The Studying Obsession

by Lhmac

The Entrance Exam

Standing alone in front of the panel of examiners, Twilight Sparkle had to steady her nerves. She glanced over to her parents, who indicated that she should smile. Twilight obliged, grinning her best grin to the four unimpressed-looking ponies at the back of the room.

Their lack of reaction didn't help her nerves. She was ready for this, Twilight was ready for this, Twilight Sparkle was definitely ... watching a cart being wheeled into the room with an egg on it.

An egg?

She looked at the pictorial instructions on the side of the wooden cart.

A dragon egg? Where did they even get one of those?

Twilight didn't know what to do. She hadn't even known it was possible to have to hatch a dragon egg for her entrance exam, so that was something she had definitely not studied. She knew every student's exam was different, but this seemed a bit over the top.

She looked back to the panel of old ponies.

"Well, miss Sparkle?" the yellow pony with a fluffy white mane and glasses prompted.

No time for dwelling on the past now.

She moved closer to the egg, watching it in all its purple-speckled ... egg-ness. She gave a nervous laugh to the ponies scrutinising her every movement. As one, they brought clipboards and pencils up, scribbling down notes. Twilight began to sweat. A cough from one of the examiners snapped her back into exam-mode.

This is it. Twilight steeled herself, staring down the egg. Time to try the only things she could think of.

Twilight moved backwards, reared up and focused all the magic she could muster into her horn, closing her eyes to concentrate.

Hatch, egg. Hatch. She tried to work her thoughts into the magic to create a spell.

Her magic, unused to being tasked with something Twilight herself had no idea about, sparked a little, but did nothing. It didn't even reach the egg's place on the cart.

Twilight tried again, straining with all her might to get her magic to respond to the command.

Nothing.

The pony who spoke before yawned. "We don't have all day."

She moved closer to the egg, rested on top of it, posed and generally wore herself out trying to hatch the egg, but her magic just didn't respond.

Nothing. She had nothing. Twilight Sparkle was a failure.

With one last burst of willpower, Twilight took in a deep breath and focused magic into her horn. She held that breath and strained with all her might, but to no avail.

Ears wilting, she looked to the three examiners.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time." She looked down, eyes cloed.

An explosion from behind her startled the young pony. She felt a massive surge of magic in a way that she had never experienced before. It felt as though the magic would explode through her horn, but Twilight had the presence of mind to direct it towards the dragon egg.

It hatched. It was a –

Twilight didn't have time to think on her success. The magic streaming through her body was painful. It hurt!

She let out a squeal as the magic took hold of her body. As she rose into the air, lightning crackled around her, but she couldn't stop it. A burst of magic levitated the examiners, who were the first thought on her mind. When she thought about what her parents must think, a blast of magic arched towards them. And the newly-hatched baby dragon – the only other occupant of the room – wasn't going to escape the uncontrollable surge of magical power, either.

Twilight was blinded by the magic and the pain, so didn't know exactly what had happened, but she heard a crash. She couldn't do anything to calm the swell inside her; she had no idea what had triggered it.

She didn't know how long the terrible nightmare of explosive magic lasted before she felt a comforting hoof on her shoulder. Her insides were immediately calm, and when her vision cleared she could see that her pony rescuer was Princess Celestia herself.

The filly felt a wave of shame as the magical field around her dissipated. Things in the room returned to how they should have been, and Twilight felt a surge of regret that she hadn't been able to control her outburst.

"Twilight Sparkle," the princess began.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Twilight knew she was interrupting the princess, but she had to get her words out before she was punished. Celestia had to know that she was her hero and she hadn't meant for any of this to happen. "I didn't–"

"You have a very special gift. I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities."

"Huh?"

"But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study."

"Huh?" Twilight didn't feel like she could say anything else. This was the most unbelievable thing ever. Princess Celestia was praising a little filly like her?

"Twilight Sparkle: I'd like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school."

"Huh?"

