The Guardian of Harmony

by EarlGreyTea

Rating: mature
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Princess Luna, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance
Length: 17959

The Guardian has a duty to watch over the arcane plane, ensuring that it is continuously in balance and flowing properly. But, due to a curse, the Guardian was made to be put into a slumber for over a thousand years in hopes of recovery.

There are many titles the Embodiment of Magic holds; the Keeper, The Ferry-pony, The Tuner, Repair-pony, but more commonly - The Guardian. And as the Guardian, it is her duty to watch over the arcane plane, ensuring that it is continuously in balance and flowing properly. But due to a curse, The Guardian was made to be put into slumber for over a thousand years in hopes of recovery.

During her sleep, the world's arcana has slowly gone awry, causing magical imbalances to surge into the world at random. Along with surges, the imbalanced arcane plane have negatively influenced creatures with magic, creating tensions between the races that are slowly coming close to snapping, any wrong move could lead to war. Potential disasters are looming just on the horizon, ready to take the world at any given time.

So, with great reluctance, Magic released its' mistress from her slumber, thereby preventing her from a full recovery. Thus causing her to wake; still ill, with more than a few lost memories, unable to perform magic, as well as being in the form that of a filly's.

Now, Twilight finds herself in a race against time to relearn her forgotten magics and recover her lost memories in order to repair all the magical imbalances and relations before her illness can take her life and cease all hope for the world to reach harmony.

*Previous Title - Rebuilding Harmony

Published 2016-02-16 02:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-03-15 05:27:42 UTC

Prologue

No matter how long she spent in that room, Twilight was certain that she would never tire of it. With books lining against the high walls and a few piled around her on her bed, the uncovered walls were painted with grassy plains and colorful flowers under the blue sky that climbed up onto the domed shape ceiling. At the center of it was a fairly large and circular skylight that would allow the brightness of the sun or glow of the moon to filter in and illuminate the room. Not only that, but the room’s painting of the sky was enchanted to reflect the different time of day or night once the sun or moon shone directly above the sky light in order to help accommodate Twilight’s odd sleeping schedule.

When the moon was directly above, the sky painting of her room would slowly lighten up, as though dawn were approaching and ease the pony into a new day. When the sun was shining through the sky light, the transparent panes around the room would blacken to prevent light from coming in as the sky painting would slowly darken to mimic sunset, allowing a few “stars” to come out until finally the whole night sky encompassed the room. What was most fascinating about the enchantment though, was that it “learned” of the day/night’s events. For example, if it had previously been raining and was currently sunny outside, the room would show a rainbow flittering across the room’s sky. And the stars in the room would move across the dome like they did under the actual night sky.

Sometimes, such as right now, Twilight would find her self more interested and lost in “Stargazing” as opposed to sleeping.

Her ear twitched as she heard her door clicking open, causing her to scramble under her covers and tightly shut her eyes closed under the guise that she had been sleeping.

The sound of hoof steps came closer to her, and she remembered to slow her breathing down to help fool the intruder.

It didn’t work as a deep chuckle reached her ears and caused her to frown.

“Staying up star gazing again?” the pony asked in a soft, but deep voice.

Twilight grumbled as she shifted around under her sheets, trying to find the head of her bed. Finally, she nosed her way out and poked her head out just enough to peer her eyes out and look up at the new comer, giving a small pout. “How did you know I was awake?”

“I helped raise you did I not?” The pony asked with an amused smile, “I think I would know when you were in the mood to stargaze as opposed to sleeping. Especially when your duties don’t call for you until much later after you wake.”

Twilight blushed and flattened her ears while giving a nervous grin upon being caught, causing the other to chuckle once more. “May I join you?”

Twilight nodded until she realized the other couldn’t see her, “Of course.” Despite the bed having more than enough space for the two of them, she still scooted over a little so the two could share the center of the bed.

They stayed lying on their backs together in companionable silence, starring at the stars of the “night sky”.

“---- says there’s going to be a meteor shower tomorrow night.” The other commented

“Really?!” Twilight asked in excitement

“Yes. So I sent a letter out to the ---- asking if we could borrow a telescope. They have yet to respond, but I’m sure they will be accommodating.”

“Yes! I can’t wait!” she grinned

Another deep chuckle, “That may be so, but you must be well rested if you wish to see the shower. We do have a long day of travel ahead of us.”

Her ears flattened as her pout returned to her face at the idea of taking her time away from gazing at her ceiling, but relented with a grumble.

The other pony chuckled once more, patting her head with a hoof before shuffling off her bed. “I’ll come to gather you before we depart.”

Letting out a squeaky yawn, Twilight mumbled her consent.

“Sleep well Twilight.” The other pony whispered.

“You too ----“ She mumbled as sleep and darkness overtook her.

