Angels and Demons 3: Winds of Destiny

by lunabrony

The Test

A few weeks had passed since the incident in the garden.

Angel had made sure Roll, Quick and Emerald each had their lunch bags packed. Emerald went to a school in Canterlot, and she was escorted there when her filly friend when her father arrived. Roll and Quick were teleported to Cloudsdale. And Sarah, she would naturally have gone to Ponyville that morning to Cheerilee's class for special lessons. However today both of her parents escorted her into the Canterlot Testing Facility. To one of the spires that rose around the castle. Each one an institute of learning. Magical institutes. Some studied the arcane arts themselves, some studied all the aspects of ponykind and the world of Equestria. If anypony knew it, then you'd find a pony knowing it in there somewhere. And they wanted to test her? Of course it wasn't Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but they still wanted to hear from her. Had her father told them about the growing spell she had performed? And how she had managed to master levitation, and even unlock one of her father's puzzles? Her mother was tight lipped.

"Its just a test sweetie, and there's no right answer."
Silver, he looked distant and contemplative.

They had to go up a few stairs. It was a dizzying tower, inside the spiral starcases allowed you to see all the way up through the central column. Auditoriums, labs, libraries, workshops and were located in its sides. Eventually they got to their room and her parents greeted two old looking grey unicorns, both male and both sporting good beards. They were cloaks. They both greeted her.

"Hello Ms Sarah, my name is Sapient." The first time she had meet a pony that pronounced her name correctly, and didn't ask what it meant.

"And mine is Menta." Her parents were already gone from the room. As if to answer her Menta assured her. "Don't worry, your mother and father are waiting for you outside the door. Once the test is over you can go and see them."
Sapient added clarification following the announcement

"Your parents presence would effect the outcome of the test," he said.

Angel had hugged her parents, and promised she'd do her very best. They of course had assured her that they loved her no matter what happened, but not to underestimate the importance of the test. This was the real thing, the test that would truly define whether or not something was wrong with her. Sarah was just as filled with determination as she always was, and stood up straight like Angel had told her.

"I understand. I'm ready." She said confidently.

Menta and Sapient were kind and efficient. They presented the tasks and explained them to her, asking if there was anything she was unsure of. Notepads levitated next to them. The first was humiliatingly simple. There were ten urns, each one filled with soil.

"All of these turns are exactly the same size, in them are exactly the same amount of soil, of the same eact type. And one of them has a seed in it. You're allowed to touch the soil, and inspect them with any of your senses, but you can't dig into it. Can you tell us which of the urns has the seed?"

Sarah slowly circled the small testing area, glancing uncertainly towards the judges.

"Am I allowed to pick up the urn?" She asked, trying to think outside the box like her father had told her.

"You may pick up the urn, but you must not disturb the soil inside the urn." He instructed calmly, watching her. They looked as exactly the same as they had been described. The soil in them looked equally disturbed, there was no tell tale signs of manipulations. Lifting an urn between her hooves gave no sign of a weight difference, not even a minute one.

Sarah was already embarrassed, she'd seen foals do this within seconds. She sniffed each of the urn, gently placing her hoof upon the dirt but not disturbing it, trying her very hardest to sense any sort of change at all. There had to be something. Think, Sarah!

Sapient and Menta conversed a little. Sarah could not hear what was being said.

"Okay, I think this is enough." Sapient said to her. "Pick anyone you feel confident about, or take a lucky guess." They were all the same, to her senses. Nothing distinguished them.

Sarah did her absolute best not to protest, and picked the third one from the left, pushing it forward. "This one." She said, her voice swelling with confidence and hope. One in ten chance. Maybe she'd get lucky.

They stood up and approached, and a letter appeared.

"Tests like this one are double blinded. Neither you nor us know where the real seed is, so you couldn't accidentally read it from our expressions." Menta explained while Sapient checked the letter.

"Third one from the left... good job." Another unicorn appeared in a flash. She looked about as young as Sarah. "Starshine, reset the test." And the two elderly unicorns escorted her into a room nearby. More of a closet really. They didn't have to explain to her what was happening, but they did anyway

"We need to redo the test to confirm that it wasn't a fluke." And she was back, with the same same minutes in which to find the seed.

Sarah entered the room with renewed confidence, maybe she wasn't stupid after all. Again she sniffed all the urns, and THOUGHT the furthest one on the right smelled funny, so in half the time of the previous test, she tapped just that. "This one." She said firmly.

Again, Menta and Sapient summoned the letter and approached her. "Fifth one from the left." Sapient said unceremoniously. And that was that. Starshine appeared again to set up a new test. They didn't even give her a second chance.

"There's no need for that." Menta assured her when they were back in the closet, but he wouldn't comment on the reasons for judgement. The next test was similar, she was given five tree sprout and she had to tell which had been given more water from least to most. In some tests she had to be blindfolded and asked to tell the difference between various scents. They seemed find new things she had never thought she never could do. A test she thought she would do well in but failed, was about which plants before her were growing the fastest. They were each of a different type, but from her knowledge about plants, she could recognize which one tended to grow quickest. Only these plants had been modified magically. She didn't have the ability to tell that simple from being near it. Then came physical tests, they pushed her endurance on running tracks. Had her lift weights. They weighed her, measured the size of her legs. All the failures were starting to form a complete picture in her mind. She knew exactly what they were testing her for. It wasn't an illness they seeking, it was a whole. A whole she didn't have. She wasn't an earth pony.

"Okay, I think this is enough." Sapient said sympathetically. "You can go outside now." It had been two hours. She was exhausted physically and mentally.

