The Cutie-Marky Tales

by CrowMagnon

Twilight's Tale

"So... do you mind telling us why we need to see Twilight?" Sweetie Belle huffed slightly as she jogged along. The walk to and from the woods hadn't taken much out of her, but the pace Scootaloo was setting was pushing her harder than she was used to.

"Yeah, Scootaloo, Ah ain't really feelin' it anymore. Maybe we should just head over ta Sweetie's place and play a board game or somethin'." Apple Bloom, being more physically fit, was able to follow along without any trouble, but held back to stay with her unicorn friend. Besides, after hearing Pinkamena's story, she had lost much of her motivation.

Scootaloo kept going, however, barely turning her head toward her friends. Still, she slowed down enough that they were able to catch up to her. "Look girls, it's... I don't want to say anything until I'm sure, but I think I'm on to something. If I'm right, it's something big, and Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark story could be the key."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a look. Sweetie Belle then turned a dubious face toward Scootaloo and asked, "Scootaloo...? This is starting to sound like that time you thought Diamond Tiara was running a speakeasy."

Under her breath, Scootaloo muttered, "One of these days, I'll prove that's not 'tea' at those parties... but that's not important right now! Let's get to the Ranger station, and--"

Scootaloo was cut off by a shadow passing low overhead as Sunburn caught up to them and said, "Hey, squirts. You're heading the wrong way."

Coming to a stop, Scootaloo huffed in annoyance at that. "Hey, I've been to the station plenty of times! I know where it is."

Sunburn smirked. "True, but that's not where the boss is." Sunburn pointed off to the large tree growing in the middle of town. "She said she had an appointment at the library, so you'll want to go thattaway."

"Oh. Well... okay then," Scootaloo replied, quietly, turning toward the library.

Along the way, the Crusaders found themselves reconvening with their sisters and the other mares, sans Fluttershy. "Sis? Ah thought y'all were still busy."

"Oh, that. Don't you worry about it, darling," Applejack replied, waving it off. "Pinkamena and I decided to visit Twilight so that she can unveil her grand idea with all of her friends present."

Rainbow Dash added, "Plus, after hearing the cutie mark stories of the rest of these guys, I really want to hear Twi's. Whenever she talks about her past, she gets really dodgy and starts to twitch, but this curiosity's bugging me like an itch."

When the small herd of mares and fillies reached the shade cast by the branches of the Golden Oak Library, they were just about to head in when they heard a cry of "I GOT IIIIIIIIT! OhgoshRainbowcatchme!"

"Wha?" Rainbow Dash turned along with the others and barely had a moment to see Fluttershy hurtling toward her before she got sent tumbling into a heap of colorful fur and feathers. "Nnnh... why me? Why is it always me?"

Fluttershy let out an embarrassed giggle. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I was in such a hurry to get back, I pushed myself too hard to brake." She ditzily stuck her tongue out and thumped her hoof against her forehead before extricating herself from her friend. She then took out a yellowed and torn piece of paper, showing it to Sunburn. "So, you really think Dewdrop will be able to find out where this came from?"

"Oooh, is that the page ya were talkin' about in yer story, Mrs. Fluttershy?"

"Yep! I held onto it as a reminder that I should be careful not to go too far in the pursuit of confidence," Fluttershy explained, looking down at the tattered page with an odd sort of fondness. "Of course, if I hadn't that one time, Will and I probably wouldn't have ever met, let alone fallen in love with each other. This little piece of paper probably changed the course of my entire life."

"Ha, yeah, life's sure funny that way," Sunburn muttered before flapping on ahead to reach the front door. "And Dewey's the biggest bookworm this side of Canterlot, so if anypony in Ponyville can tell you where it came from, it'll be her. We'll just get both taken care of at the same--" Just as her hoof was about to touch the knob, the door suddenly flew open and smacked the Ranger off to the side. "--time..."

Unaware of Sunburn's presence, an athletically-built pegasus stallion with a lavender coat and a blonde mane in an androgynous, almost feminine style, flew out and called back inside, "Thanks, girls! And Twi, I'll see you later for a full debri... debrief..." Despite clearly attempting to speak in a suave manner, the stallion's voice squeaked like a teenager's, causing him to cough a few times to clear his throat. "Wow, okay, that'll take a little getting used to."

Turning to fly off, he noticed the mares gathered around and paused for a moment, giving them a sultry grin. "Oh! Well, hel-lo, ladies. You're all looking as beautiful as ever. I don't suppose any of you'd want to..." His gaze then lowered to catch sight of the Crusaders, and his voice began squeaking again as a look of panic flashed across his face. "Ack! Ah.. ahem... smaller ladies! Sisters! Totally inappropriate! Okay, I'll just be... getting out of here before... uh-oh, that's not good..." Practically doubling over to cover himself with his hooves, he flapped away as quickly as he could, muttering to himself in a voice that faded with distance, "Think about something else... Hoofball... Granny Smith... Granny Smith playing hoofball...!"

After a long beat of stunned silence, Pinkamena mused, "... Well. I did not see that coming."

While Sunburn groaned and slowly peeled herself away off of the wall of the tree, Rarity looked to the sky. "This is why I can't find a good stallion in this town. The ones we do have are either taken or crazy!"

"I'm just gonna pretend that never happened," Rainbow Dash muttered as she led the way inside.

In the middle of the library, Dewdrop Decimal the librarian and Twilight Sparkle, currently in her civilian clothes (which was, to say, nothing) were leaning over an open book surrounded by papers filled with fresh notes and arcane scribbling. The blond-maned unicorn adjusted her glasses and leaned in closer. "Wait, Twilight, I think you made a miscalculation, here."

"Hmm?" Rather than the expected reaction when telling Twilight Sparkle that she had made a mistake, the off-duty Ranger simply glanced over and then broke into a wicked grin. "Oh, that? No, that's not a mistake. I just lied."

"You... lied? But that means the duration of the spell is actually just--"

"Assuming Cloud Kicker's average flight speed is consistent, her tendency to 'take in the sights' (with the most attractive ponies who are most likely to be spotted along her route taken into consideration), and the indeterminate effects that being the opposite gender might have... best estimates are she'll switch back about two to ten minutes after she starts hitting on Nooo-iiiiice to see you, Scootaloo!"

Upon spotting her friends and the Crusaders stepping inside, Twilight quite abruptly shifted gears and hurriedly began shoving the notes out of sight with her magic. "Hey! What's up, girls?! Monster attack?! Elements of Harmony business?!"

Once again, the others were momentarily lost for words. This time, though, it was Rainbow Dash who asked, "Sooo... Cloud Kicker? Why'd you turn the town weather manager from a mare to a male?"

Twilight gave her friends an embarrassed little smile. "It's... complicated. See, she wanted to... um..."

When Twilight trailed off into an inaudible mumbling, Rainbow interjected, "Actually, never mind, that can wait. We were kinda hoping to hear about your cutie mark tale."

Twilight blinked and sat up straight, taken by surprise. "My cutie mark? Wh-what about it?" She glanced back at her flank, and the starburst compass rose adorning it.

At that, Scootaloo pushed herself to the front. "Please, Lieutenant Sparkle? We've already heard all your friends' stories!"

