“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Princess Celestia smiled kindly, glancing at her adopted niece as she tapped the blackboard behind her with a wing. It had been a long explanation, one that required an entire chalkboard full of notes to write out. Several books she and Cadance had been studying sat at her desk, a few of which were still open to various pages.
“I hope I wasn’t too brief,” the princess continued. “After all, telekinesis is an absolute must for any unicorn, and an alicorn especially at that. I can go into more detail if you’d like.”
“Um, that’s fine,” Cadance replied, rubbing a hoof behind her head awkwardly. “It’s kind of hard to follow along with… all of this.” She used a wing to gesture to the classroom in general, and asked, “Do I really need to know all of the technical stuff?”
“Of course you do!” Celestia told her, a large smile planted on her face. “After all, how will you ever be good at levitation if you don’t know the magical formula for force to weight distribution? You could drop a heavy object on your head and give yourself a concussion without it.”
“You could also let me actually try to use magic. Foals don’t know whatever formula that is, do they?”
“There are plenty of books on magic for foals, and I’m certain they go into all those details with them, just as I am with you here. You didn’t learn to fly by just jumping off the nearest cloud and hoping for the best, did you?” Celestia asked.
“That’s exactly how we learned to fly!” Cadance said exasperatedly. “Our flight instructors literally pushed us off the cliffs in Cloudsdale and told us to ‘flap our wings or we’d hit the ground’! I’m pretty sure a few foals twisted their hooves because of that. But then they just brought us back up and made us do it again until we got it.”
“Well then I’ll certainly be having a talk with the flight instructors in Cloudsdale about that,” Celestia said, unrelenting. “But that’s not how we’re going to do things here. Now take notes! This next bit is important.”
Cadance sighed and put a hoof on her chin as she picked up a pencil with her mouth to write. She thought becoming an alicorn would be more exciting! She imagined there’d be ponies to rule over or battles to fight or creatures across Equestria in need of her help. Instead though, she was alone with the princess in a makeshift classroom, learning what formula to use to calculate how much force should be applied to weighty objects when using telekinesis. In a word, it was torture.
Celestia smiled down at her as though she was loving this. With as enthusiastic as she was about having a student to teach magic to, she might genuinely have been. She made Cadance wake up early to get started, so early that even five hours later, it was barely almost lunchtime. Not that they’d done anything other than book learning.
“Why don’t we just do something?” Cadance asked eagerly. “Show me how to use my horn! I wanna be able to float things across the room and grab stuff off of high shelves without flying and cast spells and everything! Show me!”
“I will show you, silly filly,” Celestia giggled. “But not until you’ve had a proper basic education. Now make notes. I plan on quizzing you on this later.”
The two worked on it through lunch and into the early afternoon. Although ‘working on it’ mostly consisted of Celestia enthusiastically explaining the history of magic dating back thousands of years and Cadance sitting there with a hoof on her chin, trying not to appear too bored. The large, white alicorn didn’t seem to take notice of her lack of interest however, going on until her niece finally interrupted her.
“Are we almost done? I’m about ready for lunch. Or even dinner at this point.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be silly. It’s only two o’clock. Not to mention, we have a lot more to go over,” Celestia said excitedly. “Weren’t you itching to learn about magic before?”
“Yeah, I was,” she muttered, flicking her hair out of her face as she turned her eyes away. “I just thought I’d be doing the magic, too,” she muttered under her breath.
“We’ll learn about magic soon, Cadance, I promise,” Celestia said, smiling towards her. When her niece didn’t return it, she continued, “But we can take a break for the day if you’d like and keep going tomorrow. After all, there is a lot of material to cover. You’re going to want to think it over before we continue.”
The pink pony let out a breath and got up from her seat, making her quick way out of the room. She didn’t wait for her teacher. She walked her own way until she was out of the castle entirely. Once gone, she spread her wings and took off, letting the wind rush past her into her ears and mane. It was a nice feeling after having to contain her disappointment with her education thus far.
She didn’t fly anywhere in particular, just wanting to get away, and flying always helped to clear her head. It was probably an hour that she flew, moving as fast as she could to work up a sweat, before she tiredly landed somewhere in Canterlot. She was greeted by numerous ponies, all of them bowing when they saw her, all of them knowing who she was like they never did before. She thought she’d hate it—after all, her new aunt said she would—but she had to admit, it was a nice feeling knowing that everypony knew her name.
She wondered if it’d always be like this. It certainly seemed like it was with Celestia. What would it be like to rule a country? Was she really going to live forever, or did alicorns die, too? If she had kids, would they be alicorns? She had many questions, and hoped they’d be answered.
Celestia answered none of them, politely telling her that night that she’d get to all of that once she had learned her magic.
It was that way during each new day of class, which consisted of Cadance sitting there with her head on the table as Celestia described the basics without ever allowing the opportunity to try the concepts for herself. Every so often, Cadance asked when they’d actually be able to do something, but Celestia always answered that they needed to do book work first, and that they’d get to using magic ‘soon enough’.
It continued like that for a few days, until one day, Cadance simply stood up and made her way out of the classroom.
“That’s why you should always remember that force should be– huh? Where are you going, Mi Amore?” Celestia asked, confused.
“I’m going outside to fly.”
“But we’re in the middle of a lesson, Cadance,” the princess laughed nervously. “You can’t just leave. Force is an important part in levitation. The wrong amount can—”
“I know! The wrong amount can ‘Form Overexcessive Reductions Concerning Energy’. We’ve gone over that, and everything else with levitation about fifty times! We haven’t even learned anything about actual spellcasting or using magic, and I still can’t use telekinesis! Every foal can do it already!”
“I understand, Cadance, but as I said, I want to make sure you’re thoroughly prepared. Going through the book is going to help make you into an excellent spellcaster, as opposed to just an average one.”
“We can go through the book but we haven’t even tried anything! Can we please just do something? How am I supposed to know I’m learning it without trying it?”
“We will,” Celestia assured her with a smile, moving up to set a wing on her shoulder. “But we need to go through the book first. I want to make sure you have everything covered. I’ll see about letting you try levitation next week.”
“Ugh!” The small alicorn stomped out of the room in an angry huff, leaving the larger one frowning where she stood.
Celestia just wished she could see that she was trying to give her a good, well rounded education. If she was already having issues a few days in, she wondered what the rest of her training would be like.
She didn’t follow her, but through a few castle windows, she could see her niece flying around, doing tight circles in the air. She had a scowl on her face and looked angry, and looked like she was flying hard and fast, letting out any pent up stress. It made Celestia sad to see.
She wasn’t really being a bad teacher, was she? She didn’t think so, but maybe she could let her try a little. After all, foals could do it, couldn’t they? A teenager certainly shouldn’t have an issue, even if Celestia felt like they hadn’t covered enough of the book yet.
The princess waited until she came back in for lunch before telling her, deciding she was going to let her try funneling magic into her horn.
“Not actual telekinesis yet,” she explained, “but channeling magic should be a good way to start, I believe.” It wasn’t very much, but it made Cadance smile regardless. It seemed she appeased her—for now, at least.
“Do you think we can start now?” she asked, her wings already stretching out in excitement. Any frustration she had before radiated away as anticipation made its way to the pink pony’s face. “Because I’m absolutely ready! Tell me what to do!”
“I will,” Celestia giggled, “but after a little more studying for the rest of today. Tomorrow I’ll show you how to channel magic into your horn. As long as you pay attention and keep your head up off your desk.”
