh hush you. I did not break her! Is she breathing okay?" Cosmos asked. Meanwhile, Luna didn't hear a word they had said. Being around other ponies and talking to them is hard enough, but going to school without any other alicorns AND being what are probably the biggest freaks they've ever seen?! I'll die of terror... I'm not going to school. They can't make me! I'll find a way... "Luna?" Celestia waves her hoof in front of Luna's face. "Are you still there?" Celestia asked, snapping Luna out of her downward spiral. "Huh? Oh, yes. I am completely fine! I'll survive school just fine..." "If you say so..." The next day, Celestia was getting ready for the upcoming school day while Luna was sulking on her sister's bed, scheming of ways to get out of going to school tomorrow. "I wonder what human children are like." Celestia mused. "I'd never heard of humans before daddy mentioned it, but they sound fascinating. They don't have horns or hooves or wings, but they can still perform magic. Isn't that amazing?! Luna?..." Perhaps I could fake my death by jumping off a waterfall and not coming back up? But then mama and daddy would be really sad and so would Tia... and what if I actually died trying to fake it? No... Maybe I could break the mirror so we can't pass through it, then we wouldn't have to go to school! But then I may get in very big trouble and have to deal with seven years bad luck... darn it. I could fake sick. That's innocent enough! It's not a very long lasting trick, but it can buy me some time... "LUNA!!!" Celestia shouted in the royal Canterlot voice. "Gaaah!! What Tia?!?!" Luna cried, violently ripped out of her own mind by Celestia's voice. "Can you not stare up at the ceiling like that?" "Why?" "You look like a dead body the way your face is like bLeGh..." Celestia noted, resting her face like Luna's to have a dull and "dead" expression on her face possibly akin to Wednesday Adams's resting face (Like I'd know, never watched the series...). "Now what I was trying to say was don't you think it's cool that humans have figured out how to harness magic without horns? I wonder how they do it... Where is the magic even coming from?" Celestia continued, slipping deep into her own train of thought (though Celestia looks more like "The Thinker" when she goes deep in thought, not like a corpse like how Luna allegedly looks). "Oh, yeah... nice I guess..." They can't make me go... "Celestia, Luna, time for dinner!" "Coming mama!" Celestia replied as she started down the stairs. "Are you coming?" "In a second..." Luna answered. They can't make me go...
Series Premiere 2: How many things can go wrong today? (Let's find out)The time to go to school was only an hour away, so Luna would have to play this just right. If her parents didn't buy her lie, she'd have to fake her death! (Okay, so that's actually more of a plan Z than a plan B, maybe she could just go to school and suck it up?... nah) "I don't feel good mama... -cough cough-" Luna honed in that "dead body" look on her face while she was at it. "Oh, are you sure? You seemed fine yesterday." Ethereal asked. "Oh yeah -cough- maybe I shouldn't go to school... -COUGH- " Play it cool! I think I have her convin- "Oh look at that, your temperature is just fine! I've scanned you for any signs of illness and you are completely fine! And another interesting thing, alicorns don't get sick." Ethereal noted, obliterating all of Luna's not so carefully thought out plans. "Ah pooey..." stupid immortality... (just a note, my idea of alicorn immortality is age and sickness won't kill them, but an assassin still could...) "Oh Luna, you're going to have lots of fun! I've heard the teachers are very nice and so are the other students. You could make some new friends-" "But I have Tia! Isn't that enough friends? I don't want any new ones!" Seriously, why is everypony putting so much emphasis on this friends thing like it's such a big deal?... "I know you think you'll be fine by yourself, but I really think you could benefit from spending some time with other pon- beings. I mean, yes, ponies too. But in the instance of school, I think if you can make friends with humans, you can make some pony friends as well." Ethereal said. "So you mean I have to make new friends at school AND at home?" Luna pouted more so than asked nicely. "You don't have to, but I'd encourage you to at least try. What's the worst that could happen?" "Dying of embarrassment." Luna deadpanned. "Alicorns don't die of embarrassment Luna." Ethereal stated just as flatly. "Then what DO alicorns die of?" "Um, I think that's a conversation for another day. Just try sweetie. That's all I ask. One day, okay?" I suppose... "Tia will still be there right?" Luna asked. "Yes, she'll be at school with you too." Ethereal assured whilst nuzzling her. "Hahaha, okay... I guess I can try one day. As long as Tia and her mane is there for me to hide under if things go horribly wrong." Luna managed to say simultaneously cutely and cynically... it's a gift. "Thank you Luna. Now, let's get out of bed. You still have to get ready for school." After Cosmos set the door portal to Enchancia to open in front of the school gates, he opened it and it was time. "Are you girls ready?" "Yes!!" "No!!!" "I'm getting very mixed messages here..." Cosmos said. "I change my mind! I don't wanna go!!! Tia help me!" -hides in her tail- "Oh Luna... deal with it." Celestia said flatly as she dragged Luna within her tail to the gates of the school. "Quick! Close the door while you still have the chance!!!" "NOOO!!!!" Luna pops out of Tia's tail to realize too late that they are now at school and there's no going back until home time. "TIA!!!" Luna pouted. "Oh look, it's time for school! Lets go. We need to find out where our first class is!" Celestia said suddenly sporting a very smug/mischievous/~~trolling~~ smile readers may be able to envision right about now... "... You suck." Luna sulked as she followed very closely behind Celestia, stomping with every step. As much as Luna was trying to be menacing and angry right now, she failed dramatically by simply being Luna, Princess of Eternal Cuteness! "Aw, you're so cute when you're mad." Celestia fawned. "No I'm not!" Now Luna was even more cranky and adorable. Just as Celestia was about jab some more at Luna's ~~expense~~ cuteness, three bright orbs floated towards them and materialized into three fairies. "Welcome!" Flora said. "You must be the new students Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Merryweather continued. "Welcome to Royal Prep, where you will learn what it means to be a prince or princess." Fauna explained. "Come now, let us lead you girls to your classes." Flora said as they led them into the school with some of the other new students. While the girls were walking to the school, they noticed another nervous but eager looking princess with them. She had brown curly hair, sweet blue eyes, and a lavender dress adorned with pearls. Around her neck was a pretty violet teardrop pendant. Though, I believe it was more of an amulet given its size. "Um, hi! I'm Sofia. I'm a new princess!" Sofia introduced herself. Perhaps if she had been talking to Celestia she would've gotten a response, but because it to Luna she was talking to, Luna simply shied away and hid under Celestia's mane. "Aw, where did you guys come from?" "We come from Equestria. Forgive my little sister. She was... reluctant to come at all. I hope you don't mind, she's very shy." Celestia said. "Oh, wow. I've never heard of Equestria! I've also never seen winged unicorns before. I wasn't expecting you to actually talk..." Sofia marveled. "Oh. First off, we are alicorns. Second, are they uncommon here? Do we normally not speak?" Celestia was not expecting this type of reaction from another student. Actually, she wasn't sure what she was ever expecting coming here. "I don't know. I'm new to royalty, so I don't have much experience with magical things. Maybe they do talk? Winged unicorns are rare here, but we do have some normal unicorns and lots of pegasi!" Sofia explained. "I see." Celestia said as she noted the number of carriages being pulled by pegasi similarly to how they traveled in pulled chariots. "I suppose some things are the same." Then Celestia felt a tug on her mane. Luna was looking pleadingly into her eyes. "I wanna go home!" "Luna, why don't you just say hi to Sofia? Can you manage that?" Celestia asked. A shaking Luna just barely squeaked out a nearly inaudible "hi" and then tried to climb into Celestia's mane and hide again. "-sigh- I suppose it's a start. Today is our first day!" Celestia said while subtly trying to wring Luna out of her freshly brushed mane. "Oh, today is my first day too!" Sofia beamed. "Well, I hope you do as well here as I hope to do." and believe me, those hopes are unreasonably high... "Thanks! I hope you do well too! I guess we should head to class then." Sofia said. Upon coming into view of the school, the fillies received... mixed reactions. Some were amazed that such magical beings were in their midst, while some were just confused. But one student had the most startling (to Luna) reaction. "Oh my goodness it's two winged unicorns!!! They’re gorgeous!!! Can we pet them?" An amber haired girl in a green dress squealed (she didn't enter with Sofia). At this point Celestia had finally managed to pry Luna out of her mane and made her walk beside her... but now she had retreated back in after hearing the girl's loud voice. "Ugh! Luna can you please get out of my mane, literally?!" Celestia shouted, her patience wearing thin. "They can talk?!" A dark haired girl in a cyan dress shouted. "Quiet class, please! Thank you. I'd like to introduce your new students. Sofia of Enchancia and Celestia and Luna of Equestria!" Flora announced. "Hi!" Sofia chirped. "Hello!" Celestia said. "..." take a wild guess. Enter series of ooh's and ah's at the new students... namely the non-human ones. And now questions. Lots of them. "How do you guys talk?" "Do you use any magic?" "Do you live in a castle like us?" "I love your crowns!" "Where do you live?" "Did you bring your pets to class?" Needless to say, even Celestia felt overwhelmed for once and didn't know what to say (Especially to that last one. What even is a pet?). "Oh, um.. I talk with, my voice? Yes, I use magic regularly. We do live in a Castle in the Everfree Forest in Equestria. Thank you? I'm pretty sure it was just announced to the entire class where we hail from..." Celestia said as she managed to answer all their questions. "Luna? Do you have anything you wanna say?" Luna shakes her head no. "Okay, well. Hi again!" Celestia said awkwardly. "Um, no. These aren't my pets. They're my new friends! And our new students." Sofia answered the last question. Cue more oohs and ahs as they adore and compliment the three new students. As much as Amber (that girl who squealed before) loved these new winged unicorn princesses, she was not too pleased about her new step-sister getting more attention than her. Sure, winged unicorns were amazing and deserving of such admiration, but what was so special about her wannabe princess step-sister? She's a commoner by birth and typical at best. "I'll show her she doesn't belong here..." Amber muttered under her breath. When the tour had finished, Amber convinced James (her twin brother and Sofia's step-brother) to tell Sofia to get on the magic swing. In a matter of a few moments, the swing gained momentum until it launched Sofia into the fountain... no one laughed except, unexpectedly, Luna. "Haha, real funny guys. That's a good one! Heh..." Sofia only passably faked being amused. When Luna realised no one else was laughing she stopped. What happened next though was very unexpected by everyone/pony. "Weeeeee! Hahaha!" Luna jumps in the fountain with Sofia to make her feel better about being launched in. Luna begins to splash Sofia and Sofia splashes back, feeling a little better about the situation meant to cause humiliation. Celestia decides to get in on the fun and jumps in as well, splashing Luna and Sofia as they get progressively more wet and eventually there isn't much water left in the fountain. "Alright alright girls, that's enough! You still have classes to get to after all." Flora says as she uses her magic to dry them all off. "Thank you Luna." Sofia says. Luna just smiles and turns back to snuggle under her sister's wing for warmth. As the class got seated, the first of many problems began... starting with Celestia being unable to actually sit comfortably in the desk chair... "Ugh, how do you even- ow!" Now was definitely the most convenient time for Celestia's wing to get inconveniently pinched between her and the back of the chair. It also definitely did not hurt and feel like her wing was being lightly severed from her shoulders... -sarcasm dramatically intensifies- "Oh dear, are you okay? Do you need help?" Fauna asked. "Oh yeah, I'm fine! Just let me-" proceeds to rip the back off the chair leaving just the seat part. "That's marginally better..." Celestia smoothed over the spiky edges of the broken wood as best as she could before reseating herself. "Oh my..." The fairies said in unison. Meanwhile, the much shorter Luna seemed to do a little better in her seat, but she still wasn't quite comfortable for more trivial reasons... "This seat is really hard... I wish I had a pillow. Mama always lets me sit on a pillow at home. Or maybe I can try what Celestia did and get rid of the chair and just stand? Now I wish I'd just brought a pillow from home... Maybe I could've if somepony hadn't hastily shut the door on me..." Luna muttered to herself a little louder than she realized she was. "We'll figure out some better seating for you two as soon as possible. For now though, perhaps hold off on destroying school property?" Merryweather said giving Celestia a very stern but merciful glare. Celestia sheepishly chuckled as she quietly apologized for her actions. Later after the class day was done, the three fairies stopped Celestia and Luna before they left. "Um, Celestia?" Flora asked. "Yes?" Celestia answered. "How old are you?" "Oh, um 12. Why?" "Oh dear... You see, you're actually a little too old for our school program." Flora explained. "What?!" Both sisters cried. "Celestia darling, you are supposed to be in our middle school royal program. This school is for elementary students. I'm afraid you'll have to transfer to the next class up. We'll also be discussing this with your parents of course." Flora finished explaining. The following silence was met with what could only be described as a torrent of a thousand ambulance sirens rising to sound all at the same time. This sound, however, was not coming from a vehicle, but a very small and powerfully lunged blue alicorn filly. "NOOOOOOO! TIA IS SUPPOSED TO STAY WITH ME AT SCHOOL ALL DAY!!!! I CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL ALONE!!!!!" The meltdown was made complete with a large rainfall of tears while somewhere in the distance, the fairies could’ve sworn they heard lightning strike, even though the skies were clear. "Calm down Luna please! I'll still see you at home all the time. It's okay." Celestia said calmly, trying to soothe the little ball of tears that was her sister. "IT'S NOT OKAY!!! YOU WON'T BE AT SCHOOL WITH ME I'LL BE ALONE!!!" Luna cried, clearly unconvinced. "Luna, inside voice please. What's the worst that could happen?" Dance class. How the hay is a filly supposed to learn anything in a human dance class. It had taken quite a bit of bribing and pleading to get Luna to go to school without Celestia the next day. Pile that on top of a less than productive magic lesson with Starswirl and a poor night's sleep, and Luna was about ready to just storm out of the school and wait for her mom and dad to open the portal home (she could theoretically open it herself, but Cosmos and Ethereal chose not to teach her how for reasons just like this... that and they didn't want her to be able to go through the portal realm without adult supervision and get lost...) "Sofia! Here, use these shoes. They'll help you dance better." Amber said as she gave Sofia some weird looking red shoes. "Oh, thank you!" Sofia said as she put them on. When it was time to dance, Luna found her self clumsily fumbling around trying to figure out how to get four legs to do what was only meant for two. Meanwhile, it seemed Sofia was having the same trouble, but not for the same reasons. "Ahh! Help!" Sofia cried. It was then that she realised the shoes were magical trick shoes meant to make her clumsy. Despite coming to that realization, she noticed too late and fell flat on her face. Sofia threw her shoes off just in time to see Amber snickering in the corner at her demise. "Oops, I must have given you the wrongs ones!" Amber said fake innocently. Aren't they supposed to be sisters? Luna thought to herself. Why is she so mean to her? Why is my sister not here? I want Tia... Just as Luna is ready to cry, she notices Sofia leaving the room and decides to follow after her. If I want answers, I have to ask for them Luna resolved. "Sofia?" Luna asked quietly. "Luna? You're talking to me?" Sofia asked. "Oh, yes... um, are you okay? Why is Amber being so mean to you? I thought you were supposed to be sisters! Sisters are supposed to be nice to each other and make each other feel better when they get scared and hug you at night and tell you bedtime stories even though they could use some more action at times and and..." Luna said, still trying to prevent the weight of the day from producing waterworks in her eyes. "-whimpering- I miss my sister..." and now holding back that dam is getting harder... "It's okay Luna, don't cry! We're technically step-sisters, but you're right. Sisters should be sweet to each other and love each other. I don't know why Amber doesn't like me, but your sister sounds really nice," Sofia said. "-tears falling- most of the time..." Luna added -insert flashback to that time Celestia tricked Luna into getting through the door by dragging her in while she was still inside Tia's tail, amongst other sisterly things that may prove annoying- "Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?" Sofia asked. "But I came to help you!" Luna responded. "We can help each other. I'll help you feel less alone without your sister, and you can help me feel less alone with my sister. We can navigate this new experience together!" Sofia exclaimed confidently. "Really?" Luna asked. "Really!" Sofia hugged Luna and wiped her tears away. As the two continued throughout their day, Sofia invited Luna and her family to come to the ball celebrating her becoming royalty. "I'm still not sure I even want a ball. But I think if you were there, I'd be a lot less nervous than if you weren't there." Sofia explained hopefully. Without giving it much thought, Luna said yes and promised to be there! So when her mom and dad came to pick her up, they were surprised to say the least to hear Luna seemed to actually enjoy the school day. "Today was so fun well actually no it wasn't it turns out I'm terrible at dancing like a human and Sofia's step-sister is really mean to her but that reminds me that Sofia invited me to come to her royal ball tonight and I said yes wait I can go right mama and daddy?" Said Luna now sounding more like a broken dam than her sister did a few days ago. "Oh honey, I'm sorry. We won't be able to take you then. We have a meeting with the griffin/griffon/gryphon* ambassador that we can't miss." Cosmos said disappointedly. "Can't I just go by myself then?" Luna asked hopefully. "No sweetie. We don't want you going through the portal by yourself. It could be very dangerous if you went through the wrong door. After all, you can't read the dimensional signatures yet (otherwise all the doors look the same)." Ethereal explained. "What if Tia went with me? Would that be okay? I made a promise! I can't break it..." Luna asked, desperate now for any way to turn this "no" into a "yes." "Hmm, maybe. You'd have to ask her if she can though. We might be okay with that." Ethereal mused. "Thank you thank you thank you yes thank you!!!" Luna blurted as she ran as fast as her little legs would carry her to her sister's room. "Wow, I've never seen her so excited to spend time with anypo-, I mean, anyone who wasn't Celestia..." Cosmos noted. "Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia Tia TIA!!!!!" Luna shouted as she pounced on Celestia's back and bounced up and down with every repeat of her name. "Ow ow ow! What is it Luna?!" Celestia asked, lifting the blue filly off of her now tiny hoofprint covered back. What did Luna even run through anyways?? "Can you go to Sofia's castle with me tonight and attend her royal ball pleeeeaaaase?" Luna asked, arming her most irresistible puppy dog eyes. "Oh Luna please no! You know I can't resist