Twilight Sparkle never thought she would ever be interested in teaching. Her entire existance was spent devoted to the study of magic (and the avoidance of making friends). But everything changed after she hosted a presentation at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, the very same school she failed to enter as a foal.
Now she is in tiny Ponyville. A village just to the west of Canterlot. It's small, quiet, and unassuming, Twilight Sparkle is certain that it's the perfect place to learn how to teach. After all, nothing happens in small towns, right?
Unfortunately for Twilight, destiny works in strange ways, and the very fate of Equestria may depend on... Making friends?!
[ AU inspired by FallingRain22's piece, which is also the art for this pic for the time being http://fallingrain22.deviantart.com/art/AU-Mane-6-477312935 ]
(Made popular stories box on 7/18/15, thank you!)
(Edit 5/2020: Okay, last time I edit this description and then I'll let it be what it is. First and second chapter have been revised. Enjoy!)
Interesting idea. I'm looking forward to seeing Twilight's first school day.
I did notice a few errors though. Cheerilee's name is spelled wrong in the first section of the story and you have an extra 't' in the word 'destiny' of the title.
So far so good! A few small errors or bits of missing punctuation is all. And I might suggest adding an extra line between paragraphs for readability's sake.
Tracking!
really cool idea, new way to twist the first meeting. I like it I look forward to more so keep up the alsome work
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Thanks so much everybody! The edits have been made, haha, I'l comb through maybe later on to find those punctuation problems. Grammar was never my strong point, but I'm also not entirely sure where to snag a beta reader, particularly since I'm small fry in a big sea.
6219122 If you're in need of a proofreader (someone to find mistakes in your story) I recommend you check The Proofreader Group. You can find any kind of proofreader there if you take a look at the Document, from novice proofreaders to expert proofreaders.
I like this plot idea. Please continue.
6219128 Thanks mate, will do! :D
I like this. Well, I didn't Like it, but I don't like Liking something when it's just getting started.
sorry Twilight shouldn't have owilious.
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Well, technically it's not the same owl, but I so adore the idea of Twilight meeting an owl when she was still in Canterlot that just kind of, refused to go away. Besides, I needed a way for Fluttershy to open up and in the absence of Spike I didn't have too many options.
I supposed I could've just invented a different pet for her, but that feels cheap somehow.
Good second chapter. The characters got some development.
I see that Twilight and Rainbow Dash are already best friends
Hello there. Really good job on the first meeting (in this universe between Twilight and Fluttershy). The exchange, characterizations and future chapter set-up are beautifully done. Yeah, the introduction of this universe's Owlicious was a good way for Twi and Flutters to bond a bit.
Just one minor detail; I thought the "dragon egg" thing was meant to test the applicant's CHARACTER rather than their ability (otherwise there would either be far fewer students at that school or far more dragons). I mean, she would have probably gotten into the school anyway, just NOT as Celestia's personal student.
That little detail aside, this was a really good first chapter and I'm definitely going to be reading the next one right now.
Again, this was a wonderful chapter. Love the interaction between Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy here. At least Rainbow and Twilight both had the decency to apologize to each other and, yeah, the bit with "Twilight always losing her umbrellas" was a good Hilarious in Hindsight bit when you consider that this chapter was written BEFORE the "Monday Blues" Equestria Girls video that had Twilight's human counterpart losing one of her umbrellas to the wind.
Anyway, reading the next chapter now.
Again, this was a really good chapter. It took a while, but was definitely worth the wait. LOVE the introduction to the Apple Family, especially AJ. And, yeah, explaining "teaching apprentice" to a child would be pretty hard for somebody who is, by their own admission, socially awkward. And, yeah, the author's notes make a really good point.
I'll very definitely looking forward to more of this, but am also quite willing to be patient.
Do any of the major villains appear in this story?
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Most likely, but probably not for quite a while. Right now, we're still in the meet and greet for this universe's versions of the Mane Six and it is ALMOST a year before Nightmare Moon returns (which will, at least, give Twilight and the others enough time to get to know each other well enough to trust each other on that trip through the Everfree).
