Entrance Exam

by Matthew Penn

Epilogue

Twinkle Star was very happy that her entrance exam was over. She celebrated by dancing across the halls of the School for Gifted Unicorns until she was outside on the streets of Canterlot, where she danced some more. Her parents said nothing to her. Their spirits were low, as were their heads. The only time any of them spoke was when Clovis called for a taxi to drive them home. The taxi pony stopped in front of their house. On their way up the door Twilight Velvet waved to them, only they didn’t wave back, but Twinkle Star waved.

She danced across the hallway and into the kitchen, where she grabbed an apple from the basket. After taking a bite from it she danced out of the kitchen and up the stairs, the twist and twirled to her bedroom.

Twinkle Star’s audience (her stuffed animals) were waiting for her on her bed. Once she opened the door she heard their applause. She bowed to them. She pretended that that her favorite stuffed bunny threw a rose at her direction. Twinkle rushed toward her CD player and classical music filled her room. She didn’t noticed somepony was knocking on her door, so she turned the volume down and opened it. Her mother and father stood before her with disappointed looks on their faces. However, it didn’t look as though they were disappointed at her.

“Twinkle Star, can we talk?” Clovis asked.

“Sure daddy.”

Twinkle turned off the CD player and sat on her bed. Her parents approached her in silence. Clovis sat next to her on the bed. “Twinkle, your mother and I have been thinking over, and we feel terrible about what we put you through. We’re sorry for forcing you to study magic.”

“But why did you make me do it?”

“It’s complicated,” Harper said, shaking her head. “It’s an adult thing.”

“I can understand it, I’m only eight.”

Harper took a deep breath. “Recently - and I’ll never understand why, we just became jealous of our neighbors.”

“Mr. Light and Mrs. Velvet? But why?” asked Twinkle. “They’re really nice.”

“We know, honey. But they keep talking about how great Twilight Sparkle is, and how she does these amazing things… and what have we done with our lives? Nothing interesting happens to us. It really got to us both.” Clovis nodded sadly.

“... Have you tried talking to them about it?” asked Twinkle.

“What do you mean?” Harper asked.

“Have you ever asked them not to talk about Twilight so much? That it makes you feel bad about yourselves? I’m pretty sure they’ll understand.”

Clovis put his hoof under his chin. “Why hadn’t we thought of that before?”

“Because we’re idiots,” Harper said.

“I guess we can tell them how we feel,” Clovis said.

“But do it nicely,” Twinkle added.

“We will,” said Harper. She kissed Twinkle on her forehead. “When Light and Velvet just gushed about how their daughter is a princess… it made me think of you. I remember the times when you were really young, and you always dreamed about being a princess.”

“I got over that years ago,” Twinkle said. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind being a princess for a day, but it’s not my thing anymore. Besides, I like to dance now. I don’t feel bad because I’m not a princess. But I do feel bad because you wanted me to do something I didn’t want to do. And I had to embarrass you in front of those judges.”

“We promise we’ll never do anything like that again,” Clovis said, raising his hoof. Harper raised her hoof also.

“And we also promise to never compare ourselves to other ponies based on their successes,” Harper added, “or be jealous.”

The family gathered for a hug. They stood like that for a minute, then broke apart. Twinkle thought that now would be great idea to show them some of her dance moves. She turned on the CD player again, and her favorite song from The Nutcracker Suite played - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. They couldn’t believe how good she was. For the first time they witness with their own eyes how truly special Twinkle was.

Comments

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

This ending was so chock full of 🧀🌽 but I don't mind, would have been nice to see the conversation results.

The main issue as I see it is you kind of blew through this story so quickly, good premise to be sure, but maybe slow things down a touch. Otherwise, good story.