The Faithful Student -or- Who is Twilight Sparkle
"Who is the Faithful Student, Mommy?" the little grey unicorn filly with the blond mane asked her mother.
The cross-eyed Pegasus smiled and pulled the little filly into a warm embrace.
"The Faithful Student story begins with a filly. A filly like you, Dinky. This filly, however loved learning above all. She was the brightest little filly of all and her parents were very proud of her. Sadly, there was one thing that weight heavily on her mind."
"What was it?" Dinky asked, captivated.
"No matter how much that poor little filly read, no matter what she learned she just couldn't find out what her Cutie Mark was." Derpy paused, bathing in her little rascal's excitement, looking deeply into his eyes.
"That is.." she continued "until one fateful day. The day the little filly was to enroll in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
It was that special day, that should change the little unicorns life forever...
She could barely hold her excitement she was about to enroll in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. The thought alone made her giddy and so she found herself happily bouncing around her parents library, a grin on her face, so wide it was nearly creepy...or at least that was what her brother said anyway. She couldn't care less.
Not that she didn't love her brother, no, no, it's quite the opposite, actually, she loved her BBBFF (Big Brother Best Friend Forever) dearly.
Yes, that's one hell of a cheesy name but she shouldn't realise this until much later. For now, she was just a little filly, excited about the day to come.
And so she was prancing and bouncing through her parents library and was hardly able to contain her excitement, when her father, Nightlight, came in.
"Hey sweetie." he greeted her laughing, which was answered immediately by his little bundle of joy jumping into his embrace and giggling happily.
"Hey, hey!" he chided playfully "slow it down a little. I have something to tell you, my little star."
Nightlight was an astronomer in the Royal Canterlot Astronomers Guild and a good one at that. So it probably were the countless nights he went stargazing with his daughter that made her pick up on his love for the stars, hence his pet name for her.
"What is it, daddy? Do you have a new book about magic for me?"
"Sadly not, my dear. No, I just wanted to tell you, that we got word, from Celestia's School, that they have assessed your exposé and have decided that you will be the first one to take up a new entrance exam they thought up. They told me it'll be a test in magic."
"Wait!" Dinky exclaimed. "So you tell me, that this filly was the first one who had to take up that test? That seems pretty unfair."
"Oh, I see what you mean." her mother replied.
It was common knowledge, that most unicorn fillies and colts had problems even with elemental levitation magic and usually overcame them only a little later than pegasi learned to fly. So, of course, having that little filly take a magic-test as entrance exam seemed hardly fair. Anyways, Derpy just beamed at her daughter and went on.
"Don't worry, the faithful student should come to thank that exam later."
"In Magic?" the faithful little student asked.
"What do they want me to do?"
"That I don't know, sweetie. I only know it shall be a test of your magical ability."
"Oh. Okay."
Seeing her ears drop he swooped her up in a hug.
"Don't worry, my star, you will ace that exam. I know it!"
"Yeah. I will." she answered with a weak smile.
***
"No, no, no I will fail, I will never pass this exam!." the little filly frantically shouted to herself, while she was practically running in circles in the library. Books all over the floor and bags under her sleep deprived eyes. "How am I supposed to pass if I don't even know what I will be tested in?! Levitation? Transmutation? Illusion spells? Raw magic ability? How am I even supposed to learn for that?! Aaaargh"
Thunk! The sound echoed through the library. The faithful student had thrown a book in her frustration. A sacrilege to every true bibliophile as she herself claimed to be.
It had been getting worse and worse over the past few days and the day of the exam was nearing. First the little filly was in good spirits, she just had to double her efforts, learn all night and try her best to acquire as much magical knowledge as she could. But she was soon to realise, that even she couldn't possibly learn this much, in such short time.
Teeth-grittingly she limited herself to studies about magic in general as her mother convinced her, that more advanced things would hardly be part of an entrance exam.
But her parents assurances were in vain, her nervousness grew with the hour.
Looking up from the book she'd just thrown she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"It's time, sweetie." her mother said.
It took her a few seconds to process but her time for preparation was indeed up. Feeling anxiety rising in her gut, she gulped.
"You can do it, sweetie, have faith in yourself." she heard her mother say.
But she hadn't. Each step towards the exam felt heavier and heavier. Her parents seemed to grow bigger and bigger. What if she disappointed them? What if she failed miserably? Would they still love her? With each step Celestia's school which she had longed to visit all her life seemed more and more threatening. It's towers became higher and higher. She felt sick.
It was only when her mother suddenly hugged her that she realised that she'd been shivering.
"It's all right, sweetie" she heard her cooing. "You won't disappoint us. We're always proud of you."
'No. No, she wouldn't disapoint them.' remembering what her favourite foal-sitter had taught her, she took a deep breath, brought her hoof close to her chest and then slowly released the air while moving her hoof away with the air.
Feeling her confidence replenish she looked up to her mother; determination on her face.
"I can do it!" she exclaimed.
And with that she entered the building. But what was about to happen nobody could have foreseen...
