His Sparkling Twilight, Her Swashbuckler

Chapter 1

New in Ponyville

The next day arrived and the afternoon was upon Equestria. As soon as he was dismissed from the Princess’ school, Swashbuckler held his hat from the wind as he rode in a chariot piloted by pegasi . The young unicorn looked back to see all of Canterlot growing distant as he was carried off to his tutoring destination: Ponyville. He looked down at the land far below his hooves.

‘Can’t help but think what’s worse: Going to tutoring every day of the week or being discharged from my fencing classes?’

Swashbuckler looks within the chariot to see his saddle bags; one of them packed with drawing equipment and paper, with a wooden sword sticking out.

‘All I can do is just hope the sessions won’t be so long…’

Minutes later, straw-roofed cottages could be seen below. The pegasi guards began to dive down and they landed on the gravel ground. Swashbuckler slipped on his bags and stepped out of the chariot.

“Thank you.” He said to his pilots; they took off, returning to Canterlot.

Swashbuckler looked at the town before him; things were quite peaceful, a breeze was sailing through the town, and cheery ponies going about their ways.

“So where to go?”

An earthquake in the unicorn’s gut shook up; he took notice. He chuckled out of embarrassment, “To get a snack, clearly.”

Swashbuckler looked around to find a good place to eat, and found himself to be at the doorstep of a building that looked very much like a gingerbread house. He looked up at the sign hanging upon the wall that showed a cupcake.

After giving thought, Swashbuckler, with a bell rining, went into Sugarcube Corner.

He walked to the counter and looked below to see various sweets on dispay. Behind the counter was a female earth pony coming out of the kitchen; she was all pink: her coat and mane (which was large and bouncy and in a darker shade), her eyes were sky blue, and sported a cutie mark of three balloons, one yellow, the others blue.

Swashbuckler began, “Hi!  I’d like a-”

“AHHHHH!!!!! PIRATE! AHH!!!”  The unicorn was answered with a scream of terror from the pink mare and was pelted with all kinds of pastries.

Swashbuckler tried to protest, “No! Wait! Wait a-”

“No!” The mare cried as she hurled a cupcake, “Go away, you pirate!”

“Pirate? Now, hold on-”

A moment later, the unicorn found himself tumbling out the shop; he fell flat on his back with his hat masking his face.

After a groan, Swashbuckler uttered, “That was weird…”

“Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” Called a close female voice.

Swashbuckler rose up to his hooves, “Who? Me? Oh yeah. I’m just fine.” He turned up his hat and saw another of his kind: a unicorn, but mare.

Her eyes were purple and her coat was in a lighter shade. Her mane was dark blue with a streak of hot pink with straight cut bangs; the pattern was the same for her tail, and her cutie mark was six-pointed spark in a shade of rose with five tiny white stars. She looked closely at Swashbuckler and saw his was covered in pastry topping. She giggled at the sight.

“What’s so funny?” The colt asked.

“I think you just met Pinkie Pie, haven’t you?” She asked.

Swashbuckler looked back to Sugarcube Corner, “I guess I have…”

“Anyhow, what brings you here?” The mare asked.

“Well, I’m here from Canterlot for some tutoring.”

The unicorn mare lit up, “Really? Then you must be Swashbuckler, right?”

The colt nodded, “Yeah, I am.”

“Great! I’m Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia says I’ll be giving you tutoring.”

Swashbuckler nods, ‘Of course, she did…’

Twilight turns around but turns her head to the male unicorn, “Ready to go to the library?”

The colt turns back to Sugarcube Corner, ‘Wouldn’t want to face that crazy mare, again…’ He turns back to Twilight, “Sure, let’s go.”

Twilight replied, “Great! Just a little extra will bring you back to your game in the princess’ school!”

The unicorns have arrived at a massive tree laden with windows and balconies. As the door was opened, the first thing Swashbuckler had seen exceeded what he thought to encounter: a saw a baby dragon in purple scales with green spines. Swashbuckler couldn’t believe his eyes.

The dragon went to meet the ponies, “Oh hey, Twilight. I just found the books you need to tutor the student from Canterlot.”

“Sounds good, Spike.” Twilight said, “This is Swashbuckler. I’ll be tutoring him for the princess.” She walked to the table see three books, “Okay. All we got to go over is mathematics, literacy, physics, and history. With clear focus, Swashbuckler, we can-”

“Hey, Twilight?” Swashbuckler started.

“Mmm-hmm?” She answered.

“Before we can get started, do you mind if I grab I bite to eat? Couldn’t get one at Sugarcube.”

“Oh, sure!” Twilight allowed, “Just hurry back afterwards; we got a lot to go over.”

Swashbuckler nods. As he quickly walks out, the colt heaves out a sigh of relief, which caught Spike’s attention, raising an eyebrow. But when Twilight called him, the dragon snapped out of his trance.

“Take a letter, Spike.” The mare advised. When Spike took a quill and paper, Twilight began, “Dear, Princess Celestia, I write to say that Swashbuckler has arrived in Ponyville. I will be sure to teach him all he needs to brings his grades back up. Your student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike scrolled up the message, and with a deep breath, he blew out green fire that burned the scroll into smoke, which flew out the window. He turns to Twilight, “Are you sure you can do this tutoring thing, Twilight?”

The mare frowns, “What do you mean?”

Spike looks to the door Swashbuckler ran out of, “Swash seemed to leave pretty quickly. Wouldn’t that mean something?”

“Well, he’s just pretty hungry.” Twilight said.

Spike shook his head, “That’s not what I-” His stomach suddenly grumbled and the dragon just belched out a scroll similar to what he sent.

Twilight uses her pink aura magic to open the message, which said:

My dear Twilight,

I’m glad to hear such news and

hope for the best in your experience

as a teacher. But I advise

that you have your friends as

supervisors during your lectures with

Swashbuckler; to make sure he pays

attention. If there’s any problems,

don’t hesitate to write. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

Later on, Twilight had asked one of her friends to come to the library. And who came through the door than a pink mare with a bouncy mane?

“Thanks for helping me out on short notice, Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said.

“It’s no problem Twilight!” The earth mare replied cheerfully, “So what is it that we’re doing again?”

“Princess Celestia has asked me to take in a student, from her school, for tutoring.” Twilight explained, “And she asked me to have you and the other to keep an eye on Swashbuckler so he’ll pay attention. Now, I’ll be right back; gotta get some paper.” She climbed up the stairs to her quarters.

The front door was opened and Swashbuckler came inside. When Pinkie turned to see him, she loudly gasped in alarm.

“Oh boy…” The colt sounded out fear.

“The pirate!” Pinkie screamed. Out of nowhere, she pulled out a batch of cupcakes and threw them at Swashbuckler, once again telling him to beat it. “Get away, you sea curr!”

“Oh come on!” Swashbuckler protested while blocking the cupcakes with his bare hooves.

Soon enough, Twilight came down and saw the commotion. She acted fast and blocked Pinkie’s aiming, “Pinkie! What’re you doing?”

“I’m driving that pirate out of here so you can tutor Swashbuckler!” The earth mare explained as he pointed a hoof to the accused.

“Pinkie! That is Swashbuckler!” Twilight explained.

The loony earth mare looked to the colt, and she had a guilty look on her face, “Oh! I’m so sorry! Sorry about that…”

Swashbuckler wiped his hat of any sweet debris, and nods, “Yeah, that’s okay.”

Pinkie turns to Twilight, “So do you think can you can tutor him?”

Twilight smiles and nods, “Princess Celestia believes I can, and I do, too. How hard could it be?”