//------------------------------// // A New School, A New Life // Story: Canterlot Academy: Knights of the Dark Moon // by LordLycaon //------------------------------// The sun shone brightly in the sky, sending warm light over the city as ponies trotted through the streets, going about their daily lives without a care in the world. “Coming through!” Two blurs, one purple and one white, shot through the crowds in the roads, galloping as fast as their legs could carry them. “I told you last night to set your alarm clock!” Shining Armor exclaimed as he hurried alongside his sister, whose saddlebags were practically overflowing with what she thought was necessary for her life at the Academy. “You already scolded me about that!” Twilight replied frantically. “Let’s just hurry! The last thing I need is to be late on the first day!” Shining rolled his eyes, muttering to himself as they galloped through the street. “You wouldn’t be late at all if you’d just listen to me every once in a while.” Twilight could hear him, but she paid his words no mind. She had more important things to worry about. This was the big day. After years of study and practice, Twilight Sparkle was finally about to take her first steps into Canterlot Academy as a student. And, as her luck would have it, she had overslept yet again. She continuously mentally berated herself for it as she ran, praying to whatever deity may have been listening at the time that she’d at least make it in time for orientation. ‘Please, please, please let me make it in time!’ she mentally screamed. And soon enough, she and her brother came across a sight that made her grin and give a sigh of relief. Before them, standing tall and proud, topped in size only by the castle, was the one and only Canterlot Academy. ‘Whoever made this possible, thank you!’ “I guess this means we can stop running,” Shining stated, trotting a little ways ahead of his sister. “Come on. We still have to get you to your dorm before you head for orientation.” Twilight nodded and followed, grateful for the fact that she didn’t have to run like that again. She had never really liked exerting physical energy that much. It didn’t suit her that well, if she was going to be completely honest with herself and others. As she followed her brother to the grand school, she couldn’t help but be amazed at the sheer size of the courtyard in front of the Academy, where ponies from all over Equestria were mingling cheerfully. Her eyes brightened as she overheard a few of the conversations. Some of the other ponies were engaged in intellectual chats that she could easily slip her way into with the right timing. She restrained herself, however. She wanted to interject on a few things that she heard, but she didn’t want to be rude. Besides, her social skills were severely lacking. She wouldn’t have any idea what to say in normal conversation. “This place is incredible!” she said happily, clapping her hooves with a wide grin. “I can only imagine what kind of things I can learn her! History, science, mathematics, magic! This is so exciting!” Shining Armor chuckled. “Well, I just hope that you at least make time to come for air from all the new books you’re bound to get.” He used his magic to pick up a few quills that had fallen out of Twilight’s bags. “And try not to lose your things in the process, okay?” The young mare blushed in embarrassment and took the quills from him , storing them back in her saddlebags in an orderly fashion. “Right. Thanks.” The siblings continued touring the courtyard, taking in the sights and sounds. For a mare like Twilight, this academy was paradise. “Heads up!” Before either of the two unicorns could react, a ball slammed into the side of Shining Armor’s head, knocking him off of his hooves and dazing him. Twilight gasped at the sudden event, her eyes wide as her feelings of bliss became feelings of anger. Her brother got up pretty quickly, though, to which she was relieved, despite the fact that he was still rubbing the side of his head that had been struck. She turned with a glare at the pony who had called out. An orange pegasus stallion with an unkempt blue mane and tail stood a few feet away, his eyes wide and embarrassment evident in his cerulean eyes. There were a couple other stallions standing a little ways behind him, laughing quietly at his expense. He gave a sheepish grin, chuckling nervously. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. “What in the hay is wrong with you!?” Twilight shouted at him, making him back away a step. “You could’ve seriously hurt my brother!” “Uh…” the young stallion said brilliantly, turning his attention to who Twilight assumed must’ve been his friends. They obviously weren’t going to be of much help to him. He gulped, turning his attention back to Twilight. “Er, sorry about that. My buddies and I were-” “I don’t care what you were doing!” She used her magic to grab the ball that had hit Shining and shoved it into the stallion’s chest. When he had it in his hooves, Twilight returned to her brother. “Next time, watch where you throw your ball.” “Come on, Twilight,” Shining said, lowering his hoof from his head. “It’s not that bad. I’ve been through worse in training with my unit in the Royal Guard.” “Maybe, but that’s no excuse.” The mare turned and began trotting off, dropping the matter, but undoubtedly not yet letting it go. Shining sighed at his sister’s stubbornness. Just one of her many quirks. “Sorry about my sister,” he said to the younger stallion. “She’s a bit high-strung, but she’s got a good heart.” The orange pegasus nodded with an understanding smile. “It’s all right. I’d be pretty miffed if somepony hit someone from my family with a hoofball, too.” Shining