Arcane Academy: Celestia's New Student

by TheDimensionRift

Part 1: Chapter: 6

“Silver, it’s time to wake up,”

Astral trotted over to her roommate’s bed with a smile. She watched the covers of the bed shift as though her friend attempted to hide from her.

“Come on Silver, you know the 2nd Trial starts today. We should head out at least 20 minutes before the exam starts to be prepared,” she laughed as the pony let out a groan from under the covers.

“No mom, five more minutes,” Silverlight replied with a yawn.

“I’m not your mom you idiot!” Astral said with annoyance. She then began smiling to herself as she stalked her friends bed. “I know what will get you up,” as she said this, Astral jumped into the air over Silver’s bed and curled up into a ball. “I warned you!”

The cyan unicorn crashed down on the bed with a thud, however, on impact, she could have sworn she had seen a faint light from under the covers. It took Astral a few moments before she realized she hadn’t landed on her friend, but instead, she landed on only the bed itself. She heard a thud and then a moan of pain which came from under the bed she was ow on.

“Okay, okay, I’m up,” the white haired pony said as he poked his head out from under the bed. “Do you have to make so much noise?”

“How did-, but you- And how the-” the unicorn stammered in a confused demeanor. “Silver, did you just teleport?!”

The earth pony came out from under the bed, then, after a bit of stretching, looked his friend in the eye. He stared solemnly as his eyes locked with hers, however, the staring contest soon ended when Silverlight exploded with hysterical laughter.

“Oh, that’s a good one Astral. Nothing like a good morning laugh to jump start the day,”

“So….you didn’t?”

“Come on Astral, I’m an earth pony. The most magical thing about me is my awesome speed and strength,” Silverlight laughed as he ran in a circle as if showing off his speed. “Well that and my amazing good looks,”

“Hey, Prince Charming, we got someplace to be if wanna get it in gear,” Astral laughed as she placed Silverlight’s saddle bag on him.

“Geez what are you, my mother?”

“Nope, best friend, much higher ranking,”

“Says who?” Silverlight teased as he opened the door of their dorm room. As soon as he set hoof outside the door, he felt his body collide with another pony’s. After recovering from his dazed state, Silverlight noticed a mint green unicorn staring back at him as the both lay on the floor. “That’s some way of saying good morning Chip,”

“I could say the same to you,” Chip said as he helped up Silverlight. “Didn’t think you were even up this early,”

“I don’t usually but Astral wanted to be ’prepared,” Silver said as he watched Astral exit the room and shut the door behind her.

“Yeah I feel you, Cherry made me get up early too for the same reason,” Chip said as he looked back at the pink unicorn who was trotting in his direction. “Man girls are such a pain some times,”

“You said it,” Silverlight chimed in as he and Chip connected hooves in a fist bump type manner.

“Good morning Silver, Astral,” Cherry said cheerily as she caught up with her friends.

“Well whaddya know, the gangs all here,” Astral said as she greeted the other two unicorns. “Well since we’re all together we might as well walk tog-”

“Race to Professor Light’s room?” Chip interrupted as he looked at Silverlight with eager eyes.

“Your on!” Silver replied in confidence. “Earth pony vs a unicorn in speed? I got you beat hooves down,”

“Yeah we’ll see about that!” Chip said as he dashed forward in a quick sprint. “See you at the finish line!”

“You better enjoy that head start because your gonna need it,” Silverlight called back as he chased after the unicorn.

“Ugh, typical boys,” Astral said as she watched the two ponies speed off. “I’m surprised either of them has this much energy so early in the morning,”

“Yeah no kidding, I can understand Silver but Chip usually hates mornings,” Cherry laughed as her and Astral walked down the hall. “But they can’t help the fact that their immature,”

The unicorns stopped walking for a few moments and stood still in complete silence. It wasn’t until Astral dashed forward that the silence was interrupted.

“Last one to Professor Light’s room is a smelly dragon egg!” Astral yelled as she bolted forward similar to Chip.

“No fair, you got a jump start on me!” Cherry laughed in response as she took off in the same direction as her friends.

---

When they entered the room, the four friends found that Moongazer and the other five unicorns who were participating we’re already present. Another thing that Silverlight noticed was the fact that no pony was sitting down and all the seats had numbers on them. Moongazer shot a smile in his friends direction before he joined them.

