Sirens pierced the air with their shrill screech. A sturdy pounding of hooves could be heard in the distance. A lone figure, dressed in complete black with a belt around their waist, stood completely still, wings flared in shock. The sound of ponies charging echoed off the walls, and suddenly the pony sprang into action.
Something had gone horribly wrong.
The black-clad pony jumped into the air, though not without catching the eyes of the pursuers. Two more followed, and the chase was on. The pony did maneuvers that were ingrained in her being, so sure that she had gotten away with The Subject. The thing that would determine the fate of life as she knew it. The thing that would make things easier, or harder. The thing that was the most important object in the world at that particular moment. She had to get out of the building with it at all costs. She looked over her shoulder to see her pursuers still giving chase. One was a light pink pony with a blonde mane, and the other was white with a brown mane. What made them alike, however, was that they both wore security uniforms. Turning her focus back to the front, she made a quick turn towards the left and swooped down towards the ground. She knew that, if she were going to escape with The Subject, she was going to have to take down her enemy first.
With precise timing, she dove hoof-first into one, knocking him into his partner that stood behind him. They both barreled into a stack of boxes, which then collapsed on top of them. She turned and faced a unicorn in a security uniform, whose teal-colored horn was glowing with magic. Without wasting any time, she delivered a kick right to her face, sending her foe back. It was then that her ear twitched, as inaudible and rushed talking filled it. She had barely caught on to what it was saying; “—Pega—Above—Move!” When suddenly, the two pegasi that had chased her before tackled and pinned her face first on the ground.
And just as quickly as it started, the sirens went off. The lights came back on. And the pony was helped onto her hooves. She pulled back the hoodie of her black ensemble to reveal a multi-colored mane. Her eyes stared down at the floor in shame as a pair of hooves stopped in front of her. The owner only said two things, her voice a mixture of disappointment and pity.
“Drill dismissed.”
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It was just the other day. The day Twilight Sparkle finally received her cutie mark—while taking a test to get to the School for Gifted Unicorns, no less! And if that weren’t enough, Princess Celestia, the Princess of the Sun, the Goddess who ruled Equestria, had offered her to be her personal protégé. Twilight had been so excited she spent the night packing and excitedly running around the house, much to the loving annoyance of her parents and her elder brother.
There had been a lot of legal involvement that the Princess would take care of Twilight for as long she was in her care, and that she would be staying in a personal wing of the castle. She remembered how her parents ushered her out of the kitchen so they could talk to the Princess in private. She had been so excited that she didn’t care, at the time. She remembered how her parents looked when they watched her ride off in a golden chariot earlier that morning; Distressed, worried. More than they should have been. They didn’t even send her off with a smile.
Now, Twilight was starting to think she didn’t get accepted to the School for Gifted Unicorns. The chariot had made its way for show, flying across the city of Canterlot, allowing Twilight to look down at the townponies and in turn, the townponies to look up at her. But as the guards guiding the chariot crept closer towards the castle, Twilight noticed that they weren’t going to the castle, but rather the mountain behind the castle. She frowned. Surely this was a mistake.
“U-Um…sirs? You’re going past the castle grounds.”
The golden-armored stallions glanced at each other before finally landing on a hidden mountain pass. There, in all her glory, stood Princess Celestia. Twilight jumped out of the chariot the moment it was grounded and ran up to the alicorn.
“Princess Celestia! This has to be some kind of mistake! Where is the school? And the other ponies? Why are we behind the castle!?” Twilight danced nervously and excitedly on her hooves, nervous energy filling her entire being. “Do my parents know I’m here? Am I actually being punished for ruining the roof? Please, Princess, tell me what’s going on!”
The Sun Goddess just gave the purple filly a sweet smile as she leaned down to nuzzle the little one’s cheek. This proved to be a gesture of comfort, for Twilight immediately calmed down long enough to listen.
“Twilight Sparkle. You are not under punishment. You have indeed been accepted, and I have taken you on as a protégé. However…You are not entered in the Equestria School for Gifted Unicorns.” Twilight’s eyes widened.
“You have shown exceptional raw power. I am going to help you shape that power into something controllable, as well as your mind and your body. Twilight Sparkle, you have been accepted to the Elements of Harmony School for Spies.”
The purple filly stood, shocked, at this new information. She was usually prepared for anything, but never this. Only one word came to mind.
“WHAT!?”
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“Twilight Sparkle, please, calm yourself!”
“I’m just a filly—I can’t be a spy!”
Celestia sighed inwardly. The first-timers were always tough, whether they tried to run or tried to attack. She looked down at the little filly, who was now hectically running in circles, chattering nonstop. In her own right, she was sort of adorable, as she panicked. She enveloped Twilight in a glow of yellow magic and lifted her so that they were eye to eye.
