Twilight Sparkle once again awoke to the sensation of being cuddled by a soft, warm, and firm body behind her. Letting out a soft neigh of contentment, she gently snuggled deeper into her brother's embrace. However, before she could fall back asleep, she noticed her mother staring at her through the open door of Shining Armor's room.

Seeing her daughter awake, Velvet furrowed her brow in concern. "Oh, I'm sorry dear, did I wake you?"

"I don't think so mommy. Is something wrong?" Twilight mirrored her mother's expression.

"Oh, no sweetie, everything's fine. I just wanted to say goodbye before I go on my trip," Velvet assured, gently smiling at her child as she slowly approached the bed. Sitting on her haunches, she leaned in to nuzzle the purple filly's muzzle. "I'll be gone for a while, but your father and I found a great foal sitter to take care of you while your father is at work." Pulling away from the nuzzle, Velvet noticed her daughter frowning back at her. "What's the matter Twilight?"

"But I already have Shiny, why do I need another pony?" Twilight protested, confusion evident on her face.

"Well, Shining is going back to school soon, and I'll likely be gone for the better part of a year. Not to mention he's still just a colt himself."

"Hey, I'm not a little colt anymore mom, I'm a young stallion! I'm almost as tall as dad," Shining interjected, much to the surprise of his mother and sister. "Besides, I can still make meals for Twilie before I go to school, and she's smart enough to take care of herself for a few hours."

Velvet sighed in exasperation. "Honey, Twilight doesn't have her cutie mark, and she can't use magic. If anything went wrong, if she got hurt she'd be helpless until you or your father came home."

"Then I just won't go to school!" Shining proclaimed fiercely, as his grip around his sister subtly tightened.

"Out of the question! You need a good education if you want to go anywhere in life." Seeing the hurt look her son gave her, Velvet took a deep breath to calm down before continuing. "Look, I need to leave soon. Your father will be taking Twilight to the palace to meet her foal sitter. Then tomorrow, she'll come here to get to know you too. I met her last night, and I can tell you she's the sweetest young mare I've ever met."

"Wait, the palace? Is my foal sitter a guard pony? Is she daddy's friend?" Twilight would have kept spouting off questions if Velvet hadn't held up a hoof to stop her.

"You can ask Cadance all the questions you want when you meet her. Now, I really must be going." Standing up, Velvet leaned over to kiss the foreheads of her two children. "I love you both so much, and I'll be sure to write as often as I can."

Right after Twilight squirmed out of bed, she glomped her mother before Shining got up to join in. "We're gonna miss you," Shining said, burying his muzzle in his mothers mane as Velvet returned the gesture.

"I'll miss you too, so much." Velvet gave them both a final nuzzle before getting up to leave. “Since you’re already up Twilight, you should get ready to leave. Your father was going to come get you in a few minutes anyway.”

“Okay mom.” Twilight gave out a small yawn before Shining released his grasp, letting her hop off the bed. Following her mother out the bedroom door, she took a moment to look back at her brother.

“I’m right behind ya Twilie.” Shining hopped off his bed before arching his back in a stretch. After joining his sister waiting at the door, the pair made their way downstairs

At the foot of the stairs Night Light was saying his farewells to Twilight Velvet when he looked up to see his children. "Ready to head out so soon?" Night Light asked Twilight as she trotted up to his side. When she nodded, he turned his attention to his son. "I'm counting on you to hold down the fort today Shining, your sister and I will be back for dinner."

"Yes sir," Shining barked out with a face of grim determination as he saluted. He managed to hold that pose for about ten seconds before he cracked a smile while he and his father shared a light chuckle.

"Love you son, see you tonight." Night Light mussed up Shining’s mane before opening the door. Velvet trotted out with her saddlebags before she was followed by her daughter and husband. Finally, Shining stood in the doorway waving to his family as a pang of melancholy hit his gut.