“I’ve been paying attention though!” the small alicorn argued. “I know the formula for force, I know the entire anatomy of a unicorn horn, I know the easiest way to direct my energy—we went through it all! Show me now!”
“Well…”
“Please, princess?” she begged, giving the larger pony huge puppy dog eyes. Celestia only blinked and stared silently back, trying not to be won over. In the end though, she was.
“Fine,” the princess relented with a small smile. “I’ll show you how to do it today. But only after class, after we’ve completed the section we were going over about magical energy.”
“Yes! Thank you!” Cadance cheered happily, rushing through eating her lunch before galloping back to the classroom. Celestia giggled again at her excitement, taking her time to finish her own lunch before heading along with Cadance to finish the lesson she was on. Her student sat attentive, listening to every word she said, looking excited again for the first time in days.
“I think that covers it,” Celestia said after a long while of reading through a textbook with Cadance and going into detail about each element of what it said. “I hope you remember all of this, because I’m going to quiz you sometime on it.”
“Okay, but now you’ll actually show me what to do, right?”
“Yes, I’ll show you,” she said. “We’re not going to get too advanced, but I’ll show you how to direct magic into your horn. You’re going to want to start by just making sure you’re calm, leveling your nerves. If you’re excited or angry, too much magic might get to your horn and cause an issue. If you’re sad or depressed, too little would make any spell you tried to cast fail.”
“I can do that!” Cadance said eagerly, closing her eyes and taking a breath to concentrate. She stayed that way for a moment before opening them a second later and asking, “How exactly do I do that?”
“Well once you’re calm, you’re going to just start by drawing energy up from your hooves. You should be able to feel it as it makes its way to your horn since you’re new at this. It might help to look at your hooves while you do this.” The larger alicorn closed her eyes and took a breath in demonstration, lighting up her horn a second later. “See?” she asked, opening her eyes and blinking in confusion to see Cadance’s horn already light up.
“I think I got it! Like this?” she asked, looking up at her horn excitedly. It was glowing brightly, much brighter than Celestia expected.
“Wow, this is easy! Now how do I pick stuff up?” she wondered aloud, trying to get her horn to do something.
“I’ll show you that soon, but please make sure not to funnel too much into your horn,” she said gently, just a little bit of worry in her voice. “I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself, or somepony else for that matter.”
“I won’t get hurt! But I wanna see if I can get this by myself. Let me figure out how to do this…” As she said it, the glow of her horn became brighter.
“Cadance, please be careful not to funnel too much magic into your horn,” the princess said again, a little more urgency in her voice. She took a step closer to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.
“I won’t! I just want to see—”
A second later, the two were blown away from each other in an explosion.
“Cadance?” Princess Celestia asked, peeking into her room. “How are you feeling?”
The young alicorn was laying in bed, one of her wings cast up, as the older alicorn stepped in. Celestia was carrying a tray of food in her magic, namely soup and crackers and a little slice of cake. The sight made Cadance turn away grumpily. If she was delivering food to Princess Celestia, she’d have to carry the tray with her mouth.
“That was quite an injury you took when you slammed against the wall,” the taller princess continued, standing in the doorway. “It’s certainly a good thing something like that didn’t happen to a simple unicorn. It could’ve ended much worse than just a sprained wing.”
“I’m fine,” Cadance lied, not daring to flex her hurt wing, “but how come I’m the only one that’s hurt?”
“Were you hoping that I got injured as well?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’d certainly hope you weren’t.”
“No, Princess,” she sighed. “But it doesn’t make sense why I got hurt and you didn’t if we’re both alicorns. I wanna know why that happened.”
“It’s simply because I’m older and larger, and so my body is used to taking more severe punishment.” She smiled kindly as she made her way up to the bed. “Now please take care to eat, dear. I had the chefs prepare this meal for you, and I must say, if I weren’t trying to diet, I would’ve gotten myself the exact same thing.”
“I’m not hungry.” Cadance turned away as she said it, a scowl on her face, not that Celestia seemed to notice.
“Well, you’ll need to keep your strength up,” she replied, “because I’d like to get back to working on our lessons as soon as we can. A quiz on the learning you did this afternoon would be in order for tomorrow morning, wouldn’t you say?”
“Wait, we’re getting back to work so soon after this?”
“Do you not think you’re ready? You can take time to rest if you feel you need it. I don’t mean to rush you back to work, I apologize.”
“No, I can do it!” the pink pony said, backtracking. “This is great! Yes, I wanna get back to work as fast as possible! I just thought you’d say you’re afraid of me using magic because of this.”
“Oh, I should make clear that no, you won’t be using magic for a long while after this,” Celestia told her, almost chuckling at the notion of it. “No, certainly not. Instead, we’re going back to what I had originally planned for you, which is the fundamentals of book work.”
“Wait, what? Why? I don’t wanna do book work! Isn’t messing up and getting hurt sometimes supposed to be part of the process? If I never mess up, how am I supposed to learn?”
“It is part of the process,” Celestia agreed. “But frankly, Cadance, that wasn’t just a learning experience. That was reckless, on both of our parts. Further book work would’ve prevented something like that, I’m certain.”
“I only hurt myself though! Like you said, Princess, you’re resistant to these kinds of injuries!”
“And what would’ve happened if other ponies were around us?” she asked. “You could’ve hurt them too, much worse than you are. Regular ponies aren’t resistant to injury like we are, especially not injuries resulting from alicorn magic use.”
“Who’s gonna be around us though?”
“That’s not the point, dear,” Celestia said, still doing her best to smile kindly. “I’m not angry. As I said, it was reckless on both of our parts, especially since we were both underestimating how much magic is flowing through you. It just simply isn’t a mistake we’ll be making again. Now please eat your food. As I said, I want to get right back to work tomorrow if we can.”
It was a long silent meal. Celestia stayed in the room, trying to engage Cadance on magical things, but to no avail. The little alicorn remained largely silent, staring at her food as the princess watched her. It made her sigh in disappointment as she sat silently at her side, wishing she could say something.
Cadance was still so young, only fifteen. She wished her student was older when she became an alicorn. Like eighty, perhaps. Eighty was a nice, old age, and would have given her the life experience to actually be able to appreciate what Celestia was telling her. Ninety would’ve been even better. The older she was when she changed, the better things would’ve be on Celestia. Fifteen was just so young. She had no idea what went through the minds of ponies this young, other than all that teenage angst and an ‘I know better than you’ attitude, made worse by the fact that, technically, they were both equals.
Is she my equal? Celestia couldn’t help but wonder, although it seemed like the answer was yes. They were both alicorns, and thus both princesses by default. Would Cadance see this and try to challenge her rule the way her sister had? Did Celestia even have the authority to order her around anymore? It’d been so long since she had a coruler. Working with a teenager would be a strange experience if they were indeed equals to each other, especially at Celestia’s age.
She sighed and pushed those thoughts out of her head. Those questions would come later. For now, she needed to focus on teaching her student magic. She already knew it was going to be an ordeal, and wanted to keep all her focus and attention on this one task until it was finished.
Celestia went to bed not long after setting the sun, and before long was waking up to raise it again and prepare her student for another day. However, stepping into her room, Cadance was nowhere to be found. Where could she have gone with an injured wing?