“Twilight Sparkle?”
“Y…Yes, Princess Celestia?” She sniffed; fear that she had angered the goddess.
“Before you make your decision, will you listen to me? Will you see what I am about to give you?” Her lips spread across her face in a gentle smile.
Twilight, in an attempt to please her teacher, simply nodded. She was set back down on the ground, and prompted to follow, trotted behind the alicorn as she walked across the mountain path. She looked over her shoulder to find that the two stallion guards had disappeared, along with the chariot she had traveled with. There was no turning back now.
She trotted alongside the Princess, purple eyes scanning the area as they walked around the mountain. The trees were getting thicker along the side, hiding them from any leering eyes that would even see them on the pass. Celestia was the one who broke the silence.
“I bet you would like to know why you have been chosen, am I right?”
The little filly could only nod, and Celestia continued to speak.
“Let’s start from the beginning, then. I cannot tell you everything, but we have had an eye on you for quite a while. You’ve shown an incredible capacity for knowledge, and we are always in need of ponies like that. However, we needed to give a test. Do you recall what happened a week before the entrance exam, Twilight?” Celestia glanced down at the filly, her nose scrunched up in thought.
“Mom and Dad told me they had to go out for a bit, so they left me with a baby-sitter, Miss Cadence. We did lots of things!” Twilight smiled at the memory.
“Will you tell me what you two did together?”
She nodded. “We read books, lots of hard books, but she said I was able to keep up just fine. And then we went to the playground, and she pushed me on the swing. But…” Twilight trailed off as she recalled the events. “The swing suddenly stopped, and I was hurled off the seat. I was able to use a feather falling spell I learned in gym class, and I rolled back on my feet…”
Twilight suddenly put two and two together, and fearfully glanced up at the goddess, who nodded. They finally stopped in front of a wall; a normal, dead end surface upon the side of the mountain.
“That’s correct, Twilight. You had to be tested on your ability to retain knowledge and reaction time before you could be tested on your magical prowess. You passed with flying colors, and that’s why you were granted admission.” The alicorn smiled and gently patted the filly’s mane. “And not every possible recruit gets noticed by the princess. You are special, indeed.”
Twilight could only stare in awe as her mind processed this information. She had been watched over carefully in preparation for this moment. All so she could be…a spy. She had read several spy and adventure novels, but who knew that such organizations, such secrets, actually existed in their peaceful land? She looked up to see Princess Celestia’s eyes closed in concentration, her horn’s magic silently working on the wall that was in front of them. A few moments passed, and the a part of the wall suddenly vanished, as if it were never there at all, and beyond it was a dimly lit path. In the distance, she could see a building that stood out among the solid rock. Celestia lead the way, Twilight right at her hooves.
“This is the…one of the entrances to the academy. There are around thirty-seven, last I checked. Each entrance, excluding this one, is accessible by students once they are officially in the academy records. Not that you will be leaving the campus often, however…this will be your new home as long as you are being trained here. This is a school above all else, and there will be regular classes to take, as well as breaks in teaching periods several times out of the year.” Celestia quickened her pace toward the building, and Twilight followed suit. The closer they got, the more clearly Twilight could see it.
It was larger than she thought was imaginable inside a mountain. Several floors reached the ceiling, causing her to crane her head back just to see where the roof touched the stone. If she had to guess, there were around three or four floors—from what she could see, anyway. There was no way she could guess just how many were under the building, just beneath them. It stretched nearly across the whole width of the cave, with space on one side for what looks like an ordinary shack. Something told her that wasn’t the case. A large staircase let up to the platform the school was leveled on, and the two of them made their way up to the doors.
“First things first…a full-body scan. It won’t hurt and it’ll be over in just a moment. You just need to stand perfectly still. Alright?”
Twilight nodded, and the two of them stopped just in front of the double doors. The glass of the windows and doors were tinted, and the little filly could barely see inside.
“Operative: SUN. Guest: TWILIGHT SPARKLE. Permission to enter the facility.”
Celestia spoke into a small microphone. She motioned to Twilight, and the two of them stepped back as a wave of magic washed over the two of them, searching for any spells or foreign objects that could compromise their operation. Once the search was over, the magic dispelled from their bodies, a voice was heard through the same microphone.
“Permission granted. Welcome back, Princess Celestia.”
The doors opened, and the Princess and the filly stepped inside. Twilight stood, mouth agape at her surroundings. Celestia chuckled and rested her hoof on her shoulder.
“Welcome to the Elements of Harmony Academy, Twilight Sparkle.”