> The Origins of Friendship
>  by Tealove
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Twilight Sparkle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	One of Twilight Sparkle's earliest memories was sitting in her crib and watching her mother argue with her big brother, Shining Armor. Toys were scattered all around her room, through the open doorway she could easily see magazines, dirty dishes, empty shopping bags and all matter of clutter taking up space in the living room. Shining Armor was angry at their mother again for not keeping the house clean. He wanted to bring friends home but said he was too embarrassed to let them know what kind of house he lived in. Twilight Velvet, their mother, complained that she never had any help in keeping up with the daily chores and accused their father, Shining Crescent, of never being around. 
The fights back then had been pretty commonplace, so much so that little Twilight never knew anything different and they hardly bothered her. It was only when voices were really raised that she would start to whimper. Yet no matter what turn the argument took her big brother would always come into her room and close the door to the ongoing mumbles of complaints from their mother.
“Hey, Twily.” His smile was always easy for her and he took great care when lifting her from her crib to bring her close for a snuggle. “You're too big for that thing.” He said the same thing almost every day. In truth, Twilight definitely was too big for a crib but it was easier to keep track of a young filly when she was contained.
Twilight closed her eyes and snuggled up happily under her brother's chin. “Bwudder.”
The elder sibling smiled and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You and me against the world, little sis.” She lifted her head so he could see her smile and nod, then climbed down from his embrace to rush over to a cluttered craft table. 
“Wook!” Her forehooves rested atop the table and she turned excited violet eyes to her brother. “Wook!”
Shining carefully made his way over, taking pains not to step on anything. “What'cha got here?” Before Twilight was a piece of paper covered in whole and broken bits of macaroni noodles and sodden through with glue. “Did you make this, Twily?”
“For you!”
“For me?” He didn't dare pick it up or even move it, too afraid was he of wrecking her precious creation. She was always making things for him, always things he could never guess at what they might be, but each and every thing was kept and cherished. With an appreciative grin, he ruffled her short mane. “Thanks, Twilight. I love it.”
She launched herself at him and wrapped her short legs around one of his. Her vocabulary wasn't very large yet, but it was more than obvious how intelligent she was already. She never said she loved him, never even said she loved her parents, but her hugs were always tight and they spoke volumes over what words would say.
With a small sigh, Shining looked around the small messy room. “How about we get this place cleaned up a bit, okay?”
“Yay!” Twilight threw herself into the mess with exuberance. She burrowed her way to the floor to make a clearing for herself, then began sorting her toys into different spaces on the floor. Shining Armor sat beside the craft table and bit on a grin just watching her.
“Twee,” the little filly muttered, placing a plastic tree into a pile of more plastic trees. “Twain.” She had a small collection of trains Shining passed down to her. Dipping her muzzle, she picked up another plastic figure in her teeth and looked at her brother with question. 
It made Shining chuckle. “Human.”
The word alone made Twilight laugh. Her eyes crinkled as she giggled and set the train conductor aside, not even bothering trying to say the word. Creatures of fantasy were silly to her, and a great source of amusement. Twee, twain, giggle. Twee, twain, giggle. The process repeated itself for at least five minutes until Twilight had her groups. Then she busied herself with sorting the trees by height, the trains by color, and the humans by width. No, there was definitely no lack of intelligence. Maybe Twilight just didn't talk because she didn't see the necessity of it. At least not at such a young age.
By the time she was three or four no one could shut her up. She was constantly asking questions about things, wanting to know why something happened, the result of it, how something worked, why it was even useful to begin with. Her father adored her almost as much as her brother did, and both stallions doted on her and gave in to her never-ending questions. While Twilight Velvet loved her daughter and would answer questions when asked, her patience threshold for little Twilight's curiosity was not as high as her husband's or her son's.
As she grew, Twilight learned the importance of observation. She figured out that she could learn a lot just by watching something happen. Oftentimes she would try to mimic what she'd seen and oftentimes she would be disappointed in herself for failing in her attempt. But it was a rare time when she didn't dust herself off and try again and again until she got it right. It was a perseverance everyone in her family envied about her. That was, until she decided she wanted to try magic. She'd been to the beautiful ceremony of Princess Celestia raising the sun, but it wasn't that fantastic display that started it all.
It was a simple thing that sparked her interest in magic, just seeing her father turn off a light. His horn glowed, the light went off. Simple as that. It couldn't be that hard, could it? She planted all four hooves firmly on the ground, lowered her head, stared at the now dark light, and willed it to turn on. 
Nothing.
She huffed out her nose, spread her stance slightly, lowered her head a bit more, squeezed her eyes shut and thought with everything in her about the light turning on.