With his parents cantering off in opposite directions, all he could do was watch as everypony he loved left him alone. While this wasn't his first time staying home alone, he couldn't suppress a nagging feeling of apprehension. Then, his stomach grumbled, and he was broken from his introspective trance. As he headed back inside, Shining closed the door with his magic before making his way to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. No matter what happens, one thing that will never change is my love for Twilie. As long as we have each other, everything will be okay.

Twilight couldn't help but gawk at the grand halls of Canterlot Castle. If she hadn't been riding atop her father's back, she would have easily gotten hopelessly lost in this labyrinthian marvel. Before she knew it, they had made their way to one unassuming door among countless others. The main difference was the two guards posted on either side of the door.

With a simple nod of his head, the guards stepped aside and opened the door for Twilight's father. The interior was revealed to be a rather spacious bedroom, featuring an opulent four poster bed with a canopy overhead and a stuffed animal resting on a pillow. There was a sizable trunk at the foot of the bed that Twilight guessed contained most of the personal items of whoever lived here. The walls were mostly made up of floor to ceiling windows, interrupted by solid granite walls decorated with banners abstractly depicting some historical event or another.

Twilight gawked at the spacious room before her. "Wow daddy, this is a fancy room for a guard pony."

Night Light chuckled before he sat Twilight down in the middle of the black and white checkered floor addressing her. "Didn't your mother tell you that your foalsitter is a princess?"

"Wait, what? Cadance is a princess?! Why would a princess want to foalsit a filly like me?" Twilight’s eyes bulged out of her head as her breathing rapidly sped up to the verge of hyperventilating.

"Hey hey hey, no need to fret little bookworm! Cadence is really excited to meet you. I would have introduced you last night, but you and your brother were already asleep." Night light slowly stroked his daughter's mane to calm her down.

Twilight looked slightly mollified, but her ears were still splayed back in anxiety. "Okay daddy, but... what if the princess doesn't like me?"

Night Light stifled a chuckle as he knelt down to be on his daughter's eye level. "Trust me Twilight, you two have more in common than you might think. But, if it doesn't work out, I'll take care of it. Just try to have fun today, and leave the worrying to the grown-ups. Can you do that for me Twilight?"

Twilight scrunched up her face in deep thought before responding. "Okay daddy, I can try." The look of determination she gave her father almost had him clutching his heart from cuteness overload.

"That's my girl! I'll see you tonight." After rising to all four hooves, he gave Twilight a gentle peck on her forehead before taking his leave. Meanwhile, Twilight deflated the moment the bedroom doors closed behind her father.

Taking a look around, she found herself growing curious over the contents of the large chest at the foot of the bed. Trotting over to it, she decided to take a look inside. Rearing up, she used her forehooves to open the lid, and what she saw inside blew her mind. Sitting atop various books, some dresses, and a blanket was a smarty pants doll. Before Twilight knew what was happening, a sky blue aura lit up the container as the lid opened up completely.

Turning around, Twilight found herself staring up at a pastel pink unicorn with her tricolor mane tied up in a ponytail. "Hi there little filly, find something you like?"

Twilight's ears drooped as she curled up, trying to make herself as small as possible. "Um... are you, p-princess Cadance?"

"Hmm... lemme check real quick." Cadance made a show of spreading out her wings and checking them thoroughly before looking her hooves over, showing off her cutie mark and tapping her horn. "Yup, I'm me alright," she beamed at the bemused, anxious filly. "But if you ever need to double check, I can teach you a special code."

Giving a coy grin, Cadance positioned herself as if she was about to pounce on Twilight before doing something that left the filly utterly dumbfounded. "Sunshine, sunshine!" Keeping her muzzle close to the ground, she pranced in place before hiding her face with her forehooves. "Ladybugs awake!" Poking her head out from her hooves, she sat up on her haunches and started bopping at the air in front of her. "Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Cadance finished off by making an about turn and shaking her flanks.

"Huh?"

