Every door in Canterlot Castle seemed massive to the little filly. Her purple eyes ran up the length of one set of double doors as she gaped. Even the handle was out of her reach, a hoof higher than the tip of her horn.

The guard beside the door opened it for her. “Right this way, Miss Sparkle. The Princess is waiting for you.”

Twilight gulped and smiled awkwardly, “Um… you can just call me Twilight… ”

The guard raised an eyebrow at her and simply nodded in acknowledgement. Twilight realized that saying only her first name was not proper etiquette in the castle. All the guards would treat her with grace, whether she wanted them to or not. Still, maybe they would if she asked.

The little unicorn walked through the now open door. She wasn’t that deep into the castle than as she made her way to Princess Celestia’s quarters. Yet, she still felt a little claustrophobic. This would be her first one on one magic lesson with the Princess. She felt she had to do a good job, no, a great job, and impress her.

Unlike every other door in the castle, only one guard stood outside Celestia’s room, and he shuffled uncomfortably like he didn’t belong there. When he noticed Twilight approaching, his relief was evident. “Miss Sparkle,” he greeted her, “The Princess is waiting for you.”

Twilight opened her mouth to correct him but stopped. There were so many guards it seemed useless to correct them all. Instead, she just smiled shakily and made to go past him into the room. He moved in front of her quickly before she could pass.

“One moment, Miss,” he said, his voice low. He looked around to make sure no pony was around before leaning in and saying, “This is going to be your first time alone with the princess, correct?”

Confused, Twilight nodded, “She asked me to come today… ”

“Yes, yes she is expecting you, the thing is,” the guard paused and thought a moment. “Princess Celestia can sometimes be… overly friendly towards fillies.” Twilight continued to look confused, so he continued, “She may sometimes hold you close suddenly or give you a friendly kiss, that is all. However, if you ever feel uncomfortable, just call out to me. I will be right on the other side of this door the whole time, alright?”

The little unicorn was more confused than ever, but she nodded that she understood. Sighing, the guard turned and opened the door for her, calling out, “Princess? Miss Sparkle is here!”

“Send her in!” came the response.

The guard moved to one side of the door and said softly to Twilight as she passed, “I’ll be right here, just call if you need me.”

He seemed very sincere, but Twilight couldn’t think of any reason she would need him as she walked into the room. She had gotten plenty of hugs and kisses from her parents. It wasn’t like it was something new to her.

The door closed quietly behind her as she gazed around the royal chambers. A massive round bed lay in one corner with paintings of Equestrian scenery hanging on every wall. Wind gently rolled through an open window leading to a balcony. It was still midday and the sun shone brightly through.

Celestia was standing by the balcony looking out. “Come on over, Twilight Sparkle,” she said enchantingly.

Her little filly heart racing, Twilight hurried over to stand by her idol. The white alicorn was enormous when put beside her. She practically radiated power. The filly stared at her in awe.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Celestia asked.

“Huh?” replied Twilight.

“The view, of course!” laughed Celestia.

“Uh… oh!” the unicorn turned to the balcony. The railing was higher than her, so she was forced to stand on her back legs and lean on it to see over. The scene before her stole her breath away. Equestria in all its splendor stood before them, rivers, mountains, towns. It truly was beautiful.

All she could do was stare. Celestia smiled down at her and said, “I see you agree. Let’s get started, shall we?” She turned from the view and walked to the middle of the large room.

Twilight tore her eyes away from the sight and tried to keep up with the larger pony’s stride.

Celestia sat down on the outside of a sun symbol occupying the center of the room, “Stand in the center, please.” Once Twilight was there, she said, “Now, we’ll start out slow for today since this is your first lesson. I’m going to create some items and you are going to use the magic spell I say to do on them. Ready?”

The filly nodded and tried to focus. It was such a thrill to be studying with the Princess Celestia. She would write all about it in her diary in explicit detail and tell Spike all about it even though he probably wouldn’t understand a word she said and then-

Celestia created a small red ball in between them, breaking Twilight’s runaway train of thought. It bounced once before settling. The princess smiled. “Now, Twilight, please levitate this ball.”

Smiling confidently, Twilight focused her magic on the ball before her. It glowed purple and wiggled, but when she tried to lift it she found it far heavier then she thought. It wouldn’t budge.

Still smiling, Celestia walked around the ball to stand beside her pupil. “Sometimes things aren’t as they appear. Try again.” She sat down close to Twilight, closer than they had been when on the balcony.

The close proximity gave the unicorn confidence. “OK!” Twilight focused her magic again, this time putting more willpower into it. The ball wiggled again, but this time it lifted a few inches off the floor before she had to let it go.

“Great job, Twilight!” said her mentor and idol. It was exhausting using that much magic, but Twilight still smiled. It felt great to be told-

The next thing the little filly knew she was up in the air. Celestia had her in a hug with her two front legs wrapped around her. Twilight was surprised, but it didn’t feel bad, so she just blushed and let her princess hug her.

