Three SUPREMELY aggravating hours later...
It really wasn't fair. Seriously. Had Glory been born a unicorn, she was certain that the ponies in the palace would no doubt have held the door open for her when she said she was here to take the test, and given that she'd started out three hours before the test was even scheduled, she'd no doubt have been offered a bath, and maybe even a set of clean clothes. Instead... instead she'd spent the last three hours answering the same questions over and over again, and then pointing out that there was no stipulation stating the test was unicorn exclusive, and then finally stating that the one who ultimately would decide if Glory could take Luna's test was Princess Luna herself. She'd repeated all of it so many times, being passed on from one clerk/attendant/courtier to another that it had almost become a mantra.
If Flash hadn't been there, with his rather significant clout as one of Princess Cadance's personal guards, then Glory might still have been turned away. Instead, it had just turned into a long, frustrating ordeal that could easily have been avoided, and time she could have otherwise spent getting cleaned up and eating something: Those adorable little cabbits had seen Glory take out her breakfast, the last bit of food she had for the trip, and had given her what she would always consider The Face. From a hundred cabbits at once, The Face had an almost physical impact, and left her unable to eat, instead giving her meal to them, in exchange for a seemingly limitless supply of hugs. Sadly, not being a changeling, Glory couldn't eat hugs.
But now she was here, sitting in a chair, in the hallway. It had been made clear that she was going to be the last one to take the test, in spite of having gotten here first. She'd have to let everypony else have their shot, and even then, provided Luna didn't find a student and just called the whole thing off, there was no guarantee that Glory would get her chance since Luna might say no, and nopony was going to 'waste her time' by asking her right off if there was any problem with an earth pony taking her test.
It made Morning Glory want to tear out her hair and scream, but if she wanted to take this test, it was something she was going to have to tolerate. However, she did make it a point to memorize the name of each and every pony who'd treated her this way, for later on....
Regardless of the headaches of the past, she was here now, watching unicorn colts and fillies file in and take seats at the opposite end of the hall. Glory felt a bit out of place, sitting in a chair in this hallway: She was the only earth pony in this herd of unicorns, and all of them had a certain... refined look to them. Naturally, these were probably Canterlot colts and fillies, maybe even the sons and daughters of the fantastically wealthy or politically powerful. They were all dressed in their best, those who were wearing clothes, and all of them were clean, brushed, combed, and primped to perfection... which made Morning Glory, who was dirty, disheveled, and with a mane and tail matted and tangled from the road, feel like a duck in a room full of swans... or maybe peacocks.
Glory had expected some of the colts and fillies here to be talking to one another, but instead, everypony seemed to be... well, for lack of a better word, they almost seemed to be angry at each other. It took her a minute to realize why: Princess Luna would likely only choose one, or maybe two, ponies to be her personal student. This meant that, out of all of the colts and fillies here, only one or two could expect to be chosen. That meant that there weren't likely to be any friends in this hallway, only rivals.
"Hi, my name's Golden Glow, but everypony calls me Goldie! What's your name?"
Glory, surprised, looked to her right, towards the chair reserved for the next-to-last participant, where the voice originated from, and was surprised to see a yellow, no, a goldish unicorn filly sitting next to her. She had a smile on her face and seemed to radiate so much good cheer that it was a hair's breadth from being unnerving, and so much... vivacity that it seemed as if she might start bouncing off the walls at any moment. Her coat was a goldish color, and her blonde mane and tail, while elegantly styled, had a slightly frayed look to it. Given that she seemed to be almost vibrating with excitement, it was easy to see why: Whatever stylist had done her mane today had done an expert job, but the enthusiastic filly was likely to shake it apart within the next half-hour from pure enthusiasm.
Most of the ponies here had a studious air to them, but Golden Glow looked like somepony who, if left alone for thirty seconds, would start climbing trees, splashing in mud puddles, and more or less just run around having adventures, and having the time of her life. Goldie seemed to stick out in this crowd as much as Glory did, if not more so.
Apparently, nopony had told this energetic unicorn that there were no friends here. Well, there wasn't any rule, or a sign declaring this a no friend zone, and Glory was at the back of the line of participants, so there really wasn't any harm in talking to somepony.