chuckled a bit at that, then unconsciously began to study the colt with an analytical eye. Looking at the pegasus, he guessed he was around Twilight’s age, about fifteen or so, and he seemed like the honest sort. “Shining!” called Twilight’s voice from behind. “Come on! I want to go find out where I’ll be staying before I go to orientation!” “Coming, sis!” Shining called back, turning briefly to say goodbye to the younger stallion before hurrying over to join his sister. The orange pegasus was soon joined by one of his friends, a unicorn stallion, who had an amused smirk on his face. “That was smooth, Flash,” the unicorn said with a chuckle. “Oh, shut up, Comet,” the pegasus replied with a glare. -o- Twilight and Shining walked down the hall of the girls’ dorm, searching for the room that the mare at the counter downstairs had given them the key to. They had been looking around for a while, passing several mares who gave Shining Armor either suspicious glances, foalish giggles, or suggestive winks. To the latter, he would only give a nervous chuckle and continue with Twilight down the hall. Once again, Twilight was amazed at the sheer size of the Academy. This time, it was the dorms that astounded her. This one building had over twelve hundred rooms, each meant for two students to stay in. Heck, the entire campus was so huge that half of the school actually had to be constructed inside the mountain upon which Canterlot had been built. Despite the building’s stature (or more likely because of it), it was still unlikely that she would have roommate, which would’ve been just fine with her. She preferred her solitude anyway. She looked up at each door they passed, trying to find the one she’d been assigned. She looked down at the card that came with her key. “Room 1010,” she read aloud. Looking back up, she noticed that they were now passing the 990s. “It should be just ahead. At least, I hope so.” “Found it,” Shining spoke up suddenly, pointing to a door that had the number they had been looking for, to which Twilight gave a sigh of some relief. She levitated her key into the lock and turned, pushing the door open with her hoof. What she saw caught her off guard. The far half of the room was already decorated with several posters of ponies that Twilight recognized as premiere members of the Wonderbolts, the most famed and skilled fliers in all the world. The second bed was fixed up with more Wonderbolts merchandise; a Wonderbolts comforter, a Wonderbolts pillowcase, even a plushy of the Wonderbolt named Soarin. On the floor were an exercise mat and a few small weights that were decently well organized from lightest to heaviest. Just to mix things up a bit, there was a collection of several books on the shelf above the bed. They were all titles that Twilight recognized as adventure novels that she herself had read several times, and she took that as a good sign that at least her roommate wouldn’t be a complete jock. They might even have something worth talking about occasionally. For some reason, the two desks in the room – Twilight assumed they were there for her and her roommate to work on – were both pushed further away from the far half, which made the near half feel a bit more cramped. At first, she thought it was to make room for the mat and weights, but the desks didn’t actually take up that much space. Everything in the room seemed like it would’ve fit perfectly, but her roommate must not have thought so. Shining Armor entered the room behind her, raising an eyebrow at the décor. “Somepony certainly likes the Wonderbolts,” he chuckled. “Apparently,” Twilight agreed as she levitated her saddlebags off of her back and set them on what would become her own bed. She then pulled out all of her belongings; quills, inkwells, notepaper, several books, etc. She quickly and methodically organized them on her desk and the shelves on the wall behind her bed. When she finally finished, she smiled at her handiwork. “That ought to do it,” she mused. Her brother nodded his agreement and gave her a brief hug. “You know I’m gonna miss you, right, Twily?” “I’m going to miss you, too, Shiny,” Twilight replied, hugging her brother back. “You take care of yourself, you hear?” Shining said in an attempt to be stern, but he couldn’t hold back a proud smile. “Don’t get in too much trouble, okay?” The young mare gave a light giggle. “You worry too much. I’ll be fine.” Shining Armor grinned and pulled his sister into a light noogie, the young mare giggling under the action. “I know you will.” After a moment, he released her, his smile shrinking a little. “Sorry I can’t go with you to your orientation, sis. Work’s been pretty hectic lately.” Twilight nodded understandingly. Her brother’s work as a member of the elite Royal Guard was important, especially with his rank of captain. He not only had to manage the troops under him, but he had to report directly to Princess Celestia herself, not to mention the shocking amount of paperwork he went through on a weekly basis. He often complained that paperwork would be his downfall someday, and having seen some of the mountains of it herself, she couldn’t really blame him for claiming such. His career had gotten a bit more tedious lately as well. Strange disappearances had been plaguing the city recently, with the oddest part being that the disappearing ponies always came back after around a week or so without even the slightest memory of ever going anywhere. It was a case that had started up eight months ago, and had yet to be solved properly. Twilight knew that that called for a lot of attention from the Royal Guard. She had even tried on a few occasions to help her brother figure out what was going on. She never