Golden Crescent Letters Part I

Dear Diary,

I did it! I actually got into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns!  Wow, what a mouthful!  I'm already packed, but I don't leave for Canterlot until next week.  I'm so excited, I don't know how in the world my mother expects me to sleep; my hooves are shaking as I write this!  Luckily I'm holding the quill with my magic, so writing isn't a problem!  I can't even think right, my mind is racing around in excitement!  ME, just a seventeen year-old unicorn nopony, got into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns!  Wait until that dumb bully Ironside hears this!  Goodbye, Tall Tale, hello Canterlot!

Tried sleeping, couldn't. No surprise, there.  I wonder what Canterlot is like?  I've heard ponies tell stories about it from when they went on vacation.  They say it's going to be the biggest city in Equestria when it's done being built.  Some say it's the biggest city, already, even though it's not done. Bright Eyes got a telescope for Hearth's Warming Eve a year ago, and he let us see the castle all the way from Tall Tales! It's not much, so far.  Just a few towers and three or four bigger sections.  I hear that the surrounding streets have sprung up with a few houses, but mostly it's shops.  Looks like Canterlot might be more of a trading hub than a capital.

I wonder what the school is like.  I've heard that most of the students that do graduate end up taking a government role.  Head Mage/Wizard to the Throne, Disciple to the Head Mage/Wizard, Minister of Magics, or any of the 'slots' within the Ministry of Magic.  I wonder if they get to choose?  I'd rather not spend the rest of my life investigating foul use of magic with the Ministry... But still, even if we do get to choose, what do I want to do?  I use to think I wanted to join the Equestrian Army, but my mother would kill me before the Dragons do.  I don't know... I still have a few years to think about it - four, to be specific.

Dear Diary,

Might have made a bad move at school, today.  Rubbed it in Ironside's face that I got accepted into Princess Celestia's school, but all he did was grin and laugh.  Turns out that just means, for the next week, he wants to bully me twice as hard as a 'going away present'.  Dear Celestia, what did I do to deserve this brat?  I took a walk in the woods, after school to calm down.  Made sure Ironside thought I went home.  I've been careful about that ever since he and his jerk friends pelted me with stones from the bushes one day on a walk.  I come to the woods to relax, damnit...

Anyway, calmed myself down and listened to the wonderful sounds of nature.  It's almost Autumn, and the leaves are starting to brown.  A squirrel bounced up to me, so that was nice.  Just the little things, but it still made me feel good.  Only six more days...

Dear Diary,

There's so much to write about, I may have to take up tomorrow and the day after's pages!  The sky chariot flew in right on time, and I hugged and kissed my mom for as long as I could before the guards said they were on a schedule.  Two more kids to pick up before noon, and I was only the third one!  I tossed my bag in the space under the chariot with the others and could barely stop shaking as the guards flew off with us!  It was terrifying, it was exciting!  We were flying just below the clouds.  A few more feet and I swear I could have reached up and touched them!  But the guards told us to stay seated and hold onto the rails until we landed.  Didn't want to break the news to Princess Celestia that one of the students she accepted wouldn't be making attendance on account of being dead.

On the ride to Yanhoover I met Starlight Sprinkles, a light blue-coated mare.  She seemed really excited, too, but also really confident.  She said she came from Las Pegasus, and that her mother and father were actors!  I'm glad Starlight isn't like a lot of the snobby rich ponies I've heard about.  I really hope Canterlot isn't like that, either.

I also met a gray-coated stallion named Musical Glory.  He had this cute little blue bowtie, but he was so shy and nervous that all I got out of him was his name.  He seems nice, and he's kind of cute.

We picked up Velvet Magic in Yanhoover.  I already don't like her.  She's this white-coated mare with a black mane.  Her parents escorted her out of the house when the chariot landed, and they took one look at us and snorted in disgust.  She still got on the chariot, but she sat as far to the edge as she could so that she could be the first one off when we landed, if only to get away from us, faster.  She's one of those rich pony types I was talking about...

But I guess Salty Shores made up for it.  We picked him up in Manehatten before we made a beeline for Canterlot.  He's an eccentric stallion with a dark blue coat and a reddish-gray mane.  Just looking t his mane makes me tilt my head, no offense to him.  It just looks like one of those colors that shouldn't exist, but you don't feel good or bad towards.  Anyway, he comes from a family of fisher, yech.  But, apparently the Gryphons up north pay good money for Equestrian fish.  I guess they don't get many fish up north, or they have trouble holding fishing poles with those talons.  Salty Shores is really friendly, too, and he likes to sing.  He sang us a fisher tune his father taught him, but it was pretty raunchy, but still funny.  I don't remember all of it, but it went something like "the Captain said/fear not me lads/you all can come with me/I live just 'round the corner/and you all can stay for free/but when the Captain's wife awoke/upon the break of day/they say that you could hear her wailin'/clear to Horseshoe Bay!

That's all I can really remember, but it had us laughing in tears by the time he had finished.  Velvet Magic was the first one off when we landed, but the guards made her stay close to us so she wouldn't get lost as we were led onto the castle grounds and into the school.

The castle grounds alone were amazing!  I saw pegasi construction teams flying around overhead as they worked on the rest of the castle, I saw earth pony gardeners planting all over the place and setting up statues; there was even this one beautiful statue of a mare standing on he rhind legs with her head and one hoof to the sky holding up a crescent moon.  I wonder were these sculptors find their inspiration.  We didn't have time to sight see, though, and we were herded into one of the larger buildings attached to the side of the castle with about twenty other students.  Almost everypony was talking amongst themselves, getting to know each other's names and stories and generally making friends and being happy, if not loud, until the guards quieted us down as Princess Celestia came into the room.

I've seen her in paintings and had her described to me, before, but seeing the Princess of Equestria right in front of me made me shiver.  Not in fear, I don't know why I shivered.  But she was amazing!  Her smile was so loving, and her voice matched it as her eyes twinkled over all of us.  She greeted each of us, individually, by name! She welcomed us all to the school and explained that, from time to time, she'd be sitting in on some of the classes to see how we were developing.  She cared about each and every one of us, you could tell from the way she talked, and yet we had never met her up until now.

It was a magical experience.  I'll write more, but it's 'lights out' time, now, and I don't want to make a bad impression my first night here!