Chapters Chapter I:
Tonight was different from every other night I looked upon the moon soul searching. I noticed something different in the moon, something brighter and joyous. This time when I looked upon the moon I was filled with inspiration. I could feel the need to express the creativity flowing throughout my soul. I could see the artistic attributes of the night sky and knew that I wanted create something with those attributes.
"Mama! Mama! I have something to show you!" I said with great delight.
"What is it dear?" my mother responded.
“Well that’s fantastic! So my dear for whatever reason did you get your cutie mark?”
“It’s because of something I made, come to my room and I’ll show you.”
We trotted up the stair and entered my room to find a canvas resting on an easel standing on the balcony just outside the glass doors behind my room. There stood my first artwork, a painting of the night sky. I admired my art work, but for some reason it felt like it wasn’t enough. I tried to paint all sorts of scenery to fill my creative needs.
A couple months passed and I made many paintings of scenery from around Canterlot. Eventually my mother enrolled me into Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns to develop my artistic skills. A mere week later I was moving to the school. I arrived at the school’s front entrance, and stared at the gate almost ready to create another painting of the school scenery.“What a beautiful sight…”
“Yes ma’am, I just moved into my dorm today.” As I turn to look behind me.
“Well little filly what might your name be, I am the professor of art history and you may be in my class.” She is pulling out a clipboard with a list of students she is teaching.
“My name is Inspiration pleasure to meet you.” I pack up my painting equipment.
“You have some great manners; I presume you’re from Canterlot?”
“Yes ma’am.” I nod my head.
“Well Miss Inspiration you are indeed attending my class. Do you know what your schedule is for classes?”
“Yes I received my schedule by mail a week ago.”
“Well then you have everything handled from here Miss Inspiration. I will see you in class at 11 a.m. tomorrow.”
“Good bye Miss…?”
“My name is Miss Artistry.”
“Good bye Miss Artistry.”
The next morning I woke up and proceeded to Miss Artistry’s class for Art History. I found my seat greeted my teacher and waited for class to begin. The class started and Miss Artistry came to the front of the class and started to speak. “Good morning students today you get to begin your lessons with the honor of a special guest. May I introduce the honorable sister of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!”
Princess Luna walked through the class room doors and began to speak. “Good morning my students and loyal subjects, it is I princess of the night who will be teaching you for the next couple of days as an introduction into artistic history. Who suits the job better than a master of art who has existed long enough to meet and train many other artists throughout equestrian history?”
My eyes widened in amazement. I was so stunned that I was the only one in the class not bowing my head. Princess Luna looked around the room and then locked with mine then closed her eyes and began to speak. “Raise you heads little ones for I am not sure how well I can teach you if you won’t even be staring at the chalk board while I write?” About 2 hours passed as Luna talked about artists she knew like Vincent Vanhoof. When class ended the students made their way out of the room to proceed to their next class, but I was stopped by Princess Luna and she began to talk to me. “Little one may I have a word? I heard from Miss Artistry you have a deep natural talent with painting.” I stood there speechless. I was unable to speak because I was being spoken to by Princess Luna. She continued to speak, “So little one if you wouldn’t mind taking me to show me your work?” I could only nod a yes.
We walked to my dorm room where I had numerous paintings hanging on the wall. Princess Luna looked around, but one painting caught her eye. Her attention was drawn to my very first painting, the painting of her night sky. She began to speak, “What a beautiful painting miss Inspiration, tell me when did you paint this?”
“The same night the moon began to look pure white.” I said nervously.
Luna froze and asked a single question. “Was this the same night you had discovered your talent young one?”
“Yes my Princess.”
“Well it would appear that I may have had something to do with your finding of talent. Maybe your talent is derived from mine, fate as it would seem.” She turned towards me and opened her mouth. “Young one I was sent to my sister’s school to search for somepony who would reflect my true self and I think I found that somepony. Would you accept my offer in becoming my personal student?”
I stood there silent for what felt like hours trying to decide what to do, I felt nervous from a sudden offer by somepony like Princess Luna. I felt like it was destiny. I felt like following under Princess Luna’s wing I can discover my full abilities. I began to speak slowly, “Yes, Princess Luna, it would be an honor to be taught by someone such as yourself.”