"My name's Morning Glory, but you can call me Glory," she said, after a moment's hesitation.
"Nice to meet you, Glory," Goldie said, that almost worrying smile still on her face. "So you're here to take the test?"
Glory nodded.
"Me too," Goldie announced. "I'm a shoe-in for Princess Celestia's student, but my mommy thought it would be a good idea to at least try out for Luna's student first, if for no other reason than the fact that most of the ponies here will be at Celestia's test, too, so it's a good opportunity to scope out the competition."
Glory was uncertain which was more impressive, the fact that Goldie was that blatantly confident that she could announce something like that in a room full of competitors, or the fact that she'd said all of that in just one breath. Or perhaps the fact that she had said it the same way she might have discussed the weather: To her, the fact that she was the top candidate for Celestia's student was completely and utterly unremarkable to her, and trying out for Luna's student was practically slumming for her...
By all rights, Glory should have disliked her for that, but the words were said without any sort of arrogance or pride. They were instead said with such innocence, and yet with such self-assurance, that the young earth pony honestly couldn't doubt her. Besides, what she'd said made sense: The cream of Equestria's next generation of unicorns was gathered here in this hallway. Any pony who would be willing to try for the position of Luna's student would be sure to try for Celestia's next.
...Which heavily implied that the filly with the seeming excess of energy and enthusiasm was 'eccentric', rather than weird. It takes a lot of money and power to be eccentric. About the same amount it took to turn a 'crazy cat-lady' into an 'enthusiastic animal lover'.
"Ummm," Goldie began, seeming a little uncomfortable with bringing up what she suspected was a touchy subject, "aren't you an earth pony?"
"Your powers of observation are simply mind-boggling," Glory replied sarcastically, then immediately regretted it, and not just because Goldie seemed to be a nice, friendly filly. If this filly really was the daughter of somepony wealthy and powerful, then mouthing off to her could be the worst idea in the history of bad ideas...
Her train of thought was derailed when Goldie began giggling. "You're funny," the unicorn said, laughing. She paused, then said, "You know, no one ever said that it was unicorns only, or that Luna would be teaching magic to her student, yet here we are, with nearly all unicorns. I guess everypony just assumed that Luna's student would have to be a unicorn."
Glory gave a half-smile, and said, "I think a lot of ponies are going to be going home disappointed if it turns out that Princess Luna was looking for a pegasus to give flying lessons to... or just an earth pony to teach her secret family recipe for apple strudel."
Goldie burst out laughing again, and asked, "Oh, that would be funny, wouldn't it?" After her giggle fit ended, she asked, "So, tell me about yourself."
And, surprising herself, Glory did. She'd never really had another pony to talk to before: Early on in her life at the orphanage, a small group of the older colts and fillies had decided that Glory was going to be the primary recipient of their petty cruelties, and the others, fearing that they might draw the ire of those tormentors if they tried to be her friend, had kept well away from her. As such, she'd never really had another pony to talk to, asides from Miss Butterbean, and she was often busy with the hard work that comes with being the only mare in charge of twenty colts and fillies, twenty-four seven.
And what truly seemed amazing was that, as Glory spoke, Goldie listened. She was honestly, genuinely interested in everything that Glory had to say. She was the kind of pony who, when you talked to her, you could see it clearly written upon her face that you had her full attention, and that if you asked her to repeat what you'd just said, she could do so from the very start of the conversation, even after an hour.
And before she knew it, Glory had poured out her entire life story, from the difficulties she'd had at the orphanage, to the trek here on hoof from Cloudsdale (Although she kept everything about Blackberry out of it. He had asked her to keep things quiet, after all), and ending with the unbelievable unpleasantness of this morning.
Something happened as she finished her description of those three nightmarish hours she'd gone through. She found she was crying...
Glory was not a pony prone to tears. By the age of three, she'd learned that crying did nothing to stop the other colts and fillies from bullying her. In fact, it often seemed to spur them on. When she'd stopped crying, and just stoically endured the name calling, the pranks, and other humiliations they put her through, they'd become less frequent, Morning Glory had experienced an epiphany: Tears solved nothing. If she wanted to accomplish anything, she couldn't just sit around crying, she had to do something about whatever was happening herself.
