//------------------------------// // TMP Prompt #139: At the Royal Academy of Magic [Dark][AU] // Story: Tales of Little Consequence and Other Such Nonsense // by littlerobotbird //------------------------------// The Prompt: The day everything changed. She felt the eyes on her, each of them with a clipboard and quill in grasp, plumage quivering as they scratched out notes and critique at a constant clip. Her heart thudded in her chest as she glanced back to the purple, speckled egg set out before her on a pedestal. “Well, Ms. Sparkle?” She shuddered, giving her parents a sidelong glance as they sat in the nearby stands, stone-faced. I can do this…I’ve practiced for this for months… she thought to herself, eyes closed as she mustered up as much of her will as she could, channeling her energies at the egg as best she could before… …nothing. She opened her eyes to find the egg unmoved much less hatched. She stared up at her horn, cross-eyed as she watched the whole of her concentrated magic cease to be in a pitiful flickering of magenta. I…I failed… She mewled quietly, hardly resisting the urge to sink to the floor as her thoughts drifted towards what happened to little colts and fillies that couldn’t pass their examinations. Fearfully, her eyes strayed back to her parents, their stolid veneer cracking for moment as her mother urged Twilight on silently, an almost unnoticeable smile shimmering like a mirage across her face. No…I can do this… she thought quietly, banishing the fears and phantoms from her mind and focusing herself fully on her magic. I just have to try harder. She reached out, grasping for the stream of magics that ran throughout the land, that all ponies tapped into in one way or another. She reached for it with her own magic, her seemingly insignificant aura seeking a place of entry, a means of linking herself into the great stream. Then she felt it. The barest hint of possible entry. The tiniest seam in the resistant field surrounding it. She pressed at it carefully, feeling it give ever so slightly beneath her urgings. Just a little more, she thought to herself, keeping herself calm, level. Just a tiny bit mo— Her concentration shattered as an explosion rocked the examination room, filling it with all the colors of the rainbow, an alarm following shortly on its heels. She had little time to reflect upon this, however, as her careful exploration of the barrier had, in a moment of panic, become a breach... A breach from which pure magic flowed without rhyme nor reason. From which pure magic flowed through her and into the corporeal realm. She felt her body twist and shudder as magic shot out from her body in all directions. She could no longer sense the world anymore as she was used to, with her eyes or ears. Instead, she saw it through a filter. She saw beneath the surface, through things. She saw the aura’s of all things, her own magic, rent by the sudden influx of energies, reaching out and manipulating them as her thoughts and imaginings were set out before her, the entirety of her life seeming to take place all in one single moment until her underdeveloped mind could hardly take it any longer. It was a blessing as she felt herself severed from the stream and consciousness by a blunt object impacting the back of her skull. ~o~0~o~ She woke some time later in a dark room with her ears ringing. She waited, forelegs clutching something soft between them as her eyes adjusted to find that she was in a small, dark room, hardly large enough for the cot that dominated its hoofprint. “…a danger to all of us,” she heard a voice say as the ringing subsided. “If we cannot control her, of course.” “Of course,” another concurred. “And what of the parents?” “It's the darnedest thing. A pair of potted plants.” Twilight shivered as she recalled a mix of details. Magic, her magic, reaching towards her parents…an egg…the judges…and beyond…. “It seems that the spell matrix has solidified, however. We are still examining them…but for all intents and purposes, they have been declared deceased.” “Hm…I’ll see to it that the corporal is informed. Shame to have such an emotional burden placed on such a promising officer." “And…what's to be done with her, sir?” Twilight panicked as the door faded from sight, backing up until her hindquarters contacted the cool steel of the cot. “She is to remain under quarantine until further notice,” a large stallion stated, glaring at her coldly. She remembered her brother saluting him, the captain of the royal guard. “Perhaps she can, in time, be useful to the Empire. I assume there are no objections, Miss Sparkle.” He didn’t await a reply, turning back to his subordinate. “Keep the ring on her at all times, lest we have another incident. I will be briefing his lordship on her at once.” “Sir, yes, sir.” The cell door rematerialized as the captain left. The room fell silent as Twilight slumped to the floor, tears falling from her eyes as she clutched Smarty Pants tightly to her chest. [Original]