Stumbling Into a New World
Celestia fiddled with her saddlebags, which were almost impossible to get over her flanks, mainly on account of them being too big. They were hoof-me-downs from her mother, and even the smallest satchel hung off of Celestia in a way that made her look as if she was about to drop them at any point. She had an annoyed little pout on her face as she tried again to fasten them.
All the while, Luna giggled at her difficulty. Celestia had noticed that she'd been a little more teasing lately, she was by no means blind to it. "Will you help?!" Celestia snapped, tired of being her sister's laughing stock, and Luna finally relented.
"Okay, okay, but only because I feel sorry for you." Luna used her wings to hold the saddlebags in place, tightening the straps as much as possible with hooves and teeth until they only barely hung off of Celestia's flank. "I don't see why you've got to carry around all of those books anyways."
Their father, Photon Flare, answered for her. "Because, Lulu, this is a very important day for Celestia." He walked up to Celestia and gave her a light nuzzle. It steeled her nerves once more, though she knew they'd fall apart again later. "Twilight's School involves a lot of testing, so your sister has to get in as much study as she can on the way there."
"Hmph," the dark filly shrugged, sitting on her haunches and folding her forelegs over her chest. "It's not like she's ever studied before, and now she's acting like a total bookworm."
"Luna!" Photon's voice was raised, stern but not harsh. "You shouldn't be making fun of your sister. Today's a very special day for her!"
"As if I don't know that," Luna pouted, turning on the spot and beginning to walk off. Celestia watched her go with sad eyes, looking up to her dad as if for some silent confirmation.
He gave it with a nod. "Go after her. Go and see that she's alright, sweetheart."
And so Celestia did just that. She forced all of her nerves about today into a little box and pushed a smile onto her face, chasing after Luna. Unfortunately, Luna had the wings to fly, and Celestia didn't, so chasing after her was pretty difficult to say the least. "Lulu!" Celestia called out, already panting and huffing after the small sprint whilst Luna continued to glide forwards with irreverence. "Lulu, please, I can't run that far!" It was true, too. She could feel her chest burning, her hooves beginning to hurt against the cobbles of the Canterlot streets, and the bags on her flank weighing her down.
Her words seemed to do the trick, however, as Luna zipped around and landed with a sigh, looking at her two year older sister with an expression that only seemed to contain malice, judgement. "What."
She was being really cold today, and Celestia didn't understand it! She tried to put a hoof out, to touch her withers and reassure her, but Luna only flinched back. "Luna, what's wrong? This is a really special day, aren't you happy?"
"I want you to fail," Luna said, and Celestia felt a large pit form in her stomach.
She was almost shaking. She couldn't have heard that right, could she? "Wh-what do you mean you want me to fail? You know how much I've always wanted to go to Twilight's School, how could you want that?!" She almost felt betrayed, like her sister's love for the last eight years had been a lie.
Luna looked like she was having trouble sticking to her words, her cold demeanour, as she hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. "I want you to fail," she repeated, this time more firmly, but with less vitriol. "You shouldn't want to go to Twilight's School."
Celestia was having an awfully hard time understanding that. How could she not want to go to Twilight's School? It was every young unicorn's dream. "Why shouldn't I?" she asked, head tilted, searching her sister for some reason behind her lunacy.
"Because you shouldn't want to go!" Luna finally announced, turning her head and looking at the floor. "You shouldn't want to leave me all alone..."
Oh. Oh, no. Suddenly, it dawned on Celestia just what had Luna so worked up, and she was upon her in an instant, wrapping her hooves around her and kissing her little sister on the forehead, a gentle reminder that she still loved her, even if they'd be apart sometimes. "Luna, I know this is hard for you, but I have to do this. We'll still see each other! I promise!"
"No we won't!" Luna defended, trying to shake her sister off, poking out her wing until it pressed heavily against Celestia's belly. "We won't, because after you leave, I'm gonna have to go to flight school, and then I won't ever see you again."
Celestia had to stop herself from giggling at that one. Her sister had always had a flare for the histrionics. "Luna, we will see each other again. We'll see each other plenty, and you know that. I understand you're upset, I am too."