Sidling up to Twilight, Fluttershy explained, "It started with me and Rainbow, and sort of snowballed into a whole thing. Don't worry, I'll fill you in later so nopony has to repeat themselves, but none of us have heard how you got your cutie mark."

Twilight looked around at the mares and fillies. Even little Spike was looking at her from his seat on Rarity's back. The way he was staring at her with such a cute, innocent smile felt like somepony was squeezing her chest. "I... I guess I could if you really want me to, but my cutie mark isn't really something I got on my own." Pointing a hoof toward Spike, she sheepishly admitted, "It all started years ago when I was trying to pass the entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and they brought in a large purple egg as part of the test..."

"Come on... come onnnnn...!" Twilight clenched her eyes shut, straining with everything she had to force magic through her horn. She wasn't even trying to cast spells anymore. She had tried everything that she could think of, already.

Ironhorn's Instant Incubator? It hadn't even gotten warm.

Subtle Quickanger's Sonic Shell Shaker? All that had done was make her ears ring for a few minutes.

Elderbard the Effervescent's Egg Exploder? Overkill really, if the spell hadn't simply bounced off of it without so much as chipping the shell.

After that, Twilight had only grown more desperate, trying every spell she could remember in case there was a trick to this test that she wasn't seeing. Nothing worked. Nothing even gave her a hint that she was making any progress whatsoever. Her magic was just too weak to make her spells do anything, so all she had left was to just gather as much of it as she could in the desperate hope of making something happen!

"Alright, I think that's enough. Thank you, Ms. Sparkle."

Twilight gasped, her eyes opening as the magic in her horn fizzled out. She looked around to see the proctors with their blank, impassive faces scribbling their notes. She looked back and forth between them, her parents who were standing off to the side with reassuring, pitying smiles, and the egg, which mockingly remained untouched by her magic.

Panic seized little Twilight's heart as she realized what had happened. She had failed. All those nights of studying and practicing to strengthen her weak magic, and she had fallen short. Turning to the proctors, she pleaded, "No... no, please, I... I can do it! P-please, just give me one more chance! I'll do it this time, I promise!"

"That won't be necessary," the one who had interrupted her replied. He gestured for the ponies who had brought the egg to remove it. She wanted to stand in their path and stop them, but her legs felt numb as she watched the egg be carted away, and all of her hopes and dreams with it. "Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns receives thousands upon thousands of applicants each year. Of those, only those who show the most potential and talent can be accepted. In your case--"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Twilight found herself screaming at the top of her lungs so that she wouldn't have to hear it. She had failed. She was a failure! She wasn't strong enough, or she didn't know the right spell, or... or... Tears began streaming down her face. She could see her parents coming toward her to take her home.

Home, where she'd get to see her BBBFF's hopeful face fall in disappointment that she wouldn't be following him into Celestia's School.

With a sob, Twilight found her legs, and before anypony could reach her, she had already bolted for the door. Nopony was prepared to stop her, and her eyes were too full of tears to see where she was going, so she didn't bother to keep them open. She didn't want to see the sad, pitying looks that everypony would have when they found out how badly she'd failed, anyway, so she shut her eyes and blindly raced out the door.

She didn't get very far, but not because any adults were prepared to stop her. Instead, she made it out the doorway and had just enough time to hear a filly saying, "This is for grandpa... I feel great! I feel powerful! I! Can! Do! ACK!"

Then Twilight collided with the other filly. There was a flash of lavender light bright enough for her to see behind her shut eyes followed by a weightless falling sensation that lasted for just a moment before a second flash sent the two little bodies tumbling to the floor.

Twilight clenched her eyes shut and brought her hooves up to cover her head. Any moment now, her parents would be coming to pick her up and carry her away. To tell her how disappointed they were that she couldn't even hatch an egg. That she'd embarrassed them by throwing a tantrum and even failing at running away!

Instead, what came next was the other filly shrieking in panic. "Why's it so dark? Why can't I light up my horn?! Celestia, I can't see! I'M BLIND!!"

And now she'd blinded some innocent pony! But... she wasn't hearing anypony else, so she nervously allowed herself to peek at her surroundings.

Instead of the hallway that she was expecting, she and the other filly had somehow ended up in a dark room, all but completely devoid of light except for what at first looked like a floating purple cone. As Twilight picked herself up to get a better look, she saw that the 'cone' was actually the top of a pointed hat, illuminated from within by the horn light of a panicking unicorn filly whose head was stuck in it.

Confused and growing a little scared, Twilight approached the other filly and grabbed the tip of the hat between her teeth. She then yanked backward as hard as she could, causing it to pop free and allow magical light to spill out into the room.

Momentarily disoriented by the light from her own horn, the other filly briefly shrieked and flailed her hooves around. "Stay away from me! I-I'm the G-g-great and P-powerful Trixie Lulamoon, and I'll destroy anypony who tries to foalnap me!"

Twilight's jaw dropped open at the name, causing the filly's hat to fall to the floor. "L-lulamoon? Your name is Lulamoon?"

The filly, Trixie, gradually stopped flailing blindly and blinked several times at Twilight. She was about the same age as Twilight, with a light blue coat, violet eyes that matched both her hat and the little cape she was still wearing, and a silvery-blue mane that was probably well-brushed and styled before Twilight charged into her. She looked at Twilight in confusion and replied, "Um, yeah. Wait, you don't look like a foalnapper. Who are you? And where are we?!"

Twilight eeped as she felt that sinking feeling again. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to run into you. Tesla Lulamoon is one of my heroes! The way she taught herself magic when she was just a filly, and all the magic machines she made, and what she did with airship engines was--"

Before she could ramble much longer, a hoof abruptly placed itself over her mouth to cut her off. "Who are you...? And where are we...?" Trixie asked again, slower and louder as she glared at Twilight.

Blushing slightly in embarrassment, Twilight stammered, "T-twilight. Twilight Sparkle." Then, for the first time, she took the time to take in her surroundings.

It was a dark room that the fillies found themselves in, with only Trixie's hornlight providing illumination. Wooden crates and shelves full of knick-knacks were covered in a layer of dust and cobwebs. One particularly large object, covered in a white cloth, caught Twilight's attention. Pulling the cloth aside a bit, Twilight was momentarily startled to see her own reflection looking back at her from a large standing mirror. "I guess we're in some kind of storeroom?"

"But how did we get here? You didn't knock me through a wall, did you?"

Twilight actually checked to see if that was the case, but no. If there were, they'd see the hole. The only way out that she could find was a single shut door. When she realized the implications of this, she gasped with delight. "Teleportation! Oh my gosh, you can teleport?!"

Trixie's eyes widened. "Wait, what? Who said I can teleport? That's--"

"Impossible for most ponies, I know, but you're a Lulamoon," Twilight gushed, punctuating her admiration with a squee. "And you teleported us to a whole other place without even realizing it!"

Trixie stared at Twilight in disbelief, but as she started to think about it, she straightened her back and replied, "Well, I... I am great and powerful, j-just like the rest of my family! It's foal's play! I just... uh..." She looked at the door and beckoned toward it with her horn. "I... don't know how to get back, so we'd better go on hoof."

