Shining Armor is, indeed, stuck there for quite some time. But sooner or ter, with the sun declining below the horizon, Shining Armor is able to persuade the young filly to retire to her quarters.

  The next day, nopony gets even a peep from Twilight, as the books she had gathered from the library, along with her 'creation' as Shiny had put it, are all the company she needs. But the following morning, it is time to head home; Since Twilight and Shining Armor's parents lived in Canterlot, they are both able to head home on the weekends from the castle.

  On her way out, Twilight catches sight of Rainbow Dash flying around over the castle. I feel a little bad for her. She doesn't get to see home at all. But one more thought of the library in the castle dispels that feeling of sympathy; maybe she should envy the pegasus, instead, given she'd have the opportunity to be surrounded by those glorious books Every. Single. Weekend.

  "Ready to head out, Twilie?" Shining Armor asks, waiting near the front gates. Inside, it is still retively quiet, as the guards keep pesky visitors at bay, but the throng of ponies outside can be heard through the stone walls of the castle. Twilight nods. As reluctant as she is to leave her books behind, she has more at home, and her studies had told her that getting rest would improve her ability to assimite new information when csses actually start next week.

  As soon as the two ponies open the gate, they are greeted with a flood of pony faces; there's no particur event, but the castle itself is practically always the recipient of tourists hoping to catch a view of the Princess of the Sun. But apparently, the Princesses new student also instigates a fair degree of interest, because as soon as they catch sight of her, a number of ponies point their hooves and chattered excitedly to eachother or snapped photos of Twilight.

  Twilight flinches in surprise. Somehow, it had never occurred to her that her new status would make her a local celebrity. She doesn't have time to think about it much, though, as a couple of newsponies quickly cram themselves into the fillies face. "Twilight Sparkle! As the princesses new student, many Equestrians are curious about life in the royal pace! Would you care for an interview?" The first pony asks, microphone in hoof.

  Twilight shakes in fear. Ponies in general aren't too hard for her to deal with; She's introverted and antisocial, not outright paranoid. But this much attention on her specifically is more than she was used to. "I-I... Um..." Twilight stammers out.

  Thankfully, Shining Armor stamps a hoof on the ground and gres at the newsponies so fiercely that they instantly recoil in fear. "As a Royal Guard, I speak with the authority of the princess when I say... Back off. Twilight Sparkle is not to be harassed or harangued on her way home." Shining Armor growls out with vitriol. The newsponies gulp anxiously and scurry away in terror, bowing their heads as they go and allowing Shining Armor to shoulder his way through the crowd, dragging Twilight along with him.

  Fortunately, the tourist types mostly just hang around the entrance to the pace, and once the two of them have reached Canterlot proper it is far less busy, and they are able to gain some level of privacy. Twilight breathes a sigh of relief. "Hey, Shiny? Aren't you just a cadet...? I don't think you actually have the authority to say any of that..." Twilight asks, doubtfully.

  Shining Armor just gnces back at Twilight and winks. "Sure, but they don't need to know that." He smirks pyfully, before raising a hoof and knocking on the door of their home. It isn't far from the castle, as the traditional estates of the nobility are on the upper ptforms of Canterlot, separate from the riff-raff.

  The families estate is modest by the standards of nobility; Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a couple hundred square meters. But what is there is still much more well maintained and crafted than average ponish architecture, even for Canterlot. The front door, an arched specimen made of seasoned oak wood with patterns carved into its surface, swings open revealing the siblings' father, Night Light.

  "You're back! So, how did your first couple days as the princesses newest student go?" Night Light asks, stepping aside to let the two ponies enter the room.

  "Actually, I'm not their newest student anymore." Twilight states, not considering the implications of that statement. Shining Armor strolls in and flops down on the couch, stretching out, while Night Light looks taken aback.

  "Huh? What happened?" Night Light pauses; He would expect Twilight to be heartbroken if she had been removed from Celestia's school just like that, but his daughter seems perfectly calm and content. So, he doesn't quite know how to react; should he be sympathetic? Worried? Supportive? Beyond that, Twilight seems to still be carrying the dragon she had hatched during the entrance exam with her, and hadn't come home early. As a result, Night Light can't seem to figure out how to interpret the statement. "Surely they wouldn't just drop you for no reason?"