found anything, unfortunately. She had even shared with her brother the story of how she helped that white unicorn mare in that alley. Only one of the thugs had been apprehended; the one she had knocked out. However, he had disappeared from his cell overnight, removing a prime suspect for the recent vanishings. Twilight shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about things like that. “It’s all right. You go get to work. Don’t worry about me.” “What kind of brother would I be if I didn’t?” Shining quipped with grin, giving his sister one last hug before leaving the room. “I’ll be sure to visit when I can.” “You do that, BBBFF” Twilight said with a warm smile, waving goodbye as her Big Brother Best Friend Forever closed the door behind him, leaving Twilight to her own devices. She looked around the room for a few moments, acclimatizing herself with the relatively large space, though she soon started eyeing the desks. She pursed her lips slightly and levitated both desks just about an inch off the ground, moving them closer to the center of the wall that they’d been placed by, being careful not to disturb the exercise equipment on the floor. Once the desks were set where she’d have more space available, she nodded to herself and gently set the them back onto the floor. With that done, her eyes soon drifted over to the far half of the room, where all the Wonderbolts paraphernalia was. Without really thinking about it, she levitated the Soarin plushy over to her, studying it thoroughly and comparing it with the poster that depicted said pegasus. It was a really good likeness, she had to admit. It was rather cutesy size-wise, but still looked similar enough that it was easy to discern who it was. She was just about to send the plushy back over to the other bed when the door suddenly opened, and a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane walked in, scratching behind her ear with her wing. She bore a cutie mark of a cloud shooting a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. She took a few steps forward into the room, then stopped when she saw Twilight with the plushy. Her cerise eyes went slightly wide for a moment, but quickly shrunk back to a more casual size. There was an awkward silence that persisted for a few moments, with both mares just staring at each other in stunned quiet. Eventually, the pegasus cleared her throat and nodded towards the plushy. “You mind putting that back?” she asked, though it sounded more like a demand. “It kinda belongs to me.” She had a small, embarrassed blush that she tried to hide behind a serious expression. Twilight smiled sheepishly and set the toy back on Wonderbolts-themed bed. “Sorry,” Twilight replied quickly. “Couldn’t help myself.” “Uh-huh.” The rainbow-maned pegasus went over to the far side of the room and looked around for a little bit, as if making sure everything was still where she originally left it. After a few seconds, she nodded, apparently satisfied, and turned to Twilight. “So, I guess you’re my new roommate, huh?” “It would seem so, yes,” Twilight answered. She cleared her throat and held out her hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to meet you.” “Rainbow Dash,” the other mare said with a cocky smirk, shaking Twilight’s hoof a bit roughly. “Guess we might as well get to know each other, since it looks like we’re gonna be living together for a while.” At that statement, Twilight hesitated. She’d been hoping she’d have a room all to herself. She hadn’t actually planned for conversation with anypony. She didn’t really know where to start. Normally, whenever she met somepony new, Shining Armor would do a lot of the talking, and she’d only interject whenever she felt it was really necessary (which, she would admit, was a very seldom occurrence). She wasn’t shy by any means. She just didn’t really know how to talk to ponies. She would often come off as a bit too blunt, or even arrogant, and would, admittedly, take things too seriously, and occasionally blow the tiniest things out of proportion. Conversation was her basically her ultimate nemesis. “So…” she said intelligently. “What brought you to the academy? No offense, but you don’t really seem the type to come to a place like this.” Rainbow chuckled at that and plopped down on her bed, still grinning that cocky, borderline arrogant smirk of hers. “With most ponies, you’d probably be right,” she admitted. “But I’ve got goals, see? I wanna get into the Wonderbolts someday, and Canterlot Academy is just another step towards that goal. I got here on a sports scholarship, but don’t think for a minute that that means I’m-” She stopped suddenly, staring over at the desks. “Uh… did you, er, move the desks?” Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. Where had that come from? “Well, yeah. They were kind of cramping up my half of the room, so I moved them closer to the middle of the wall. Is that a problem?” “No!” Rainbow suddenly blurted, making Twilight jump back a little. “I mean, no, not really. It’s just, uh…” She looked around for a moment, quickly settling on her exercise equipment. “I just, uh, need a lot of space when I exercise. My routine kinda takes me all over the place sometimes, and I need plenty of space is all.” She gave a slightly awkward smile at that, to which Twilight only grew a tad more skeptical. “O-kay, then. I guess I can just move them back.” Rainbow nodded appreciatively as Twilight’s horn glowed once more, levitating the desks back to where the pegasus had them earlier. She would’ve asked why she had reacted like that, but figured it’d be for the best not to pry. It was probably just a pegasus thing anyway. She recalled reading somewhere that most pegasi are