Slowly, cautiously, Luna stopped resisting, losing the tension in her body. "You are?"
"Of course I am. I know I probably look all excited and worried about Twilight's School, but I'm still thinking about how much I'm going to miss spending every day with you, deep down. It just won't be the same."
Luna's barrier dropped. She sighed, allowing herself to melt into the hug, returning it in earnest and draping her fluffy wing over her sister. "It just doesn't feel fair. Why did I have to be born a pegasus and you got to be a unicorn?" She kicked a hoof at the ground, a silent protest, but Celestia could see how badly it was eating at her. "It feels like I'm being sent away. Like I'm going to be gone for a thousand years, all without you. I'm going to miss you so badly."
Celestia turned Luna to face her, looking deeply into her eyes, which shimmered with tears. "Luna, listen to me. I swear that no matter what ever happened, I'd never let you be gone for even one year, let alone a thousand. I love you. Flight school might be hard, but I'll always make sure dad lets us see each other as much as he can."
"Dad doesn't have much money for travelling and stuff," Luna muttered, and Celestia knew it to be true. It was almost a dirty topic of conversation between them, and one they didn't like to dredge up, because they knew how badly their father wanted to provide for them, even when he found it hard. Despite this, she managed a smile. "I believe you, though. I think dad will make sure we don't spend ages away from each other."
"Of course he will," Celestia smiled, leaning forwards and rubbing her muzzle against Luna's in a small Eskimo kiss. "Besides, aren't you excited about becoming a great flier?"
"I don't get it," Luna shrugged, splaying her wings and looking between them. "Why do I have to want to be a good flier just because I was born with wings? What if I want to be a doctor that helps ponies, or a musician that makes them happy? No, I just have to fly," she finished, and it almost sounded as if she was cursing those wings, almost as much as she had the horn on top of Celestia's head.
"Girls!" came the call of their father, and Celestia didn't get a chance to say what she'd wanted to, to remind Luna that she still could be anything. As much as she wanted to worry about her sister, Celestia knew she had more pressing things coming next, and that it was going to take her full devotion and a good measure of luck to make it through the day.
Only Celestia and Photon went to Twilight's School. Luna went home with their mother, as paying for all four of them to get from the bottom to the top of Canterlot and back was an unnecessary expense. While they were quite a poor family, apart from the too loose and pre-owned saddlebags on Celestia's flank, you wouldn't have been able to tell it. Photon was a sleek white-coated and silver-maned stallion, and looked awfully young for being in his thirties.
Knowing that they didn't stick out like a sore hoof relaxed Celestia a little. She still had little clue what to expect of the place, but she knew that it was going to be hard to get through this, even if she told herself it wouldn't.
"Just remember," her father started, and Celestia already knew what he was going to say so well that she could have finished his sentence for him. "You have to be careful not to go too overboard. Relax and take your time, focus on what you want to make happen."
Celestia was used to those words, though there was a bit of a variation this time. Self-control had been a staple of her discipline ever since her father had come home to her ripping an entire room of their house out of the foundations due to a tantrum over a lost toy. She'd been two years old, then, but with how much damage it had caused, how much it had cost him, and above all, how much he worried for her, Photon had been sure to constantly remind Celestia to keep a lid on her strength.
Celestia had learned two things as she'd grown up. One, she was much stronger with magic than her father was, and two, she was absolutely terrified of what might happen if she did lose control of her magic.
Which was precisely why when she heard those words, despite knowing that her father meant well, she rolled her eyes. It had been eight years. Eight years since she'd used too much magic, been a danger, and she hadn't even understood what she was doing then. Celestia knew what not to do. She felt babied whenever her father brought it up.
That said, it made more sense to say anything about it today than it would usually. Celestia didn't use magic much for the precise reason that she didn't know how to control it. Fear of something will prevent a pony from touching it, and as such, Celestia's horn rarely saw action. Part of her wondered if maybe she'd even lost most of her magical ability from lack of use, but she somehow doubted it.
Her father didn't look too comfortable here. This was the rich neighbourhood, where houses were the size of palaces and more beautiful than most anything else Celestia had ever seen. She often wondered if they had gold cups and silver plates in there, if they had pillows made of pearls and diamonds for door handles.
