The three ponies hopped on the train, and left on the 3 hour train ride to Canterlot at 10:00 A.M.. An attendant on the train trotted by, with a cart full of treats. Stardust got a cotton candy, and started munching at the sugary, fluffy goodness. After she ate about one quarter of the tub, she put it in her bag for later. She didn't want too much of a sugar rush. Or a sugar crash. Once they arrived in Canterlot, they grabbed a map, and found their way to Canterlot Castle. The doors were locked, as a safety precaution to protect the princess. Moonflower rang the purple doorbell, and a few moments later, a member of the royal guard appeared at the door.
“You must be Stardust, and her family. Celestia is expecting you. Come with me.” The family followed the white unicorn guard, taking in the beauty of the castle. They trotted up to Celestia, who was standing at the top of a stairwell. She walked down the stairs, as her magical, long hair literally flowed in place, and sparkled. The princess was breathtaking. She stopped at the bottom of the staircase.
“Stardust, a pleasure to finally meet you. Welcome to Canterlot. I have called you three here to discuss this young alicorn’s magical abilities and family history. Would you please follow me to the Celestial Meeting Room?” They nodded, still in awe of her beauty. They followed her to an office-like room, with an elegant wood table, a large throne-like chair, with three smaller editions at the other end. Stardust sat in the middle seat, with her family accompanying her on either side. Celestia sat in her seat. Once they were settled, two guards trotted in, and Celestia spoke.
“The guards can bring your bags to your room for you.” The guards grabbed the bags with their magic, and teleported it with their auras. They swiftly exited the room, and Celestia shifted her focus back on Stardust.
“May we take a look at your family tree?” Celestia asked.
“Sure..” Stardust replied. A scroll teleported, and fell onto the large, wooden table. Celestia opened the clasp with her magic, and gently unrolled it with her hooves. She pointed to the pony at the bottom trunk of the tree. Stardust and her family gasped. That pony, was none other, than Princess Twilight Sparkle. Stardust was befuddled.
“Wha- but- how?!? She’s only three years older than me!” Stardust was getting frustrated.
“Maybe once you hear why, then everything will click. When Twilight was my student apprentice at my school, she came to my office wanting to learn a new spell. As you probably already know, Twilight has a passion for learning and magic. I was so involved in trying to find one that could stump my highest-scoring student, that I didn’t even realize what spell exactly that I had chosen. It was a time twister spell. Once she got the scroll, she immediately got to work attempting it. Believe it or not, it almost worked! But I couldn’t bear to see the filly who was like a daughter to me struggle like that. So, I gave her a boost. It was one of the worst mistakes I had ever made. She went plummeting into an alter dimension, where she was the same age as she is now, and she was an alicorn. I watched this all unfold through a magical one-way window. She met a powerful unicorn stallion, got married and had foals. The stallion had made it so that both foals were earth ponies. Then, he betrayed her, and used his magic to beam her back here, and prevent her from ever knowing. When I tried to tell her what happened a year later, I felt a disabling shock, caused by his spell. Twilight was still imprinted in that world, however, and since the worlds were so closely connected in time and space, they eventually merged, which made it possible for you to be an alicorn. The alicorn gene had been passed down for generations, leaving a 0.01 percent chance of being a unicorn, pegasus, or alicorn. You have that gene.” Celestia explained. Stardust and her family were stunned.
“And my tiny wings?”
“Since there were so many earth ponies, and such a small percentage of alicorn genes, that caused a mutation in the gene, making your wings the way they are. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, it does. I’m so glad that I finally understand this!” Stardust felt so relieved. Her life finally made sense to her. Her excitement made her parents feel better, too.
“Now about that application, your grades in magic, and all-around grades qualify for my school, but every student must pass the entry magic exam. Even Twilight had to, and if it wasn’t for Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom, she wouldn’t have.
“Really? The element of magic almost didn’t pass her magic exam?” Stardust asked.
