Clearly, she had studied Dark Magic for the sole purpose of identifying and dismantling rituals like these. After all, Celestia is her mentor in magic! Surely she wouldn't allow her student to dive into forbidden topics unsupervised and for nefarious reasons.
...Is what the papers are going to say, if they know what's good for them.
I know nothing of the source material but have been able to follow along nevertheless, which is always a treat. I'm glad to see Cadance and Sunset grow closer.
I totally didnt think about using that ritual to ascend... what a crazy idea you all have. It would have made me a lich not an alicorn. I mean lich is a good second place but why settle for second
Twilight, a lot of ponies don't like Sunset because she did something similar at one point," Cadance said. "So even if she's right and you might be able to escape without getting in criminal trouble, a lot of ponies will be afraid and won't want to make friends with you
I was thinking about this, and how Cadance never suggested an alternative to Sunset's suggestion of fire. The best alternative I could think of is tutoring, basically: Twilight is good at magic, and seems to be good at extrapolating. If she helps other ponies in her class when they struggle with learning magic, that could make them less inclined to mock her.
I thought it was obvious but given no one else has mentioned it maybe not. The reason Celestia doesn't want to train combat is that she doesn't want to fight Luna when she comes back. Let's be real if Celestia trained and prepared for the thousand years Luna was imprisoned she could obviously win. But she doesn't want that and any time she might train in combat Luna springs immediately to mind.
I totally didnt think about using that ritual to ascend... what a crazy idea you all have. It would have made me a lich not an alicorn. I mean lich is a good second place but why settle for second
I was thinking about this, and how Cadance never suggested an alternative to Sunset's suggestion of fire. The best alternative I could think of is tutoring, basically: Twilight is good at magic, and seems to be good at extrapolating. If she helps other ponies in her class when they struggle with learning magic, that could make them less inclined to mock her.
Sunset, Probably: "What, resort to appeasement just so that other ponies don't bully you? That's not healthy and it's a waste of time."
It's hard to think of ways to present alternatives when you're competing with somepony possessing Strong Opinions and a reflexive distrust of anything you say.
Oooo, Illuminating Invitation's first omake. Thank you! Of course, that Sunset recognized the ritual from minor hints would raise many soon-to-be-uncomfortable questions.
I was thinking about this, and how Cadance never suggested an alternative to Sunset's suggestion of fire. The best alternative I could think of is tutoring, basically: Twilight is good at magic, and seems to be good at extrapolating. If she helps other ponies in her class when they struggle with learning magic, that could make them less inclined to mock her.
Twilight is probably too much of a natural to teach at this age, her learning would be intuitive to transmit. Sunset is better because of the years of structured learning with Celestia, and even then she'd likely struggle if dealing with someone actually untalented. I suspect Cadence isn't actually bad at magic, she's just naturally at a kindergarten level because she spent most of her life without a horn.
Ponies who are average at magic probably actually get the ball of yarn thing, thus why it caught on.
I believe the intention of certain scheming factions was for this compromise to last for a normal mare's lifetime, and for the Princess to have foals that would subsequently inherit. As you can see by Celestia stubbornly never dying, this did not work out for them.
I wondered how much time would pass before Cadance realized that Twilight was still taking notes, and seemed much happier than thirty seconds ago. Lost ground regained.
The hours following my therapeutic pillow pummeling of Cadance passed in comfortable warmth, both physically and emotionally. We soon finished the initial lesson on fire spells — and that we finished in one day at all was me-tier incredible by pony standards, let alone the few hours we took.
Somewhere along the way, the tutoring session for Cadance (and Twilight) turned into a session primarily focused on Twilight, with Cadance occasionally looking bemused, but clueless, in the background. Oh, Cadance held her own when I wasn't answering Twilight's stockpiled questions, but properly teaching Cadance might require the occasional side lesson so that she could catch up.
Assuming that I did give teaching Cadance my all, anyway. She loved Twilight enough that my teaching the tiny tyke might be enough of a peace offering — but then again, if I didn't, Cadance would probably continue being useless. So that was right out. The accidental Fire of Friendship demonstrated that Cadance could be just as effective as an alicorn shouldbe when she got off her flank and actually tried.