“Mi Amore?” she called as she walked around to search for her. “We have a lesson planned for today, remember? It’s not an off day. Where are you?”
She heard no response and saw no sign of her student, but she certainly didn’t give up on looking for her. She spent the better part of half an hour wandering the castle, seeing where she could be, before she eventually ran into her adopted nephew.
“Who in Equestria are you searching for at this early hour, Aunty?” Prince Blueblood asked. “You just raised the sun. Hardly anypony is awake.”
“I’m looking for the new princess, Mi Amore Cadenza. You wouldn’t have happened to have seen her, would you?”
“She’s the new pink alicorn, correct?” he asked. Celestia nodded, and he continued, “She was in here for breakfast, giving me quite the rude stare might I add, before declaring that she would be going out flying. Why anypony with an injured wing would do such a thing, I can’t say, but that’s what she relayed to me.”
“She’s out flying on an injured wing?” Celestia asked, almost shocked. “What in Luna’s name is she thinking? She’s going to hurt herself more!”
“As I said, I can’t understand why.” The stallion shook his head, continuing, “She didn’t seem to take particularly well my asking why she was using her hooves to eat breakfast when she has a perfectly suitable horn now to help her. Not that it’s any of my business, of course. I was only curious about a fellow peer.”
“She’s bound to be a bit touchy on the subject,” Celestia replied, “while I teach her magic. If you could take care to approach her more carefully, it would be greatly appreciated.”
“She’s going to need thick skin if she ever plans to inherit your position, Aunty,” Blueblood told her, “but I’ll certainly try my best. In any case, that’s where she said she was heading off to do. She didn’t give exact details however.”
“Thank you, Nephew, your information is appreciated.”
The alicorn took off with that, heading out to the courtyard to search for her student outdoors. It was a much easier time finding the pink pony out here; it was only a few minutes before she was calling for Cadance to meet her on the ground.
“We need to begin working on magic again soon!” she called as the pony slowly descended. “Not to mention, your wing! Why are you flying around when it’s injured? You’re behaving so recklessly!”
“How am I being reckless?” she asked. “I messed up one little magic spell, and you’re getting all on my case like I’m somepony who needs protection from herself!”
“I’m just trying to make sure you’re not hurting yourself, Cadance. With as much magic as you have inside of you being an alicorn now, it will be no trouble at all before you end up disabling yourself doing the wrong thing, or worse. I just want you to be careful.” She left out saying how technically she wasn’t performing a spell.
“I’m gonna be careful, princess!” she protested. “I will be! I promise!”
“Flying around out here on a sprained wing doesn’t prove you will be,” she replied. “What are you thinking? You’re going to hurt it more! You need to stay in bed and rest while we go over the lesson for today.”
“I’m not going to hurt it more! Flying out strain is how you get better faster. Any pegasus will tell you that. Not like those unicorn doctors would know.”
“I would believe they’re plenty smart enough to—”
“I’ve been a pegasus my whole life, princess! I know how to take care of my wings! I might not know how to do magic yet, but I know about being a pegasus better than any of those unicorns could!”
Celestia closed her eyes and let out a breath. Teenagers were difficult, and she didn’t want their conversation to escalate into a full blown argument.
“I’m not saying you don’t know what you’re doing, Cadance,” the princess tried to tell her softly, setting a wing on her shoulder. “I just worry that—”
“Well it feels like you are! I’d like to be trusted with what to do, but it feels like you don’t want to give me an inch!”
“There’s a process, Cadance,” Celestia tried to tell her, her voice cracking just a hint. “You only transformed a few weeks ago, and have a lot to learn. Especially being so young as you are.”
The smaller alicorn sighed and turned away. “Whatever. Let’s get started on the lesson, I guess. More book work should be fun. Sorry I spoke up at all.”
“Please don’t be like that,” Celestia almost begged.
“I’m not being like anything,” she replied, working her wing in a circle to get any strain left in it from flying out. “Can we go now, please?”
Celestia only sighed as the two began to walk back, ignoring the look she got from Blueblood as a result of her student’s sour expression. She wished Cadance could see that Celestia knew what she was doing. When she took Blueblood in as a colt, they went through bookwork to teach him how to do magic properly, and he turned out to be a fine magician. Add in the countless other unicorns she took in every so often over the years, and she knew her methods worked. It seemed though it was a bit tougher to teach a teenager than it was a young foal.
She watched Cadance sigh and hop back into bed before grabbing the textbook Celestia brought in before. “What page, princess?” she asked with a completely bored sounding voice.
Maybe it was the fact that she was born as a pegasus. From what she heard Cadance describe, and just in her day to day experience, they were a more rowdy bunch, and excitable too. Lots of them participated in sports, too, and learned to fly practically as soon as they could walk. It would explain her protege’s over eagerness, and frustration at having to learn from a textbook. She wondered if they even had textbooks in pegasi schools.
“Princess?”
“Oh, right. Yes,” she said, redirecting her focus. “We’re going to be starting on page seventy three. The mechanics of a unicorn’s horn.”
It was several long, tedious weeks of bookwork before Celestia would even potentially consider the idea of letting Cadance try using her magic again. It seemed the more the young princess asked, the more reluctant the older princess became. But there was nothing Cadance could do about it except sit there and continue to read through the textbooks she’d already read through. It was terribly frustrating, and the longer it went on, the more upset by it she seemed to become.
Eventually though, after what felt like years, Celestia began to let her try using her horn again, albeit much more carefully and guarded this time. The princess brought safety rings and made enchantments and took all sorts of measures to make sure Cadance wouldn’t hurt herself. It was so much so that the student almost thought her teacher was being completely overbearing and babying her. The former pegasus tried to explain that it wasn’t going to turn out the way it did before, but Celestia wouldn’t hear it at all. She was going to see to it that Cadance was safe.
“Now remember,” she said, “Focus on gathering the magic into your horn, but at a careful speed. You don’t need to rush to draw magic. You should feel a slight tingling sensation when you have enough.”
“I know, Princess,” Cadance tried to assure her as she crossed her eyes to look up at her horn. “We went over this two dozen times. I know what I’m doing.”
“I’m sure you do,” Celestia replied sweetly, a smile on her face, “but you still want to make sure you don’t hurt yourself like last time. You know, the doctor said you could’ve given yourself a concussion, right?”
The pink pony gave a look to her teacher, but didn’t say anything, instead concentrating on drawing her magic. It was a much harder task than before given the safety ring placed over her horn, but she did as she was requested and tried anyway.
“I… I feel it,” she said carefully, not even smiling as she focused on her horn. She was well past excitement at this point, and onto feeling like she should’ve learned this weeks ago.
Her teacher did smile though as the student’s horn lit up with a soft blue glow. “That’s great to hear,” she said, “and I see it, too. Interesting that your color is blue however. I wonder if that signifies anything.”
Cadance couldn’t even shrug as she kept her eyes on her horn, wanting to make sure the aura didn’t suddenly disappear. It felt difficult to keep up with the ring on her horn, but she didn’t comment on the fact as she continued, “And now to grab something, I focus on what I want and—”
“No, not yet. We’re not on telekinesis just yet.”
“Huh? Then what are we doing…?”
“We’re just making sure you can bring magic to your horn in a controlled manner,” she answered. “Once you demonstrate you can do that safely and consistently, we can see about moving on to telekinesis.”
“See about?” Cadance practically yelled, somehow still surprised despite several weeks of not being able to use magic in front of her teacher. “I just did exactly what you asked me!”
