Chapter One

The sun was high above the great city of Canterlot. Fancy ponies wearing their fancy clothing roamed the cobblestone streets. As they went about their daily routine, in a brightened room beneath the royal castle Princess Twilight was trying very hard to not explode.

“Twilight, are you sure you don’t want to take a break? You’ve been practicing this spell for hours,” Celestia questioned her student. Twilight shook her head, standing back up.

“I said I would get this spell, and I will,” the lavender alicorn insisted to her teacher.

“I'll give you credit for your tenacity, Twilight. But how about just one more try, and then we'll take a lunch break?” the white alicorn suggested.

Twilight nodded her head in agreement. The lavender mare began charging up her horn, focusing all the magic she could into the spell. This was hardly the tricky part; what was getting to her was the release. Once the charge was complete, she needed to focus the raw magic into what she needed it to be. Normally, that was no problem for her, but for whatever reason she just couldn't shape this spell.

Bracing herself, Twilight released her hold on the magic. In her mind she could see it writhing about her, and she went to molding it. A purple aura surrounded her, moving from just her horn to her entire body. This was the farthest she had gotten so far. Now she just needed to focus...

But she could feel it slipping. In her mind Twilight groped for the spell madly. The aura slipped back up to her horn, and the magic began to build up again. Desperately, Twilight tried to cancel the spell, but she was too late. Her horn couldn't hold that much energy, so it expelled it, resulting in an explosion sending both student and teacher into the cobblestone walls behind them.

Twilight stood up again, rubbing her head with her hoof. “I don’t get it. Why can’t I do this spell?” Twilight asked herself. Celestia pushed herself up as well, brushing herself off.

“Don’t get frustrated Twilight. It took me three months to learn this spell," Celestia said. "How about we go get some lunch?” The lavender alicorn sighed, then looked up smiling.

“Ok," she said. The two alicorns walked up the small flight of stairs connecting the room to the castle proper. Royal guards greeted the two as they walked by them. When the princess's made it to the royal dining hall Celestia opened the wooden portal using her magic. Inside the dining room sat her sister and polar opposite, Luna.

“Greetings sister.” The lunar princess called. "Lovely day today, is it not?" Celestia merely nodded in response, her eyes already being drawn instead to the assortment of foods laid out on the table.

“Hi Luna," Twilight replied in Celestia's place. "I'm afraid we haven't actually had much time outside today."

“Hello Princess Twilight. Would your lack of activity pertain to your studies?” the blue alicorn asked. "You two have been spending a lot of time together recently."

“Luna, you can just call me Twilight," the lavender mare said. "And yes, it does relate to my studies. My lessons haven’t been going the best, but progress is being made.”

“That is good to hear," Luna said. "Sorry I cannot stay and eat, but I have business to attend to. Twilight.” With a nod to her sister, Luna departed from the large room. Twilight took a seat at the table while Celestia began diving into the food.

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The moon shined light onto the great castle of Canterlot. Inside her bedchamber, Celestia slept soundly. Her dreams were interrupted by the soft tapping of hooves outside her door. Bleary eyed, the regal alicorn rose and moved towards the exit.

She stepped out of the bedroom and looked about for the source of the noise. At the end of the hall stood Twilight, her hooves hanging over the edge of a rail on one of the castle's many balconies. The lavender alicorn's gaze was stuck on the dim cluster of lights off in the distance that was Ponyville.

Celestia walked over to her student, shivering slightly at the chill night air as she stepped onto the balcony. “What’s wrong Twilight?” the white alicorn asked. Her student took awhile to respond.

“It’s just, I miss my friends. I haven’t seen them in months.” The lavender princess explained. "I've been so wrapped up in our lessons..."

“Don’t worry Twilight. Tomorrow is Nightmare Night. You and Luna can go to Ponyville and visit your friends then," Celestia offered. "I think it'll do both of you some good." Twilight looked toward her teacher and nodded her head, a smile now on her face. “But now, we should get back to bed,” the solar princess announced.

“I agree.” Twilight chirped. After saying their goodnights, both mares went back into their resting quarters.

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Once again, Twilight and Celestia where inside the cobblestone room under the castle. “Are you sure, Twilight?” Celestia asked. "I thought you wanted to go see your friends?"

“I do, princess. But the day is still early, and the ride isn't long,” the lavender mare replied. "Besides, one last try can't hurt anypony." Celestia shrugged, motioning for Twilight to begin. Magic began flowing through the young princess, the build up beginning again. She made it farther than she ever had, but still lost control of it.

A bright aurora of lavender magic erupted from Twilight's horn. This time, it didn't explode. Rather, she felt extremely light. A little stretched out. When the aurora died down, Twilight opened her eyes to see that Celestia was gone.

“Celestia. Celestia?” the lavender mare called out. No response. She searched the room, but their wasn't much to search; no furniture and bare walls didn't offer many places to hide.

"Oh no. This can't be good," she whispered to herself.

Author's Note

I will be continuing Retribution but I wanted to post this first. Sorry the chapter is short but its only an intro chapter. Ha, I'm glad I was able to think of a fic using Pinkamena. I'm actually just glad to make a fic with insane characters. Also, yay I'm going to add Twilight onto the insane killers list. Also I have to give a thanks to Mixer for the title and ParadoxSG for editing.