To be seen crying like this... it was embarrassing, but the thought that there were adults who could be jerks just as bad, or worse, than some of the colts and fillies at the orphanage, and that adulthood might end up being just as bad, if not worse, than the present, was just too much to bear...
And then, today became another first for Morning Glory: For the first time in her life, she received a hug from a pony her age.
"I'm sorry," Goldie said, sadly, and Glory could feel tears falling upon her shoulder. "Nopony should ever get treated the way you were. When we're done here, I'll have a word with my mommy, and tell her what happened. She'll do something about it, believe you me. In the meantime..."
There was a sudden flash of light, and suddenly, Glory and Goldie were sitting in each others chairs. At Glory's surprise, Goldie giggled and said, "I'm sorry it's only one spot. Normally, I'd be first in line, but mommy pulled some strings to have me at the back of the line so I could keep an eye on the others. Believe me, if I was in first, and you were last, I'd still trade with you. But one spot closer is still better." There was no mistaking Goldie's sincerity as anything other than genuine: Even if the line had been billions long, she'd have still swapped with Glory in a heartbeat.
Glory smiled, wiped the tears out of her eyes, then nodded, and said, "Thank you."
However, inside her head, wheels were turning: Glory knew enough about magic to know that teleportation was an extremely challenging spell, and most dedicated students of magic were lucky to be able to manage the most basic of such spells in their teens, if not later. Performing not one, but two, simultaneous teleports, and switching the positions of the two ponies being teleported, was a feat that normally took years of study. So much so that it was to the point that a magic-user might hit middle-age, or later, before they were confident enough to perform such a spell on themselves, let alone somepony else. Golden Glow wasn't kidding when she said she was the top candidate for Celestia's new student: She was only five years old with no cutie mark, and yet she was already casting spells at the level of an adept, if not a master!
NEW CHAPTER UP!!!
All of the yes
So basically, Golden Glow is Twilight... but better in every way?
Hmm...
That filly reminds me of a certain cake-loving individual...
And thus the character pool deepens...
Golden glow kinda gives off a Pinkie Pie vibe to me... Only thing I can say about the chapter though is:
orig07.deviantart.net/e72f/f/2013/127/1/3/thor_and_mlp_meme_for_fimfic_by_ponpheonix-d64fsvg.jpg
6539685
Pfffttt...
Twilight is losing some points here against a filly!
6539685
More like Pinkie Pie as a unicorn: The cheerfulness, the energy, the all-around niceness, and at the same time the surprisingly transcendent intellect hidden beneath the seemingly ditzy surface: Pinkie Pie can memorize enough information about others to fill ten-thousand libraries, and always keep it straight without fail. Imagine being able to apply that kind of eidetic recall, in addition to the rest of that hidden brain-power, to spell-casting.
If you were to divide the Mane 6 into two groups, the ones who shared similarities with Glory, and the ones similar to Goldie, Glory would have Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Applejack. Goldie would have Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash.
Oh wow. ... Bestest review ever right? XD It surmises everything I just read into two words, lovely.
I want to see more of Golden Glow. I like her. She seems like what I'd imagine if Pinkie Pie and Twilight had a kid.
The things Morning Glory could get inti with a friend like Golden Glow.
Brilliant.
Oh dear.
Either Golden Glow becomes a bitter rival (unlikely, if she's really that nice)
Or
Golden Glow's MOTHER becomes a bitter rival... because Glory beat her daughter out of the apprenticeship by pure luck of switching Just. One. Seat.
After successfully becoming Luna's student, I would've asked for a favor. For Luna to gather all of the clerk/courtiers/attendants in one place to have Luna announce she picked an Earth Pony for a student and to go "IN YOUR FACES!".
END OF CHEEAPTER!!!! And so, as Morning Glory arrived at the castle, after three hours of convincing the guards to let her in to take the test, she finally got in line. Directly in front of her was a unicorn filly her age, Golden Glow, to whom she told her life story. Just who was this mysterious filly anyway? What kind of test will Glory take, and will she be able to pass it? (Even though we as readers know this from the previous story.)