Twilight nodded and made her way toward the door. Her attempts to use her magic to open it, however, resulted in nothing more than a few dim sputters out of her horn.

Seeing her struggle with it, Trixie walked over to join her and wrapped the doorknob in an aura of pink magic. "Is there something wrong with your horn? It's not even magic-proofed."

Twilight's good cheer faded, and her ears drooped with the memory of how she ended up there in the first place. Unable to look Trixie in the eye, she replied, "I'm sorry... my magic isn't very strong. I cast every spell I knew, but I couldn't even hatch an egg."

"Oh... Sorry, I didn't know," Trixie replied in apology. She twisted the knob, allowing the door to open out into an empty hallway which, based on the marble and the stained glass windows, suggested that they hadn't left the Princess's palace. Despite that, there was no sign of anypony who could guide them back to their families.

There was no sign of anypony, period.

"Where is everypony?" Trixie asked, looking around nervously as she picked her hat up in her magic and floated it back onto her head.

Twilight joined her in doing so, and echoed Trixie's anxious tone. "This isn't right... My daddy works here. He says no matter where you go, there's always somepony running around like a maniac. Especially when he's carrying a lot of reports."

"Well, if we just look around, we'll find somepony eventually, right? It's... it's not like we got sent to another world that's been taken over by pony-eating zombies, is it?"

Twilight eeped, feeling a cold tingle run up her spine at the thought. "No! No no no! That can't be true! Shining says zombies only eat bad little fillies who look under their BBBFF's beds!"

"... What?"

"Oh, it means Big Brother Best Friend Forever," Twilight off-hoofedly explained.

Trixie groaned and rolled her eyes. "That's so dorky, and not what I meant. I meant the zom--" In mid-word, and without any warning, an equine-shaped figure suddenly lurched out from around a bend in the corridor! It looked liked a unicorn stallion in Royal Guard armor, but its breath was raspy and guttural as it shambled toward the fillies, reaching out to them.

"ZOMBIES!" Twilight and Trixie both let out a shriek and clutched each other in terror while the zombie pony continued to lurch toward them for a few more steps.

And then it stopped.

That wasn't to say that it fell over, or had stopped and was now standing on all fours. It continued to be positioned in mid-step, reaching for the fillies without moving so much as a millimeter.

When the two of them stopped screaming and realized that the 'zombie' pony wasn't coming any closer, Twilight gulped nervously and let go of Trixie in order to get a closer look.

Trixie hissed, "What are you doing? It might start coming after us again!"

"I... I don't think it can," Twilight replied as she crept up toward the stallion. When he continued to not move, Twilight brought herself close enough to reach out her little hoof and tap it against his nose.

When she was rewarded with the sound of her hoof rapping against a hard surface, Twilight sounded no less afraid as she told the other filly, "Trixie, this isn't a zombie pony, it's a regular pony! But... he's been turned to stone!"

Everypony in the room gasped at the direction Twilight's story had taken. Whether in fear or disbelief, all eyes were locked on the young Ranger.

"I know, it's probably not what you were expecting..."

"That's putting it mildly, darling," Applejack replied.

Rainbow Dash added, "No kidding. I mean, I had some crazy stuff happen to me, but that was right in the middle of the Everfree!"

Meanwhile, the three Crusaders stared at Twilight, mouths agape at the tale's new development. Even Scootaloo, who was always the most gung-ho about monsters and heroes, huddled close to the others. "What do you mean, turned to stone? Ponies don't just turn to stone, do they?"

Twilight looked rather chagrined over telling the fillies such a story, but couldn't help but laugh a bit to herself. "Funny. Trixie said the exact same thing. Only when she did, it was more like--"

"What do you mean, turned to stone?! Ponies don't just turn to stone! ... Do they?"

Twilight shivered as she looked up at the petrified guard. Up close, she could see that his face was frozen in fear and panic. "S-something did this to him," she stammered, turning back toward the similarly fearful Trixie. "We've got to get out of here! It could be--"

"Behind you!" Trixie shrieked in terror, pointing a hoof past Twilight.

Twilight looked up over her shoulder, and saw a creature about her size perched atop the guard's head. She gasped, quickly recognizing it from Starswirl's Summary of Sinister Species.

A cockatrice.

There was a cockatrice loose in the royal palace!

It had the head and general shape of a rooster, but the rest of its body, including its wings, were scaly and reptilian. Her eyes widened in panic at the sight, and the monster smirked as its own horrible red eyes gazed into hers, trapping her in its stare. Twilight tried to move. She tried to turn her head or close her eyes, but she couldn't. She could barely even breath, and only the terrified pounding in her chest told her that she hadn't been petrified yet.

That would have changed very quickly if a bright pink firework hadn't exploded right in front of the cockatrice's face. It screamed in pain from the bright light, breaking its hold on Twilight as it covered its eyes with its wings.

Twilight's knees were made of jelly, her mind overloaded with the knowledge of what had almost happened. Her body still felt paralyzed, trembling as though she were caught in an earthquake until she felt Trixie's magic yank her back away from the monster. "Run, Twilight!"

Twilight stumbled, but with Trixie snapping her back to reality, she was able to get her hooves under her and take off down the hall beside the little magician. Behind them, they could hear the cockatrice let out a menacing squawk.

As fast as their little legs could take them, Twilight and Trixie ran down the halls. They raced around a corner and found themselves running down a corridor lined with office doors. Despite the danger, Twilight reflexively glanced up at the nameplates on the doors, then blinked as a familiar one flashed across her eyes. "Trixie! In here!" she whispered as she pushed the door open and pulled the other filly in with her.

Once inside, Twilight shut the door behind her and braced her body against it. Both she and Trixie panted heavily for air, and she looked around for the occupant. When she found him, though, Twilight let out a worried whimper. "M-mister Dotted Line..."

Trixie turned to see what Twilight was looking at, and very nearly screamed again before she muffled herself with her hooves. There were two desks. One, bearing a nameplate reading "Night Light," was empty. Behind the other desk, though, with an expression of grumpy confusion, was what looked like a statue of a very short, very shaggy unicorn. A tipped-over cup rested on the surface of the desk, the source of a lukewarm puddle of tea that slowly dripped over the edges.

Twilight whimpered softly and found herself sniffling at the sight. "D-daddy always said if I got lost here and couldn't find him... I should look for Mr. Dotted L-line. He... he said Mr. Dotted Line would h-h-help..."

Trixie could see the tears welling up in Twilight's eyes as the lavender filly tried to choke back sobs of despair. Before Twilight could go too deep, she whispered, "What was that thing, anyway? How could it do this to everypony?"

Twilight sniffled again and wiped her eyes. "You... you don't know...? It's a... a cockatrice," she explained, reaching into her memories of what she had read. "They... they mostly eat bugs and small animals, but they're very terror-torial." She grimaced a little, pretty sure that that wasn't quite right, but continued on.

"They aren't very strong... um... but they can turn you to stone if you look them in the eye. If somepony or something goes into their territory, they jump out and trick 'em into looking in their eyes... Then the statues scare away everything else."

"So... like it did with you?" Trixie whispered back. "If you knew what it was, why'd you look at its eyes?"