After a few moments she was let go and, smiling brighter than the sun, Celestia said, “Alright, ready to try something else?”

Though she was a little tired and a little confused, Twilight nodded. No matter what, she was still being taught by her idol. That was all that mattered.

Celestia first made the ball disappear before creating a new object: a tire with some strange gears in the center. “Here, Twilight,” said the princess, “Move this tire back and forth by rotating the gear in the middle.”

The middle gear poked out on either side of the wheel, making it an easy focal point. Twilight nodded and focused her magic on the single gear. To her surprise, it rotated in either direction effortlessly. However, only a large amount of rotations would move the wheel as the gear spun. She focused harder, making the gear spin faster and faster.

“Good… focus…” said Celestia. Her white hoof came down to rest on Twilight’s shoulder reassuringly. It helped the filly focus completely.

Gear spinning so fast smoke was starting to come out, the wheel rolled slowly forward. Twilight released her magic, breath coming in gasps. She was drained. The wheel came to a stop as the middle gear slowed.

“Excellent work!” her teacher said.

Before she could attempt to move the wheel in the other direction, as instructed, Celestia once again scooped the filly up in a hug. Somewhat expecting it, Twilight allowed herself to be held again. What she didn’t expect was for the alicorn holding her to nuzzle her cheek. It reminded her of how her mother would have done it, but it felt strange coming from the princess. It felt too loving, too close.

“My little girl so talented!” Celestia boasted to no pony in particular.

The words caught Twilight off guard. My little girl? she thought. Her thoughts were running slower than usual from her lowered willpower. Still, Celestia was acting strange.

After a minute had passed and she was still being hugged, Twilight said, sheepishly, “Um… Princess?”

“Oh!” Celestia seemed to snap back to herself, “I’m sorry, here… ” She put the little filly down gently and stood up. “Well, those two exercises seemed to take a bit out of you. How about we play a game for the rest of the time we have?”

Twilight’s misgivings fell away. Games were fun, but a game with Princess Celestia would be divine. “OK! What should we play?”

Smiling down at her, the alicorn said, “How about we play ‘house’?”

The little unicorn frowned for a moment. House was often something she played with her toys when she wasn’t reading, which meant not often. She knew the rules, however: everypony picked a role and played it out. “OK, I’ll be the-”

“Actually, Twilight,” Celestia cut her off, “I think since I picked the game, I should choose who we’ll play as.” There was nothing hostile about her tone or smile, so Twilight just smiled and nodded. “Alright! I’ll be the mother and you can be my daughter, how does that sound?”

“It sounds perfect!” Twilight couldn’t help but blurt out. She blushed but didn’t correct herself. To be the daughter of her role model was a dream come true.

“Wonderful!” said the princess. She went over to a large chest along one wall and popped it open with magic. Inside was a mountain of toys, from dolls to trucks and everything in between. Twilight rushed over at the sight and stared. It was like she had walked right into a toy store. Smiling, Celestia lifted a doll up from the chest and placed it beside twilight. “Here you are, mommy’s talented little girl.”

Playing, having fun, Twilight hugged the doll and said, “Oh, thank you, mommy!” She looked up at Celestia.

The alicorn was staring down at her, eyes wide, smile twitching slightly.

“Pr… Princess Celestia?” Twilight said softly.

“Now, now,” said the alicorn, “It’s mommy, Twilight.”

“Um… mommy, are you feeling alright?” the filly let go of the doll and let it drop to the floor.

Celestia gasped. “Do you not like your toy? Do you want another one?” She turned back to the toy chest and started taking out all sorts of dolls and play sets. These she placed beside Twilight, who looked a little worried.

“No, mommy, it’s ok, I like my doll!” she bent and picked up the doll again and squeezed it. “It’s ok!”

Celestia stopped taking toys out and turned towards the unicorn. Her eyes were slightly unfocused. They scared Twilight for reasons she couldn’t understand. The alicorn smiled. “Oh… alright. Well, come here and give your mommy a big hug!” Celestia sat and held her arms out wide.

Twilight gulped. There shouldn’t have been anything strange going on, they were just playing a game. But Celestia was acting so strange. “Um… how about we play with these toys together instead?” she said uneasily.

There was a moment of silence as Celestia seemed to process the words. “We can play in a moment, now come give your mommy a hug!”

“I… ” the little unicorn hesitated. None of this made any sense to her. No matter how brainy and well-read she was for her age, she was still a filly. And things that made her unsure frightened her.

The alicorn, perhaps tired of waiting, moved forward towards Twilight. The little unicorn backed away from her. Celestia looked hurt, then angry. “Come here right now, young lady, and give your mother a hug!”

