It was 7:30 am and the hall was full. People were standing around, talking and laughing. Char was standing around, holding Amber, and waiting for it to start. Nightshade was talking to a group of girls, and the teens were all talking to different people. Gem was standing with the other parents, keeping the children with her. Amber refused to leave Char, so she just left her with him. He heard a sigh next to him.

“Shouldn’t you be with the other parents?” he heard a girls’ voice next to him. He turned and the first thing he saw was the outrageous witches’ hat she was wearing. Her pale light blue hair stopped halfway down her back, but it was mostly covered by a purple cape. Her blue skirt was short, and her white shirt showed a bit of cleavage.

“She’s not mine, but I could probably use her to pick up some mothers” he said flatly, causing the girl to raise her eyebrows.

“So you stole a kid, and now plan to stand in front of the Princess’? You’ve got some balls” the girl said, taking out a wand.

“I’m like her brother, and her guardian is over with the other parents. She refused to leave me, so I’m holding her. And can you be a bit quieter, she’s asleep” Char said, staring at the girl. She thought for a second, and put her wand away.

“So, who are you?” she asked, facing the front.

“Name’s Char, and you?” Char said, also facing the front.

“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! You would do best to remember that” she announced loudly, causing Amber to shift in Chars’ right arm.

“Yes, nice to meet you, now please be a bit quieter” he turned to her and held out his left hand, which Trixie reluctantly took. Before the conversation could continue, someone tapped on the microphone on the stage.

“Welcome everyone. I am Princess Celestia, Princess of Equestria and the head of the Academy, and this is my sister, Princess Luna. We thank you all for coming, and know that some of you have had to travel quite large distances to be here. The entrance exams will begin shortly, so if you are taking the exams please ready yourself. We are expecting great things. Good luck to all, and thank you for coming. Parents, guardians and others, you may wait outside the exam room for your child to finish. Please head to the throne room, and we’ll place you in groups of 25. We shall see you all very soon” Princess Celestia, who had taken her place at the podium, spoke with confidence and grace. Princess Luna was standing next to her, smiling and scanning the crowd. Princess Celestia was wearing white pants, and a white blouse, while Luna had gone more formal, wearing a flowing dark blue dress. They both walked off stage, and everyone started to chatter again, and began moving out of the hall. Gem, Nightshade, and all of the teenagers walked back over to Char.

“Here we go!” Night said excitedly. After a bit of prompting, Char was finally able to hand Amber over to Gem.

“Good luck you two” Duskshine said, hugging Nightshade. Nightshade rubbed her head. After letting go, she turned to Char. She slowly wrapped her arms around his waist. She was hiding her face. Leafa smiled, knowing what was going on. The other teens were saying good luck to night, but Leafa just watched Dusk hugging Char. Char pulled Dusk into the hug.

“We’ll see you guys real soon, don’t worry. I hear the Academy lets you take breaks” Char laughed. As the hug broke off, everyone else had finished talking to night.

“Jeez, you took your sweet time there, Dusk” Ren laughed. Leafa giggled, and Dusk went bright red. Trixie coughed.

“Don’t you need to get going? Guardians are to wait outside, so why are they wishing you good luck?” she asked Char, who turned to her.

“I’m not a guardian, I’m an applicant” he said flatly. Trixie’s jaw dropped.

“You can’t be serious… Looking like that?” she exclaimed, pointing at the green splotches on his shirt.

“I really don’t want to hear that from you” Char said, raising his eyebrow. He turned to leave the hall as Trixie fumed at the comment.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Everyone had gathered outside the throne room. Gem looked on reminiscently while Char and Night were give colour-coded armbands. Both were a bright red. A Royal guard came out of the room.

“Alright everyone. I’m going to call out colours one at a time and when your colour is called, enter the throne room. Your colour has been decided by the armband you were given. The first colour is red. Anyone with a red armband is to enter the throne room” the guard said, pointing at the door.

“That’s us, Night. Let’s roll” Char grinned, placing his hand on Night’s shoulder.

“Let’s do this” she smiled widely. With the group waving them off, they entered the throne room.

‘Man, it’s been a while since I’ve been here… hmm… needs more green’ Char thought, causing him to laugh out loud. Night looked at him.

“Welcome everyone in red class” Princess Celestia said, sitting on her throne. Princess Luna was sitting next to her, but looking slightly anxious to get off of her throne. Celestia stood up.

“We’ll give you some time to get acquainted with your classmates, teachers, and us” Celestia said. The 36 people began to mutter. They began to move around talking to each other and the various teachers littered around the room. Night walked off, and Char started looking around the room. He saw several men and women that he thought looked interesting. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around. He saw a familiar head of purple hair.