My life was beginning to take its turn onto the path of self-realization.
Author's Note
This story is being re-written due to failures in the story based on structure and detail.
Chapter II:
I was only in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns for a mere week before I was being moved into the Canterlot Castle. I didn’t even have the time to learn anything from the school, but I will be learning from the Princess. Today is my first day in the castle and instead of getting right to the artwork I need to learn a little of the environment I will be living in so today will be tour day. I was waiting inside my room at the castle and decided to look at what my view is like from my bedroom window. I walked up to the window, moved the star pattern drapes to the side, and unlocked the latch on the window. I opened the window and took a long look at the scenery around me. I stood waiting for the sun to go down. I waited for a few hours and watched the moon to start to rise and the blue sky go from blue, to orange, to a dark violet. The moment the moon made it completely past the horizon I heard a knock on my door and the voice of my mentor. “It is I Luna, are you ready for a tour of the castle young one?”
I walked up to the door and slowly opened it and replied’ “Yes ma’am, I am ready to go.”
Luna yawned and said, “I hope you will be alright with staying up really late to adjust to my sleep schedule. Luckily I wake up early enough at night to be able to see my sister before she goes asleep for the night.”
“I will be just fine I am already used to staying up really late at night to stare at the night sky.”
“You really do enjoy my night sky don’t you little one?” Luna asked with a smile.
“Yes I love your moon.”
We continued down the hall to begin touring the castle in its entirety. The first stop was of course the throne room known by most of canterlot. Sitting on the throne was Princess Celestia who raised herself off the throne and walked over to me. She opened her mouth to begin to speak, “Well might you be Inspiration?”
I gently bow my head and raised it back up to respond, “Yes Princess.”
“I am pretty sure you know who I am of course so introductions won’t be nearly as necessary. You know I am in charge of raising the sun and I share rule of equestria, but what is your talent young one? I have not had nearly enough time to spend with my sister to learn what happens in her life.”
“I have learned that my destiny is to be creative and make pieces of art.” I said with a gentle smile.
“So Inspiration would you mind talking with me privately for a moment?”
Princess Luna made an outburst. “Just wait a second what do you want with my student?”
“Relax dear sister it has nothing against you or your friend here.”
I looked at Princess Luna then back at Princess Celestia and nodded a simple yes. We walked out the throne room into the Canterlot gardens. I looked around at the scenery feeling another idea for a painting fill my spirit. I looked at the fireflies fly by and make small illuminations against the plant life. Princess Celestia stopped walking through the gardens and I stopped right behind her. She turned toward me with a slightly serious and concerned face. “Young one, do you understand where my sister was for the past one thousand years?”
I gulped and responded, “Yes it’s the tale of the Mare in the Moon right? My mama told me the story over and over again when I spent hours watching the moon in the sky. I also know she was freed from the moon. I noticed when the moon changed and I obtained my cutie mark that night when I created my first painting. Then I met Princess Luna in your school and from there she took my under her wing.”
Princess Celestia stared at me in slight shock either by how well I could speak or the fact that I had a much closer connection to Princess Luna’s return than she thought, maybe even both. “Well little filly she is still adjusting to modern equestria. So I ask you to do a simple favor, please watch after her and help her adjust.”
I looked straight into her eyes with a serious look and responded, “Yes ma’am.”
We started our way back to the throne room and I looked back at the gardens to get an image for a later painting. Once we made it back to the throne room Princess Luna looked annoyed for having to wait on me to continue our time together. Princess Celestia and I made our goodbyes and I continued the tour with Princess Luna. We started down a hallway and I noticed stained glass in the wall. “Princess Luna, what are these in the wall?”
Princess Luna stopped and looked over at the stained glass. “Those are stained glass memorials that represent historical events.”
“So what sort of events do they represent? I notice that a lot of them have the same ponies in them.”
“Well the heroines in all of the memorials are the current elements of harmony. They represent the magic of friendship and each one of them represents an element. They are alive today and one of them is Celestia’s current student.”
My eyes widened in amazement. “I never knew Celestia had a student or that she was a heroin.”