“Yes you did, however, that’s why I added the word ‘consistently’. We need to make sure it’s always safe. Now let your magic dissipate and do it again, please.”
It was a long session of doing nothing but that, over an hour of Celestia testing the alicorn’s ability to bring magic forth. She made her do things like hold it for a certain amount of time or bring it forth with speed or making it glow at a certain luminosity. She watched her carefully as she did so, chastising her at the first sign that she might have drawn too much magic or potentially putting herself in danger. The longer it went on, the more Cadance’s wings twitched in frustration and begged to fly around to relieve stress.
After a long hour of practicing this, Celestia finally announced that they were done for the day, and congratulated her student for the work she did, explaining that perhaps next week they’d be able to get to levitating objects. To her surprise though, her student marched off without much more than an angry mutter in response.
“Cadance? Cadance!” she called after her, following behind her. The pink pony didn’t turn around, trotting off to the nearest castle exit and raising her wings to lift into the sky, flying off to who knew where.
The alicorn blinked in confusion at what just happened. What did she have to be upset about? She’d been begging to use magic for weeks, and they finally had. She thought Cadance would be happy, not stomping off to be alone in an angry huff. Celestia didn’t understand it at all.
She made her way back inside to the dining hall and set her chin on the table, closing her eyes. Was Cadance angry because she was just a bad teacher? She just wanted to make sure she was safe and sound while she learned how to use her newfound magic. The way her student hurt herself before honestly and truly terrified her. She didn't want to see something like that happen again.
"Aunty?" her nephew, Blueblood, suddenly asked as he entered the room. "What has you so downcast?"
"It's nothing, dear nephew," replied, keeping her chin on the table and her eyes closed. "Please leave me be. I'm quite alright."
"Is this about you and that new alicorn?" he asked. She looked up at him with that question, and he continued, “I’ve seen the way she carries herself, the way she mutters under her breath about you. I assume her training in magic isn’t going well?”
She sighed and answered, “It’s going perfectly fine. She’s doing her lessons, and in fact, was able to control how she brings forth her magic remarkably well, with only a few small hiccups. The issue is that she simply doesn’t agree with my teaching method. She wants to rush through these things and get to difficult maneuvers now.”
Blueblood smiled at that. “I was the same way, I believe, Aunty. Don’t you remember? I’m sure if she’s behaving that way, she’ll end up being just as proficient as I, and come to appreciate your methods once it’s all said and done.”
“I hope so,” she replied. “I worry that she might not.”
“If you’d like,” he said, “I could chat with her and see what she’s thinking. Perhaps even before dinner… or after if she’s out flying like she always seems to be. What’s her name again?”
“Mi Amore Cadenza. Cadance.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll speak to her when I see her again, Aunty,” he assured her. “Leave it to me.”
“Thank you, dear nephew,” Celestia smiled. “It is appreciated.”
It was much after dinner when Cadance finally came back, her wings sore from so much flying. She didn’t care though, not stopping to rest once she settled her hooves on the ground, quickly making her way inside and to her bedroom. The light was already on though when she got there, and she rolled her eyes. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to Princess Celestia right then.
“Can you please just leave me alone right now, Princess?” she said as she entered. “I don’t want to be spoken to.”
“Well, I certainly can’t claim to be a princess,” Blueblood replied as Cadance stepped in, speaking to her from his spot on her bed. “However, I do have something I’d like to discuss with you right now, if that’s acceptable.”
“It’s not acceptable,” she huffed, setting the royal regalia Celestia told her she should be wearing when she went out aside for the night. “I’m not interested in a conversation right now. Please leave.”
“I would, but I already promised Aunty that I would speak to you for her,” he said. That got her to raise an eyebrow, silently asking who he was referring to as he explained, “It’s just a pet name I use for Princess Celestia. I’ve known her since I was a foal, after all. She’s practically my aunt at this point, even if not by blood.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t care. I really don’t want to talk. I just wanna put my things away and go to bed.”
“I see. Well, I’ll be going then,” he shrugged, hopping out of her bed and making his way to the door. Before he left completely though, he said, “You know, she feels positively terrible that you’re upset.”
“Huh?” Cadance raised an eyebrow at him at that, unbelieving.
“It’s the truth,” he continued, taking a few steps back into the room. “She had such a horribly downcast expression in the dining hall this evening when you didn’t appear for dinner. She doesn’t intend to make you feel miserable.”
“Well, she is,” Cadance huffed, ruffling her feathers as she turned away. “She’s treating me like I’m an accident prone little filly. I’m almost a full grown mare for Faust’s sake!”
“That’s just how Aunty is,” Blueblood told her. “You know she’s over two thousand years old. She won’t be changing her ways anytime soon. Certainly not her teaching style.”
“That doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Or rude,” Cadance huffed, crossing her hooves as she sat down. “Cause that’s what it is. It’s rude. I’m not a little foal.”
“Would it make any difference to you if I told you she taught me the same way when I was a colt?”
“Hmm? Princess Celestia taught you magic?”
“Mhm, yes. She was the one who took me in, after all. It’s only natural that she was the one who taught me to do magic.”
"Okay, but how old were you at the time?” Cadance asked. “Because I’m almost sixteen. I’m not a little five year old foal.”
“Yes, and that’s where your problem lies,” he explained. “If you were a foal, this would be a much easier process for you. However, not having been born with a unicorn’s horn, you’ve no innate ability to control your own magic. Adding in your status as an alicorn, your potential for self harm is quite high.”
“I know that!” she yelled loudly. “I’m not an idiot! I know I could hurt myself, but I’m careful! I’m not just gonna run around and do whatever! I don’t need to be treated like a foal!”
“That’s the other thing,” Blueblood said. “Aggression—”
“Leads to an overuse of magic, I know! And passiveness leads to an underuse! I’ve learned all of this! But if I’m being treated like sh—”
“Cousin, you need to calm down,” Blueblood told her, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “All this anger is not going to make it any more likely that you’ll be given the treatment you seek. If anything, you’ll only be further slowed down in your studies.”
“What am I supposed to do then?” she asked. “Just accept the fact that this is gonna take years?”
“Yes, that’s right.” The response earned the stallion a glare, but he continued, “Settle yourself on this fact: you’re an alicorn. How many ponies can only dream of being an alicorn? Every single mare, and even half of the stallions I know, wish they could be princesses. And yet here you are, in this position now. You should be looking fondly upon it, not focusing yourself on the brief negatives.”
Cadance sighed. “I know, I know. But it’s hard. We’re going so slowly. I thought we’d be at more than just lighting up my horn by now. I want to cast spells and shoot beams of magic and be where I think I should be at by now!”
“Trust me, going over the basics is good for you,” Blueblood said. “It’ll make you a more patient and sophisticated magic user, and soon enough, you’ll be thanking Aunty for taking her time.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she sighed.
“When I was learning,” the prince continued, “I studied through the textbooks she gave while we were away from class. She looks fondly upon things like that. If you’d like, we could go through it together sometime, cousin.”
“I guess that sounds good… but why do you keep calling me cousin?” she asked. “You already explained about Princess Celestia being aunty, but what about me?”
“You’re a princess, are you not?” he said. “I am a prince. That would make us cousins, even if only by rule.”
