Twilight's School for Gifted Unicorns

by Crimson_Moon

(Pre)School

In the lower city of Canterlot, a small white unicorn pony with pink hair cuddled next to her younger sister, Luna, sleeping peacefully. Slowly, dawn broke over the horizon, no doubt another great sunrise by Equestria's ruler- Twilight Sparkle. Suddenly, a soft knock came to the door of their shared bedroom. "Celly, Lulu!" Their father, Solar Blaze gently called, slowly waking them up.

Cracking the door open to see his two precious girls still half asleep gave him a hearty sigh. "Hehe! Alright Blaze, time to let your inner Dad shine!" Grasping the curtains with his magic, the Pearl white unicorn suddenly jerked them open, causing two girly shrieks to emerge from the fillies. Chuckling quietly, he stood just to the side of the door, making sure to get the prank just right. "Oh no!" The bulky stallion yelled in mock distress. "Your mother made your two favorite pancakes- pineapple and banana, and since Nopony is awake, she'll have to throw them away!" Suddenly, a crash followed by the scrambling of two fillies could be heard just on the other side of the wall.

Getting ready, he prepared the ambush waiting for them... Only to get trampled down by their immense combined filly strength. Hearing a small chuckle from the kitchen, he relented. The chuckle belonged to his wife, and their two fillies' mother, Eclipse Spirit. "That's what you get for trying to trick our daughters on their first day!" She giggled, her midnight blue wings holding said pancakes from earlier.

The purple mane she normally had parted to the side was tied up in a bun, obvious signs she was slaving in the kitchen even in the early hours for her two daughters; a trait he admired from the royal blue Pegasus even before the fillies were born. "Now come sit down and have some breakfast with us again, you big goof!" Not one to pass up pancakes, he happily obliged. "Now girls, are you excited for your big day?" She smiled, bringing over a cup of coffee for Blaze.

"Yep, I sure am! F-first day of flight academy, heh heh!" Luna nervously chuckled, pawing at her food half-heartedly.

Eyeing her suspiciously, she continued. "Ookay, how about you, Celestia? This year is the one, you're gonna be a student at TGSU! Aren't you excited?!"

"I guess..." She smiled, putting on the mask her mother knew well. It was that plastic smile her daughter put on whenever she wanted to keep someone happy, even though it wasn't what she really wanted.

Coughing to pry his attention from the food he was scarfing down, she nudged Blaze to butt in. Sighing, he cancelled out the silvery magic levitating his silverware. "Look, I know it's a scary thing, my wonderful daughters, but look on the bright side! You'll make tons more friends at school! Luna, flight school isn't that scary. I mean, just ask your mother!" He gestured to Eclipse. "She had wings smaller than yours at your age, and she graduated top of the class!" He said, causing his wife to blush.

"And Celestia, I know you'll do great this year! Your mother and I worked really hard to get this last entrance exam for you, so I know you'll do your best!" He smiled, giving her a bit of his pancake to help cheer her up.

"Yeah, but-" Celestia began.

"But what if-" Luna continued, finishing part of her older sister's sentence.

"What if we fail?" They both finished in unison.

Looking at each other, their parents just smiled and said "At least you gave it your all!"

"And giving it your all means...?" Blaze asked.

"Not giving up." The two fillies rolled their eyes, finishing the family motto in a monotone voice.

"There's my girls!" He chuckled. "Now you better finish up breakfast, school is gonna start soon."

---

After a few more bites of pancake, the family got ready to go. Luna headed with her mother to Cloudsdale while Celestia trotted along the streets of Canterlot towards the upper city, towards the Royal Palace. "You nervous, Celestia?" Blaze asked.

Looking back up at her father, she could tell he was more asking for himself. This neighborhood always put him on edge. Marbled houses and gold trimmed pathways were everywhere, places meant for only the elitist of elite. Putting on the mask didn't hurt as bad around her dad, and made it easier for him to deal with this place, though she didnt know why he was so nervous. "Yes Daddy, a little bit." She smiled with that plastic expression she always put on to comfort those that needed it.

"Good, heh, good..." He mumbled, looking at the passing ponies with, what looked like anger, to her at least. Suddenly, the unicorn realized what the small unicorn said and his eyes shrank to pinpricks. "I-I mean, of course you're nervous! Being nervous is a good thing!" He smiled down at his daughter, the golden hues of his swept back mane glistening in the sunlight. "It just means you're still my Princess!"

"Hehe, you're silly, Daddy!" She giggled. Thinking on it, she did feel a bit nervous the closer she got to the Palace and, incidentally, Twilight's School for Gifted Unicorns. She had a million questions, like who would run the test or how hard it would be, but her most important question of all would soon be answered: Would Princess Twilight be there?

After trotting a few more blocks up the district, she finally saw the first glimpses of the ivory towers and golden and purple spirals topping them. The sight was simply breathtaking, but nothing compared to finally seeing the golden gates when the duo passed the hill:

"Wow..." Celestia whispered in awe. "Canterlot Palace!" Suddenly, she bolted towards the gates as fast as her hooves could take her.