“You’re not my mom!” Twilight cried out as she continued backing up, “I don’t want to play this game anymore!”

Celestia’s wings snapped once and propelled her forward. She snatched Twilight up in her front legs in an instant. The little filly, now scared beyond belief, yelled out in surprise and panic. “There, there,” the large alicorn said soothingly, “Mommy’s got you… ”

The door to the room burst open and the guard stationed outside, along with a few others, rushed inside, “We heard yelling, is there a problem here?”

Crying, Twilight tried to wiggle free from Celestia’s hug, but the princess wouldn’t let her go. She turned to the guards, smiling, and said, “Everything is fine. My daughter and I were just playing, that’s all.”

The guards looked to one another a moment before the one in the lead stepped forward, “Princess… that is not your daughter… ”

The princess was taken aback. “What are you talking about? Of course she is! Now get out so we can-”

“Princess,” the guard said again, more forcefully, “That is not your daughter. Take a look at her.”

Eyes set angrily, Celestia slowly looked down at the struggling filly in her arms. Twilight’s teary eyes stared back up at her, confused, afraid. The alicorn’s eyes went wide in realization.

Slowly, she set Twilight down. The unicorn ran right to the guards and hid behind one. The princess stared at the floor, tears coming to her eyes as well. “You may go,” was all she said.

Twilight between them, the guards turned and escorted the filly out silently.

No pony spoke until they were in the hall leading away from the royal chambers. The guards stopped and the two who had accompanied the one stationed outside the room left. When they were alone he turned to regard Twilight.

The little filly had never been so confused in all her life. She just kept staring at the ground, wondering what she had done to upset Celestia, what she had done to make her think she was her mother.

“Twilight Sparkle,” the guard said softly, getting her attention, “You did nothing wrong.” He saw that she was still confused and rubbed his neck. “I… the princess once had something very precious taken from her… I’m sorry, but it’s not something we’re allowed to speak about.” The guard moved out of her way. “Head on home for today. The princess will call on you for your next lesson… soon.”

Twilight’s mind continued to work over the limited information as she walked home through Canterlot. Her sniffling and red eyes drew stares but she ignored them. What the guard had told her resonated with a story she had read before.

She pushed the unlocked door to her house open. “Mom? Dad?” she called out. No pony answered. Her parents had been excited for her first day of magic tutoring and had gone out to celebrate before having to pick her up. That was fine with Twilight. She didn’t want to try to answer their questions about her dried tears.

Twilight had the biggest room in the house and needed it. The filly lit a candle so she could better navigate the room. The mountain of books that greeted her in her room was comforting, along with little Spike sleeping in his bed. Here, she felt safest of all. Facts found in books would always be constant, always be logical.

But in the stacks of books on every subject matter known to ponies were also story books filled with fantasy. Twilight moved over to those stacks and eyed them. “There!” Purple magic glowed around her horn. A large book in the middle of the stack was quickly pulled out and placed on the reading table beside her. The rest of the stack fell neatly into place.

The book’s jacket was old, peeling at the edges. “Tales from Equestria,” she spoke the title aloud. Her magical exercises with the princess had left her too drained to continue using her magic, so she used her hooves to turn the pages. She stopped when she found the one she was looking for. “The Sun’s Ray.” Illustrations accompanied the story across several pages.

The age of the book had taken its toll, however. It was difficult for Twilight to decipher the old Equestrian way of writing and the decaying of the pages made it worse. Still, she had inferred the story from the illustrations and the few words she could make out.

The first illustration depicted a sun shining over a field of flowers. She began, speaking softly so as not to wake Spike. “Once upon a time, there was a brilliant sun that protected the land. There was always happiness and every flower grew in peace.”

The unicorn turned the page gently. The second illustration a single, small golden flower receiving a direct beam of sunlight in the field. “There was a little flower the sun loved most of all. It was a flower that had bloomed from her ray. Every flower in the field loved the ray flower as well.”

She turned to the next page. This next illustration always made her uneasy. It showed the field of flowers, but something was wrong. Several flowers within the field were withering. “But one day, a sickness sprung up in the field. Flowers began to wither, and the others were powerless to stop it lest it spread among them all.”

She quickly continued, turning to the next page. The sun was shown shining brighter than ever over the field. Withering plants had wisps of steam floating away from them, the dark sickness being purged away. “The sun would not allow her field to wither, however. She focused her shine on her flowers, and sickness was expunged from them, and happiness radiated from them again.”

Twilight turned to the last page. Within a ring of flowers was the ray flower alone. It was withered, its small form made smaller. “But the sun could not stop all the withering. While she was saving her field, her ray flower had become taken with the sickness. Her small from could not hold out for the sun’s return, and she withered away.”

The next page’s illustration had been ripped out and the only word Twilight could understand was “tears”.

