Twilight Time
Shining Star's POV
Shining was currently training her Elemental powers with Night in the Golden Oak library and she was starting to get the hang of it. Her new Cutie Mark definitely showed it, as three white stars in a triangle pattern sat on her flank. Shining's new friends, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, were also in the library learning things from Twilight. Shining had finished an exercise Night had made for her. "Very good, Shining. You're getting the hang of your powers quickly," Night told her.
"Well, I have a great teacher," Shining admitted.
"Don't say that Shining. His ego doesn't need to get any bigger," Twilight told Shining.
"What?! Me with an ego? Never," Night said with full sarcasm. "And, yes, I am a good teacher," he whispered to Shining.
"Heard that!" Twilight called out. She then turned to her students. "Um, Sweetie Belle, maybe we should run through the steps a few times before you try it on your own."
"Nope. Ready to give it a shot," Sweetie Belle said confidently.
"Okay then," Twilight told her. Sweetie Belle focused her magic on a nearby broom and attempted to move it, but all that happened was a crack from Sweetie Belle and the broom just fell to the ground.
"Agh! I think I threw my neck out," Sweetie Belle complained.
"Aw, you're okay," Scootaloo told her.
"A little more magic practice and liftin' brooms'll be a cinch," Apple Bloom added.
"You're doing quite well," Shining added.
"I doubt it, that thing weighs a ton," Sweetie Belle exaggerated.
Spike then came down the stairs. "Hey, has anyone seen my-" he started, then saw the broom on the floor. "Oh, there it is," he said before picking it up and sweeping.
"Hmph. I'll never get my cutie mark for this…" Sweetie Belle said.
"Maybe not. But I'm happy to keep helping you learn just for the fun of it as long as you like," Twilight told them.
"Hey! Who's going to clean up this mess," Spike suddenly said, standing next to the pieces of a unicycle.
"This is no mess! These are the carefully arranged pieces of a unicycle I took apart and will be putting back together… as soon as Twilight shows me how," Scootaloo said.
"Scootaloo, I already told you I won't show you how, but I'll help you find the instructions so you can figure it out yourself," Twilight corrected her.
"Ugh, I hate research!" she complained, walking towards the shelves.
"To your left, third shelf from the bottom. You'll find it in no time," Twilight told her.
"Thanks so much for helpin' us all learn these new skills, Twilight," Apple Bloom said.
"Only I'm afraid I'll never get the hang of this potion-makin'," Apple Bloom admitted.
"Did you follow the magic plant-growing formula I gave you?" Twilight asked.
"Well… uh… more or less," Apple Bloom admitted.
"Well, let's try it out on this apple seedling and see how we do," Twilight said.
"Oh… I hope this works," Shining heard Apple Bloom mutter. She flicked the switch on her potion device to let a drop fall on the plant. A dark yellow dust cloud came when the drop hit the plant and when it cleared the plant started to grow. The plant then started coughing heavily and very obnoxiously, which caused everypony but Apple Bloom to laugh. "Layin' it on a little thick there, aren't we, pal?" she asked the plant.
The next day, the four of them were playing four squares at school before the bell rang with Pipsqueak next in line when another pony called for everyponies attention. "Yoo-hoo! Gather 'round! It's time!" Diamond Tiara called out. Everypony started gathering around with Shining being a bit reluctant. "As you all know, I had promised to put on an amazing, first-time-ever acrobatic display for you all today!" Diamond Tiara said. The other foal's cheered at the prospect, though Shining was personally hoping Diamond Tiara would embarrass herself. "I know. It's so exciting. But I'm tired," Diamond Tiara stated. The foals sighed. "But I did not wish to disappoint you all, so I brought my butler Randolph to do them for me," she added. An old-looking pony walked up and did the performance and Shining was surprised that the elderly pony was that agile. When he did the finishing pose, Diamond Tiara knocked him out of the way and did the pose like she did it herself.
The foals cheered at the performance and ran up to Diamond Tiara, but Shining went up to Randolph to see if he was okay. "Are you alright?" Shining asked him.
"I'm fine, young lady. Just a kink in my bones," he said, sounding like he was in pain.
"Here, let me help," Shining said. She focused on her powers and a bright light emanated from her horn. When the light cleared, Randolph looked better.
"Why thank you. I don't know what you did but I feel a lot better," he said gratefully.
"No… No problem," Shining said, a bit worn out. She'd never tried to heal somepony else before, even though the scrolls from the Vault said that she could.
