The Entrance Exam
“Mom, is it too late to go back and not take the test?” A colt inquiried, as he followed his parents along the streets of Canterlot.
“I’m sorry, we are already expected to show up.” Lady Velvet Sparkle replied. “Besides the only way for young colts like to access the Royal Archives is to gain admittance to the Rose School of Magic.”
“What if the other colts and fillies don’t like me, or if I don’t pass the entrance exam. What if I fail and have to go back to magic kindergarten?”
“Nonsense, my little Duskie, I’m sure you’ll get along with the other foals just fine. As for the exam, having taken it when I was a filly I know the only purpose it has is for the Instructors to get a measure of your magical talent. The only way to fail it is to not take it. And seeing that other families have already spotted us, I’d say it is too late turn around now.” The Stallion of the group, Baron Night Shine said, pointing towards the small gathering of ponies waiting outside of the school’s main hall.
“Oh look sweetie, there’s Sunburst, why don’t you go say hello.” Velvet added.
Dusk Shine, peeking around his mother's legs, saw Sunburst standing near the edge of the crowd with his mother. Surrounding the colt were three unicorns, the first was a blue pony with a silver mane, the second was a yellow filly with a blue mane, and the third was a green filly with a teal mane. Dusk started to slowly move his head into hiding again when he made the mistake of locking eyes with Sunburst’s mother, Spitting Fire, a flame pega-kirin, one of the few non-unicorn nobles, and, according to Twinkle Shine, was one of the scariest mares in the Royal Guard. Before Dusk could react, she had flown forward and was hovering in front of the Shine family.
“Greetings Lord Shine, Lady Sparkle, glad you could make it, Sunburst will be delighted that Dusk is trying as well, and Bluey is looking forward to just how he performs.” The kirin said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have best get back to Cloudsdale.”
Dusk, still uncertain about being around so many unfamiliar ponies, looked up to Velvet to see what her opinion was. In response, she nodded while smiling and nudged him forward with a hoof. “Do I have to, what if they start making fun of me?” He complained.
“Tell you what my little Duskie, how about we go meet the foals together. How does that sound?” Without waiting for a reply, Velvet and Night begin trotting towards the group.
“I guess, hey wait” Dusk exclaims, running after his parents.
As they got closer, the blue unicorn began expressing her dislike for the yellow filly. “So you think you will be a better mage than The Great and Powerful Trixie?”
“No, I never claimed to be better than you, Trixie, I just questioned what your specialty was.”
“Of course you did, as for your question, The Great and Powerful Trixie is a master of Illusion magic.” The blue filly exclaimed as she posed and cast an illusion of fireworks overhead, before pointing a hoof in Dusk’s direction. “See, The Great and Powerful Trixie’s spectacular performance has already attracted one fan.”
“Umm, that was a nice spell, looked pretty real to me. Anyway my name is Dusk Shine, it's nice to meet you, Trixie.”
“Why thank you Dusk, and it’s The Great and Powerful Trixie, not Trixie.”
“Pleasure to meet you Dusk Shine, I’m Lyrical Heartsong and this is my twin sister Lemon Heartsong.” The green filly spoke up, hugging her sister.
“Uh, hello Dusk. So you have also been selected for the entrance exam?” Sunburst asked quietly.
“Yes I have, I just hope it isn’t too hard.”
“Say Dusk, what school of magic do you specialize in? Mine is Conjuration, Lemon’s is Transmutation, and in case you didn’t know, Trixie’s is Illusion and Sunburst’s is Evocation.”
“I..uh don’t-” Dusk tried to say as another mare shouted “LOOKOUT” before slammed into him, causing both to topple onto the ground.
“OhIamterriblysorryaboutthat,IthoughtIwasgonnatobelatesoIusedahastespellonmyself,butforgothowtostopit.BythewaymynameisColgate,whatisyours?” The new filly uttered as she got off of the ground and pulled Dusk up just as fast as she spoke. “Hereletmehelpyouup.”
Once the new pony had stopped rapidly moving for the most part, did Dusk learn that she was a blue unicorn filly with a duo-color dark blue and grey mane. “I have no idea what you are saying, but thank you for helping me stand up. I’m Dusk Shine, the other colt is my friend Sunburst, the Blue and silver unicorn is Trixie, the yellow and green fillies are Lemon and Lyrical.”
“Wowthankyou,misterDuskShine.Though I don’t know why you couldn’t have understand me.”
“Ok I can understand you now, you were moving and speaking really fast before.” Dusk responded.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know what kind of magic you used.”
“Wait, the haste spell has worn off, all of you can hear me clearly?”