Still nothing.
A small growl rumbled in her throat. As she readjusted and took a few steps closer, Twilight was completely unaware of the fact that she had an audience behind her. Both of her parents and Shining Armor watched from the kitchen, each of them holding their breath as though they could help her through their silent support.
Hooves planted, head down, eyes squeezed shut. Her body tensed, she could feel something! There was a soft but distinct sputtering sound and a release when she passed gas. Her family couldn't help themselves, especially the stallions. They all laughed and Twilight, both angry and thoroughly embarrassed, whipped around with fire in her eyes.
“Stop laughing!”
Shining Armor wiped a tear from his eye but couldn't control himself. “Oh, Twily. It's no big deal! It happens to everypony.”
“You tried your hardest,” her father offered.
“You're still a little young,” said her mother, a gentle smile on her face.
“And a little too gassy,” howled Shining Armor.
Twilight felt tears burn her eyes and she rounded on her brother, enraged. “Stop! Laughing!”
Her young voice boomed through the house and with the last syllable spoken a spark of magenta magic shot from her horn like a firecracker, and all the lightbulbs in the house exploded simultaneously. Twilight screamed and cowered, her family fell completely silent. Velvet and Crescent looked at each other, incredulous.
“Was that...?”
“Did she....?”
Shining took a tentative step into the living room and looked around. Little glass shards were scattered everywhere. It was a wonder Twilight hadn't been hurt. “Don't move, Twilight.”
Twilight sobbed in her hooves, confused and frightened. She didn't see the glass as it floated magically from the ground and into the trash bin. And when Shining scooped her up she clung to him as she had when she was a foal. “I'm sorry!' she cried. “I didn't meant to!”
“Don't be sorry, sweetheart.” Velvet took her daughter from Shining Armor and nuzzled her. “It's all right. You're all right.” Crescent rubbed a hoof down Twilight's back and shared a look of concern with his wife. But when she spoke her voice was silky and soothing. “Maybe it's time we started looking into enrolling you in Magic Kindergarten.”
“No! I don't want to go!” Twilight buried her face in her mother's neck. “I won't do magic ever again. I hate it!”
“Aw, c'mon Twily. It's not that bad.” Shining Armor tilted his head to try and catch her eye. “Magic Kindergarten is where I met some of my best friends.”
“I don't want any friends!” 
“You don't mean that. Everypony wants friends.”
“I already have a friend.” She lifted her tear-stained face enough to look pointedly at her brother. “You're my B.B.B.F.F.”
Shining's cheeks colored slightly as his parents looked at him with question. “Big brother, best friend forever,” he explained. “Twilight, I'm not going to be around forever. In fact...” The young stallion shuffled his hooves. “I'm actually going to Canterlot. For training to be a guardspony for the princess.”
“What?!” Velvet nearly dropped Twilight and Crescent balked.
“When?!”
“I...I leave next weekend.”
“When were you going to tell us that!?” Crescent demanded.
“I'm sorry! I wanted to wait to tell you when-”
“When you were leaving?!”
Twilight pushed away from her mother and took off running to her room. She could hear her brother calling after her but didn't stop until she slammed her door behind herself. Her was leaving her. The only bright spot in her world was leaving her! Twilight threw herself onto her bed and hugged her pillow close, sobbing. Without Shining Armor there, who would stop their parents from fighting? Who would help take care of their mother if she sank into one of her depressive states again? Who would make sure they had dinner on the table on the nights their father worked too late? It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair!

~~~~~~~~~~

She didn't talk to her brother for two whole days. In fact, she made a point to ignore his existence entirely. Instead of drawing pictures for him, playing games with him, or spending time with him, Twilight immersed herself in books. She was still a beginner at reading but as soon as she found she could do it on her own, books became her favorite thing in all of Equestria. They were better than stupid trains, stupid dolls, and definitely way better than stupid big brothers. She found it was much better to get lost in a world of imagination than think about Shining Armor leaving, or worry about what her body would do if she sneezed or coughed a little too loud. She might blow up the house!
“Twilight.”
The little filly lay on the floor with a book between her hooves and a red blanket with black polkadots draped over her back. At the sound of her mother's voice she simply lifted her chin in a haughty manner and flipped the page. Velvet smiled sadly and went further into the room to sit beside her daughter. “Sweetheart, I know you're upset about your brother leaving.” Her voice wavered slightly, giving Twilight pause. “Your father and I are going to miss him terribly, too. But we're going to be okay, you know.”
“I don't want him to go.”
“None of us do.” Twilight felt the weight of her mother's hoof as it ran over her mane. “But what your brother is going to do is a noble thing. He wants to protect the princess and serve her.”
