“Well I don’t really think it matters where the energy comes from song long as it produces the intended effect.” Said Twilight.
The old scholar, Platony, now speaking through a new translator, returned with, “But do you not think it is important to understand where the energy is coming from to begin with? After all, according to thermodynamics, the energy has to come from somewhere. What if the practice of magic in itself is remotely committing illegal siphoning?”
“That’s just silly if you ask me.” The filly said. “You can’t disprove that because there would be no way to produce a universal negative.”
Platony threw his hooves up in the air. “Oh there you go bringing this ‘scientific’ approach to it. You’re almost as bad as my greatest student was.”
Twilight was taking a break from official studying and was debating with her teachers on the theory of magic. It was midsummer and she was giving no thought to school, but was by no means slacking in her studies. Very soon she was able to start learning about how to manipulate matter based on its properties; however, it was getting late and before she turned in for the night she liked to have a riveting theoretical argument.
Twilight readied herself to apologize for science. “Well when you really look at it, magic is scientific a lot of ways. It’s observable, reproducible, and deliberate. I, for one, don’t understand why you always have to look at it so metaphysically.”
The sage chuckled and said, “My dear filly, you have much to learn. It just so happens that the highest divisions of the practice are anything but those things. They are by all means logical, but not scientific. Take for example the fabled omniomorphic spell of which I am sure you have heard. Star Swirl claims to have invented it, but he only rediscovered it and popularized the goal to harness it. In my time, it was called the weapon of the gods because of how powerful and unpredictable it was. We found that out first hand when it destroyed our homes and to this day, your ‘scientists’ are still trying to discover a way to use it like it were a tangible tool. No pony will ever be able to show how it works solely by observation, but we can show how it came to be and how it works by logic.”
Twilight slapped her hoof to her face. “That’s a defeatist’s way of looking at things. You think that because its complicated the we’ll never understand it?”
A clear voice muffled Platony’s response, “Twilight, sweetie?”
Twilight was brought out of her immersion back into the material world, inside her room. She turned to see her mother. “Oh, hi mom. What is it?”
The mare entered into the bedroom and said, “Well your father and I have been talking and we’ve noticed that you’ve been spending a lot of time studying and that you did really well in grade school.”
The filly blushed. “Well, I could have done better. I just wish that I could have been a little more serious in the middle grades.”
Her mother smiled. “You did what you could given the circumstances and we’re very proud of you.”
Twilight’s cheeks grew redder. “Thanks mom.”
At this point, her father walked into the room and said, “And your outstanding performance is exactly why we went ahead and enrolled you in Princess Celestia’s Academy for gifted unicorns.”
Twilight nearly fell out of her seat and sputtered, “What? That’s the most selective school in the nation. Only one in every thousand applicants ever gets in!”
Her mother continued, “We know, but we applied for you anyway, and they accepted you. All you have to do is pass an entrance exam.”
This took a moment to register in Twilight’s brain. When she understood, she looked at her mother and father and squealed with joy. “Oh yes!” She cheered. “That’s so awesome.” Then she preceded to parade about the room with her parents happily watching. She stopped after a moment though. “Wait, what did you say about an entrance exam?”
♦ ♦ ♦
From her birth, Twilight, like many other fillies and even mares, was chained hopelessly and unknowingly in the cave of ignorance. Until the age of five, she lived as any normal pony, spending her days playing games with friends and doing whatever she felt like on a given day. She was content and happy with her way of life, but she was also blown to and fro by whatever circumstances came her way. It is the nature of ponies to opt for complacency and so she did.
Yet at the age of five, she witnessed something that changed her life. She saw something that made her incredibly dissatisfied with her disposition. This dissatisfaction sprung up in the form of a desire within her that caused her to pursue a single goal. She placed all of her being –body, soul, and spirit- into this goal; pursuing invariably the same object even in the face of the most shaking adversity.
She had many enemies, some of which had great influence. Everypony abandoned her and many betrayed her; breaking her spirit and compelling her to forsake the goal which she so greatly desired. They deliberated against and triumphed over her. Thus, she knew only pain; being given no reason to rise above the call of duty, save for the vague promises of rewards in a faraway future. Not even the most despicable of ponies deserve the kind of treatment that she was subjected to, but still her enemies showed her no mercy.
The bards cannot say that Twilight remained steadfast. In less than a year’s time she gave into the immense pressure upon her. For a time, she lived as she had before she saw the splendor of the princess of the sun, but fate would have it that she would come across one who would question her manners. He urged her onward towards what she had been walking towards in a new way. Did she truly thirst for friendship or was it something she could overcome? If she forsook associating with ponies altogether would she survive?
The answers to these questions came to her after only a short time. What good where friends if she gave up herself? What purpose did friendship serve if it distanced her from magic? With these ideas in mind, she renewed her resolve and set herself back on the course towards her self-ordained goal. When they beat her, she did not bleed. When they struck her, she did not flinch. She beat her body into submission and it obeyed her to the very end. When the dust had cleared, she was the most honored by far over all her peers in the capital of the world.
Such honors in academia were not the limit of her rewards though. Not long after conquering the grades, she was submitted to a final test and brought before four who would decide her future. They gave her an egg with a vague description to open it with magic. At first, she could not complete what was required of her, and she thought she had failed. After thirteen years of the hardest and most determined pursuit of a sole purpose, it had all been for naught. So she spoke aloud words not in spite of her examiners or hatred for their choice of her test. “I’m sorry I wasted your time.” After all she had fought for, there was no hope for her. She was defeated.
But the fates had something different in mind. They had a different plan for her; one that was more far reaching than she could ever imagine. Before the entrance exam, she hoped to be among the lowest of the best for her efforts. Despite having fought the good fight, she would have settled if they would have called her gifted, and she would have gladly continued to run the race towards the palace. It was enough for them to simply pass her, to call her acceptable among the greats. But the fates gave her far more than she could ever imagine.
On that day … when she thought that she had failed, when all was lost for her, and her hopes and dreams came crashing down upon her like tidal waves upon an unwalled city, and when she thought defeat had placed its terrible hooves upon her carcass … on that day, a brilliant and widespread sign appeared in the heavens, and she gazed once more into the eyes of Princess Celestia herself; this time closer than ever before. The princess, seeing what lay inside of her from afar, approached and placed her majestic hoof on her; gazing at her with loving and kind eyes. Celestia, the prize for which the filly had been fighting tooth and nail for such a long time, said,
“You, Twilight Sparkle, are very special. Today I choose you to live in my house and learn under my wing; for I have never seen one with such potential as you. Come and I will show you wonderful, astonishing, and amazing things.”
From that day forth, all knowledge was like the most filling delicacy to Twilight. Everything which the princess showed her was a blessing and was more appreciated than anything she gave to any of her subjects. Though she could never consume enough knowledge, she was never hungry for it. And each day, the princess made another crack in the chains that bound her good and faithful student.