“Can you go wake up your brother, Twilight? He's going with you for your lessons again today.” Velvet comments as she finishes packing two lunches for the youngsters to eat later.

“Ugh! Why do I have to bring him with me? He doesn't even understand magic and just wanders around getting both of us in trouble.” Twilight complains as she makes her way down the hallway towards her brother's room.

It's been 15 months since Twilight's entrance exam and the Sparkle family has grown completely accustomed to caring for the small human. They were surprised to see the child walking within days of arriving at their house, but once they saw the castle’s report on his health things made more sense. The child was already three years old when he was summoned, which makes him four years old now.

“Luminous, wake up. You're coming with me to the castle again.” Twilight calls out as she enters the room and glares at the smaller bed located across the room for the larger bed used by Shining Armor.

At first the only response was some noises of complaint as the lumpy blanket started to writhe and move. Quickly though proper language filled the room. “Do I have to Twi? It's always so boring…”

“Trust me I wish you weren't coming with me, too. But, the Princess and our parents want you to continue visiting. You'd have to go to the castle in a few hours anyway for your piano lesson, so just get up and quit complaining.” Refusing to hear any further arguments the filly closes the door and goes back to the kitchen.

Twilight loves her brother, but she already has stirrings of discontent because she has to share the attention of her mentor with her other student, Sunset Shimmer. Now that Luminous has started attending as well she feels like the Princess hardly pays her any attention. “He's up, dam. For the record, he doesn't want to go either.”

“Well that's just too bad, dear. The Princess herself is the one requesting his presence. Don't hold it against him though, Twilight. You shouldn't resent your brother for something outside of his control.”

Sitting down at the table the filly starts eating her breakfast. “I know. I just thought I was supposed to be the Princess's personal student. Yet every visit I have to compete with Sunset and now Lumi is taking her attention too.” She pouts as she shoves food into her mouth.

“Sorry….. I don't know how to fix it…” Twilight feels her heart drop a bit at the tiny voice coming from behind her. She hadn't even heard him approaching the room. He wasn't supposed to hear her venting.

Turning around she finds the small boy who's just about the same height as her now standing there looking at the floor in his standard white hooded robe. His fists are clenching the sides of the robe and he's staring at the ground with unshed tears, a look of pain on his face. “Lumi, no it's not your fault. I just…. I was just complaining. Come here…”

The boy approaches the table as Twilight hops down and gives him a hug. “It's not your fault baby brother. I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry.”

Velvet watches the interaction with a small smile as she floats over the boy's plate of food. “Lumi, sometimes ponies just need to vent their frustration even if it's not what they really feel or mean. Your sister still loves you very much. Now why don't you eat before your food gets cold.”

Twilight silently thanks her mom for not cooking any meat. Luminous needs meat every so often, and it can’t be packed in a lunch because it’d be cold by the time lunch arrived. Which means anytime he comes to the castle it’s a coin toss on whether it's breakfast or dinner that’ll be plagued with the disgusting smell.

Once breakfast is over the two youngsters make their way out of the house. Luminous throws on the hood, so now the only thing uncovered are his forearms, hands, calves, and feet. The infant was growing so quickly that the family quickly got sick of buying new clothes or having old ones adjusted and decided to get him a handful of white robes. They do a good enough job of covering most of his body so he isn’t uncomfortable, and they’re cheap. You’d think the hood is beneficial because it obscures the identity of the human underneath, but it’s the opposite.

Everyone knows what’s walking around under that white robe, but the hood prevents Luminous from realizing someone is staring at him. Almost like a protective cocoon. “Sis, is it really okay for me to come with you? I can just wait in the library and then tell dam that you brought me and it was fun.”

“No, Lumi, we aren't going to lie. Lying is bad. Also I told you I didn’t mean it. I’m happy I get to bring you along to more places with me.” Twilight tries to reassure the child who is still obviously feeling bad about what he overheard this morning.

There’s several seconds of silence as the two continue making their way through the rapidly awakening streets of Canterlot. “If lying is bad then why did you just do it….” Luminous mutters under his breath, quieter than a whisper.

The question goes unheard as they continue towards the main gate of the castle in silence.

“Good Morning Miss Sparkle.” Both guards at the main gate address her as the pair enter the castle grounds. They don’t greet the human, but at least they don’t glare at him. Most of the castle staff have accepted that they’ll be seeing more of the human whether they want to or not.

Despite this, Luminous can’t help but smile. Twilight never returns their greeting if they only greet her. Just one small thing that shows she does care about him despite how annoyed with him she seems to be. Once they’re inside the castle proper Luminous pulls down his hood and looks around with his golden eyes. The bottom of his bare feet finally getting a reprieve from the gravel roads of the city.

It’s only a few minutes before the duo find themselves in a large study. Princess Celestia is already present and seems to be in a heated discussion with a unicorn Luminous had never met. But, based on the venting he overheard this morning and her cutie mark, he guessed that this is Sunset. Once the door closes the Princess and Sunset seemingly become aware of their presence and their heated discussion stops in an instant.

“Right on time as always, Twilight. Luminous, glad you could come by as well.” Celestia greets the two of them and Sunset just tilts her head and stares inquisitively at the human. She’d heard about him of course, but seeing him for the first time has her confused. This isn’t what ponies described at all.

“I didn’t really have a choice….” Twilight bonks the human upside the back of his head very lightly with telekinesis. “Ow!”

“He’s happy to be here as well, Princess! Sunset, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Twilight….. it's okay. Luminous what do you mean you didn't have a choice?” Celestia walks closer and lays down on the ground to be closer to eye level with the child.

