Twilight looked up and down the empty hallways, taking in the sheer brilliance of it all. She could imagine it now, all of the genius she would encounter, all of the high-level mages she would meet. It all seemed so surreal. Just then, the door next to her opened, and a young unicorn walked out, with a look of shame on his face. He hurried away, and his parents soon followed. Twilight’s vision quickly faded back into the harsh reality of things. If she failed the upcoming entrance exam, she wouldn’t be allowed to attend. She wouldn’t be taught by some of the most amazing unicorns around. None of it would happen, all of her dreams would fall apart.
“Okay, you can do this, Twilight,” she muttered. Twilight took a deep breath, preparing herself. The classroom door opened and an older, grumpy looking silver unicorn stuck his head out.
“Are you a Ms. Twilight Sparkle?” he asked, peering down at her.
“Um, yes sir,” said Twilight, meekly.
“Good, the entrance exam is about to begin. Get in here.” The old unicorn walked back inside, then retook his seat with the other judges. Twilight gulped and followed. Inside were her parents sitting off to the side, a few rows of desks in the back, which a few in the highest row sat the judges, and a line of windows in the front. Her brother had tried to be there, but he had his own royal guard classes to attend. Twilight’s parents smiled fondly at her.
“Welcome to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” said one of the judges. “As you know, you are here for the entrance exam. If you fail, you will not be allowed to attend this establishment, and you will not be nurtured into the pony you aspire to be, as stated in your registration papers. Furthermore, your family will get no refunds should you fail this test. Do you understand?” she asked. Twilight gulped and looked at her parents pleadingly, and they smiled in return.
Twilight took a deep breath. “Yes... I understand.”
“Very well,” said the judge. “Then we shall begin.” His horn glowed, and the classroom door creaked open. Time seemed to slow as Twilight watched it open, inch by inch, very slowly. As it slid across the rough floor, Twilight could only imagine what lay on the other side, and whether it be a monster, or a mere logic puzzle, she did not know. What she did know, however, was that her nerves were failing her. Twilight’s breathing quickened and her eyes widened. All of her muscles clenched tight. And finally, after what seemed like an age, the large wooden door was finally open.
Much to Twilight’s surprise, a young earth pony walked in, pushing a small wooden cart with a purple spotted egg. The old cart creaked a little as it came to its resting place next to her. He backed away out of the room. The door shut behind him, much quicker, it seemed, than it had opened.
“Your test is to hatch this dragon egg,” said the judge. “If you succeed, you shall be granted admission into our fine school, and all of the privileges that come with it. Are you ready to begin?”
Twilight gulped. “Y-yes.”
“Very well, please begin,” said the judge, as they all picked up their clipboards.
All Twilight had to do was hatch a dragon egg. A simple dragon egg. I-I read up on this before, didn’t I? she thought. They usually don’t hatch until they’re super-heated by their mothers, therefore they can stay in their eggs indefinitely. In a unicorn’s case... you have to charge it with a large amount of arcane energy... Twilight couldn’t do that, she had barely ever let off half of the required energy before. And even then it was an accident, Twilight doubted she could recreate it if she tried.
“Well, Ms. Sparkle?” asked a female judge, which immediately reminded Twilight of the outcome if she failed. Twilight laughed hesitantly. The judges wrote something down on their clipboards. Twilight realized that the longer she waited, the worse the judges thought of her, which in turn meant her chances on getting in to the school were quickly diminishing. She closed her eyes and concentrated on getting the energy into the egg. Twilight grunted in exasperation, and then a spark came out. Only a spark; nothing else. She tried again, but not even a spark this time.
“We don’t have all day, Ms. Sparkle,” said the female judge. Twilight’s resolve was quickly dissipating, and she began panicking. She ran around to the other side of the cart and tried again, and once again nothing happened. Twilight tried from all angles, hoping for some sort of miracle, hoping for something to save the day. Time was running out, she was sure they would ask her to give up, she was sure they’d ask her to leave.
Twilight closed her eyes one last time and concentrated. She cleared her mind of everything but the magic she was attempting. She felt the magic welling up inside of her horn, itching to be released. Twilight felt confident in this one, she felt it might work this time. But something was wrong, she felt fear start to creep up her spine.