Thunder booming outside made her jump. Twilight rushed around a stack of books to the window. The sunshine was gone, replaced by thick rainclouds. She watched as rain began to pour down from them. “Tears… a small ray… playing house… ” The filly’s mind ran around in circles trying to put it all together.

All Twilight had was questions without answers, and she hated those. She slipped on her raincoat and started towards Canterlot Castle.

Everypony on the streets was running the opposite direction as they tried to get indoors. Twilight suddenly wondered where her parents were. They might have gone to the castle already to take her home. She picked up the pace.

Her parents were nowhere to be seen when she got to the castle, however. Three of the castle guards, including the one that had been outside the princess’s room, stood outside the castle entrance talking. He looked shocked that Twilight had returned.

“Miss Sparkle,” he acknowledged her courteously. “What are you doing out here? You should be at home.” He peered behind her, perhaps looking for her parents.

“Did… ” Twilight closed her eyes. She craved knowledge, but knew adults never liked being questions. “Did Princess Celestia ever have a child?” she finally blurted out.

All three of the guards tensed up. “That’s not something we’re allowed to discuss, Miss Sparkle,” the guard in front said softly.

“She did, didn’t she?” said Twilight. Everything was coming together in her mind. “That’s why she wanted me to… what happened to her?”

Each of the guards looked like they wanted to ignore her, but the one she spoke with the most waved the others off. “Go take lunch, fellas.” They looked relieved as they left. The remaining guard knelt down to look Twilight in the eyes. “Twilight, yes, the princess did once have a child. When she was around your age, Equestria was plagued with a terrible illness. The princess was forced to travel the country and heal the sick, but while she was away her own child… she contracted the illness. The princess saved the kingdom but lost her child.” The guard rubbed his eyes with a hoof. “Sometimes… she just wants to pretend she is alive again through other ponies. That’s why she acted that way with you…”

This time Twilight’s well-read mind came in handy. She could process this and understand it. It made sense to her, and so she could make the next decision that came to her easily. “Take me back,” she said, wiping her tears away, “I want to…talk to the princess…”

“Uh…” the guard was shocked. “I don’t know if that is a good idea, Miss Sparkle-”

“You’ll be there, right?” the filly asked, unable to keep from sounding pleading. The guard nodded. “Then it will be alright… ”

Sighing, “Alright,” he turned and escorted Twilight back to the door to the royal chambers. After making sure, once again, that the filly wanted to do this, he opened the door.

Celestia sat among the toys she had taken out of the chest. The balcony window was closed, rain hammering away at it. Using magic, she made a doll walk around slowly between a few play houses. Twilight recognized it as the one she had given her at first. She didn’t turn at Twilight reentering the room. The filly walked around the toys to stand a few hooves in front of the princess. The alicorn’s eyes were downcast and dried tears stained her cheeks.

“Princess Celestia… ?” the unicorn called to her.

No response. The doll continued its journey.

Twilight walked forward and got in its way. It bumped into her leg and toppled over. Celestia looked up from where it fell. Her eyes locked onto Twilight’s as she realized the unicorn was there.

Summoning up all her courage, Twilight spoke. “Princess Celestia… I am not your daughter and never will be… ” The princess’s eyes grew wide, but the unicorn continued, “I am Twilight Sparkle, and I want to be as close as a student can be to their teacher with you. So… if you want to pretend I am your daughter in order to keep teaching me magic… then that’s ok… ”

There was a long stretch of silence in the room. The guard by the door was slack jawed. Twilight shuffled uneasily on her hooves. Celestia stared at her, as shocked as the guard.

Finally, Celestia leaned forward. Her front legs slowly wrapped around Twilight’s neck but she didn’t pull the filly towards her. “I want… nothing more than for my ray to come back… ” Tears welled up in the alicorn’s eyes. Twilight started to tear up at the sight. “But… you aren’t her… you are Twilight Sparkle… ” She leaned forward and gently touched her forehead to Twilight’s. “I won’t ever forget that again… ”

Seeing her idol cry brought fresh tear to her filly’s eyes. Without hesitation, Twilight came forward and wrapped her front hooves around Celestia in a hug. The alicorn hesitated a moment before returning the hug. The two ponies held one another and cried.

Twilight walked into the library and placed her coat on the rack. The rainy season had come to Ponyville, and that meant lots of puddles for Pinkie Pie to splash you with. Even a sunny day this season meant a coat because of the silly pink pony.

Smiling, the unicorn headed for her writing desk. She had quite the tale for the princess today. As she approached, her eyes lingered the doll sitting beside her quill. Celestia had given her the doll from that day as a late going away gift a few days after she moved to Ponyville.

Gently, she took the doll up in her front legs and held it close. That day, she had grown closer to her teacher then she ever thought she would. Together, they had grown stronger.

Smiling, she placed the doll back and took out a fresh piece of paper.

Dear Princess Celestia…