"That's the ladybug dance silly filly! An old friend of mine taught it to me when I was around your age," Cadance trailed off a bit, as a hint of melancholy crossed her features. However, before Twilight could ask any sort of follow up, Cadance gave a broad, only slightly forced smile. "Anyway, how about you try it?" Her smile relaxed a bit as she added, "Ya know, in case I ever need to check you're still you."

Not seeing any holes in that logic, the purple filly complied, mimicking the actions and words of her foalsitter to the best of her ability. To her credit, it only took Twilight three tries before she was able to match Cadance's movement. "Oh! I just remembered something," Twilight blurted out before stuffing her hoof in her mouth. Looking up at Cadance apologetically she continued, "Um, I was wondering... is that your smarty pants doll in the trunk?"

Cadance just blinked in befuddlement before realizing what she was just asked. "Yeah, it's one of my keepsakes from my old village. Did you want to play with her?" Levitating the doll over with her magic, Cadance set her smarty pants in front of Twilight who glanced back and forth between the mare and doll.

"Well, I was just surprised a princess had a doll like mine. I like to read to her and take notes on what I read." Twilight beamed at Cadance as she began gushing about her interests. "Ya see, I really like to read, I can even read better than my big brother Shiny! But, that also means I can't talk to anypony else about all the books I read. So I tell Smarty about my books like when me and Shiny used to do reports to our parents before I read all the books we had and they had to come up with other ways we can earn gold stars for the sibling supreme competition!"

Cadance giggled a bit at Twilight's little rant. "Oh my, your parents said you were smart, but I never thought I would have found a filly who loved reading as much as I do."

Twilight's eyes went wide at that revelation. "You like reading too?"

"Of course, and since coming to live here, I've been given full access to the entire Canterlot library! I spent my first week here just reading all the books I could get my hooves on... until Celestia had to personally drag me away to start my magic lessons." Cadance gave a sheepish grin as she rubbed the back of her mane with her hoof.

"Wow!" Twilight was astonished by the prospect of getting unfettered access to so many books, until she latched onto the last bit Cadance said. "Wait, Princess Celestia taught you magic? Could she teach me?" She looked up at Cadance with wide hopeful eyes.

Meanwhile Cadance was dumbfounded by the filly's questions before she adopted a more apologetic tone. "Sorry Twilight, but I still barely know the basics myself. Plus, alicorn magic is... different from unicorn magic. Even if I told you what I know, I don't think it would really help."

"Oh, okay..." Twilight slumped down, upset at finding another dead end.

Not wanting to see her charge so dejected, Cadance gently nuzzled Twilight. "Hey there, it's alright. Doesn't Canterlot have a magic kindergarten to teach the basics of magic?" Laying on the floor, she brought herself to be on eye level with Twilight.

Twilight pouted as she averted her gaze. "Yeah, but I'm still too young to enroll. It's so unfair! Why do I have to wait a whole year before I can learn magic?" She threw her hooves in the air in frustration.

Cadence thought about it for a moment, tapping her hoof to her chin. "Well I don't know for sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say it would be to give young ponies like yourself more time to be foals and play."

"But I only play with Shiny and he's already going to school."

Cadance gave the filly a hopeful smile. "Well, you can play with me if you want. I was an only child, and even though I got along with other foals, I was never really that close with them, at least... not as close as you are with your brother." Her voice took on a more wistful tone near the end.

Twilight noticed this, and decided to scooch closer as she offered a warm smile. "Well you seem like a nice pony, and my dad said you were nice, so I guess we can play if you want."

Cadance visibly brightened at that, letting out a high pitched neigh of delight. "Really? That would be great! What should we do first?"

One of Twilight's ears flopped to the side as she thought it over. "Hmm, Shiny and I have a game we made up together... but we usually play in the park or in the backyard."

"Oh, we can play in the Canterlot gardens! It's nice and open, plenty of room to gallop around." Cadance stood up and made her way for the door, only to look back to a confused purple filly. "Aren't you coming Twilight?"

Twilight pawed her front hoof at the tiled floor. "Uh, are we allowed to? I thought I had to stay inside until dad comes to get me."