“Stupid princess.”
“That's enough of that.” Velvet hooked a hoof under Twilight's chin and made her look up at her. “You can be mad at your brother but this is not Princess Celestia's fault. And I don't like how often you're using that word.”
“What word? Stupid? It is! All of this is stupid! Stupid, stupid stupid!”
“Twilight Sparkle!” Velvet frowned. “That is no way for a young mare to speak. Especially when we have company.”
“Company?” Twilight watched her mother's head turn in the direction of the living room and followed her gaze. Waiting patiently just outside the door was a pretty pink unicorn mare, her pink, purple and yellow mane pulled back into a ponytail. Twilight blinked at the unfamiliar pony and stared. She'd never seen a pony so pretty before.
“Hi there.” Her voice was musical somehow, almost comforting in the way it lilted. And when she smiled at Twilight the little filly couldn't help but want to smile back. “You must be Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight nodded dumbly. “Uh huh.”
“Nice to meet you, Twilight. My name is Cadance. I like your blanket. It makes you look like a little ladybug.”
The pink mare came into the room and Twilight gasped. “You're an alicorn!” Immediately she was on her hooves, cantering around the mare with excitement and curiosity. Her wings, like the rest of her body, were pink but appeared to fade into a purple hue toward the end of her pinions. “I've never seen an alicorn before! Except for...” Twilight gasped again. “Are you a princess?!”
Cadance and Velvet exchanged a small smile, then Cadance looked at Twilight fondly. “Something like that.”
“What does that mean?”
Velvet faked a cough to cover a laugh. “You'll find vague answers don't work with her. Twilight wants to know everything about everything, and as her new foalsitter you should-”
“Foalsitter?” Twilight stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at her mother. “I don't need a foalsitter. I'm big enough to take care of myself!”
As though Twilight hadn't even spoken, Velvet continued. “She's also very stubborn and can be a tad petulant. She gets that from her father.”
“What does that mean?”
“That's all right,” Cadance laughed. “I used to take care of twin colts who probably invented the word 'obstinate'. I'm used to it.”
“What does that mean?
“Well you'll definitely have your hooves full with this one,” said Velvet good-naturedly. “But as much trouble as she can be she's quite easy to take care of. She spends most of her time reading and seems to enjoy cleaning on the rare occasion I can't get to it myself.”
“Hey!” The lights flickered and the irritated filly immediately cowered, head under her hooves. It made Velvet grimace slightly. 
“We're also approaching her awakening, it would seem.”
From under her hooves Twilight asked weakly, “What does that mean?”
Cadance folded her legs under herself to get down on the floor with Twilight. In a soft, reassuring voice she explained, “An awakening is one of the most wonderful times in a unicorn's life. It's when they come into their full magical potential.”
Twilight lowered her hooves slightly. “Have you had one? An awakening?”
“I sure have. When I was right around your age, actually.”
With a contented smile, Velvet left the room to allow Cadance and Twilight to get to know each other. Twilight's eyes widened as she looked up at the alicorn. “Did you make lightbulbs explode, too?”
It must have been hard for the young mare not to laugh but she simply smiled with compassion at the filly. “No. But my awakening was a little different from most unicorns.”
“Because you're an alicorn?”
“Because I had a wonderful teacher.” Cadance shrugged, laughter in her eyes. “And because I'm an alicorn.”
“Who was your teacher?”
“My mother.”
“What's your mother like? Where does she live? Do you still live with her?”
As conversation drifted through the living room, Velvet went into the kitchen to find her husband pouring himself a cup of coffee. As she entered he looked up with interest. “How is it going?”
“Better than expected, it would seem. Cadance got right down on the floor with her and now they're talking.”
Crescent chuckled behind his coffee cup. “Poor thing will have her ears talked off before dinner.” With nothing but a smirk for an answer, Velvet went to the fridge to begin making a salad for all of them to eat. Crescent watched her for a moment before taking the carrot she was peeling in his own magic and setting it aside. He sidled up beside his wife and kissed her cheek. “Are you all right?”
“If I stay busy.” She gave her husband a watery smile. “If you're afraid I'm going to sink back into a depression again like I did when I lost our baby...”
“Don't say it like that.” Crescent frowned. “That makes it sound like it was intentional. Like you had control over it.”
“I've been thinking about it a lot, lately. How Shining Armor was always so angry with me for not keeping the house clean. He assumed I was just being lazy and sad because you were never home.”
“I certainly didn't help.” Crescent pressed his forehead against Velvet's withers. “I was dealing with it in my own way by working so much.”
“The children must never know, Crescent. I couldn't bear it if they knew.”