“Dam said I had to go because you asked for me, but I don't like it here because I'm stealing you from sis. And….. and it makes her sad.” Twilight immediately wants to just curl into a ball and slip into another dimension.

Celestia’s expression softens and she looks at the two with an expression of understanding. This piece of information is enough to clue her in on even more tension as she turns and looks between Sunset and Twilight. She immediately decides to consciously make sure she's dividing her time more evenly. “That's very sweet of you Luminous, but don't worry, this is my fault. I'll make sure your sister doesn't feel like that from now on, okay?”

“Thank you Princess…” Luminous replies and then walks away from his sister and the alicorn. Twilight does feel an overwhelming sense of reassurance but it does little to help with the embarrassment of having her feelings outed to her mentor.

The small human, oblivious to his sister's inner turmoil, saunters up to the other unicorn in the room. “Hi. I'm Luminous Deviation. Are you Sunset?”

Sunset eyes him wearily. “That's me. Why is my dam so interested in you?”

He turns and looks back at the alicorn who is still softly speaking with his sister then turns back to Sunset. “I don't know. She doesn't even really talk to me when I'm here. How come you weren't here the first two times I came?”

“Mind your business, brat.” Sunset immediately regrets her usual attitude filled response when she sees him look at the ground. With a sigh she continues. “I got in trouble last week so I was forced to miss a couple of lessons. If Celestia doesn't even talk to you, why does she keep insisting you visit with your sister?”

“Princess Celesty, why do you ask me to come here?” Sunset immediately sympathizes with Twilight as she realizes the human has no understanding of social norms.

Celestia on the other hand loves creatures that are straightforward and direct like this. She also can't help but feel some maternal instincts at his inability to say her name correctly. “I just like keeping an eye on you, Luminous. Now girls, why don't we start today's lesson?”

Luminous takes that as his cue to go find a seat across the room and find a way to entertain himself. Once Celestia and Twilight rejoin Sunset the fiery maned unicorn reignites the argument she was having with her mother when the siblings arrived. “I still want an answer, dam. The choosing ceremony is only a month away and I don't want to keep wasting my time at these lessons if there's no point. Who are you choosing to be your apostle?”

Celestia's improved mood instantly nose dives as she sighs with exasperation. “I told you Sunset, it's not that simple.”

“I have your blood! It should be simple! I acknowledge this filly is talented but she doesn't even know what she's training for! She can be your student without being your apostle, but I've been under your tutelage for four years longer than her. I won't be able to show my face in public if you pick her over me!”

Twilight flinches back when she's referred to as “this filly” and both she and Luminous are staring at the increasingly angry unicorn with confusion. “We aren't doing this right now, Sunset. If all you care about is some title then maybe you should just return to school.”

Her daughter feels like she was just run through and impaled through the barrel at Celestia's words. With tears in her eyes she stands up and starts to bolt out of the room. “I HATE YOU!”

Twilight, feeling partly responsible for the conflict, stands up to try and chase her. But, she's sat back down by Celestia. “Just let her go Twilight. This has been a long time coming, even before you became my student.”

The two were so busy talking to each other about the situation that neither noticed as the human quietly dropped out of his chair and followed Sunset out. His soft feet are nearly silent as he almost falls while chasing the unicorn. Within a minute or two Sunset has turned into a narrow hallway and come to a stop on a balcony overseeing the city. Sliding to a stop she collapses down and buries her face in her forelegs, sobbing.

The solar unicorn nearly jumps out of her fur when she feels something settle down gently on top of her head. Snapping her eyes up she finds two golden orbs staring at her. Before she can say anything she instantly melts as the boy starts moving his hand through her mane and scratching her head. His deep human instinct to pet cute furry creatures coming out in full force when her sobbing stirred up his heart.

“You shouldn't tell your dam you hate her. She looked really sad when you said that.” Sunset immediately sniffles and wipes her nose and then responds.

“Ha! Celestia looked sad? Better chance of her waking up late than ever showing emotion. I don't know what you think you saw, brat, but it wasn't that. You probably just saw a mare who regrets even giving birth to me.”

“No, she was sad.” His childish tone doesn't hide his matter-of-fact attitude. There is no room for arguments. She looks at him again, really looks at him.

She sees a level of awareness beyond what she would expect to see in a foal the same age as him. “You really think so? How can you tell? Even seasoned nobles can't see through her mask.”

Luminous isn't actually able to put into words how he knows what he knows. It's just a feeling. The truth is that the ancient mare opened her eyes a fraction of an inch wider and her ears leaned back a mere millimeter. If she didn't have millennia of experience her eyes would've opened wide and her ears would've pinned backwards. The human is just one of the few creatures capable of observing such miniscule changes in a facial expression. But, it's on a subconscious level, so to him it's just a feeling.

“I just know.” He gives his non-answer, and Sunset goes into deep thought and doesn't even seem to register that the human is still petting her. “Wanna play with me? Everypony gets mad at me and Twilight gets upset when I explore by myself.”

“Play? Brat-... Sorry. Luminous, I'm almost twice your sisters age. I'm a bit old to be “playing” with you.”

Luminous sighs and deflates a bit. “That's what sis and Shiny say too. Can you read to me then? I get bored just listening to the magic stuff.”

Sunset gives an exasperated sigh and shakes her head. “Sure. Let's go to the library, c'mon.”

Author's Note

Idk why it's so much easier for me to write dialogue for this story. Its only 3k words and I'm already in love with these characters....

For reference:
Lumi - 4 yrs old (1 year in Equestria)

Twilight - 8 yrs old

Sunset - 13 yrs old

Thanks for reading! <3