6539812
It's a possibility. I definitely can see the mother being the bigger chance, but it sounds like Goldie is a serious savant, and will be going places even if she somehow doesn't get a princess apprenticeship (honestly, if Celestia doesn't take her, I can see her being quickly placed under Twilight simply due to her power output). After the whole "my mom just figured, 'why not, lets check out your competition'" thing, I have a feeling mother dearest isn't going to be offended at all in the end. Maybe a bit at first (tribalism, most likely), but the Luna position wasn't even what they were aiming for. As Glory pointed out, they seem to be treating it as pretty low on the totem.
6539824
I second this motion. Why else would she memorize their names, if not for payback. (Unless Glory is a long-term kinda gal, in which case they're going to be having lots of fun in a few years.)
6539832
Are you saying there's something wrong with flashbacks?
You clearly wouldn't get much out of watching anime. (Also, I definitely read your comment in the "Next time on Dragon Ball Z" voice. It was great)
6539755 THIS!! SO MUCH THIS!!
Also really awesome new chapter! This mysterious new friendly pony is most intriguing. I hope she becomes a Friendly Rival for Glory! Frankly these new chapters just can't come fast enough <3
6539812 Or maybe it becomes a more friendly rivalry if Golden becomes Celestia's apprentice and they'll end up like Kakashi and Gai from Naruto. Three guesses which is which in that scenario.
6539812
Or option three. I could give you a hint what that is, but there have been plenty of hints already.
6539865
Golden Glow is secretly Celestia in disguise?
6539685
I'm gonna go with Celestia in disguise. My reasoning is: because.
6539859 I was simply doing a Paper Mario style chapter colclusion. (The extra Es come from a let's play series of Paper Mario)
Nice chapter.
6539872
Or Golden Glow is Celestia's daughter.
6539713 So... you basically took Pinkie (who, after literally falling apart in today's episode and putting herself back together, I'm pretty sure is related to Discord, somehow) gave her a horn and age regressed her?
I'm gonna go with Goldie being Celestia's foal, given her comments and how she responds to Glory's life story.
Or an Infinite Improbability Drive in pony-form.
6539812
Or they become the best of friends, each with one of the Canterlot princesses as a mentor.
6539888
I see it now. Even the comment about the previous story fits that tone.
Which reminds me of something. Something I've put off for far too long.... *fires up emulator machine, pulls up Paper Mario I and II. Was not seen for days*
Hm, I'm honestly not sure what to make of this development. I am really liking Goldie's personality and was immediately thinking she was a shoe in for Celestia's student on that alone once she mentioned it because I cannot see Celestia taking one of the grouches. I can totally see old Sunbut parking the whole testing class out in the lobby and infiltrating them to see what they are like to others as the real test or at least spying on them to get a feel for who they really are which would give a pony like Goldie an easy win. She would probably not understand that it had nothing to do with her magic until she was told after the fact and the others would definitely be in the dark, but she still would have been right. Morning Glory's selection as Luna's student also would have had a major impact on this because the two would likely have remained friends and even if not, Celestia would have undoubtedly heard about Goldie through Morning Glory which would have influenced her decision.
That said, I do have a major problem with Goldie which stems from the teleport at the end. As I already explained, she was already a clear winner for the position of Celestia's student based on her interpersonal skills, so giving her an insane magical edge was completely unnecessary. All it really does is make her come off as a Mary Sue who is just better than Twilight at everything in spite of her young age. She is a perfect social butterfly who is also somehow better at magic than the pony who's special talent is magic, spent her whole life learning magic to the exclusion of social skills, and was good enough at magic to become an alacorn. That just feels absurd, over the top, and completely unnecessary to me no matter how I think about it so I would seriously consider cutting out the unnecessary teleport.
That said, it is possible that you are hinting at something big like Golden Glow being Celestia in disguise which is entirely possible even if Luna did not appear to be aware of it in the other story. After all, there is no way Celestia wouldn't be capable of that kind of magic and I could definitely believe that she would sneak in to get a feel for the ponies that she will be testing soon by being bubbly and trying to connect with them. I will wait and see for now because something like this will likely come out fairly soon, but this development definitely has me concerned for the time being and I doubt you will spoil it so I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
6540063
Yeah, that being Celestia in disguise secretly checking on the participants sounds about right. Otherwise both her magic and social skills and maturity make no sense from a five year old cutie-markless foal.
