Sunset smiled in front of the judges, excited to show them her magic. One judge pulled out her notepad, "Okay Sunset Shimmer, start when you're ready." she said, smiling. Sunset nodded, focusing all of her magical ability onto an apple on the table, the blue aura began to glow around it as it lifted up and grew. Only, it wouldn't stop growing. It grew and grew and grew, until it burst through the ceiling.
Sunset blushed, embarrassed. Shrinking the apple back down to size and fixing up the ceiling with her magic. The judges nodded in approval, smiling and writing onto their notepads. "Thank you Sunset, we'll let you know once Princess Celestia accepts or not via mail." Said a judge, taking a sip of tea.
"Okay, thank you!" Sunset said, smiling and exiting with her parents.
"Great job Sunny!" her mother said, hugging her.
Sunset smirked confidently, "Thanks mom, you think I'll get accepted?"
"Of course!" Her mother and father said at the same time, laughing afterward.
The letter came in two weeks later:
To the Parents of Sunset Shimmer,
Congratulations! Sunset Shimmer has now been officially approved by Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns by the princess herself. She has shown exceptional skill in the arts of magic, and she'd love to see her on Wednesday. Please contact Princess Celestia via mail if your filly cannot make it to the first class day.
We are going to be learning about how to improve simple spells for the first unit for Sunset Shimmer. Her other students shall be seen on the back of this letter if you want to see who will be in her classroom this year, you will also receive reports on how your filly is doing behavior-wise and magical-wise. We hope you understand these terms and conditions.
See you soon!
-Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns
"Gifted unicorns?" said her older sister, "What, are you gonna start talking like a total brainiac now?"
"No way, Amethyst!" Sunset Shimmer said, chuckling a little, "Well, maybe a little bit."
"Well, I hope you have a nice time." Amethyst said, scratching her head.
"I hope so too."
They smiled at each other. Finally, two days later, Sunset went to school, she walked toward the bus and looked out the window to see her family waving to her, grinning. Sunset smiled.
"Hey there!" a voice said next to her.
She looked up to see a pony with a blue coat and a white mane and tail, "My name is Trixie, nice to meet you." she said, sitting down next to her.
"What's your name?"
"Sunset Shimmer." she said, twirling her hair shyly.
"Nice name, you excited?" Trixie said, putting on a purple wizard hat with white stars on it.
"Totally." Sunset said, smiling at Trixie.
Trixie sat down, "So, Sunset, what do you want to learn with Celestia?" she asked, smiling.
Sunset pondered this, she hadn't thought about that yet at all! She looked at Trixie, "I'm not actually sure." she said, shrugging, "I just want to be the best unicorn there ever was and maybe rule Equestria."
"Really? Same!" she said, smiling, "I kinda want to learn how to do an age spell."
"Nice!"
They continued talking until they finally got to school, they got off the bus, still chatting. Until the bell rang, signalling that it was time for class. After their goodbyes, Sunset turned towards the door, coming into the large school. Once she saw what was in there, her mouth dropped open in shock. It was a beautiful school, the walls were made out of crystal, and there were multiple pictures of famous unicorns. One was of Star Swirl the Bearded, looking elegant as ever.
As she looked around, she noticed classroom A-3. "There's my class!" she said excitedly, rushing in. Once she walked in, she saw a bunch of other fillies and foals. Trixie was there too, she waved, smiling. Sunset sat down in a desk in the front of the class, Princess Celestia walked in, ringing a small bell on her desk.
"Hello, everyone. Welcome to my school for gifted unicorns like yourselves, I hope you have a fantastic year and grow as a unicorn." she said, smirking, "Now, let's talk about what to do and where to go." she said, teleporting a map on everyone's desk.
After a half an hour of learning the basics, the bell rang. "Okay, class. I hope you have fun picking your dorm partners. See you after you unpack!" Celestia said.
Sunset walked towards the large staircase, walking upwards, she saw Trixie. She trotted up to her, smiling, "Hey, Trixie, want to be my dorm partner?" she asked, smiling.
Trixie smiled, "Of course!"
So, they chatted about what they were going to learn as they walked to where the rest of the students were. "Alright, alright! Listen up, Twilight Sparkle and her partner go into D-1, Dusk Star and her partner in D-2, Sunset Shimmer and her partner in D-3..." said a stallion, holding up a list.
"C'mon, Sunny! In here!" Trixie said, smiling.
Sunset smiled, "Coming, Trixie!" she shouted, speeding towards the dorm room.