“Knew what?”
Both ponies looked up, startled, to find Shining Armor standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Velvet quickly returned to peeling and Crescent smiled at his son, thinking quickly. “Well if we told you then you'd know, so....” He trailed off and looked to the side, causing Shining to raise a brow.
“O-kay. Anyway. Where's Twilight?”
“Right here.” Twilight came bouncing out of her room with a happy smile on her face. For her parents, at least. When she saw her brother she simply stuck her tongue out at him. “Mom, Dad, can we go to the park?”
“Only if you're back in time for dinner.”
“We can do that!” said Shining enthusiastically. “Good idea, Twily. Let's go!”
Twilight gave him a scathing look. “Not you. Come on, Cadance!”
Bouncing happily once again, Twilight headed out the front door. Cadance smiled shyly at Shining Armor before addressing Crescent and Velvet. “What time would you like her back?”
Velvet glanced at the clock and said, “In an hour would be all right. Will you be joining us for dinner?”
“Yes, ma'am. If it's not too much of an inconvenience. I know it's last minute.”
“Nonsense. You're more than welcome. And please, call me Velvet.” The older mare smiled. “Go have fun and we'll see you in an hour.”
Cadance nodded and gave a parting smile to the older ponies, then another shy look to Shining and she was out the door. “Wait for me, little ladybug!” Shining Armor turned around to watch Twilight and Cadance leave, causing his father to grin.
“Close your mouth, son. You'll attract flies.”
“Who was that?”
“That was Cadance,” Velvet answered, “Twilight's new foalsitter.”
“Foalsitter? You got her a foalsitter?”
“I need somepony to help me look after your sister. You're leaving me the day after tomorrow.”
Shining sagged and rolled his eyes. “Please, don't start again.”
“I'm not starting anything. Just pointing out the facts.”
Hoping to quickly cut off a blooming argument, Crescent nodded to the bulge in Shining's saddlebags. “What's in there?”
The younger stallion shrugged dispassionately. “I found it in town today.” His horn glowed with a blue aura as his magic opened the bag and levitated out a sweet little ragdoll. “The toystore had her in the window. I thought Twilight would like her. Look, she even comes with her own notebook and quill.”
“Oh, that's darling.” Twilight smiled at her son. “That's a very thoughtful gift, Shining.”
“Maybe it will get her to talk to me again.”
Crescent gave his son's withers a pat as he passed him. “Don't hold your breath on that one.”
With a sigh and a shrug, the younger unicorn stuffed the doll back into his saddle bags, then turned to follow his father. “So what's the deal with this foalsitter?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight closed her eyes, her forelegs wrapped tightly around the ropes holding her swing up. She liked the feeling of the wind in her mane and the way her stomach dropped every time the momentum of the swing reversed and she sailed backward. “It must be so much fun to fly.”
Pushing the younger filly from behind, Cadance smiled softly. “It's definitely freeing.”
“I wish I could fly. Then I could just fly away from here.”
Cadance stopped pushing Twilight's swing and took up the one beside her. “Why would you want to fly away from your family?”
As the swing gradually slowed, Twilight shrugged sadly. “My big brother is leaving to join the royal guard so maybe then I could fly away to see him. But I'm not talking to him anymore.”
“Because you feel like he's leaving you?” Twilight nodded mutely and Cadance gave a thoughtful sigh. “You know he'll come home to see you sometimes, right?”
“He will?”
“Sure he will. Just because he's going to train to be a guard doesn't mean he'll never come home again, or that you'll never be able to go see him. Maybe when you're older you'll be able to go to school in Canterlot. They have a wonderful magic program.”
Twilight frowned. “I hate magic. I'll never do magic on purpose.”
“Did it scare you when you tried it?” Once more Twilight simply nodded, and Cadance smiled over at her with empathy. “It scared me, too. When you don't know what you're doing you don't know what can happen.” Twilight looked at the young alicorn with wide eyes, her head bobbing up and down. 
“Yeah!”
“Maybe...I could help you learn.”
Wide eyes now narrowed and Twilight gave Cadance an appraising look. “If you help me, would that mean that I don't have to go to Magic Kindergarten?”
Cadance laughed softly. “No, you'll still have to go. But if you let me be your foalsitter I can help you after school.”
“And before school?”
The question made the young mare blink in surprise. “Um...sure. But that's a lot of studying. Maybe we should stick with just one or the other to start with so you don't get-”
“No, both.” The determination on Twilight's face said the subject was closed. But it also meant she'd made her decision about Cadance as well. There was something about the alicorn that Twilight felt almost instantly drawn to, like she exuded care and compassion. “Are you going to live with us?”
