This Wouldn't Be A Problem If We Were All Alicorns Miss Celestia
“Come on, Spike! We’re going to be late!” the lavender alicorn princess called to the purple and green baby dragon behind her.
“Ugh,” the dragon grunted. “H-hold on! This bag is heavy!” he exclaimed as he dragged the overflowing bag of the alicorn’s books and scrolls across the pathway in the middle of Canterlot. “What is in here, Twilight?”
“My books!” Twilight Sparkle replied. “All of them. Just hurry up, Spike! The princess is expecting me at any moment!” she said.
“What time is your exam?” Spike sighed, giving up trying to drag the bag. Instead, he went around behind it to try and push it. This didn’t work very well either, and the bag ended up toppling onto its side, the contents spilling out all over the path.
“8 AM,” Twilight responded in a matter-of-fact tone, stopping to use her magic to refill the bag with the books and then lift the bag into the air. She plopped it down beside her to make things go quicker.
“Eight?” Spike said, giving her a look that screamed irritation. “You woke me up at four in the morning for an exam that starts at eight?!”
Twilight nodded, obviously surprised. “Of course! We had an hour to make sure we had everything ready!”
“Even though we already had the night before…”
“And then an hour to get to the train station, to Canterlot, and to the castle!”
“Even though it only takes forty-five minutes…”
“And then an extra two hours just in case! We could have had a missing quill! Or…or the train could have been late!” Twilight said defensively.
Spike smacked his forehead with his claw and sighed.
The two of them continued through the busy streets of Canterlot. They were moving quite fast despite Spike’s difficulty with Twilight’s bag as the Canterlot ponies made room for the newly crowned princess and her dragon assistant to get through.
They soon reached the castle where the two rulers of Equestria lived – Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia would be giving Twilight her exam. Twilight had insisted on taking a final written exam despite already being crowned a princess and no longer just a student of the princess of the sun. She was already regretting that decision.
“What if I don’t pass, Spike…” Twilight suddenly whispered.
“Ugh. Not this again. How could you not pass?” Spike grunted, still working on yanking that bag along.
“W-well, what if she thinks that now that I’m a princess…what if she thinks I can take a really advanced exam!”
“But you can.” Spike snorted.
“What if I can’t?!” Twilight cried, spinning around and putting her face to his.
“Twilight! We’ve been over this a gazillion times. Remember last time? The crystal empire?”
“Don’t remind me,” Twilight said in an annoyed manner, moving away. “Oh, and by the way,” she said suddenly, her face lighting up, “Princess Celestia said that she created this new magic tool! She said that it’s a substitute for stairs that anypony can use!”
“Stairs?” Spike repeated, obviously not impressed.
“Yes! I think she called it an elevator! Doesn’t that sound interesting?”
“Eleva - ter?” Spike repeated.
“Good morning, Your Highness.”
Twilight and Spike turned to the royal guard who bowed before the pony princess in respect.
“Good morning!” Twilight smiled.
Twilight trotted past the guard, not bothering to wait for permission. She now knew that as a royal princess, she was always allowed access into the castle and didn’t have to wait for the guard’s approval. She had learned her lesson from the last time. Last time she had stood there like an idiot for ten minutes waiting for the royal guard to grant her entrance before she realized that she no longer needed permission.
Spike followed Twilight onto the castle grounds and into the castle where they ventured along hallways, through arched doorways and more until they finally reached the staircase to Twilight’s fate.
“Spike…” Twilight whispered. “I’m nervous.”
“Come on, Twilight.”
Twilight paused for a long moment before sighing deeply and nodding. She levitated her bag out of the dragon’s claws and began up the stairs.
“Wish me lu---“
“Twilight.”
“Y-yes?”
“You still have an hour and fifty more minutes to kill.”
Twilight spun back around and dashed back down the stairs, a blush creeping across her lilac cheeks. “I knew that,” she said automatically.
“Hey, Spike. Do you want to go check out that ‘elevator’ thingy with me?” the alicorn asked her assistant after a few moments of sitting around in wait.
“No.”
Twilight looked at him.
“I mean,” Spike quickly corrected himself. “N-nah, I’ll just stick around here in case the princess comes looking for you…”
Twilight’s eyes widened for a moment and she nodded quickly. “O-oh, yes! That’s a good idea, Spike.”
Twilight stood up and turned away from the young dragon. Using her magic, she levitated a small scroll from her bag. She opened it up to reveal the map drawn upon it. She trotted off in the direction it said to follow to find the ‘elevator’.
“Don’t wait up!” Twilight called.
Twilight stood before the two golden, sliding doors in complete awe at the magnificent new sight. It resembled a small box, just big enough for three or four ponies fit in, placed inside of a gold gilded birdcage. She stepped towards it, eyes gleaming with curiosity and excitement at being trusted to be one of the very first ponies given the opportunity to test the curious invention.