naturally uncomfortable in closed-in spaces. She went back over to her own bed and began organizing her things to pass the time until orientation, levitating books, pens, and notebooks onto shelves, then sorting her bed sheets onto the mattress. She could hear Rainbow Dash humming some tune as she read one of those adventure books that Twilight had noticed earlier. After a few minutes, all of Twilight’s possessions were organized perfectly, with books set in alphabetical order, writing utensils arranged by frequency of use, and her bedsheets fixed so firmly that she could’ve bounced a coined off of them. Nodding proudly, she turned to check the clock that she brought with her, which sat on the desk nearest her bed. Her eyes widened in panic, her jaw dropping. “Orientation is in two minutes!” she screamed, making Rainbow practically shoot out of her bed with a startled shout. She gave Twilight a glare for a moment, before her expression turned just as panicky when the unicorn’s announcement sank in. “I am not gonna be late!” she proclaimed, immediately zooming out of the room and down the hall with a rainbow blur. “Hey, wait up!” Twilight galloped as fast her legs could carry her, zipping past a blue unicorn as she ran. An azure unicorn watched as violet mare darted out of sight, her eyes wide with recognition. “Is that…?” she mumbled to herself. She shook her head. “No, it couldn’t be.” Shaking off the thought, she hurried down the hall as well, but at a much more careful pace. She didn’t want to be late for orientation, but there was no point in looking exhausted when she got there. -o- There was already a fairly large gathering of ponies in the Academy’s amphitheater, which made Twilight feel as though she was already late. She absolutely loathed the idea of being tardy for an event like this. Or… well, anything, really. Rainbow Dash had zoomed off somewhere into the upper balconies to get the best view possible, leaving the young unicorn by her lonesome. That was fine, though. She made her way down the aisles to try and find a free seat with a decent view of the stage, where several ponies – whom she assumed were high-ranking faculty – made some last minute preparations for orientation. The unicorns in the group were holding numerous heavy objects all at once with magic, some even setting things around perfectly without even paying direct attention to whatever they were manipulating. Seeing this made Twilight pause, grinning with eagerness and excitement. She was going to be learning from these ponies soon! She was going to learn from the best of the best until she reached the point where only the best of the best of the best could teach her. She be just a few steps closer to- Her thoughts were interrupted when somepony bumped into her, making her stumble a few steps forward. “Hey!” she shouted, turning on her hooves angrily. “Watch where… you’re…” She trailed off slowly, realizing that the pony who bumped into her was much taller than her. Slowly, she raised her head upward, taking in the sight before her. “… going…” She had no more words beyond that. The pony in front of her was a pure white mare wearing ornamental, golden accessories on her hooves, around her neck, and a golden tiara upon her flowing, aurora-like mane. Her wings, which were folded upon her back, were large and would’ve been imposing if they were unfurled, her horn bearing a constant, slight glow of power. She towered over the lavender unicorn by at least three or four feet, her serene, pink-magenta eyes betraying an ancient, arcane wisdom that no other pony could ever match. She could feel strength practically radiating off the taller mare, who held herself with a composure that not even the two guard flanking her could match together. Before Twilight was no ordinary pony. “P-P-P-P-Pr-Prin…” She was utterly dumbstruck, slumping to her haunches in shock and awe. In the background, she could hear whispers of awe and amazement, but just barely. There were no words to describe what was going on through her head right now. The snow white alicorn gave a light laugh. “I do tend to have that effect on ponies, don’t I?” she inquired to one of the guards that was accompanying her, who nodded with a small, amused smile of his own. The alicorn looked back at Twilight, who was still stammering. “You needn’t worry, Twilight Sparkle. I don’t bite.” At the mention of her name, Twilight shook her head, breaking her dumbfounded silence. “Pr-Princess Celestia, you… you know my name?” she asked. The Princess of the Sun gave another light laugh. “Yes. Your brother Shining Armor speaks very highly of you.” She leaned in closer to the much younger mare, who still bore a look of unabashed shock. “Based on what I’ve heard from him, I expect to see great things from you someday. This Academy may even teach you more than you bargained for.” She raised her head again. “Now, I must go and speak with the headmaster. I suggest you find yourself a seat.” Twilight stumbled with her words for a moment, but quickly assured the princess that she’d do just that before hurrying off to find a good spot. Celestia once again chuckled at this, until she felt a hoof on her shoulder. “Your Highness,” one of her guards said, “we really should be going. We don’t want to keep Headmaster Stargazer waiting.” Celestia nodded and led the way to the stage, all the while thinking back to the unicorn she had just met. She truly did expect to see the young mare do incredible things in the future.‘You have a great future ahead of you, Twilight Sparkle,’ she thought with a smile. She didn’t need to meet the mare in person to know that. That child had a destiny. Whether that destiny was for good or ill had yet to be seen.