"I didn't know what it was until I looked," Twilight pouted. But then she looked at Trixie and smiled modestly. "But you saved me. If you hadn't cast that spell, I'd have been a statue, too. You're a real hero, Trixie, just like Tesla!"

Trixie blinked at that, then looked down at the ground. "Y-yeah... anyway, we're safe in here, right? We can just wait until a grown-up sees the stoned ponies and tells the Princess," Trixie suggested hopefully.

Twilight's ears flattened as she shook her head. "The book said it could be really, really bad for a pony to be turned to stone for too long. There's no telling how long it'll take somepony else to show up without the cockatrice catching them!" She lowered her head in thought, then smiled sadly toward Trixie. "... I'm going out there."

Trixie boggled at the other filly as Twilight reached up for the door handle, then rushed over to grab Twilight and try to pull her away. Hissing into her ear, Trixie harshly whispered, "What are you thinking?! It'll get you if you do that!"

"I know! I know," Twilight whispered back. She struggled at first, but then sighed an explained, "But there's nothing else I can do. I'm too weak, but while it's turning me to stone, you can zap it with your magic. Then you can find the Princess, and she'll be able to turn everypony back to normal."

The instant Trixie heard this idea, she looked horrified. "Are you crazy? I can't do that!"

Twilight did her best to put on a brave smile. "It's okay. I'm pretty sure it won't hurt, and you'll get the Princess in time to--"

Trixie cut her off by roughly grabbing Twilight in order to look her straight in the eye. "No, you idiot! I mean I... I can't do that!"

"Sure you can," Twilight assured her. "Tesla zapped all sorts of things that were a lot scarier than this when she was our age."

Trixie clenched her teeth, her eyes watering. "You think just because I'm a Lulamoon, I'm some kind of superhero?! I'm not! I'm... I'm not crazy-strong like Tesla, or Mystral, or Sorcere, or... or any Lulamoon you've ever read about. I don't fight monsters, I just do tricks!"

With that put out into the open, Trixie slowly let go of Twilight and sat on her haunches as she removed her hat. Fretting with the brim, she said, "If you go out there, it'll get you... And then it'll get me... and then neither of us'll be able to get to the Princess or the Guard or anypony who can help!

"I'm not a Great and Powerful Lulamoon. I'm just... Trixie the Pretty Good..."

Twilight slowly approached the depressed Trixie and wrapped her forelegs around her in a comforting embrace. "I'm sorry, Trixie. I didn't know," she said before adding, "but that's not right. You are a hero. You saved me once already with that firework! Right now, that makes you the strongest, greatest, powerfulest unicorn here, and... I need your help."

Trixie slowly raised her head at Twilight's supportive words. "But what can I do...?"

Twilight smiled warmly and replied, "I dunno. Why don't you tell me what you can do? Then maybe we'll think of something."

"...You really mean that?" When Twilight nodded back at her, a small, timid smile formed on Trixie's face. "Well... okay, then I guess I can do that."

Trixie took a deep breath to bolster her confidence as she broke out of Twilight's hug and turned to face her. "Okay, so you saw my firework. I made it myself, but it takes a lot of my magic to make something that bright, so if I have to use it again, I can't do much else. I can move things, obviously, but I couldn't lift you or the cockatrice." She then gave Twilight a more genuine smile as she pulled off her hat and put it off to the side.

"I also learned this from my grandpa, the most magical pony in Equestria! Look at my hooves," she said, sitting back on her haunches so that she could raise her forelegs and let Twilight curiously inspect her little hooves. After several seconds of this, Trixie then pointed at her horn. "Now, watch my horn."

Twilight did so and asked, "Okay, but what am I supposed to be seeing?"

Trixie answered Twilight's question by clapping her hooves together. "Nothing but magic!" Spreading her hooves apart again, Trixie revealed that she was now holding a golden bit in one of her hooves.

Twilight gasped, looking back and forth between the coin and Trixie's horn. "But... but your horn! I didn't even see it glow! How...?" She reached out her own hoof to tap the coin and ensured that it was indeed real.

Trixie giggled. "Sorry, but a showpony never reveals her secrets. That's what grandpa Quartermoon always says."

Twilight's eyes widened at that. "Quartermoon? Quartermoon the Magnificent? Oooh, mommy took me to see his show once! Shiny said it wasn't real magic because he's an earth pony, but couldn't tell me how he did any of his tricks!"

Trixie grinned proudly at that. "Yeah, grandpa's the best! He taught me to get ponies to look at my horn so they won't see what I'm really doing! If I did it like this, you'd know it was just a spell." Her horn glowed, and a second coin materialized in her other hoof. Twilight went 'oooh' and poked at this second coin, only for her hoof to pass through it. "He says real magic is--"

But Twilight wasn't listening. She felt her breath catch as a dozen different thoughts began swimming through her mind, twisting and turning around each other until they began to fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. Ideas formed and merged together until she interrupted Trixie with a cry of, "THAT'S IT!"

Startled by Twilight's shout, Trixie fell onto her back. Almost immediately, though, she was back on her hooves and using one of them to muffle Twilight. "Twilight, what're you doing? It'll hear you!"

Pulling back a bit, Twilight excitedly replied, "Sorry, but I know how you can beat the cockatrice now!"

Then, without any warning, she picked up Trixie's hat with her hooves and jammed it down over Trixie's eyes once more.

"Ack! Wait, what're you doing?! I don't get it!" While she was protesting, Twilight stuck her tail right in Trixie's face, which tickled her nose and caused her to sneeze. "Ah-choo! Seriously, Twilight, what're you doing?"

Despite the sneeze, Twilight kept her tail where Trixie could feel it. "It's part of the plan, Trixie! Grab my tail with your mouth. Then I can lead you, and the cockatrice can't get you!"

Trixie frowned at the idea, but admitted, "Okay... so it can't turn me to stone, but what about you?"

"It's okay, Trixie, I won't let it get me, either. Do you trust me?"

There was a long moment of hesitation from Trixie as she took her time thinking about it, but then the office's door knob started to rattle.

"Eep! What was that? Is anypony out there?!"

When nopony responded, Twilight replied, "It's the cockatrice... Trixie, please trust me! Grab my tail!"

Trixie was still hesitant, but as she heard the doorknob rattle and start to turn, she chomped down on Twilight's tail.

"Ow! Don't bite it off," Twilight yelped, but while she sounded pained, the lavender filly braced herself and faced the door. "O-okay, when I say 'go', start running and turn when I say so, okay?"

Trixie nodded, and whimpered in fear when she heard the door start to creak open. Once it started to move, the door suddenly slammed open, followed by the sound of the cockatrice letting out a terrible crow.

"Go!" Twilight shouted over the cockatrice, cutting through Trixie's fear and prompting her to start running.

The cockatrice was taken by surprise when, instead of facing it as every other creature tended to do, Twilight kept her eyes focused down on the ground and charged straight at it. She didn't even given it time to dodge out of the way as she rammed into it with her stubby little horn.

She winced when she felt the impact, and a jolt of pain exploded in her skull. There were many good reasons why unicorns didn't use their horns for anything but controlling magic (and some things her parents had said they'd tell her about when she was older). It didn't matter that it hurt her, though. Just that it hurt the cockatrice too. It didn't break through the monster's scaley hide, but hit it hard enough to knock it away and leave it wheezing just long enough for the fillies to push past it.