“Typical Silver, always behind me no matter what huh?” Moongazer glanced over at Chip who smiled back. “And I see your starting to add more members to your posse,” he outstretched a hoof to greet the unicorn respectively. “I’m Moongazer,”

“Names Chip, Mint Chip,” Chip replied as he connected his hoof to Moongazer’s as he did Silverlight earlier. “Me and Cherry met Astral and Silver during the last exam, he saved us and we helped him defeat Discord,”

“Discord?” Moongazer asked with a face of astonishment. Just then, a bright light flashed from the front of the room. Standing where the light had flashed were principal Solar Wind and Midnight Star. “That’s a story for another time, I think we’re about to begin the second trial,”

“Everypony, please listen up!” Midnight commanded as the eyes of every student in the room fell on him. “I hope your all prepared because the second exam of the Arcane Trials will commence immediately. Please, everypony step forward and draw a slip of paper from this box,” Midnight pointed a hoof toward a box which was laying on a desk to the front of the room. “In this box is are slips of paper with numbers on them, these numbers will determine where you sit for this trial,” a curious hoof shot up which halted Midnight’s instructions. “Yes Astral?”

“I’m just curious, what exactly do you mean by ’where we’ll sit for this trial’?”

“It’s quite simple,” Midnight said as a smile began to form on his frowning face. “The next trial will be a written test,”

’What!? I was expecting something TOTALLY different. No not a written test! I’m doomed! Doomed!’ Silverlight began to panic when he heard these words. “Hold on, when you say a written test…..you mean-?”

“Precisely what I said!” Midnight snapped at the white haired pony. “Written test mean written test, now, are there anymore idiotic question I can clear up before continue?” The silence that Midnight received as a response was his cue to continue. “Now, please take a slip of paper from the box and take your seats,”

Everypony in the room stood in line on front of the box as they each drew a slip of paper with a number on it. When Silverlight received his, he noticed he had #1B and promptly found his designated seat. Ironically enough, he was sitting in his usual class seat but wasn’t accompanied by any of his friends.

“I’ll let you take over from here ma’am,” Midnight said respectfully to principal Solar Wind as he took a seat of his own.

“Thank you Midnight, now then,” the principal smiled kindly to everyone that was present. Her horn began to glow and in a matter of seconds thick stacks of stapled papers appeared on the desk of every student, most gasped in shock at how many papers there were; even Midnight Star was taken back at the thickness of the test. “The procedures for this exam are relatively simple: eyes front at all times; no cheating whatsoever; and you’ll have an hour to complete all 347 questions presented before you,”

’WHAT!? Sweet Celestia please tell me she’s joking,’ Silverlight thought to himself as he sunk even lower into his seat, as if trying to hide from the world.

“For those of you who seem skeptical let me reassure you,” the principal now dropped her gentle smile as it was replaced by a look of intensity. “This is no joke, you all entered the trials knowing it was going to be extremely difficult. And furthermore, not just anypony can be princess Celestia’s personal student you know?” principal Solar Wind cleared her throat before donning a smile once more. Her horn glowed once more as a maroon envelope appeared before the desk she was standing beside. “These are the answers to the test, when your finished, bring your test up to me for grading and then return to your seat quietly,”

’When we finish? More like if we ever finish,’ Astral glanced over at Silverlight as she saw him silently panic. ’Calm down Silver, just breath and remain calm. This test shouldn’t be that hard, just do your best,’

“Lastly, any of you who cheat or don’t finish the test in time will fail automatically; furthermore, if you fail by either of these two ways then you will be forced out of the trials and you will not continue on to the final trial. Also, your scores from the first trial will be rendered null and void,” principal Solar Wind as she smiled at the students who’s faces appeared to be frozen in terror.

’Geez, that’s the last thing he needed to hear right now,’ Astral stared at her best friend who was now practically a pile of goo in his seat. ’It’s okay Silver, I believe in you, you got this,’

“Well then, you all seem confident in yourselves,” Solar Wind laughed and teased. With another flash of her horn, a quills and ink appeared next to every students test in a quick flash. “You may now begin!”

Every unicorn levitated their quills and turned to the first page and began their test; except for Silverlight the earth pony who just sat quietly and contemplated his failure.

’Okay Silver, concentrate, just…concentrate. There may be a lot of questions but that doesn’t necessarily mean their hard. I’ll just go through the questions and find the easiest ones I know I can solve,’ Silverlight turned open packet to the first page of the test and read the first question in his head. ’Okay, Friendship Problem #1: You receive 2 tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala for you and a guest of your choosing, However, 5 of your best friends find out and they all wish to go. Each of your best friends give a very reasonable claim as to why they should go and why you should pick them, how do you find out which friend gets the ticket? Take into consideration each reason that each friend has given you and calculate how much time (in minutes) that you have if it is currently Wednesday 9:34 AM and the Gala is on Friday at 8:00 PM.’
Silverlight picked up the paper with a grin and brought it extremely close to his face as he reread the question over and over again. Though he was grinning on the outside, this wasn’t at all how his feelings reflected on the inside. ’Hehehe, I can honestly say without a doubt that if the rest of the questions are like this then I’ll fail for sure,’