It was a fun little thing to fantasise about, a fitting distraction until she began to notice the tall towers that made up a portion of the campus to Twilight's School, utterly dwarfing her small stature. They must have been, like, a million feet in the air. Celestia hoped she didn't have to climb up any of those, she didn't think her legs could handle that many stairs.
Her father led her on, looking a little like he was hurrying himself. Something told Celestia that he didn't want to be here for long, even if this was her big day. It wasn't because of her, she knew that much. She just didn't think he felt very comfortable in places like this—too out of sorts, like he was somewhere alien. The feeling was there for Celestia too, but it was more one of wonder. She didn't hate it like her father did, didn't even understand why he felt that way.
It wasn't long until a greeter found the pair of them, introducing himself to Photon. "Hello!" he started, a middle-aged unicorn with a very well-done black mane. "I assume you've brought your filly here for the entrance exams, yes? May I have her name?"
"It's Celestia," her father grunted, almost sounding a little colder than usual. Celestia wondered why.
The unicorn levitated a clipboard in front of his face and began to flick through it, indistinctly muttering his way through names until he finally landed on the right one. "Ah! Celestia. Yes, I see it now. And your hardship grant has been approved, I assume?"
Celestia had no clue what that was, but she listened anyway as her father's eyes narrowed. "It's pending approval," he said in a way that made it clear he didn't want to hear bad news.
The unicorn seemed to hesitate for a moment, but he eventually nodded. "I see. Well, in any case, she's free to take the exam." Celestia didn't like it when ponies talked about her like she wasn't there. She wasn't just a little kid! "If you would, please take your daughter to the main atrium, entrance examinations are taking place there today."
"I heard the entrance exams happened in the exam halls," Photon replied, confused. "Why would my daughter go straight to the atrium?"
The unicorn's tone was calm but direct. "Due to a high level of applications this year, we have chosen to forgo the usual methods of selection and instead condense everything to a singular test. Your daughter's raw magical ability will be measured, as well as her level of control with it. No other tests will be necessary."
Celestia glanced worriedly up at her father, realising what that meant. She'd been studying for a reason, so she could pass the tests on paper and not have to worry so much about the practical exams! If all she was able to do was the practical, if that was the sole deciding factor, then what if something went wrong? Would her father even let her try?
"This is an outrage," Photon spat, his voice dropping a few octaves. "You mean to tell me that you're to judge my daughter's merit entirely on her magical skill? Is that her sole defining factor as a unicorn?"
"No," the unicorn replied, cordially, smoothly. Enough so that Celestia's father probably hated him more for it. "But it is the one this school values the most, and it is the one that we will be judging her on today. If this doesn't work to your satisfaction, you can always cancel your appointment and try again next year, but there's no guarantee that there will be spaces."
Photon looked about one second away from either shouting or biting the unicorn's head off. Celestia placed a hoof on him, trying to signal that they could go, if he really wanted. He shook his head. "No. We'll go to the atrium. Thank you for explaining. Come on, Celestia."
And with that, the two of them walked on, Celestia's stomach twisting as it continued to dawn on her just how bad of a situation she was in. "Dad, what am I going to do? I can't just try to cast their spells, can I?"
"If you really want to be here, you're going to have to," her father replied, falsely stalwart.
"But what if it's worse than last time? What if I hurt somepony?"
"Celestia," Photon said, turning to her and ruffling her mane. "You have to be careful. You can't go too far, but you have to give it your best all the same. Just please, try and keep a lid on it. Don't spiral out of control."
Celestia didn't like this, not one bit. If she didn't try hard enough, they'd reject her, and she'd never have a chance to do this again. If she tried too hard, they'd reject her for being a danger to the school, surely. How was she supposed to strike the balance just right when she'd never learnt what balance was?
If she'd been in fear before, stepping inside the atrium made things even worse. There was a reason they were holding it here, it seemed, in the largest building on campus by far. It likely mainly had to do with the fact that one of the creatures in attendance was a huge purple and green dragon. He looked as if he could swallow Celestia in one bite, pick her up with a single claw, and made it almost impossible for her to focus.