Cadance stifled a chuckle before responding. "It's fine Twilight, I might not have as much power as Celestia, but I am still a princess." To emphasize her point she flared out her wings as she levitated Smarty Pants off the floor and onto her bed. "I have free access to the whole palace grounds."

Tentatively, Twilight stood up and began to follow. Passing the guards stationed outside, she gave them a nervous smile before she saw their stern countenances soften as they waved to the departing duo. Making their way through the halls, Twilight couldn't help but notice how much bigger everything felt around her.

Not wanting to stray from the highest authority around, Twilight made sure to stick close to Cadance until she found herself trotting on soft grass. Looking up and around, she marveled at all the intricately carved marble statues and vast hedge maze in front of her. “Wow.”

Cadence giggled at her charge’s reaction. “I know right? Celestia generally lets the landscapers go wild with their artistic visions. The only real restrictions they get are from prince Highblood and his son Vladímir Blueblood, but as long as the hedge maze is maintained, they don’t make a fuss.”

Twilight’s ears drooped slightly as her eyes widened. “Does that mean we can’t play in the maze?”

Cadance had to clutch her chest, sit back on her haunches, and wince before she could answer. “A-actually, we can explore the maze freely as long as… gah. As long as we don’t disturb anything.”

Twilight scurried up to clutch at Cadance’s free hoof, worry evident on her face. “Oh no! Princess! Are you okay?”

Cadance had to stifle a laugh at the filly’s concern. “I’ll be okay Twilight, you were just so adorable, I had to take a minute to process. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you figured out how to weaponize cuteness.” Getting back to her hooves, she motioned with a wing for twilight to follow as she headed for the hedge maze.

Twilight cocked her head in thought before following her foalsitter. “Is it even possible to do that? Is there a spell to condense cuteness into a tangible form?” She froze as she gasped. “Did I cast a spell without even knowing it?”

This time, Cadance failed to stifle her laughter as she gently shook her head. “If anypony could figure out how to do that, it would be you, Twilight.” By the time the pair made their way to the center of the maze, Twilight had all but forgotten about the game she suggested as Cadance regaled the filly with an impromptu history lecture about the royal family.

“Wow, so Prince Highblood isn’t actually related to Princess Celestia, but does that mean you’re also not related?”

Cadance smiled as she patiently answered every question the filly came up with. “Not by blood, but Celestia did officially adopt me into the royal family. Kinda comes with the territory of being an alicorn I guess. That, or having a blood line connecting you to the rulers of the old world.” Cadance snorted as she rolled her eyes, before remembering her company.

Twilight didn’t seem to mind smack talking the Blood household though. “Daddy told me Highblood is nice, but his son is a brat. Is that true?”

Cadance had to choke back a laugh at Twilight’s blunt assessment before she could respond. “Well, just between us fillies?” With a quick nod from Twilight, Cadance leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Your father is absolutely right. Every time I have to deal with that pompous colt, I get a migraine from all the horseapples he spouts.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she gasped and giggled. “You said a bad word!” While her explanation came out as a stage whisper, Cadance still glanced around as if somepony would hear them.

“Please don’t tell anypony I said that Twilight. I don’t want your dad and Celestia to think I’m a bad foalsitter!” Hearing Cadance plead with her, Twilight turned to face the concerned alicorn who looked like she just got caught with her hoof in the cookie jar.

“It’s okay Cadance, I won’t tell anypony. This is just between us fillies right? Plus, you’re really nice! I haven’t met another pony as nice as you before.” Twilight beamed at Cadance.

“How many ponies have you met?” Cadance had a hunch she already knew the answer.

“Oh, well I only know my mom, my dad, Shiny, and you.” That confirmed it, at least until she spoke again. “Sometimes when me and Shiny go to the park though, other foals bug me when I just want to read. Sometimes Shiny gets them to leave me alone, other times he goes to play if they ask him, but nopony ever asked to read with me.” Twilight’s ears dropped slightly.