your filly face!" -Expression intensifies- "-sigh- I wish I could, but I have homework to do and I need to finish it. I'm sorry." Celestia sighed, hoping Luna would understand. Those hopes were in vain. "B-but, I promised I'd be there... How am I supposed to tell her I won't be there? She was counting on me to be there so she wouldn't feel scared or lonely! And who's gonna help her stand up to her mean sister?!" Luna cried, the reality of her fate weighing down on her like ten six-foot tall teddy bears. "I don't know, sneak out?" Celestia burted foolishly. "..." "I did not mean that..." "Hmm..." "Luna, whatever you do, do not sneak out to go to the ball," Celestia implored. "Are you listening?" Absolutely not "Uh huh. I won't go. I promise." She said with her feathers secretly crossed. Later that night, a little form of something dressed in all black could be seen alluding to sneakiness as she made her way through the castle to the portal room. duh, duh, duh duh duh, duh, duh, duh duh duh, duh, duh, duh duh duh, duh, duh, duh duh duh ba da da, (duh duh) ba da da, (duh duh) ba da da, (duh duh) ba dum! (ten points to whoever can guess what I'm humming right now) "Okay mission control, do you copy?" Luna said to nopony in particular. -Moves a little to the left- "Yes, copy, over." -moves back to the right- "Okay. I think the portal room is just behind this door. Do you copy?" -left again- "I copy. We are ready for action! Over." -right again- "Let's do this." COMMENCE DRAMATIC ENTRANCE!!! -bursts open the door- "This is the kitchen..." RESCIND DRAMATIC ENTRANCE!!! "Oh, cookies." EAT COOKIES!!! After a much needed cookie break before dinner (gasp!), the mission to find the portal room continues. There is only so much time to spare to get to the Big Event, and we wouldn't want to miss anything important. Our moral support is needed and promised, and when a princess makes a promise, she never breaks it! Unless it was made to their dull older sister who is only sometimes fun and who's mane makes a good hiding spot for escaping all one's troubles... then you break the promise! (I may need to rethink my moral standards...) A door can be seen up ahead gleaming with possibilities! This is it. The moment we've been waiting for! I'm home fr- "Luna, what are you doing?" "ACK!!!" Luna squeaked as she visibly jumped in the air with no small help of her wings. "I do hope you weren't about to go through the portal realm by yourself." Starswirl said. "It would be a shame if somepony such as yourself got lost in there and we never heard from you again..." "Whaaaaat? I wasn't gonna do that no... I was gonna go to a ball my friend invited me to, not get lost for all eternity." Luna said, being only partially correct about her intentions. She was, after all, still intending to "go it alone." "I see. Based on those cookie crumbs on your muzzle, I believe this is not the first naughty idea you've had hmm?" Starswirl stated. "Um heh heh, -wipes off the cookie crumbs- no..." Luna admitted sheepishly. "Well, if it means that much for you to go and nopony else is available to take you, I can escort you my naughty little student." Starswirl offered. "Really?!" "Really." COMMENCE PURE ALICORN FILLY JOY!!! Just as Starswirl finished inputting the coordinates to Sofia's castle and pressed done, Luna rushed through the door to the castle gates. "Halt! What are you?" A guard asked. "I'm Luna! I'm Sofia's friend. I'm not too late for the ball am I?" Luna asked worriedly. "Don't worry, we have the invite." Starswirl assured as he pulled out the invitation. "Oops, I almost forgot that..." Luna realised. "You're just in time. The ballroom is down the hall to the left. You can't miss it." He said, now assured that this obviously harmless filly was actually harmless (for now). "Yay!" Luna cried. Upon entering the ballroom, it seemed as if everyone had just woken up or something like that. When Luna spotted Sofia, she ran right over to her and said, "Hi Sofia! Sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything?" Author's Note And end scene! Woo hoo! This is probably the LONGEST chapter of any story I have ever written on FimFiction 😂 If you're at all wondering about my frequent use of Luna hiding in Celestia's mane, it's based off of this picture: Is that not just the cutest thing you have ever seen??? I thought it was. In case you haven't noticed by now, these first two chapters take place during the events of Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess (the movie premiere of the series). While several things changed significantly (Like the fountain incident and dance class incident), one thing I decided to leave alone was a very major moment in Sofia's development where she fixes things with her step-sister Amber. I figured it'd be best to leave that entire section of the movie untouched just because of how important of a moment it is for the characters' development. I also realised that by changing the fountain scene, Sofia doesn't get her first gift (talking to animals). To fix this, just know that when Sofia and Luna comforted each other after dance class, Sofia got the gift of speaking to animals that don't already talk like Luna does. This throws some things out of order, but we won't address that right now because we've got an AU tag we can use to justify all our issues with canon and continuity As for the ending, yes, I will be leaving it at that. Watch this become a running gag of Luna just being like Next chapter: "S1E1: One of the Students"** (A play off of the original episode title "One of the Princes") In which Luna tries to fit in with the other students while also trying to try out for the derby (as a flyer), but oops there's some more practical hiccups she overlooked... This will go great! Edit: **This is not the exact plot. I changed it. One more thing: *There's apparently three ways to spell griffon, all of which are technically correct... so yeah. From here on out I'll probably use the spelling "griffon," but I'm keeping that three spellings bit in the chapter cause it's funny as heck to read *
S1E1: "Never Give Up" (Even if it's easy to do so)An undefined amount of time after Sofia's Coronation Ball, a pink alicorn teen and a blue alicorn filly could be seen through their tower window getting ready for the school day. "And I had so much fun! I made up a funny new dance I could do in dance class and Sofia and I talked a lot and Starswirl talked to King Roland about our worlds and then we ate some fancy food and I tried a weird brown chewy looking thing... Tasted kind of funny and salty, but I think I like it. I don't know why Sofia looked at me so strangely, but I guess it's all fine now!" Luna rambled on as she told Celestia about her day for the dozenth time. "Oh, that's nice. Sounds just as fun as the first six times you told me about that night!" Celestia said, doing her best to mask her sarcasm as well as forgoing telling Luna what she ate... no need for Luna to know just yet. "Speaking of Starswirl, did you remember to do your magic exercises like he asked us to do?" Luna immediately stopped whatever she was doing and opened her mouth to say something, only to close it after. She opened it again, carefully stating, "Um, not quite yet... I was gonna do it... tonight! Yes, I'll do it tonight. Or even right now! Hold on one second..." Luna immediately began rapid firing her magic exercises. This had no adverse effects whatsoever, nor did it include levitating almost everything in Celestia's room and dropping it suddenly, nor was Celestia's room a complete mess right now. -sarcasm dramatically intensifies!!!- "... LUNA!!!" Celestia shouted. "Heheh, oops," Luna said. "I did them now..." -insert Luna's best "I am completely innocent" face here- "Fillies, it's time to go! You don't wanna be late for school," Ethereal called through the door. "Coming mama!" Both called back. When the girls finished galloping down the stairs, their parents lead them to the room that held the magic door. Originally, it was a mirror in design, but there had been a few accidents of ponies leaning against the mirror and falling inside a random world. They were fine and made it back to Equestria, but a door was framed around it to prevent this from happening again. Besides, it made more sense for it to be a doorway to other worlds rather than a mirror to look at other worlds. Cosmos opened the door and asked, "are you fillies ready?" "Yes!" "Yes!" "That's more like it! Let's go." As they entered the first door, they were met with another world full of more doors. To the untrained eye, every door looked exactly the same. But if one were to look closely, they would notice a slight glowing streak twisting and dancing along the grain of the doors ever so subtly. If one were to look even closer, they would notice that no two doors had the same streaks (or signature) on it. Every door had a fingerprint, so to speak. As a result, anyone who could read these lines would never get lost in this realm of doors. When they reached the door with the "signature" of Enchancia and the school, Cosmos wove together the magic code to specify where exactly in that world he wanted the door to open. As a reliable test, he opened the door and, sure enough, it opened in front of the school. "Have fun Luna! We'll pick you up after school," Cosmos said. "Bye Mama, bye daddy, bye Tia! Good luck at Royal Academy!" Luna called to her family. "Thanks!" Celestia said as they closed the door to activate the door to a different location in Enchancia. The door opened again to reveal another school with older students more Celestia's age heading inside the building. "Have fun Celestia!" Ethereal said. "Thank you! I will," Celestia responded as she galloped into the school. Back at Royal Prep, Luna had just met up with Sofia on her way to classes. When Sofia saw Luna coming towards her, she joyfully said, "Hi Luna!" "Hi Sofia!" Luna responded. "Guess what? I'm trying out for the Royal Prep Flying Derby team today!" Sofia exclaimed excitedly. "Ooooh... what's that?" Luna asked, intrigued but also confused. "Oh, it's a race to challenge racers' speed and agility in a flying course! Students ride flying horses and guide them through a course to cross the finish line first! It's absolutely thrilling to watch, and I can't wait to try out for the team! I've always wanted to ride in the flying derby," Sofia explained wistfully. "Wow, that sounds so cool! I want to try out too!!!" Luna exclaimed excitedly. "But, how are you going to do that?" Sofia asked. "I want to fly in the derby! Duh. I'm the fastest and bestest flyer in our entire castle! Besides daddy of course. I think he lets me win sometimes, but that's okay! I'll beat him for real one day! Especially if I raced a bunch in the flying derby!" Luna explained, just as determined as Sofia now to make the team. "Great then! We can go together," Sofia said. "I can't wait!" Luna cried. "Um, Sofia? The bleachers are over here. Sofia?" Amber called, being completely ignored by Sofia in lieu of a mission. "Good morning Sir Gilliam!" Sofia piped. "Ah, good morning Princess Sofia. The bleachers are over there," Sir Gilliam responded. "I'm not here to watch, I'm here to try out for the team!" Sofia announced. "What?!" cried everyone who wasn’t Luna or Sofia in shock. "What? What's wrong?" Sofia asked. "Um, only princes can ride in the flying derby," a dark haired young prince stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "So, princesses can't try out?" Sofia asked dejectedly. "Well, I-I mean, they could, but..." Sir Gilliam trailed off. "But they don't. The flying derby is just not a princess thing," Amber explained. Then everyone broke out into song and dance. ... W-what? Luna thought to herself as she watched everything unfold. By the time the song had finished, Sofia was not gonna let them stop her from pursuing her dreams. Meanwhile... "Um, Sir Gilliam?" Luna asked. "Yes Princess Luna?" He replied. "Can I try out for the team?" Luna asked. "As a flyer of course, not as a rider. I've only ever ridden on my daddy's back and I get the feeling it wouldn't be quite the same here..." she explained before the confusion could unfold. "Ah, I see." Sir Gilliam said. As he sized her up, one major problem sprung to mind. "Who will ride you?" he asked. "What?" "You will need a rider just like all the other flyers. Quite frankly though, I'm not sure anyone in the school would be small enough to practically ride you." Sir Gilliam explained. "But, can't I just fly without a rider? I really want to race!" Luna asked. "I'm afraid not. Flying derby is, in essence, a team sport between the rider and their flying horse-" "Pegasus," Luna corrected. "Um... yes. Having a rider is both an added advantage of more eyes and a disadvantage of new weight and requires a tight bond and synchronization. If I allowed you to race without a rider like the other students, it wouldn't very likely be a fair race would it?" He explained. "I suppose I understand that... what if I got a rider?" Luna asked. She would exhaust every option she had. "I'm not sure who you could find to ride you..." Sir Gilliam said, noting the fact that Luna was only maybe a head taller than Sofia and didn't have much back space comparatively for someone to ride on. "I'll find a way!" Luna proclaimed. "If you say so," Sir Gilliam sighed. The next day, while both girls were guided to the stables, Sir Gilliam announced, "There is only one horse left, but nobody wants to ride him..." "I want to ride him!" Sofia piped up. "You do? -sigh- of course you do..." Sir Gilliam deadpanned. "What about me?" Luna asked. I wonder of there's a rider nopony wants to carry... I wish Sofia could ride me! Maybe... "Hmm, maybe see if there's a saddle that will fit you." He responded. huh? "What's a saddle?" "Oh... You wear it on your back so that your rider doesn't fall off as easily." Sir Gilliam explained "Oh... okay!" While Luna went to find a saddle that wouldn't swallow her whole, Sofia met Minimus for the first time. "Oh you don't wanna ride me, princess! I-if only you spoke horse I could tell you," Minimus said. "I can speak horse," Sofia stated. "AGH! Wow, oh what, how???" Minimus asked. "Because of my amulet. It gives me the power to talk to animals," Sofia explained (condensed version). "Hahaha!" Luna laughed somewhere around the corner (I laughed when I heard Minimus say "AGH" too Luna), having given up on finding a saddle in her petite filly size. When she came back around to where Sofia was, she said, "Hi Minimus! I'm Luna." "You speak human AND you understand horse? Wait, when did they start bringing in winged unicorn fillies to the stables? Are you here for flying lessons? You don't want me as a teacher," Minimus said to Luna. "Heheheh... one, I'm an alicorn. Two, I'm actually a student here. Three, I already know how to fly. I came here to try out to be a flyer in the races! But Sir Gilliam thinks I'm too small to carry anyone..." Luna explained. I'm also bilingual, which I'm pretty sure Tia told me means I speak and understand two languages... but that is beside the point. "Well, at least you must be a good flyer! I may be rideable, but I've got short legs and these small wings! I don't fly very fast and I worry about everythi-" "Stop talking now." "Huh?" Minimus said. "Sofia wants to ride you, so she will. I made up a bunch of excuses why I shouldn't come to school here, but I actually like it after all. So whatever excuses you think you have, drop them and just get out the barn door already," Luna stated bluntly. Perhaps with more age (and the tact that comes with experience) she would've been less harsh, but we'll get to that character growth later. "U-uh, o-okay..." Minimus stammered. Sofia, having a bit more empathy than Luna for Minimus, then said, "I think you're perfect just the way you are!" So they went on outside and thus began the first challenges. Despite what his name implies, Minimus was still large by a child's standards. Therefore, Sofia had a hard time getting on him. First she tried jumping up high to get on him, but she couldn't gain enough altitude. Then she jumped higher and climbed up, falling off on the other side instead. Finally, James (Sofia's stepbrother and the one tasked by their parents to help Sofia in her efforts to join the team) said, "Here, let me help you." When James created a step up with his hands for Sofia, she stepped up and managed to get her leg over Minimus and mount him correctly. "Thanks James," Sofia said. As she tried to get Minimus to start flying, she realized something. "Now what do I do?" At that moment, Hugo (the adorable jerk prince with the singing voice of a grown man*) approached them on his flying horse/pegasus. "When you're done James, can you help my sister get on her pony? Hahaha!" After he left, James declared it would probably be best if they practiced in the back area where no one would see them. As practice began, Sofia could barely stay on Minimus for more than 10 seconds... Ride Fall on a crash pad Ride Fall on a crash pad and bounce a few times Ride again? Big fall with lots of bouncing around on the crash pads... "-sigh- what am I doing wrong?" Sofia asked. "I don't know," James replied. "We can stop if you want." "I am NOT giving up! I don't care how many times I fall! I am going to try out for the team!" Sofia proclaimed. "Hahaha, you've gotta stay on your horse first!" Hugo said. "I knew you were a bad racer, James, but you're a worse teacher! Guess flying derby isn't a princess thing after all." "You can make fun of me all you want Hugo, but not my sister!" James rebutted. Nearby, Luna didn't know what it was that was happening within her, but something just snapped. What exactly? She doesn't know. But what she does know is that Hugo is about to get the biggest chewing out of a lifetime! "YOU INSOLENT WHELP!!!" Luna shouted. "SOFIA IS THE MOST CAPABLE RIDER I'VE EVER KNOWN!!!" Somewhere deep inside Luna, a part of her noted that Sofia was the only rider she knew, but she disregarded that thought for the time being... "FLYING DERBY IS FOR PRINCESSES, AND SHE WILL BEAT YOU AND YOUR STUPID 'FLYING HORSE,' OR I'LL NEVER FLY AGAIN!!!**" Luna finished shouting in the Royal Canterlot Voice, on the verge of tears. "Is that a challenge? Bring it on! I hope you enjoy your flight ban," Hugo quipped poorly as he left. "Luna! That's not necessary," Sofia said. "Oh but it is," Luna stated, slightly more calmly (or at least not shouting or about to cry). "I'll help! With me teaching Minimus and James teaching you, how could we fail?" "Well, if you're not going to give up, then I won't either," James said as he fist bumped Sofia. Meanwhile, "Ooooh snap..." Minimus panicked. While James was helping Sofia learn to stay on her horse, "Royal Flying Boot Camp" began with Minimus. "Okay soldier, straighten up and chin up! I want to see you standing at your tallest and most noble!" Luna shouted (at least it wasn't the Royal Canterlot Voice, but the filly still has quite the set of lungs in her...) "A-ah ma'am yes ma'am!" Minimus stuttered as he saluted her with a wing. "You can just call me Commander Luna. I'm nowhere near old enough to be a 'ma'am'," Luna stated flatly. "Yes Commander Luna!" Minimus corrected himself. "First, let's start with something simple. Do 10 laps around the course as fast as you can. I need to see what I'm working with here," Luna instructed. So off he went. Minimus was doing passable at first, but with every lap he got progressively slower. Hmm... legs causing drag, inefficient use of wingspan, terrible pacing, poor stamina, posture aerodynamically fatal, is he even breathing? Luna mentally noted. "Stop." "Huh? Woa-" -crash- "What? Did I do okay?" Minimus asked while trying to recover. "Tsk tsk tsk, terrible," Luna stated. "You flap your wings like they might fall off if you don't hold them tight enough to you, your legs look like they're paralyzed, you spent entirely too much energy on the first two laps and had none left for the other 8, do they even teach you pegasi anything at all about flight efficiency???