“Huh. I guess that makes sense…” Her eyes drifted to her hooves, then back up to the stallion. “I suppose we can study the book together in between my classes, but not tonight. I need to get something to eat before bed. I guess I’ll see you later… uh, cousin.”
“Rightly so,” he agreed, standing up and heading out. “I’ll see you some other time. Have an excellent night.”
More basics, more things Cadance felt she already knew were being taught to her by Princess Celestia. She tried to take Blueblood’s advice and appreciate the moment, but it was difficult. For weeks, they worked only on telekinesis, something she felt she was already well versed in after just a couple of days. But Celestia insisted they continue in it, giving Cadance no choice but to go along with the instruction she received.
So long and so slowly it went that before she knew it, the leaves of summer were beginning to change their colors as the seasons led into autumn. She didn’t bring up her frustrations with her lack of progress though, instead taking to the skies to release it through her wings as she did seemingly every day. It kept her feelings contained for the time being, but she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to just sit around and continue moving at a snail’s pace.
The day came when she was finally fed up. It was another day of practicing levitation, even though she was now at a point where she was grabbing things from several rooms away and was extremely proficient in her ability by this point. She knew the proper amount of force to use on each object and knew what her weight limit for picking things up was, something Celestia congratulated her on. It was just a minute afterward though that she said the words that made her want to tear out her mane.
“With a few more weeks of practice, I think we can start reading through the textbook for casting spells. I bet we’ll have you casting your first spell by the end of winter! You’ve done so much better than all of the other foals I’ve taught.”
The urge to scream was impossibly strong, but she avoided doing so. Part of it was the fact that it would be several more months before something happened with actual spellcasting, but the most infuriating part was being compared to other foals she taught. She was almost a full grown mare! Was the instruction she was getting that of what Celestia gave to foals? It made her shake to think that the princess thought so little of her.
“Excited, I see,” Celestia smiled down at her as she shook. “I’m glad, it’s going to be a wonderful time. Don’t you agree?”
“Oh, yes, it’s gonna be exciting!” she said, doing her best to hide her frustration. “I can’t wait! Uh, but do you think we could be done for the day? I’m getting tired, and want to do some flying before supper.”
“Of course. I’ll have the chefs begin making it. I think some cake will do well for tonight. What do you say?”
“Uh huh, that sounds fine,” she said, already walking out. “I’m okay with that. I’ll be back.”
She didn’t stay long enough to hear whatever else Celestia told her, finding the nearest door to take to the skies as soon as she could. She didn’t even realize she was crying for a few minutes as she flew, the tears of frustration leaking out. They should have been moving faster than this! But no, because she got a little over eager and made one mistake once, they had to move as slowly as possible. Why did Celestia have to compare her to a foal?
She flew far–how far, she didn’t know–and after a long while, settled her hooves down on the ground, somewhere in the middle of Canterlot. There were hundreds of unicorns in these streets, along with a few earth ponies and one or two pegasi, all of whom bowed down to her at the sight of her. She didn’t know why though. It wasn’t like she was anything competent, at least according to Celestia based on the way she continued to treat her. Her teary red eyes were proof enough of that.
She kept all of those thoughts internal however, simply wiping her eyes and giving a warm smile the ponies’s way. Her subjects. What a weird idea. She actually would be ruling over these ponies—and maybe she already did. Blueblood did tell her she was a princess already, and her status as an alicorn proved it.
It wasn’t like she could do anything about it though since she still couldn’t do magic.
She began walking now, tired out from all the flying, mostly ignoring as everypony around her bowed down to her. She wandered aimlessly through the city, trying to work off her frustration, when she came up to the Canterlot Library. Not as fancy as the Royal Library, but certainly bigger, and hosting hundreds, maybe thousands of more ponies than the one at the castle did. It was certainly someplace she visited many times before she became an alicorn to learn different flight techniques. Maybe she could…
A second later, she was striding into the library and heading toward the section that held explanations of magic. The next thing she knew, she was picking up a book titled A Beginner’s Guide To Spellcasting, one that advertised teaching her numerous spells in a few hours time. Not that she hadn’t already read the textbook she and Celestia were going through. They read it all once before Celestia said they should go through it again piece by piece now that she was using her magic. She knew what she was doing. This would just speed the process along.
She picked it out, as well as a few other books, only getting a slightly strange look from the librarian as she checked out her materials. Then she headed back to the castle and to her room, avoiding chit-chat with anypony as she settled into bed to read and get to work.
Lighting up my horn in the darkness, she thought as she went to the first lesson. That should be easy enough.
She only made a quick look around to be sure nopony was watching her before starting on it, quickly learning it was not as easy as it seemed to be. It was easy to read what characters she should be casting, but much harder to put into practice. It required complete precision for even what was described as one of the simplest and easiest spells to do. She didn’t get frustrated though— this was what she wanted to do. It might have been tough, but she was going to get it done. Messing up was better to her than hardly moving.
Not that night though did she succeed. Before long, Celestia’s sun. was setting, and she was still working on just this spell, still trying to draw out the characters. There were only two of them, and yet she couldn’t get the first one to form properly, no matter how hard she tried. She let out a breath to keep her cool and stay concentrated on getting it to work, but she was starting to get frustrated, along with a little bit worried. Was Princess Celestia really right in that she needed to go as slow as they’d been going? She didn’t want to even consider the idea of that.
“Cousin?” Blueblood suddenly called from outside, knocking on her door and letting himself in. “What have you been doing all this time?” he asked. “You missed dinner, and Aunty is… oh.”
She watched him take her in, and then he said, “When I told you that Aunty would enjoy it if you studied on your own, I didn’t mean that her excitement would extend to a new alicorn using their magic unsupervised while they were still learning. A foal has slim chances of injuring themselves, unlike you.”
“Don’t tell her about this, please Blueblood?” she asked him. “What she doesn’t know will not hurt her. I’m being careful on my own.”
“I don’t understand why you don’t just wait for her to get to what’s coming,” he told her. “She’s one of the greatest magic users who’s ever lived, outside of her teacher Starswirl the Bearded. Can’t you trust her methods? I understand you disagree with them, but—”
“But this is more than just methods! She’s going so slowly! We should have already been through magic and onto proper ruling procedure, but I haven’t even cast my first spell yet!”
“Well, cousin, I can assure you that the way she does things, despite the speed, works. As well, it helps you learn patience. I can tell you from experience, being a ruler is a job that requires patience.” He only got a frown and an annoyed shake of her head in response, and he sat down on the bed next to her, eyeing the book she was reading.
“What spell are you on?” he asked. “Horn luminosity? Did you just start practicing it?”
“Well, practice is a strong word,” she replied. “I’ve been trying to cast it, but despite writing out these same characters for hours, I’m not able to get it, and I don’t know why.”
“Hmm… are you keeping your breathing steady?” he asked. “Try closing your eyes and visualizing the characters in your head.”
“I’ve done that! I’m trying to keep my cool, remain level headed, but no matter how slowly and carefully I draw out the characters, it doesn’t work! And I don’t know why!”
“Ah, well there’s your problem,” he smiled, chuckling a bit at the thought. “You can’t draw them out slowly and carefully. You have to be quick, and with precision. Magic, as you should know, is fickle, and the longer it hangs in your grasp, the weaker it becomes. You should be drawing out each character in under a second—under half a second actually, if you can.”
“Draw it out fast?” she asked. “Like this?” Her horn sparked, and three or four seconds later, there was a very faint glow that illuminated the room as the spell began to work.