Plus, windigos might not be much of a threat these days to anypony save miners braving the frozen north, but plenty of spells could be fueled quite effectively with love. Shields came to mind. Collateral damage was always a concern should Celestia cut loose, but if Cadance were to remove that as a risk? Celestia's skills with smaller-scale combat spells and skills might have atrophied, but I doubted she had lost the ability to invoke the Sun at will.
...Actually, can she do it indoors? It was something that I would need to consider and ask about. Since she could apparently still move the Sun without line of sight, I thought that it should still be possible, but I couldn't be certain.
Either way, the other races were lucky that Celestia was benevolent. Her magical might alone should be enough to let her conquer the entire continent if she were so inclined. Fortunately for them, her personality ensured that she would likely overwork herself to death within years if she tried. Celestia instead confined herself to making it clear that Equestria was off-limits while encouraging peace treaties backed by a network of trade deals, rather effectively neutering many of the financial incentives for war. Oh, war still happened between our neighbors when somebeing thought they were too clever to fit in their own skulls, but the resulting embargoes and financial devastation ensured that nations near Equestria were, if not exactly peaceful, then at least more well-behaved than they could be.
That other nations still had periodic wars at all still tended to give them a poor reputation as lawless, bloody places in the eyes of most ponies. A fair number of ponies visited our neighbors for professional reasons, such as compiling histories and other cultural records, but few ponies ever left Equestria for vacation purposes. Why should we? Equestria had plenty of internal sub-cultures to keep ponies feeling as though they were visiting someplace exotic without ever leaving Equestria, and the recent and increasingly widespread railway system ensured that travel was a far less daunting prospect than it used to be. If I remembered correctly, Manehattan was supposed to be a particularly popular vacation spot.
Not that Celestia is ever going to take one of those. We might visit other parts of Equestria to ensure they knew that they were still known and appreciated, but never for personal enjoyment. The itinerary was always filled with meeting after meeting rather than anything relaxing — and then, most of the time, I wasn't even allowed to attend said meetings and was instead left to wander around with just a guard or two to chaperone.
After the initial pyromancy lesson was done, Twilight retreated to her room — albeit with some trouble climbing up the stairs — and came back with a haphazard pile of parchment larger than most ponies' notes for an entire course, assuming they took notes at all. She hadn't been joking about using a list for all her lists of questions, although I would argue that it amounted to a somewhat less organized table of contents.
(Twilight also introduced me to her ragdoll, Miss Smartypants, which Twilight telekinetically manipulated to wave at me. I graciously introduced myself to the doll in turn, the minor loss of dignity more than compensated by Twilight's delighted giggling.)
The contents of Twilight's questions did not disappoint. The vast majority were requests for elaboration regarding a magical law that Twilight thought might contradict something she'd previously observed, or various spell fragments and matrices that Twilight wanted to know the different components of. Unlike me, she wasn't the kind of pony to assemble them for fun and see what exploded.
I would admit that tutoring Twilight probably wouldn't be half as fun if she was just as intelligent, but didn't view me with starry-eyed trust and admiration. Having another pony enthusiastically absorb everything I told her went well beyond merely 'gratifying,' and into the realm of an activity I enjoyed just as much as exploring a particularly interesting field of magic.
By the time the noon bell rang and heralded lunch, I actually found myself regretting the need to visit Day Court. That regret was ridiculous and short-sighted. Celestia was finally giving me what I'd wanted for a long, long time, and my brain wanted to let some transient enjoyment get in the way of that? It was ridiculous. I felt confident that the novelty of teaching Twilight would wear off sooner or later; I expected it would remain somewhat enjoyable, but not this fun. Most of my reasons for planning continued lessons were for the sake of not being a Celestia-tier hypocrite, not due to personal enjoyment.
Twilight's family obviously wasn't affluent enough for servants, and Cadance was Equestria's laziest princess, so I'd expected that I would need to cook for all three of us. I was sure that I could manage something basic even if my cooking skills might have atrophied over the last few years.
"Lunchtime!" Cadance called from the kitchen. "I made hayburgers!"