**" Luna ranted. "Well gee thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to hear..." Minimus deadpanned. "I'm not going to tell you what you WANT to hear, I'm gonna tell you what you NEED to hear. You need help, and if you and Sofia are going to cross that finish line in first, you need to follow my coaching (Second-hand from my dad's teachings of course)," Luna explained. "Oh, okay," Minimus agreed. First they started with endurance exercises to build up his ability to fly for long periods of time. Then he did wing lifts (well, he tried anyways), galloped in place for 15 minutes, and then had to carry Luna plus two feed bags on his back while hovering for as long as possible... less than 10 seconds. Luna is fine, but those bags of feed will never see better days... Since Sofia and James were back from their practicing, it was time to work on flight efficiency. "Minimus, since Sofia will need to practice riding you now, we'll move on to flying faster and with more agility," Luna instructed. "How did I do on endurance?" Minimus asked. "... um, it better be a short race," Luna said. With that, it was James' turn to do the coaching for Sofia. Of course, this didn't mean Luna wasn't still "helping" alongside them. "Make those wingtips touch Minimus! Tuck those legs in! You are a flying barrel and you have no legs! Neck outstretched straight like a bullet!!! There we go!" They actually did very well, soaring through the sky gracefully. Also, Luna's advice was actually what Minimus needed to improve his time. "Alright, it's time you tried the last hurdle," James said. "It's the toughest part of the course, right before the finish line. We go under the gate and through the steeple." As Minimus approached the steeple, he lost a lot of momentum stopping to staring up at it before flying up. After James flew up to the steeple and rang the bell, Minimus followed suit. However, "Uuuuugh we're not gonna make it Sofia!" Minimus panicked. "If James can do it, so can we!" Sofia encouraged. "Not necessarily!!!!" Minimus replied, ever the pessimist. They proceeded to spiral back down from the sky, gliding back to the ground. Minimus had given up, Luna noted. "You'll get it next time," James said. "I hope so..." Sofia replied. After Sofia and everyone else left school for the day, Luna asked her parents if she could stay a little bit longer. "I just need about ten more minutes," Luna said. As Luna walked to Minimus's stall, she asked, "Minimus, what happened today?" "It was my fault! I was terrible, I'm not good enough, I'm gonna fail Sofia, and-" "No. You were great. You improved your speed dramatically, you weren't out of breath when you flew, I could tell you sliced through the air more than you did before we started training, and you almost made it up the steeple!" Luna interrupted. "Almost isn't going to win the race," Minimus stated. "Minimus, what is it about Sofia that everyone loves so much?" Luna asked. "Um, well she's sweet and kind and pretty and she never gives up and-" "Stop. Repeat that last one," Luna interrupted. "She never gives up?" "Correct. The only thing you did wrong during that practice race, and I mean the ONLY thing, was that you gave up. When it got difficult and you let fear take a hold of you, you gave up," Luna pointed out bluntly. "Oh..." "Let's go through the course one more time. I'll race alongside you. Follow my lead and don't give up. Unlike my daddy, I'm not gonna just let you win." Luna smirked before taking off. They went through the course with Luna guiding him through the best way to fly the course. As they whipped and wound through the course, Sir Gilliam noticed Luna's skill. "Impressive," he noted. After several turns and maneuvers through the course, it was time for the steeple. "Are you ready?" Luna asked. "No!" Minimus responded. "Wrong answer!" "I mean yes!" "Good. Let's go!" Luna swooped up the side of the steeple, never missing a beat. As she climbed her way up the tower, Minimus followed suit. Luna whipped through the steeple and used her telekinesis to ring the bell on her way. Minimus, however, fell just short of the top while Luna faded from view towards the finish line. "Huzzah! That was fun wasn't it Mini- Minimus?" Luna looked behind her to realize Minimus wasn't there. -sigh- She walked around the side to see him still on the other side of the steeple looking more dejected than ever. "A filly raced better than me..." Minimus sulked. -SLAP- "OW WHAT?" "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK LIKE THAT!!! YOU ARE A FANTASTIC RACER AND YOU WILL WIN BECAUSE I SAID SO!!! YOU WILL PUSH THROUGH THE PAIN AND YOU GET THROUGH THAT STEEPLE AND YOU WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!?!" Luna shouted in probably her loudest Royal Canterlot Voice. "Y-Y-YES C-COMMANDER LUNA!!!" Minimus shouted/stammered back in shock, rubbing the soreness out of his face and ears. "Good. I didn't break your face did I? I forgot I have Earth Pony strength as an alicorn..." Luna asked. "You're asking this now?" Minimus asked annoyedly. "-sigh- I'm fine. 'Push through the pain' you said." "Okay good. I'll be back tomorrow morning to help you before the race! I know you can do it," Luna said. "But the important question is, do you believe you can do it?" "I don't know..." "Well you better know before the race. Sofia hasn't given up on you, James hasn't given up on you, I haven't given up on you, so don't you go giving up on yourself," Luna said. "See you tomorrow!" "See you tomorrow..." Things were going great! Minimus flew what was probably his fastest time and now it was time for the dreaded steeple. "Up Minimus! Up up up!" Sofia shouts. I can do it I can do it!!! Minimus tries to convince himself. -struggles- "We're not gonna make it Sofia!!" Minimus panics again. "Oh Minimus..." Luna murmured to herself. He didn't give up nearly as easily this time, but nevertheless he did eventually give up. "It's all my fault! You should switch to a bigger horse," Minimus said. "You're big enough," Sofia said back. "A faster horse then," he corrected. "You're plenty fast," Sofia rebutted. "You can talk to your horse all you want, but it won't get you through that steeple. If you can't even finish the race, why even start it?" Hugo said from behind and then beside them. "You should go back where you belong, with the other princesses." Luna didn't quite snap the same way she did before, but she came pretty close when she gave Hugo a very dangerously dragon-slitted death glare... Let's just say the stare was enough to make him go away without another word. The rest of practice continued to go a little better, but Minimus was still unable to get up the steeple. They tried and tried, but it was no use. If Minimus couldn't find some courage soon, they were gonna lose! And Luna hadn't forgotten about that hasty bet she made with Hugo... "Minimus, I think you should rest now. You'll need all the energy you can get for the race later today," Luna said. "How am I supposed to race? I'll never even cross the finish line..." Minimus sighed dejectedly. "Don't listen to anything that dumb prince has to say, listen to me. Forget everything I ever taught you! If you never remember anything I said, remember this: Don't give up. Don't give up, no matter how easy it may seem to do so. Nothing worth doing was ever easy, but you can do this!" Luna pep-talked. "I don't know..." "Then I guess you'll just have to do it not knowing." As the time for the race had drawn near, Luna met her parents and sister in the spectators' booth. "Racers to the starting line!" This is it. Nothing to be done now but watch... Luna thought to herself. "Oh this is exciting! I've never been to a flying derby race before. How creative," Celestia said as she watched the pegasi and their riders began to line up. "They certainly look like promising flyers," Cosmos noted. "Aw, that little purple one looks cute," Ethereal said. "That 'little purple one' is the one we need to win or else I'll never be allowed to fly again..." Luna said. "Remind me to never let you run negotiations when you're older..." Cosmos deadpanned. "So, I guess you never found a rider to race with?" Celestia asked. "Oh, I forgot about that..." Luna noted. But she also realized there was no possible way she could carry anyone bigger than a toddler and still race normally. "Oh, the race is starting!" Celestia cried. "Welcome to the Flying Derby tryout race!" Flora announced. "As everyone knows, the first two riders to cross the finish line earn their place on Royal Prep's Flying Derby team! So without further adieu, horses, on your wings, get set, go!" And the race is off! Minimus is up to a late start, but regains ground quickly. His smaller size makes him maneuverable, allowing him to wind through other flyers and pass them. As Minimus gained ground on Hugo and his horse, Hugo got an idea. "Looks like we're gonna have to take the princess out of the race." With that, he purposefully stopped in front of Sofia so she'd get thrown off her horse. "Aaaah!" Sofia cried, nearly landing head first on a haystack. She managed to correct her fall and land on her bottom instead of the more fatal neck snapping option. "HEY! HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE!!! DADDY CAN I SHOOT HIM WITH A LASER BEAM PLEEEEEAAASE?!" Luna shouted. "Luna, normal volume please! And NO, you cannot shoot the kid with a laser beam," Cosmos rebuked. "Hmph," Luna pouted. "GO SOFIA AND MINIMUS!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!" James helped Sofia get back on Minimus and the race continued on! Despite Hugo's efforts, the two were gaining ground again. "Sofia and James have caught the pack and passed them! But Hugo still has the lead," The announcer announced. "There's Hugo," James said. "And there's the steeple," Sofia continued. "Come on Minimus! We can do this!" "Oh, I don't know..." Minimus said. "Well I do!" Sofia remarked. As they rose up the steeple, Sofia chanted out, "Climb, climb, climb!" "Oh, oh, oh!" Minimus cried out as he rose up the steeple. ~"Never give up! You'll just have to do it not knowing. Sofia hasn't given up on you, James hasn't given up on you, I haven't given up on you, so don't you go giving up on yourself!"~ Luna's words rang in his head. "Now tuck those wings!" Sofia said to him. Before Minimus knew it, he had passed through the steeple and heard that glorious bell sing its song of victory. "I did it!" Minimus realized in awe. "How did she- WOAH!" Hugo started to ask before he nearly crashed into a tree. "Go Sofia and Minimus!" Luna cheered. "As they turn down the stretch, it's Hugo, James, and Sofia neck and neck!" the announcer announced. "Come on, you can do it!" Luna shouted, not in the Royal Canterlot Voice but certainly audible. The riders were neck and neck, no one having any plans of backing down! Sofia and James continued to gain baby steps towards the winning positions. Moments before crossing the finish line, James and Sofia passed Hugo and gained the winning spots! And the crowd goes wild! "Princess Sofia and Prince James have won the tryout race and made the team!" the announcer announced. "We won. We actually won! Wait, does that mean they'll expect us to win the next race? And the one after that?! I THINK I NEED TO LIE DOWN!!!" Minimus cried as he played dead on the ground. "Oh Minimus," Sofia chuckled. Sofia and James congratulated each other and attributed their wins to each other. When they had finished patting each other on the back (figuratively speaking), Sir Gilliam and the others came to congratulate them. "Congratulations! I proudly present you both with the official team jerseys," Sir Gilliam announced. "Wow, thank you!" Sofia said. "Brilliant," James said. They put on their jerseys and then their family and Luna and her family came to congratulate them. "Great job Sofia! I knew you two would win!" Luna proclaimed. "You must have been pretty sure if you were willing to bet your ability to fly on them winning," Cosmos surmised. "Heheheh, perhaps I shouldn't have made the stakes higher than they already were..." Luna admitted. "I think it was wonderful what you did for your friends Luna," Ethereal complimented. "I'm impressed, I thought for sure Hugo would win," Celestia stated. "But he didn't have me or Sofia helping him. So he was always doomed to lose," Luna stated matter-of-factly. "Right you are young princess," Sir Gilliam agreed. "Sir Gilliam?" Luna asked. "Your Majesty, your daughter is an incredibly gifted flyer!" Sir Gilliam exclaimed. "I've been watching her fly while she helped Minimus practice, and I must say I would hate to lose such a valuable flyer. Princess Luna, how would you like to help start a racing team solely for racing with flying hor- I mean pegasi? No riders needed since it seems you and your parents can translate everything for us and them," Sir Gilliam proposed. "Would I ever?! Yesyesyesyesyesyes YES!!! Thank you!" Luna squealed. "Oh Tia I could race against you and Minimus and some of the other pegasi at home, OH! We could race against the other pegasi here too! We could all practice becoming better flyers like the riders practice being better riders!!! Yay!" Luna ranted on excitedly. "Luna, you know you would obliterate me in a race," Celestia noted. "I know," Luna said innocently. "Well I think this is the best end to a race I can imagine," Ethereal announced. "There's a first time for everything, and we are definitely the first of our kind," Sofia declared as the first princess to be on the flying derby team, with Luna being the first royal student to (someday) fly in the races and make her own racing team. Author's Note AAAAAND end scene! Wow this chapter got long. I don't even know if that much really happened, but I tried to flesh it out. It's 9pm, my back hurts a little bit, and I know the chapter is dialogue heavy, but I'm not mad about it. There were a lot of conversations and I enjoyed writing and reading them, so I hope you do too. Feel free to point out any glaring errors in spelling/grammar/continuity/etc. and like/follow/track/fave! Notes: Like in last chapter, I glossed over the Sofia/James scenes and focused on Luna and Minimus on purpose so as not to interfere with the existing character growth/bond. I didn't mention this before, but if you have never seen the Sofia the First series before (or it's been a long time), I recommend you watch the corresponding episode for each chapter to "fill in the blanks" so to speak (It would fill in the blanks simply because I am leaving those glossed over bits untouched. Therefore, there are certain parts of the original episodes that remain unchanged from canon). *Like seriously, who was in charge of voice casting for these kids' singing voices?? They're heavenly! Is it wrong that my heart kind of fluttered when Hugo sang the phrase "Suits of armor with lots of spikes,"? That voice! It was just ✨👌🏻✨ The way his voice did a vibrato and the way he ran his notes so smoothly was just 🤯🫠 Disney knows how to cast its singers ❤️ (Also, I forgot what a massive jerk Hugo was in this episode! I also realized I still managed to sing along to the songs near perfectly like 10-12 years later 💀 **If you couldn't tell what was going on with Luna before, here's an explanation: Nightmare Moon is starting to grow into a more mature state at this time. While Luna doesn't understand what part of her is causing her to do/say the more irrational and bolder things she'd usually never do/say, she will soon. In later chapters, if Luna is acting more quiet and shy, she is her main self. If Luna suddenly gets severely triggered and becomes bolder in her words and actions, then Nightmare Moon has sprung in. Essentially, Luna = Quiet, shy and keeps her thoughts to herself (introverted), while NMM = Bold, confident, speaks her mind, will probably come across very blunt and harsh, but she is not yet evil (extroverted). In an ideal world where the two work in perfect harmony, Luna would be an ambivert. But no such harmony has happened yet 😉 Here's a super adorable image I found on the internet that indicates the current Luna/Nightmare relationship: Aww, they're buddies! 🥰
S1E2: The Royal Sleepover! (Featuring 3 born royals, 1 royal by marriage, 2 commoners, and an alicorn princess in a pear tree)The Castle of Enchancia was abuzz with activity as the preparations for the royal sleepover were underway. A massive cake that no one is actually gonna eat later was rolled by, while some other servants carried wash bins and rugs to their designated locations in the palace. "Look at all this! Our slumber party is gonna be amazing!" Sofia remarked. "Oh Sofia, this isn't just any slumber party. This is your first royal slumber party," Amber exclaimed. "I know! I'm very excited!" "Oh me too! And I want everything to be perfect!" Meanwhile, the castle steward, Baileywick, was directing the other servants on their tasks, sending some to the banquet room while others were sent to do other probably important things. "Baileywick? Did you set up the chocolate milk fountain?" Amber asked. "It's on its way to the banquet room right now, m'lady," Baileywick responded with a bow. "Ah, thank you Baileywick," Amber said with a slight curtsy. "Thank you Baileywick!" Sofia echoed. The girls then went to the elevator shaft to go to where they'd be sleeping for the slumber party. "Here, let me straighten your tiara," Amber said, fixing Sofia's tiara. "Thanks Amber," Sofia said. "Now wait until you see where we're sleeping tonight!" As the elevator made its way to its destination, the doors opened to a beautiful and massive observatory! The walls and roof could hardly be considered there since everything was glass and windows. The room's walls and ceiling were in fact one massive dome of glass with several supports maintaining the structural integrity. A beautiful telescope could also be seen in the corner waiting for use by a certain Princess of the Night to do some casual stargazing. The beds look comfy too I suppose. "Wow Amber! We're going to sleep here?" Sofia asked. "Yes, we are!" Amber exclaimed with enthusiasm. "This is amazing!" "It is, isn't it?" As they made their way to the beds they'd probably not be sleeping on tonight, Amber continued saying, "And, there's one more thing: The most important part of any great royal party..." "Yes?" "The guests!" Amber exclaimed. "I invited Princess Hildegard and Princess Cleo. They're the most popular princesses in the school. Who did you invite?" "Ruby, Jade, and Luna." Sofia responded. "Oh, how exciting! But, I don't know Ruby and Jade. What kingdom are they from?" Amber asked. "Ours! They're my friends from the village!" "-dramatic gasp- You invited village girls?!" Amber cried. "They're really awesome!" "-another gasp- But they're not princesses." "So? I invited one princess. Besides, I know you're gonna love them! We used to have the best sleepovers!" Sofia reminisced. "Ugh, Sofia. Must I remind you... again, that this is your first slumber party as a princess. You do want to make a good impression, don't you?" "Yeees, but Ruby and Jade are so much fun! Wait till you see this dance they do!" Sofia giggled. "They're going to make this the best party ever! I promise." -Meanwhile, in the Royal Sorcerer's lair- Cedric was just polishing his crystal ball, when he heard a knock on his door. -cue ball falling on his foot- "AAGH OW!!! Oh, what is it?!" "Cedric," King Roland greeted. "Oh, King Roland, Queen Miranda," Cedric greeted back, trying his best to hide the pain his foot was still feeling. "The girls are having a slumber party tonight," the King announced. "Oh, I can already hear the endless giggling now," Cedric subtly deadpanned. "And we were hoping you could put on a little magic show for them," Queen Miranda continued. "... You want me, your royal sorcerer, to uh, entertain the children?" Cedric asked incredulously. "Well we actually wanted the jester, but he's out sick," King Roland responded. Of course he is... Cedric thought to himself. Second choice for a rather unwanted job anyways... "Let's say around eight o'clock in the royal playroom?" Roland asked. "And could you do a few card tricks? You know children love card tricks." "Oh and card tricks love children. Of course your majesty," Cedric said, wearing his cynicism well. "Great!" King Roland said. "Thank you Cedric," Queen Miranda said. "Yes, my queen," Cedric bowed. Once they'd left, all curtains fell and smiling masks were recklessly abandoned on favor of long faces with an entire dictionary of sorrows written on the under appreciated sorcerer's face. "Oh I can't believe this!" Cedric cried with an audible palm to the face. "FIFTEEN YEARS of sorcerer training so I can be a warm up act for milk and cookies!" -squawk- his raven Woodworm said. "Indeed Wormy. Well, I'LL SHOW THEM! I'll use this little magic show to steal the Amulet of Avalor from Princess Sofia!" Cedric cried dramatically. "The only question... is how." As Cedric spotted his puppets, an idea struck him. In short, he's gonna use his puppet show to make an object disappear and reappear right in his hands (Take a guess what object it'll be). Once he has the amulet, he'll take over the kingdom blah blah blah villain monologues etc. -Meanwhile in Equestria- "Oh Tia can you believe it? My first sleepover!" Luna cried. "I've never been to a sleepover before. What's it like?" "Well, I've never been to a sleepover either. But I suspect there won't be much actual sleeping will there?" Celestia remarked. "How can you when you're having so much fun? I wonder what games we'll play or what food we'll eat... I can't wait to spend more time with Sofia!" "Didn't you say there would