“Hey, you’re in this class too” Twilight smiled sheepishly. A smile made its way on Char’s face.

“Hey Card counter” he grinned.

“It’s Twilight! And I have something to say to you…” she said, making circles with her foot. Char’s face lightened up a bit.

“I’m… uh… sorry about being insensitive… I had no idea you were an orphan” she said softly. Char placed his hand on her head.

“Don’t worry about it, Twilight. I got over it years ago. They must have had a good reason to leave me, and if I never find out what it is, that’s just how it goes” he smiled gently, causing Twilight to relax. All of a sudden, they heard a gasp.

“Not you again, Twilight Sparkle!” a familiar voice shouted, drawing attention from all around the room. They turned to face the voice.

“Oh come on, Trixie! Can’t we meet without you trying to insult me?” Twilight groaned, and Char looked back and forth between the two.

“Bad blood?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Twilight sighed.

“You don’t know the half of it…” she said. She proceeded to explain their situation, with many interjections from Trixie.

“Ok… So basically, you don’t hate each other, but you don’t know how to get along?” he asked. Both girls were about to argue, but stopped. They couldn’t think of an argument.

“Uh… I really don’t know how to respond to that…” Twilight said, scratching her chin. Trixie remained silent. As the two continued to think, Char heard a small voice from behind him.

“Uhm… excuse me?” a small female voice asked. He turned around to see Princess Luna fidgeting behind him.

“Oh, hello Princess” Char smiled. Princess Luna squealed when he said that, surprising the two girls behind him.

“I can’t believe it’s really him, sister! It’s Ash!” she squealed with joy and handed him a note pad and pen.

“Would you please give me your autograph?” she asked excitedly. Char chuckled and quickly signed the paper.

“How do you know who I am?” he asked curiously. He handed back the pad and pen. Before Luna could respond, Celestia spoke up.

“Anvil Bloodsports are posted on the internet all the time” she said, smiling elegantly.

“And you are my favourite fighter” Luna said. She pulled out her smart phone and showed him the wallpaper. It was a picture of him with blood on his knuckles standing in a ring. Char shook his head.

“They record those?” he sighed. Twilight walked up next to him.

“Oh yes, they even make print-it-yourself posters. Luna has several in her room” Celestia said calmly, causing Luna to go bright red.

“Sister!” she exclaimed, causing Char to laugh.

“Uhm, what are Anvil Bloodsports?” Twilight asked. Char turned his head.

“Simply put, a fighting tournament. No padding, no cushioning. The only way to win is either knock out or kill” he said darkly causing Twilight to go pale. Luna was quickly tapping away on her phone. After a few seconds, she handed the phone to Twilight.

“Press play” she said. Twilight did so, and the video played.

“Oh my…” Twilight said, her eyes showing a mix of curiosity and terror. Char was slightly embarrassed.

“Jeez…” Char sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. As Twilight was about to speak, Char quickly braced. Not a second after he did, a pink blur slammed into him. The resulting mass tumbled for a few seconds before coming to a stop. Char was lying on his back with his hands on the back of his head. He groaned and tried to get up, but felt a weight pressing down on his hips and chest. He slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by another girl.

“And just what do you think you were doing, mister?” she said looking him up and down. He groaned again as he took in the situation. A girl with pink, poofy hair, wearing a pink button up shirt and a short blue skirt, was currently straddling his waist with her hands on his chest.

“Pinkie! What the heck?!” Twilight ran over to the two and started trying to pull the girl off, but was having no luck.

“Please get off” Char said plainly. The girl kept staring at him. He sighed and the bracelet on his left hand glowed grey. Almost instantly, the girl was surrounded by a grey hue, and was lifted into the air. She started to giggle as Char stood up and put her back on the ground. As soon as he did she zipped straight up to him, her nose touching his. She was glaring straight into his eyes.

“What’s your game, mister?” she asked. Char still had no idea what was going on, and Twilight was trying to reason with the girl. A thought popped into Char’s head, and he formulated a plan around it.

“Look here, miss. Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves first? I mean, your only options now are to either back up, or give me a kiss” he smirked. As the girl glared into his eyes, Char was trying to read hers.

‘What the ever-loving fuck is going on in this girls head?’ he thought, seeing nothing that made sense. The girl giggled slightly not moving her face away.

“My name’s Pinkie Pie, but everyone just calls me Pinkie. And we both know there’s only one correct choice” she said, and by the wait her cheek bones rose, Char guessed she was grinning. Without warning, she quickly pecked him on the lips and stepped back, laughing. Celestia had raised an eyebrow, and Luna and Twilight had gone bright red. Char smirked.