“Yes, and it has changed since then. It’s more strategy and logic based, aside from only testing a unicorn’s raw ability.” Princess Celestia added. “Are you ready to go to our testing facility?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready for anything!” Stardust enthusiastically said. What she didn’t know, was that she was going to face dreaded monsters, and she would have to be always on her hooves. She and her family followed Princess Celestia into a large, warehouse-like room, which was like a giant oval room. It was all white, even the floors, almost like projector screens.
“Welcome to TOASTS, the Testing of all Students SPACER Simulation. The walls are giant screens, and magical simulations occur throughout, testing your smarts, quick-thinking, problem solving, and most of all, magical ability. We will watch from behind a one-way window, where your end doubles as a screen, so you will not be able to see us. There is an intercom, so if necessary, I can help you. After all of the simulations are complete, I will come back in, and you will perform your best spell. From there, I will be able to determine whether or not you qualify to enter into my school. As I said, your grades already qualify. Any questions?”
“Nope!”
“Then are you ready to begin?” Princess Celestia asked. Stardust took a deep breath.
“Yes, Princess Celestia. I am ready to start.” Stardust answered.
“I wish you the best of luck, Stardust.” Celestia said, escorting her parents to the hidden viewing area. A few moments later, Princess Celestia came on the intercom.
“I am going to start the first simulation now,” she announced. The floor and walls glowed for a second, and then, there was sand beneath Stardust’s hooves. She appeared to be in a desert environment, and the boundaries of the room seemed to disappear. The room grew warmer, and a slight breeze blew through her mane. It was actually quite pleasant. But that pleasant feeling didn’t last long, for behind her was a raging manticore. The lion-like beast with a scorpion tail, and bat-like wings roared at Stardust.
“AAAAHHH!!” She screamed. Stardust ran, as the manticore chased her. Suddenly, THUD! Stardust had hit her head on the wall.
“owww… I forgot there were boundaries…” Stardust murmured. She had managed to get cornered in an oval room. She leaned against the wall, scared about what to do next. Then, she heard the intercom go on.
“Stardust! Use your magic!” Celestia advised.
“Oh yeah.” Stardust said in a moment of realization. The manticore roared again. Stardust charged her horn, and out shot a laser; and hit the manticore right in the nose. Now he was mad. She ran the other way, and shot another laser at his head. A perfect hit! He fell to the ground, and the room glowed again, taking everything from the simulation with it. Then, trees shot from the ground. A rainforest environment surrounded the alicorn. The room became a little cooler, but a bit more humid. But before Stardust could catch her breath, a giant drop of liquid covered Stardust, leaving her soaked.
“Now what?” she complained. She used a drying spell, and she was soon dry. Over in the viewing area, Celestia wrote down Stardust’s progress, and put a star next to the drying spell. Back over to Stardust, she was bathed in shadow, and she looked up. There, was an Orthros, a two-headed, giant, brown dog, gnarling its ferocious teeth at her. She ran. Again. This time, she ran in circles to avoid hitting another wall, and maybe to get the Orthros dizzy. She thought about what she could do.
“What would the mighty heroes do?
Twilight- use the magic of friendship against it. I have none of my friends here, so that won’t work.
Applejack- lasso it. I don’t have rope, nor know how to twirl a lasso, let alone get it around that beast.
Rarity- accessorize it???- nah.
Rainbow Dash- punch it. That would just make him madder!
Pinkie Pie- Use her party cannon, and confuse it. I can’t Pinkie Pie! Nopony can replicate her physics!
Fluttershy- she would tame him! Of course!” Stardust turned around and used her magic to create a two giant squeaky balls, one for each
head.- it was just a giant, two-headed puppy, after all. She tossed it around, then threw it across the room. The Orthros smiled, and leaped after it. He rolled over on his back, and batted it around in his paws. Then, he, and the rest of the environment faded again. Then, she teleported to the center of the room, and clouds formed under her hooves.