be others at the party too?" Celestia asked. "Yeah, but I'll still have Sofia, even if I don't really know anyone else," Luna explained. "What should I pack?" "It's only one night, so maybe just your toothbrush and nightgown," Celestia responded. "Oh, and Mr. Fluffybear! Can't forget him! Wait, where is he?" Luna asked as she looked around for her Ursa Minor teddy bear. "WHERE IS HE?!" "It's okay Luna, don't panic! I'll help you find him," Celestia offered as she began looking around Luna's room for Mr. Fluffybear. "I can't go to the party without him! I'll never sleep if I do!" Luna cried. "You probably won't sleep anyways..." "TIA!!!" "Okay okay! Still looking..." About half an hour later, it was almost time to go for the party. Mr. Fluffybear was still missing and it was clear he wasn't in Luna's room. "Okay think, where did you last have him?" Celestia asked. "Um, I think, um... I don't know," Luna struggled. "Maybe the dining hall?" "Okay, we'll look there," Celestia said. "We have to hurry! I can't be late for the slumber party!" Luna urged. "Okay, you get ready and pack your other things, I'll look for Mr. Fluffybear," Celestia instructed. So Luna readied her saddlebags and got her nightgown, hairbrush, and toothbrush packed (putting the toothbrush and toothpaste in a separate bag, of course). When she'd finished packing and headed down to the hall where the portal door room was, Celestia was nowhere in sight. Come on Tia. Where are you? A few minutes later, Celestia came galloping down the hallway, ramming into the wall when she tried to turn the corner too quickly. She quickly recovered and met Luna at the door. "I'm here! I'm here," Celestia gasped, trying to catch her breath. "My hero!" Luna cried as grabbed the bear and held it tight. "Thank you Tia!" "No problem! Now let's get you to that sleepover." "And from the village of Dunwiddie, Ruby and Jade!" Baileywick announced as their cart rolled up. "Sofia, Princess Amber!" they cried. "Jade, Ruby!!!" Sofia cried in excitement. They then gathered together in a big group hug. "Welcome to our castle!" "I can't believe we're here!" Jade cried. "This is gonna be so much fun!" "Oh my goodness I'm so excited I couldn't even sleep last night! I was thinkin about bein in a real life castle and wonderin all sorts of things like do princesses brush their own teeth or does someone brush them for you? I brushed mine twice today especially for the party, see?" Ruby rambled on. Just before anything more could be said, a whoosh was heard as a magic door appeared and opened to reveal a filly about their size on the other side. "SOFIA I'M HERE!!!" Luna cried loudly as she ran out the door and then tripped. She promptly landed on her face, but ignored the pain as she quickly got back up again. "I'm here," Luna repeated more calmly. "And from the Kingdom of Equestria, Princess Luna," Baileywick announced. Due to the fall, Luna had more than a few hairs out of place and her tiara was crooked, but she was otherwise fine. "Did that pony just talk?" Jade said. Ruby just shut up. "Oh. Ruby, Jade, this is Princess Luna! She's from another dimension! We go to school together," Sofia explained. "Luna, this is Ruby and Jade from my old village!" "... Hi," Luna said quietly. Cue the incessant questions for all born royals. "Wow, Princess Amber I love your tiara! Can I touch it? Do you eat grass or normal food (to Luna)? How many tiaras do you have? How many dresses (both for Hildegard)? Do you live in a castle (Back to Luna)?" "Absolutely not!" Amber responded harshly. "Um, sometimes? I but I prefe- okay..." Luna responded before Ruby asked a question to someone else. "84. More than I can count..." Hildegard answered reluctantly. "Yes," Luna replied to the last question. This girl sure talks like a whirlwind... "Aw, what a cute white squirrel!" Ruby complimented. "Lulu is a mink," Hildegard corrected. My sister sometimes calls me Lulu... that's not awkward at all... Luna thought to herself. "I have a pet donkey!" Jade remarked. "Isn't he cute!" Jade asked as she and Ruby started making donkey noises and laughing loudly. Meanwhile Luna was trying to comprehend why you'd have a pet donkey and what on earth those horrible sounds were that didn't come close to sounding like a donkey. To be fair, actual donkey noises were not that pleasant to listen to either so... "Welcome to the royal sleepover!" King Roland announced. "Ooh! Come one Ruby! Last one in goes to the dungeon!" Jade cried as they ran to the palace doors. "Come on in girls. Our castle steward, Baileywick, will help you all get settled," King Roland said. "Thank you your majesties," Ruby and Jade bowed dramatically. They then resumed their running in, stopping to rap about the fact that they're at a royal sleepover. "They're coming to our party?" Hildegard asked incredulously. "They're just village girls!" "Sofia invited them," Amber explained. "Ruby and Jade are the best! You'll see," Sofia exclaimed. And what am I? The freak pet? Luna thought to herself as she walked silently in with the others. As they began unpacking their luggage in the observatory, Luna began to wonder if she'd massively misunderstood something about how long they were staying... "Luna, where's your things?" Amber asked. "Um, just here um..." Luna responded nervously as she pulled out her nightgown, toothbrush and hairbrush, and her teddy. "Did I need anything else for one night?" She asked. "I suppose not," Amber responded. "I underpacked!" Cleo cried, ironically probably having packed the most of all of them. "Your luggage, m'ladies," a servant said as he presented Ruby and Jade's bags to them. As they unpacked their things, Ruby asked, "Jade, did you bring the pinecones?" "Yep! Sure did!" Okay, now I know I'm missing something here... Luna thought to herself. "You look funny!" Ruby laughed. "La la la! I'm a pinecone princess!" Jade singsonged. -cue awkward beatboxing- "We're at a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover," Ruby "rapped." Then Sofia joined in. "We're at a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover, a royal sleepover!" "What are they doing?" Cleo asked. I was wondering the same thing... Luna thought as she watched them rap and dance with zero sense of style or rhythm. "What are they wearing?!" Hildegard asked, referring to the pinecones currently rolled into their hair like curlers. How they ever managed to get them out later is beside me... "Are those pinecones?" Amber asked. And yes, yes they are. "Want one? We brought extras!" Ruby offered. "Uh, thanks..." Amber said dully. Then music started to play. From where? We don't know. This again? Luna thought to herself. Yet another song and dance routine. "Our perfect slumber party is just about to begin! And at our perfect slumber party, everybody's gotta fit in," Amber sang. Where does that put me in terms of "fitting in?" Luna thought to herself. "There's a certain way we do things. We don't snort and we don't squeal," Amber continued. Noted... "Running around with pinecones really isn't part of the deal." How are you supposed to get them out of your mane- I mean, hair, anyways??? As Amber continued her song, it became clear that being royal was a lot of pressure. Not that Luna hadn't known royal pressure before (after all, someday she will be responsible for maintaining the solar cycle and ruling an entire kingdom with her sister!), but it never quite looked like this. This almost seemed like more pressure than knowing someday you're gonna have to run an entire kingdom with your sister... almost. Then Sofia began singing. "At a perfect slumber party, why should we all act the same?" True... certainly more interesting that way. "Cause at a perfect slumber party, isn't fun the name of the game?" Sofia asked. She continued her song listing all sorts of fun things you could do at a slumber party, while Amber rebutted everything with "proper princess activities." Quite frankly, Luna didn't know what to do. She was sent specifically to this world to learn how to be a proper princess, but what did that even look like? I'm so confused! Waltzing? Sing softly, no boisterous noises, can't be clumsy- oh... -reminiscences on her entrance from earlier and the fact that she can't dance- I have a lot to work on... By the time the song ended, Luna was conflicted. "Um, Sofia?" Luna asked quietly. "I'm gonna help them fit in!" Sofia finished as she went to find Ruby and Jade. "Oh, um, okay..." Luna sighed as Sofia walked right past her. I don't think she even heard me. I suppose I have speaking softly down on the list... "Um Amber?" "Oh, yes Luna?" Amber responded. "How exactly am I supposed to fit in?" "Well, I don't think you'll have any problems, being a natural born royal and all," Amber stated confidently. "While I don't think Sofia's village friends being here is a good idea, at least she did invite one real royal," Amber admitted. "Yes, I suppose that is good. It is a royal slumber party after all, right?" "Right, and you're royal." Jade and Ruby just came back from having a royal makeover. "They look just like princesses now don't they?" Sofia asked. "They look the part, but can they act it?" Amber asked. Jade then proceeded to trip and fall in much the same manner Luna did when she arrived. Amber and her friends were not convinced. "Okay! It's time for the first activity: fan decorating!" Baileywick announced. "Princesses one and all, follow me!" So they headed to the other side of the room where they had craft supplies and blank fans to decorate. The girls began painting on their fans and filling them with pretty paintings, except... "What flowers are you painting Hildegard?" Amber asked. "Roses." "What kind of flowers are you painting Cleo?" "Roses!" What kind of flowers are you painting Amber?" Hildegard asked. "Roses!" "Oh, I didn't know we could only paint roses..." Luna remarked as she looked at her fan. It was decorated to look like the night sky. It actually had a very striking resemblance to the Starry Nights painting by Van Gogh, only the moon was white instead of yellow. "Sofia, what do you think of my-" Luna was interrupted by Ruby as she shouted, "Say hi to Mr. happy fan!" Of course Sofia laughed, but then Amber scolded her. "Sofia!" "Ruby, can you just paint roses?" Sofia asked. "Don't make me Mr. sad fan!" Ruby responded. "Ruby." "-sigh- okay..." Do I need to change my fan? I was actually quite proud of it... I'm messing up being a princess already! Does Sofia even know I'm here anymore? Luna thought dejectedly to herself. "Baileywick? Is it almost time for pin the tail on the unicorn?" Sofia asked. "Say WHAT now?!" Luna cried. "It is now," Baileywick responded. Then he unveiled the poster. "What is that monstrosity?!" Luna asked. "It's a painting of a unicorn," Amber responded. "What's wrong with his face?! That is not any unicorn I have ever seen. I hate it! The picture scares me..." Luna humphed. Yeah, that's gonna be in my nightmares tonight... "Oh oh oh! Can I go first! Unicorns are my favorite animal in the whole wide world!!!" Jade pleaded. "Animal?" Luna asked, insulted by the term. Fortunately, no one heard her complaint. Jade began the game by putting on the blindfold, and then she attempted to pin the tail on the unicorn. Her friends tried to guide her to the right spot. Turn left, turn right, more to the left, no back right! And then she knocked over the model of the solar system... "Woah!" Jade cried. "Watch out for the planets!" Ruby warned the others. "... hahaha, look at me! I'm the princess of Venus!" Jade laughed. Cleo and Luna were laughing too, until Amber made a face that clearly implied "I am not amused so neither should you be." They stopped. "Did someone else want a turn?" Jade asked. Luna was about to try her luck (mostly so she could try stabbing the terrifying unicorn with the nail in the tail) when suddenly the bell rang. "The bell! That must mean it's time for a new activity!" Sofia stated. Already? Luna thought disappointedly. "Yes indeed! Cedric's magic show is about to start," Baileywick explained. Oh, magic show? That sounds interesting... Luna thought to herself, feeling a little better about the change in activity. "Sofia, can I sit with y-" "A magic show! Doesn't that sound like an activity we can all enjoy together?" Sofia asked rhetorically. ... I must be invisible. Luna mused sadly. "Ah, in just a few moments, the Amulet of Avalor will be mine!" Cedric said. He practiced his act and it went... it went. Then the girls arrived. Ruby proceeded to ask more questions to Luna, not catching a single one of the social cues that she did not really want to talk. "Do you have any pets? Are there humans in your world? How do you get to school? Do you fly with your wings or does someone else fly you places like with our carriages? How many tiaras do you have? What's your castle like? Do you have any siblings? What do you like to do for fun?" Please, just... stop... please... Luna thought inside. Outside, she was silent with the slightest sweat forming on her head with every added question. Luna was so overwhelmed, she looked like she wasn't breathing (which was probably true). Finally, she just snuck away while Ruby started to ask someone else questions. Amber then whispered, "Sofia! Do something about your friends!" "Uh hey Ruby! Did you know there's a chocolate milk fountain?" Sofia asked. "Why don't we get some before the show starts?" "A chocolate milk fountain?" Ruby cried in awe. As Amber, Hildegard, and Luna left with some chocolate milk (Luna especially needed some chocolate right now), Ruby said, "Sofia, this is so much fun! I'm having the best time! Thank for inviting us." Hmph, at least they're having fun with Sofia. I don't think I've been able to say even one word to her since I got here... Luna thought bitterly, heading to sit down at the show. "Jade! Save me a seat! Front and center!" Ruby called. As Luna has sat down next to Cleo, Luna called, "Hey Sofia, can you sit with m-" and then Sofia sat next to Ruby and Jade on the other side of Amber. F-FINE! PRETEND I DON'T EXIST! I didn't want to come here anyways... Luna silently screamed within the confines of her mind. "Now all they have to do is sit quietly and watch a magic show. What could go wrong?" Sofia said to Amber. Amber was not convinced. "Welcome to the greatest and only magical puppet show in Enchancia!" A puppet with a low voice announced. Then a wizard puppet knocked the other puppet out of the way as he said in a high voice, "For my first magic trick, I will make an object disappear!" Is this their idea of magic? I'm bored already... Luna thought, forgoing the cold fact that she was already bored before this (Except when Jade knocked over the solar model. That was kind of funny). "Now, who will lend me their amulet for this trick?" The puppet then hovered over to Sofia. "How about you little princess?" "How about a pinecone? Can you make that disappear?" Jade asked as she got right in the puppet's face. "NO! NO PINE- I mean, no. I need an amulet! Only an amulet," Cedric said, nearly losing his character. "Do you know any card tricks?" Ruby asked. "I love those!" Then James entered the room. Finally, another face I know well. Luna thought to herself. She certainly wasn't as close to him as she was with Sofia, but closer than Amber. "Hey! Mom and dad asked me to tell you that-" James was interrupted. "PRINCE JAMES!" Ruby and Jade ~~simped~~ cried. "Remember us?" Jade asked. "We met you last time we were at the castle!" Ruby said as they ran past the chocolate milk fountain, bumping it on their way. The fountain began to lean as Sofia shouted, "NO!!" but it was too late. The fountain fell over, covering the two village girls in chocolate milk and getting a spot on Amber's dress. Though Luna put up her wing instinctively, she and the others were left untouched by the sticky chocolate mess. Sofia gasped. "Merlin's mushroom!" Cedric cried in anger as he poofed away. "My nightgown is ruined," Amber said. "It's only a drop..." Cleo noted. "LOOK AT IT! IT'S RUINED!!!" Amber shouted. "It's ruined," Hildegard echoed. "We're so, SO sorry!" Ruby apologized. "So sorry," Jade echoed. "This was my third favorite gown!" Amber fumed. "Amber, it was just an accident!" Cleo tried to reason with her. "Yeah! At least you're not drenched in chocolate milk like they are!" Luna added. "Who's side are you on?" Amber asked. "I-I'm not... oh whatever..." Luna mumbled. "Oh no," Sofia sighed. "Oh dear oh dear. Okay you two, let's go to the dressing room and get you cleaned up," Baileywick said as he took them to the dressing room. "Hahaha!" James laughed. "What are you doing here, James?" Amber asked. "Hahaha, sorry sorry. Mom and dad wanted me to tell you there's dancing in the ballroom," James explained. "Let's go. Then maybe we can enjoy five minutes of our party without Sofia's friends getting in the way," Amber said. But, I can't dance! I thought I was Sofia's friend too, and she was mine... What am I supposed to do?... Luna thought to herself as she went with Amber and her friends, the only ones who seemed to be giving her at least some attention. Luna did contemplate just staying with James if Sofia was gonna ignore her and Amber was gonna divide her. But unfortunately, it didn't seem James was invited to the party. "Hey, you okay Sofe?" James asked. "-sigh- No! My friends are ruining the party!" Sofia cried. "What are you talking about? That was the funniest thing that's ever happened at one of Amber's sleepovers!" "Oh, it was awful! Jade and Ruby have done everything wrong since they got here!" "Says who?" "Amber, Hildegard, Cleo!" "So? Who cares what they think? What about Luna?" "Oh my goodness, Luna! This is her first royal slumber party too! Oh, I must look like a complete fool to her too!" Sofia cried. "I don't know about that, but what do you think?" "I don't know... I just don't want them to ruin the rest of the party! -sigh-" "Where is everybody?" Jade asked. "In the ballroom," Sofia answered. "But can I talk to you guys first?" "Sure!" Jade said. "I love to talk!" Ruby piped. "Yeah, that's the thing. I want you both to fit in with the princesses, and you want to fit in with them too, right?" Sofia asked. "We look just like them now right?" Jade asked, posing dramatically with Ruby. "Yes, you do. But now you have to act like them! Princesses don't talk so much or laugh so loud, or make so many messes," Sofia explained. "We talk too much?" Jade aksed. "We laugh too loud?" Ruby asked. "We were just having fun-" "But we're sorry. We didn't realize we were causing problems. We'll try to act, uh, more like the other princesses," Ruby promised. "Oh great! Thank you!" Sofia said as they had a group hug. Unknown to Sofia, however, they were not happy. While Luna was still trying to figure out dancing, Sofia and her friends finally came back in. Finally, now I can spend some time with Sofia! And then Sofia started waltzing with Amber while Ruby and Jade tried to waltz with each other. Can't waltz, don't have a dance partner, don't have any friends... Why am I still here?! Luna mentally cried and nearly started crying outside too. So Luna just went in a corner by herself while she waited for the dancing to be done. This is the worst sleepover of my life! Meanwhile, Jade and Ruby grew bored as well and sat in a different corner. "Are you having any fun?" Jade asked Ruby. "Nope." As soon as the dance ended, Ruby and Jade went to talk to Sofia. "Um, Sofia?" Ruby asked. "We're gonna go home." Jade said. "What? Why?" Sofia asked. One of the benefits of someday being Princess of the Night means that she has heightened senses of night vision and hearing. Luna may have been on the other side of the room, but she still heard what was going on. "We're not having a good time!" Jade admitted. Not having a good time? NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME?! OF ALL THE INSOLENT- "But you're finally fitting in! And the best news is, you're not embarrassing me anymore!" Sofia triumphed. "We were embarrassing you?!" Ruby cried. "Sofia, I'm sorry if we talk too much and laugh too loud for your fancy new friends! But we like to talk and we like to laugh! And if that's not okay with you now that you're a princess, then maybe we shouldn't be friends anymore!" Jade shouted. Luna had enough. "NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME? TALK TOO MUCH AND LAUGH TOO LOUD FOR HER 'FANCY NEW FRIENDS'??