A long sigh came from the purple alicorn as she walked down the halls of her mentor's castle. The whole thing was hard for her to take in. Every new responsibility that came along with her being a princess brought more stress and worry to her psyche. She wondered how the other princesses handled it all after all these years. Even the simple things were worrying when eyes across Equestria were watching.
"Don't worry so much, Twilight. Princess Celestia just said she wanted you to meet some new teacher or something,right? Big deal." The small dragon next to her shrugged. You would think after all this time he would be used to the way Twilight could get, but there were still times it was hard to understand his best friend.
"Spike, it isn't just a teacher. It is a teacher for Princess Celestia's School of Magic. Her school,Spike!" She stopped and took a deep breathe like her step-sister had taught her to do when she got too anxious. "She is bringing in a new teacher since a mare named Glint Quill retired. Princess Celestia wants me to help him with getting things ready for his class. It is almost like being a teacher myself." Not that she never thought of the idea before.
"Then enjoy it instead of freaking out. You are gonna end up missing so much of life if all you do is worry." Spike placed a clawed hand on Twilight's shoulder and gave her a sweet smile. Twilight returned the smile and nodded. No pony was ever able to calm her down like Spike could. She didn't know what she would do without the little one at her side. He was her light when the worry narrowed her vision. It was just meeting one pony. How hard could it be?
It didn't take long to end up in the wing of the castle that was connected to the school and contained the teacher's offices. On the walls were pictures of all the past teachers that have walked these halls. Each of them had a beautiful gold frame around them. Twilight even saw teachers that she remembered having when she was there. It nearly felt like forever ago. She had so much she would like to say to them. She had been under Celestia's care but the other teachers taught the regular classes that she requested to still take. Just because she was the Princess' own student didn't mean she had to miss classes when there was still so much to learn. She wouldn't be here without the things that they taught her.
"Here we go. Ms. Quill's old office. This was were the Princess told us to meet right?" Spike looked up at Twilight, knowing full well that she had read the letter so many times that she had it memorized.
"This is the place." She took one more long breathe before trying to knock on the door with her hoof. Before she could, Princess Celestia opened the door with a smile. Twilight couldn't help but smile back. The Princess had always been like this, she always knew right when she would come in.
"There you are. I was wondering if maybe you had gotten lost. It has been a long time since you have been to this wing, hasn't it?" The Princess let out an airy chuckle, pleased to see her former student/now equal. Well, she saw her as an equal but she wasn't sure if Twilight did the same. "Here. Let me introduce you to our new Defensive Magic and Dueling teacher. Twilight, this is Onyx Dust."
Princess Celestia moved so Twilight could enter and motion towards a stallion that was putting some books away. The unicorn had a coat the same color as ash which made his emerald eyes shine brighter than they probably normally would. His mane, which was dual-colored with a tone of charcoal and one of a dark silver that seemed to nearly shine, was pushed back like all he did was run a brush to make it go back. There was a few stray hairs, but it all seemed to stay even though it looked like there was no gel. His cutie mark was an emerald being circled by blue wisps(which Twilight thought looked familiar). He looked at her with a soft smirk. As he turned and took a few steps towards her, she noticed that the room smelled cedar and cinnamon, which came from two candles sitting on what was now his desk.
"Well, hello. I must be a pretty big deal to get to see two princesses in one day." He bowed smoothly to Twilight, which made a soft blush appear on her face since she was still not used to princess treatment. "Like Princess Celestia said, my name is Onyx Dust. It is wonderful to see you again. Though, last time we saw each other you were lacking wings." He stood back up and looked into her eyes.
"I'm sorry. But, have we met before?" Twilight was very embarrassed. It seemed like he knew her and she felt so bad for not knowing him. That was she noticed another chuckle from the other princess.
"I thought you would recognize him. That was the reason I asked you here. He even considered you his rival in school. Twilight, Onyx was in your class. You were the first in your class and he was the second. I was hoping your history would help you two work better." Princess Celestia gave her another smile as she saw the look of surprise on the younger alicorn.
"Onyx!? Really!? I'm so sorry that I didn't realize that it was you. It feels like it has been so long. I'm sorry." Twilight gave the other a sweet smile. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten his face. She knew that she knew that cutiemark from somewhere. She remembered how his face would get when she would beat him by one point on a test. Though, she never saw any of this as a competition. During that time, all she wanted to do was to impress Celestia. It was a common thing that happened between the two for several years. Then about 3 years ago, he was asked to go to Las Pegasus to continue his study. She had never asked him what it was he had mainly studied that he had to go away for.
"It is fine, Princess. You have surely met a lot of wonderful ponies along your adventures. How could I expect you to remember old me? I always knew you ever saw me as a rival anyways. I heard you were sent to Ponyville. I take it that it all went well?" He nodded at the wings.
Before Twilight could open her mouth to give a response, Princess Celestia spoke up. "Well, I think I will leave you two be. Mr. Onyx, I'm sure you have everything under control?" A simple look into his eyes gave the princess of the sun her answer. Then she walked away, leaving the two to themselves.
Twilight took a breath to relax before speaking up again. "So, you're now the teacher for Defensive Magic and Dueling?"