I blinked, abruptly realizing that I had been teaching solely Twilight for… how long? At least a few minutes, obviously, but when had Cadance snuck out? I hadn't even noticed.
"You have to leave after lunch, don't you?" Twilight quickly asked. "So could we pleeeeease eat later?"
The attempt earned a smile from me even if we both knew it didn't work like that.
"Hey, I'll be back soon," I reassured her, finally reaching out to indulge in a pat.
I didn't expect Twilight to take my reaching toward her with one hoof as an invitation to go for a full-fledged hug. Sure, she broke it off after about two seconds, but I was shocked that she'd done it of her own volition at all after knowing me for only a few hours.
"Tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.
Cadance came trotting in, smiling but empty-hooved. Apparently, confining us to eating in the dining side of the kitchen was a rule that she wasn't willing to break. Whether that was due to wanting to teach Twilight good habits or simply because Cadance was too lazy to clean up after any crumbs, I couldn't say.
"You silly filly," Cadance teased, "you don't need a foalsitter tomorrow at all! Your mother is going to be home, remember?"
Twilight pouted.
"But Sunset knows everything!"
I opened my mouth to correct her.
"Or at least so much more than I do that the difference is negley—niggly—very small," Twilight added. "If I keep learning from her, Mom and Dad will need to admit that I don't need Magic Kindergarten! And Sunset's lessons are very very very very very very very very very—"
Twilight inhaled dramatically.
"—very very very very very very very very super fun!"
She wasn't really wrong about not needing Magic Kindergarten at this rate, although I doubted her parents would see it that way. They sounded like the sort who would make her go in the name of learning how to socialize even though Twilight's experience thus far had been unpleasant enough to induce tears at the thought of returning. Plus, we hadn't yet gone into the timers and restrictions that she would need to make mane-burning spells properly safe; those were best practiced on spells for which failure did not equate to uncontrolled fires.
"Sunset is still a student, too," Cadance told her, effectively saving me from needing to tell her myself. "And Princess Celestia is going to be giving her more lessons soon, so we don't really know what her schedule will be like. It sounds like you got through quite a bit already, didn't you? I could only follow a little bit of your conversations."
While it was initially nice that Cadance was willing to let Twilight down so I didn't have to, I found myself growing somewhat irked as Cadance continued. She sounded too much like Celestia right then. I would admit that the urge to be contrary wasn't a good reason for me to overextend myself, though.
"I'm sure that I can come by for at least a few hours every week for the foreseeable future," I promised. "But Cadance is right that I'm going to be busy. Can you keep a secret?"
Twilight's pout at getting less than she wanted froze on her face. She promptly transitioned to smiling and nodding with all the unrestrained enthusiasm of a foal who could not, in fact, keep a secret. I didn't mind too much if she told; it wasn't as though it could spread outside her immediate family before the information became public knowledge.
"I'm being adopted by Princess Celestia," I stage-whispered.
Twilight blinked and stared blankly for several seconds while her brain registered the meaning of my words. Finally, it clicked. Twilight gasped and began trotting in place from sheer excitement, alternating so that the two hooves diagonal from each other held her up at any given time.
"Are you becoming a princess?" Twilight breathed.
"At this rate, much sooner than I'd expected."
I blinked and refocused on Twilight, having been distracted by an errant thought that I could no longer pin down.
"Only alicorns are allowed to be princesses of Equestria," I told Twilight in a more normal tone. "I'm being adopted in part because I'm close to that–"
"She is apparently close," Cadance interrupted, "but that's not why Aunt Celestia is adopting her."
I huffed and rolled my eyes.
"Cadance and I have been arguing over Celestia's motives since soon after I found out," I told Twilight. "Celestia likes Cadance more than–"
"I'm willing to stay quiet for a lot of things," Cadance again interrupted, "but filling Twilight's head with your horrifyingly unhealthy misunderstandings of Celestia's motives and relationships is not on that list. Could you please stick to what you know for sure instead of speculation?"
I growled under my breath, but reluctantly obliged rather than jinxing Cadance like I was tempted to. I supposed Twilight didn't need to know about Celestia's motives anyway.