“Yes. Yep. Of course. Was there ever any doubt that The Great and Powerful Trixie could hear what you were saying.”
“Well then, Dusk Shine, I, Colgate, hereby apologize for clashing into you. I didn’t want to be late for the exam, so I used time magic to make myself faster, but I didn’t know that it would wear off and tried to cancel it on my own.”
No sooner than the last words leave Colgate’s mouth did the doors to the main hall of Rose School of Magic swing open, reveal the headmaster himself, Blue Bloodrose.
“Welcome Fillies and Gentlecolts. Before we get under way, I would like to congratulate you all being selected to take the entrance exam. The first portion is a test on your knowledge on the theory of all schools of magic as well as magic in general. In the second part, you will tested individually on your magical aptitude and strength. On the walls behind are two lists, one is those who will be taking the written portion first, the other is those who will be undergoing the physical portion first. Afterwards each group will taken to separate cafeterias for lunch and then they will take the other half of the exam. It starts in five minutes, good luck.” As soon as he finished, the Headmaster turned around and disappeared into the building.
As the other foals trotted into the hall and to their designated testing rooms, Dusk Shine moved to join them, but was held back by his father. “Son, before go in there, I know how you can get worked up over any kind of test, and just wanted to tell you that the purpose of the entrance exam is not to determine in a pony should be admitted or not, but to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their magical knowledge and abilities. So there is no reason to worry, you will not fail it, just go in and do the best you can, my little Duskie.”
“Thanks dad, I’ll try to.” Dusk said, making his way inside. Upon entering, he saw Sunburst beckoning him over to the poster containing ‘Written exam’ followed the names Colgate Minnute, Dusk Shine, Lemon Heartsong, Lyrical Heartsong, Ocean Light, Silver Song, Sunburst Shimmer, Trixie Lulamoon.
“Looks like the six of us have all been assigned to take the written part first. Isn’t that great.” Lemon exclaimed, corralling the group into the testing room.
“Welcome fillies and gentlecolts, I’m Moon Dancer, Journeymare Mage and administer of the written exam. The rules for it are simple, you have one hour to finish as much of the exam as you can, if you finish early, you are to stay in your seat until everypony has finished or the time is up; the use of magic, with the exception of levitation, is forbidden; all possessions that you have on you are to be confiscated for the length of the exam, and that does mean clothing Miss Lulamoon. Any questions?” The beige mare firmly stated, using her magic to levitate Trixie’s cloak and hat onto her desk, and then to give each testee the exam packet, a quill, and inkwell. “No questions, very well you all have may begin, the clock starts now.”
One hour later, a buzzer sounded off as Moon Dancer stopped pacing the room and teleported all of the exams elsewhere. “Alright, the written half of the entrance exam is over. Now gather around me to go to the cafeteria for lunch.” The eight foals, eager for free food, quickly surrounded the unicorn mare, who proceeded to teleport the group to another part of the school. “Welcome to the upper cafeteria, go enjoy your lunch.” She announced before helping herself to the buffet.
The lunch break passed quickly in silence as the ponies prioritized eating
over talking.
“Onward colt, The Great and Powerful Trixie commands it” Trixie declared, upon regaining consciousness after falling asleep due to a food coma and finding herself being carried by Dusk Shine, as the group made their way back to the main hall.
“Oh good, now that your awake, you can walk the rest of the way on your own.” Moon Dancer said, levitating Trixie off of Dusk’s back and onto her hooves.
Blue Bloodrose and their parents were already there when the group entered what appeared to be a waiting room. “Hello again, I hope you had a good lunch. For this next test, you are use your magic to hatch a dragon egg. Also. unlike the previous test, your parents are allowed to observe. Now Trixie Lulamoon, if you would kindly follow me so that we may begin.”
Dusk waited, watching as, one by one, the other foals were summoned into the second room and come back looking dejected, causing his own fears to return. ‘Oh Faust, the others couldn’t hatch it, is the test really that hard? What if I fail and they send me back to magic kindergarden, or if Princess Celestia sees me and sends me to the moon as punishment? What if-’
The colt’s downward spiral was interrupted by the door opening once more and the Headmaster leading Sunburst out of the testing chamber. “Dusk Shine, you’re the last one left, come along so that we may begin” The stallion asked, gesturing into the room.
Gulping in an attempt to overcome his nervousness, Dusk Shine slowly marched through the door and up to where the egg rested. Bloodrose and his parents entered behind him, Blue sat down on the first row of terraced seats next to Moon Dancer and a couple of unicorns, his mother and father settled themselves down on the next row.
“Start whenever you are ready.”