“Hello Twilight…”

“…Every pony misses…”

“… the stars are…”

“Chancellor ---- Passed away today. We had to…”

“If you can hear us…”

“---- and I… tired…”

“We had this…”

“… a new…”

“I know, it’s just me today…”

“… acting odd and I…”

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”

“… the first time…”

“Something came up…”

“I’m so tired…”

“What would you do?”

“… there was no other way and I…”

“… I’m not sure I can continue doing…”

“…had to move…”

“Screaming…”

“your… I’m sorry.”

“You always somehow manage to…”

“… ----‘s family is…”

“… Thank you…”

“The magic of this world is…”

“…What else?”

“You never cease to amaze me…”

“…So much on my shoulders”

“… remember when…”

“I never realized…”

“It’s been a while…”

“… there’s a new…”

“… A gift for you.”

“Had to…”

“…PLEASE TELL ME!”

“… you would like her…”

“I’m going to be really busy…”

“… war may…”

“… just too much.”

“managed…”

“I still hear…”

“… pony… hurt.”

“Please… help me.”

“… no other… team”

“Am I doing the right thing?”

“… corruption in the…”

“…Spoke to me”

“---- would never…”

“… a solution.”

“… New school…”

“You smiled!”

“A long time…”

“…I made a mistake.”

“A pony has…”

“… easier… but…”

“Is this always how you…”

“---- would never approve.”

“Tension with the…”

“She’s adjusting but…”

“… Did your body... shift?”

“… forgetting how to…”

“This has never…”

“… been a few months since I last…”

“… very odd.”

“Something wrong with…”

“… I miss you…”

“New candy… you’d like.”

“… setting the moon.”

“Everypony seems to have forgotten…”

“… Different advisor…”

“How were you always able to…”

“… is nearing…”

“Trying my best…”

“… is fine but…”

“No no no! Twilight can’t-!”

“I don’t…”

“… worse than I feared.”

“… don’t worry, I can handle this.”

“The arcane plane is…”

“… stuck in between…”

“I see…”

“… you felt that didn’t you?”

“… fix it.”

“Made a connection with…”

“… has to stay!!!”

“… will never forgive me if I…”

“No! You can’t! She’s not ready!”
“Please don’t do this!”
“She won’t live long enough if you-!”

“Twilight!”

Purple eyes slowly opened, as the owner tried to focus on the world around her.

But the brightness of the day forced her eyes to squint and turn her head away, allowing her to focus on other things, such as how heavy the air around her felt, how there was a buzzing and ringing sound reverberating through her ears, and how her body refused to listen to her commands of standing, or holding her head up. Everything felt… wrong. And she didn’t know why.

“Sh, sh… It’s okay Twilight.” A familiar voice whispered as a warm body came in contact with her side.

She tried to peer up, to see who the owner of the voice was, but due to her eyes still adjusting to the light, all she saw was a white blob before she was enveloped into darkness once more by something soft and warm.

She felt the workings of something… familiar occurring around her, and before she knew it, the scent of her surrounding changed from that of a woodsy area into something… sterile.

“Quick! Send a team of medics to my chambers and as well as the Archmage!” the voice shouted

The sound of a snap and hooves galloping away soon followed the order as the warm blanket unraveled itself, only to be replaced by that previous feeling of familiarity surround her. She felt herself being lifted gently into the air, floating along as the world continued spinning around her, not yet coming into focus and the incessant buzzing and ringing continued to sound through her mind.

It was only when she felt herself being laid down on a soft surface along with warmth once again enveloping her, did she give up on trying to right her senses and allow sleep to consume her once again. But just before she faded into unconsciousness, she heard a whisper with a cracked voice and broken sob.

“I’m sorry…”

Chapter 1

When Twilight returned to consciousness, a very unfamiliar sound greeted her ears, causing them to flicker in confusion.

Unable to think of anything that could cause such noise, she allowed curiosity to get the better of her and opened her eyes in order to locate the source of sound.

That was a mistake.

Immediately after opening them, she shut them once more and attempted to turn her head away from the source of light in hopes of getting away from it. Thus causing her to be aware of her body’s stiff and soreness along with the aching of her head.

With a groan of pain, she tried to bring her hoof up to her temples to help alleviate her headache, only to find something stuck inside the crook of her arm and preventing her from performing the action.

Alarmed, she forgot about the first matter of inconvenience and snapped her eyes open. The sudden onslaught of light entering her retinas made her head throb, but she needed to know what was preventing her arm from moving. The world was still a blur to her, but she forced herself to focus on her unmoving appendage.

Through the haze and focus, she was finally able to determine that there was a needle pierced and held in place by what seemed to be a bandage. Upon further inspection, she found that the needle seemed to be connected to a line, leading to a bag hanging by where she lay. Next to that were some sort of devices that she could not recognized, but determined that one of those was the source of the odd noise she previously questioned. From those devices, she found lines coming from and attached to her chest.

Looking past those, she found herself in an unreasonably large room (if it can even be called that with how… spacious it was) with white walls holding few… incredibly accurate and realistic paintings, a red floor that looked soft to the touch, and piles of papers and books piled about.