The winged unicorn carefully poked the thin gap between the doors to see if anything would happen by her touch. When nothing did, she poked a bit harder. She waited a moment, but still, nothing happened.
“Huh. How do I get inside?” Twilight wondered aloud.
Twilight put her hooves against the doors and tried to push them apart. When this didn’t work, she stepped back, afraid that too much force might break it.
As usual, the only other thing Twilight could think of was to use magic. She knew a spell that could open an unlocked door, no matter what kind. It was the 14th spell that she learned to cast.
Hooves slightly apart, she lowered her head and pointing her horn at the door. Then she concentrated all of her magic on pulling the two sliding doors apart. It didn’t seem to be working quite well, so she grunted, beginning to become frustrated. She concentrated even harder on her opening spell.
Finally, exhausted and unwilling to continue with the test in an hour or so, Twilight gave up. She glared at the door, more than a little upset.
“Why won’t you open?!” she growled, stomping a hoof against the white tiled floor.
Sighing, Twilight begun to pace, contemplating what to do at this point. Force hadn’t worked and neither had magic. There had to be a way to open the door. Surely Celestia wouldn’t have forgotten something as simple as a way to get inside the ‘elevator’.
She couldn’t ask Celestia after her exam about how to open it, could she? It was ridiculous! Of course she couldn’t! It was a door! How could an alicorn princess, a student of the sun princess herself, a bearer of an element of harmony – the element of magic – not be able to open a door?!
Twilight stopped pacing and leaned against the wall as she tried to think of a plan. As she did, she heard a sudden ding sound. Twilight jumped in surprise and watched the golden doors slide apart.
After a short pause, Twilight looked at the wall for an explanation. There was a single button on the wall. The button displayed a single arrow pointing upwards.
“Oh,” Twilight said quietly.
Twilight stepped through the doors and into the box. It felt even smaller now that she was inside. In fact, it was quite small, maybe too small. The three walls, excluding the wall with the door, were covered with full-length mirrors from floor to ceiling. The floor was made of pale wood, similar to the ceiling.
“Oh…” she whispered again.
Twilight Sparkle wasn’t very fond of small spaces. They made her a bit uncomfortable. It wasn’t quite that she was claustrophobic, it was just that she didn’t enjoy being in a small space like this for very long. Hopefully, the ride up wouldn’t take long.
As she surveyed her surroundings, she heard the doors close behind her. Twilight spun around, horrified. She stood there frozen, staring at the closed doors.
It was quiet for a long moment, when soft, sweet music began to play. Twilight turned her head up to see a small speaker in one corner of the ceiling she hadn’t noticed before. She began to calm down.
Okay, maybe she hadn’t been able to open the doors earlier, but surely she could figure out how to make the ‘elevator’ work. In fact, Twilight could see a neat row of buttons right beside the door on either side. She went forward to examine them.
One button had two arrows pointing inward, and another button had two arrows pointing outward. Twilight didn’t know exactly what they would do, but she suspected that they would open and close the doors. Cautiously, Twilight pressed the button with the arrows pointing out. Surely enough, the two doors slid silently open.
Twilight smiled, satisfied. She pressed the other button and watched the doors close again. See? That’s not so bad. Now that she knew that all she had to do was press some buttons, it seemed like a piece of cake. Two pieces in fact.
There were only four buttons on each side of the doors. The next two buttons on the side Twilight was on were numbered. One said 1 and the other read 2. Unsure, Twilight glanced over to the other side of the ‘elevator’ to see the buttons on that side were exactly the same as those on this side. She turned back to the buttons.
Obviously these buttons would make the ‘elevator’ work. There weren’t any other buttons left. Perhaps 2 would move the elevator up. Twilight did recall seeing a golden 1 engraved above the ‘elevator’ door outside. She must already be at ‘level’ 1. Now she needed to go to ‘level’ 2.
Easy-peasy!
Twilight confidently pressed the button reading 2. Almost immediately, the ‘elevator’ gave a small jerk. The sudden jerk, though small, was enough to make Twilight stumble in surprise and lean against the wall for support. The ‘elevator’ began to move upwards, making a sliding sound as it did. Twilight became slightly nauseous at the movement, but, after a short moment, the elevator came to a stop.
Twilight waited a moment to see if anything else would happen. Nothing did. Twilight decided that she must have to press the button to open the doors.
As she reached forward, she smiled joyfully. She couldn’t wait to report to the princess on how well the ‘elevator’ seemed to be working! All it needed were perhaps some instructions and perhaps a warning and then it would be ready for everypony’s use!
Twilight pressed the button and turned to the door with a smile.