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! YOU ONLY JUST STOPPED HAVING FUN FOR 10 MINUTES!!! I HAVEN'T HAD FUN SINCE I GOT HERE!!! I WANTED TO SPEND TIME WITH THE PERSON WHO INVITED ME HERE, INSTEAD SHE DITCHED ME TO SPEND TIME WITH HER 'FRIENDS', WHO WERE MORE INTERESTED IN GAWKING OVER HER PRINCESS LIFE, RATHER THAN ACTUALLY CONSIDER HOW SHE WAS MAKING HER OTHER FRIEND FEEL!!! YOU SO CALLED 'FRIENDS' HAVE GOTTEN TO SPEND ALL NIGHT WITH SOFIA, BUT I DON'T THINK I'VE EVEN GOT ONE WORD WITH HER ALL NIGHT!!! SO JUST GO!!! I WAS GONNA LEAVE MYSELF, BUT IT SEEMS THE MAJORITY OF MY ISSUES WILL BE SOLVED WHEN YOU LEAVE!!! I WON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR UNENDING QUESTIONS THAT FLOOD MY BRAIN WHILE I DIE INSIDE, NOR WILL I HAVE TO RUB MY EARS FROM YOUR RIDICULOUSLY LOUD VOICES!!!! NOW, IF YOU DON'T MIND, I AM GONNA GO TO THE OBSERVATORY AND HUG MR. FLUFFYBEAR WHILE I SCREAM INTO A PILLOW!!! GOOD NIGHT!!!!!" Luna ranted and screamed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, slamming the door on her way out. A lesser door would've broken under such violent force... "Oh yeah! Well fine!" The girls said as they too ran off. Obviously, Sofia was shocked and heartbroken. "Don't worry about them, Sofia. You're with us now," Hildegard said. "But I wanted to be with them," Sofia said. She then broke away from the others and ran up to find the girls. "Ruby! Jade! Luna!" She found Ruby and Jade's princess dresses on the bed, while Luna was nowhere to be found. "Oh no..." "Sofia?" Queen Miranda called. "Jade just asked me to summon her father. Is everything alright?" "I told Jade and Ruby to act more like the princesses! I was trying to help them fit in, but I just made them feel bad and accidentally ignored Luna while trying to help them," Sofia admitted. "It seems to me the only one who needs to act more like a princess, is you," Miranda said. "Me?" "Being a real princess is all about how you treat people, Sofia. And if someone is your friend, you should like them for who they are. You shouldn't try to change them, no matter who else is around. Especially if that gets in the way of spending time with your friends," Miranda explained. "I really messed up," Sofia sighed. "Now it's too late to do anything about it!" "Well, it's never too late to start acting like a princess. And saying you're sorry is a great place to start," Miranda advised as they drew into a hug. "You know, Ruby and Jade are probably still here, and Luna is likely somewhere around the castle. Go on, you better hurry!" "Thanks mom!" Sofia said as she ran for the elevator shaft. If I run quickly, I can catch Ruby and Jade before they leave! Hopefully Luna hasn't left either... Sofia ran out the palace doors and down the steps as fast as she could without falling down and breaking her neck. As soon as she saw that Ruby and Jade were still there, she ran even faster and called out, "Ruby! Jade! Wait!" They continued walking on. "I'm sorry! Please don't leave!" "Hmph, I thought we were embarrassing you," Jade said. "And what about Luna?" Ruby said. "You're not embarrassing me, you guys are perfect just the way you are! You're sweet, and loyal and so much fun to be around! Luna's outburst is my fault. If I hadn't been so busy trying to make you guys fit in, she wouldn't have felt so left out! She doesn't really know anyone here except me anyways, so that just made things worse," Sofia explained. "We are pretty fun," Ruby said. "And it does sound like Luna wasn't having any fun either," Jade admitted. "And, you guys are my best friends! I'm sorry about the way I acted tonight, and I'm really reaaaally hoping you give me a chance to make it up to you!" Sofia pleaded. "We can start over and have our own slumber party, like we used to! What do you say, just the four of us? I still need to apologize to Luna too, and I think you guys would be great friends! She's not like the other princesses." The two thought about it for a minute, before being in agreement. They then formed a group hug and all was forgiven. "So where's Luna?" They asked. "Oh no! I still haven't found her yet. I hope she hasn't left already! Can you help me find her?" Sofia asked. "Sure Sofia," Jade said. "No problem," Ruby said. "She wasn't in the observatory when I first went up there," Sofia said. "Maybe she's somewhere else," Ruby theorized. "Like where?" Jade asked. "I-is that Luna on a cloud?" Ruby asked. They looked up high and sure enough, a couple dozen yards in the sky was a lone, low lying cloud with Luna cuddling her teddy on top of it. "How is she doing that?!" Jade asked. "Never mind that, Luna!" Sofia called as she went outside the balcony. "Leave me alone!" Luna called back. "No Luna! I've already been doing that all night! Can we please talk?" Sofia called. "Why do you care? You've been with your 'friends' all night. Why do you need my company too?" Luna asked bitterly. If they could see Luna right now, they might have noticed her eyes were draconic. But they couldn't see it, so they didn't notice. "Luna I'm sorry I've ignored you all night! I got so carried away trying to make Ruby and Jade fit in, I completely forgot to spend any time with you," Sofia explained. "Please don't be mad at me!" "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you? I'm not mad! I'm heartbroken..." Luna said, starting to cry again. "I didn't mean to hurt you Luna, honest! Please come down! We're having our own slumber party in my room. No princessly expectations! Just a bunch of girls laughing and having a good time!" "You really mean it?" Luna asked. "Really. We can just have fun without having to act like proper princesses. Would you like that?" Sofia asked. "... I would, actually," Luna responded as her eyes reverted to normal and she came down to the balcony. "I'm sorry too, for my outburst earlier. I suppose I can't have really blamed you two for Sofia's actions." "It's fine, we understand! You were kind of right to be mad at us too. We at least had some fun before we had to act princessy," Ruby admitted. "We promise we'll show you what it looks like to really have fun at a slumber party!" Jade proclaimed. "I would love that!" Luna admitted. "-sigh- Finally, some peace and quiet," Amber said. "Now this is a perfect slumber party!" Hildegard stated. "-sigh- No. Sofia's friends were kind of fun..." Cleo sighed. From the observatory, music and laughter could be heard from Sofia's room. -In Sofia's Room- "Hahaha, that's a silly dance!" Jade laughed as Ruby did a silly dance while Sofia and Luna also laughed at the silliness before them. "Oh oh wait, I have one too that I did at Sofia's ball. Watch!" Luna said as she began kicking her left front and back legs out and then putting them down and switching to the right legs, and repeat. "Hahaha, I love it!" Ruby and Jade cried as they got down on all fours and did the same thing Luna was doing. Sofia then began singing a wacky song to go with the new dance as the just giggled and laughed. Meanwhile, Amber, Hildegard, and Cleo were outside their door, listening in on the fun. Finally, Amber decided to peek in and see what they were up to. "Sofia? Can we talk for a second?" "Sure Amber. What's up?" Sofia asked. "W-well, we heard a lot of laughter and noise coming from downstairs.. a-a-and we were just wondering if, everything was... alright?" "We're fine! In fact, we're having a blast!" "Really?" "Yeah! How about you guys? How is your slumber party going?" "Oh, us? W-well it's going... it's kind of a different kind of- a-and w-well... it's... different..." Amber struggled to answer. "Amber, it's no fun without us is it?" Sofia asked point blank. "Oooh... YES SOFIA!!!! We are so bored without the four of you!" Amber admitted. "Well, would you like to join in our slumber party?" Sofia asked. "We've got extra pinecones!" Jade offered. "Really? That would be great!" Amber cried. "We can worry about how to get them out later," Luna said. "Right now, I'm having fun!" And so they danced on and forwent all royal formalities as they just enjoyed being kids!!! Too bad someday they'll have to grow up and rule nations... Author's Note AAAAAND END SCENE!!! I'm surprised how quickly I wrote this... I don't know if it's even been a full week between posts... oh well My back hurts (A sign I've been sitting with horrible posture for too many hours) but my heart is happy! The idea of the mood behind this chapter is "You invited your introvert friend to a party but then forgot about them and hung out with your fellow extroverts leaving the introvert alone in a world of strangers." (I am personally guilty of this... please forgive me!) The next episode is "Let the Good Times Troll," but let me just say I will be skipping the events of that episode. I honestly hated that episode and honestly don't know how to incorporate it into the story, since it's an episode more aimed at Sofia's personal life (Like, what would Luna have to do with any of that?). So, I'll be having a slice-of-life chapter instead that just focuses on Luna and her family going about their normal weekend (Kind of like how "Let the Good Times Troll" puts more focus in just Sofia and her family). Because the entire chapter will be original instead of an episode rewrite, it will take longer to write and will probably be waaaaaay shorter, but there will be a chapter S1E3 (Just not involving any trolls or Sofia). My usual picture! I wonder if I'll run out of these by the time I reach the end of the series... Nah (Pretend the horsey is an Ursa Minor teddy) Like, follow, fave, and all that other stuff! Feel free to let me know if there are any glaring grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors from me typing too quickly and not always checking my work because I'm too impatient to post (Y'all would probably catch them easier anyways since I've been staring at this story for about 8 or more hours intermittently ... I have been sitting for far too long going back and forth between writing this chapter and rewatching "The Big Sleepover" episode and generally goofing off on YouTube...)
~The Deleted Chapter~Author's Note Remember when I said I was deleting more than half of what I had for S1:E3 and rewriting it? (Blog post) Well, turns out it was waaaay more than over half. It was nearly the entire chapter save for 800 words!!! Soooo, I have much more writing to do than I thought, at least 1 ten-page paper due in less than 2 weeks, some books reviews for books I haven't read, a midterm I still have to take (eek...), and lots of other things I've been procrastinating besides writing for FimFiction. So to bide some time, I'm gonna post the redacted chapter anyways and you'll get the real one later. Enjoy this little (3.8k word) deleted chapter! ~The Deleted Chapter~ It was the weekend now, but it wasn't just any weekend. On the last week of every 2 or so months, the king and queen would take the entire weekend off from royal duties to spend exclusive time with their daughters. They wish they could do it more often, but ruling a kingdom keeps one (or two) very busy. It was all the strings they could pull to get 2 days every 2 months! So when the two alicorn sisters awoke that morning, they awoke to their parents faces 6 inches from their face... It's tradition. "Surprise! Guess what day it is?" Cosmos boomed. "My birthday?" Luna asked. "No silly. It's pancake weekend! You girls get to spend all today and tomorrow with us," Ethereal said. "-GASP- YES!!! I LOVE PANCAKE WEEKEND!!! Can I make little faces with the fruit again?" Celestia asked. "Of course! That's the best part of any pancake," Cosmos exclaimed. "I just want pineapple and chocolate chips on my pancakes," Luna stated. "Alright, well let's get out of bed! Those pancakes won't make themselves!" Ethereal announced. So they got out of bed, brushed their manes and teeth (to get rid of that morning breath), and were ready to make and eat pancakes in a record time of about 60 seconds... They may still have a few tangles in those manes. "We're ready! Can I add the ingredients to the bowl?" Luna asked. "Sure sweetie. We need two cups of flour -Luna adds 2 cups flour-, some sugar -adds what may or may not have been a cup of sugar-, and several other ingredients," Cosmos said before lifting his head from the recipe to find Luna had added some of the ingredients already. "Oh, I didn't think you were doing that right now. I was gonna measure out the ingredients for you..." "Oh," Luna said as she stopped herself from adding the entire baking powder container into the bowl. "Looks like these will be pretty sweet pancakes, but I think we'll be fine," Ethereal said as she noted the large amount of sugar in the bowl. "Heheh, oops..." Luna said. "Let me help you with the rest of the ingredients Luna," Cosmos said as he measured out the other ingredients. After a decent sized mess in the kitchen was made, the royal family was left with varying sizes and shades of golden-brown/ink-black pancakes before them (they may have let Luna help pour and cook the pancakes too. Despite the seeming failures, it was still good to let her help anyways). "Hey look Luna! Say hi to Mr. Happy Pancake! 'I'm so happy to meet you! Too bad you must eat me soon...' hahaha!" Celestia said, equipping a silly voice for the pancake when talking to Luna. "Haha, hi Mr. Happy Pancake! Pleased to eat you!" Luna greeted. "Don't you mean pleased to meet you?" Mr. Happy Pancake asked. "No, I mean eat you," Luna said as she grabbed the plate and took a bite out of the pancake. "Hey wait a second, that was mine!" Celestia cried. "Luna, you need to ask before you grab something from someone else," Ethereal scolded. "Sorry Tia..." Luna said as she gave the plate back. "Here's your plate Luna," Cosmos said as he gave her a plate with a pancake and several pineapple slices piled on top. "Oh, one more thing." He then sprinkled the top with tiny chocolate chips. "Here you go!" "Thank you daddy!" Luna cried as she devoured her pancake. Once the girls had finished their pancakes, it was time to play off all those pancakes. So the family went outside to play in the garden. They began playtime with a game of what can only be described as volleyball without the net or boundary lines. There was a line drawn on the ground. If the ball fell on your side of the line, that was a point for the other team. There is no out field. Luna and Cosmos played against Celestia and Ethereal. At first, the game was pretty even with all four volleying the ball back to the other side. But then the parents got competitive. Very competitive. It slowly escalated until the parents were basically dominating the gameplay while the girls sat and watched, volleys getting more and more intense. The ball hadn't dropped yet, and it didn't seem like it would anytime soon with the way the ruling pair were playing (oh the things one can do when the pressures of maintaining a mask of perfection and regality are temporarily removed). Finally, the ball ended up flying out of Cosmos's range and that's when Luna took her chance to volley the ball! "I've got it!" Lune cried. "Be careful!" Ethereal and Cosmos said. As Luna ran deeper into the forest, the ball never came near in sight. Instead, the castle got further away in the distance, until the dense forest trees blotted it from sight. Suddenly, that ball doesn't seem so important anymore... "Momma? Daddy? Tia?" Luna cried out. Well, there in the tree branches was the ball, but home is nowhere in sight. "Hello? Where are you guys?!" What am I gonna do? I'm trying to look for anything familiar, but all these trees look the same! I think I can from that way... or maybe it's the other way... or over here? "Aaaagh!!! Where they hay am I?!?!" "You're in the Everfree forest." "Gaah!" Luna screamed. She turned to face a strange looking bug pony with lots of holes in her body (how does that even work anyways?). "Who are you?" "I'm Chrysalis, but you can call me Chryssie! Who are you?" Chrysalis asked. "Oh, hi Chryssie! I'm Luna. Do you live here?" "Hi Luna! I live a little bit away from here. I felt like exploring today. Where do you live?" "I live in a castle. It's somewhere outside this forest," Luna explained. "Outside the forest? Wow. What does the sky look like?" Chrysalis asked. "What do you mean? You've never seen the sky before?" Luna asked. "No. We aren't allowed to leave the forest..." "Why?" "I don't know. But I think I know how to get you back to the edge of the forest! You should be able to get home from there. I think I've even seen the castle you're talking about," Chrysalis explained. "That would be great! Oh thank you Chryssie!!!" Luna cried. So Chrysalis guided Luna back to where she entered the forest and Luna could see her home from there. "Thank you for helping me Chryssie!" "No problem Luna." "Will I see you again?" Luna asked. "I don't know. Maybe kick your ball into the forest again and we'll see what happens!" Chrysalis quipped. "Hahaha, I hope I the ball doesn't go that far again. But thanks again! Bye Chryssie!" "Bye Luna! I hope I see you again!" Meanwhile, Luna's family was waiting for her back at the gardens. "Where is she? Luna should've been back by now," Ethereal worried. "Do you think she got lost?" Celestia asked. "I sure hope not. Maybe I should go in and look for her. She can't be that far in... Luna?" Cosmos called as he approached the forest. "I'm here daddy!" Luna cried as she came out of the forest with the ball. "Oh good! What took you so long?" Cosmos asked. "I got lost." "Told you so," Celestia said. "But then a nice bug-pony named Chryssie helped me get home!" Luna finished. "A what now?" Celestia asked. "Surely you don't mean you saw a changeling, do you?" Cosmos asked. "Um, are they bug-ponies?" Luna asked. "They're evil shapeshifting creatures who steal life from our ponies to become more powerful," Cosmos explained. "I thought I'd banished them all from our lands, but it seems some still live within our forests..." "The changeling I met didn't seem evil. She was about my age and she was really nice! And she didn't steal my life," Luna countered. "That may be, but you can never be too careful. Perhaps this little one is biding her time, until the right moment to catch you off guard," Cosmos speculated. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Perhaps it wasn't a changeling she saw. It could be have been anything else," Ethereal tried to reason. "Exactly how many creatures in our lands can you describe as a 'bug-pony'?" Cosmos asked. "... one." "Exactly. Luna, I don't want you going back in the forest. Do you understand?" Cosmos commanded. "But-" "No 'but's!" "Yes daddy..." Later after bedtime, Luna snuck into the library to look for a book on changelings. Hmm, 'ca', 'ch', aha! 'changelings'... Yup, this is definitely a picture that looks like Chryssie! But, it doesn't look as nice as Chryssie. Why? And back in the Hive, Chryssie was telling her mom about this new creature she met. "Her name is Luna! She seems really nice. She didn't have any holes in her body and she had wings like us, but there were feathered like a bird. She also had a horn on her head like the unicorns you've told me about! I think she was a princess too. She lives in the castle outside the forest! Mom, are you listening?" Chryssie asked. "Do you mean to tell me you met an alicorn? And not just any alicorn, but a royal one?" Lepidoptra asked (I know this name has been used before as Chrysalis's "before evil" name, but this is unrelated and I have no idea what else to name Chryssie's mom). "Um, I guess so. Why does that matter?" "Those ALICORNS banished us from our original home and have forced us to starve in this forest! We used to feast on love! Now we can barely survive. You are far too young to remember what's it's like to feel full of love, so you do not even miss it. But I want vengeance for you! Tell me, will you be able to lure her here again?" Lepidoptra asked. "Y-you won't hurt her, will you? I promise she's really nice!" Chryssie asked. "Of course not! I'm not a monster. I just need her to... help us. Yes. She could help us get out of this forest." "Then I could see the whole sky? Not just a small sliver of it through the trees?!" "You can explore all you like if you help me get your little friend to the Hive!" "Yay!!!" The next day, the royal family decided to play hide and seek with the kids. