Divergent Destinies

by Leondude

Chapter 2 - The entrance exam

It was another day in the library for Twilight and Sunset, studying as hard as they could. While reading, Sunset noticed that Twilight was having difficulty flipping the pages with her magic.

"Need some help?" Sunset asked.

"No worries, it's fine," Twilight replied, "It's just my magical abilities need maturing that's all."

"Maturing?"

"Well, that and I tend to have so many thoughts in my head that it's slightly difficult for me to focus on one thing. For example, I could be talking to you about Daring Do, then I would be thinking of magical artefacts, then the Elements of Harmony, then the various gemstones like quartz and rubies and...well...you get the idea."

"Well, as long as I've known you, you've always been a walking encyclopedia."

"Knowledge is magic, after all!"

"Actually, the saying is 'knowledge is power'. Although Celestia insists that friendship is magic, which is why she kept pushing me to make friends."

"Friendship is magic? I like it. Has a nice ring to it. Though, I think I'll stick to saying 'knowledge is magic'."

Twilight and Sunset continued their studies, as day eventually turned tonight. And speaking of night, Night Light showed up with a document in his mouth. It looked like a certificate, with a big check written in red and a badge that was blue on the outside and yellow in the centre. It also had Celestia's signature at the bottom. Oh, and Twilight Velvet was there too.

"Guess who got enrolled into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns!" Velvet announced excitedly.

Twilight put down whatever book she’d been reading and trotted over towards them to look more closely at the document. She then jumped for joy and squeed excitedly, for it was a dream come true. Sunset was also happy for Twilight.

"Congratulations," Sunset said.

"I just realized something," Twilight announced, "If I get accepted into the school, do you know what this means?"

"Uh..."

"We get to be classmates!"

"Cool."

And like that, it felt like everything was coming up Twilight. Except there was one little detail that might’ve screwed everything up. She would have to pass an entrance exam.

---

Twilight stood nervously in the classroom as three examiners looked at her with stern but apathetic looks. One was a bespectacled unicorn with a violet curly mane and tail and a pale yellow coat. The one next to had a white mane and tail that was straighter and slightly longer. He also had a blue coat. The one next to him had a brown mane and tail and a pale brown coat. And the one next to her was one with a black mane and tail and a grey coat. They were standing right at the back of the room behind a row of orange chairs. The floor looked like a blue checkerboard and the walls were green in colour. Twilight looked towards her parents, who were standing at the left of her for support along with Sunset Shimmer. A she looked on, both Velvet and Night Light gestured at her to remind her to smile.

"You got this," Sunset mouthed with a wink.

Eventually, a dragon egg was carted into the room. It was a simple instant incubation spell. The problem was that Twilight wasn't very good at magic. She was good at the theoretical side of things, but the practical side, not so much. What was worse was that her anxiety would impede her magical abilities even more. Thoughts of failure flooded her head as she looked at the dragon egg.

"Well, Miss Sparkle?" the curly-haired examiner said.

Twilight stood back and focused on the egg as much as possible. She strained herself in trying to get it to hatch. She moved around in various positions but with no luck. She then fell to the floor in despair.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time," Twilight said in a defeated tone.

But then, the unpredictable happened. A loud sonic boom filled the sky. It was also in the colours of the rainbow. Some would call it a Sonic Rainboom. The explosion was enough to startle Twilight into instinctively shooting magic out of her horn, which fortunately blasted at the dragon egg she was so desperate to hatch. As a result, the egg did indeed hatch, revealing to the world a purple baby dragon. Unfortunately, Twilight's magic hadn’t stopped there and surged at an incredible and unstoppable rate. It had gone completely out of her control and as a consequence, she accidentally turned her parents into plants, levitated the examiners and grew the baby dragon to the size of a castle. Sunset, concerned for her friend's safety, carefully ran up to her and tried to comfort her. While her social skills left a lot to be desired, Sunset was going to try her best to help her friend.

"Twilight! Listen to me! The magic does not control you! You control the magic! You’re the one in charge!"

She then placed her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, something the otherwise oblivious Twilight seemed to have noticed.

"I'm here! You don't have to do this alone!"

Sunset's words of encouragement slowly made their way into Twilight's head. And as she started to cool off, her magic slowly started to fade away, as did any magical inflictions. While everything and everypony (and the baby dragon) had gone back to normal and Twilight had shown herself to have raw magical abilities, there was now the question of what to do with a walking time bomb full of magic.

---

Two hours had passed since the incident, with Celestia, Sunset, and the examiners talking about what to do with Twilight.

"I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with abilities as raw as hers," Celestia said, "but she needs to learn to tame these abilities through focus study."

"With all due respect, Princess," the dark-maned examiner said, "while Miss Sparkle is very talented, she could be a risk to the other students."

"Indeed," the curly-maned examiner concurred, "What would happen if she had one of those outbursts and it was fatal? For all we know, the next time a bit of magic hits somepony, it could—and pardon the sudden morbidness—melt the flesh off of their bones."

"That is rather morbid," Celestia pointed out "But if I were to personally tutor her myself, I'm sure she would—"

"Get herself and potentially other innocents killed?" the dark-maned one interrupted in a deadpan tone.

"I was going to say her magic would improve under my tutelage."

"Haven't you already got a personal protege?" the brown-maned one asked.

"We already study together," Sunset said, "I think I can help control her magic."

"Sunset is correct," Celestia said, "She managed to calm Twilight down before I made it to the scene."

"I must be frank with you, Celestia," the curly maned one said "If she has one of those magical outbursts that prove so difficult to control that it would gravely injure you, where would that leave the people of Equestria?"

Everypony then heard the throne room doors open. In the middle of the open doors was an elderly unicorn stallion with a tan coat and a white goatee. He had a slightly balding mane that was combed at the back. He wore black horseshoes and a blue trenchcoat that was partially undone and made out of what was presumed to be dragon scales. Inside of the trenchcoat was a buttoned-up white shirt, with the buttons being black in colour. He had yellow-orange eyes and very prominent cheekbones. Sunset eyed the unicorn scornfully. It was Professor Xindisious.

"Mind if I give my opinion on the matter?" Xindisious said in that raspy voice of his.

Author's Note:

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the main baddy of the fic. Master Xindisious. As one can tell by the name, he is based on Xehanort from the Kingdom Hearts games. But he also has a bit of Darth Sidious in him too (hence why his name is an anagram of "insidious" but with an "x" inserted into it).