"Trixie, turn right!" Doing her best to keep a steady pace while Trixie's mouth was holding onto her tail, she turned and led the little magician down the hall. With the cockatrice giving chase, she kept her head low, but then she heard it flap its scaley wings as it leaped up onto Trixie's back.

With nothing but her cape to protect her from the cockatrice's talons, Trixie screamed in fright, letting go of Twilight's tail in the process. Twilight started to turn around, but had the presence of mind to clench her eyes shut. "Trixie, duck!"

Hoping as hard as she could that Trixie did so, Twilight spun around and threw her hoof at the place she knew Trixie had been. Thankfully, it was scales and not fur that she hit, causing the cockatrice to stumble and lose its balance, taking Trixie's cape with it as it fell. This had the benefit of buying them a few more seconds as it got tangled in the garment, and Twilight reached around to find Trixie and helped her up again so that they could continue on.

Daring to peek ahead, Twilight saw that they were close to their destination. "We're almost there! When we get to the door, use your magic to turn the knob!"

"O-okay," Trixie stammered as Twilight led her the rest of the way, keeping a hoof on her back the whole time. Soon, Twilight told her to stop and took her hoof to place it against the wooden door. As fast as she could, Trixie groped around blindly with her magic until she felt it wrap around the doorknob and twisted it, practically tumbling inside as it swung open.

Once on the other side of the door, Twilight slammed it shut. She winced when she heard the cockatrice's talons scratching and scraping against it, but it couldn't turn the knob and push the door inward at the same time so long as she braced herself against it.

At the same time, Trixie used her magic to pop her hat free again and look around with wide, hopeful eyes. Eyes which soon turned toward Twilight in disbelief.

"This is where we teleported to in the first place," Trixie shouted in nervous frustration as she gestured around the storeroom. "How're we supposed to get to anypony from here? There's only the one way out, and the cockatrice knows we're in here this time!"

Twilight took a deep breath as she held herself against the door. "Trixie... we can do this!" When Trixie scoffed, Twilight said in a commanding tone, "Trixie! Look me in the eye! We can do this, just look me in the eye!"

Trixie begrudgingly did so, turning toward Twilight. When she did, she saw the lavender filly, as scared as she was and even more powerless, looking back at her with a determination that took her by surprise.

"We can do this," Twilight told her. "You can do this. Do you trust me?"

Trixie still wasn't entirely sure, but the look of steely resolve and confidence in Twilight's eyes helped to bolster her own courage. Glancing over her shoulder at her naked back, she turned back to Twilight and nodded. "That was my favorite cape. It's going down."

"Great! Okay, the first thing you need to do is turn that big mirror around...

Twilight was about to continue, but paused a moment when she heard a high-pitched keening in her ears. She looked at the fillies, who were simply staring and listening in rapt attention. Turning her attention slightly to the side, though, showed Fluttershy looking at her with big, wide eyes, a big, wide grin, and making an "Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!" noise.

Slowly, everypony turned to look at the excitable pegasus. Pinkamena eventually interrupted her squealing by saying, "Fluttershy? You sound like you've sprung a leak."

"Yeah, pretty sure my mom's hearing that from across town," Scootaloo replied, even as she fidgeted in her seat, herself.

Showing no embarrassment whatsoever, the noise Fluttershy was making segued into a giggle. "Come on, girls, this story is amazing! I just wish I had popcorn!" When Pinkamena passed her a bag, the pegasus gasped in delight and began munching on the salty snack.

"This's a lot better'n a board game," Apple Bloom admitted to her fellow Crusaders, who nodded enthusiastically.

"How'd you beat the cockatrice?" Scootaloo asked, leaning forward eagerly. "Did you see some kind of trap in all the stuff the first time?"

Twilight smiled a bit and replied, "Well... sort of."

After ensuring that she had Trixie's help, Twilight had directed her to move a few things. Once that was taken care of, Trixie took her position behind a large crate.

With everything else in position, Twilight took a few deep breaths, then moved away from the door and stepped back to face it while still being in full view from the doorway.

Moments after she moved, Twilight could hear the doorknob turning, soon followed by the door itself creaking open. The cockatrice pushed its way inside, brightening the dark room a bit from the light spilling in from the hallway. Spreading its wings menacingly at her, the cockatrice stepped toward Twilight and glared at the filly.

Twilight glared back, staring straight at the cockatrice as it approached. "Y-you want me? Come on then... I'm not scared of you," Twilight said, only stammering a little as she taunted the monstrous fowl.

Whether it understood her or not, the cockatrice didn't care for her tone, and narrowed its eyes, focusing its petrifying gaze upon her.

Much to the cockatrice's shock, nothing happened. It flapped its wings and let out a chilling crow which made Twilight flinch a bit, but there was no sign of its stare having any effect on her. Slowly, step by step, it continued to cluck threateningly as it crept toward the filly, only pausing to attempt to turn her into stone again with its gaze.

Each time, it was surprised to find a flesh-and-blood filly continuing to stare defiantly back at it.

"Come on, aren't you gonna turn me to stone?" Twilight smirked as she stared back at the monster, slowly taking a step back until her rump bumped against the large cloth-covered mirror behind her. "I thought you were a scary cockatrice, but you're just a big bald chicken, aren't you?"

Growing nervous by its inability to petrify the filly, her snark only served to redouble its resolve. Letting out a frustrated squawk, it narrowed its eyes and focused harder than it ever had before on turning her to stone! And yet, instead of being immobilized as she was before, Twilight planted her hind legs against the face of the mirror and pushed as hard as she could, causing it to swivel on its hinge.

The cloth fell down as its spun, and Twilight quickly stepped back, bracing herself to catch the mirror as it swung toward her. In the process, the cockatrice, now turning the full brunt of its glare on her, suddenly found itself staring at its own reflection.

The cockatrice let out a startled squawk and reflexively tried to shut its eyes, but it was already too late. Caught in its own gaze, it found its body stiffening up, trapped by the reflected stare. The petrification started at its talons and slowly crept up its body as it was forced to watch itself turn to stone bit by bit until finally, the effect moved all the way up to its head and the baleful crimson of its eyes was replaced with blank grey.

"Is... is it over?" Trixie's voice asked from behind her hiding place after several seconds of hearing nothing but her own breathing.

Twilight slowly poked her head out from behind the mirror, and when she heard no other movement, she opened her eyes. This caused the illusion cast on her eyelids to rise up, making it look like she had a second set. Upon seeing the cockatrice completely immobilized, Twilight let out a cheer of pure joy. "We did it!"

"We did?" Trixie peeked out from behind her crate, then came out to join Twilight in cheering at the sight. "We did it!" She reached up to pull off her hat and wave it around in celebration, her horn glowing with magic which faded as Twilight's 'second set' of eyes vanished. "Classic misdirection! I can't wait to tell grandpa!"

"And now we can find a grown-up, and the Princess will fix everything!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The two fillies began hopping and dancing around each other, excitedly reveling in their victory.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Everypony stared while Twilight bounced around the library, chanting. Off to the side, Dewdrop stared slack-jawed while Sunburn smirked and leaned in to whisper, "My kingdom for a movie camera... You can recreate this, right?"

