Three SUPREMELY aggravating hours later...
It really wasn't fair. Seriously. Had Glory been born a unicorn, she was certain that the ponies in the palace would no doubt have held the door open for her when she said she was here to take the test, and given that she'd started out three hours before the test was even scheduled, she'd no doubt have been offered a bath, and maybe even a set of clean clothes. Instead... instead she'd spent the last three hours answering the same questions over and over again, and then pointing out that there was no stipulation stating the test was unicorn exclusive, and then finally stating that the one who ultimately would decide if Glory could take Luna's test was Princess Luna herself. She'd repeated all of it so many times, being passed on from one clerk/attendant/courtier to another that it had almost become a mantra.
If Flash hadn't been there, with his rather significant clout as one of Princess Cadance's personal guards, then Glory might still have been turned away. Instead, it had just turned into a long, frustrating ordeal that could easily have been avoided, and time she could have otherwise spent getting cleaned up and eating something: Those adorable little cabbits had seen Glory take out her breakfast, the last bit of food she had for the trip, and had given her what she would always consider The Face. From a hundred cabbits at once, The Face had an almost physical impact, and left her unable to eat, instead giving her meal to them, in exchange for a seemingly limitless supply of hugs. Sadly, not being a changeling, Glory couldn't eat hugs.
But now she was here, sitting in a chair, in the hallway. It had been made clear that she was going to be the last one to take the test, in spite of having gotten here first. She'd have to let everypony else have their shot, and even then, provided Luna didn't find a student and just called the whole thing off, there was no guarantee that Glory would get her chance since Luna might say no, and nopony was going to 'waste her time' by asking her right off if there was any problem with an earth pony taking her test.
It made Morning Glory want to tear out her hair and scream, but if she wanted to take this test, it was something she was going to have to tolerate. However, she did make it a point to memorize the name of each and every pony who'd treated her this way, for later on....
Regardless of the headaches of the past, she was here now, watching unicorn colts and fillies file in and take seats at the opposite end of the hall. Glory felt a bit out of place, sitting in a chair in this hallway: She was the only earth pony in this herd of unicorns, and all of them had a certain... refined look to them. Naturally, these were probably Canterlot colts and fillies, maybe even the sons and daughters of the fantastically wealthy or politically powerful. They were all dressed in their best, those who were wearing clothes, and all of them were clean, brushed, combed, and primped to perfection... which made Morning Glory, who was dirty, disheveled, and with a mane and tail matted and tangled from the road, feel like a duck in a room full of swans... or maybe peacocks.
Glory had expected some of the colts and fillies here to be talking to one another, but instead, everypony seemed to be... well, for lack of a better word, they almost seemed to be angry at each other. It took her a minute to realize why: Princess Luna would likely only choose one, or maybe two, ponies to be her personal student. This meant that, out of all of the colts and fillies here, only one or two could expect to be chosen. That meant that there weren't likely to be any friends in this hallway, only rivals.
"Hi, my name's Golden Glow, but everypony calls me Goldie! What's your name?"
Glory, surprised, looked to her right, towards the chair reserved for the next-to-last participant, where the voice originated from, and was surprised to see a yellow, no, a goldish unicorn filly sitting next to her. She had a smile on her face and seemed to radiate so much good cheer that it was a hair's breadth from being unnerving, and so much... vivacity that it seemed as if she might start bouncing off the walls at any moment. Her coat was a goldish color, and her blonde mane and tail, while elegantly styled, had a slightly frayed look to it. Given that she seemed to be almost vibrating with excitement, it was easy to see why: Whatever stylist had done her mane today had done an expert job, but the enthusiastic filly was likely to shake it apart within the next half-hour from pure enthusiasm.
Most of the ponies here had a studious air to them, but Golden Glow looked like somepony who, if left alone for thirty seconds, would start climbing trees, splashing in mud puddles, and more or less just run around having adventures, and having the time of her life. Goldie seemed to stick out in this crowd as much as Glory did, if not more so.
Apparently, nopony had told this energetic unicorn that there were no friends here. Well, there wasn't any rule, or a sign declaring this a no friend zone, and Glory was at the back of the line of participants, so there really wasn't any harm in talking to somepony.
"My name's Morning Glory, but you can call me Glory," she said, after a moment's hesitation.
"Nice to meet you, Glory," Goldie said, that almost worrying smile still on her face. "So you're here to take the test?"
Glory nodded.
"Me too," Goldie announced. "I'm a shoe-in for Princess Celestia's student, but my mommy thought it would be a good idea to at least try out for Luna's student first, if for no other reason than the fact that most of the ponies here will be at Celestia's test, too, so it's a good opportunity to scope out the competition."
Glory was uncertain which was more impressive, the fact that Goldie was that blatantly confident that she could announce something like that in a room full of competitors, or the fact that she'd said all of that in just one breath. Or perhaps the fact that she had said it the same way she might have discussed the weather: To her, the fact that she was the top candidate for Celestia's student was completely and utterly unremarkable to her, and trying out for Luna's student was practically slumming for her...