"No, I'm not becoming a princess due to my adoption," I summarized. "A duchess, yes, but I declined an award of holdings."
I hesitated and rethought what I was going to say. Twilight almost certainly wouldn't be able to keep quiet if I told her that I would be a princess soon, and that was much more privileged information. I'd already said more than I really should have.
"Princess Celestia has never adopted anypony as a first-degree relative — that is, as a daughter," I continued. "So I don't know how much time related activities will take up. I'm confident that I can free a few hours every week for you, though, probably as chunks like today. I'm including when school starts back up, don't worry."
Twilight continued dancing in place. If we weren't in the middle of a conversation, I wouldn't be surprised if she started running in circles to burn excess energy.
"Thank you very much! And I'm glad you're being adopted!" Twilight said happily. "Don't worry, I know that is much much much more important than teaching me!"
Oh, now that was an unpleasant mirror. Especially since it wasn't exactly accurate. Day Court was so often filled with petty problems, and I would much rather be teaching a likely future archmage the skills she would need to have a far greater impact on Equestria. At the same time, the adoption in general was more important even if some errant emotions seemed to want to stay with Twilight.
Besides, I'd always intended for the promise of a few hours weekly to be the minimum. I just didn't want to follow in Celestia's hoofsteps and promise more than I could deliver.
"Since you'll be busy, could you please bring me some books when you do foalsit me?" Twilight asked hopefully. "I promise not to write on them or anything! Books are important!"
Twilight was absolutely intent on mirroring me in practically every way, wasn't she? Possibly with a bit more reverence for books, but I'd once asked for materials to use on my own, too. It wasn't as good as a lesson, but self-study was better than being taught by idiots.
"I can definitely do that much," I promised. "Now, I don't know about you, but I don't like hayburgers half as much when they're cold."
Twilight gasped theatrically–
"I forgot!"
–and galloped for the kitchen as fast as her tiny little legs could carry her, Cadance trailing along afterward. I couldn't blame the Fire of Friendship for making me feel as though my heart was going to melt as I watched her. Twilight was adorable, and it was all I could do not to dissolve into baby-talk in her presence. I never used baby-talk, not even for pets! Being exposed to distilled cute for this long was clearly doing strange things to my brain.
Although, speaking of the Fire…
"So, not to alarm anypony since it doesn't actually burn physical materials," I called as I followed at a more sedate pace, "but the Fire is even bigger than when it was first conjured. I think it's going to become a permanent fixture of Twilight's living room at this rate."
I was exaggerating for the sake of teasing, but not by much. If my anger was now potent enough to make fireballs last longer, it stood to reason that Cadance's love and regular visits to Twilight's house would refresh the Fire.
Cadance swallowed her mouthful of burger that she'd wasted no time in starting on, and smiled sheepishly.
"Should we — put it out before you go?" Cadance ventured. "You know how to safely contain fire, don't you?"
"Maybe we should, but I figure this will be good encouragement for you to hurry up and learn how to safely put it out yourself," I shamelessly told her. "Even if your first attempts turned out weird, we can't always assume that you'll produce Fires of Friendship when attempting pyromancy. Dousing flames with a minimum of collateral damage is an important life skill."
Cadance groaned and slumped in her seat, unable or unwilling to argue against me even though I was half pulling an excuse out of my flank for the sake of making her life difficult.
"Fine," she grumbled. "But I'm making you explain it to Twilight's parents."
"Nope!" I refused happily. "I'm going to be at the Castle, remember? You're on your own for this one."
Cadance slumped further in an impressive feat of bad posture that would have my old etiquette tutors angrily ranting for multiple minutes.
"Feed you to the Fire," she muttered darkly.
An odd sound escaped Twilight that soon transitioned into coughing, the filly likely having laughed just in time to inhale food. Both my and Cadance's full attention immediately fixated on ensuring the well-being of our charge. I would admit to absolutely nopony that she handled it much more calmly than I did. Foals were fragile, okay? And Twilight was obviously the most precious foal of all.
Surprisingly, Cadance's cooking was actually pretty good. Twilight, rather predictably, kept asking about magic both between bites and with a mouth half full of food. Just as predictably came the post-lunch question:
"Do you have to leave?" Twilight again asked.