“You have 40 minutes remaining!” principal Solar Wind called from the front of the classroom with a smile. “Please remember that you are timed,”

’Yeah, how could we forget?’ Astral thought as she glared in annoyance at the principal’s comment. ’That smile of hers may seem kind, but right now, it’s pure evil. She gives us an hour and then she puts us up against such impossible odds. What does she expect us to do? Astral looked around and noticed that several students appeared to be blazing through the questions fairly easy, one in particular was Midnight. She then looked over at Silverlight and realized that Cherry was sitting beside him and was trying to get his attention. Her efforts were rendered useless though as the earth pony only sat in his chair and wallowed in self pity. ’Come on Silver notice her, she’s trying to help you’

Silverlight picked himself out of his slump and wiped away the sweat which was beginning to form on his brow. 'Hehehe, I’ll just skip that one. Okay, Friendship Problem #2: As a student of princess Celestia, it is your duty to inform your studies to her at least once of every week for every month of the year, however, it’s Tuesday around 2:40 PM and you realize you haven’t reported to the princess today since the week before which would make you tardy. She expects a report at around the same time all the time, if princess Celestia expects your report by 6:00 PM but you haven’t found anything yet to write about; write a paragraph explaining what you should do in this situation and how you should handle it. Take into account the time you last wrote a letter to the princess and what the letter was about. Silverlight slowly lowered the paper back on to his desk as he felt himself getting light headed.

Man who wrote these things? My head is beginning to hurt just reading them. Hey, wait a minute, the earth pony looked back at the question and skimmed over it rather quickly. That last question wasn’t even a friendship problem! Or….maybe it was? It depends, if I become the princess’ student does that make us friends? I mean, we’d have a teacher student relationship but I don’t know if that actually qualifies as a friendship,'

“This is your 30 minute reminder, I repeat, 30 minutes left to finish your tests,” the alicorn said in a tone of delight. “No pressure, take your time and answer the questions to the best of your ability,”

’What!? Are you kidding me!? This test is practically impossible to finish unless you have the answers, Astral’s eyes widened as this thought crossed her mind, it was then that she noticed the maroon envelop which sat on the principal’s desk. ’She doesn’t seem to be paying much attention, maybe I could use a teleportation spell to….no Astral what are you thinking? You can’t cheat, especially not on a test as important as this one,' it was then that Astral’s gaze turned toward Midnight Star who now appeared frustrated with the test himself. Ha-ha, not so easy anymore is it Mr. 1st Class Academy Student?

’Okay, this is it, this question can’t be hard like the others’ Silverlight closed his eyes and let out a sigh before he continued to read the question. ’Friendship Problem #224: What is the square root of Pi*7.3 to the diameter of the sun?'

............................

The white haired pony sat in complete silence as he stared directly ahead of him with a blank expression.

“Umm….Silver?” Cherry whispered as she tried to get the pony’s attention.

“Who in the wide world of Equeastria made these QUESTIONS!?!?” Silverlight’s yell drew the attention of everypony in the room, including principal Solar Wind. “I mean seriously, half of these questions don’t even sound like friendship problems at all!”

“The questions for this exam were created by one of princess Celestia’s former students, she is quite the bookworm which is why she was the perfect candidate for creating the questions,” principal Solar Wind stated as she brushed her hair to the side. “If you feel the questions are too difficult for you then feel free drop out of the trials at anytime,”

“Wait, you mean we don’t have to take this test?” Silverlight asked as he stood up from his seat.

“Of course, dropping out of this current trial would count as a disqualification and you will be asked to leave the room and you will not continue on to the final trial. Remember, the Arcane Trials are not mandatory, the only pony keeping you here is yourself,” the principal eyed the earth pony who only glared back at her with a serious look. “If you wish to leave simply bring me your test,”

Silverlight stared down at his paper as he contemplated his decision. ’Oh great, if I don’t finish this test than I’m disqualified and if I answer the questions incorrectly than I’m disqualified. There’s no way for me to win….unless…. Silverlight picked up his paper in his mouth slowly and hesitantly, complete silence befell the room as he slowly maneuvered out of his seat.

“S…..Silver?” Cherry asked as she watched her friend slowly pass by her and toward the principal’s direction.

“Silver what are you doing? What about-?”

“Silence please! There are still tests out so the testing rules still apply,” Astral was interrupted by Midnight Star’s abrupt remark. “Furthermore, I’m enjoying the show,” he added under his breath so as not to let anypony hear.