Cadance got down from her swing so she could push Twilight once again. “No. I have my own home in Canterlot.”
“Canterlot? That's where my brother's going! And that's where the princess lives!” Twilight twisted slightly on her seat to try and look behind her to Cadance. “Are you sure you're not a princess?”
Laughter sparkled in Cadance's eyes. “I never said I wasn't. But it doesn't make me any different from you, Twilight. I'm just a plain old pony just like everypony else. I get scared sometimes, I'm silly, sometimes I'm sad.”
“Do you like to play games?”
“I love to play games!”
The answer appeased Twilight and she smiled. “What about singing songs?”
“I like to do that, too. In fact I have a fun one I can teach you. Want to hear it?”
“Yeah!”
“All right. It goes like this: Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake...”

~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight's first day of school was horrible. She was the youngest in her class, as well as the smallest, and everypony seemed to think it was a good idea to make her the scapegoat. At first she didn't fully understand that her classmates were picking on her and teasing her, and her cluelessness only made her more of an easy target. But as soon as she realized that the cause of laughter was about her when the teacher wasn't paying attetnion, Twilight got angry. She was little, but she was nopony's punchline. While telling the teacher would have been the smart thing to do, Twilight took matters into her own hooves. Nopony was physically assaulted but there were quite a few colts and fillies who had a verbal lashing before the little lavender unicorn was removed from class and sent home with a note that said, “Does not play well with others.”
Twilight taped the note to her bedroom door with pride, then slammed the door shut and buried her nose in a book. She refused to let anypony in until Cadance got there, then she broke down in tears in the embrace of her foalsitter.
The next day she woke up with the realization that her brother was leaving that very morning. Suddenly all the days that had gone past where she all but shunned him weighed on her like a heavy cloak. Twilight threw her covers back and burst from her room, sobbing as she raced to find her brother. He was packing his last bag and threw his forelegs open wide upon seeing her. Like she was a tiny foal once more, Twilight clung to her bother, head buried under his chin and hooves around his neck as she cried.
“Don't cry, Twily,” he pleaded softly. “You're going to be just fine without me.”
“I don't want you to go!”
“I know.” He held her tightly, feeling her shake in his embrace. “I'm going to miss you, little sister. Even if you are a pain in the flank sometimes.”
“I'm going to miss you, too.” She sniffled and lifted her head, big eyes sad and tear-filled. “I'm sorry I was so mean to you.”
“It's okay. I know why you were. But hey, I got you something to keep you company while I'm gone.”
“You did?”
Shining Armor nodded and released her so he could go to his closet. His head disappeared inside for a moment and when he came back out there was a wrapped box in his teeth. This he presented to Twilight and set on the floor before her. “I got this for you a couple weeks ago.”
She looked at the package, then up at her brother, then back down.
“Show your brother what I've been teaching you.”
Twilight turned to see her parents in the doorway with Cadance in front of them. She didn't realize her outburst had drawn the attention of everypony in the house and now suddenly felt highly embarrassed. But the smile Cadance wore, the gentle one just for her that was filled with patience and love and support made Twilight swallow hard. “I'm scared I'll blow it up.”
In the short time Cadance had been with Twilight she'd been able to teach the young unicorn to levitate small objects, to turn the lights on and off, and to turn the pages of a book all with her magic. It took a few days of Twilight exploding everything she tried to magically manipulate, but she had a much better grip on her powers than before she'd met the young alicorn.
“You can do it, Twilight,” Cadance encouraged. “I know you can. Just go slow, breathe, be careful, and most importantly, be intentional.”
Twilight exhaled forcefully, eyes on the package before her. “Be intentional.” Her brow furrowed and a line of concentration formed as her head lowered. For a long moment nothing happened, then a magenta aura surrounded her horn in a wavy haze. Twilight bit her bottom lip and stared at the package, careful not to hold her breath. When she did that was when the bad stuff usually happened. Again there was a long moment where nothing seemed like it was going to happen, then the gift began to glow and paper began to tear away and fold back. The lip she'd been chewing was released and Twilight smiled to herself, watching as the pretty paper hit the floor in gentle drifts. She then began to concentrate on opening the box and found it easier than she'd expected. The flaps magically folded back and by the time the box was completely opened she was grinning.
“I did it!” She hadn't even seen her present yet but she was already bouncing, gleeful over her accomplishment. “I did it all by myself!”
“I knew you could do it!” Cadance praised. “What did your brother get you?”
Suddenly remembering, Twilight hurried over to the box and peered inside. Her horn glowed once more, the process coming just a little bit easier and quicker. Surrounded by a magenta aura of magic, the little rag doll was levitated from the box and Twilight looked at it with wide eyes. “This is for me?”