“Great. Just a reminder that I can’t go to Cloudsdale.” She sarcastically thought. In front of her, was a cloud pedestal, and what appeared to be a cloud nest atop it. She tilted her head in wonder, and walked over to it. Inside, lay a small, orange, yellow, and red egg. She gently put her off up to it. It felt very warm to the touch, and seemed to enjoy her soothing hoof. She lightly tapped it. No response. She then remembered how Princess Twilight Sparkle had to hatch Spike the Dragon out of his egg for her entrance exam. She leaned back, and with a sharp sting, plucked one of her five feathers from her tiny wing. She floated it in front of her, and concentrated her magic onto it. The feather grew, and gained blue spots along with it. She wrapped the feather around the egg, and the feather started to glow. Brighter and brighter it glowed, as the egg started to glow, as well. Soon, it became blinding, as her horn was glowing brightly, too. Celestia took note. Once the room dimmed, Stardust opened her eyes, and looked in the nest. There, was the feather, lying there, slightly singed. Stardust began to worry about the egg. Had she hurt it? The egg was broken in two, with smaller pieces broken around it. Then, a small, fluffy, orange head popped out of the larger half. Stardust gave a sigh of relief. It looked at her, with it’s icy blue eyes. Shocking, because Stardust had just figured out what it was; a phoenix. A fiery phoenix, with icy blue eyes. It blinked back at her, and gave a small chirp. Stardust thought that it was adorable. Then, the room started to glow once more. Stardust began to panic- where had the small bird gone?
“Celestia! NO! IT WAS SO CUTE!” Stardust cried. Celestia came over the intercom again.
“I simply put it in a nursery, for when you attend my school,” Celestia replied.
“Wait, WHAT?!? I’m going to Celestia’s school!!!! WOOO!” Stardust cheered.
“But wait, Stardust. You still have yet to show me your best spell,” Celestia added.
“I know,” Stardust responded. Soon after, Celestia entered the room.
“Hello, Stardust. I am very impressed with your skill, and you have left me and your parents astounded. You already qualify for my school, but you still need to complete the test like everypony else. I would like you to demonstrate your best spell that you can perform, unless that marvelous egg-hatching spell was the spell. As I said, you already qualify, and no matter what spell you do, your qualifications will not go away. Just try your best, focus, and good luck! I will stand back to give you your space.” Celestia explained. She stepped back a few paces, and Stardust closed her eyes to concentrate. Once again, her horn began to glow. A light pink, sparkling, glowing aura started to streak around her. Magical hibiscus flowers surrounded her, as the pink enveloped her, and started to glow stronger. The flowers went to the middle of the glowing orb, with Stardust’s hair waving through, They spun around her, faster and faster, brighter and brighter, until it became so blinding, even the princess of the sun had to shield her eyes. After a few moments, the room dimmed, and sparkles fell to the floor, and Stardust, still glowing, hair frazzled, slowly drifted to the floor, and layed there for a minute, waiting for the magic rush to die down. Her flank was still glowing dimly as she opened her eyes, and slowly got up. Celestia pointed to her flank. There, was not just a cutie mark, but something that Celestia only thought was a legend; the cutie spread. Upon seeing the marvelous achievement, she immediately regained her strength, and skipped around, very excited at her new cutie spread. Over in the observation room, Stardust’s parents were cheering. This was the family’s best day ever. They ran downstairs, and banged on the locked (for concentration purposes) door. Celestia opened it with her magic, and in ran Moonflower and the proudest of Proud Sky. They both had massive grins spread across their faces, and were both so unbelievably proud of Stardust’s accomplishments in just one day. Stardust two was cheerfully smiling. They hugged their beaming daugher, still with a slight glow of magic, and ruffled hair. Celestia trotted closer to them.
“Congratulations, Stardust Sky. This makes two amazing ponies who got their cutie marks-err, cutie mark, and spread during their entrance exam! The legends are true, when a pony has more magic than they are capable of expressing, their cutie mark becomes a cutie spread. Since you can’t express your pegasus and weather magic by being in the sky, and pushing clouds, that magic concentrated into the creation of your Cutie Spread.” Celestia explained. Her cutie spread was a flower, with vines and smaller flowers and stars coming from the vines. It spread down her leg, and across her side, rather than with normal ponies.