  "Huh?" Twilight looks confused, before the filly connects the dots of how her father had misunderstood her. "Oh, no! I didn't mean that I'm not their student anymore. I just meant that they got another new student after me."

  Night Light raises his brow in confusion. "What? Really? They took in another unicorn?" From what he remembers, Celestia only did that very rarely; It had been years since their st student, and before that... He didn't even know if she ever had before But now there were two in the space of a week..?

  Twilight shakes her head, hopping up to the kitchen table. "Oh, no. She's a pegasus from Cloudsdale, named Rainbow Dash. Do you remember the rainbow surge that gave me the power to hatch Spike?" Twilight asks, absently stroking the little dragons spines while she speaks. "That was her, apparently! Oh, I'd love to study how she did that... I'll need to get her to do it again, sometime."

  Night Light exchanges a worried look with Shining Armor, lowering his voice. "You mean... Celestia's new student not only isn't a unicorn, but is a commoner?" He hisses, a tone of concern in his voice.

  Twilight blinks at him, cocking her head to the side. "Um, I guess so. What does that have to do with anything, though?" She asks, quizzically. It doesn't really seem particurly pertinent to the feat that Rainbow Dash had accomplished.

  "It sets a worrying precedent." Night Light states gravely. "I'm sure that there will be push-back from the other noble families, too." Night Light frowns, shaking his head. "Just what could the princess be thinking..." He mutters.

  "...But, that's enough of that, right now." Twilight Velvet interjects, as she had apparently been listening in on the conversation from the kitchen. A couple ptters of food are carried with her, levitated in her magic. "Tell us how life at the pace was! We want to hear all about it."

  "Well, there isn't too much to say." Twilight Sparkle states, scrunching up her face as she pulls up a seat and sits at the table with her mother. Shining Armor slides off the couch and also trots over to join them. "Csses don't start until next week, so I was mostly left to my own devices to get settled in. But my room is very cozy, and I was able to go to the pace library. It's not as big as Canterlot Library, but it has lots of really rare books I've never seen before! Really fancy ones, too." The filly excims, voice steadily getting more excited the more she talks about books.

  "That's great, honey." Velvet replies, smiling dotingly at her daughter. "What kind of books? Any good stories?" She asks, hopefully. Though her daughter does read narrative stories on occasion, it mostly only happens when she runs out of things to study. It is good that she is so studious, but Velvet can't help but feel a tad more recreation might be warranted.

  But the filly just shakes her head. "Well, no, not yet anyways. I've been reading all about dragon physiology for our new friend here. Oh! That reminds me, do we have any gemstones? Apparently, that's the favorite food of a dragon. He seems to be doing alright so far on a diet of rocks and milk so far, but I'm sure his diet could use some more variety. Apparently, dragons mostly need minerals for developing their bones and scales, with other food being used mostly for energy..."

  Twilight seems ready to go on a two hour long diatribe about dragon physiology that would certainly go over everypony else's head, so her mother quickly interjects before she can get too far along on her tangent. "How about the crown? Did either of you do anything that warranted more points while at the pace? No making things up either now, both of you py fair now."

  Twilight blinks, re-orienting her mind to the new topic. Pretty quickly, something does in fact pop into her mind. "Um, Shiny took time out of his schedule to help me find the library and stayed with me while I was reading! I think he deserves a point for that!"

  Shining Armor narrows his eyes, looking almost competitive as he leans forward and points a hoof at his sister. "Well, Twilie created life. I think that's worth more than a point." He points out, triggering confused looks from both Night Light and Twilight Velvet. Remembering that his parents weren't privy to the conversation with Celestia, the colt expins "The 'egg' she hatched Spike from wasn't even an egg, it was just a rock! She literally created Spike from nothing!"

  The two siblings parents sputtering in shock is utterly lost on Twilight, who pces her forelegs up on the table in a dispy of shockingly bad table manners as, not to be undone, she announces more of her brothers accomplishments. "Yeah? Well, you were so amazing at your drill when I got there that even the princess was impressed! You matched the entire enemy team with your shield spell!"