Having turned into potted plants and then finding themselves back to being ponies again, Night and Velvet held one another close in fear. A fear they had never even contemplated before: fear of their own daughter.

They couldn't hold the situation against the filly, for it was obvious she had no control over what had just happened. But it was impossible to remove the horrifying experience of being turned into a plant from the picture of their little pony, Twilight Sparkle. If Princess Celestia hadn't intervened ...

The two terrified parents stared in awe at their princess. The majestic pony was standing above their little filly, not in a threatening or angry manner, but seemingly proud and happy for their little pony.

Twilight's reaction to the princess's words mirrored their thoughts exactly. What was going on?

The two ponies looked at one another in confusion.

"Twilight Sparkle: I'd like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school."

"Huh?"

"Well?"

Twilight looked to her parents. This was the last thing they had expected, but the most incredible thing, too. Princess Celestia would most definitely teach the young pony how to control her gift. Under the tutelage of Celestia, such an incredible accident could never happen again.

Night Light grinned his biggest grin, nodding excitedly.

Velvet Twilight waved her hooves in another gesture of excited acceptance.

Twilight Sparkle leapt into the air, higher than they'd seen their little filly jump before.

"YES!"

Princess Celestia interrupted the celebration by speaking again. "One more thing, Twilight."

"More?" Twilight was so surprised she literally fell out of the air.

Sprawled out on the floor, the proud parents could see the cutie mark that had appeared on her flank. A large star surrounded by five smaller stars. Their little Twilight Sparkle had grown up!

... Though not too much, as the filly immediately started bouncing in a circle around her new mentor, Princess Celestia. As they looked on, they hoped that excitement; that love of life, would be something she'd never grow out of.

When the filly had finished her leaps of excitement at the prospect of the future and discovering her destiny, she got straight down to business.

"When do I start?"

"Well, my little pony, if it's okay with your parents, I'd like to start tomorrow."

Night began to nod eagerly once again and Velvet put a hoof up to calm him.

"Do we need to get anything ready in preparation for her studies?" Velvet asked.

"No," Celestia smiled down at Twilight. "I just need the little pony. I'll be at your residence tomorrow morning, a few hours after sunrise. There is a lot for us to do. Now, I'll have to get someone working on mending that roof..."

With that, the princess trotted out of the examination room.

The four slightly frazzled examiner ponies approached cautiously.

"Wel-welcome to the school, Twilight Sparkle." The yellow one seemed to be their spokespony, because the others simply nodded.

Twilight inclined her head a little and the four of them stepped backwards. "Thank you, examiners." She lifted her head back up and frowned at how far away they'd moved.

"Well, we have lots to do! Lots to do. Congratulations, young filly. Now we'll be on our way."

When they'd left the room, Twilight looked back to her parents. "Did that seem ... weird?" she asked them.

"No, no, my little pony," Night Light laughed, perhaps a little too nervously, and Velvet gave him a nudge. He cleared his throat before continuing. "You know how it is in a prestigious school like this. Now come on, we should go home and celebrate. Shining Armor will be so happy for you."

Hey there! This is just a little note from your hardworking writer: tell me what you think. Interact with me. Love me, comments are love, you guys ;)

Comments

[nibtip]

I get the impression people favorite to get the email update, though if you're that interested I don't really think a thumbs-up would hurt either...

[King Sombrony]

Filly Twi is best Twi. Ready for more

[Lhmac]

1471324
Exactamundo. Like, the two buttons are even right next to each other, so it'd be nice. I figure maybe people ... forgot? I have 22 favourites and only 15 thumbs up. You'd think it'd be the other way around.
It wouldn't be an issue for me if I didn't have those two dislikes. They're kinda discouraging, and I want to counter them out.

1471502
My thoughts exactly ^_^
There'll be a new chapter up as soon as the 24-hr mark rolls around and I can get my fic bumped to the front page again

[Honeytongue]

This is a very lovely story so far!