Shining then heard awes from nearby and saw the other foals looking at her. "What was that?" Diamond Tiara asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
"Oh… Uh… it wasn't anything important," Shining said shyly, lowering herself to the ground as if it would hide her.
"Personally, I think Diamond Tiara's performance was so much better," Silver Spoon stated, diverting the other foals' attention to Diamond Tiara.
"I know. I don't know how I do it," Diamond Tiara stated.
"I can't believe she gets so much attention without even really doing anything!" Apple Bloom complained.
"Especially since you clearly outdid her," Scootaloo added to Shining.
"I don't mind," Shining told her friends.
"You don't?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"No. I don't want to show off my powers before I'm ready. I just couldn't see that pony in pain," Shining answered, referring to Randolph, who was gone by this point.
"Still, she's using somepony else to build herself up, and without even putting any effort to learn her own skills like we do!" Scootaloo stated.
"Hey, come to think of it, if we get really good at the stuff Twilight's teaching us, we could be the big shots around here for a change! Hmm…" Sweetie Belle said. By the looks of her friends' faces, they were imagining what their new skills could do. Sweetie Belle then started giggling and she missed what Diamond Tiara said to her.
"Hey, can you hear me?" she asked.
"Huh? Huh? What? What?" Sweetie Belle asked when she snapped out of her daydream.
"I was asking if your sister Rarity will be taking you to Manehattan anytime soon?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"Because if she is, maybe you can meet up with us while we hang out with a bunch of famous celebrities," Silver Spoon added.
"Cool!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Wow, that's... pretty nice of you guys," Apple Bloom said in a bit of shock.
"Actually, my sister hasn't offered to take me to Manehattan anytime soon," Sweetie Belle admitted.
"Yeah, we figured," Diamond Tiara said.
"And the politeness is short-lived," Shining commented.
"Bump, bump, sugar lump rump!" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon said, doing their little dance.
Sweetie Belle scowled. "Oh, yeah?! Well, I don't have to go all the way to Manehattan to hang out with the famous and super-cool ponies! Me and my friends hang out with Princess Twilight and Prince Night all the time!" she told them. The four started to walk away, Apple Bloom smugly, Scootaloo with a plain expression, Sweetie Belle looking annoyed, and Shining wanted to crawl down a hole.
"D-did you say Princess Twilight and Prince Night?! You hang out with them all the time? For real?" Diamond Tiara asked, she and Silver Spoon followed the four.
"More like just once a week for the three of us," Apple Bloom admits, pointing to herself, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.
"She helps us learn cool new stuff to do! That we actually do ourselves!" Scootaloo added.
"So, what about you Shining?" Diamond Tiara asked her.
"I've… been living with Night for a while now. He's helping me with my magic," she admitted, choosing her words carefully.
Diamond Tiara looked a bit skeptical. "You must bring me along next time you go!" Diamond Tiara requested.
"Bring us along!" Silver Spoon added quickly.
"I mean, we used to see Princess Twilight around town all the time, and I thought, "whatever". And although Prince Night was around, I wasn't too impressed with him…" Diamond Tiara started.
"Me too. I thought that," Silver Spoon added.
"But now that she's a princess and Prince Night is the heir to Equestria's throne makes them totally awesome!" Diamond Tiara added. "And they're Alicorns. So can I-"
"We," Silver Spoon said quickly.
"-go?" Diamond Tiara asked.
The four exchanged a look. "I don't think we should," Apple Bloom started.
"Won't you two excuse us for a moment?" Sweetie Belle asked, pulling the other three away with her. "We should totally say yes. This is a golden opportunity," Sweetie Belle said eagerly.
"Are you kiddin'? I don't want them laughing at us while I'm mixin' potions and accidentally sendin' plants into choking fits," Apple Bloom stated.
"And I'd rather keep my Elemental powers a secret from them. The last time I showed them to ponies like them, I was called a freak," Shining added.
"But don't you get it? They'll have to learn something too," Sweetie Belle told them.
"And they won't' be able to laugh at us when they're so busy trying to learn stuff of their own," Scootaloo pointed out.
"I must admit it's kinda fun to see them workin' hard to get on our good side for a change," Apple Bloom added.
"They're rich ponies. They always find a way out of doing things themselves. I lived in Canterlot where those rich ponies always found a way out of things they didn't like," Shining told them.
"This isn't Canterlot, and there will be two royals in the room. They'll have to do something," Sweetie Belle countered.