“P-P-P-P-Pinkie!? Why did you do that?!” Twilight practically shrieked, to which Pinkie just stuck out her tongue playfully.

“I don’t believe Char gave her a choice” Celestia said calmly. Twilight turned to the Princess.

“He gave her two choices: one that she had to take, and one that was optional. My guess is, he deciphered her personality, and worded the choices in a way that would work in his favour. Twilight had slightly recovered.

“Great, so he’s a perv, then?” she said, looking over at the man, who shrugged.

“If wanting a cute girl to kiss you is being a perv, then I guess I am” he said, matter-of-factly. He turned back to the girl. His eyes quickly scanned her.

‘Definitely not bad in the body department’ he thought, his eyes quickly gliding down her figure. Her larger than average breasts definitely stood out, but what he noticed was her hips. Somehow perfectly proportional to the rest of her body, but and still managed to fit into her very short skirt.

“Oh, by the way, my name’s Char” he smirked as he held out his hand. The girl took it and shook it enthusiastically.

“Wonderful to meet you, so how did you make friends with Twi, here? Did you meet her at a library, talk over a book? Or did you meet in a book store? Or did the author of the story really just want you to me-” Twilight quickly covered the flow of words leaving Pinkie’s mouth.

“Interesting ideas, but the story is much funnier. I caught her trying to count cards on the train, so I beat her at her own game. Our first meeting cost her 40 bits and her pride” Char laughed, causing Twilight to go red. Trixie burst out laughing.

“I wouldn’t be laughing, our first meeting consisted of you thinking I was going to stand in front of the Princesses with a kidnapped child” he smirked, causing Trixie to go red and Celestia to chuckle.

“I guess we had better get the exam started” she said. She and Luna teleported up to their thrones, causing everyone to stop and look.

“Alright everyone. We must ask you to split into 3 groups. Valkyrie’s to the left, Earthian’s in the middle and Magus’ to the right.

“I’ll see you after, Pinkie” Twilight said, pulling the pink haired girl into a hug.

“Of course silly” she laughed, returning the hug. When they let go, Pinkie quickly turned to Char and pulled him into a hug.

“It’s weird that we had our first kiss before a hug” she laughed, which made Char laugh. He hugged her back.

“A pretty good first meeting, if you ask me” he chuckled. They let go, and before anyone could react, the pink blur and ran to the centre group. He turned to Twilight.

“You know her pretty well, right? Is she always like that?” he questioned and Twilight shrugged.

“Pretty much. You learn not to question most of it” she said flatly, and they went and joined the group of the left where Trixie was waiting. After a few minutes the other two groups to the left disappeared, causing slight distress among some of the people there. After a few seconds, Celestia appeared. Char stared at her suspiciously.

“Now then, pick a desk and stand behind it” Celestia said pointing at the twelve desks that just appeared. Char quickly picked the desk third from the right. Twilight took the desk to his left, and a familiar face took the one on his right.

“Yo, haven’t seen you since the train” Sunset Shimmer grinned, as she patted his back.

“Far too long, let’s do lunch sometime” he smirked, causing her to laugh. Celestia stood in front of the desk at the far left.

“Alright everyone, please place all of your conduits on the desk in front of you” she said, still with her motherly air. Char looked over at her again. Clattering and clanging could be heard as the people put their conduits on the desks. Twilight had a watch and a pair of earrings on her desk, while Sunset had a ring. As Char looked down the line, he noticed that people didn’t have many conduits. He shrugged and started to place his down. First he took the gloves out of his pocket and laid them out flat. Then he removed the two bracelets and placed them just under the gloves. He reached behind and took the boosters out of their holster and placed them on either side of the gloves, and finally he reached into his pocket and pulled out the metal deck holder and placed it in the centre. Twilight looked over at his desk with a look of shock, and Sunset just giggled.

“Overcompensating for something?” she asked. Char turned with a smirk

“Wanna find out?” he said.

“Maybe later” she said with a wink. Celestia was going down the line, looking at everyone’s conduits. She had stopped at Twilights desk.

“Ah, you still have the ones I gave you” she said with a smile, picking up the earrings. Twilight smiled.

“Of course, Princess. I love them” she smiled warmly, causing Celestia to laugh. She placed them down and walked up to Char’s desk, where her smile suddenly dropped.

“I never thought I would see these again…” she said, picking up the boosters. The studied them thoroughly.

“No doubt… these are the real ones… how did you get them?” Celestia asked, placing them back on the desk. Char shrugged.