You can’t win. You’re nothing but a phony, Twilight imagined the judges saying to her. She imagined them laughing her out of the building and telling her to leave Canterlot, because they would convince Princess Celestia to banish her forever.
Twilight attempted to push the thoughts out of her mind, but the damage was done, she couldn’t complete the spell. Twilight put all of her might into finishing it, but merely a few sparks came out. She fell on her face.
Twilight sat back up and sighed. “I’m sorry I wasted your time...” she said. The judges wrote on their clipboards again as Twilight sulked over to the window, to look down at the view she would never experience again. She looked up at the castle and imagined the princess she would never meet. Just then, behind the tall castle spires, a large explosion blasted its way through the midday sky. It was a magnificent display of the entire spectrum of colors. A few seconds later, Twilight heard a loud boom that shook the whole building.
Twilight suddenly felt powerful magic surge through her body, stronger than she had ever felt. It was beginning to overwhelm her; she needed somewhere to release it. Twilight aimed it at the dragon egg, hoping it would be enough. The egg hovered in the air for a moment, then hatched, revealing an adorable purple baby dragon. But it wasn’t enough to stop Twilight’s magic. It couldn’t get out of her horn quick enough and it started leaking downward, into her mind. It quickly took over her body.
Twilight involuntarily lifted the row of judges into the air, with looks of terror mixed with surprise on their faces. Twilight’s magic then turned her parents into a potted plant and a cactus. And then, without anything else to aim at, her magic aimed itself at the newborn dragon. The baby dragon grew to an enormous height, breaking through the ceiling easily.
With no more targets, Twilight’s magic started going even more wild. It began randomly flipping over desks. It shattered the entire front line of windows. It opened and slammed the door, breaking the frame.
Suddenly Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to see who it was and was greeted with the face she least expected to see. Princess Celestia’s. The princess’ loving gaze brought Twilight back to her senses, stopping the outflow of magic.
Twilight’s stomach dropped and fear took over her mind. She imagined what the princess would do to her. First, the princess would lock her in the dungeons. Second, they would lock iron shackles around her horn, so she could never use magic again. Third, after years in the dungeons, they would banish her from Canterlot and even all of Equestria forever.
“Twilight Sparkle,” said Princess Celestia.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t-”
“You have a very special gift. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities,” said the princess. What she said didn’t immediately register in Twilight’s head. Though she didn’t understand completely what the princess had said, she did realize she had to respond, so she said the first word that came to her head.
“Huh?”
The princess seemed unfazed. “But you need to learn to tame these abilities, through focused study.” Twilight’s mind was now beginning to comprehend what the princess was saying. Once again, she realized she needed to respond.
“Huh?”
“Twilight Sparkle, I’d like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school.” Twilight understood that, and quickly began to think of a response that truly reflected her feelings.
“Huh?!”
Twilight looked over at her parents, asking their permission to accept this once in a lifetime offer. They nodded their heads vigorously.
Twilight jumped a few feet in the air. “Yes!” she yelled.
“One more thing, Twilight.” Twilight didn’t understand what was going on. The princess had just made her her personal protégé, right? What more was there to say?
“More?” Twilight asked, as she fell from the air and onto her stomach. The princess indicated toward Twilight’s flanks. She looked around, to see what the princess was pointing at, and sitting there on her flank was her cutie mark.
She had done it. Twilight had finally obtained her cutie mark. And also on the same day had gotten into her dream school and even got to become the princess’s personal protégé.
“My cutie mark!” Twilight began excitedly saying yes and jumping in circles around the princess. Around Princess Celestia. Twilight’s personal teacher. Twilight couldn’t believe it.
The rest of the day passed by in a flurry of congratulations, special treats, and of course, boring paperwork regarding the school. It ended with a magnificent party, after which Twilight was forced to go to bed.
Lying in bed, attempting to calm down after such an eventful day, Twilight realized what had made all of this possible, or at least what she assumed to be the case. She had the rainbow explosion to thank. She decided she should find the pony that caused it, should they still be alive after being likely at the epicenter of it, and personally thank them. Of course she had no idea where to begin, or even if she would have the time, but she told herself she would find them nonetheless. Twilight nodded off to sleep, with dreams of her new life taking over.