“Oh! Wow, that makes it seem a lot easier! How do I get it to glow brighter?”
“You need to be quicker casting the spell, and more precise. You’ll get it with practice. However—”
All of a sudden, her bedroom door was being knocked on again, and the princess of Equestria was entering the room. She carried a plate of food in her magic and a smile on her face. At least, a smile was on her face, until she saw the book about magic in front of Cadance and the young alicorn’s horn lit up.
“Oh, I’m sorry to intrude,” she said, sounding a mix between angry and upset and sad. She carefully set the plate down and politely told her, “I’ll leave you both to it if you’re moving forward in your studies without me.”
“Aunty, it’s not—” Blueblood tried to start, but he was silenced by the raise of her hoof.
“It’s fine, truly,” she said, unable to contain how bitter she sounded. “I’ll leave you both alone if you wish. I hope you enjoy the dinner that you missed, Mi Amore.” A moment after that, she set the plate down and left the room in a huff. The pink alicorn was right behind her.
“Princess Celestia, come back!” Cadance called as the larger white alicorn walked off. “Come on, it wasn’t anything! I just wanted to finally get started on spellcasting!”
“And you can continue ‘getting started’ on spellcasting,” the princess spoke, the bitterness and anger in her voice extremely clear. “It’s apparent that you don’t need my instruction, so I will make sure to keep out of your mane.”
“That’s not what I—”
She wasn’t able to say anything else, because in the middle of her sentence, Celestia vanished, lighting up her horn and teleporting away. The smaller alicorn blinked, and then flopped down onto her stomach in the middle of the hallway. She’d gone and made her teacher angry, a first for her. It was probably a first for anypony. She’d never seen Princess Celestia upset and bitter, not ever. She always kept calm and had a positive energy about her. Except not then, because Cadance had gone and made her upset.
Over nothing, the young alicorn thought as she lay there. She was getting upset over nothing! She just wanted to learn how to do magic! Was that something to get angry over?
Apparently so, because the thought of her teacher getting angry over her learning magic faster than she was teaching it made Cadance angry. Why was she so uptight about doing things that way specifically? She wasn’t a foal! She was a princess, even if a new one. She deserved to be treated with respect, not talked to and taught like she was still a little filly!
It wasn’t long before Blueblood was passing by her in the hallway, stopping in front of her and looking down where she lay.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said grumpily, turning her head away. “This is your fault.”
The stallion raised an eyebrow at that, replying, “I can’t see how it would be. As I’ve said previously, patience is a virtue.”
“Well, if you knew she was going to get mad at me—”
“Cousin, it’s something that you need to sit down and talk out with your teacher,” he interrupted. “If you’re dissatisfied with the pace you’re learning at, speak to Aunty about that. It’s not my business how fast or slow she goes beyond simple advice. I’ve likely done enough harm inserting myself into this matter as it is.”
“You can’t just say that! You were the one who started to teach me what to do!”
“And if you’re upset because of that, what is it that you would like from me?” he asked. He didn’t get a response other than an open mouth filled with silence as the mare tried to find words to say. “I can help teach you how to use magic, but it’s up to you to discuss with Princess Celestia how you and she go about things. It’s certainly not any of my business.”
“She doesn’t listen though! I’ve told her, and she’s not listening!” The alicorn's wings twitched in frustration as she said, “She’s being overly cautious because I hurt myself once! It’s absolutely agonizing!”
“Well, then speak to her. If you’d like, I can join you as a mediator when you have a conversation with Aunty,” he offered. “As well though, you need to understand patience, as well as the fact that those above you know what’s best for you, even if you’d like to be moving at a quicker pace than you are.”
“Aargh!” Cadance flapped her wings angrily and took off, flying through the hallway to somewhere else as Blueblood stood alone, blinking at the sudden move. A moment later, he sighed to himself. It seemed the next move was to speak to Princess Celestia.
Celestia lay in her own bedroom reading a book, the slice of cake she gathered from the kitchen sitting untouched next to her. She breathed slowly and deeply, trying to take her mind off of her own anger. It bothered her greatly that the young alicorn sought out somepony else to learn magic from when she was perfectly capable of teaching her herself. Did Cadance think she was a bad teacher? It certainly seemed so with how frustrated and ungrateful the young alicorn always acted. She was trying to help her.
She let out another breath and turned a page, poking at the cake slice with her fork but not taking a bite. Foals were easier in some ways. They understood the importance of going through each lesson one by one, unlike her current student. Could she even complain and be upset about that fact though? Were she and Cadance both equals now? She didn’t know, but as the elder princess, she wished the younger would see Celestia’s wisdom in spite of her impatience.
Suddenly, she was hearing a knock on her door, and Blueblood was poking his head through as she used her magic to hold it open. He had a look on his face like he wanted to discuss what just happened, one that said this would be more than just a quick apology for sneaking under her muzzle and disrespecting her as she tried to teach Cadance.
“Do you have a moment for me, Aunty?” he asked as she closed her book. “If I can, I’d like to discuss the matter of the new princess, Cadance.”
“I do have a moment, yes,” she said politely, opening the door farther and letting the stallion enter. She didn’t say anything however, causally taking a bite of cake as he stood there. She would let him speak first, curious about what his explanation for his involvement with her studies would be.
He shifted around on his hooves awkwardly for a moment before taking a breath and saying, “She spoke to me about how slowly she feels her studies are going, and I encouraged her to speak to you on the matter. I offered myself up as a mediator, if that’s acceptable, Aunty. She feels as though she’s being disrespected and disregarded.”
“Mhm, I see,” she nodded, taking another bite of cake as she did so. “And this is your reason for jumping into her studies this evening?” she asked. “How long has this been going on?”
“I offered help on a spell she was looking at because she was struggling,” he explained. “I realize it wasn’t proper, but as the newest—”
“Not only not proper, Bluey,” Celestia interrupted, “but rather disrespectful, I would say. I wouldn’t interfere without your pre approval at the tax collection and wealth distribution of the nation, and yet you’ve seen fit to interfere with my training of the young princess. Why so?”
“It wasn’t my intention to interfere. I only felt that—”
“Well you have, and I can see now that it will only serve to drive a wedge between us and increase her frustration and disdain for my methods. Is that what you were seeking?”
“I only wished—”
“Well, dear nephew, I wish that you would see to it that you didn’t get involved. I’m perfectly capable of handling my duties, just as I’m sure you are able to handle yours.”
“Aunty, please, I’m trying to speak to you earnestly.”
“As am I,” she countered. “I’m earnest in saying I would appreciate it if you would let me handle my business. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to finish my cake while I read, if that’s all you have to say.”
Blueblood gave her an incredulous look, but didn’t say anything else with that, only letting out a breath before turning to leave. He shut the door firmly behind him, and Celestia let out a breath of her own, letting the magic in her hair stop flowing for a minute as she sank down into her bed. She shouldn’t have spoken to the prince the way she did. It was too confrontational and aggressive, especially coming from her. But it needed to be said. She didn’t appreciate the way her nephew went about talking to Cadance behind her back. It made her feel like she was subpar.