’Come on Silver, your better than that. Don’t do it, don’t give in, Chip thought as the earth pony slowly trudged by his desk and closer to the front of the room.

’Well, well, you’ve disappointed me Silverlight,’ Moongazer continued to do his test as he heard the slow hoofsteps of Silverlight who had finally approached principal Solar Wind.

The alicorn simply stared at the white earth pony who gazed at the ground in silence. She let out a bit of a defeated sigh as Silverlight slowly began to lower his paper on to the desk.

'How unfortunate, princess Celestia is going to be very disappointed when she finds out her favorite candidate was disqualified' the principal thought to herself as she watched Silverlight’s paper rest on her desk. “Very well, 3rd Class Academy Student Silverlight, I hereby disqual-”

“Pardon the interruption ma’am,” an armored pegasus said as he burst through the classroom door. “But princess Celestia would like a word, she claims it is an emergency,”

“Now? Of all times?” Solar Wind asked the guard who nodded in response to the principal’s question. ’You timed your interruption perfectly Celestia, and I’m kind of grateful too; if I had disqualified Silverlight here the rest of the trials would have been rather dull.' “Yes, I understand,” the alicorn let out one final comment before exiting the classroom and closing the door behind her. “Oh, and just a reminder, you all have 15 minutes left to finish your tests, have fun,”

Again, silence fell across the classroom as the door shut behind the principal who had exited, it was Astral’s annoyed voice which brought every student back to reality.

“Hey Silver, what do you think your doing giving up so early you idiot!?” Astral let out a sigh of exhaustion as she calmed herself. When she had finally regained her focus, Astral’s eyes locked on the maroon envelope which still rested upon the front desk where principal Solar Wind was at. Now’s my chance to grab the answers and pass this test She wasn’t the only pony to think about getting the answers because the envelope began to float away as it landed in front of Midnight Star. Although, rather than immediately copying the answers, he stood up and turned to face his fellow classmates.

“Listen up, all of you, I’m sure your all aware that this test as intricate questions which are almost impossible to answer without the highest level of comprehension. This would require us to consume more time than we’ve been given, ultimately making the test impossible to pass, however,” the gray unicorn levitated the envelope as he began to open it and pulled out a single slip of paper. “I have here the answers needed to pass this exam, I’m going pass this document around so everypony has a fair chance to look at it and copy the answers. There’s no telling when principal Solar Wind will return so be as quick as possible,”

“Hold up, since when did you care about anypony else passing other than yourself?” Astral asked as she slammed her hooves down on her desk and rose from her seat. “What are you planning?”

“Well my answer is quite simple,” Midnight began to say as he passed the scroll to another student who quickly began copying down the answers. “While it’s true I originally only sought for myself to succeed, I’ve come to realize that the final trial will be more interesting with every candidate present. That’s why I want as many as you to complete this trial with the best score possible,” Midnight’s looked at Silverlight and then turned his gaze to Astral. “Especially you two, I can’t have my fun if you two specifically don’t make it to the finals,”

The answer sheet had quickly reached Astral, she was reluctant to take the paper after hearing what Midnight said; however, she knew if she didn’t take this chance then her failure was eminent. She quickly glanced at the paper and scribbled down the answers in a blink of an eye and passed the sheet onwards. It only took several minutes before the sheet made it back to Midnight. The dark haired unicorn then turned to Silverlight who stared at him puzzled.

“Everypony else has gotten the answers except for you Silver, hurry up and copy them before principal Solar Wind returns,”

The earth pony stared at the sheet, his face wearing an expression as blank as his test answers. All the other students stared on with anticipation and anxiety, all except for Midnight who was only getting frustrated with the pony’s indecisive attitude.

“Well? What the hay are you waiting for? Take it!” Midnight now commanded as he used his magic to toss the answer sheet to Silverlight. Time seemed to slow as the sheet flew in mid air and slowly and landed in the earth pony's mouth. “Go on, principal Solar Wind hasn’t disqualified you yet, so hurry up and-”

Midnight Star was interrupted by a loud tearing sound, a sound which seemed to reverberate all throughout the classroom and demanded gasps of shock from every student. Midnight watched as the piece of paper which was once in Silverlight’s mouth quickly turn into ribbons and confetti as pony tore it up with his teeth, gnashing the answer sheet furiously between his teeth.

“Are you dense!? That was the key to you passing this exam! And you just ate it like a mountain goat!”

After his outburst of anger, Midnight and everypony in the room became confused as Silverlight began laughing before hopping onto the desk at the front of the classroom and demanding every students attention.