‘Alright Dusk, relax, it is a dragon’s egg, I just need cover it with a hot enough fire for long enough and it will hatch. Here goes nothing.’ The young colt thought while beginning to channel his magic into basic candle flame spell. Dull red flames engulfed the egg and slowly but steadily became brighter until they started to turn orange. ‘Ok, the flames should be hot enough, why isn’t it hatching? Buck, I’m burning through my reserves to fast.’ Dusk, realizing that covering it in fire did nothing, cancelled the spell and began to pace in circles around the pedestal. ‘It is just a dragon’s egg, he said it was, it should have hatched; unless it isn’t and that they lied? If so then what is it then?’ Suspecting the object to not be a dragons egg, dusk channeled his remaining magic into scanning spell, hoping to figure what just what the object actually was. Once the spell concluded, Dusk ceased his pacing and switched to poking the object while trying to mentally unravel confusing results. ‘Hmm, it is comprised of living matter, so it can’t be a rock or an expired egg, it would have shown up as inert if either of those were the case. It is definitely an egg, but of an species that is a complete unknown or one that is too dangerous to study up close; and what is tha-’ Dusk barely had a chance to turn and look out the window as the rainbow shockwave swept through the room. “AAAAAHHHH” Dusk screamed as the wave of light overloaded his magic. Panicking, he began rapid firing off random spells around the room. “HHHEEEELLLPPPPP MMMMEEEEEE! MAAAKKEE IIITT SSSSTTOOOPP, WWHHEEEENNNN WWIIIIILLLLLL IIITT EEEEENNNDDD!!”
Several minutes earlier.
Princess Celestia gracefully walked down the streets of Canterlot, heading to her nephews school with the intention of congratulating the new students. A tingle of magic that she had not felt in centuries caused her to stop in her tracks. Instantly, the solar Princess teleported up to the top of Mount Canter
so she could have an unobstructed view of the source of the Harmony magic. “Well now, witnessing a sonic rainboom certainly is not something I thought would happen today.” Celestia continued to stand in place, watching the rainbow wave spread across Equestria. As it passed her, she froze upon feeling a burst of chaos magic come from somewhere in Canterlot. “No, it can’t, he’ll ruin everything.” She uttered. Her fears of HIM breaking free, caused Celestia to be trapped in her own mind, unable to do anything but watch as the first stallion she ever loved and gave birth to their daughter, reveal himself to be the same monster that destroyed her home and killed her parents. “Never again will I let you harm my subjects, foul beast.” Princess Celestia declared coldly, channeling magic into her wings, and flew down to her city like a meteor.
Blue Bloodrose intently observed the last of the new students fall for the common misconception that dragon eggs can be hatched if you put them in a fire. A believe, that while slightly correct, doesn’t account for them to be bathed in dragonfire or the fact that that particular method only works on flame dragons. Even if the colt tried to replicate the hatching methods of the other dragon types, it would be unsuccessful since the egg was of changeling origin not dragon, and thus needed love to hatch. ‘He stopped his flame spell, has he begin to catch on? Hmm, poking it and scanning it, he has figured out that he has been deceived.’ “Clever colt, he knows it isn’t actually a dragons egg.” The headmaster said just loud enough for the other Proctors to hear. “Question is what will he use his new-found knowle-”
Blue stopped speaking as a wave of rainbows swept across the testing chamber, causing the young Dusk Shine to experienced a magic surge, and a very powerful one at that. “SHIELD NOW!” He yelled, quickly casting barrier, only for the journeymare mage to beat him to the punch, enclosing all of the proctors with a bubble shield in a second. Without breaking stride other staff members added their own magic, strengthening the barrier.
While they had managed to protect themselves, they were powerless to do anything but watch as Dusk continued to launch spells at random. His parents became cats who cowered on the opposite side of the shield, the pedestal, a pile of gemstones. Lastly, the egg turned into a purple and green dragon approximately 15 years old, who briefly observed the other inhabitants, before deciding to attack his tail and ignore the pile of gems nearby.
After over five minutes, a huge fireball burst through a wall, impacted the colt and exploded; destroying the shield, the immediate room, and a portion of the surrounding rooms.
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Me exactly in a Supermarket
I have to say that this story looks like it could be quite interesting indeed. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are quite well done in all the right places. I especially liked Dusk's first meetings with Trixie and the other unicorn fillies, the explanation as to why Spike's egg was so difficult to hatch and Celestia's Discord-related flashback .
So, yes, I WILL definitely be looking forward to more of this.
Was that Starlight at the end?
9398056
Not sure how you came to that conclusion, but she is an oc, who will continue to be mysterious for quite some time. However, her identity will be revealed before Starlight appears.
EDIT: The section in question, posted below, has been moved to the second chapter,