“Oh, these are always difficult, interesting times,” she muttered to herself as she pushed the plate of cake away. It brought back memories of when Blueblood was in Cadance’s place as a little foal learning magic. He was so young when he changed from an earth pony into a unicorn, and much more agreeable, too. Or perhaps he wasn’t, considering the fact that he was sneaking around and instructing Cadance behind her back. Perhaps he secretly couldn’t stand her methods. Perhaps—
Get it together, Celly, she told herself. He was only intending to help Cadance out because she asked for help… but why would she want to ask in the first place? Sure, the process was slow, but magic was truly, absolutely dangerous, especially as an alicorn with the spells she was going to learn and how much magic she had at her disposal. Why didn’t she understand that?
Well, no matter. Maybe she would understand when she received no more instruction from Celestia anymore. If Cadance felt like her teaching methods were subpar, then she could certainly find another way to be taught. They were both equals in royalty now, after all.
There was no meeting the next morning for lessons, or for the next week at that. There was hardly a word uttered between Cadance and Celestia, the two only coming into contact with each other when they passed through the halls and during mealtimes. Celestia went back to her normal routine of sitting at the throne and hosting the day court that Blueblood had taken over in her place while she taught. Cadance was the opposite and was hardly seen in the castle, spending most days flying frustratedly over the building and through the city. When she wasn’t flying, she stayed in her room, only coming out to leave the castle again or to participate in nightly supper.
Dinner was an extremely awkward affair, Blueblood and the other two participants sitting silently as they ate, speaking to neither him nor each other. He could tell they were both in the mood to say something, but both were much too prideful to take the first step, although Celestia kept the intensity Cadance had off of her face. It was nothing but uncomfortable, and the stallion of the three felt trapped in the middle between them, unsure of what to say to get the ball rolling and a conversation started.
One night, however, he finally found the words, and began, “The situation at hoof is remarkably ridiculous and petty.” He took a bite of food afterward, remaining silent as they both stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Celestia’s gaze toward him was a questioning one, and Cadance’s stare was simply angry. He stayed just as silent as the two alicorns did however, deciding not to continue until they asked why.
“I’m not sure what situation you speak of, nephew,” Celestia replied, taking a sip of tea as she did, her niece across the table copying her move. “We’re enjoying dinner. I cannot fathom how this would be seen as any sort of situation. Unless you speak of something else?”
“No, I speak of exactly what you and Cadance both think of,” he told her, “and frankly, I think it’s high time that it’s addressed, if only to stop the gossip I hear from the castle servants when I pass through the halls.”
“Princess Celestia’s right though,” Cadance said facetiously. “There’s no situation. We’re perfect study buddies. I learn so much from her, and I don’t know what I would do if she wasn’t helping me and teaching me how to do magic.”
“Now cousin, that’s not they way you should speak to—”
“Absolutely perfect, I agree,” Celestia nodded, feigning sincerity. “We’ve had such a perfect relationship that she’s seen fit to go behind my back and receive instruction elsewhere.”
“Aunty, if you could—”
“Only because you saw fit to move as slowly as possible with teaching me and treat me like I’m a tiny foal.”
“Cadance.”
“I’m not treating you like a foal. I’m treating you in just the same way as I have everypony else who’s tutored under me. When Blueblood acquired his unicorn horn, I taught him the same way.”
“But I’m not a foal like he was! I’m almost a full grown mare!”
“A full grown mare who could’ve killed herself because she hasn’t had proper instruction in handling alicorn magic!”
The lone unicorn sighed to himself and frowned at the sight of the two arguing. He listened to it for about a minute, and considered interjecting before deciding it wasn’t worth his effort. Instead he got up from the table and began to head out of the room, much to the shock of both Cadance and Celestia.
“Where are you going, dear nephew?” Celestia asked with a bit of confusion in her voice. “We haven’t even finished dinner yet.”
“I understand that,” he replied, “but my appetite gets quite poor when ponies treat each other with disrespect as you two are doing. The arguing that’s going on upsets it quite a bit.”
“We’re not arguing,” Cadance said sarcastically. “We’re in perfect agreement about how I’m a terrible pony for daring to try and learn at faster than a snail’s pace.”
“I thought we were agreeing that you dislike my methods and would rather take instruction elsewhere, since what I’m offering is not good enough for you.”
“Will both of you please silence yourselves?” Blueblood asked. “Communication is the key to any relationship, be it partnerships or teacher-student relationships. I see a very clear lack of communication between you two.”
“I’ve been communicating!” Cadance threw her hooves up in the air as she yelled it. “I’ve said we were going too slow, and Princess Celestia has done nothing about it except treat me like a foal!”
“I’m trying to make sure you don’t hurt yourself!” Celestia got out exasperatedly, some sadness making its way into her voice. “You could’ve gotten a concussion the first time you tried to use your magic! Just a little more, and you could have seriously wounded yourself! If something grave happened to you, I don’t know what I would do!”
“I know that I could get hurt, but I don’t need my hoof held, Princess,” Cadance told her, taking a breath to simmer down. “I can do it. I understand that this could end badly if I don’t pay attention. I’ve been careful. But moving this slowly feels like you’re trying to treat me like a foal.”
“If I were treating you like a foal, I would tell you that we should wait until you have a magical burst before we do any lessons, because that would be the safest. I don’t want to place more risk on you that you already have by skipping ahead without knowing everything that’s required to operate efficiently.”
Blueblood tried not to sigh, but he couldn’t help but let out a breath as he watched the two of them go around in circles. Cadance continued on with her claim that Celestia was treating her like a filly and Celestia continued refusing the accusations. It was another minute he watched this go on when he finally interjected again.
“Have you considered switching places with the other?”
Both princesses looked at him curiously, Celestia tilting her head and Cadance raising an eyebrow in confusion. He explained, “If one is having issues with the teaching style being received, and the other is insistent upon that teaching style, why not trade places to see what the other position is like?”
“Am I to learn alicorn magic from somepony who does not know it yet?” The older princess asked in confusion.
“Yeah, it’s not like I can just pop open the textbook and tell her something new,” Cadance agreed.
“Maybe not magic, but surely, cousin, there’s something you know that Aunty would not. Were you not previously a pegasus? Have you learned any unique flight maneuvers?”
“Hmmm, I guess there are some of those, but what does this prove?” the pink pony asked. “It doesn’t do anything, unless you mean I should teach her like she does me.”
“Just go in the style that you want to be taught,” Blueblood said. “It’ll be good to help you both see what the other is saying. In fact, since you’re both already arguing, you should do this right now. I greatly dislike seeing the frustration on either of your faces.
The three of them finished dinner in silence from there, and shortly afterward, they were outside. Blueblood stood in the grass watching the two alicorns, the smaller one flying around in tight circles and the larger one stretching her wings and preparing for exercise that she hadn’t done in ages.
“I understand what you’re seeking to do,” Celestia said to her nephew, “but I truly don’t see the point to this. I am the teacher, and the elder, so she should be looking to me for guidance and trusting my methods. Perhaps we’re equals, but I still have the advantage of experience.”
“Perhaps, but with the way you two went at each other, I’d say this is more a family matter than it is a teacher-student matter. Gaining the perspective each other has would be ideal.”
“A family matter?” Cadance asked skeptically from her position in the sky. “What do you mean by that?”
“Have you not heard the way I refer to you as cousin, and Aunty as aunty?” he asked. “I think I’ve made it clear that the three of us are familial, even if not by blood. I’ve explained this to you before, did I not?”
“It’s true,” Celestia confirmed. “Blueblood has referred to me as Aunty as far as I can remember. We are very much family.”