Cadance got up from her seat and made her way over to Twilight before wrapping a wing around her. “Hey, I’d love to read with you some time. In fact, why don’t I show you the Castle library?”

“Really?” Twilight’s ears perked up as her tail started swishing around her haunches and through the grass.

“Yup. Now, do you want to walk out of the maze, or fly?” Cadance flared her wing not holding Twilight.

“But wait, I can’t fly.” Twilight frowned in puzzlement before Cadance flipped the filly onto her back.

“Silly filly, you don’t need to fly to get a pony back ride!” Cadance giggled as Twilight got comfortable on her back. “So, what’ll it be?” She turned her head to look twilight in the eye who seemed to be considering the matter rather deeply.

“Hmm, let’s fly!” As soon as Twilight gave the order, she latched onto Cadance’s withers before the alicorn took off at a gentle pace as to not dislodge her passenger. “Woohoo!” Twilight screeched as they rose in elevation before cresting over a low hanging cloud. “This is awesome!”

While Cadance could have just flown straight for the nearest palace door, she decided to show off a bit for the filly clinging to her back. Plus, it wasn’t every day the princess got to go out and stretch her wings. That being said, she couldn’t stay airborne all day. Once she felt Twilight had enough excitement, Cadence gracefully landed on a balcony closest to the palace library.

Leaning to one side, Cadance extended a wing for Twilight to slide off. Once she was no longer encumbered, the balcony doors lit with a sky blue hue before swinging open. While she was still catching her breath from the excitement of her first flight, Twilight lost it the moment she laid eyes on the towering labyrinth of book shelves.

Each shelf was accompanied by a brass ladder attached by sliding rails. Even Cadance’s frame was dwarfed by the towers of tomes kept in these cavernous halls. “There’s so many,” Twilight breathed out in reverence.

“Well, they won’t read themselves. Where would you like to start? Fantasy, history, joke books, text books, oh, what about romance novels?” Cadance’s eyes lit up until she looked back to the filly to see her blanch. “Twilight, is something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, I don’t like romance books. Colts are gross and dumb.” Twilight nodded in satisfaction as if nopony would challenge her assertion.

Cadance cocked an ear back and furrowed her brow in worry. “What about your big brother? He’s a colt.”

“Shiny doesn’t count. He’s my BBBFF, and I make sure he washes behind his ears like mom told me.”

Cadance was taken aback by that. “You two still bathe together?”

Twilight blinked up at her foal sitter, oblivious to her concern. “Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”

Cadance just stared ahead for a moment, racing to think of something to say. “Uhh, well I… guess there’s nothing wrong with it. I guess I just thought that, after siblings got old enough they would bathe by themselves.”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Why? It’s faster to bathe together, and you can have somepony wash your mane. Plus mom and dad take baths together.”

Not wanting to say anything that might upset the filly’s parents, Cadance decided to end this line of questioning altogether. “I guess it was just something I picked up from my old village. I was told not to bathe with colts, but I also never had a brother.” Twilight didn’t look satisfied with that answer. But before she could ask any more questions, Cadance pulled out a half dozen books from various shelves to peruse.

Distracted by the floating books in front of her, Twilight remembered why they came to the library in the first place. “Oh hey, what’s that book?” She pointed a hoof to a rather thick burgundy tome.

“Oh, lemme take a look.” Flipping open the book, she looked for a title. “Ooh! This is a historical record of Starswirl The Bearded!”

Twilight blinked. “Who?”

“Star Swirl the Bearded! He was the greatest arch mage in all of history! No single pony has advanced the study of magic more than him, not even Celestia!” Cadance was prancing in place as she looked over the table of contents. Meanwhile, her excitement had infected Twilight who was bouncing around Cadance.

“Let’s read it! Let’s read it! Let’s read it!” On her fourth bounce, she was halted in mid air by Cadance’s magic aura. Before she knew it, she was sitting on a comfy reading couch with Cadance curled up around her and the book in question laying in front of the two of them on a cushion.