Nothing happened. The doors did not move.
The smile fell from Twilight’s face and she pressed the button again. Still, the doors did not move.
Twilight moved to the other side of the elevator and pressed the button that were supposed to open the doors. Still, nothing happened.
“But…I was so sure…” Twilight said to herself, starting to worry.
She tried the other button that she originally thought would close the doors. It did nothing as well, so she tried the other button again, and then the other side. The doors just would not open.
“Oh, dear.”
Breathing heavily, Twilight took a step back to look over the two golden doors. She couldn’t see anything else that would open them.
It was a good thing she was a powerful alicorn!
Taking a deep breathe, Twilight began to concentrate her magic on the doors. But before she could do it, she realized that something was wrong. She turned her head to face one of the mirrors and watched as the deep pink sparkles from her horn evaporated into the thin air. Her horn sparked again, sending a few more sparkles falling onto Twilight’s muzzle, and then they were gone. Quickly, she tried her magic on herself, attempting to teleport out of the ‘elevator’, but the results were the same.
“My…my magic…it…it isn’t working!” Twilight stuttered.
She then proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs.
“Why is it not working?!” she yelled, speaking aloud in her panic. She paced in a circle around the small box. “How can my magic just suddenly stop working?! It was working a minute ago! How could it have worked then, and not now?!”
Pausing in her pacing, Twilight went towards the mirror opposite the doors and placed her front hooves on it, gazing at her reflection and almost speaking to it. “If the buttons aren’t working and my magic isn’t working, I can’t get out of here! If I can’t get out of here, I’ll miss my exam! If I miss my exam, I…I…I’ll fail!”
Twilight stared at herself for a long moment and then screamed again.
“The princess will send me back to magic kindergarten if I fail! Can you imagine?!” she asked her reflection, leaning towards it. “A princess my age back in kindergarten?” she whispered.
Once her nose touched the cool, smooth glass of the mirror, Twilight snapped out of her despair. She was shocked to realize that she was talking to her reflection and fearing the same thing that she had overcome many times before.
Of course the Princess wouldn’t send her back to magic kindergarten. The Princess hadn’t even wanted to give her this test in the first place. Twilight had already proven herself worthy to rule. Even if she failed this test, surely the Princess would let her retake it. It was a written test after all.
As she comprehended all of this, she sighed in relief and began to laugh, feeling silly. She would be just fine. All she had to worry about was being late.
Wait a moment…being late?!
Oh no.
She had never been late for an exam before. What if the Princess was very strict about this sort of thing? Twilight had always been precisely on time, sometimes even early by six minutes. Wasn’t being on time a good characteristic for a Princess? If Twilight lost that side of her nature…
“Can changing to an alicorn be reversed? Twilight whispered aloud.
Twilight quickly placed her hooves onto her head and shook it as if to clear it. “No, no! I shouldn’t worry. I came early just in case something like this happened. I’m sure I can figure out how to get out of here before my exam starts.”
So, Twilight proceeded to close her eyes and think this through. She came to the decision that there were two possible escapes left for her to try. Number one was to find a way out without the door, and number two was to call for help.
She’d start with number one…
The princess gazed around the elevator, searching for an escape route. There was the pale wooden floor and ceiling, the three mirrored walls, the pair of golden doors, the two sets of buttons, and the speaker in the corner of the ceiling, still playing the gentle music. But, the more Twilight looked around, the more panicked she became. She began to breath heavy when she realized there wasn’t any escape route, and she found herself pressed up against one of the mirrored walls.
Quickly, she pushed away from her wall and glared at her reflection, upset with herself for being so fearful and weak. It’s not like she didn’t have option two.
“Help!” Twilight cried, trotting to the golden doors and pounding on them with her hooves. This didn’t create much sound on the solid doors. “Somepony get me out of here!”
At this point, Twilight lost track of time and how long she had been yelling and banging. When her throat and hooves began to feel sore, she slowed down from her even pace.
“H-help…anypony? P-please…” Twilight whispered, sinking down onto her stomach. She slowly placed her hooves over her head and felt tears of fear stream from her eyes.
She lost track of time again. It was a while later before the distraught alicorn even moved again. She moved for a reason though.
She spread out her new lavender wings and fluttered up to the ceiling. She carefully placed her hooves onto the speaker.
With a great ripping sound, she tore it off.
“Auuugh! Shut up!” she screamed, tearing out the other speaker. “Stop playing that stupid sweet melody! Stop mocking me!”
Twilight sank back to the floor next to the torn out speakers and grasped her head in between her hooves, taking deep, rasping breathes.
“Keep it together, Twilight Sparkle! Keep it together! We don’t want a replay of The Want it, Need it incident, do we?!” she said hysterically.