By all rights, Glory should have disliked her for that, but the words were said without any sort of arrogance or pride. They were instead said with such innocence, and yet with such self-assurance, that the young earth pony honestly couldn't doubt her. Besides, what she'd said made sense: The cream of Equestria's next generation of unicorns was gathered here in this hallway. Any pony who would be willing to try for the position of Luna's student would be sure to try for Celestia's next.
...Which heavily implied that the filly with the seeming excess of energy and enthusiasm was 'eccentric', rather than weird. It takes a lot of money and power to be eccentric. About the same amount it took to turn a 'crazy cat-lady' into an 'enthusiastic animal lover'.
"Ummm," Goldie began, seeming a little uncomfortable with bringing up what she suspected was a touchy subject, "aren't you an earth pony?"
"Your powers of observation are simply mind-boggling," Glory replied sarcastically, then immediately regretted it, and not just because Goldie seemed to be a nice, friendly filly. If this filly really was the daughter of somepony wealthy and powerful, then mouthing off to her could be the worst idea in the history of bad ideas...
Her train of thought was derailed when Goldie began giggling. "You're funny," the unicorn said, laughing. She paused, then said, "You know, no one ever said that it was unicorns only, or that Luna would be teaching magic to her student, yet here we are, with nearly all unicorns. I guess everypony just assumed that Luna's student would have to be a unicorn."
Glory gave a half-smile, and said, "I think a lot of ponies are going to be going home disappointed if it turns out that Princess Luna was looking for a pegasus to give flying lessons to... or just an earth pony to teach her secret family recipe for apple strudel."
Goldie burst out laughing again, and asked, "Oh, that would be funny, wouldn't it?" After her giggle fit ended, she asked, "So, tell me about yourself."
And, surprising herself, Glory did. She'd never really had another pony to talk to before: Early on in her life at the orphanage, a small group of the older colts and fillies had decided that Glory was going to be the primary recipient of their petty cruelties, and the others, fearing that they might draw the ire of those tormentors if they tried to be her friend, had kept well away from her. As such, she'd never really had another pony to talk to, asides from Miss Butterbean, and she was often busy with the hard work that comes with being the only mare in charge of twenty colts and fillies, twenty-four seven.
And what truly seemed amazing was that, as Glory spoke, Goldie listened. She was honestly, genuinely interested in everything that Glory had to say. She was the kind of pony who, when you talked to her, you could see it clearly written upon her face that you had her full attention, and that if you asked her to repeat what you'd just said, she could do so from the very start of the conversation, even after an hour.
And before she knew it, Glory had poured out her entire life story, from the difficulties she'd had at the orphanage, to the trek here on hoof from Cloudsdale (Although she kept everything about Blackberry out of it. He had asked her to keep things quiet, after all), and ending with the unbelievable unpleasantness of this morning.
Something happened as she finished her description of those three nightmarish hours she'd gone through. She found she was crying...
Glory was not a pony prone to tears. By the age of three, she'd learned that crying did nothing to stop the other colts and fillies from bullying her. In fact, it often seemed to spur them on. When she'd stopped crying, and just stoically endured the name calling, the pranks, and other humiliations they put her through, they'd become less frequent, Morning Glory had experienced an epiphany: Tears solved nothing. If she wanted to accomplish anything, she couldn't just sit around crying, she had to do something about whatever was happening herself.
To be seen crying like this... it was embarrassing, but the thought that there were adults who could be jerks just as bad, or worse, than some of the colts and fillies at the orphanage, and that adulthood might end up being just as bad, if not worse, than the present, was just too much to bear...
And then, today became another first for Morning Glory: For the first time in her life, she received a hug from a pony her age.
"I'm sorry," Goldie said, sadly, and Glory could feel tears falling upon her shoulder. "Nopony should ever get treated the way you were. When we're done here, I'll have a word with my mommy, and tell her what happened. She'll do something about it, believe you me. In the meantime..."
There was a sudden flash of light, and suddenly, Glory and Goldie were sitting in each others chairs. At Glory's surprise, Goldie giggled and said, "I'm sorry it's only one spot. Normally, I'd be first in line, but mommy pulled some strings to have me at the back of the line so I could keep an eye on the others. Believe me, if I was in first, and you were last, I'd still trade with you. But one spot closer is still better." There was no mistaking Goldie's sincerity as anything other than genuine: Even if the line had been billions long, she'd have still swapped with Glory in a heartbeat.
Glory smiled, wiped the tears out of her eyes, then nodded, and said, "Thank you."
However, inside her head, wheels were turning: Glory knew enough about magic to know that teleportation was an extremely challenging spell, and most dedicated students of magic were lucky to be able to manage the most basic of such spells in their teens, if not later. Performing not one, but two, simultaneous teleports, and switching the positions of the two ponies being teleported, was a feat that normally took years of study. So much so that it was to the point that a magic-user might hit middle-age, or later, before they were confident enough to perform such a spell on themselves, let alone somepony else. Golden Glow wasn't kidding when she said she was the top candidate for Celestia's new student: She was only five years old with no cutie mark, and yet she was already casting spells at the level of an adept, if not a master!