"Celly, slow down!" Her father called out, chuckling at her enthusiasm. Once he caught up, the stallion took her shoulder by the hoof, staring at the same place she was; there, off in the distance and to the side of the Palace, was the school they all waited for. Three years... We finally did it, Eclipse! We did what everypony said we couldn't. Our daughter is one step closer to being part of TGSU...

"Are you alright, Daddy?" His daughter asked.

Not even noticing he was crying, Blaze quickly wiped the tears away and straightened himself out. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Your dear old dad was just... Caught in the moment. Come on, let's see if we can get you in relatively early, alright?" He smiled.

Showing the guards standing watch outside the gate their visitor's passes, the purple armored ponies let them through and directed them to the registration office. Just out of earshot of her dad but not quite her, Celestia heard the guards say something:

"Another 'crowdfund' pony looking to get their kid in TGSU again..."

"That's the same one from the last two years, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but both those ended pretty badly. Had to call our boys down in Magical Suppression. Apparently that little filly there would've passed, if it weren't for her Flare-Up."

"Flare-Up? You mean-"

"Yep. Poor kid lost it, and I mean bad! Nearly took out half the castle! I mean, if Princess Twilight were here for it-"

"Shhh! I think the kid can still hear us!"

Unfortunately, she did. She knew she had... magical problems, but all of those were because she got too nervous and lost control. This time was different. This time, she had Daddy with her, he made sure of that.

Every day after the last incident, Solar Flare spent all of his time dedicated to pleading with Princess Twilight's assistant to change the rules. He was up all night writing petition after petition, until finally, his summons were answered by her royal majesty herself. She told him if he could secure payment for not only him, but for all the parents that were to register this year, she would hire groups of mages to ensure the parents could attend their entrance exams safely. An undeveloped magical field, such as a filly's, could potentially leech off of other magical sources, and is the sole reason why the entrants wishing to take the exam were to be alone, monitored closely by those observing them. His success came at a great cost, for Princess Twilight had said this would be their final chance at enrolling. They would be barred from further attempting, Princess Twilight said it was "for the safety of Canterlot's citizens", but he knew it was for an entirely different reason.

...He just didn't know what.

Author's Note:

Yes, the chapter title was a pun. Sue me.

Anyways, a bit of inspiration hit while doing some minor edits to another story of mine and voila! I'm putting my craft to the test once again, hoping I can land a story as good as This one. Been some years since I've done vanilla fics, so I'm hoping I'm not too rusty at my craft!

Give it a like if it's good, and if it's bad, let me know what I can improve!

Comments

[Equestrian hero]

Cool nice job l always wondered what would be like if celestia end twilight switch places

[Golden_Reflection]

I see you are already showing the differences between ruler!Twilight and ruler!Celestia, with Twilight having stricter rules for the entrance exam which I believe would mean that ruler!Twilight wouldn’t have let student!Twilight pass due to the surge that hatched the egg, and also her parents wouldn’t have been in the room to be turned into plants, yet Ruler!Celestia would have likely let student!Celestia pass, especially if the surge showed the true potential of student!Celestia.

[Comickook]

I have to say, I DO like these possible showings of what COULD happen under certain different circumstances. In this case, what if Twilight and Celestia switched places. And, yeah, I COULD see Twilight having stricter rules in place for the school so it's just as focused on control as it is about ability. And, yeah, I DID like the scenes with Celly and her family at the start.

Anyway, wonderful job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. And I will definitely be looking forward to more of this (even if I'm mature enough to acknowledge and respect that real world matters need to take top priority and inspiration might not be easy to come by).

[Crimson_Moon]

9750735
Thanks! It's been a while since I did a vanilla fanfic. Mostly I've been diving into Crossovers, and have been looking for something to write when I'm in a good mood!

[BookKeeper]

Good first chapter!

[Comickook]

9751110
Yeah. I can definitely understand that.

Celestia: I'm glad I FINALLY made it, your highness. But, I thought the whole point of the school was to teach young unicorns how to control their magic.

Twilight: Actually, it's only HALF the point. The OTHER half is to teach them more creative uses for their magic. And, well, think about it. YOU are quite a bit more powerful than most "gifted unicorns" - particularly in the field of fire magic. And that can be quite dangerous if you lost control. That is why you actually needed to learn to control your magic to a certain degree even BEFORE you got in. Imagine if you lost control in the middle of class. A LOT of innocent ponies would get hurt - including potentially several good teachers.

Celestia: Yes. That DOES make a lot of sense. But I solemnly swear that I will work extra hard to control my magic even when my family isn't around.

Twilight: I know you will, Celestia. You have already improved considerably since the last time you tried and I have no doubts that Spike and I, between the two of us, will help you improve EVEN MORE in the years to come.

Spike: Remember the LAST time you got so excited about a student, Twi? Sunset Shimmer?

Celestia: Sunset Shimmer?

Twilight: A long, sad story. She was my LAST personal student. Brilliant, powerful and hard-working, but also too arrogant for her own good and too ambitious for everyone else's. We did not exactly part on good terms.

Okay. Sorry about that. My mind kind of ran away with me for a few seconds.