6539812
Well, the positions may not matter, since the test isn't looking for magical prowess.
i found an error. in the prequel the guard says to luna that glory is the last candidate. but here you say that glow was also their, making the guards Words in the prequel wrong.
6540264
You'll see.
6540264 I noticed this as well. This, above all else, suggests that the Celestia in disguise theory is correct.
6540363
Yeah, Goldie obviously wouldn't be on the list of participants if she was actually Celestia who pranced in to take a discreet look. Also makes sense why she insists of going last if she's Celestia - Luna might take offense if she decided to troll her in the middle of the testing process and just waste everyone's time.
By going last she can actually not go at all without raising a fuss or if she's feeling frisky troll Luna without derailing the procedure.
And on top of that it was mentioned in the previous chapter that Celestia actually isn't planning on taking a new protegee at all for the foreseeable future,
Golden Glow. Wow, she's pretty darn awesome and kind.
Wait, something's off about her. I think like what other people said, she might be somepony in disguise.... Hmm.... Anyways, keep up the great work!
Personally I love the idea that Golden Glow is Celestia - to tell her sister later how her new student behaved while waiting.
6540264
6540313
I was wondering about that that. The way I had it figured there were three possibilities:
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/spongebob/images/f/ff/Can_You_Spare_a_Dime%3F_10.png/revision/latest?cb=20141103124258
1. It was a mistake. (Unlikely based on my impression of the writer thus far and how relatively short we are into the story.)
2. Golden Glow somehow disappears between now and testing time proper. (Less unlikely, but I'm concerned about how that might happen since there are a lot of eyes in that room.[I forget, is this room guarded?])
3. This is an AU where the events of the previous story are only echoed. (The most likely through logic, but the most unlikely due to the shear amount of disappointment [???< I don't think that's the right word. What's a cross between that and confusion? It would be kind of a letdown.] it would cause. Though that could just mean it's setting up to cross with itself. And now that I think about it Blackberry did say something about travelling to other worlds...)
The Celestia theory would seem to add validity to #2, but the thing is I've seen similar theories brought up before with a 0% accuracy rating thus far so color me sceptical on that one. Either way #2 is my current prediction. No crazy theories or scepticism attached.
6540430
6540313 Glory was supposed to be the last in line. They saw Glory was next, and simply assumed there wasn't another in line, because they only look at the one next in line, not the complete line. Such assholes.
Maybe Golden Glow did not use teleport to switch them. She could use Pinkie Power to pinkiepie them.
Some nice feels in this one. The upward battle that Glory is facing would break ponies three times her age. She's persistent if nothing else.
Tears not working? Perhaps she's never tried temper tantrums.
I see many think it's Celestia in disguise at the end there. Personally, my money is on the fay creature Glory met earlier. Seems he's working towards clearing that debt.
I guess we'll find out soon!
THINGS. THEY ARE HAPPENING. THE ANSWER IS TO FLIP THE PAN, NOT THE CAKES.
AAAAARGLEBLARBGHFHGJK;
I really hope Golden Glow is simply what she looks like, a really nice pony of Glory's age and not somebody/somepony in disguise. She seems the sort of emotional support from an equal Glory needs.
Luckily, they don't seem to be very genre-savvy, because otherwise they'd realize that the presence of a dirty and dishevelled Earth pony would be a dead giveaway that she's the main character and inevitably going to win.
I suppose Glow could be Celestia. She normally goes by Sunny Skies, but that's a Pegasus; maybe she can disguise herself in other ways. I agree though, it'd be nice if Glow really is just a kind and incredibly gifted filly.
I feel as of you forgot a concluding paragraph or sentence; it just seems to abruptly cut off at the end.
This kid keeps getting better and better!
Also people, exert from the story description
I'm thinking that Goldie might, JUST might be a actual filly BUT along the same lines of parentage/bloodlines/whatever else that MG is/has.
6540659
Jury's still out on whether that's actually Celestia herself in disguise though
In the previous story Celestia herself said she doesn't plan on taking on any students in the immediate future. So when Goldie says
is actually a lie, because there is no test for becoming Celestia's student, as Celestia isn't taking on a new student.
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.