"I can see I won't be able to convince you three, but I'm just going to say it now. This is a terrible idea," Shining said.
The four stopped talking and looked at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "So…?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"You two can come. We'll come to pick you up," Apple Bloom said.
When the day of what Shining's friends called "Twilight Time" came around, Night was setting up something new for Shining to practice. A knock was then heard at the door. "I'll get it," Twilight said. "Hey there, guys! Come on in!" she said after she opened the door.
"Princess Twilight!" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's voices squealed.
"What is going on?" Night asked as he walked up to the door.
"And Prince Night!" the two rich ponies squealed again.
"Oh, it's really them!" Diamond Tiara shouted.
"Oh, my gosh, I don't believe it!" Silver Spoon added.
"Oh, and, uh, you brought guests. Great!" Twilight said and Shining could tell she was trying to stay polite.
"Princess Twilight, Prince Night, it is such a thrill and honor to be here! You have no idea," Diamond Tiara said. "Oh my gosh, who dyes your tail?" she asked Twilight.
"I so have to get that done," Silver Spoon added as Twilight looked at her tail confused.
"Actually, it's not dyed. I've always–" Twilight started.
"Are those books in there? What a bold design choice!" Diamond Tiara complimented.
"You should so do that, Di!" Silver Spoon told her.
"It's a library," Night stated, but the two rich ponies ignored him as they entered the library. "So, what's going on?" Night asked.
"It was their idea. I tried to stop them but they wouldn't listen," Shining answered.
"Alright. Well, I hope their presence doesn't disturb you, but let me know if you feel uncomfortable with it," Night told her. Shining nodded.
"So, you said we were trying something new today?" Shining asked.
"Yep. I want you to take the light from this lamp and put it in this one," Night told her as he put two lamps down on the table, one lit, the other not.
"Okay," Shining said. She focused on the one light and tried to pull it out of the lamp. After a bit of work, she was unable to make the light leave the lamp. "Ugh. What am I doing wrong?" Shining asked in frustration.
"Stay calm. These things take time," Night told her. "Don't focus so much on the lamp itself. Visualize what you want the light to do," he suggested. Shining nodded and tried again. This time, the light started to leave the first lamp, but she lost concentration halfway through due to a crash sound, and the light suddenly flashed.
"Darn it," Shining complained when the light cleared.
"You made good progress," Night said. Shining wanted to try again, but she felt a little wobbly. Night seemed to notice and he put himself on her side. "Why don't we stop for now. You look worn out," he advised.
"Alright," Shining answered. Perfect timing too, as the other five fillies left the library.
"That could have gone better," Twilight stated.
"Let me guess, they were easily distracted?" Night asked.
"Yep. I hope it's better next week," Twilight said.
The next day, Shining joined her friends on the walk to school. "I can't believe I let you talk us into bringin' guests yesterday," Apple Bloom said to Sweetie Belle.
"I didn't hear them laugh at us once, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo pointed out.
"'Cause they laughed on the inside," Apple Bloom stated.
"Don't worry. We won't make that same mistake again," Sweetie Belle reassured them.
"I hope not," Shining stated.
"Aw, great. Look who showed up to make fun of us," Apple Bloom said as Diamond Tiara, and every foal from school showed up.
"So much for learning skills to be big shots," Scootaloo said.
"Hey, guess what! I told everyone about your special Twilight Time!" Diamond Tiara told the four.
"Oh, no, here it comes…" Sweetie Belle said and Shining braced herself for the embarrassment.
"And they all want in!" Diamond Tiara finished.
"Twilight Time! Twilight Time! Twilight Time! Twilight Time!" the foals chanted. That wasn't what Shining expected, but it was much worse.
"Thanks to me, you three are now the hottest thing around. You're welcome," Diamond Tiara added.
"We're doomed," Shining stated as the foals continued to chant.
"Wow! All these ponies really wanna meet Twilight that badly?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
"We love you, Cutie Mark Crusaders and Shining!" Pipsqueak called out.
"Oh, and I almost forgot. Shining here gets personal lessons from Prince Night so some amazing looking powers," Diamond Tiara told the crowd.
"What kind of powers?" Pipsqueak asked. Everypony looked at Shining and she wished she could just disappear. Ponies then started yelling out and Shining saw that the light around her was fading, leaving everypony else in the dark. She quickly realized this was her doing and tried to reverse whatever it was, but somepony slammed into her and instead of the light coming back gradually, it all came back in a big blast. When the light cleared, ponies looked at Shining and she was expecting to be yelled at.