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This comment honestly means a lot to me, thank you! I spent ages tweaking the chapter so it felt right. I'm super excited to be working on the story again. Now that I have so much time on my hands I figured it would be a good opportunity to continue. I'll probably get started on the next chapter tomorrow.
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Yeah, if nothing else there's definitely going to be Nightmare Moon. If I wind up actually sticking to a game plan, and people really enjoy the story, I may expand on the universe to include some more Big Bads
,
I admit I don't have the full plotline planned out, mostly a rough idea of these beginning parts and where I want it to wind up. I have been considering adding some minor "villains" to help the Mane 6 get a little closer before Nightmare Moon. I guess it depends on how long I want this to wind up being, a whole year is a lot of time to work with so I guess we'll see.
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You are extremely welcome.
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And, yeah, that DEFINITELY makes a lot of sense. At the very least, the Diamond Dogs could give them some early experience with both teamwork AND the Everfree.
And, of course, the Flim-Flam Brothers as old business rivals to Applejack and Rarity could be entertaining antagonists too.
And, of course, while NOT an antagonist, a Moondancer that had the chance to develop her skills as Celestia's personal student AND allowed her Canterlot friends to bring her out of her shell might make for an entertaining compare-and-contrast to Twilight.
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Ohh, yeah definitely. I like the Moondancer idea a lot, I mean, I'm still deciding who I want Celestia's student to be and what that would mean for the Mane 6. Because whoever it is, will be expected to find and wield the element of harmony. The only reason I may not go that route is that the other potential I have in mind may make a very compelling antagonist/catalyst for the events during the Summer Sun Celebration
Interesting idea, what made you think of Twilight becoming a teacher? Me I have her become the librarian much like canon just without Celestria’s influences. In the show we never seen the Ponyville Librarian and given she was a regular in the Canterlot Library and her love of books her getting a cutie mark for research or book related Mark is high.
I always saw the “Dragon Egg” test as a character test. How do they respond to stress and failure. From what we seen Twilight did have a fear of failure (lesson zero) and early episodes didn’t handle stress well.
My own story A Chance to say Goodbye I had a Moondancer become Celestria student.
It also possible that because Celestia didn’t have a Dragon crash through the school roof she could have stopped Sunset from going into the mirror portal.
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Yeah. Have to say, those are some really good points.
I, too, always figured the "Dragon Egg test" was meant to test the applicant's character rather than their ability (after all, if it were meant to test the applicant's ABILITY, there would logically be either far fewer students or far more dragons) and the points the reasons concerning Twilight NOT getting in anyway are quite good.
And, yeah, it IS possible that Celestia could have stopped Sunset from stepping through the Mirror Portal without the distraction of the Sonic Rainboom and the dragon egg hatching.
Those are excellent catches.
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Those are excellent points, I wanted a good reason for her to end up in Ponyville and I didn't think she would move from Canterlot unless she had an academic reason. I've personally wanted to become a teacher in the past so I guess that's why my brain went "Hm yes, this makes sense". The really funny part about it is that when I wrote this in 2015 nobody (or, almost nobody) would have guessed source Twilight would wind up opening a school and stuff so... I guess I half predicted the future? Lol.
Librarian would make sense though. I wouldn't find writing that as compelling as Twilight learning how to become a teacher, and I've seen Twilight as a librarian before but not a teacher so it's worth exploring. Plus the lazy in me is pleased with the fact that as a teacher, Twilight would by default have to learn something about friendship. If she were a librarian I might actually have to be... Creative
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But yeah, her cutie-mark actually is book related, it symbolizes her excellence in research and academic writing. It hasn't been directly touched upon yet though, since when I first started writing I figured I would reveal more of her backstory later on.
The gist of her turning to teaching is she felt inspired after helping lecture a class in Canterlot. It felt really good seeing how her knowledge could inspire and help ponies grow first-hoof. With Ponyville being a small quiet town nearby, and having only one school house, Twilight figured it would be the perfect place to begin.