Apart from the dragon, there were ten unicorns in attendance, all in senior positions at the school, surely. As she approached the centre of the room, her father hanging in the background, the pony in the centre spoke up.
"Name?" he called, his tone official and quite severe.
"Celestia," she replied, albeit a little shakily. She couldn't take her eyes off of the dragon, even though he wasn't looking at her.
"Special talent?" the lead unicorn continued to call out, sounding rather bored already.
Talent? Oh, gosh. "I... I haven't got my cutie mark yet."
"I see." There was a damning silence for a moment, accompanied only by the faint scribble of a pencil in a magical aura. "In that case, which area of magic do you currently specialise in?"
"I... uhh..." Celestia racked her brain, trying to think of something, anything she could say in order to make herself sound better. Right now, she was coming across as a prize idiot, and she knew it.
The lead pony cleared his throat, irritation creeping into his eyes. "Let me rephrase. Which spells can you cast, Celestia?"
Celestia bit her lip. It was the simplest question, so why was it so hard? "Oh!" she announced with a breath, suddenly remembering something she could actually hold claim to. "I can levitate things. I can levitate things quite well."
Another unicorn snickered at that, looking down his glasses at the small filly. "Miss Celestia, the average unicorn foal can levitate things from a few months old. I'd hardly say that that constitutes gifted."
Celestia saw the dragon's tail flick on the other side of the room, but he was still laying facing the opposite direction to her. She didn't know what scared her more at this point, him, or the ten other dragons that were currently grilling her. "I... I can do other things," she said nebulously, about uncertain of herself as she was of the lie. Was it even a lie?
"Riveting..." Celestia thought she heard a growl from her father at that, but she tried to ignore it. "Well, I do suppose it's only fair to give you the same chance we do everyone else, so we shall prepare a test. Spell Binder, if you would bring the egg?"
"But, professor, no one's been able to hatch a phoenix egg in—"
"The moment you start paying my salary is the moment you may start questioning my decisions," the lead unicorn answered with a derision that Celestia was beginning to see more plainly in him with every passing moment. She watched as two unicorns levitated a small table down the stairs of the hall, in the centre of which was perched a large, ornate egg that almost looked like a fiery gemstone.
"Celestia, your task is to hatch that egg. You may not harm the phoenix inside, and the egg must be perfectly cracked into two halves."
"She can't do that," Photon butted in, walking further into the room as Celestia stared at the beautiful egg in preemptive defeat. "This isn't fair, and you know it. For Twilight's sake, she just said that she's good at levitating things, why can't you have her do that instead?"
"Because, sir, the degree of levitation it would take to show any real degree of magical aptitude would involve either shifting half a metric ton, or being able to manipulate over ten objects in tandem." He dropped his tone, looking almost apologetic. "Let us be honest, sir, your daughter doesn't look awfully capable of either. She doesn't even have her cutie mark yet." There was hubris infecting his tone as he carried on. It was almost disgusting. "This institution is renowned for choosing the elite of magicians and intellectuals alike, not unicorns who are able to make a feather float in front of their faces. It is easier that she fails at something that will cause less of a mess," he finished, pointing back towards the egg.
Once again, somepony was talking about Celestia as if she wasn't there. Not only that, they were making her sound as if she was an idiot, as though she had no clue what she was doing! Talking down to her father, expecting her to fail. Expecting her not to be able to rise to the task and show any degree of talent.
It made her angry. It made her horn burn hot, her body begin to steam, until eventually, she didn't feel as if she was in control anymore, as if she had any clue how to stop herself from what came next.
The unicorn that had been so condescending to her lifted off the floor first. There was surprise in his eyes, certainly, but it only grew when he flashed his horn multiple times and it became apparent that he couldn't use his own magic to get out of this. The hold was too strong.
The other ponies around him began to lift up next. Celestia wasn't scared of them anymore, she was too enraged. After all the time she'd spent excited over today, they'd expected nothing of her, they'd given her an impossible task, they'd disrespected her father?!