“My dad left them for me 18 years ago, apparently” he said, causing Celestia to raise an eyebrow.

“Did he now? And what about the others” she said, scanning all the conduits on his desk.

“The gloves, boosters and bracelets were from my parents, but the box was from my mother specifically” he said as he picked up the box. There were runic markings etched into the metal.

“I see. Do you keep it to remember her?” she asked.

“I can’t remember what I never knew in the first place” he said with a shrug. Celestia stepped back.

“Ah, I’m sorry” she said, and Char just waved his right hand.

“No apologies” he smiled. Twilight punched him in the arm, causing him to glare at her.

“Watch how you talk to the Princess” she hissed, and Char continued to glare.

“Or what? As far as I’m concerned, she’s a regular person, like you or me” he growled, causing Twilight to almost have a heart attack. Celestia had continued down the line, talking to people about their conduits. When she had finished, she walked back to the centre.

“Alright, now… Time to test your magic detection skills. Spells have been cast in the area. I would like you to identify them apart from the obvious one, which is closed space. You have 5 minutes. Begin” she said, everyone started to look around the room. Suddenly, something clicked in Char’s mind, and he smirked. The 5 minutes passed, and a sheet of paper was given to each person. Everyone wrote down what they found. Celestia went through them, one by one. She got to Char’s paper.

“Projectile illumination, climate control, and a perception spell. Very well done” she said in a soft voice. Char grinned. She finished reading all the papers.

“Well… you all did well, but no-one manag-” she began, but Char raised his hand. His grin had turned into a sinister one.

“Yes, Char?” she asked turning to him. He lowered his hand.

“I forgot to mention a spell that I didn’t write down” he said. Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“And what spell is that?” she asked.

“Clone” a voice came from behind her. She turned to see Char standing there, and grinned.

“Bravo. Very well done indeed” she laughed. The Char that was standing behind her disintegrated into a stream of pure mana that flowed back into the Char behind the desk. Celestia smiled.

“And now for the final test. I want to see how well you know spell casting…” she clicked her fingers, and 3 pieces of paper appeared in front of everyone.

“I want you to decipher the activation sequence, paradox limiter, and finaliser sequence for this certain spell. Tell me what the spell is, what it’s effect is, and how, if at all, it affects the user” Celestia said, taking out a watch.

“I’ll give you half an hour. Go” she said. Everyone began to frantically read the paper. Twilight seemed calm as she flipped through the pages. Char hadn’t even touched his paper by the time Celestia called out that they had 15 minutes remaining. The remaining 15 minutes seemed to pass by faster than the previous 15 minutes.

“Alright everyone, put down the paper. I’ll provide you with blank paper and pens, so write down your answer to the question” Celestia said, snapping her fingers. The papers on the desks disappeared, and a single sheet of blank paper and a pen appeared in their place. Everyone began to write things down. Char quickly wrote four lines of text and placed the pen back on the table.

“Are you sure that’s all you want to write?” Celestia asked, walking over to his desk.

“That’s all I need to write” Char shrugged, smiling. She picked up the page.

“You didn’t really pick up the other pages to take a look, either” Celestia noted, earning her another shrug from the man. She read over his answer, and her eyebrows involuntarily raised.

“Impressive” she said, placing his sheet back down on the table. Twilight quickly finished writing an entire page while Celestia talked to Char. She quickly put down her pen and sighed. Celestia picked up her page and quickly scanned the writing, smiling the whole time.

“Well done, as expected” she smiled and placed the paper back on her desk and wandered around to others that had completed their work.

“You didn’t take a good look at your pages, you can’t have gotten them right” Twilight said, looking at Char’s paper.

“You also didn’t write much, so… what did you get?” she asked, reaching over for his paper. Before she could react, Char’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

“Please don’t take my stuff without asking. And I got 100” he said, releasing her hand. Her eyes widened.

“No way you got 100… you didn’t write enough” she exclaimed, staring at the page that was face down on the desk.

“It’s not about how much you write, it’s what you write that matters” Char grinned and flipped his page. Twilight read the four lines of text over and over again, trying to wrap her head around the fact that this amount of writing got the same as her detailed explanation. She raised her hand, and Celestia walked over.

“Yes, Twilight? How can I help?” she asked sweetly.

“How is this worth 100?” she handed Celestia Char’s paper.

“Because he gave me exactly what I asked for” Celestia smiled, placing the paper face down on Char’s desk, and looking at his smug grin. She laughed.

“But-” Twilight started, but Char piped up.

“Butts are for sitting on” he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, just to see her start fuming. He only just held back his chuckle as Twilight started re-reading her answer. After another few minutes, Celestia stopped everyone. She went down the line, reading and re-reading everyone’s answers.