She was pouting with eyes slightly scrunched in an obvious attempt at emotional manipulation. Paradoxically, the attempt and failure made her even cuter than a success would. This was a pony who had clearly read about the success of 'big, sad eyes,' yet had absolutely no idea how to execute the technique. I had zero intention of ever teaching her.
The situation was once again uncomfortably similar to some of my own interactions with Princess Celestia. However, unlike her, I was planning to take extra time to tutor Twilight.
"Princess Celestia shuffled the order of today's Day Court petitions specifically so that I could attend this one," I told her. "So, yes."
Twilight gave up on the big eyes and settled for a more genuine pout.
"Okay. Thank you very much for today's lessons! I learned a whoooooole lot."
Twilight paused.
"If there's an accident and the entrance into the castle is blocked, will you come back?" she asked.
Also a question similar to ones I'd asked previously, but unlike Celestia, I wouldn't judgmentally assume that Twilight would commit acts of destructive sabotage if doing so might mean getting more time with her. Celestia was right, of course, but it still hurt.
"Allow me to answer that with a question: want to see something cool?"
Twilight's pout slightly eased.
"Is it magic?" she asked hopefully.
It was a bad idea to tell foals what their Special Talent likely was; when somepony was wrong or only part right, the foal they told might waste years trying to twist themselves to fit expectations and only discover their Special Talent much later in life as a result. That being said, I would be utterly shocked if Twilight's Cutie Mark wasn't strongly magic-related. She was too much like me.
"It is," I confirmed.
"Yes, please!"
I lit my horn, prepared a familiar spell–
"Bye, Twilight. I'll see you soon!"
–and teleported away.
I should see about warding Twilight's home later, especially against fire. Nopony should be able to teleport in or out like this.
I'd thought that my new alicorn magic-slash-emotion sense might have settled down while I was with Twilight. I was mistaken. Going from the love-warmed interior of Twilight's home to the prickling gazes of curious, but ultimately uncaring ponies was not unlike slipping and falling into a pitfall trap. I had to fight not to flee, feeling too dazed to start the next teleport for over half a minute. The fact that ponies neither recognized me nor cared provided yet another reason that I should hurry up and become an alicorn already. Much of the rich and powerful might be slimy, but Princess Celestia was always recognized and viewed with uncompromising adoration by practically everypony else.
The Fire in Twilight's home had to be extinguished after all. Sure, it had been comfortable, but apparently too much so. If one was ignited in my room, I wasn't sure that I'd ever leave instead of becoming a full-fledged recluse. Certain stories of monsters luring victims with artificial sensations suddenly made much more sense now.
I finally shook my head and forced myself to keep moving. The jarring transition was unpleasant, but ultimately, this was what normality felt like and I had best get used to it. I had a case to read up on ahead of the session lest I look like an unprepared fool and give Celestia an excuse to revoke the offer of accompaniment. I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself, and doing so was pointless anyway. Life wouldn't change just because I felt a little sad; if I wanted conditions to improve, I would need to earn that improvement.
If I did a good enough job, maybe being around Celestia would feel like the Fire someday.
I suspect Celestia just has centuries of experience in controlling her emmotions and warding herself from those prying into them, to a point where it is more or less automatic.
And sunset, having no training in empathy (pun fully intended), is mistaking her inability to feel Celestia's emmotions, to Celestia not having any.
Celestia has a martyr complex and feels Guilty if she herself is Happy Therapy is needed possibly explosives as well.
Due to Events involving Her being flattered and manipulated into Isolating the one who could have told her and likely did that it was happening.
Just think about it the movers and shakers that put the sisters on the throne would have loathed Luna.
They wouldn't have been able to Lie or Deceive her to get their way.
Also Realpolitik would have been anathema due to Loyalty.
So she had to go, that the Crystal war with Sombra AKA unicorn Sauron happened just before her spiral into madness is suspect as well.
I suspect Celestia does have some trouble invoking the power of the sun indoors.
Largely because any place where the power of the sun is invoked, becomes outdoors.
