Magic's Shadow

by Reykan


We're Just Two Lost Souls

"Twilight, dear? It's time to get up."

The little filly groggily blinked to awareness. The previous night had not been kind to her in her desperate panic to prepare for her upcoming examination. Her room was filled with scattered notes, open books, and arcane sketches. Most were in pencil, but a few were in crayon, different colors emphasizing the different arrays that were being combined to create the spell. Normally her room being in such a state would send her into a panic on it's own, but she just didn't have the time. Stars above, there just was no more time!

'I still need to bath, brush, eat breakfast, gather my notes...' "Oh my goodness, my notes! They're everywhere!"

No, this day was not going as she'd hoped.

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*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-SLAM* "Frackin' work schedule making me get up at frickin' four in the morning. If I ever find the one who decided mornings were a good time to work, I'm going to run them over with my car... and maybe throw a doughnut... no, just the car. No need to waste good food."

Luke was not a morning person. Technically he just wasn't a 'jump out of bed and greet the day kind of person, as if he stayed up late enough, he could, and would, go through this shpeal at two in the afternoon. Still, bills had to be paid, and no one would ever accuse him of being a parasite. Living off of others kindness wasn't something he tolerated.

Finally managing to drag himself out of the warm covers, he managed to stumble his way to his closet, throwing on a blue polo-shirt; the last clean one he had.

"Gotta remember to do some laundry after work." He mumbled to himself. Some loose-fitting jeans and sneakers completed the ensemble. Now to figure out what he had for available for breakfast. Hadn't his mom left some chocolate muffins yesterday?

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"Twilight dear, calm down, it's all going to be fine."

The little filly was trotting a rut in the floor outside the exam room, anxiously checking and double checking her notes. Nopony told her what type of examination it was! Would they expect her to recite the laws of magic from memory? Would she have to write a three page report on telekinesis? What if she had to write out the periodic table? She hadn't memorized the last few elements yet!

"Twilight Sparkle? The board will begin your test now."
Oh no, oh no no no no, there was no way this was going to end well. It wasn't just an examination of her knowledge or power, it was a full fledged test! She'd never failed a test before. NEVER! Oh what would her parents think of her after this? What if she failed really badly? They'd send her back to magic kindergarten. For the rest of her life! Sun and stars, she'd disappoint Shiny, too! Then he'd get kicked out of the guard and...
"...and hatch the egg." One of the board members said. At this point an older stallion brought in the cart with her test. A dragon egg, she had to hatch a dragon egg? How was she supposed to do that? THERE WASN'T A SPELL FOR THAT!

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'Nuthin beats muffins' Luke thought to himself, as he walked out to his Honda Civic. It wasn't a brand new flashy car, but it was clean, and it got him around without many problems. Luke's thoughts weren't on the car though, they were on the clouds that were gathering. He'd learned long ago to trust his gut with this kind of thing, and right now, it was screaming at him. Something was going to happen. And it wasn't going to be fun.

'The star's are stacked against ya girl, get back in bed... damn, if I didn't need those days off for Mom's birthday, I'd be calling in.'

However, the corporate machine waits for no man, so against his better judgement, and despite a weird sense of panic that he couldn't explain, he started up his car and headed down the road. As he turned onto the highway, the panic only increased, making it impossible to enjoy the music that normally helped blast the last bits of sleep from his head. Was he having a panic attack? Why would he have one now? It's not like he'd ever had one before. His heartbeat was increasing to levels he'd only experienced a few times in his life; the most recent being the time his co-worker, Max, had almost run over him with a fork-lift. If Matt hadn't yelled at him to get out of the way at that exact moment, he'd probably be in the hospital with a broken leg at the very least. Finally, luke started panicking himself. His vision was blurring, while he was driving at almost 85 miles per hour!

"Oh shit oh fuck oh man oh god, what do I do? What do I DO?"

He couldn't stop fast enough, even slamming on his breaks. Luke felt the vehicle buckle, then swerve to the right, then left, and finally felt it graze something before a sensation of weightlessness hit him. His car was airborne.
"No no no NO NO" As his panic reached it's own crescendo, the last thing he heard before everything went white was a small girls scream.
"Star's mercy, HELP!"

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She couldn't do it. No matter what she tried, what cantation she used, whatever cantrip she fell back on, nothing was making the egg even glow. It was like her magic was water to the egg's oil, or, or...

"I'm sorry I wasted your time..." she began to mumble... before a sudden explosion in the distance startled her. Before Twilight had any time to react, her magic had surged, bathing the entire room in the soft purple glow of her power. The egg she couldn't even grasp before was instantly cracked open, revealing the young drake within. A moment later, a second wave of her magic washed over the hatchling, increasing it's size to adult proportions. Her parents were not spared either, transformed into potted plants, while the examiners, despite being behind magically grounded desks, were also caught up in her power. As she struggled to try and reel back in her magic, she heard over the roaring in her ears one of the examiners crying, begging for her life. It didn't make sense, she'd never had this much power before, where did it come from, why did this happen now? WHY COULDN'T SHE STOP IT. It didn't make sense, even her worst surges were nowhere near this level of power, it was like she'd been hooked up to twenty-no, forty magic-boosting gems!

Just as Twilight had found her control again, and was struggling to contain it, She appeared. The princess herself. She looked around at the mess the little filly had made with concern for her subjects, and Twilight felt mortified. This was the Princess' school, and she'd broken it. She'd scared the teachers, and maybe even hurt her parents. She shouldn't be here, she had to get out. She needed to be somewhere else. Anywhere else! As her surge was finally subsiding, she threw the last of the energy into her desperate wish. To leave. To find comfort, anywhere but there. She had to leave. She had to get away. She needed...

"Star's mercy, HELP" The filly sobbed, disappearing in a flash of purple light.