Dusk, who had started putting up more books, smiled slightly. "I guess you were never into sports or tournaments. Magical duels are a new big thing at Unicorn schools. Tournaments, competitions, and even classes for them. All for sport, of course. Princess Celestia even decided that the basic class be mandatory. With everything that goes on nowadays, kids might as well learn to defend themselves." Twilight noticed a slight gleam in his eye before looking away once again. Now she knew what he went away to train for.
It didn't take her long to realize how he wanted the books set up, so she helped with those and with getting everything else arranged. Thanks to magic, the job didn't take long. Onyx sighed when the work was all done "Well, Princess-"
"Twilight. Just called me Twilight. I mean, you did know me from before after all. I'm not any different other than just a title and a pair of wings." She gave him a gentle smile as she put down the last book.
"Twilight? Alright then. Well, Twilight, why don't you head back to your room for the night?" Twilight didn't even notice that it had gotten dark. "You even traveled here today, didn't you? You deserve some rest. We can start on planning things for class tomorrow. I have a few things I want to read over." Twilight saw that there was an older looking book on his desk before he walked over to her and lead her to the door. She couldn't help but notice that he also had hint of cinnamon on him so it wasn't just the candles.
Spike yawned and stretched. "Man, that guy has a lot of stuff. Didn't help that he didn't even notice me. It was like it was just you two in the room." Twilight noticed the dragon smirk at her.
"Spike,I don't know what you are talking about. Why don't you head back and get some rest? I wanted to go research some defensive spells so it would be easier to help him out." The two parted ways and Twilight headed to the Canterlot Archives.
She had stayed at her desk reading for a long time. She didn't really keep track of the time actually.She had to admit though, Onyx had to be a powerful unicorn to pull off some of the spells. There was all sorts of different protection and defensive spells she could use but she didn't even know where to start. Even in her battles, the Magic of Friendship was what protected her so she couldn't really recall using these. She had to agree with him though. A lot of bad things had been happening lately and the young ponies needed to know how to protect themselves if the time ever called for it. She dove into the spells, trying to take in what she could. She thought one pony shields would be a good place to start.
She was broken out of her trance of studying by a sudden crashing noise. Twilight ran out into the hallway to try to figure out where the noises were coming from. When she did, she heard a small rustling coming from the Starswirl the Bearded wing. As she looked inside, she noticed a familiar gray coat.
"Onyx? What are you doing in here? I don't think you'll find the spells you need here. This stuff is way too advanced. You won't find what you need." She jumped slightly when she saw him look back at her. His bright green eyes seemed almost like acid now and his mane was longer and slightly shaggy.
"Oh, I think I'll find what I need. In fact, I already got it." A smirk grew on his face as he looked at a parchment. Twilight recognized the spell, mainly because it was the only spell in the wing she had used. "A time travel spell, huh? Won't last too long. But it will be exactly what I need."
He turned to face her as he looked at the spell. "In fact, why don't you join me, Princess?" Twilight could of sworn she heard the princess part being said sarcastically.
"Onyx, don't-!"
But it was too late. The next thing Twilight knew there was a flash of bright white. She felt herself being tugged at from all sides. She didn't remember this happening he last time she used the spell so she guessed it was from being brought along. She gritted her teeth from feeling like she was about to be pulled apart.
Twilight groaned as her eyes adjusted to new scenery. She couldn't tell when they were, but she could see that they were in a field during the day. The smell of the grass and flowers hit her nose hard from the change from a dusty library. Her eyes were drawn to the sky, where she could easily see Cloudsdale. As she turned her head, she saw Onyx in front of her. She unconsciously gulped, unsure of what he was planning.
A smirk came across the muzzle of the stallion before her, confirming her suspicions. "Welcome, Princess. Thought you would like to see the show. I bet you have never seen this from here." He nodded back up to Cloudsdale to show what he was talking about. The two turned to look at the clouds.
In the sky was a small, cerulean blue filly with a rainbow mane. She was soaring through the sky with a great speed. It didn't take long for Twilight to realize who it was. It was Rainbow Dash. She noticed some others flying with here in what looked to seem a race. She then remembered Rainbow Dash's cutiemark story. She was about to make the Rainboom that Twilight and her friends saw to earn their own cutiemarks.
"No way. But, why here?" It was hard to believe that they could go back this far. She didn't know the spell could do that. She looked back at Onyx to see his horn glowing brightly. A ray of light shot out of his horn and into the sky. Her eyes followed it till it ended up hitting Rainbow Dash before she could make the Rainboom. Her body froze and everything seemed to go in slow motion as she watched the little pegasus plummet towards the earth. "No...No! How could you!?"
She turned quickly towards him to glare at him. "What did you do to my friend!?" She noticed him looking at her flank so she looked. Her cutiemark was fading away. "H-how!?"
"All in time, my dear. In fact, I'll tell you in a few years. The spell is wearing off. Time to go to our new Present." Twilight couldn't take that smug smile anymore so she charged at him with all her might. She was ready to kill him almost. But before she could reach him, there was another white flash. She closed her eyes, not only from the light but from fear of the future she was about to see.