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, (etc.)," Cosmos and Ethereal started counting. Okay, now is the time to go see Chryssie again and ask her about this. Luna thought to herself as she pulled out the changeling book from its hiding place. Just as she was about to sneak into the forest, Celestia appeared behind her. "What are you doing?" Celestia asked. "Aah! What are YOU doing?" Luna replied back with a jump. "Please tell me you are NOT about to back to see your little changeling friend." "Whaaaat? No. Why would you say that?" "You are literally holding 'The History of Changelings in Equestria' in your hooves." "Oh..." "For the Princess of the Night, your aren't that great at hiding your intentions and being a sneaky and stealthy," Celestia noteed. "I'll get there eventually..." Luna responded. "Wanna come with me? We could invite her to play with us!" "I don't know... Father said they were dangerous." "But Chryssie wasn't dangerous! Pleeeeeease!" -sweet big baby doll eyes- "... fiiiiiine!" Celestia caved. "I've got to learn how to say no to you one of these days..." "Yay!" Luna cried as she began skipping into the deep dark forest like it was a cotton candy trail. "-sigh- I'm definitely gonna regret this aren't I?" Celestia asked to no one in particular. Back again at the Hive, Chryssie was coming up with ways she could invite Luna to her home. What if I play it off as a playdate? Yeah! We can have a playdate! I already have mom's permission and command to invite her over anyways, so it's a plan! We're having a playdate today! "LUNA!!! YOU IN HERE?!" Chryssie shouted through the forest. "CHRYSSIE?! IS THAT YOU?" Luna shouted back. "Luna, can you use your inside voice please?" Celestia asked. "Oh snap there's somepony else..." Chryssie panicked under her breath. "Chryssie!!! This is my big sister, Tia! But only I get to call her that. To you she's Celestia, okay?" Luna introduced. "Um, ok. Hi Luna's big sister!" Chryssie said. "Hi Chryssie. You don't look quite as scary or intimidating as in our books... You're kinda cute." Celestia noted. "I am NOT cute!" Chryssie pouted. "But, um... do you two wanna come to my place for a playdate? It'll be lots of fun and my mom said you can come over an-" "Slow down! Say what now? Your mom knows about us?" Celestia asked. "Yeah. She said I should invite Luna over today. I think she'd be fine with you too!" Chryssie explained. "Give me one moment to speak with my precious little sister will you?" Celestia asked. "Luna, I don't think this is a good idea. Chryssie may be okay and innocent, but I'm not sure what her mom is like. She may not be as nice as her daughter is," Celestia whispered to Luna. "But how will we know if we don't just go see her? It'll be fun! What's the worst that could happen? We could bring mom and dad if that'll help," Luna whispered back. "You heard them yesterday. They'd never come with us to see them. They'd tell us not to go." "Which means we're going without them!" "No." "Yes." "No!" "YES!" "So you're coming?" Chryssie asked. "YES/NO" Luna and Celestia said respectively. "Catch me if you can!" Luna cried as she began running into the forest. "You can't hide from me!" Chryssie cried as she ran after her. "Wait, no! Come back here! Luna!" Celestia cried as she ran after both of them. The three ran through the forest, Chryssie making sure to subtly guide them towards the Hive. A hop skip and a jump later, they had arrived at the Hive. "Hey look, we're at my house!" Chryssie announced. "Wanna see my room?" "Yeah!" Luna exclaimed, following suit to Chryssie's "house" (I mean, I guess it's a house). "Luna wait! Come back! You can't run into the house of someone you just met!" Celestia cried, panicking internally at what their parents would think right now. "You can if it's a friend!!!" Luna shouted back as she and Chryssie turned a corner. "Luna what do you even know about this changeling?!" Celestia shouted back. "You know, I can hear you both VERY well..." Chryssie said to them both, trying to hide the knowing expression on her face. Luna is so sweet and fun! Celestia is right to question my motives... I wish it didn't have to be like this, but mom said she wouldn't hurt them, so maybe she just wants to talk to them? Yeah, just talk and ask questions... but if that's the case... why don't I quite believe that's what'll happen? "Well, I have nothing to hide. What about you?" Celestia asked. "TIA!!" Luna cried in embarrassment. "Uh oh look we're here!" Chryssie said as she stopped outside, presumably, her bedroom door. "Wanna play?" "Sure!" Luna said as she trotted in with her. "You coming Tia?" "Um, no. I think I'll just look around if that's alright..." Celestia said timidly. "Um, ok." Chryssie said. So Luna and Chryssie played with some of her toys while Celestia wandered around. After awhile, she got the feeling that her surroundings were changing. Have I been through here already? Or maybe not... umm... what's this room? Celestia entered to realize she walked into the throne room. "Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" a voice boomed. Seated on her throne was Queen Lepidoptra. "Eep!" Celestia cried. "You look like the alicorn my daughter described to me, but the colors are all wrong." "Oh, um, you mean my sister, Luna... I'm Celestia... I guess you're Chryssie's mom?" "So there's two of you? Interesting..." This could work even more in my favor than I thought, Lepidoptra thought to herself. "Are there more of you?" "Um, well, I have my parents..." "And what have they told you about our kind?" "... I don't know if I should say." "So nothing good." "I-I didn't mean-" "Relax, I won't hurt you little one. My issue is not with you. This is not your battle." "W-what?" "Though I do hope you forgive me for this. It is what must be done for the good of my subjects." Lepidoptra said sincerely before she encased Celestia in a cocoon. "Wait- ahh! Lff me oot!!" Celestia cried through whatever that liquid was. How she wasn't drowning she didn't know, but that's not what mattered. Luna is in danger! "So what's your family like?" Chryssie asked. "Well, they're really kind! Mommy and Daddy are busy a lot ruling Equestria, but they make time for us every other month or so. Sometimes I wish they didn't have to work so much, but I guess I understand. They said my sister and I will rule one day, and I'm not exactly looking forward to it if it means being too busy for everypony unless you pull lots of strings..." Luna rambled. "... That was more than you asked for, wasn't it?" "No, it was fine! You sound close with your family..." Chryssie noted. "As close as we can be. I love love LOVE my sister! When Mommy and Daddy can't play with us, we play together and Tia tells me fun stories and we laugh a lot!" "Ugh, I hate my siblings." Chryssie grimaced. "How many do you have?" "275." "WHAT?!" "What?" "That's a lot of siblings to hate." "Sometimes they bug me so much I wish I could just kill them!" Chryssie nearly shouted, nearly... "-gasp- I could never imagine wanting to kill my sister!" (Oh yes you could, Luna, yes you could.) "Well good for you!" Chryssie suddenly snapped. "Can we get back to playing with dolls now?" "Um, sure..." Luna replied, not a little surprised at Chryssie's outburst. A little later, there was a knock on the door. Then, without any permission or announcement, Chryssie's mom waltzed in and made herself at home (I mean, it is her home, soo....). -Awkward silence- "So, you must be Luna," Lepidoptra stated. "Yes ma'am," Luna responded. "-sigh- And this is my mom, the one who always forgets to knock before entering," Chryssie subtly seethed. "Oh like I'm not allowed to enter whatever room in MY castle whenever I like!" Lepidoptra shouted. "Are you enjoying your visit, Luna?" "I was..." Luna responded. "Was?" Lepidoptra asked. "... You're kind of scary," Luna stated bluntly. "Well, forgive me for being what I am. I hope your parents don't mind if you stay over for awhile," "Well... they don't actually know... I guess I should tell them I'm here..." Luna admitted guiltily. "Oh that won't be necessary. I'll let them know." "Really?" Luna and Chryssie asked. "Yes, really. You two have fun and don't leave the castle without my permission. Wouldn't want you parents to come and realize you aren’t here now would we?" Lepidoptra asked. "Of course not. Thank you!" Luna said. She was about to get back to playing with Chryssie when she noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong?" "I don't think my mom is gonna let you and your sister go," Chryssie said. "What?! Why would you say that?" "She had that glint in her eye. Her 'scheming' face if you will. She's up to something, and I don't think it will be good for you two. We need to get you home, now!" "WHAT?!?! BUT I THOUGHT YOU WERE NICE!!!" "I AM! But my mom is a different story! Let's go!" Chryssie opened the door to find herself face to face with her mom. "You know, these walls are rather thin," Lepidoptra mused. "Uh, mom... I didn't mean-" "Such a shame when you can't trust your own family. I would have let you play quietly with Luna in your room, but now I'll have to take her with her sister." "Wait what?! What did you do to Tia?! Where is she?!" Luna cried. "Oh you'll know soon enough." "Mom no!" Chryssie cried. But it was too late. Lepidoptra took Luna who knows where in the hive and Chryssie was alone... again. Meanwhile, back at the palace it was utter chaos. "How could you lose the girls?!" Ethereal cried. "Hey you were looking for them too! We both lost them!" Cosmos cried back. "Please tell me they did not go into the forest!" "We've looked everywhere else! Knowing Luna's curiosity, she probably DID go into the forest..." "-sigh- and knowing Celestia, she probably tried, and failed, to stop her..." "Let's go. I think I know where in the forest they are." But before they could take another step, a letter appeared in front of them with the Changeling Royal seal on it. The Rulers looked at each other in deep fear before opening the letter. King Cosmos and Queen Ethereal, If you ever want to see your two daughters alive again, you will allow my subjects and I back into open society. You know what we want, what we NEED. If you refuse our terms, your daughters will be terminated. Don't take too long to think about it. I don't have all day, and neither do they. -teleports to the Hive immediately- "3... 2... 1..." Lepidoptra counted down. "WHERE ARE THEY?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR DAUGHTERS?!!!" Both rulers shouted, fully clad in armor and ready with swords. "Took you long enough. Relax, I've done them no harm. You really need to learn to loosen up, take a joke! I won't kill them, but you won't get them back if you refuse my offer." Lepidoptra warned nonchalantly. "Some sense of humor you have. You know why we can't accept your terms!" Cosmos announced. "Ah yes, because your precious ponies are more important than my changelings' need to eat," Lepidoptra noted. "Eat?! You were sucking the very life out of our ponies and killing them! Why would we ever allow you to continue doing THAT to ur subjects?!" Cosmos shouted incredulously. "If THAT is what you think we were doing, then you are right, you'll never accept the terms and you'll never see your daughters again. Leave! Or I may do well on my written words." "No, you won't." Ethereal said. "You're right, I won't. But the threat still hangs in the air does it not," Lepidoptra said, subtly angling her hoof up. Cosmos and Ethereal look up to see their daughters suspended in chrysalises hanging from the ceiling… ROLL CREDITS!!!
S1E3: "Our weekend was fairly mundane and uneventful. What did you do?"It was the weekend now, but it wasn't just any weekend. On the last week of every 2 or so months, the king and queen would take the entire weekend off from royal duties to spend exclusive time with their daughters. They wish they could do it more often, but ruling a kingdom keeps one (or two) very busy. It was all the strings they could pull to get 2 days every 2 months! So when the two alicorn sisters awoke that morning, they awoke to their parents faces 6 inches from their face... It's tradition. "Surprise! Guess what day it is?" Cosmos boomed. "My birthday?" Luna asked. "No silly. It's pancake weekend! You girls get to spend all today and tomorrow with us," Ethereal said. "-GASP- YES!!! I LOVE PANCAKE WEEKEND!!! Can I make little faces with the fruit again?" Celestia asked. "Of course! That's the best part of any pancake," Cosmos exclaimed. "I just want pineapple and chocolate chips on my pancakes," Luna stated. "Alright, well let's get out of bed! Those pancakes won't make themselves!" Ethereal announced. So they got out of bed, brushed their manes and teeth (to get rid of that morning breath), and were ready to make and eat pancakes in a record time of about 60 seconds... They may still have a few tangles in those manes. "We're ready! Can I add the ingredients to the bowl?" Luna asked. "Sure sweetie. We need two cups of flour -Luna adds 2 cups flour-, some sugar -adds what may or may not have been a half a bag of sugar-, and several other ingredients," Cosmos said before lifting his head from the recipe to find Luna had added some of the ingredients already. "Oh, I didn't think you were doing that right now. I was gonna measure out the ingredients for you..." "Oh," Luna said as she stopped herself from next adding the entire baking powder container into the bowl. "Looks like these will be pretty sweet pancakes, but I think we'll be fine," Ethereal said as she noted the large amount of sugar in the bowl. "Heheh, oops..." Luna said. "Let me help you with the rest of the ingredients Luna," Cosmos said as he measured out the other ingredients and did his best to scoop out the extra sugar. After a decent sized mess in the kitchen was made, the royal family was left with varying sizes and shades of golden-brown/jet-black pancakes before them (they may have let Luna help pour and cook the pancakes too. Despite the seeming failures, it was still good to let her help anyways). "Hey look Luna! Say hi to Mr. Happy Pancake! 'I'm so happy to meet you! Too bad you must eat me soon...' hahaha!" Celestia said, equipping a silly voice for the pancake when talking to Luna. "Haha, hi Mr. Happy Pancake! Pleased to eat you!" Luna greeted. "Don't you mean pleased to meet you?" Mr. Happy Pancake asked. "No, I mean eat you," Luna said as she grabbed the plate and took a bite out of the pancake. "Hey wait a second, that was mine!" Celestia cried. "Luna, you need to ask before you grab something from someone else," Ethereal scolded. "Sorry Tia..." Luna said as she gave the plate back. "Here's your plate Luna," Cosmos said as he gave her a plate with a pancake and several pineapple slices piled on top. "Oh, one more thing." He then sprinkled the top with tiny chocolate chips. "Here you go!" "Thank you daddy!" Luna cried as she devoured her pancake. Once the girls had finished their pancakes, it was time to play off all those pancakes. So the family went outside to play in the garden. They began playtime with a game of what can only be described as volleyball without the net or boundary lines. There was a line drawn on the ground. If the ball fell on your side of the line, that was a point for the other team. There is no out field. Luna and Cosmos played against Celestia and Ethereal. At first, the game was pretty even with all four volleying the ball back to the other side. But then the parents got competitive. Very competitive. It slowly escalated until the parents were basically dominating the gameplay while the girls sat and watched, volleys getting more and more intense. The ball hadn't dropped yet, and it didn't seem like it would anytime soon with the way the ruling pair were playing (oh the things one can do when the pressures of maintaining a mask of perfection and regality are temporarily removed). Finally, the ball ended up flying out of Cosmos's range and that's when Luna took her chance to volley the ball! "I've got it!" Lune cried. But she too missed and it landed on one of the fence spikes and popped the ball... "... now what?" Celestia asked. "Did we win?" Luna asked. "No," Ethereal responded, "but perhaps now is a good time for lunch." "Sounds good to me!" Cosmos said. "We're still winners because your mom agreed to marry me." Cosmos continued as he gave his lovely wife a kiss. "You keep telling yourself that, but even then it's still Ethereal 972 and Cosmos 1," Ethereal quipped. "Pft, if you say so but I mean, who's counting?" Cosmos huffed. "Mom, apparently," Luna laughed. "Indeed..." Inside, Luna insisted she make her own sandwich. With her past track record, Luna was one-hundred percent qualified to make her own sandwich! Thank goodness sliced bread is a thing in this AU timeline! Otherwise, we may have some hemoglobin in that sandwich... To everypony's shock, Luna actually did a good job making her sandwich. Filly steps I guess. Her sandwich consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, and a single slice of cheese. Sure, it wasn't exactly all inside the bread slices, but it was an improvement. "Good job Luna!" Cosmos cheered. "Do we have bacon?" Luna asked. "Say what now?" Cosmos halted. "I want to make a BLT! A bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich. Some royals at school had one and let me have a bite. It tasted good!" Luna explained. "Um, bacon is meat sweetie..." Ethereal said. "And?" Luna asked, clearly missing the problem. "We're meat, Luna. More specifically, we don't eat meat either," Celestia stated more bluntly. "It's not like I would eat a pony! Besides, our pigs aren't exactly sapient and neither are the pigs in Enchancia," Luna explained with surprising authority. "So, you knew it was meat?" Cosmos asked. "Yes" "And you ate it anyways?" Ethereal asked. "Yes. It's good! How can you not like bacon?!" Luna started to whine. "Okay you know what? Fine, you can eat bacon. But, uh, not here. We do not have bacon..." Cosmos explained. "... okay..." Luna reluctantly accepted. "I guess it's just a LT then..." So bacon/meat crisis averted (and a secret that would be kept from the subjects for the time being), they decided to draw in the sunroom. As per usual, Luna drew a night sky scene while Celestia drew a green field with flowers, a blue sky, and that sun with sunglasses we've all drawn at least once in our lives. Also a castle that looked... close enough \('~')/ "You'd think being older would make you a better drawer..." Luna quipped to Celestia. "Hey! It's good! It's just... um... I drew it and I like it ok? We can't all be artists you know," Celestia responded. "Be nice girls! I think you both have done a wonderful job with your drawings," Ethereal placated. Though I have to admit, Luna's art skills are quite impressive... Ethereal thought to herself. After drawing for awhile, they played hide and seek in the castle. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..." Cosmos started. Ethereal hid in the throne room, Celestia hid behind a curtain, and Luna was... uh, where was Luna? After searching for nearly 2 hours, they called out for Luna. "LUUUUNAAAAAA!!!!! YOU WOOOON!!!! COME OUT NOW PLEEEAAAASE!!!!!!" Celestia shouted just loud enough for the sun to hear. "Okay okay! You don't have to shout so loud! I wasn't deaf before, but I may be now..." Luna said, popping out of nowhere. "Gah! Where were you?" Celestia jumped. "Why would I tell you that? I have a winning hiding place now. I'll never give it away! Mwahahaha!!!" Luna beamed. "You were hiding in the secret passageways weren't you," Cosmos deadpanned. "... yes," Luna reluctantly admitted. "Oh goodness gracious you know you aren't allowed in those, right?" Ethereal asked. "Yes ma'am..." Luna said. "But I still won!" "Yes yes, you are the hide and seek champion, bravo! Anyways, why don't we play a nice simple board game?" Cosmos suggested. "Sure." "Fine with me." "What game?" -~~One fictitious game I made up just now~~ later- "DON'T YOU EVEN TRY TO STEAL MY TOKENS!!!!" Celestia cried at Luna. "Hmm, mercy or no?" Luna murmured as she contemplated her next move. "Mercy, please!" Celestia begged. Luna didn't necessarily have to beat her parents, just Celestia... and she was beating her... by a lot. "Hmmmmmm... no," Luna said as she played her steal card on Celestia. "Noooooooo!" Celestia cried as she tossed her remaining cards in the air and knocked over "I win!" Luna triumphed. "Well, you still lost to your father and I, but yes, you won against Celestia," Ethereal noted. The family played one more round of the game (with Celestia coming dead last again) before it was time for dinner and then a movie. For dinner, somepony else cooked, but the Royal Family still had their quality time talking over dinner. "How is school going, Celestia?" Ethereal asked. "It's good! I've been making lots of new friends. I may even have them over sometime," Celestia said. "That's good," Ethereal responded. "How about you Luna?" Cosmos asked. "School has been interesting," Luna answered. "Make any more friends besides Sofia?" Ethereal asked. "Do I need more friends?" "Well, perhaps. Are you at least trying?" "I have Sofia and Tia. That's enough," Luna stately plainly while taking a bite of her salad. "Sofia won't always be with you Luna. Remember when you found out Celestia wouldn't be at school with you? It was nice having someone to be there for you where somepony else was unable to. I just think it would be wiser for you to branch out more and at least try to make more friends." Ethereal explained. "I suppose..." "What about any pony friends?" "I think Maximus is my friend, sort of..." Luna said. "I mean in Equestria. And don't say 'Tia', she doesn't count." Ethereal stated just as Luna was about to open her mouth. "Um, its... um..." "Luna..." "What your mom is trying to do is help you Luna," Cosmos intervened. "We just don't want you to grow up alone." "Why would I be alone? I have you guys," Luna stated. "Luna, you're not ready for this conversation yet," Ethereal said. "What conversation?!" Luna cried. "When you're older Luna, okay?" Cosmos pleaded. "... f-fine..." Luna sighed. "But I won't be alone!" "As long as you surround yourself with a good group of friends, you won't be. But you can't rely on one pony or person being there forever. Making friends isn't a one time deal, you always make new ones," Ethereal explained. "I'll always be there for you Luna, even if nopony else is!" Celestia promised. "Celestia dear, can we talk for a moment?" Ethereal asked. In the next room over, Ethereal spoke solemnly to Celestia. "You can't make a promise like that." "Why not? I'll never leave Luna!" "Not everything is within your control." "What does that have to do with anything?" "It means you may not always be able to be there for Luna. Other priorities can get in the way and make it very difficult for you to spend time with her." "Then I'll just cancel those and make time for her, like you guys do for us!" "Celestia, it's not as easy as we make it seem." "I'll never hurt Luna!" "-sigh- If you say so. Don't say I never warned you. You're old enough to know better..." When they returned to the dining room, the mood of the room was a little darker and quieter. A little bit later, the mood was lifted up again by a funny movie on a TV they "borrowed" from the human world (their counterparts wouldn't mind, right?). Finally it was bedtime, and the girls were tucked into bed. "Goodnight girls," Both parents said. "Goodnight momma, goodnight daddy!" both girls replied. The next day was about the same, minus the drama of yesterday. When the weekend was over, Luna met Sofia at school. "Hi Sofia!" "Hi Luna! How was your weekend?" Sofia asked. "Pretty normal," Luna replied. "My family played games and spent some quality time together. What about you?" "Well..." Author's Note AAAAAND END SCENE!!! This took a lot longer than I anticipated, and honestly wasn't super duper fun to write... But I'm past this chapter now and can move on to the next episode: "Cedrick's Apprentice" I'm actually really excited to tackle this episode for next chapter! I have an idea of what'll happen and Luna's presence drastically changes the course of a few things, so look forward to that. As per usual, a picture Not filly Luna, but funny nevertheless Hope y'all enjoyed this chill(ish) chapter and we'll see how long it takes me to write the next chapter!!! Like, fave, follow, comment, all the good stuff Thanks again!