At any rate, yeah I also saw the dragon egg test as a test of character. Not only the fact that Twilight gave up so easily (even telling them she's sorry for "wasting their time") but the fact she could barely channel any magic under pressure made the judges second guess the application. It'll get explored more as well later, I've been thinking about having a chapter with flashback sequences about that day and like, what really happened
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But yeah I just see it as being extremely likely that either Moondancer or Sunset are Celestia's only students. Still deciding what to go with and why. But thanks for checking out my story! I'll read yours too ^.^.
[Edit: Shortening of text and more line breaks for legibility]
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Thanks and I have to say... I WANT MORE! I'm enjoying what I read so far. It also tempting to see how you got the other mane 6 to Ponyville in the alternate timeline. Applejack and Rarity are easy to figure out why they would still be there. Rainbow and Fluttershy I'm not sure how I would justify it myself. Perhaps Rainbow was assigned Ponyville and Fluttershy went with her given Rainbow one of her few friends?
I'm curious how you will write Pinkamina Dian Pie in this timeline!
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Yeah it's not explicitly stated but Fluttershy is an honorary Apple because after she didn't find her potential for animal connection, she got lost and the Apples found her. Fairly straight forewords. I don't want to spoil too much of Rainbow's background but she does wind up in Ponyville because of Fluttershy, when there was an opening in the weather team Fluttershy suggested it since she missed her best friend and Rainbow wasn't exactly married to the idea of staying in Cloudsdale forever.
I got it alll mapped out now
. Thank you!!
Great job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all well done in all the right places. I particularly enjoyed the reflection of Fluttershy's skill with animals even though, as far as they know, it's not her special talent, as well as Twilight's scenes with the Apple Family (especially her first taste of Apple Family home cooking and Applejack and Twilight apologizing to each other after dinner and Twilight's dream. And, yeah, it IS a good point out that Applejack came back to the farm to avoid becoming like the Manehattan upper society and Twilight keeping to herself because the fellow scholars in Canterlot have too many rules (and "too many rules" for a pony like Twilight is REALLY saying something).
As for Twilight's actual alma mater, the best I can guess is Hayvard, Princetrot, Buckson or Stompford but ALL FOUR of those are probably wrong. I was just trying to think of a high-level school that would be appropriate for somebody with her intellect.
But I am DEFINITELY going to be looking forward to more of this (especially since the next chapter will be Pinkie's introduction to the story) .
Hmm, her alma mater...could it be...Crystal Prep? Considering this is an AU? I'm new to this story, but will definitely be keeping tabs on it.
This is interesting worth a follow that's for sure
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Bingo, Crystal Prep. I always thought it was interesting that Sci-Twi attended a school that was never mentioned in Equestria. But considering Celestia's School literally couldn't be a thing since Celestia is the principal of Canterlot High... It does make sense. Though I like to think there's a Crystal Prep High in Equestria as well. Canterlot probably has a few private schools for all grade levels :P.
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That's an interesting theory. I'm surprised I was right, but I guess it does make sense. Does this mean the Crystal Empire won't be returning? It would be weird if there were a "crystal prep" that wasn't in the Crystal Empire.
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Thank you! I meant to reply to this sooner lmao. I'm having so much fun writing these characters so far, I'm very excited for the next chapter!
Also, I always imagined Equestria in source has not really... Having universities as we generally know them? I remember now Flim and Flam ran a "Friendship University" but I figured that was more of the writers figuring how Flim and Flam could make their school sound better, since if there were universities Twilight would have definitely attended one in source. I always figured High School was 100% optional and generally available in cities. There could be a social expectation that comes along with that in upper class circles too. But usually we only see young ponies in school. So with all that in mind I figured "alma mater" generally applied to High School education. So she attended Crystal Prep in this Universe.
I like to think Twilight Sparkle herself established the first real University in Equestria, offering higher education to adult ponies and making space for various trades and disciplines to just experiment.
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Could just chalk it up to coincidence as well, even if that's a bit cheap. The Crystal Empire is literally all about crystals but Equestria definitely still has to have crystals growing naturally in the soil.. I mean gems are so it would be strange if crystals weren't a Thing.
At any rate, if I ever keep running with this series and get to when the Empire returns I'll definitely have to do a bit of meta writing by pointing that out. I can see it now....
