//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Sun and her little Sparkle // by Dark0592 //------------------------------// “What’s wrong princess?” Quill, Celestia’s advisor, asked her. They were currently overlooking a small group of young unicorns. They all had one or more adult with them, parents. All but one of them. There was a small purple filly in the corner that didn’t really seem like she was paying attention to anything besides a book she had on the ground in front of her. “I thought I made it clear the parents of the foals should come with their child...” Celestia said, pointing to the filly. “Well, that’d be a bit difficult for that one. She’s an orphan, the only reason she’s here is because she showed incredible magical prowess at her orphanage. According to one of the staff there, she nearly leveled half the building in her sleep.” Quill said. “In her sleep?” Celestia asked. “Yes, she has nightmares. Some of them insomnia induced, but the staff believes it might be because of her past. She never talks about it though. And before you ask, her insomnia is self-wrought. She stays up late reading every night.” Quil answered. “You seem to know a lot about this filly... What is her name?” Celestia asked. “Twilight Sparkle, and I was the one they called about it. Princess, I met the filly and tried to talk to her... She’s... Different.” Quill explained. “Of course she is. All orphans still in an orphanage are. We might as well get this over with. It breaks my heart every year to see so many hopefuls’ sad faces, though I think I’ll be secretly rooting for this filly.” Celestia sighed. The standards for this exam to enter her school for gifted unicorns were brutally high. They were set long ago, when she first started the school; when most unicorns were raised to the task instead of the little nudges they were given nowadays. The ponies really in charge of this, the nobility, were too stubborn to change anything. She could only interfere if she really, really wanted to and even then it would be frowned upon. Back then, a Unicorn could levitate twice their weight at age three. Now levitation tended to be a problem for young unicorns around age six or seven. These unicorns were twelve. Celestia had to step out of the room for a little while after the eighth or ninth hopeful. They had all failed. She had to keep her composure up, but on the inside it was destroying her and she had to let it out. She stood in the hallway and let out one of the biggest sighs she’d ever sighed. Even her mane and tail, which should be flowing brilliantly, seemed like a trudgy old river. “P-Princess Celestia? Are... Are you alright?!” She heard a small voice gasp. It startled her, she didn’t think anyone would be out here. She found the source of the voice. It was Twilight Sparkle. “Oh, oh I’m sorry. I’m fine.” Celestia said, her composure building back up almost instantly. “Um... No disrespect, but when I sigh with that much effort there’s normally something wrong... And your hair is all... Droopy.” The little filly said, cautiously taking a step towards the princess. She smiled lightly before sighing again. She quickly looked around to see if there was anyone else in the hall before plopping down on the bench. “Oh it’s just all of these little unicorns... When they fail it just makes me so sad to see my little ponies so downcast. But so many in a row...” Celestia explained. She looked over at the filly a couple feet away, awkwardly standing in the middle of the hall. She rolled her eyes and beckoned her over. “Well come on then, come sit next to me.” She said. Twilight was surprised by the offer, but very slowly did as she was told. She sat on the very edge of the bench. Celestia was having none of that, though. She used her wing to sweep the filly closer. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, nor of being informal. Now, what are you doing on this side of the testing hall?” Celestia asked. “W-Well... I... I um. I didn’t know the way and I saw a sign back there...” Twilight said, pointing back towards where she came from. “I see. Well, miss Sparkle, tell me about yourself. My assistant told me a little bit but I want to hear it from the filly herself.” Celestia said. Twilight looked at the floor. The mood definitely dropped by a landslide. “If... If it’s alright with you I’d rather not talk about it...” The filly said. The tone of her voice sounded like any positive feeling was beaten into the ground. “Twilight, You can tell me whatever you want, whenever you want. I didn’t mean for your mood to dampen like this, I had only meant what attracted my assistant’s attention and maybe a little bit about your life in the orphanage.” Celestia said after a moment. “...Oh...” Twilight said softly. “Its alright, I’ve soured your mood enough. You should hurry to the right door so you’re not late for your exam. I need to get back. Good luck, Twilight Sparkle. Do me a favor and pass with flying colors, I don’t like seeing you so distraught.” Celestia said, standing up and walking over to the door. She looked back at the filly and winked. “Wait, how do you know so much about me?” Twilight asked right before she opened the door. “I did my homework, at least a little bit.” Celestia answered before quickly entering the testing hall again. --- There were another seven hopefuls, at least that Celestia saw, and four of them managed to pass. She was still already starting to lose her composure again, though, so she perked up when she heard the tester call in Twilight. The little filly slowly entered the room. “Alright miss Sparkle. This is a very simple but difficult test. Hatch the egg, using any magical means you possess.” The instructor said, nodding towards where there was a large egg being wheeled out in a cart. “Oh that’s just cruel, dragon eggs are the hardest to hatch...” Quill, who was sitting next to Celestia, breathed lowly. Celestia grumbled in agreement. “Um... What if it breaks? I don’t want to kill a poor little innocent baby animal...” Twilight said. “Well, all of these eggs have been ready to hatch for a while. There is simply a series of spells and such keeping them dormant. Unless you completely destroy it the animal should be fine.” The instructor replied. Celestia was surprised he said something besides ‘Then you fail’ like he had for the others. She guessed it was to make up for the difficulty of the test. Twilight tried and tried, but she could do little more than make the egg shake. After five minutes the instructors looked like they were about to agree on failing her. Celestia caught her eye, though, and tried her hardest to get a message through the contact. Go on, I believe in you. I asked you a favor. It was almost as if she had physically said it, The filly nodded slowly and let out a long breath. Her horn lit up once more and the magical aura enveloped the egg once more. Her concentration far exceeded that of what she showed her first try. Very slowly but surely, the egg showed movement. A crack formed and spider webbed along the surface of the shell. Celestia’s eyes widened when she could literally feel the explosion of magic that sent the room into chaos. Twilight’s eyes were glowing white and she started floating as random chaotic things started happening. The egg shattered and the baby dragon inside grew to the size of an elder, breaking through the ceiling. The instructor and the few others sitting in were turned into random objects or animals. A few chairs and tables started floating around and bumping into each other. It was then that Celestia stepped in. It didn’t take much, just a hoof on the Filly’s shoulder to snap her out of it and a magical nudge. The filly seemed to ‘wake up’ after a moment and everything slowly calmed down and returned to normal. The instructors were confused but ponies again, the furniture was disheveled but back on the ground and the dragon was a hatchling again. Twilight collapsed when she touched back to the ground. Worried, Celestia used a quick spell to examine her and found she had passed out from exhaustion. She sighed in relief and looked at the instructors. “Well I’d say that’s passing, no? Make her my personal protege, I see too much potential in her to leave it be.” Celestia said. She proceeded to levitate the filly onto her back and start towards the door. “Princess, where are you going?” Quill asked, getting up from where she had fallen out of her chair. “Twilight was the last one. I’m exhausted and this one needs a rest too. I’m too tired to have a room arranged for her so we’ll just be taking a nap in my chambers.” Celestia answered. “I can have the old astronomy tower fit for living again by tonight if a normal room won’t suffice.” Quill said. “Please do then, but for now she’s earned a royal nap.” Celestia said, giggling softly. “So have you. I’ll uh... I’ll make sure to set someone on this mess.” Quill said, looking around the room. “Much appreciated, Quill. I’ll be awake when it’s time to set the sun and raise the moon, come and get us then.” Celestia said and left the room. “What... What just happened?” The instructor said as he and the others finally got over their transformation induced disorientation. “Twilight Sparkle is now the royal protege and your job here is done for now. Thank you for your time.” Quill said to him before following Celestia out.