“Look at all of you, I can honestly say without a doubt,” Silverlight now glared out at everyone. “Your all pathetic. You’ll all pass this exam by doing whatever means necessary, you’ve all casted aside your integrity. Did you all forget who’s student your attempting to be?” the earth pony stomped a hoof on the desk in a fit of outrage. “Princess Celestia wouldn’t tolerate such tactics just for you to achieve your own personal goal!” everypony’s eyes stayed locked on Silver as they listened to his speech intently. “Listen up, I'm gonna graduate from this academy, become a member of the Arcane Agency, and I'm going to become the most skilled wizard in Equeastria; but I'm not gonna take the easy way out of things. If becoming a great magic wielder means that I have to take the easy way out, than I'd rather remain a 3rd Class Academy Student for the rest of my life!"

“Just the response I was hoping to hear,” a disembodied voice said as a bright light engulfed the room in seconds. Standing in front of Silverlight and the rest of the students was now both princess Celestia and principal Solar Wind. Both the alicorns turned around and faced Silverlight with beaming smiles, then, they both spoke in unison toward the earth pony.
“Congratulations Silverlight, you’ve successfully passed the 2nd exam of the Arcane Trials!”

The look of astonishment on everypony’s face, Silverlight included, was serious when they all heard what the two alicorns said. Midnight Star simply chuckled to himself and smiled on with a grin.

“He’s not the only one,” Midnight laughed as the two alicorns now turned to face him. “If I remember correctly I stayed within qualified bounds of testing procedures; meaning, I also pass this exam. Right, mother?” The unicorn spoke in a triumphant and cocky tone, as if he had just won the race of the century.

“Hold on, what’s he talking about!? Can somepony please explain to me what’s going on?” Astral called out as she now practically climbed over her desk.

“Allow me to explain,” Celestia began as the students listened intently. “This test was indeed designed to be practically impossible for anypony to complete. From the number of problems; to the intensity of the questions; to even the designated time that you had to complete the test. What’s more, this test encouraged for you to cheat, it was the only way you’d pass. That’s why principal Solar Wind left when she did, so we could see what students would make the right choice,”

“But why design a test which encourages us to cheat?” Cherry questioned. “I still don’t get it,”

“The way the test was designed was it made it seem as though cheating was the only way and therefore only desirable option. However, this test was about a pony’s integrity; to see if we’d discard our facades when the chips are down and to also see if our natural states would be altered whilst in a state of panic and desperation,” Midnight Star grinned confidently with himself as he saw Celestia’s eyes widen in surprise. “I could easily see through the test from the moment principal Solar Wind handed them out, that’s why I chose not to make such a careless move,”

“Hey wait a second!” Astral shouted as she pointed an accusing hoof at Midnight. “You cheated too so your also disqualified!”

“Actually recall back to my actions after principal Solar Wind left,” Midnight began as who turned to face Astral with a smile.

“Yeah I remember, you passed around the test but-” Astral gasped once more as she realized what the male unicorn was implying. “N-no way…”

“Precisely,” Midnight’s smile only broadened as he said this. “I passed out the answer sheet around and told everypony to copy the answers down quickly. However, I never once wrote the answers down myself, in fact, I never even glanced at a sing answer,"

"Wait....does this mean we're all disqualiified?'

"Of course not," Celestia interjected with her usual smile on her face. "Silverlight and Midnight Star simply scored slightly higher thsn the rest of you. Your all still wonderful candidates to be my students and you'll all continue to the finals,"

Astral and several other students all let out sighs of relief when they heard the comforting words of the princess. Astral's eyes then turned to Silver who wore a blank expression on his face.

"Thats a relief, huh Silver?" she watched puzzled as her friend hadn't responded to her question and simply gazed on. "Silver are you-?"

Astral watched as the earth pony collapsed on the desk he was once standing on. She became worried, however, when the sound of snoring begam to fill the room, Astral discarded her worryment and began to laugh.

"Perhaps you should all head to your dorms and catch a nap, you'll need to prepare for the final trial as well," Celestia began said as she made her way to the exit. "I hope to see just as much excitment from all of you during the next exam as you displayed in this one,"

Comments

[Grekoy]

Wow you update fast.

[TheDimensionRift]

7050635 Actually I write several chapters in advance and then just pick a day to update, though I've been thinking of slowing down a bit.

[Grekoy]

7051011 something odd happen. I track your story but for some reason I didn't know you posted this chapter and chapter before it until I look at my track list. The tracker works for the others but for yours it didn't.

[TheDimensionRift]

7051430 That is rather strange, I can't say I have an explanation. However now that you've mentioned it, I'll look into it.

[OBSIDI4N_DR4G0N]

... why am i thinking chunin exams?