Shining scratched the back of his neck. “I know it's nothing fancy but for some reason I thought you might like her.” His own horn glowed a soft blue as he levitated a small notebook and quill from the box as well. “She even comes with these. I thought maybe it would be easier to get homework done if you had somepony else doing homework with you.” It was clear from his tone and the look on his face that he now thought the gift was stupid. To Twilight it was clearly anything but.
“I love her!” She squeezed the ragdoll close, grinning from ear to ear. “Hello, Miss Smartypants! You and I are going to be best friends and learn all about magic together!”
Shining chuckled. “Smartypants, huh?”
“Thank you!” Twilight clutched the doll in one foreleg and hugged her brother tight with the other. “You're the best B.B.B.F.F. a filly could ask for.”
“And you're the best L.S.B.F.F. a colt could want.” He kissed the top of her head, then straightened with a sigh. “Unfortunately, it's time for me to get going. I'm already going to be late as it is.” Twilight Velvet and Shining Crescent rushed to their son to embrace him, pulling little Twilight into the family hug as well. Though Cadance hung back with a shy smile, Shining Armor cast her a sad smile in return before truly embracing his family. “I'll come home as often as I can and I'll write all the time.”
“Promise?” Velvet asked, teary.
“Of course I do.” He wiped the tears from his mother's eyes and nuzzled her. “Sorry, Mom.”
“For what?”
“For not being the best son when I was younger.” This only made her cry more and hug him tighter.
“Go make us proud, son.” Crescent gave a valiant smile and a nod of encouragement before carefully pulling his wife and daughter away from Shining Armor. The younger unicorn gave a resolute nod in return, then his horn glowed and his bag floated to his side. With one last kiss to his mother and sister, he held his head high and headed for the door, prepared to begin the next part of his life's journey.
~~~~~~~~~~

It didn't take long for Twilight to learn that she was never going to have any real friends in Magic Kindergarten, just as it didn't take long for her classmates to label her a nerd. But she could hardly care less. Each day that passed made simple spells easier and easier, and before her first month of real schooling was over she'd mastered spells that were beyond her grade level. Levitation came as easily as breathing to her unless an object was quite sizable, but even that was getting easier and easier. She was even beginning to learn to multi-task with her magic, though all attempts had ended rather unfavorably.
Cadance was an immeasurable help. She was always patient and encouraging, never disapproving or discouraging the way her teachers in school could sometimes be. It was something, really. Once she and Cadance figured out Twilight only need see a spell a time or two to learn it, Twilight quickly became a magical prodigy. At least, that was what they said behind her back at school. The better she got, the worse the teasing became until Twilight spent more time studying than making or having any real friends. But it hardly mattered to her. She graduated the top of her class, the youngest in her year, and the most skilled unicorn her teachers had seen in years.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I'm doing WHAT?!”
It was the summer after her graduation and Twilight was enjoying a warm lazy day in the park with Smartypants and her parents. Cadance had requested the day off for a personal matter so when she came running to find them, breathless and grinning, the three had been confused. “An entrance exam,” the alicorn repeated now that she could breathe a bit better. “For the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns.”
Velvet and Crescent were speechless, but Twilight was on her hooves, her jaw almost touching the ground. When she spoke her voice was quiet but grew in decibel with each word. “The Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns? Are you crazy?!” She was still so young, only just now reaching the age where parents thought about putting their young unicorns in Magic Kindergarten. The school for advanced magic in Canterlot was for ponies several years older than she was. Most of them already had their cutie marks and she was still a blank flank!
“Twilight,” Cadance said, putting a hoof on the younger pony's withers, “you would be crazy not to do it. Your magic skills are amazing!”
“I'm not old enough!”
But Cadance shook her head. “It has nothing to do with age, little ladybug. Only skill and you have an excess of skill. Think of all the things you could learn there.”
Crescent was the first to find his voice and said, “There hasn't been a pony that young to be accepted there since the prin-” He stopped short, a look from Cadance silencing him. The sternness in her eyes was gone in a flash and she returned her warm smile to Twilight.
“Please, Twilight. You have to at least try. I believe in you.”
“We all do,” Velvet supplied proudly. “Twilight, Cadance has done a wonderful thing for you. You can't let her down now.”
The lavender filly swallowed hard and looked up at the alicorn before her. It was so strange to think she'd only known Cadance for a little under a year. She loved her like her very own sister and knew she owed everything to Cadance. Her mother was right. She couldn't let her down. “All right,” she said quietly. Lifting her chin in strong determination, she nodded. “I'll do it!”