"Depends... do you want your boss to teleport you into the sun?"

"Point," the burnt-orange pegasus conceded.

"I'm thinking more about the cockatrice..."

"... Yeah."

All the while, Twilight continued to dance around like a filly on a sugar-rush until Sweetie Belle asked, "So, was that when you realized you got your cutie mark?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Y-erk... ah... I mean no," Twilight replied, blushing as she came to a stop. Her good mood slowly faded to a small, rueful smile as she sat down again. "That didn't appear until a little later. We were able to find one of the Guard, eventually. I... I guess we'd been teleported to the other side of the castle grounds, so while most of them were busy searching for us near the testing area, the cockatrice petrified the few who were still patrolling near where we actually were.

"Everypony who was attacked by the cockatrice got turned back to normal, and nopony was hurt, but we'd still distracted everypony by disappearing like we did, so when we found out Princess Celestia wanted to talk to me and Trixie alone, I didn't know what to expect."

Twilight waited patiently, but every so often she would glance nervously at the door. Trixie had been invited in first, but hadn't come out yet.

Meanwhile, that slight bit of movement on her part prompted her mother to squeeze her again. "Eep! Mommy... too tight...!"

Twilight Velvet just continued to hold her daughter, though she did let Twilight have just enough room to breathe. "My precious little baby...! I am never, ever letting you disappear on me like that again! I don't want to hear about you running off and fighting monsters, understood?"

"Well, for what it's worth, I'd say she's got a talent for it," a cream-coated earth pony stallion with a forest-green mane and a cutie mark of a stringed instrument interjected. When Twilight's mom glared at him, he chuckled lightly and said, "Oop, sorry. Name's Lute Drops."

"Oh, I think we've met," Twilight's father, Night Light, said. "You're the dangerous creature specialist, aren't you? I manage your expense reports."

Lute Drops nodded. "That's me. The Princess wants me to take care of relocating that cockatrice somewhere it won't bother anypony ever again. Just wanted to say congratulations to you and your little one for how well she handled herself."

Smiling to Twilight, Lute told her, "I've got a filly about your age. I wouldn't want her to get in the sort of trouble you went through... not without a lot more training, at least. Still, if she ever does, I hope she'll be as brave and resourceful as you were."

Twilight blushed at that, and this time she shrank back deeper into her mother's embrace. "Um... thanks, Mr. Drops. I didn't really do much..."

"If you say so," Lute replied, waving as he walked off down the hall. "Take care of yourself, hero girl."

Moments after he was gone, the door they were waiting for opened, and one of the palace's servants announced, "Twilight Sparkle? Princess Celestia will see you now."

Twilight looked up at her mother, who looked right back down at her with a worried expression, though she sighed and very reluctantly let go of her daughter. "It's okay, sweetie. We'll be right out here..."

"You don't have anything to worry about," Night Light said reassuringly to both Twilights. "I'm sure the Princess just wants to thank you. Once you're done, we'll all go out for a nice dinner."

"Yes... yes, that sounds nice," Twilight Velvet replied, but she couldn't help watching Twilight every moment as she was ushered through the doors.

On the other side, Twilight was led into a cozy reading room lined from floor to ceiling with bookshelves, each one absolutely filled with countless tomes. Ordinarily, Twilight would be giddy to be surrounded by so much literature, and would probably be climbing the shelves to find a good book to spend several hours with, but ordinary circumstances didn't have her walking into a room inhabited by Princess Celestia.

The Summer Sun Celebration, a little less than a year ago. Each year it was held in a different city or town as a way for the Princess to say that the sun's light shone for everypony in Equestria, as did the Princess's love for her subjects. Every tenth year, though, it was traditional to hold the festival in the capital. Technically, Twilight had been in attendance the last time it was held in Canterlot, but she had only been a a months-old foal at the time, and didn't remember a thing about it.

It had been before dawn, of course, making it really early, but Twilight had been filled with an incredible restless energy. She had started out walking with her family and foalsitter down the Canterlot streets, but as soon as she saw the crowd gathered, she couldn't hold herself back and took off ahead.

The crowd was dense, ponies packed together as closely as they could in order to see their Princess. There was a dull roar of chatter as friends and neighbors chatted amongst themselves. Most were excited like her, though a few sounded concerned about the Princess's age, and whether or not she should be doing such public appearances.

Twilight didn't pay any attention to those. She was too focused on using her small size to dodge and weave between tightly-packed bodies, even squeezing between their legs until she got close enough to see the stage on which Princess Celestia was standing.

Twilight's eyes told her that the Princess looked old. Thin. Frail. A blond-maned colt not much older than her was at her side, seemingly to help her stand. And yet, mere moments after Twilight had gotten close enough to see, Princess Celestia gave the gathered ponies a calm, gentle smile and spread her great wings.

She pushed herself up into the sky, her horn shining with a golden radiance that seemed to pull the sun up over the horizon as she rose higher. Most of the crowd immediately averted their eyes from the brightness, but while Twilight brought a hoof up to shade her eyes from the initial glare, she peered up at her ruler.

Backed as she was by the sun's light, Twilight could no longer see the wrinkles or the thin frame, or the wispiness of her mane. Instead, Twilight felt that she was getting a glimpse of something truly wondrous.

Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria since ancient times, Warden of the Sun. In that moment, Twilight thought that she could see a vision of the Princess in the prime of her life and height of her power. Gentle, quiet, yet unyielding strength. Wisdom tempered by the ages and directed by love for her nation and its people.

It was inspirational. She had always been bookish, but seeing the Princess in such an awe-inspiring light drove her to push herself even farther in her studies. She had been fortunate enough to witness a magic greater and deeper than anything she had ever seen in her short life, and wanted nothing more than to touch even a small fraction of that greatness.

And now here she was, in the same room as her idol. Princess Celestia rested comfortably on a large cushion and looked straight at her with a smile of sweet, grandmotherly affection on her lips. Somehow, without putting on a show as she had done for the Summer Sun Celebration, she still managed to radiate an aura of quiet power that would have pushed Twilight right out of the room if not for the inviting atmosphere.

The Princess slowly opened her mouth to greet Twilight, but before the words came out, a light blue cannonball suddenly launched itself at the lavender filly.

Crushing Twilight in a tight embrace, Trixie gushed, "Twilight! Twilight! You won't believe it! The Princess said I didn't have to take the entrance exam! I told her all about what happened with the cockatrice, and she said I wasn't just good enough to get into the school... she wants to teach me personally! Can you believe it?!"

Twilight gasped in shock, which quickly turned to delight as she hugged her new friend back. "That's great, Trixie! Wow... I thought it was amazing to get into the school, but being taught by Princess Celestia herself? That's super-amazing! You totally deserve it!"

Trixie let out a squeal of excitement before pulling back to hold Twilight at foreleg's length in order to look her in the eye. "We deserve it," she corrected. "I couldn't have done anything to beat that monster without your ideas! Maybe I'm not crazy-strong, but the Princess says I can still be great and powerful!"

"And I meant it," Celestia interjected, her soft voice cutting through Trixie's excited rambling. Instantly reminded of whom she was summoned by, Twilight reflexively shoved herself out of Trixie's embrace and dropped to the floor to bow toward the Princess.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?"