Her smile widened, this was going to be a great year.
Sunset's horn illuminated as she placed her books on her bookshelf, she looked at the titles, The History of Magic: Vol. 23, The Life and Times of Morwari the Maneless, How To: Advanced Magic Vol. 2... the list went on and on. Trixie looked at her bookshelf, "Wow! You've got TONS of books!" she exclaimed, her eyes widened.
"Yeah, how many books do you have?" Sunset asked, turning her head to look at Trixie.
"Not very many, only books about magic spells." she said in a bragging tone, smirking.
"Really? I'd like to read them some time." Sunset said, her eyes widening a little.
Trixie bit her lip, looking down, "N-No, their REALLY advanced." she said, smiling nervously.
"Nonsense, I can take a look." she said, walking toward her a little.
"Later, maybe? We're supposed to get back to class." she said, her eyes widened.
Sunset raised a brow, she was curious about her suspicious behavior, but just brushed it off, "Okay..." she said, lowering her brow.
Sunset Shimmer trotted with her to class, once they got in, they saw Princess Celestia passing out papers to the ponies who walked in. She noticed the girls and seemed taken aback by something, she looked at a blue sheet and back at Trixie. "I don't recall seeing you for the entrance exam..." she said, raising a brow. Trixie looked confused, "You sure?" she asked, "'Cause I'm pretty sure I was there."
"Hmm, I must be mistaken..." Celestia said, giving a sheet of paper to Sunset and Trixie, "Please sit down, and we'll get started." she said, smiling.
Sunset sat in her seat, looking at Trixie. She began to think, why would Celestia say that she didn't recognize her? She had seen all of the surveillance of each entrance exam, didn't she? She shook it off, writing notes on the sheet.
Later, Sunset went into the cafeteria with Trixie.
"Hey, what was that about?" she asked.
"What?"
"When Celestia was skeptical about you being there, what was that about?"
"Oh," Trixie exclaimed, her mouth full of oats, "she probably forgot, she's lived for thousands of years after all. Plus, she's a princess, so she probably had something important going on."
Sunset nodded, Trixie was right. Celestia probably did forget, after all, the bus came to her house. If she wasn't accepted, then how did she get on the bus?
"So, wanna sneak into the classroom tonight?" Trixie asked, smirking.
Sunset's eyes widened, "Why?"
"So that we can steal Celestia's spellbooks, maybe learn hypnosis spells..." she said, still smirking.
"No! We'll get in trouble!" Sunset whispered, frowning.
Trixie shrugged, "Suit yourself! I guess you don't wanna rule Equestria someday..." Trixie said, smirking.
Sunset bit her lip, she did want to be a princess, maybe there would be a book on that.
"Well, okay, fine." Sunset said, still a little unsure.
~-~
The full moon shone down through the window, shining into Sunset's eyes as she woke. She slowly crawled out of bed, waking Trixie up. "Hey, Trix!" she whispered, shaking her awake. Trixie rubbed her eyes, "I'm up, I'm up..." she groaned. Trixie grabbed a small bag, smirking. Sunset looked at her, "You're gonna steal books?!" She whispered, gawking.
"Yeah, you take one too." she said, tossing one to her.
Sunset caught it, "Wait! What if guards come in and see that we aren't in bed?" she whispered.
Trixie's eyes widened, "Shoot! You're right!" she whispered, "I've got an idea."
Trixie took an extra pillow from underneath her bed, and put it under her blankets. She did the same with Sunset's. She nodded triumphantly, "There, the guards won't even know we were gone." Trixie said, smirking. Sunset smiled, "You're so smart." she said. "I know, now come on." Trixie said, slowly opening the door.
Sunset looked out, she saw a guard walking away from them. "Should we teleport?" she asked, raising a brow. Trixie nodded, and they shut the door behind them, teleporting into room A-3. "This is it, let's get those books." Trixie whispered.
Sunset sneaked towards the bookshelf behind Celestia's desk, taking multiple advanced magic books and nearly filled her bag. She looked over at Trixie to find her stealing the same thing. "Sweet, we got these, now let's get back to our dorm." Sunset whispered, making sure Trixie could hear.
"Yeah, you're right." Trixie said, teleporting.
Sunset teleported back, she looked at Trixie. "That was so, fun!" she whispered, smirking. Trixie nodded, "Told you!" Trixie said, putting the bag under her bed, "Now hide your bag, we don't wanna get caught." Trixie said, smiling.
Sunset smiled, she felt like she made the greatest friend that she'll ever have.