“Hmmm. Well, he did tell me that… but I’d still appreciate not being talked to like I’m a foal.”
“Cadance, I’ve explained—”
“Please, both of you, enough,” Blueblood interrupted before they could get back into it. “I’d like to see this exercise play out, if only because I’m curious at least. This will be good for you.”
There were no more words as Cadance settled her hooves onto the ground, watching as her mentor stretched. Were the two of them really equals? Sure, Cadance might not have liked how she felt she was being treated, but there was no way she was anywhere close to being equal to that of the Princess of Equestria. Was being an alicorn enough to bring that about? The larger pony seemed to think so.
“What shall we be doing, dear niece?” Celestia asked, somehow forgetting about any issues they had and placing affection into her voice. “I’m sure there are many things you have knowledge of that I do not. It’s been many years since I’ve taken to the skies beyond casual flight.”
“I don’t know,” Cadance said, a bit of frustration in her voice, frustration that she tried to keep down. “I guess we’ll just do a couple of backwards somersaults if you don’t know how to do those already.” Then she paused, an idea coming to her as she said, “Or maybe, if you haven’t flown around that much, we should just stick to stretching and limbering up.”
Celestia blinked at that and smiled. “I see what you’re doing. I’m only moving slowly with your magic because—”
“Aunty, please,” Blueblood stopped her. “Let her teach as she wishes.”
“Of course. Forgive me. I shan't interrupt anymore.”
“Well limbering up is important,” Cadance started as she stretched her wings and her legs. “Don’t wanna have a situation where you cramp up mid flight and hurt yourself, do you?”
“Of course not,” Celestia agreed. “We can take as long as we need on this.”
“Well, stretching only takes about ten minutes ideally,” the mare told her. “After that we’re going to the skies to practice.”
That brought a confused look to the elder princess. “Did you not just say we would stick to stretching activities?”
“I did, but I wasn’t serious. The only way to learn is by doing. Now make sure to stretch your wings as far as you can, and try to touch your hooves with them.”
It was only five or ten minutes before Cadance decided they were done, then took to the skies for a nearby cloud. Celestia gracefully followed behind her, and Blueblood stayed on the ground, taking a seat in the grass. He watched them as the pink alicorn said, “Okay, now keep your eyes me.”
“Wait a moment,” Celestia stopped her. “Are you not going to explain what we’re doing?” she asked. ”How to perform the trick we’re working on and how we should twist our bodies? What should I do if I fall to the ground.”
“Um, then you get back up and try it again?” Cadance asked, slightly confused. “Pegasi don’t do things the same as unicorns, and don’t learn the same way. You just keep trying until you can do what you’re trying to do. Now watch me.” She did a simple jump backwards into the air and rolled her body, performing a somersault with ease and floating a few yards away from Celestia afterwards. “Just like that,” she told her.
“I don’t believe it’s truly ‘just like that’,” the white pony replied, unsure as she looked at the open space before her. “What happens if I jump backwards and don’t do it as you’ve shown me? Or I end up on my back and cannot stay in the air?”
“Then you’re gonna get a bruise when you fall to the ground prin— err, Aunty,” she said simply. “This is how pegasi do things.”
“But I’m unsure what I’m doing,” she continued. “You gave no explanation or instruction for how to copy you.”
“You just watched me, didn’t you? I can do it again if you want.”
“No, it’s quite alright,” the princess sighed. “Let’s see if I can do this.”
She positioned herself on the edge of the cloud and stood backwards, then took a deep breath and jumped. Predictably, when she tried to somersault as she did, she simply flailed and hit the ground, landing on her back. Nothing bad, but it felt a bit sore and painful to do.
“Yeah, that wasn’t that great,” Cadance said, smiling a little at the sight of her. “Let’s do it again, except this time, try and tuck your legs in a bit. Also you have to be more confident in yourself. If you’re scared, you’re going to end up on the ground again.”
“But that’s not much of an explanation, Cadance,” Celestia said from her position on the ground. “I need more than a demonstration.”
“You’ll get it with practice,” she assured her. ‘It just takes time. It’s not really learning if I tell you exactly what to do, is it? You have to discover it for yourself.”
“What if I land on my head though?”
“Then we’ll stop and you’ll have to deal with a concussion for a few days. Now let’s go. We’re going to practice until you get it. Also, try spreading your wings out to put more air under them, that way you can catch yourself before you hit the ground when you start to fall.”
‘Fall’ was the correct word to use, because each time she tried, Celestia ended up with her back to the ground. They didn’t go all day though; it was only a few minutes before the white alicorn decided it was enough trying, lest she end up looking like Nightmare Moon because of her newfound bruises. She had a feeling this was her student’s intentions.
Cadance denied such, continuously saying this was how pegasi learned how to fly. Celestia eventually gave up, commenting that her body was too sore to keep going, and lazily laid down in the grass next to where Blueblood sat.
“If this is your way of saying you wish for me to change my methods,” the elder alicorn started, “I believe now that I’m more sure of the route I want to go. Hurting yourself is not something I’m willing to risk.”
“I’m not trying to do anything. I’m just showing you how I would teach me because this is how pegasi learn. We don’t go slow—we take risks and keep going, and if we fall, we get back up and keep on trying as long as it takes. If I decided to stop and go slowly after falling down the first time I tried to fly, I’d still be on the ground.”
“You need to learn patience however, princess,” Celestia told her. “I understand it’s not ideal, but the pace we’re going at is perfect.”
Cadance only sighed, hanging her head low now, seeming defeated. “Fine, whatever. If that’s what you want to do, fine. I won’t ask Blueblood for help anymore or try to study on my own.”
Now the elder princess frowned. “Dear niece, please don’t be that way.”
“I’m not being any way,” she complained, less frustrated and more depressed sounding. “I’ve just been trying to—never mind. I guess we might as well head inside and get started on the next lesson before bed.”
Celestia had a sad look in her eye at the expression Cadance held. She looked away for a moment and didn’t speak for a long minute, no pony moving during that time. Finally though, she started, “Perhaps though we could be moving a bit faster. After all, you were able to light up your horn without any issue. Maybe we could move forward past so much book work?”
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to—”
“I’ve been too harsh,” Celestia interrupted. “Perhaps you’re correct in that pegasi are different from unicorns and earth ponies, and I should seek to accommodate that. I’ve only ever taught unicorns, after all.” There was another pause before she continued, “But we should practice patience as well. We’re going to speed up our instruction, but book work is important. Perhaps we can make an arrangement of one new spell per week to be learned?”
“Yes! That sounds great, princess! Err, um, Aunty?”
Celestia put a hoof to her mouth and giggled at that. “I quite enjoy the term of endearment.” Then she let out a breath and continued, “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to your requests to change my teaching style. I promise, I will be more considerate in the future.”
“Thanks… and I’m sorry for being so pushy,” Cadance replied. She stared at the princess for a long moment and shifted on her hooves uncomfortably before continuing, “Um, anyway, maybe we should go back inside now and learn some magic? I think missing an entire week of practice isn’t that great.”
“No, it’s not, but we can get you back on track. Not tonight however. Tonight I need a massage. My sides are aching.”
The younger princess couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but maybe we could try and learn that trick again sometime?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
The two headed back inside, leaving Blueblood standing in the grass. It seemed things were fixed again, as they should have been. All that was left to do was stand back and watch Cadance find her place in the little family they now had.