"Sorry!"

Celestia raised an eyebrow at the fillies' antics. Her horn began to glow with a warm, golden aura that picked up the little unicorns and placed them both in front of her. "There, there. I appreciate the respect, but there is no need to bow right now, and there is especially no need to push your fellow student."

"I'm sorry, Princess... and I'm sorry, Trixie, I just-- Wait... 'fellow student'? But I... I failed, didn't I?" Twilight blinked in confusion up at the ancient alicorn.

Celestia smiled warmly down at her and shook her head. "Oh, child, nothing could be further from the truth. That egg that you were presented with was a dragon's egg. One which is preserved and protected from harm by so many layers of enchantments that the most powerful unicorns in Equestria have tried and failed to hatch it for two hundred years. While it would have been a truly miraculous thing if you had succeeded, it was never required of you."

The princess rolled her eyes, then, and let out a sigh. "Which is what Dramatic Pause would have told you if he didn't so love to build suspense."

Twilight's ears flattened against her head, her confusion making it feel as though the floor was sinking beneath her. "It wasn't required...? But then how was I supposed to pass?"

Celestia replied by asking her, "Twilight, do you know what a 'magic block' is?" When Twilight shook her head, the princess patiently explained, "Then let me tell you a little story. Almost eleven years ago, now, I held the Summer Sun Celebration here in Canterlot. There was a large crowd, as there usually is, including a young couple with their newborn daughter.

"I opened the holiday as I always do, by raising the sun. When I did, the sudden brightness hurt the little baby's eyes. I barely had time to hear her cry out and see her little horn glow brightly before several dozen ponies vanished out of the crowd in a flash.

"Fortunately, they were found mere hours later. Given time to study the truly extraordinary amount of magic left behind, we were eventually able to follow the trail to the crystal caverns within the mountain. There, we found every single pony who had vanished, safe and sound, including a baby filly crying in her mother's embrace.

"Ever since, the filly never showed any great talent in magic after that. Although she continued to possess incredible potential, it was buried deep inside. You see, she had scared herself. That innocent little child had only wanted to get away from the bright light, but the spell she cast caused her to become lost in the dark, surrounded by frightened ponies. She was far too young to understand anything about her situation beyond the fact that her power had caused her distress, and so she 'blocked' most of her power away where she couldn't reach it.

"Now, this is actually fairly common among especially powerful young unicorns. Often, those who have a magic block will seem no stronger than those around her until either they discover their special talent and accept their power as a part of it, or they receive a bit of a 'push' which causes them to draw upon their true strength."

Princess Celestia paused a moment to allow Twilight to absorb all of this information. She looked down into the little filly's wide, sparkling eyes as the light of understanding reflected back at her. "So... you wanted to give that filly a 'push'...?"

Celestia nodded.

Twilight leaned forward. "And... and she's...?"

Celestia smiled and nodded. "Yes, Twilight. That filly was--"

"Oh my gosh, Trixie!" Twilight gasped and turned to stare at the blue filly in wonderment. "When I ran into you, it broke your block! That's amazing!"

Trixie blinked once, then pulled her hat down so that she could groan into it.

When she was done, she threw her hooves up and shouted, "Twilight, you dummy, it was you! I can do tricks, but I can't teleport... yet!"

Twilight turned a shade paler and started to shake her head. "No... no, I couldn't have... I can barely turn the page of one of my books," she protested.

"Only because a part of you connects your true strength to something which caused you fear, Twilight," Celestia gently explained. Shooting a stern look in Trixie's direction for a moment, she added, "That does not make you a 'dummy.' It merely means that in order to test your true potential, we had to employ an unorthodox test to encourage you to draw it out."

She paused for a moment in thought, then chuckled softly to herself. "And I suppose this is how Dramatic Pause felt. I assure you, Twilight, there was no malice in what we did.

"By giving you a near-impossible task, you were forced to push yourself farther than you have before. Even if you did not have great strength within you, the sheer variety of spells that you attempted to use was most impressive. But you do, Twilight Sparkle, and when you began to call upon the true depths of the magic within you, the block began to crumble, and everypony in the room with you could see just how extraordinary you are.

"Unfortunately, you ran off before anypony could tell you that, and when you collided with young Trixie here, all of that magic that you had been calling upon took the form of a teleportation spell, leading to the little adventure you both found yourselves embroiled in.

"That is why I have summoned you here as well, Twilight. Trixie has already accepted, and now I want to offer you both a place as my personal students."

Twilight stared up at Princess Celestia, stunned by the offer. The Princess had inspired her to study and practice so hard just for a chance to get into the school... now she was being given a chance to learn from the Princess herself alongside her new friend? It was so much more than she could have ever hoped for!

And yet... she hesitated.

Seeing her hesitance, Celestia's grandmotherly smile faded ever so slightly. "You and Trixie both have great potential, Twilight. With the proper teaching, I know that you will each grow up to be fine mares who will do well by Equestria. Even greater than that, though, is what you have proven yourselves to be capable of when working together.

"I believe that with the two of you cooperating and challenging each other, you will be more than capable of overcoming the... the obstacles of some of those who came before you," Celestia said, her gaze dropping down to her hooves as her voice trailed away.

Twilight similarly twiddled her hooves in thought, barely noticing when Trixie started nudging her. "Come on, Twilight, what are you moping about? This is the best day of our lives!"

Twilight whimpered as Princess Celestia shook her head in disappointment. "Honestly, Twilight, you had such potential. Why can't you keep up?" It had been like this for a while, now. While Twilight had started strong when she first became Celestia's student, she had quickly hit her peak while Trixie continued to improve at an astonishing pace, prompting Celestia to give them more and more challenging assignments. Now, Trixie was outside basking in the adoration of her classmates while Twilight was left behind in the aftermath of yet another failed test.

Twilight gasped for air as the dark, eldritch shapes wrapped around her, crushing her ribs. "T-trixie...! Why...?"

Standing in the middle of the nightmarish horror was a little blue filly, hat and cape discarded in favor of a black dress more befitting the evil sorceress she had become. Trixie sneered at her, glowing red eyes looking at Twilight as if she were a particularly ugly little bug. "You thought you were so great. Always lording it over me just because you were born with power. I worked even harder than you did, but I could never crawl out of your shadow! Fortunately, I found some friends there. Now who's Great and Powerful?!"

Twilight felt the shadows hold her even more tightly, slowly squeezing the life out of her. Twilight's last thought among the living was wondering how she had failed her friend.

Twilight blinked in confusion as Trixie pulled back from the kiss that had (to her) come out of nowhere. "Wh... wha...?"

Trixie's hopeful smile turned into a frown. "... That's it? That's... seriously? All that time we spent together? All those times you hugged me and told me how special I was to you, and... Gah, I'm such an idiot! Of course you don't feel that way!"

Twilight stammered under her breath, not knowing what to say. She tried to reach out to Trixie, only for her friend to turn away with tears in her eyes. "No! Don't come near me!" Her hoof accidentally stepped on her cape, though, causing her to lose her balance. And as Trixie tumbled over the balcony railing and plummeted toward the ground far below, Twilight knew that it could have been avoided if she simply hadn't failed to read other ponies.