“Just let me know when you need me to turn the page.” Without further questions, the two fillies set to reading. More than once, Cadance had to pick up her reading pace to keep up with Twilight. Eventually she just decided to let Twilight read by herself, still turning the pages on request. It got to the point Cadance could predict when she needed the page turned without prompting.

Sometimes when she was getting ready to turn the page, Cadance would notice some magenta sparks emitting from Twilight’s horn. It was like she was trying to reach out with magic to turn the page herself. Of course, it only ever produced harmless sparks, but Cadance could have sworn she saw the faintest hint of a pale aura surrounding Twilight’s horn.

As Twilight was in the middle of the seventh tome of the day, the library doors opened to the sound of clinking armor and steady hoof beats. Cadance looked up to see the golden eyes of Night Light framed by his captain’s helm. Twilight only looked up from her book when Cadance had failed to turn the page and her horn sparks failed to do the job for her.

Night Light gave a loving smile to his daughter as he nuzzled the tip of her muzzle. “Did ya have fun today my little filly?”

Blinking slowly, Twilight steadily sat up and rubbed her eyes as she smiled back. “Yeah, Cadance is the best! She has her own smarty pants, she likes reading, and she’s really good at magic!”

Cadance smiled sheepishly as her cheeks turned crimson. “Hehe, well I wouldn’t say I’m that good at magic, I can only really do two spells.”

“But you can float all those books around like it’s nothing! I can’t even turn a page.” Twilight’s ears drooped at her own self deprecation.

Night Light’s armor clinked as he sat on his haunches. “Hey now, don’t sweat it silly filly. By this time next year, you’ll be levitating books like a pro!”

“If you say so daddy…” Twilight trailed off with a squeaky yawn and stared up at her father, barely able to keep her eyes open now that her body and mind were catching up to each other. “Is it time to go home now?”

“Indeed it is, little one.” Looking up he addressed Cadance. “Can you carry her to the front gates? I’ll be right behind you after I hang up my armor for the day.”

Cadance nodded as she stifled her own yawn. “Sure thing captain Night Light.”

Chuckling, Night Light gave the princess a sardonic grin. “Cadance, what happened to no titles? If I can’t call you princess, I insist you don’t use my rank.”

Cadance’s face burned red as she stammered. “I-I’m so sorry ca-I mean Night Light, I just.” Taking a deep breath in, she raised a hoof to her chest. Exhaling, she pushed her hoof away. “Sorry, I guess I just… sorry, I’ll meet you at the front gates with Twilight.” Forcing her face into a relaxed smile, she levitated Twilight onto her back and the filly curled up between her wings.

“Ya know, you didn’t need to carry her all the way back to my house. I’m not that tired after wearing that armor.” Night Light gave Cadance a crooked grin.

“I know I didn’t have to, I just couldn’t bring myself to disturb little Twilie.” On her back, shielded from the last rays of the setting sun by purple tipped pink feathers half extended, was a sleeping unicorn filly.

“She must really like you. She usually only sleeps so soundly around her brother.”

Cadance’s eyes reflected her surprise. Turning her neck to see over her shoulder, her heart melted much like the first time she saw Twilight sleeping. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Night Light. You don’t know how much this means to me. To just be able to bond with your daughter, today was one of the best I’ve had since I got my horn.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. I’m gonna need you back here thirty minutes before sunrise. You haven’t really met Shining either. He’s pretty independent already, but just be sure to keep an eye on him all the same. I’ll also have a list of chores for them to get done.” As Night Light halted on the walkway to his house, he gently levitated Twilight onto his back before turning to face Cadance. “Thank you again for all your help, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Of course, have a good night.” With a parting smile, Cadance turned and cantered back home. A moment later, her ears swiveled back to hear a door opening and the voice of an adolescent colt.

“Dad, Twilie, your home!” Whipping her head around, Cadance caught a fleeting glimpse of two toned blue on white before a door once again swung shut.

Author's Note

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