Celestia began to float upwards, and so did the rest of the ponies in the room, her father the exception. And then the table with the egg on it, and then the egg itself. Seats, hundreds of them, all were dislodged from their metal screw work and lifted into the air, floating around the room in a tight circle.
"Stop! Put us down! You've proven your point!" came the call of the same pony that had been so callous to her before. She couldn't even if she wanted to. She didn't want to.
The dragon began to lift off the floor next, and he awoke with a jump. Turned out he'd been asleep the entire time, nothing to be scared about. Now she had to be scared of him.
"Ahh!" came his yell, less gruff and deep and terrifying than Celestia had imagined for his stature. "What are you doing? Why are we up here?"
He didn't sound like a bad dragon. He didn't sound condescending, or even fearful, just confused. But Celestia couldn't let him down without letting them all down. She didn't even think she could do that.
And so she continued to rise. And as she climbed into the air, so did the entire building around them. Not just the room, but every room that was connected was raised equally, floating into the air as the occupants floated weightlessly within, unable to move or right themselves even if they tried.
"Control your daughter!" the unicorn shouted as he began to swirl in circles, multiple screams being heard from above Celestia as the dragon struggled to pull as many of the unicorns as he could against him and ensure they didn't fly off into a wall or ceiling. "Yes, she is powerful, but she's going to kill all of us!"
"Perhaps you should've thought about that before goading her," came a loud, authoritative voice, one that Celestia didn't recognise and couldn't pin to a location. However, working out the origin didn't end up mattering. In a flash!, each of the ponies, the chairs, the table, even the dragon, they were all back where they had been before Celestia had began to lose control. It was all so perfectly in place that she wondered if she'd imagined the last couple of minutes.
Only, there was one thing that was certainly out of place. That was the presence of a large, purple alicorn. Princess Twilight Sparkle. The ruler of Equestria, was standing right there in front of her, and she'd just almost launched a quarter of her campus into orbit. Celestia waited her execution quietly.
What she didn't expect was for the princess to walk over and place a hoof on her shoulder. "You're the most impressive filly I've ever seen, Celestia."
Words like that were enough to make her heartbeat triple in pace. "You... you saw?"
The most important pony in the world, the ruler of everything, the timeless alicorn, she smiled. "I was watching the entire time. I don't know why, Celestia, but I felt something in you. I knew you were going to do something special, but I never imagined it would be anything like this..." She reached a hoof out, touching her mane and then casting a reflection so that Celestia could see for herself. "Look. I don't know what kind of magic this is, but it's certainly something special."
When Celestia saw her reflection, she gasped. Her mane wasn't pink like it usually was. It was a multitude of colours, light pink, purple, green, and blue, shimmering and shifting, floating without explanation as she stared in awe. It wasn't long until the colours faded, until it was back to its usual, still pink, but it was just like Twilight said. This was something Celestia had never even imagined. "What does it mean?" she asked, her eyes wide as she searched for some clue of an answer from the wise, powerful pony before her.
"It means that you're unlike any student we've ever had here, Celestia." After a tender smile, one that met her eyes, Twilight's expression darkened, and she turned to the dragon. "I see you were asleep on the job again, Spike. You were meant to be making sure that Vice-Principal Malison stuck to his final warning."
The huge dragon seemed to shrink back a little at this, scratching the back of his neck with a pair of claws as a brush crossed his cheeks. "Y-yeah, sorry, Twi..."
Twilight tutted. "Honestly, a thousand years, and I still can't rely on you to stay awake for something important. We'll talk about this later." Finally, she turned to the vice-principal with a very unimpressed look on her face, one that secretly made Celestia quite happy to see. "Now. Malison. I see that once again, you've ignored my warnings and those of the faculty, and have continued to treat the disadvantaged and under-educated unfairly. You'll be transferred to scribe duty, commencing tomorrow. I don't want to ever see you having to deal with a student again."
The once vice-principal kept silent at this, only guiltily bowing his head. He likely knew better than to argue with the princess. If anything, Celestia was rather impressed with the respect she commanded so easily.