"That was awesome!" Silver Spoon shouted and the ponies cheered, but Shining didn't feel any better.
"Now, now, everypony! Demanding time with the prince and princess as an unruly mob simply won't do. Might I suggest you get organized through us, the Cutie Mark Crusaders' and Shining Star's nearest and dearest friends?" Diamond Tiara suggested, referring to herself and Silver Spoon.
"Everypony get in line, no pushing!" Silver Spoon said and foals started lining up.
"What a mess," Apple Bloom stated.
"Of awesome!" Sweetie Belle finished, her friends looked at her confused. "Don't you see? We're really and truly and certifiably the biggest of the big shots in school right now!" she continued.
"Huh?" Scootaloo asked.
"They all think we're the greatest, because we're their ticket to get time with Ponyville's biggest celebrities, Princess Twilight and Prince Night!" Sweetie Belle clarified.
"We just said like two seconds ago that invitin' two ponies to Twilight Time was a big mistake! And now we're supposed to bring the whole class?" Apple Bloom asked.
"And I have enough problems with my powers as it is. I don't need everypony looking at me like I could do something at any moment," Shining added.
"Relax. I got this," Sweetie Belle told them.
The next day, the four of them approached Twilight and Night's favorite restaurant. "I don't like this Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said.
"You said not to invite them to Twilight Time and I didn't. So what's the problem?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"It feels like we're going behind Night and Twilight's back," Shining said.
"Yeah. It's like a trick," Scootaloo agreed.
"What's tricky about inviting Night Twilight out for a meal thanking them for all the nice things they've done for us? Seems like the least we can do for the prince and princess," Sweetie Belle countered.
"Did someone say "prince and princess"?" Pipsqueak suddenly asked as two more ponies appeared as well. Then Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon pushed them away.
Sweetie Belle looked over the bush they hid behind. "When I told you when you could come eyeball the prince and princess at one of their favorite hangouts, I said only two or three of you, tops!" she told them.
"Opps," a bunch of foals said and Shining could have sworn it was the whole class.
"They're coming!" Scootaloo warned. Shining saw Night and Twilight heading up to the restaurant.
"Okay! But stay out of sight!" Sweetie Belle told the foals.
The six ordered their food and Twilight was very hungry as she was diving into her food pretty heavily. "I didn't realize how hungry I was! I'm so glad you asked me to join you here today…" Twilight said with her mouth full.
"Please swallow before you continue," Night told her.
Twilight swallowed. "I'm so honored!" she told the fillies.
"You are?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"When you first asked me to help you develop new skills, I thought, 'Working with young students so devoted to the joy of learning purely for its own sake? What could be better?' You all remind me of myself when I was your age!" Twilight told them.
"You sure that's a good thing?" Night asked teasingly, earning him a glare from Twilight, but it didn't last long.
"Yes, well... we feel the same way," Sweetie Belle said, sounding a bit guilty.
"That's why we invited you here," Apple Bloom added.
"All because of our love of learning!" Scootaloo finished.
"Could they make it any more obvious?" Shining asked herself.
"Twilight! Night! Haven't seen you two here in, like, forever and a half!" Pinkie said as she came up to the group.
"We've been pretty busy recently," Night told her.
"I forgot how delicious everything is here!" Twilight added. As the two spoke, all the foals showed up in the window facing Twilight and Night's back.
"Totally! Hey, what's going on out there?" Pinkie asked, pointing to the foals. When the two royals turned to look, they hid. "Oh, never mind, they're gone." The two turned back and the foals returned. "They're back! Never mind, they're gone. La-la-la-la-la…" Pinkie said as she left, the same thing happening again. The foals then reappeared and started taking pictures.
Scootaloo then started posing with Sweetie Belle. "Knock it off," Apple Bloom told them through gritted teeth.
Shining then saw Night look at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then looked behind him. "What the…" he started as the foals hid.
He and Twilight then went to the window to look. "What was all this? And this?" Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo, doing poses.
"I couldn't help it! When I don't smile in a picture, I look sad," Scootaloo answered.
"Oh, we're gonna look sad all right…" Sweetie Belle said, putting her head on the table.
"You three are doomed," Shining told them.
"Hadn't noticed," Apple Bloom said sarcastically.
