//------------------------------// // Already Better Then You // Story: Metal Wings // by Halfpaw //------------------------------// It didn’t take long to finish my breakfast. It was delicious. I finished my meal happily putting my silverware in a neat pile to the side of my empty dishes. Looking up I saw the princess eating her salad deep in thought. I decide to interrupt to sustain my own personal curiosity. “Could you by chance tell me what happened to Fast Sword?” A frown graced her lips as she said, “He will be demoted to sergeant due to his actions without proper evidence.” “Evidence of what?” “Anyway let us go to the library to get some testing done.” Well as much as I wanted to press the topic I knew better than to continue to press a topic the princess obviously didn’t wasn’t to answer. I stood up from the table eager to leave. “Now why the rush little one? You seem eager to start the test.” A little annoyed I responded, “Unfortunately for Earth Ponies like myself we don’t possess immortality. Time is much more precious to those who have less of it, and I have no intension of wasting it all in a banquet no matter how good the food may be.” Celestia stared at me with a puzzled expression, “I have seen old mares and stallions who could careless to be reunited with their love in Elysium.” More likely Asphodel. Why did everypony always assume they had achieved great feats when in reality they haven’t nor ever will? “My worst fear isn’t death, it’s to waste my life. I have no intentions of seeing my father prematurely.” “Your father, what do you mean by that”, said Celestia as she left the table walking to the door. “He is dead, was killed by a manticore. In front of me.” There was silence as I followed Celestia out the door. After a while she finally decided to speak. “I’m sorry.” I’m sorry. Is that all anypony could ever think to say! That’s all they ever say. “He took my dad but I got him back.” Celestia turned to me wide eyed as she asked me another question. “What do you mean?” “See the leather I use to make my clothing? It’s manticore leather. I came back when I was eight and killed the beast as it slept” “That is… how old were you when it killed your father.” “I was three. My father was showing me to make gunpowder.” There was more silence. We kept on walking both unwilling to acknowledge the other. I could care less the death of my father had stopped hurting years ago. I really only killed the manticore for the leather anyways. But that didn’t stop me from putting its decapitated head on the wall of my barn and dedicating it to my father’s memory. We finally reached a large door. It was made out of an ebony wood carved with beautiful pictures depicting a dragon guarding a treasure-trove of books. “Wait out here for a second this might take a bit.” I shrugged no longer in the mood to talk. The door swung open as I dug through my bag for the book I had previously purchased. I opened to the first page. I flipped through the book reading every page as quickly as I could. I reached the second chapter. About 10 seconds later I reached the third. Then I was on the fifty-sixth. 104… done! I looked up to see Celestia just staring at me again. “Did you just read that whole book in the time I left you here?” She said it in a loud tone like my mother did when I used to get in trouble. I hope I didn’t do anything wrong. “I’m sorry.” “There is nothing to apologize about. Now did you read that whole book in the time I was gone?” “Yes.” “How many pages are in that book?” “4,235” “Did you start when I left?” “Yes.” “On what page.” “One?” “But I was only gone for 5.6 minutes, I would know I move the sun. So are you saying you read 4,000 pages in about 5 and a half minutes? My confidence was coming back and I responded with pride, “Yes I read all 4,235 pages in 5.6 minutes.” Celestia grabbed my book out of my hooves and opened it to a random page. “Okay then mister, tell me what the third paragraph of page 2,341 says?” “To an average unicorn this spell will take about a day of magic essence to cast. I suggest to try to cast as little spells as possible for about two days before using this spell after a good night of sleep. Even then be careful and make sure there is a pony to watch in case you don’t have enough energy to cast to the spell. If you mistakenly think you have enough but you don’t and cast the spell you may die due to exhaustion.” Celestia just stared at me again. I looked at the clock on the wall. One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. “Princesses are you okay I thought you were just going to retrieve the colt for the test!” Who was that? I turned from the shocked princesses to see the beautiful ebony door open. A young yellow unicorn entered the hallway. “Excuse me Celestia?” “Hello there miss”, reaching my hoof out to shake the yellow unicorn mares. The yellow mare turned to face me only seeming to have noticed me when I talked “Hello there young one do you know what happened to the princesses? I frowned and put my hoof down. “Well I was intending to get formal greeting out of the way before we engaged in a conversation over the current state of the Princesses. But alas I can understand why some would rather just” I was then rudely interrupted by the Princess. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting I was merely shocked by the display of comprehension and memorization of this colt” The yellow mare which I was liking less and less only said. ”I see.” “Let us continue with our introductions, hi my name is Callidus Gears what is yours?” “My name is Sunlit Story.” “It is a pleasure to meet you Sunlit, may we continue with the testing I am so eager to finish.” “You are taking the test? I was under the impression it would be a stallion taking it. You seem a little young to comprehended most of it.” Celestia chose this time to interrupt. “I think you will be surprised at what he knows.” “Whatever, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when he guess all the answers and fails”, Sunlit responded. Yea… I really didn’t like that mare. Celestia only smiled. “We will see.” Sunlit open the door for us as we entered the library. The place was huge! It had row after row of books and seemed to fill up at least half of the castle. But at this point I was past the shock stage so it didn’t take much for me to get over it. They lead me to a table to the left of the large door. “Here is your test. Just guess what you don’t know but try not to rush. You have 24 hours. No cheating or you start again.” I looked at the stack of papers on the desk. There were a few pencils next to it. Well that was undramatic. I thought that there would be a lot of work. “That’s all?” “That’s all! That’s 300 pages of work ranging from history questions to Algebra. This test is used to measure all ponies’ intelligence the moment they graduate school. The highest score ever was by Clover the Clever with a 98.2 percent a thousand years ago. And you say that’s all!” 1,000 years ago. Why is it that it is always 1,000 years ago? Here we all are admiring the work of ponies dead for 1,000 years. I mean has nopony really not contributed anything to society in the last 1,000 years because our history books sure make it sound that way. You got to wonder if Sombra took our intelligence with him when he was banished. “So this is the SMPI test created 1,200 years ago and constantly updated to modern standards. I really don’t think you should brag about Clovers score, a thousand years ago the test had 128 pages. Now it has 359 pages. They are different tests in my eyes.” “How did you know that? Bah it was only luck, take a seat I will start the timer. When you are done tell me and I will record your time, age, name, and score.” I sat down using my magical enhanced magnetic glove to pick up the pencil. I opened it up. Question 1 what is 2,346 divided by 54. Wait a second isn’t this supposed to be hard? I filled the answer portion after seeing the answer appear in my head only to find the next question just as easy. Well this is going to be much easer then I was lead to believe. Question 1,257. What was the last spell StarSwirl created before his disappearance on an unrecorded date? I answered the question before moving the page only to find the table. “Done!” Sunlit looked at her timer before laughing. “Told you he would guess.” I was mad. “I didn’t guess!” “Oh, so you not only knew the answers but you also finished the test in under one and a half hours”, She said laughing at me. “Yes the test was easy.” Celestia chose this time to interfere with our bickering. “If Cal said he didn’t guess he didn’t guess. Now how about you go and check the test right here.” “Sure thing Princess!” Boy was she loud for a librarian. Sunlit smiled like a lunatic as she cast the auto grading spell on my test. The papers glowed a red color before a blank on the first page start to fill with numbers. “Let’s see how well you did little colt!” I hate belittlement. Sunlit picked up the front page looking at me with a grin. BANG What was that? I looked at where Sunlit had been standing to see her laying on the floor. Celestia had a wicked grin on her face as she levitated the page over to herself. “Well aren’t you full of surprises Callidus, it seems as though we have a new record holder with a 99.7 percent!” The number hit me and I froze. 99.7? 99.7. 99.7 percent. That was… almost incomprehensible. Almost. “I had no idea.” “No idea of what” asked Celestia still with a smile on her face. “That I was that smart. I just thought I was a bit above average.” “You really haven’t meet anypony your age before have you?” The silence was an answer on its own. I felt… light headed. “Can I go outside for a little? I need some fresh air and some time to collect my thoughts.” “Let me call my guards they can take you to the gardens for a while.” I just stared at the wall. 99.7 I started laughing like a maniac. Ha! Take that history books! 