Summer seemed to fly by, then. She poured every waking moment into studying spell books and old scrolls that Cadance brought to her. More times than not her mother would go to wake her for breakfast and find Twilight at her desk, passed out cold over an open book. But with each day that passed she became more determined. She also became a little less confident. It seemed the more she used her magic, the more she forgot how to do basic things, until everything was just a big jumble in her brain and she collapsed into a pool of tears. Both Crescent and Velvet agreed that she needed a break and forbade her to study for the next three days. She put up a fuss to begin, but in the end found the break just the thing she needed to be able to dive back in with a fresh perspective.
The day of her exam, Twilight was oddly calm. She closed her books at a reasonable hour and went right to sleep. That was the thing that surprised her the most the next morning. Sleep was almost never that easy. Though she was thankful for the rest. She took a long bath, had a good breakfast, and set off for Canterlot with her parents. Cadance told her the night before that she wouldn't be able to accompany her, and though it made Twilight sad, she knew she couldn't let it ruin her focus.
The school itself wasn't overly large, though being in Equestria's capital it certainly was beautiful. All of the floors were polished marble and granite with stones inlaid in different rooms to form unique designs. There were carved wooden posts framing doors and beautiful delicate runes painted above each class to provide information on where students needed to be. The room Twilight was to be in had the phases of the life of a star above it, and she swallowed hard as she entered.
It was like a small auditorium, the way the graduated seated encircled half the room. She glanced at the blackboard behind her, wide-eyed as she tried to decipher what it was that all the numbers, letters and symbols meant. As four older ponies came into the room and climbed the steps to their chosen seats above, Twilight cast a nervous glance to her parents. They reminded her to smile and she turned a forced one on the two mares and two stallions who already appeared to be judging her, the looks on their faces so stern.
A door opened to her left and Twilight watched as another stallion entered pushing a cart before him. With the sign on the front of the cart and small speckled purple egg nesting in a bed of hay on top there was little doubt as to what she was supposed to do. If she wanted to get into this new school she was going to have to crack the egg.
Sweat beaded on her brow and she gave a little nervous laugh. How in the world was she going to pull this off? There had definitely been a chapter in one of the books she'd read about breaking apart hard surfaces, but what had it said? What if she wasn't strong enough in her magic and the egg didn't break? Or worse, what if she was too strong and made it explode?
“Well, Miss Sparkle?”
She looked up at the impatient mare who'd spoken, took a deep breath, and tried to focus. Her head bent, her eyes squeezed shut, concentrate....and nothing. A few small sparks, maybe, but that was it. The egg was still in tact. Determined, knowing her entire future could be determined by this one single moment, she tried again. Nothing. She circled the cart and tried again. Climbed on top of it and tried again. Waved her forelegs at it and tried again. Again and again she failed to even make a scratch on the egg. As she collapsed on the floor, spent and completely disappointed in herself, Twilight knew she'd let everypony down. Her parents had to stand there and watch her fail and she'd have to tell Cadance that she'd put her faith in the wrong unicorn.
“I'm sorry I wasted your time,” Twilight said softly, getting to her hooves. Apparently she just wasn't as powerful as everyone thought she was.
Then something happened. There was a terrible booming noise outside the school, farther away even than Canterlot. The sudden shock of it made Twilight sit bolt upright and something clicked. Her horn glowed with such power that it seemed to vibrate against her skull. As if acting on its own, her head bent and a beam of magic shot forth to rend the eggshell before her in two. A purple baby dragon floated in the safety of her magic for the quickest moment, yawning and blinking in the light of a strange new world. 
But still her horn vibrated. Terrified and not knowing what was going on at all, Twilight cried out. Then everything went quiet. She felt like she was weightless and floating. It could have been forever, it could have only been seconds, but it was blissful for however long it lasted. No stress, no worry, no shame. But all too soon something broke through and brought her body back to her, making her twitch as though she were being electrocuted. Everything felt like fire and ice simultaneously, and it was all too bright to understand. Only when a hoof touched her withers did she find something solid to latch onto. The magical explosion that had taken her over faded and she dropped to the floor to find herself before the one and only Princess Celestia.
“Twilight Sparkle...” Twilight was now seeing the damage she'd caused, watching all the ponies in the room turn back into their natural form and the baby dragon shrink from a full grown beast back into a tiny creature. The princess' voice startled her and she resisted the urge to cower.
“I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-”
“You have a very special gift!” The princess smiled at her kindly. “I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities.”
Twilight's jaw dropped. “Huh?”
“But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study.”
“Huh?!”
“Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to make you my own personal protege here at the school.”
“HUH?!”