"What happened next? Has she failed her exam? Did she accidentally destroy the school? Did she?"
"Atta, girl! Just wait and see. You remember when you where so afraid of your test, last week?"
A shy nod.
"And do you remember how you felt before that test, how confident you were?"
Another reluctant nod.
"Then I guess you already now what happened." the mare said mischievously.
Hearing that, a big grin now adorned Dinky's face.
"Well, then let your mommy tell you the rest of the story now, will you?" Derpy said, a playful smile on her face.
A forceful nod.
The moment the little filly entered her exam room, she immediately noticed the three examiners which were sitting at a desk on the other side of the room. Stern looks on their faces and a peculiar pillar in the middle of the room, covered by a veil.
She gulped, feeling her nervousness grow.
'Don't worry you can do it. You can definitely do it. No matter what they ask you know everything a filly could possibly know about magic. No matter what they want you to do, you will be able to do it' she tried to convince herself.
But to no avail. She felt her eye twitching and her hooves begun to itch. Screaming at her to run away but she stood in place as if rooted to the ground.
It was then, that the chief-examiner finally freed her from her misery.
"Your task will be easy." he intoned ceremonially, his voice warm but stern. "It will consist of you casting a spell and us measuring your magical ability."
Words couldn't describe the relief the little filly felt. Now she knew she would pass this test easily. After all, even though she hadn't had her Cutie Mark yet, she was pretty talented in magic
..however, in her relief she didn't heard what the examiner said next.
"However I have to warn you. This test will have a special quirk to it. Try not to overexert yourself.
Well then. Let's begin."
And with that he lifted the veil.
"This is a dragon egg. Your task is to hatch it." the examiner stated matter of factly.
'Oh sweet Celestia, no!' the filly thought as she felt her confidence dwindling. Her legs felt as if they were made of stone. Each second ticking by excruciatingly slow as she stared at the egg, eyes wide.
Ahem "If you please." The examiner calmly said.
"Oh yeah, yeah." she fidgeted nervously as she readied herself. Ready to pump as much magic in that egg as necessary.
"And what happened then? What happened then?" Dinky could barely hold her excitement.
"And then, when that poor filly stood before that egg and was so nervous, that all her muscles cramped and it took every ounce of her strength to will her magic to flow at all then.."
'Nothing happened.' even in her thoughts it was but a mere observation. 'This can't be true! No, no, no, no!' the filly thought, getting more frantic by the second.
She's been giving it her all for the past five minutes but nothing happened. The egg didn't even seem to notice. It was driving her crazy! Ignoring everything she learned, ignoring the warning not to overexert herself she felt herself falling into despair.
Fear she newer knew rising in her.
She was long past her limit and could already see the apologetic looks on her examiners faces, when suddenly a thunderous bang shook the building and with it the little student out of her reverie.
Something must have snapped that moment she would later tell, for though she'd been at the brink of her powers, she suddenly felt a surge rushing through her system. Flooding her mind in an instant she felt herself being swept aside unceremoniously and she could but watch in awe as chaos broke it's way.
Magic stronger than anything she had ever seen, stronger than anything she could possibly imagine was pulsing through her body. The world started to feel unreal. It was frightening. Without any means of control things just..happened.
First the examiners turned into furniture.
Shock!
A frightened glance to her parents and they turned into plants.
The filly was on the verge of tears.
If it hadn't been for that accursed egg!
And then it happened. The shell cracked and released a tiny purple dragon, a dragon, that was still being enveloped in her magic aura and started absorbing the former at a rapid pace, growing bigger and bigger in the process.
It didn't take him long to reach the ceiling and only moments more before he broke through. In a matter of seconds, the dragon was towering over the school breaking havoc in it's wake.
At this point the filly had nearly lost consciousness and was watching the events wearily, when a glistening light bereaved her sight and she suddenly felt new energy pulsing through her body.
Slowly she felt the control over body return and relief took all tension out of her muscles.
Slumped to the ground she she dared to look up.
Amidst the now slowly fading light stood a tall figure of divine beauty. Touching the filly's horn with her own was the princess of the sun herself staring, not at her but at her flank, for it was now adorned by an arcane star.
Seeing this the princess reverted everything back to normal and declared that filly her personal protégé and faithful student.
"And on that day, Twilight Sparkle found her Cutie Mark and became Celestia's personal student."
"Wooooow." Dinky was spellbound. "That was amazing!"
"Yeah, it certainly was." Derpy laughed.
"How come you even know that story?"
"That's. A. Secret." the mare winked.
"But.." she continued "you could always go and ask Twilight herself for more if you like. What do you say?"
"That would be awesome!" the filly enthusiastically exclaimed.
"Well, than you know, what to do tomorrow, don't you?" she playfully chimed. "But first let's have some muffins!"
Author's Note
I wrote this One-Shot as a little something for a friend, to show her Twily's character depth. Seems I missed that goal a little since it's filly Twilight I wrote about but oh well :D
Maybe I'll continue this and add a few chapters. (Don't worry I'd keep it episodic)
For now, I hope you enjoyed it. 