98.2 The best in 1,000 years. Not anymore! Celestia ignored my laughing as she walked out to fetch some guards. Sunlit of course took that moment to finally come to. She just stood up and looked at me. Okay she is still looking at me. This is getting awkward. “But you’re only a colt… You cheater!” Sunlit looked at me in rage as she got ready to punish me for “cheating”. “A 10 year old colt cannot be smarter than Clover the Clever, she was one of the greatest minds ever to bless Equestria! I refuses to believe you did that test legitimately!” Well guess what mare. I did. The smile on my face clearly caused her much anger as she attempted to walk toward me. Celestia luckily came walking back in happily with a group of Royal Guards. “Please escort this colt to the Royal Gardens as I talk to his mother, watch him at all times. And more importantly make sure nopony harms him in anyway.” The Royal Guards showed no expressions on their faces as they walked over to me in an organized manner. Celestia turned to me. “Callidus Gears you are not in trouble, but now that I understand the extent of your intelligence I feel as though you should be better protected until you are old enough to properly defend yourself from those who would wish to influence you.” Well there goes my personal life. “And from anypony that may want to hurt you in anyway.” And there goes my fun! I frowned. “I understand your reasoning yet disapprove of your actions. Perhaps I will argue against it latter but for now I just need to be alone.” I looked at the guards unsure what to do. “Um… so can we leave? I got no clue where the gardens are.” One of the unicorns to my side simply made a motion with his hoof and they all walked out of the library moving me with them. We were walking fast. But I preferred it. 99.7 That was unbelievable. I knew I was that smart but… whoa that puts a whole new perspective on things. One of the guards nudged me as we walked. “So what did you do that made the princess so impressed with you? We haven’t had to foal sit since Celestia found Twilight Sparkles about ten years ago.” “I have been talking to her all day and seemed impressed with my Equish, she then decide to make me do the SMPI test and I broke the record for highest score with a 99.7.” The guards all stopped for a second to look at me. “Did you just say you scored a 99.7 on the SMPI test?” one of the 5 guards asked. “Yes I broke Clover the Cleavers old record of 98.2, a full 1.5 point difference.” They just stared to walk again looking a bit more rigid. “So how old are you”, another one of the guards asked. “10 years.” The pegasi to my side just sighed, “To think I got my score beat by a 10 year old Earth Pony colt.” “I know bro, geniuses always making folk such as ourselves feel idiotic.” I managed to hold off my smile. I was very happy about my new genius status. “Here we are!” I and my five guards entered the garden. It was beautiful filled with many magically grown plants. I walked past many of the trees only to finally sit at a beach below a pink tree a recognized as a common cherry tree. It was a nice view and I could just see the famed Canterlot maze just at the end of the gardens. This is… peaceful. I closed my eyes intending to sleep my wait away when I heard the sound of ponies coming close. I opened my eyes to see a bunch of ponies my size heading towards me. There was one the normal size who was guiding them. The larger one was a mare with a pink coat and a light pink mane. Perfect… time to get a fillyfreind. I put on my awesome googles and took out the mirror I had attached to one of my leather straps. I did I quick check. Yes still looking as handsome as ever. I looked at my guards. “Mind if I attempt to communicate with the herd of school children, I never have meet a foal my age.” “Well we can’t leave you alone, but you can chat.” “That’s excellent, follow me then.” “Hello, hello odd foals of my age. Now can one of you explain what the buck you are doing?” A guard just laughed at me the moment I walked up to the group. “Silence you, your laughter isn’t making my failing attempt at communicating with others of my age any easier.” “Um… like who are you?” said a light purple filly with a tiara on her head. “My name is Callidus Gears, foal genius and prodigy." “Foal, what? Never mind I don’t want to know what a bankflank loser like yourself is saying. What are you like 11 and you still don’t have a cutie mark?” “Is it true you are a genius Mr. Gears”, said another. “Yes I am a foal genius. And yes I do not have a cutiemark, nor do I care.” I lied about that last part but oh well. “Of course that’s what a bankflank like yourself would say”, said the purple filly. Yea… she was asking for it. “A cutiemark can do two things, it can forever brand you as someone great, or a nopony. A pony without use. Without talent. And that is exactly what yours does my pretty pony. You actually think a cutiemark of something as useless a tiara makes you special? No it doesn’t. It shows you for all you will ever be, a piece of jewelry to either be discarded when it gets old or out of fashion. Maybe expensive but still useless. Where’s I am free, I am limited by nothing. I have no cutie mark to force me into a destiny I do not want. I can be whatever I want to be. I may not have a cutie mark, but I would rather have none then have one as useless as yours. Good day madam.” With that I walked away not giving a second glance to the idiotic filly I had left behind. She was so pathetic she wasn’t worth the slightest amount of my attention. I grinned. I don’t know who you are poor naive tiara pony. But I am already better then you could ever dream of being.