Night's POV
Night and Twilight stepped outside the restaurant to see a bunch of foals outside looking at them. "Uh, can we… help you?" Twilight asked.
The foals then started squealing excitedly and crowded the two. "Get my picture with them!" Diamond Tiara said, she and Silver Spoon getting near the two.
"Me first!" Pipsqueak shouted, getting in front of Silver Spoon.
"Hey! Get out of the shot!" Silver Spoon shouted, pushing the small foal away.
"What in the world is all this?" Night asked Twilight.
"I have no idea," Twilight answered as the foals cried out for autographs. "You seriously all want our autographs? Okay, I'll sign just a couple more for you, but then I really must get back to my little friends," Twilight said, pulling out a quill. Night heard the restaurant door open and the CMC and Shining walked out. "Oh, there you are!" Twilight said, also noticing them.
"Wow, to think I've been to the Hay Burger so many times, never knowing it's a regular hangout for royals!" Pipsqueak said in awe.
"This isn't our regular hangout. We're only here to be with them," Night told them, pointing his wing at the CMC and Shining.
"You mean, Princess Twilight and Prince Night decide where it's cool to go based on where they go?" Pipsqueak asked, pointing at the four.
"Huh?" they questioned.
"Thanks, guys, this was fun! We'll see you back at the library Shining," Twilight said as she and Night flew off.
"Something is up," Night said when they were airborne.
"You noticed it too. Well, not much we can do about it. Maybe Shining revealed her powers by accident," Twilight guessed.
"She hasn't said anything, so who knows," Night replied.
A few days later, Night and Twilight were surprised to see the swarm of foals outside the library. "Twilight, we can explain," Sweetie Belle started.
"We know you said we should just keep Twilight Time to us!" Apple Bloom continued.
"We didn't mean for so many other ponies to be here! Honest!" Scootaloo finished.
"Oh, don't be silly. I only meant that for your benefit so you could get the most out of our time together. But if you want to share your time with others, that's fine," Twilight told the three.
"So you're not mad?" Scootaloo asked.
"Of course not! Come on in, everypony! Spike made nachos!" Twilight told them. "Turns out we'll need some more than that," Twilight said to Spike. The dragon sighed and went to make more. "Before we start, we should maybe get a bit more organized? Ponies interested in magic in this corner. Ponies who want to learn potions over here. Bookworm ponies over there," Twilight said, organizing the foals.
"Come on Shining, let's use the other room," Night said, taking Shining into another part of the library.
"Thanks. I don't think I could work with all the others watching," Shining said.
"No problem. Now, let's see how much you've improved," Night told her, getting the lamps set up.
Shining's POV
Shining was worried that Twilight and Night would be angry at all the foals showing up, but they seemed fine. Shining just hoped that nothing would go wrong. She couldn't focus though with all the chatter going on in the other part of the library. "What is going on over there?" Night asked, walking towards the door.
The two stepped into the room and saw Sweetie Belle trying to do magic, Apple Bloom trying to do her potion, and Scootaloo attempting to take apart and put back together a scooter. It didn't work though, and Apple Bloom's potion splattered apple guts over everypony. "That didn't turn out quite how I had hoped," Sweetie Belle said.
"Looks like Twilight Time is over," Twilight declared.
"And look who's not the princess's entourage anymore," Diamond Tiara said smugly.
"Guess they didn't come here to learn after all," Silver Spoon added.
"Well, neither did any of you," Twilight pointed out. The foals left in disappointment with only Shining's friends sticking around.
"We're really sorry, Twilight. We made a huge mistake," Sweetie Belle apologized.
"And we really and truly did enjoy learning new skills with you," Apple Bloom added.
"Guess we'll have to just keep on doing it without you now. Thanks, Twilight," Scootaloo said. The three unknowingly did what Twilight had wanted them to do.
"Did they just?" Shining started to ask. Night and Twilight shared a look.
"Sweetie Belle? Remember a moment ago when you asked me to give you a chance?" Twilight asked the CMC. The three smiled.
Spike then came back with a ton of Nachos. "Aw, come on!" he shouted when he saw everypony was gone.
Twilight time was back on, and Shining was happy to see Twilight and Night give her friends another chance. Though the CMC had to disguise themselves coming in and out now. It was unnecessary though, as Night had put up a forcefield to alert him if the foals ever showed up again. "Why don't you tell them?" Shining asked him about it.
"Where would the fun in that be?" Night asked, a smile on his face. Shining couldn't help but giggle.