The princess looked at her with laughter in her eyes. “Well?”
Instinct made Twilight look at her parents and both of them were quick to nod their heads. It was all Twilight needed to jump into the air and exclaim, “YES!”
“One other thing, Twilight.”
The unicorn dropped to the floor, shocked. “More?” With an amused smile, the princess pointed to Twilight's flank. Where there had once only been lavender fur was now a beautiful magenta star with six points surrounded by smaller white six pointed stars. “My cutie mark! YES!” Getting to her hooves, she bounced in excitement, repeating “Yes!” over and over as she encircled the princess.
Patient, Celestia watched her for a few rotations before stopping her with a gentle hoof. She looked over at the baby dragon sucking on his tail, Twilight following her gaze. “Well,” the princess said gently, “what are you going to call him?”
Twilight's eyes bulged. “I get to name him?!”
“Of course you do. You're the one that helped him into this world. It is only your right.”
Giddy, Twilight trotted over to the baby dragon. He babbled up at her and reached soft claws for her face. Magic enveloped him and Twilight brought him close to snuggle him. He wasn't nearly as squishy as Smartypants but he was a lot warmer. And he nuzzled her back. “Spike,” she said confidently. “I think his name should be Spike.”
“Very well.” Celestia bent her head to smile at the baby dragon. “Spike it is, then. There will be a very special bond between the two of you, Twilight. You will be friends for life.”
“Friends?”
“Yes. But since you will be spending most of your time with school and studying I will bring him to the palace and take care of him myself. Only until you are both old enough to take care of one another.” Celestia's horn glowed a soft pink and she gently took Spike from Twilight. The little dragon was set gently on her back where he immediately circled like a kitten, then snuggled down between her shoulder blades to take a nap. “I will see you first thing tomorrow morning, Twilight Sparkle.”
Once more the doors to the classroom opened and Twilight was surprised to see her brother and Cadance come rushing in. Shining Armor bounded forward to scoop his little sister up, overjoyed, but she didn't miss the look that passed between Celestia and Cadance, nor did she miss hearing Celestia say, “You were right,” before the sun princess left the room. Cadance, grinning, quickly joined in with the celebration and hugged Twilight.
As was predicted, Twilight was much younger than the other ponies in her class, though in Canterlot there was far less teasing. Almost everypony was awed by the fact that Twilight was a personal student of Princess Celestia's and sometimes the attention got to be too much for the growing filly. As the years passed she withdrew from her classmates more and more, once again finding much more comfort in book's written pages than in her peers. She spent as much time as she could with Princess Celestia and grew to love the alicorn in the same way she'd loved Cadance.
There came a time when Twilight was no longer young enough to be called a filly, and the young mare moved into her own private quarters in one of the Canterlot castle towers. There Spike came to stay with her and the two fell into an easy brother and sister type relationship. Spike was turning out to be a headstrong little dragon and preferred being called Twilight's assistant than her brother from another mother, and he made it a point to assist her well. For a few years, life was perfect.
When in her studies one day Twilight came across the legend of Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony, she felt it was her duty to research something that sounded so familiar. What she found was alarming, an imminent return of Nightmare Moon. She was quick to warn the princess, but her reply was nothing like what Twilight was expecting. There should have been urgency, a call to action, maybe even a little panic. But the princess, instead of praising her most faithful student for a job well done, said there was more to a young pony's life than studying and sent her away from Canterlot to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. In Ponyville. The real kicker was her closing charge to the young unicorn. Twilight was to make some friends.
The only saving grace to any of this was that the princess had arranged for her to stay in the town's library. She could check on all the preparations and then get right back to work. It would be perfect. The fate of Equestria did not rest on her making friends, after all.
As she walked through town Twilight couldn't help but notice the stark contrast between Canterlot and Ponyville. She was never a pony who cared about the “finer things in life” and was surprised to find herself feeling more at home here on the open streets than the decorative palace and all it's trappings.
“Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about,” Spike prompted. He was looking particularly at a pretty pink mare who was coming their way, her full bright pink mane and tail bouncing with every step she took. “Come on, Twilight. Just try!” pushed the baby dragon.
As the smiling mare stopped before them, Twilight swallowed her sudden nervousness and decided to give it a try, if only to shut Spike up for a little while. “Uh...hello?”
The smile the mare wore faded instantaneously. She jumped into the air with a terrible dramatic gasp, then dashed away leaving nothing but a pink streak in her wake. Twilight and Spike started after her, speechless for a moment. What the heck had that been all about?
Feeling justified in her not wanting to waste time making friends with strange ponies, Twilight pulled a face and said, “Well that was interesting all right,” and then walked away.