  The white colt blushes a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, you saw that, huh?" He asks, flustered, struggling to think of something. "W-well, you... Uh..." Shining Armor scrambles to think of more things, but honestly he hadn't seen too much of Twilight except for that one evening which she had spent reading; That wasn't exactly anything worth writing home about, considering who he was talking about.

  "And not only that, but Shiny shooed away some nosy ponies to let us walk home in peace!" Twilight continues her offensive, looking smug.

  Night Light and Twilight Velvet both look at eachother, looking rather surprised. "Well, I guess that is hard to argue with. We'll have to tally up those points, but it sounds like Shining Armor will probably win the crown this week." Twilight Velvet states, though not very definitively.

  Her daughter blinks, apparently just then realizing that she had successfully argued her way out of winning the crown, and wilts. "Oh, right... That is what that means, isn't it." She states, sheepishly. "...Yay?"

  "Now you two, eat your dinner. I'm sure you can use the energy after all that training... And reading."

  With her nose buried in books well beyond her ages usual reading comprehension, Twilight's folks don't see much more of her that weekend. But come monday morning, the filly is an excitable, high-strung, and anxious wreck, waking up hours before it is strictly necessary. Celestia's calm and pleasant demeanor had done much to set her worries at ease previously, but that had been days ago now, and her mind had plenty of time to work itself back into a state of abject terror.

  "What if I miss something!?" Twilight frets to Shining Armor, wearing out a circle on the floor where she is pacing back and forth. "What if there's a pop quiz on the first day and I fail it and get expelled or thrown in the dungeon or banished to space!?" Twilight continues rattling off increasingly more and more paranoid suppositions, while Shining Armor just stares nonplussed into the mirror where he is currently brushing his teeth.

  "Did you try making a list?" Shining Armor suggests, after gargling and spitting out the toothpaste in the sink. "That's what dad always does when he's trying to make sure he didn't forget anything. Maybe you'd feel more at ease if you did."

  Twilight perks up. "That's a great idea, Shiny!" The filly zooms away into her room, leaving Shining Armor to stare tiredly into the mirror and try to psych himself up. From now on, whenever he went to cadet school at the pace at the start of each week, he would be walking Twilight to school as well, and walking her back every weekend. While his parents had told him it was to keep Twilight company, he knew better; He'd heard them talking worriedly, te at night, when they thought he was asleep.

  Twilight being Celestia's pupil now paints a target on her back. Shining Armor reminds himself, taking a deep breathe. If anypony targeted her on her way to or from school, it would be up to him to protect her. At least she'll be safe when she's at the pace. None of the noble houses would dare send an assassin or foalnapper there.

  Not that he was going to mention any of this to his little sister; She is anxious enough as it is without worrying about aristocratic politics. He just has to be sure to keep a close eye on her. With that in mind, Shining Armor levitates his armor over to himself and hastily pulls all the straps tight. Twenty-seven seconds. Pretty fast. Shining Armor notes to himself approvingly, regarding the speed at which he had equipped himself. Cadets always wear their armor while at css, to help them get used to wearing it and performing physical activity while burdened by its weight. He barely even notices it anymore.

  "I ran out of room on the scroll..." Twilight pops back into the room, trailing an egregiously long scroll filled with inane details about what she had to do. "But it's a good thing I made the list, i almost forgot my backup-backup-backup quill! That would have been a disaster!"

  Shining Armor chuckles and shakes his head. "Yeah, alright, Twilie. There's still quite a while before it's time to go. I'll let you in the bath first, so just try and rex, alright? I'm sure it'll all be fine." He tries to reassure his younger sister. Celestia knew she could use the rexation- As it was, she would be too high-strung to actually absorb any lessons.

  Shining Armor trots out of the bathroom and shuts the door behind him, hearing it lock a second ter. He smiles a little wistfully at the reminder that his little sister was growing up; Just st year, they had still taken baths together, but now she is independent enough to take them by herself.

  The rest of the morning rgely consists of trying to reassure the filly that no, Celestia would not in fact eject her from the pnet if she happened to get a question wrong. Twilight had gotten up, and gotten Shining Armor up by extension, at a painfully early hour of the morning, so it is quite some time before they are supposed to leave; As a result, there is more than enough time to eat breakfast, take a long rexing shower, and even take a short nap before it's time for the two siblings to set off for the Canterlot pace.