“Alright, some of you didn’t quite decipher it, but that’s fine. I didn’t really expect this many of you to actually do it. I want to explain the two different kinds of answers you can provide during your time at the school. Both will be marked with the same. First, Twilight, could you read out your answer?” Celestia smiled and pointed at Twilight, who stood up and cleared her throat. It took her two and a half minutes to read her answer out, and some people were completely stumped at what she had said.

“Thank you, and second is Char. Please read yours” She smiled and pointed at him this time. he stood up the same as Twilight.

“The activation sequence used is a slightly modified elemental fire. The paradox limiter is for a cloaking spell that was modified to fit the activation sequence. The finaliser sequence is an extinguish spell. When used, the spell coats the user in fire, leaving a thin veil of protection, and extinguishes the flames when the spell is finalised” Char grinned. He sat down as everyone was nodding and chatting.

“Thank you. Both of those answers tell you the same thing, and therefore both get the same marks” Celestia chuckled as the destroyed the closed space. As she did, the desks and chairs disappeared; causing the Magus’ to fall to the floor. Char rolled back onto his neck and put his hands flat on the floor next to his head. He sprang up, landing completely upright. He straightened his shirt and pants, and then looked over at the other two groups, laughing at the magus’.

“Lovely” he smirked, waving at Nightshade, who was doubled over laughing. He noticed the tears streaming from her eyes. Char picked up his conduits, which were strewn on the floor. He clasped the bracelets onto his wrists an put his hands behind his head. Everyone else had finished getting up.

“Now, the final part of Magus testing: Practical skills” Celestia said, holding her right hand in the air. Only it now sported a golden gauntlet instead of the usual golden bracelets. The space around the group began to shift, turning a very light pale blue.

“You will be assigned a partner. This test is simply a show of how well you can use your magic theme. How you decide to show it is up to you: a duel, a tag team spell, or even a little performance. It’s all up to you. To explain what magic theme is for people who don’t know, it’s a magus’ area of expertise in magic, such as Pyrotechnica, and Arcana” Celestia smirked and snapped her gloved fingers. A small scrap of paper appeared in all the magus’ hands. Char flipped his, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Alright… who’s Blueblood?” he called out, drawing the attention of everyone. He heard a smug scoff.

“That’s PRINCE Blueblood to you, peasant” a young man with bright blonde hair stepped forward. He spoke with a posh English accent.

“You could be the Queen of Draconia, but you’re name’s still Blueblood so that’s what I’m calling you” Char said bluntly, causing the man to gasp.

“You should speak more politely to your superiors” Blueblood said arrogantly. Char stared blankly.

“You may apologise by licking my shoes, now” he said. Char’s right eye twitched. Nightshade, who was watching from outside the barrier, groaned.

“He’s done it now…” she said, her head dropping into her hands. a familiar farmer stepped up next to her.

“What’s he done now?” Applejack asked, removing her Stetson.

“That Blueblood guy just stepped on a landmine” Nightshade sighed.

“I think I’ve decided how I want to showcase our magic theme” Char’s mouth curled into a smirk. Celestia simply turned to look. Blueblood was staring at the man. Char’s bracelets began to glow, and his entire body was engulfed in a grey light. After a few seconds the light subsided and char’s outfit had changed.

“Magus Mode” Celestia grinned, and everyone began to cheer. Char was now wearing a dark grey sleeveless t-shirt with a long dark grey sleeveless coat that ended at his knees, and pitch black pants. Both of his upper arms had tattoos. His right sporting a portrait of a young girl with the name ‘Rin’, under it and his left had a crest, two crossed scythes with the blades pointing out and a blue flame in the gap above the crossed handles.

“Thema: Mantra Accel” Char slid both his hands into his pants’ pockets. Celestia stepped up.

“Alright, combat it is” Celestia said, clapping her hands. As she did, both men disappeared. They reappeared in the middle of the throne room, with a large ring surrounding them. Everyone rushed over, but if they tried to pass the ring, they were stopped by a barrier.

“Any damage sustained inside the barrier will be nullified, just as a safety precaution. It’ll still hurt, though” she smiled. Blueblood quickly activated his magus mode: a white shirt, blue pants, and long royal blue cape.

“Thema: Arcana” he smirked, raising his right arm, the ring on his middle finger glowing. Char slid on his gloves.

“Let’s get this show on the road” Char laughed, cracking his knuckles.

Author's Note

Birthday stuff! Now, I will be using fight scenes from movies, because there are a lot of things that I can't really write well. Enjoy these uploads!