“The walls!” Twilight gasped, shrinking into herself. “They’re closing in!”
Twilight watched in utter horror as the elevator spun and the walls moved in and out, teasing her, mocking her.
Okay, well, maybe she was a bit more claustrophobic than she cared to admit.
“Hour eight that I’ve been stuck in this tiny room. The mirrored walls throw my reflection back at me, mocking me. And I still haven’t found a way to open the cruel, golden doo---“
“Tsk, tsk, tsk!”
“Huh!?” Twilight gasped, her head snapping up. She gazed around. “Who’s there?! Help me out of here!” she begged.
The familiar voice laughed. It wasn’t a very nice laugh. “Look at you! Careful there, Twily, dear! You don’t want to take that exam in that state of mind, do you?”
Twilight stared at her reflection on the mirror opposite her. The reflection smirked cruelly back at her, flipping its mane back over its shoulder in a manner that made Twilight shake. As she shook, the reflection shook as well, but with laughter. The laughter bounced off of the four walls around her as it began to speak in her voice.
“This is so priceless! Get a hold of yourself, dear! Are you really freaking out over being stuck in an elevator?”
“B-but…” Twilight whispered, her voice small and defensive. “I…I’m going to be late for my exam…”
“Late for your exam? Sweet Celestia, darling, who cares? You’re a princess! You don’t even need to take that exam! What? Don’t you have the confidence? Do you need an exam to prove to yourself that you deserve it?”
“W-well…I…I…”
“That is just so pathetic.”
“S-stop…”
“Oh!” the reflection said mockingly. “I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle! The Princess of Exams and Books! Ooh! Hahaha!”
“Sto-stop it!”
“You failed your exam, Miss Horse!” the reflection continued. “I’m sorry! I have to evict you from your ho---“
The speaker shattered the mirror. The glass rained down in front of the small lilac pony. She sat there for a moment, staring at the blank wall she revealed behind the mirror.
“Oh! Oh, my! Oh my, oh my,” she said quietly. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Why did I do that?” she said, standing up to stare at her deed in horror. “Princess Celestia is going to be so angry with me!”
Twilight carefully picked up a few shards of the glass and tried to piece the mirror back together. Logically, she knew it wouldn’t work, but she had to try. The pieces fell back to the pale floor, shattering even more. Twilight Sparkle began to cry, closing her eyes tightly.
“I just wanted to take my exam…” she whined, backing up to the golden doors. “I just wanted to use Celestia’s new elevator.”
Ding.
“I just wanted to prove to myself that I have learned enough to be a good princess. I just wanted to---“
Bump.
“Oh, hello, Twilight!”
Twilight jumped, spinning around to find herself in the presence of the sun princess, Princess Celestia.
“Princess Celestia!”
The majestic, snowy white alicorn smiled down at her. “I see you have already tested out my new creation, Princess Twilight.”
Twilight turned her head around to see the terrifying golden doors of the elevator were closed…leaving the newly crowned princess on the outside now.
“Huh?!”
“Well? Is it working properly? Do you have any suggest---“
“My exam!” Twilight interrupted in realization.
“Your exam?” Princess Celestia repeated, her brow furrowing together in bewilderment. “Oh, of course, your exam!” she beamed. “We will begin shortly! We have an hour to go! Surely this will be a sufficient amount of time to have a little chat or talk about the elevator?”
“An hour?” Twilight echoed.
“Early as always,” Celestia smiled gently. “Come along, Twilight.”
Twilight Sparkle quickly followed after the long legged alicorn as she started away from the elevator. Twilight shook her head to clear it, wondering what could possibly have gone wrong.
“Princess…uhm…my magic…it didn’t seem to work while I was in the elevator.”
“Yes. Did I forget to tell you? I had to prevent magic from being used in there in case to avoid damaging it. It’s very fragile at the moment, you see.”
Fragile, indeed.
But still…
Something was…rather…off…
Twilight heard a deep, quiet chuckling behind her. Twilight froze, stopping dead in her tracks. Princess Celestia continued walking on, not noticing Twilight’s absence beside her. Slowly, Twilight turned to face the elevator again, not expecting what she was about to see.
The draconequus grinned brightly at her from beside the open elevator doors. Police tape blocked off the elevator and he wore a police uniform to match. He twirled a flashlight around in his red dragon tail.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he smirked, shining the light into the elevator, revealing a shattered mirror, torn up speakers and lavender hoof prints. Then the elevator began to spin, the walls moving in and out, like it would seem to one who was clausterphobic. “Look at you! Careful there, Twily, dear! You don’t want to take that exam in that state of mind, do you?” Discord said in Twilight’s own voice.
Twilight would need much more than an hour to talk about this elevator.
Author's Note
I don't know either.