She had been born without wings. She had been born without a horn. She had been born without fertility or strength. Sarah took a side route out of the building, without bothering to wait for answers. She already had her results. If there was anything of significance, then Sapient or Menta would tell her parents. She had been so strong and so confident for so long, and it all just came crashing down. Silver would likely know where to find her, at the top of the tallest slide at Canterlot Playground. She was too old for it now, but when she was little he used to take her out. She'd slide down the metal ramp into his waiting hooves, and they'd collapse in a heap. Sometimes they'd go at night and look at stars, but she had long ago crossed off the possibility of an astronomy cutie mark. Now, it was where she went when she wanted to be alone, and Silver often knew to find her there. She collapsed at the top of the ladder, and just cried.

It was early enough that all the fillies and colts were still at school. Though as soon as recess came, she'd probably have to content with squeals to move her flanks. The good thing about Canterlot was the number of magic users and all sorts of subtle charms put on homes, making finding a pony with a search spell a goose chase. She needn't worry that her mother would find her soon. Instead he came. She heard his hoofs fall in the sand of the large sand box. Wooden toys knocked aside by his hoofs. From her still water filled eyes she saw his blurry silhouette at the foot of the slide. He said nothing for a while.

"Sarah? Do you need to be alone?" He asked respectfully.

A question brought up from the depths of her throat, one that she had pushed away for so very long, always denied, always hoped, always been the beacon of light, standing aside and letting others have their moment. But she wanted hers. "Wh... whats wrong with me?" She sniffed. "I know you and mom talk at night... I know the teachers talk about me... always sending me outside thinking I don't notice, or won't notice... what did I do wrong?" She sniffed.

He hesitated for a bit, obviously thinking about something, but it what it wasn't clear. "Sarah, you did nothing wrong. You got born like this. We found out when you were a filly. You weren't growing as an earth pony would. That's why we had you exercise and eat so much." He explained. "Your mom loved you regardless and I'm the same. You're my daughter and that's all that matters there. Angel was guilt ridden though. Blamed herself for not having diagnosed you in the womb. She doesn't talk about things that hurt her, but I can tell." He sat down by the foot of the slide. "I think she's blaming herself in vain, even if we had known we couldn't have done anything about it… I'm sorry Sarah. Don't be afraid to cry. If any pony in Canterlot has the right to feel sad, its you." He beckoned her to come down.

Sarah stomped her hoof. The bell in the schoolhouse rang, if she didn't come down now, she'd have to come down in a moment. "I don't want to be sad! I don't like feeling sorry for myself! I keep myself busy, trying, hoping, but I'm always the one standing on the side, being happy for everyone else. I don't mind that, I really don't. But I want a turn too... just once... just one chance to do something great." She hung her head. She slid down the slide, pushing past Silver. "I can't keep pretending I'm okay. Not forever."

He was about to say something. "When I was your age…" And then it was obvious that colts and fillies would soon get their turn at the slide she blocked. Already filling into some of the swing sets, rushing out from the nearby school. Almost all of them unicorns. "Sarah you're not powerless. You're as smart a pony as any pony can claim to be. And that's the greatest power in Equestria.. well, other than friendship of course." He smirked at her. "Do you think your father got to be the advisor to Novaria because he can do flashy tricks? I use almost no magic there. Just my wits. And you've got them Sarah, that and you can be as kind as your mother. You see into ponies in ways I never will be able to, but you won't be able to sense the earth, or fly, or do magic on your own. I'm sorry that you had to see those doors closed right in your face today, but don't undersell your abilities. Now come down... I'm calling work, I can have a day off, your mom can't. Lets spend it together."

Sarah turned on him. "You said it yourself. I can't sense plants, fly, do magic. So give me one thing, just one thing, that I CAN do." She snapped. "Might as well stick my head underwater, I've exhausted all other options, maybe I'm a seapony." She stormed off of the playground, not so much feeling angry as she was completely and absolutely alone.

He followed her out of the park. "Sarah!" He called as he caught up to her. There was a quick blink and he appeared ahead of her. Wincing apparently from a strenuous head ache of making that jump. "Stop." He said blocking her path, huffing a bit. "I can't solve all your problems in one discussion, or ease all that emotional turmoil. I wish I was your mother, she'd be better at that… but I can tell you the truth, Sarah. You're not like other ponies in more than one way. Look into my eyes when I tell you this." He looked under the weather of one his bouts of headache, and her eyes caught his. She knew that he was hiding some dark and terrible secret. That much she could read, it wasn't directly about her.

"You have an ancestry that includes severely intelligent and ambitious ponies." Why did he say that last word so oddly? "Your brothers and sisters don't, and no I won't explain how that works. You come from Angel and you come from me, but unlike your brothers and sisters you share in a heritage they don't. If you want to know what you have that sets you apart from other ponies, I can tell you that. You've got an ambitious drive and an intelligence that sets you apart. Don't even start to undersell that." He was surprisingly firm with that. "I've seen ponies do things with those abilities that would curl your mane. Great things, wondrous things and utterly terrible things as well." He clearly wasn't himself, his legs were starting to buckle. It was a severe migraine attack. "I don't know if this ancestry is why you were born without wings or horns. I don't think so." He looked up at this own and back at her. "But I do know that you're not powerless. You're a kind hearted pony, and you're smarter than you realize, and you'll be able to go through thick and thin to get wherever you want to go… you have no idea how much I love you for turning out so kind as you do. You're..." He grimaced as a sharp contortion of pain hit him. "...like a little angel. A little... get Angel..." He grimaced closing his eyes.

His vision was starting to blur, Sarah's voice was distant and faded. "Daddy? Daddy!" And then everything was gone.