"Wait, didn't you attend a Crystal Prep High School?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow at Twilight.
"Well uh, yeah, but it didn't have any connections to the Empire as far as I know,"
The earth pony raised an eyebrow "Huh, that's an interesting coincidence."
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Yeah. Makes sense. I figured all my guesses were wrong anyway. I freely admit that I was overthinking it.
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I could see that conversation happening. And either way that theory should make sense to readers. Can't wait for more of this story.
Well, I liked this new chapter, and I'm interested to see what Pinkie's like in this AU.
REALLY good job on this latest chapter. Yeah, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done in all the right places. I especially liked Twilight's realizations that Cheerilee DOESN'T have the benefits of the resources of a big city as far as her teaching goes, the fact the chat went so well aside from the beginning, Twi and AJ apologizing to each other, AJ pointing out that Twilight does benefit from being around ponies that aren't total snobs (something Twi at least subconsciously seems to acknowledge IS a VERY valid point because, despite the things she thought to herself when she was wondering what she got herself into, she made no attempt to take back what she said concerning meeting Pinkie). And, yeah, that dream concerning canon was a really good detail as was her flashback concerning her time with Cadance.
And, yeah, I'll very definitely be looking forward to more of this.
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Thank you! Yeah, I'm excited to give Pinkie a go, gotta find a new and interesting balance for her normally over-the-top personality. Just enough "Pinkie Pie" to know it's her, but just enough seriousness to know it's very different.
There's honestly a lot of directions the story can go at this point still but it's all coming together
. To be honest I'm loving the idea that Rainbow Dash is going to be the hardest to rope in, instead of it being Twilight. She's the only one that doesn't see somepony in the Mane 6 reguarly (like, she meets up with Fluttershy sometimes but not as often as AJ meets with Rarity and Pinkie). I'm having way too much fun with Twilight practically hating her after that bad first impression 
. As a hardcore TwiDash shipper I'm gonna have lots of fun having them argue like an old married couple (just to be clear, there won't be any romance between the two, at least not in this story. I just think it'll be really cute 
).
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Thank you! I'm excited to finally be getting there! Lol, I was disappointed I couldn't do it in this chapter without it being too long. Nothing bad about long chapters, just doesn't feel like the right tone for this story.
Soon
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Pinkie is always pinkie
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Yeah. I gotcha.
And that is MORE THAN fair enough. Of course, that makes sense as, by the time Nightmare Moon actually returns, Twi actually will have, in spite of herself, gotten close enough to MOST of the others to at least trust and respect them enough to not require quite as much convincing in letting them come along (especially if the Diamond Dogs get worked in as earlier minor antagonists in order to give the Mane Six at least a little previous experience with adventuring, the Everfree and teamwork).
The link in the description doesn't work because there's a square bracket at the end.
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Oh snap, thanks for pointing that out!
What Rainbow and Flutters said about their pasts and hardships indicates they have some backstories...I'm interested to see where this goes. Hoping for a new chapter soon!
REALLY good job on the revised version of the first chapter. The exchange and characterizations between Twi and Fluttershy remain good, but there is SLIGHTLY more info including on how Twilight first met Owlicious in this universe and the mention of Velvet's face when SHE first saw Owlicious.
Anyway, onto the next revised chapter.
Again, splendid job on the exchanges and characterizations in this revised chapter. Yeah, Rainbow DOES have some unresolved issues and I could definitely see where she could rub Twilight the wrong way. Of course, having to deal with hecklers and bullies for most of her life probably would put a long-term edge on her in a bad way. Of course, she might ease up on Twilight a bit if she knew TWI was probably a long-term bullying victim too (even if she coped with it in a different way).
Anyway, definitely looking forward to more of this.
My favorite part of the story so far is that Spike was never hatched. I'm sure some other unicorn hatched him. Or maybe nopony did and he was sent back to the dragons.
This version of Twilight is totally an aspie.
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. It's not really an "official" thing in this AU since it's not really relevent to the plot, but it's cool you picked up on it!
Yeah! I headcanon her as autistic in general since I am too