“You’re a young filly so I assume you haven’t had a chance to learn about events such as this. Don’t worry you will catch up eventually. You may even meet Celestia’s student a few times since she visits every so often. Her name is Twilight Sparkle if you ever meet her.”
“Princess Luna, I have one more question is that pony they defeated…you?”
It took Princess Luna a couple of seconds to respond. “Yes that was me in my old state. I guess it’s time for a story. Long ago Celestia and I ruled in harmony, but I grew jealous of nopony not admiring my night, so I became Nightmare Moon in order to defeat my sister and make it night time forever. Celestia used the elements of harmony to seal me in my moon until I was able to free myself the same night you obtained your cutie mark. That night I set out to find the elements of harmony so nopony could use them against me, but my efforts failed when six ponies showed how strong their friendship was. They claimed the elements and purified my soul and thus I returned to becoming Princess Luna and here I am today reunited with my sister.”
A unicorn colt walked up to us in a nice manner. “Hello Princess, the night guards are all at their posts.” He turned his head and looked at me. “So Princess who is this?”
“This is my new student, Inspiration. Little one, this is Shining Armor and he is captain of the guard here at the castle.”
“So Princess Luna managed to get a student to look after, that’s pretty neat. So Inspiration, have you learned about Celestia’s student?”
I glanced over at the stained glass. “I just learned that she is one of the heroines that helped Princess Luna become her old self again.”
“Well I may be captain, but I am also Twilight’s older brother. Anyway I got captain duties to attend to, nice meeting you Inspiration.” Shining Armor walked off towards the throne room. Princess Luna and I continued down the hallway to tour the rest of Canterlot Castle. I got to see places like the dining hall, observation room, and the Princess’ bedrooms. We then came to the door of one more room. Princess Luna stopped not wanting to go in. “There is a third princess among us by the name of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza who is the niece of both Celestia and I. Now she is asleep at the moment so we can handle introductions tomorrow night.” Light started to peak into the windows and Princess Luna spoke again. “Night is ending I think we should both rest for tomorrow night.”
I nodded and said, “Good night Princess Luna.” I went to my room, crawled into bed, and watched the sun make it all the way past the horizon before completely falling asleep.
May inspiration find me at dusk.
Chapter III: The Proposal
Chapter III:
The next evening I was in my room making paintings of the scenery I found the previous night from the tour. I had three easels standing with paintings of the Canterlot gardens, of the throne room, and of the stained glass memorial with Princess Luna. I put away my art materials and left the paintings dry and left my room to go find Princess Luna. I was walking down the hallway looking through the window and watched the sun begin to descend towards the horizon. I wasn’t paying attention and accidently bumped into a pink figure similar to Princess Luna’s, but slightly smaller in size. She startled a bit and turned around. “Oh! Hello there. Who are you?”
“My name is Inspiration.”
“Oh you’re Auntie Luna’s student right?”
I nodded. “So are you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?”
“Wow I ‘m surprised a little filly such as yourself can actually pronounce my name correctly!” The pink princess made a huge smile. “I normally go by the name Cadence to make it simple for everypony. Are you enjoying it here at the castle?”
I nodded again. I heard hoof steps coming our way. I turned and found Princess Celestia approaching. She came up and greeted us. “Good evening Cadence and Inspiration. Inspiration, Luna is waiting for you in the dining hall.” She walked off and Princess Cadence followed. I continued down to the dining hall. When I entered I found Princess Luna talking to 3 guards who for some reason where in military uniforms instead of armor. “Good evening princess. What are we doing tonight?”
I let out a small squeal and then blushed as it was abnormal of me. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes I want you to be the one leading Cadence into the dining hall when it’s time for the surprise. The event will take place in about two hours so lead her around the castle while avoiding this dining hall until then.”
I let out another squeal and then darted off. I wandered around the hallways searching for Princess Cadence. I spent about twenty minutes until I found her with Princess Celestia in the throne room. “Good evening Princesses.”
Princess Cadence waved a hello. “Hi Inspiration, do you need something?”
“I was hoping that maybe you could walk with me, I would like to learn all about everybody in the castle and I thought I could start with you.”