Twilight sifted through the rubble of her family home, crying out for her mommy and daddy. The return of Arlok, the Dalk Lord, had come without warning except for a passage in a book that she had started to read, but had set aside in favor of going to a party with Trixie and their friends from school. His army of twisted abominations had sacked Canterlot with a swift and terrible ferocity, and the whole way there, she had passed the bodies of friends and neighbors.

Her search for her family was cut off by a dark growl coming from behind her. She slowly turned to see an immense white beast, her mother's mangled corpse hanging from its jaws. Overwhelmed with sorrow and despair, Twilight let out a pained scream as she fired a blast of magic from her horn...

... Only to watch it bounce harmlessly off of a pink bubble of magic which manifested around the monstrosity. Twilight's eyes went wide as she saw the mutant horror turn just enough for her to see its flank, and the distorted, yet clearly identifiable mark of a blue shield. "Shiny... no..."

If only she hadn't failed to warn everypony.

Everything was fine.

Everything was just fine.

Everything was completely, totally, undisputably the definition of fine.

She was getting excellent grades. She had great friends, including a best friend who could both challenge her and keep her grounded. Her home life was great. Princess Celestia was a wise and fair mentor who always inspired her to do her very best. Equestria was as safe and happy and beautiful as it had ever been.

Everything was fine in Twilight Sparkle's life, except for Twilight Sparkle.

Every test that she took, every single question or task, she worried that there was some hidden meaning behind it. Every interaction with a classmate was another secret test. Every event, whether planned or accidental, could be another attempt to determine if she was truly worthy. So far, she had passed every test put before her.

So far.

The price for passing every test, though, was that she was failing to truly live the amazing life that she had been given. Every moment of every day. Failing.

Failing. Always failing. A million thoughts crawling through her young mind leading to a million failures, all coming from one common point of origin.

Twilight turned her head up to look at Trixie and Princess Celestia, both of them grinning warmly and invitingly at her. That was what made her insides twist themselves into knots as she told them, "I'm... I'm sorry. What you're saying is so amazing... but I can't be your student, Princess."

"Why not?" Trixie asked, utterly baffled by Twilight's reluctance. "You made me think you were smart. How can you not want this?"

"I do!" Twilight snapped back at Trixie so emphatically, the little magician actually leaned back. "It's the sort of thing I always dreamed of! But I can't do it... It's not right for me," she said, and when she looked to Trixie, pleading for understanding, she instead saw the other filly pointing at her flank.

Twilight looked at where Trixie was pointing, and saw a bright flash. When it faded, a cutie mark of a compass rose had appeared on her once-bare flank.

Princess Celestia leaned in closer to look as well, squinting slightly to see it clearly. When she did, she nodded in understanding. "I see. Well, then, while I am sorry that I will not be taking a personal hoof in your growth, Twilight, it seems that you truly do have a different destiny in front of you."

Trixie asked, confused, "Wait, huh? What'd you get your cutie mark for? What does it even mean?"

"Yeah, what does it mean?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I always just thought you had a good sense of direction."

Twilight chuckled a bit at that. "That's actually not too far off the mark. My special talent is 'navigation', but not in the sense of maps or charts. I mean, sure, I can read a map as well as any other pony trained in the Guard, but what it means for me is being able to take what I know and plan ahead, seeing all the bad outcomes until I find a good one that I can act on. In that case, it seemed that the best outcome came out of finding a different direction for my life."

"Wow," Fluttershy mused. "Hey, do you think it might have gone differently if you hadn't been tricked about the egg thing? I got the feeling that it bothered you."

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know. The Princess thought so for a while, I think. Like I was upset with her over it, but it couldn't be further from the truth! I'm happy that she cares enough about her little ponies to try to help one little filly be the best she could be. That test did get me to tap into magic I'd forgotten I had, and I even found out later that she helped pick my foalsitter so there'd be somepony around who could help if I broke my magic block in a bad situation. That's why I wanted to find a way to serve her and Equestria, even if I wasn't going to be her student."

With a bit of chagrin, she added, "To be honest... knowing what I do now, I probably could've taken the Princess up on her offer without destroying Equestria. I was a filly with a vivid imagination at the time. That doesn't mean I have too many regrets, though. Let's face it, as neurotic as I am now, imagine if I had the pressure of being the Princess's disciple to live up to on top of everything else."

Rarity asked, "I have to admit, even with what you said, I'm a little shocked that you turned down such an amazing opportunity. It sounded like Trixie was upset that you weren't joining her, too."

"Yeah, I couldn't really make her understand, so she was annoyed with me at first, but I think she got over it pretty quickly."

Trixie scoffed and started walking away from Twilight. "Why would I ever want to be friends with some loser who throws away a golden opportunity when it's hoofed to them? What, do you think you're too good to learn from a Princess all of a sudden?" After only taking three steps further, though, she turned and haughtily declared, "You know what? When Princess Celestia starts teaching me all sorts of crazy-awesome spells you've never even heard of, you're gonna be the first one to see me pull them off just to remind you what you missed out on!"

"Heh. In her own way, at least," Twilight added, grinning at the memory. "Oh, you should've seen her when they made the announcement that Princess Celestia was taking on a student. Come to think of it, Dewdrop, do you still have all those old copies of the Canterlot Times?"

The bespectacled librarian startled a little at suddenly being addressed. "Huh? Oh, sure. Just tell me what day you want me to look for, and I'll pull it out of storage."

"Well, it would be the day after the cockatrice attack, so the 8th of Fidelious, 991."

As one, the other five Element bearers all gasped in surprise, causing Twilight to look around to see if some sort of monster had suddenly manifested in the library. "What? What is it?"

Rarity exclaimed, "That means you got your cutie mark on the 7th? That's the exact same day that I found mine!"

Rainbow Dash interjected. "The 7th was the day I crashed into the Everfree! I bet if you look in the paper, there'll be a blurb about me!"

"And that's when I received my cutie mark as well," Applejack mused in disbelief. "What are the odds of that?"

"Pretty incredible, because that's the day Will and I put on our first show," Fluttershy replied.

"It isn't about odds," Pinkamena said, her voice as calm and even as ever, which served to make her stand out amidst the confusion. Looking around at each of her friends, she said, "Even before Waking Night, the six of us were connected by destiny. Cause and effect don't run in just one direction. Our friendship transcends time, and connects us in our past as well as our future."

Fluttershy brought her hooves to her mouth and squealed quietly into them while Rarity put a foreleg around her and smiled. "That's actually a really sweet thought, Pinkamena." And while he didn't understand it, little Spike smiled and joined in the hug from his mother's back.

Applejack followed suit and chuckled. "Well, I've never been one for destiny, myself, but after everything we've been through with you girls, it's hard not to believe."

The other three soon gathered around to join in, and while all six cuddled together, Fluttershy exclaimed, "We should sing a song!"

Immediately after that, the door to the library was pushed open, and a very female and mildly annoyed Cloud Kicker fluttered inside. "Twilight, you liar, you told me that spell would last at least four hours, and... and..." She trailed off, looking at the six mares snuggling and nuzzling each other for a moment and mentally omitted Spike's presence before concluding, "And all is forgiven. Well played, Sparkle. Well played."