"Not that any of you are much better," she continued, looking to each of the unicorns that sat the bench in turn. "Witnessing behaviour such as Malison's and allowing it to continue without lifting a hoof is as bad as participating yourself. Consider yourselves all on thin ice right now."
Lecture mode over, Princess Twilight sighed, turning to face Celestia's father, who only stood at two thirds of her impressive height.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble that they've caused you," the princess said in earnest, so much so that Celestia was sure she could feel the sincerity. When she looked out of the window, she thought she could see an explosion of rainbow-hued colour fading in the sky. Maybe it had been raining, ever so briefly.
"Thank you, princess," Photon replied with a bow, respect for authority that Celestia had never really associated him with suddenly on full display. She couldn't blame him. After what she'd just done, she deserved it. Celestia bowed too.
"Please. Please rise," Twilight said with a chuckle, motioning for the two of them to do so with a hoof. "Honestly, it doesn't matter how long I hold this position, I could never get used to that. It feels so unnecessary and archaic."
Celestia didn't know what that word meant, but she nodded anyways. She wanted to seem agreeable to the princess, who was the most impressive thing she'd ever seen. Well, the dragon named Spike was a close second, and now that she looked at him in his waking moments, he didn't seem so scary. Maybe he could be fierce when he needed to, but right now he seemed fun, almost goofy.
Princess Twilight apparently caught sight of her staring, as she walked over and stood beside her. "Would you believe that once upon a time, he was even smaller than you?"
Celestia gasped. To her, that was like being told that the world was made of buttermilk. "No way, he couldn't have been!"
"It's true," Spike answered, inspecting his claws as he spoke. "Once upon a time, Twilight hatched me from an egg, just like you did with that phoenix."
Oh. Right, that. Celestia's eyes hit the floor. Suddenly, she felt like a stupid little filly again. "But I didn't hatch the phoenix. I couldn't do it, so I just started lifting everything, and Princess Twilight had to stop me."
She felt a golden horseshoe under her chin, and suddenly, Princess Twilight was bringing her head up to look. "Are you sure about that?"
Celestia's eyes followed on, and in the corner of the room, flitting around on the table, trying and failing to fly, was a baby phoenix. It was real. She wasn't imagining it. It had really hatched!
Celestia rushed over to greet it, to stroke it and pull it against her chest as all around her, the other evaluating ponies chattered in disbelief.
"Two perfect halves, too," Princess Twilight smirked, flashing a smug look at Malison before continuing over to Celestia. "You should give her a name. It'll make it easier for me to tell this story later on."
"I'd have to think about it!" Celestia half-cheered, still completely gobsmacked by the fact that she'd managed to do something that was apparently so impossible rare. "Does that mean I get to keep it?!"
"That's a her," Princess Twilight told Celestia, before giving her a nod. "Of course you do. Not only that, but you've much more than passed this exam."
"So I get to study here too?!" Celestia was on the verge of exploding. This had just gone from the most terrible situation to the absolute best in a matter of moments. How any of this could truly be happening to her, she didn't know.
"Well, not exactly," came the princess' answer, and Celestia had to do a double take to ensure she heard her correctly. Before she could feel as if her dreams had been crushed, as if her world had just began and ended in a blink of light, Twilight continued. "You'll be studying in the castle, directly under me. And trust me, you'll either end up with a taste for books, or you'll end up hating me. From now on, you're my personal student, Celestia."
And all of a sudden, there were tears in her eyes. She wasn't going to cry. She was a big filly now. She didn't cry so easily. "I... I..."
"Also, check your flanks. The side without the saddlebags."
As soon as Celestia's head twisted, she saw a golden, shining sun sat upon her backside. It was a cutie mark. It was a cutie mark!
Big fillies did cry after all.
She rushed over to Princess Twilight, not caring if she was supposed to, pushing herself into her and snuggling against her chest. All of her dreams were coming true, this was the most amazing thing that could've ever happened to her, and she couldn't wait to see what would come next. Princess Twilight wrapped a hoof around her in turn, pulling her in close, and whispered gently into her ear:
"We've got a long journey ahead of us, Celestia. I can't wait to see where it leads."
And neither could she. If only her little sister could see her now.