Princess Celestia gave me a slight glare while smiling. She obviously knew what I was doing and waved me off with her niece. I made sure we walked in the opposite direction from the dining hall before I started conversation. “So Princess Cadence, if Princess Celestia controls the sun and Princess Luna controls the moon, what do you take control of?”
“I control love. I have the ability to fix broken hearts and reunite loved ones.” I slightly blushed and kept myself from letting out a third squeal. Princess Cadence looked oddly at my half smile half straight face.
“That ability of yours is really nice. So do you share rule with the Princesses?”
Princess Cadence started to look depressed. “No, I just stay here at the castle and watch Celestia and Luna rule. It’s strange to be a princess and note actually run any countries don’t you think?”
My face turned into a slight frown. “I don’t think it’s strange at all if you’re not ruling anything. A princess is supposed to help her people. You help people with their hearts don’t you?”
Princess Cadence let her smile return. “Yes your right, I do help my people, since when were little fillies so wise?”
“It’s just who I am.” I smiled at Princess Cadence. Looking at a clock I noticed we still had an hour and a half until the event. I walked while thinking of a way to kill more time and keep her distracted. “Hey! Do you want to watch me paint a picture of the castle?
She nodded and we made our way to my room for the art supplies. We wasted thirty minutes getting back on the other side of the castle to get to my room. I packed up enough supplies for two paintings. I could already feel the inspiration dwelling to create a piece of work for the proposal. “Okay I have everything, after you Princess.” She led the way to the castle gates and set herself down at a bench nearby the gate. I propped up my easel got one of the canvases out and started painting. The first detail I worked on was the castle outline. I filled in with details of including every window, the roofing, and the gate itself. After I managed to get the castle perfectly painted I moved onto painting the ground and made sure to pay attention to the flowering details. The last detail I worked on and was careful to get perfect was my Princess’ moon. I put every star where they should be in the sky. I backed away from the painting a little to see the full picture. I then turned to look up at the sky for a bit. Cadence walked up behind me. “Do you love Luna’s sky little one?”
I stayed motionless, still staring at the night sky. “Yes, the inspiration I drew from her sky helped me discover my destiny.” I broke out of my trance and quickly turned my head to look at the clock tower. There was only twenty minutes remaining till the proposal. I quickly packed up my art materials and lifted the canvas with my magic. “First we need to drop this off in my room then proceed to the dining hall.”
“Why do we need to go to-,” I already darted off in a rush. She flew behind me to keep up. We got to my room and I quickly dropped the painting off to let dry and left the room again. We made it to the dining hall five minutes before the event. I muttered under my breath, “Good not late.” I slowly opened the door and let the Princess go in front of me. As soon as I made it into the room I walked behind the crowd of soldiers to find Princess Luna. The room fell silent as the crowd circled around Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. I was in front of the crowd between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. On the other side of the crowd looked like two normal people who weren’t soldiers, both of them were unicorns and looked to be a couple so I assumed they were Shining Armor’s parents. Shining Armor bowed down with a ring on his horn and was preparing to speak. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza after being in love with each other for many years and after you watched both my sister as she grew older and I as I joined the Castle Guard, will you marry me?”
The room remained silent for a good five minutes. Princess Cadence started to tear up while retaining the smile of hers. She finally spoke a single word, “yes.” The crowd cheered and the couple hugged one another. I sat down my easel and canvas to start painting. Princess Luna watched as I made each stroke of the brush. The image started to unfold as the image of the Captain and Princess were being made on the canvas. After finishing the painting I put it in the corner out of the way to dry. I went about talking to some of Shining’s friends in the guard and his parents, Princess Luna who talked about my art style, and Princess Celestia about the times Shining and Cadence were together.
The guards started to leave as the night went on. By the time it was only the Princesses, Shining, and I the painting had dried. I levitated the painting of its canvas then walked towards Princess Cadence. I bowed my head and said, “This painting is for you.”
The Princess smiled and said, “Thank you, I will keep it always.” Everyone left except for Princess Luna and I. We went about the rest of the night talking about art techniques and styles before we went to bed for the night.
Generosity can be its own inspiration.