S1E4: "Magic is easy!" (Taking over a kingdom... is not)"Okay Luna, now pick up the flower pot," Starswirl instructed. Hovering around Luna was a wide array of various objects ranging from quills to chairs and now a flower pot. Also she was blindfolded. "Ugh, why is this harder to reach out then the quill?" Luna asked. "You weren't levitating 19 other items when you reached out for the quill ha ha," Starswirl laughed. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't dropped anything yet. I thought for sure you'd max out at 10 items. You're advancing well in your magic exercises!" "Hmmmmm, FOUND IT!!!" Luna exclaimed as she lifted... Starswirl? "Um... I don't think you did heh heh..." Starswirl acknowledged. Luna removed the blindfold to notice just how much was floating around her, including Starswirl. Though, now that her focus was on her surroundings instead of the multitasking levitation spell, everything dropped. Including... "AAH, OOF!!" Starswirl... "Sorry!" Luna cried. "Oh it's quite alright, I'll be fine! I've survived worse bumps," Starswirl explained. "You did very well my young student. Would you like to try again?" It was at that moment that Luna noticed the position of the sun... "OH NO!!! I'm gonna be late for school!" Luna cried in panic as she quickly teleported to her room to grab her bag. "Ugh, I don't know if I'll get used to that twisty feeling in my stomach..." Luna groaned. "Ok books, check. Map of the school, check. Schedule, check. Oh, we're learning magic today!!" Luna teleported again to the portal room... or close enough. According to the schedule, class would be starting soon. Luna leapt through the door to school and hastily teleported to the classroom. "Okay I'm- uh oh..." Luna paused. Wrong classroom. Again. Wrong classroom. "Why do they all look the same?!" Luna cried. "Maybe I should think about Sofia instead of the room! I can envision her easier than I can the classroom." So Luna fired up the spell one last time and was successful... sort of. "Today class, we will be learning-" "Aaah, oof!!!" Luna teleported above Sofia and crash landed on top of her desk. "Uh, heh heh, I'm here..." "I can see that. Please take your seat Luna. As I was saying class, today we will be learning one of my favorite spells: turning a rock into a ruby," Fauna explained. "You hold your wand just so, say the magic words, and flick the wand! Mutato rubio!" Fauna then demonstrated the spell as the class watched in awe. "Now it's your turn!" "Wave the wand and say the magic words..." Sofia said to herself. "Mutatorubio!" -cue apple- "MUTATORUBIO!" -cue potato- -Meanwhile at Luna's desk- Does this spell last indefinitely? Do I use the wand or my horn? I don't even have wrists! I suppose I could try horn first?... Luna thought to herself. Luna pointed her horn at the rocks and said the magic words... nothing happened. "I suppose I really do need to use the wand..." She tried again with the wand, concentrating (a little too much) on the spell's end result and envisioning the transformation in her mind as Starswirl had mentioned to her about transfiguration spells (they weren't actually learning them yet, but she had been taught the basic concepts). "Mutato rubio!" Luna said as she flicked the wand rather awkwardly... and it exploded into ruby dust. "Gah!" She tried again... another explosion but bigger and messier. "I think they will be finding this glitter in several places for years..." Luna muttered to herself. "Alright children, you can practice more at home later! We have three new spells to learn today," Fauna announced. To Luna's chagrin, they were all object transfiguration spells. "And you'll be tested on all of them at the end of the week," Fauna stated. "Great..." Luna sighed. "There's a test?!" Sofia cried. "There's always a test..." James sighed. After class, Luna and Sofia had decided to help each other study at Sofia's home. "Ooooh!!! Why can't I do it right?!" Sofia cried in frustration as she conjured up a tomato. I mean, it's red so... "At least in this world the side effects of a failed spell are harmless! Where I'm from... let's just say things happen and advanced magic is usually taught in an open, uninhabited field or inside a well fortified castle..." Luna explained as her spell also failed and created another ruby dust mess. "I think these spells are great!" Clover (Sofia's bunny friend) said as he took a bite out of Sofia's tomato. "It was supposed to turn into a ruby, not tomatoes or ruby dust..." Luna sighed. "This is much better," the food loving Clover stated as he took another bite of the tomato. "We have all this sorcery to learn in two days!" Sofia cried. "You need help learning sorcery, why not ask a sorcerer?" Clover asked. "Of course! Mister Ceedric can help us," Sofia realized. "Who?" Luna asked as she attempted to fix her glitter mess (she failed... we all know fine glitter never dies) "He's our royal sorcerer! Come on, let's go ask if he can help us!" "Oh I don't think we shoul- ah!" Luna started before she was whisked away by Sofia and dragged to his tower. After going up we won't bother counting how many flights of stairs, Sofia knocked on Cedric's door. An audible explosion could be heard through the door along with some angry grumbles gone unnoticed by the bubbly princess. "Yes yes WHAT IS IT?!" Cedric shouted as he opened the door. Oh, it's her... "Hi mister Ceedric!" Sofia greeted. "It's Cedric. As in, Ceh-drick," Cedric corrected. "-gasp- it's so good to see your amulet- I mean you!" he continued with the subtlety of a coffee mug crashing down to what is clearly not the countertop at 4am in a formerly soundly sleeping household. "I see you brought a... pet?" Cedric asked. "I am no pet!" Luna cried indignantly. "That's Princess Luna. She's my friend from school! She's from another world," Sofia explained. "Really?" Cedric asked. "Mm hmm! We need your help." "Well, do come in," Cedric welcomed as he checked to make sure no one else was around and then shut the door. While Luna trailed a little bit behind and observed the many potions and spell books around the workshop, Sofia said hi to Cedric's raven, Wormwood, then got to her request. "So, we have this sorcery class at school and I was hoping, since you're such a great sorcerer, that you could help us learn a few spells!" Sofia explained. "I am a -clears throat- royal sorcerer, not a schoolteacher," Cedric quickly stated. "I know... but we have a test coming up and we'd be sooo grateful!" Sofia pleaded. "Oh can't you see I have more important things to do?! I can NEVER find anything in this MESS!!" Cedric exclaimed. That was when Sofia got a probably great, probably not, idea. "I know! We can help clean up your workshop in return for some magic lessons!" she proposed. "We will?" Luna asked, suddenly snapped out of reading one of Cedrics spell books. "Hmm, like an apprentice?" Cedric asked. "A what?" Sofia asked (man, there sure are a lot of characters with questions right now...) "Oh it's a very special helper! It means you get to come here every day and assist me with my spells and potions and tidy up and so forth! And in return, I teach you all the magic you need to know for your little test," Cedric explained. "So, Princess Sofia and Princess Luna, will you two be my apprentices?" Cedric offered as he conjured up a purple wizard hat and a blue wizard hat. "Um..." Luna hesitated. "Yes yes YES!" Sofia answered for the both of them with enthusiasm. "Alright then, we start first thing in the morning! Now off you go, I have to prepare for you girls' first lesson," Cedric explained. "Thank you mister Ceedric!" "It's Cedric," Cedric corrected with an eye roll as he slammed the door behind the two princesses. "Oh Wormwood this is it! This is what we've been waiting for! I am going to brew up a potion that will make me INVISIBLE!!! Then, when Sofia and her little friend is busy tidying up the workshop, I'll pour the invisibility potion on myself and disappear. I'll be able to steal her amulet without her even knowing it!" Cedric monologued. "Once the Amulet of Avalor is mine I can use it's magical power to take over the kingdom! I'll be the first sorcerer to be King! King Cedric the First," Cedric fantasized. He then approached a portrait of his parents and looked longingly at it. "Oh mother and father, if only you could see me now!" "We can Cedric." a male voice responded. -cue magical twinkly lights exiting the painting- "Why do you think we gave you this portrait?" -cue magical twinkly lights manifesting themselves in the form of his father- "Uh, for my birthday?" Cedric answered uncertainly. "SO YOUR MOTHER AND I COULD KEEP AN EYE ON YOU!" Goodwyn the Great shouted, pointing a finger at his son. "A sorcerer's place is by the king's side, not on his throne!" "Oh, nothing I do is ever good enough for you is it father?" Cedric complained. "Goodwyn, let Cedric plan in peace," a female voice followed as another glitterball materialized and manifested into Cedric's mother. "Oh Winnifred, why must you encourage him?" Goodwyn asked as he went back into the painting. "Oh, don't mind him! You'll go get that amulet and make your mummy proud!" Winnifred said as she too hopped back in the painting. -cue villain song- Meanwhile, back at Luna's home, she was trying to find some way to get out of having to apprentice under mister Cedric. "We don't need help! We can manage just fine on our own. I've advanced so quickly in my Equestrian magic studies, so why is human magic so hard?!" Luna ranted as she angrily slammed her face into a pillow. "Are you sure about that? A little guidance never hurt anypony," Celestia asked (Yes, she's still a character in this story LOL). "This is supposed to be easy. What am I doing wrong?!" "Perhaps that's where an apprenticeship becomes useful," Celestia stated matter of factly. "Even Starswirl couldn't understand how the spell was supposed to work!" Luna cried. "Then you accept help from somepo- someone who does know how it works. What's the worst that could happen?" "We're supposed to help him clean up his workshop in exchange for the magic lessons." "And?" "You know me! I tend to make more messes than I fix..." Luna sulked. "Oh Luna, you're getting much more coordinated now, especially after all the magic you've learned with Starswirl! You have nothing to worry about," Celestia encouraged. "Don't lie to me, I have plenty to worry about. Failing the test for example," Luna snapped. "Okay, perhaps the wrong choice of words, but you know what I mean. Don't stress yourself out over this. It's one test. Even if you don't do well, you'll do better next time." "I'd rather do well the first time." "Then calm down and relax yourself. You'll do great," Celestia said as she nuzzled her little sister lovingly. "I'll try-hahaha," Luna said as Celestia proceeded to tickle Luna to loosen her up. "You'll do more than try! Always so tense," Celestia stated as she intensified the tickle attacks. "Hahahaha stop it! Hahaha I am not, haha, and you know it!" Luna exclaimed between fits of laughter as she began to fight back with her own tickles. -One tickle fight later- "Feeling better?" an out of breath Celestia asked. "Much," an equally out of breath Luna replied. "Thank you for the pep talk and tickle fight." "You're welcome." The next day, it was time to begin the apprenticeship at Sofia's castle. When the girls approached the door, it opened before either of them could knock and Cedric welcomed them into his workshop. "I'm ready for my first lesson!" Sofia said eagerly. "Of course of course, right after I finish my invisibility potion heheheh uh, why don't you tidy up in the meantime?" Cedric suggested. "Okay!" Sofia said as she grabbed a broom and began sweeping. Luna meanwhile began organizing some of the various potions and bottles strewn all over the place using her recently mastered multi-levitation spell. "Now, all that's left is eight emu eyelashes," Cedric muttered to himself while counting out the necessary ingredients and putting them in his potion. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8! Presto!!" -cue little cauldron shaking dramatically- "Huh?" -cue potion contents rising from the pot and shooting to the ceiling just to explode into a bunch of confetti- Cedric looks on with obvious disappointment as the confetti falls to the still messy ground. Meanwhile Luna was just happy the explosion was harmless and wasn't glitter (oh gosh that would never go away...), even if it meant the two would have more to clean up... "Are you done with your potion yet?" Sofia asked, eager to get started on her lessons. "Mmm, I'll finish it later," Cedric responded dejectedly. It was at this moment that he noticed for the first time that Luna was using magic. A lot of it. What creature is this that uses magic without any wand or verbal commands? She's using telekinesis and multiple levitations quite naturally for a child supposedly just recently learning magic... "Great! Can you show me how to turn a rock into a ruby now? It's a big part of the sorcery test!" Sofia asked, snapping Cedric out of his thoughts for a moment. "Oh, uh, why not. It's a simple enough spell. When it comes to magic, my father always said 'slow and steady does the trick.' First, read the spell carefully." Cedric instructed. "Hold your wand straight in front of the rock..." Sofia read aloud. "Then, slowly say the magic words and wave your wand with confidence like this," Cedric continued instructing as he demonstrated the proper wand flicking technique. Luna watched while finishing up placing the potions and bottle back on their respective shelves. "There's no need to rush, the stone isn't going anywhere. Now go ahead, you give it a try." "Mutato, rubio!" Sofia said as she flicked the wand with confidence as instructed. Instead of another piece of produce, she finally conjured the spell correctly as the rock became a ruby! "I did it. I REALLY did it!" "Yes, well, it's a simple enough spell..." Cedric explained. "You're a really good teacher mister Ceedric," Sofia praised. "I-I am?" Cedric asked. "Can I try now? I think I know what I did wrong," Luna chirped. "Oh, uh, sure. Just like I told Sofia before, slow and steady and with confidence," Cedric reinforced. Luna hyper-focused on the rock before her and slowly said the magic words, flicking the wand with confidence (and not awkwardly) as she said the magic words. "Mutato rubio!" -cue the rock actually exploding like a grenade.- No one was hurt by the pebbles, thank goodness. "AAAAAAAGGH!!! WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?!? I DID EXACTLY WHAT SOFIA DID!!!" Luna screamed in frustration. "Cedric?! What's that noise? Oh, Sofia, Luna, what are you two doing here?" Baileywick (the castle steward) asked. "Learning magic!" Sofia responded. "One of us anyways..." Luna sulked while picking up all the tiny rock pieces. "Oh how wonderful. You'll have to teach Cedric some when you're done," Baileywick stated. "Very funny Baileywick... What do you want?" Cedric asked annoyedly. "King Roland needs you right away." "-gulp- the king?" Cedric asked nervously. As the group approached Sofia's stepfather/father, Sofia's mom asked how the apprenticeship was going. "Great mom! Mister Ceedric is really helping me learn my magic spells," the purple princess praised cheerily. Luna withheld any comment while trying to replay in her mind what went wrong. "Cedric?" King Roland called. "Y-yes your majesty?" Cedric asked nervously. "We have a very important visitor coming to stay with us, King Magnus... He's always bragging about how great his kingdom is," Roland explained with visible annoyance. "So, I want the castle to look its very BEST. Could you transform these gloomy old gargoyles into, s-something more inviting?" Roland asked. "Oh, b-b-but o-of c-course your m-majesty!" Cedric stammered. "Um, how about golden horses? I know just the spell." "Great!" Cedric went over to Sofia and asked her for a wand. Once she dug around and found it for him, Cedric began the spell. "Um, aero-equssium!" Cedric shouted uncertainly as he flicked his wand to the gargoyles. Said gargoyle then transformed into a real pegasus and flew away... "Ah, Cedric! You were supposed to turn the gargoyles into golden horses, NOT bring them to life!" Roland criticized. "Oh, my apologies your majesty! I'll get it right this time!" Cedric insisted. But Rolland would have none of it. "Not everyone can be as gifted as your father. We'll just have to clean up the rest of the castle and hope... King Magnus doesn't look up..." Roland sighed. "But..." Cedric tried to redeem himself, but his request went on deaf ears. "Don't be late to dinner Sofia, King Magnus is coming," Miranda reminded her. "Okay mom," Sofia replied. Now back in the workshop, a dejected and defeated Cedric sulked on his chair whilst Sofia and Luna were cleaning up around the workshop. After a moment of awkward silence, Sofia broke it and asked, "So, your father was a royal sorcerer too?" Cedric stirred from his stupor and turned to face her with shock. "You don't know who Goodwyn the Great is? He was only the greatest sorcerer to have ever lived in Enchancia! Saved your grandfather's life nine and a half times!" He practically shouted. "I'm sure you're just as good as he was!" Sofia tried to encourage him. Cedric hmphed. "I've never saved anyone's life. Not even once, NOT EVEN HALF!" How do you even save half of a life? Luna thought to herself, but she dismissed the question while also catching a bottle she nearly dropped when she wasn't paying attention. At that moment, Sofia swept into the nearby table with some potions on it and one fell off the edge of the table. -Wobble wobble fall crash ~~KABOOM DEAD~~ lots of smoke- "Oh... I feel funny," Sofia said as she slowly shrank. Then she transformed into a lizard. "PRINCESS SOFIA!!!" Cedric panicked as he ran over to where she was. "Oh my gosh," Luna exclaimed as she realized what had happened to her best friend. Sofia squeaked in panic as she seemed to look to Cedric for help. "Don't worry Princess Sofia, I can fix this!" Cedric backed up and prepared his stance. Then, with a wave of his wand, he said the magics words, "Lizardo chango!" and the magic swirled around her and transformed her back into a human. "Ah, thank you mister Ceedric!" Sofia exclaimed as gave him a big hug. "Oh... oh uh, it's an easy spell... I learned it the first week of sorcery school..." Cedric explained, not quite sure how he felt about Sofia's show of affection just yet (given the circumstances). "Hm, you're so good at magic mister Ceedric. Why couldn't you turn the gargoyles into golden horses earlier?" Sofia asked in confusion. "Oh I don't know! Every time I get around King Roland I get a bit w-well, a bit..." "Well, what?" Sofia asked. "NERVOUS!!! There I said it!" Cedric shouted. "Well, I'm going to find a way to show dad that you're a great sorcerer!" Sofia exclaimed. "And... why would you do that?" Cedric asked. "Because you're my friend," Sofia responded. "F-friend?" "Anyways, I've got to go clean up for dinner. Bye Luna, bye mister Ceedric! See you tomorrow!" Sofia said as she left the room. "It's uh... Cedric..." Cedric said, a little more hesitant to correct her than he would normally be. "Um... I still have time to keep practicing... if you want to help me..." Luna said barely audibly. "O-oh! Yes. I almost forgot you were here..." Cedric realized as he turned to notice Luna was still in the room. She's so quiet when she's not angry... "Um, what do you need help understanding?" "I don't know! I've watched and listened, taken note of everything and did exactly what you and Sofia did and I only got worse!" Luna explained. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I'm gonna fail the test and fail in human magic or create a horrible disasteror-" "Woah woah woah, slow down and turn down the volume! Take it easy," Cedric said, trying to calm down a filly on the verge of tears. "This is supposed to be easy -sniff-. I've excelled at my magic studies at home -sniff-, what's so different about human magic that I'm failing here?" Luna sniffled, holding back tears. "What are magic spells like back in your world?" Cedric asked. "Well, most of them rely on will of the mind and concentration. Some are emotionally based too or can be effected by emotions. It's honestly a very complex system and I've only just finished learning the basics..." Luna explained. "How exactly does magic here differ?" "Well, not as much as you might think. Our magic also relies on a certain level of concentration and sometimes even emotions. But it seems the biggest difference is our magic is typically performed with verbal commands," Cedric explained. "I've noted you never speak when performing your magic unless it's the spells for the test, nor do you need a wand to perform them," Cedric noted. "Well, I do sort of have a wand. It's on my head. Unicorns can perform magic using their horns to cast spells and the input for those spells come from the mind," Luna explained. "Fascinating! Do you ever unintentionally use your magic by thinking about something or feeling strong feelings?" Cedric asked. "I don't think so, but it is possible..." Luna admitted(1). "So is it possible that all this pressure you're feeling and nervousness is affecting your magic like it did mine?" "I... I never thought about it like that... OF COURSE!!! How did I not consider the interference of my alicorn magic with the wand magic?!" Luna exclaimed as she actually started to get excited about this revelation. Finally, progress! "So if my magic can be fixed by calming myself and not letting nerves get to me, the same can happen for you!" Cedric realized at the same time Luna did. "Do you want to try again, but this time don't think too much about it? Just follow my instructions. Wave the wand with confidence and say the magic words. No extra thoughts or pressure. Just wave and speak." "I think I can do that," Luna replied. Luna pulled out another rock from her bag and readied herself. "Remember, don't overthink it and don't be nervous. You can do this," Cedric pep talked. "-exhale- Mutato rubbio!" Luna exclaimed as she waved her wand at the rock. It floated and shook for a moment, and for a second Luna was ready to shield herself from the inevitable explosion that was to occur. But then, it popped and turned into a ruby. "I-I did it... I DID IT!!!! HUZZAH!!! I HAVE SUCCEEDED!!!!" Luna shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice with increasing volume once again. "Y-yes, you did," Cedric agreed while he readjusted his hears to be able to hear again. "Bravo Princess Luna." "Thank you so much mister Cedric!" Luna said at a normal volume. "Oh, it's no problem at all really. Perhaps tomorrow we could share magic notes? I'm very interested to hear how your magic works," Cedric suggested. "Of course! I can show you everything my teacher mister Starswirl the Bearded is teaching me!!" Luna said giddily, happy to nerd out about magic with a sorcerer. "I have to go now. I too have a dinner I cannot be late to heheh... Bye mister Cedric! Thank you so much for helping me!" Luna cried as she too left. "Goodbye Princess Luna..." Cedric said. As soon as the door was shut, Cedric had a thought. "Hmm, Wormy... It seems I have a bit of a fallback plan... ah, just in case stealing Sofia's amulet whilst invisible fails. Why use a measly little amulet's magic, when I could harness the magic of a very powerful alicorn?! I'll see what she knows tomorrow, then I will find a way to use her magic to TAKE OVER THE KINGDOM!!!" Cedric monologued once again. "Now now Cedric, what kind of teacher are you to take advantage of your students?" Goodwyn said as he appeared out of the painting. "You've just done a very good thing, helping two princesses with their magic, and you're going to try to steal her magic?" "Oh leave him be and let him take over the kingdom!" Winnifred said as she too popped out of the painting. "Don't listen to your mother, do the right thing!" "No! Don't listen to your father! Do the wrong thing! Mommy loves you!" "Ugh, why don't you both go back into your little painting and let me make my own choices?!" Cedric said as they both went back into the painting. -Later that night- "I'm doing WHAT the night after tomorrow?!" Cedric cried. "That right! You'll be performing a magic show for dad and his friend King Magnus! Isn't it great?" Sofia exclaimed. "Oh well, yes it is... King Roland has never asked me to put on a royal sorcery show for him before, and CERTAINLY not for a visiting king!" Cedric said, realization slowly dawning on him. "I'll have to perform for, uh... two kings..." "Your show is the same day as my test! We can help each other get ready," Sofia suggested. "So let's get started!" The next day, Luna showed up to find Sofia and Cedric had already started on further working on the spells. "Oh, you've already started?" Luna asked. "Oh, hey Luna! Mister Ceedric is gonna get to perform for my dad and King Magnus tomorrow night! Isn't that exciting news? He'll get a chance to prove that he's a great sorcerer," Sofia explained. "That's great news!" Luna agreed as she dropped her saddlebags down and began pulling out several things. "What are those?" Sofia asked. Luna had pulled out various random small objects and some big objects too. It wasn't initially obvious how Luna actually fit everything in her bag until she noticed the confused expressions on both Sofia and Cedric's faces and began to explain. "Oh, it's a space saver spell. It makes the inside of the bag bigger than the outside so you can carry more things at a time! It was actually very heavy because of the extra stuff..." Luna admitted as she heaved an exhausted sigh from having carried it through the castle and up the countless flights of stairs. "Have you ever considered getting a shorter tower or something like that?" Luna asked (the bag was too heavy to teleport with...) "Ah, that's a problem for another time. You were gonna show me some of your magic tricks from your world, correct?" Cedric asked. "Oh, of course," Luna remembered as she got back on track with unpacking her bags. At some point she just turned the whole thing over and shook everything out. "How many things do you need for this spell?" Cedric asked incredulously. "I'm about to perform a multi-levitation spell. I figured it'd be better to bring my own stuff to levitate rather than levitate your stuff, since I can tend to drop everything when I've reached my concentration limit... Mainly, I wouldn't wanna drop and break everything in your workshop heheh," Luna explained. "Aw, that's so considerate!" Sofia noted. "Indeed it is..." Cedric said as he noted just how many things Luna had dumped out. "Are you going to levitate all of that?" He counted roughly 35 different items in varying shapes and sizes. "I hope so..." Luna said as she the blindfolded herself. "Wait, what are you doing?" Cedric asked. "It's actually easier to life this many things blindfolded than it is to do it while seeing everything. Makes concentrating easier and blocks out visual distractions," Luna explained. Though, not so easy to actually find everything... "But how do you know what you're picking up?" Cedric asked more. "I reach out with my magic and feel for it, kind of like reaching out with your hands blindfolded would work. My magic to me is like hands for you. Now no more questions! I need to concentrate," Luna explained quickly as she began lifting the various things she'd spread out around the room. Cedric and Sofia just watched in awe as more and more things started floating in the air, at first effortlessly. When she got to item 20, effort started to show on her face even though you couldn't see her eyes. More things continued to float despite the effort it seemed to take to find and lift them all. Luna almost got everything until she fumbled a little and, like before, grabbed the wrong object. Namely, Clover (who was a part of Cedric's magic show). "Hey! Put me down!" Clover shouted. Everything had been relatively quiet until Clover yelped. With that sudden distraction, Luna lost her concentration and dropped everything, Clover included. "Duck!" Cedric shouted as he moved Luna away from a heavy book falling from the sky. "AH!!" Luna yelped as she felt herself suddenly moved to the side. She removed her blindfold to find a huge mess of items absolutely everywhere and an angry bunny. "Oops... I told you might drop everything heheh..." Luna laughed sheepishly. "That was amazing!" Sofia exclaimed. "I didn't know you could do that!" "Neither did I! What else can you do?" Cedric asked. So Luna proceeded to demonstrate to them several tricks she'd learned so far. Short distance teleportation (at least, short for alicorns. It was somewhat accurate), some other cool telekinesis tricks, and even a shapeshifting spell she actually wasn't supposed to learn yet. "Um, I read one of Starswirl's shapeshifting spell books and learned to do this!" Luna explained as she became a blue cloud and moved around the room and in/through/under all sorts of tiny, otherwise impossible to reach spaces. She then rematerialized in the middle of the room. "Starswirl told me not to use that spell, but it's just so fun! Now I can sneak around really easily!" Luna explained as she became a cloud again and poured herself into an empty bottle and her eyes looked out from the bottle. "Indeed you can..." Cedric noted. Perhaps a useful tool to have if I need to break into a specific room. How to convince her to steal something for me though... "Well, we have more magic to learn! We want to be ready for that test and show tomorrow, right?" Sofia said. "Of course! We're gonna ace the test tomorrow. I can't wait!" Luna agreed as she poured herself out of the bottle and made herself solid again. They continued studying and practicing the various spells they needed to learn for the test. After Luna had left, Sofia was finishing up cleaning for the day. Then she noticed a smudge on Cedric's spell book and cleaned it off. As it turned out, two of the ingredients were covered up by that smudge, which explained why his invisibility potion kept failing. With this revelation shown to Cedric, Sofia headed off to bed while Cedric successfully prepared his potion. "Finally, FINALLY I HAVE DONE IT!!! Now all I have to do is swipe Sofia's amulet with the help of this invisibility potion and I can take over the kingdo-" Cedric stopped as he noticed something on his worktable. It was a heart shape made from the rubies Sofia conjured. "O-oh... sh-she did that... for me?" Cedric asked. The ever increasing dilemma was dramatized when his parents butted in once again to play angel and devil. "Oh Cedric, how can you do something so terrible after such a sweet gift left to you by your friend?" Goodwyn asked. "Friends shmends. Who needs them?! Steal that amulet and become the most powerful sorcerer king in the lands!" Winnifred commanded. "Do the right thing!" "No! Do the wrong thing!" "I WILL DO MY OWN THING THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!" Cedric shouted as he shooed his parents back into the painting. "Ugh Wormy... what am I gonna do?" -The next day at school- (2) "Are you ready for the test Luna?" Sofia asked. "More than ready! You?" Luna rebounded the question. "Yes!" In the classroom, everyone got seated at their desks which were already prepared with the objects they would need to transform. "Alright students, take your seats! We’re about to start the test,” Fauna announced. “You may begin.” They passed the test (and my computer just randomly restarted and didn’t save anything past this... AAAAAAAGH-) "Hey Luna! Do you wanna watch the magic show at my place tonight? Mister Ceedric and I will be performing for my dad and his king friend!" Sofia offered. "Sure! I'd love to," Luna replied. Backstage, Cedric and Sofia were getting ready for the magic show. While setting up Cedric's things, Sofia noticed the lizard potion from before. "Oh, I better put this out of the way." In the audience, King Magnus was rambling on and on about his "amazing" kingdom. "My royal sorcerer is the greatest in all the land! He once made an entire zoo appear!" "I'm sure he did, Magnus," Roland acknowledged politely. "And my chefs prepared the finest feast I'd ever tasted!" Magnus continued. "I'm sure they did..." Roland said with marginally less politeness. "We do not, however, have a pet baby winged unicorn in our palace..." King Magnus noted. "I am NO pet or a baby OR a 'winged unicorn' as you people keep saying! I. AM. AN. ALICORN! And I am Sofia's friend from school," Luna corrected with far less patience and politeness than Roland currently possessed. "Fascinating. I need to get me one of your kind..." Magnus stated in awe. "Oh, I don't think it works quite like tha-" Roland started before being interrupted by the show starting. "Introducing our royal sorcerer, CEDRIC THE GREAT!" Sofia announced as Cedric appeared with a puff of smoke. "For my first trick, I will make a rabbit appear out of thin air!" With the magic words, Cedric made Clover appear on the magic tabletop. "Hmph, generic," Magnus criticized. "U-uh, but have y-you seen a f-flying rabbit?! Raberto levioso!" Cedric cried. But instead of making Clover fly around the room, he floated up in the air with his ears spinning like a helicopter propeller. "I-I mean rabbitus floaticus!" Now he was bouncing around haphazardly on the stage. -cue panic Cedric mode- Oh no, he's too nervous! Sofia though to herself. If only he was doing a spell he knew really well... Then the lightbulb went off in her mind. Like, a spell he learned the first week of sorcery school! Sofia pulled the lizard potion out of his bag and (not very subtly) pretended to accidentally spill the potion on herself. "Sofia!" Miranda cried. "Somebody help her!" Roland cried in panic. "Oh don't worry, I can fix it! Lizardo chango!" Cedric shouted confidently as he successfully saved Sofia from being a lizard for all eternity. "That was amazing Cedric!" Miranda praised. "You saved Sofia's life! Thank you Cedric!" Roland said. "I-I did?? Yes, I did! Indeed I did!" Cedric welcomed the praise. The rest of the show went on swimmingly. "Now, it is time for my final trick. Within this vial is a potion that can turn anything it's poured onto INVISIBLE! It will be my finest moment, one that will change our lives," Cedric declared ominously. "I will be using it ooon-" At that moment, Cedric looked to see Sofia looking up to him with a sweet smile. She seemed so proud of him. So trusting. Ill placed trust. "On..." That face. What is it about that sweet, innocent face that makes me not want to hurt her feelings? Cedric thought as he hesitated on his plans. Memories of their fun together and how much she loved him, even called him friend, flooded his mind. Those kind words, that cute heart made of rubies (even if the effects of the spell aren't permanent), the way she believed in him when no one else did... he suddenly realized he couldn't do it. All this work and time getting close to Sofia so he could steal her amulet and... he. couldn't. do. it. I can't betray her like this. Not today at least... Cedric sighed. "On, my trusty rabbit." With that, Cedric poured the potion on Clover and he magically disappeared right before their eyes. "My royal sorcerer... has never done that before," Magnus admitted, genuinely impressed. Everyone gave Cedric a round of applause for his and Sofia's performance. -Later backstage again- "How did that potion end up spilling on you again?" Cedric asked. "I guess I'm just clumsy," Sofia said with a wink. "-gasp- you did that on purpose!" Cedric realized. "I knew you were nervous. But I figured, if you could do a spell you knew really well, then you wouldn't be so nervous anymore!" "You did that, for me? Thank you," Cedric said, grateful he didn't betray her that night. "What are friends for? Oh, I also want you to have this," Sofia said. "What is it?" "It's a gold star. Luna and I got one for passing the test, so I figured you deserved one too for your great performance!" Sofia said as she stuck it on his coat. "Th-thank you..." Cedric said, shocked at how amazing this felt. Back at his tower, Wormwood cawed at Cedric for chickening out on his plans. "Oh Wormy, I know it didn't work out today." Cedric admired his star for a moment before sighing. "But we can always take over the kingdom tomorrow..." Cedric finished while relishing in this little victory. Author's Note Aaaaaand end credits!!! I did not mean for this chapter to take so long to get out. I just suddenly found myself paralyzed for what to do. I'd hyped up this particular chapter in my mind for so long that by the time I got to it, I was suddenly afraid I wouldn't meet my own standards or expectations (not to mention I feared I may be losing my touch on this series with so much time away from it). I struggled with some writers block and self-induced pressure to do well for this chapter and procrastinated until I finally just decided "You know what, just write. It's all you've done so far anyways right? Just write, don't think." That actually ended up inspiring the life lesson I chose to teach for this crossover episode! As you may have noticed, Luna was struggling with something we all struggle with. No, not turning a rock into a ruby (I WISH we could do that. That'd be so cool) but putting more pressure or criticism on yourself than anyone else is doing. Essentially, the old as time issue of being one's own worst enemy/critic, getting in your own way, etc. That's what I did for 2-3 months (and also watched YouTube/played games/did nothing productive and called it "I'm busy" 😅). Something I've always loved about writing and both series (MLP and Sofia) is it's a gateway to learning lessons you'll value for life and those lessons are ageless. Regardless of the target audience, you can learn something important and vital to one's growth as a person/pony. Sorry to get all introspective on you guys, that doesn't normally happen here, but today it did, and I like it 😊 I hope we can have chapters like this in the future that hit the heart where it matters (-sigh- yet more high expectations I set on myself... yay) As per usual, another adorable Woona photo randomly found online (though not actually related to the story, still very cute) Notes: 1. Luna isn't yet aware that she uses some magic to partially become Nightmare Moon when she's very VERY angry or distressed. So as far as she's aware, she's never unintentionally used emotional magic, even though she has. 2. At this point, I stopped referencing the episode for what happened when and wrote from a bit of memory as well as letting myself have some AU free reign to do whatever with these scenes. Also, I'll probably update the test scene for Sofia and Luna later, but for right now I don't see it as very necessary to do so. I've also decided to link the corresponding episode for those who haven't watched the series (I'll go back and do the same with the past chapters at some point) Cedric's Apprentice: S1 E4 Okay byeeeeee!