She had no idea where she was.

The previous, indescribable noise interrupted her thoughts as she idly registered that it was occurring faster. Bringing her attention back to those odd devices she was hooked up to.

More questions piled into her mind revolving around what those were.

Why was she… hooked up to them?

What’s going on?

What happened to her?

Was there something wrong?

“Twilight?”

Snapping out of her inner turmoil, she turned to the voice calling her name, and was greeted by the sight of familiar magenta eyes filled with concern.

Silence stretched between them as purple eyes kept starring into magenta ones, as if searching for something, searching for the answer to a question as to who the owner of those familiar magenta eyes was.

She should know who this is… She thought.

After a while, recognition slowly dawned into purple eyes as the pony came into focus.

“Celestia?” Twilight asked with a raspy voice and a pitch too high, prompting a question to arise in her still groggy and addle filled mind regarding why her voice sounded so… young.

A smile of relief came across the white pony’s face as she let out a soft, water filled, chuckle. “Yes Twilight, I’m right here with you.” She said craning her head down to give a small nuzzle to Twilight’s cheek with her nose as tears spilled down

Instantly, a wave of calm washed over Twilight at the confirmation of a familiar pony by her side and despite the confusions as to why Celestia was crying, their exaggerated head size difference, as well as all of her other previous questions still bounced around in her mind, she pushed it down in favor of comfort and tried her best to return the affectionate gesture.

“Here, drink some water.” Celestia suggested, standing up straight and allowing her horn to glow gold to levitate a cup up to the bed-ridden pony’s mouth as she also magically helped Twilight to sit up straighter and simultaneously add a few more pillows behind her. Meanwhile, Twilight tried to take the cup with her magic, but found it refusing to come forth. A small whine of frustration sounded from her throat.

“Take it easy, your body is still trying to adjust to being outside.” The white pony said, pushing the cup against the other’s lips.

Twilight wanted to ask Celestia to clarify what she meant by that, and to ask why she was talking so… oddly, but the throbbing of her head and the cool water brushing against her lips told her to ask later, along with getting answers to all her previous questions. So, she grudgingly allowed herself to be taken care of.

Once the cup was empty, it was levitated away, placed by the nightstand next to the bed and Twilight felt much more awake.

“I’m sure you have questions you’d like to ask…” Celestia began, her statement confirmed by Twilight’s small nod. “But first, I was hoping you would allow a physician and his… assistant to come in? To see if how you are.”

A small frown of disapproval formed on Twilight’s face as her ears drooped. Celestia KNEW that Twilight preferred having all her questions answered as quickly as possible.

A soft chuckle escaped from Celestia’s mouth as she leaned back down and gave another small nuzzle to her, reminding Twilight of their sudden size difference and bringing it to the forefront of her mind. She knew that Celestia was bigger than her, but did not recall the white pony being so much bigger that she was able to nuzzle Twilight’s cheek with just her muzzle. “It will only take a moment.”

Sighing, she reluctantly nodded her consent.

With a smile of satisfaction, Celestia’s horn glowed once again, opening the doors where a rather lanky unicorn with a muted orange coat and a combed dark blue mane stood, anxiously waiting. Twilight assumed that this was the physician seeing as he wore a white coat to indicate his profession, he was presumably summoned once Celestia noticed Twilight stirring awake. The other unicorn was of a more average build with a blue coat so pale; it could easily be mistaken for white. He also herald a short orange and yellow mane that was messily combed back

“Doctor Pill, Signal Flare, thank you for waiting. I believe Twilight here is ready for you.” Celestia smiled, prompting another look of confusion from the tired pony as she wondered about Celestia’s odd speaking manner once again, but shrugged it off. She was probably just being mindful of her voice for the bedridden pony, and with Twilight’s throbbing head, she was grateful for Celestia’s consideration.

Nodding, the two made their way into the room and by Twilight’s side, although… the physician walked a bit slower and upon closer inspection, Twilight found that he was sweating.

“B-Begging your pardon your highness, but might I trouble you to use your… er…” The orange unicorn started before looking more nervous

“Of course.” Celestia nodded with a smile. “The restroom is just right over there.” She said pointing her hoof toward the other side of the room at a door.

He gave a nervous smile before trotting away. Once the door closed, the other unicorn turned his head and gave a cheerful smile to Twilight.

“So… Twilight is it?” He asked, causing Twilight’s lips to quirk up, pleased that he was able to address her by her name as she gave a small nod of happiness. Just as quickly as it came though, it went and turned into a frown of confusion. Why would him just saying her name please her?

Signal Flare flashed another toothy smile, “Pleased to meet you. I’m Doctor Pill’s assistant for the day, Signal Flare. But please, call me Sig. How are you feeling?”

“Tired.” Twilight answered, prompting a small laugh.

“That would make sense seeing as you’ve been asleep for quite some time.” He stated with a chuckle, trotting a little closer to her, “What’s the last thing you remember before waking here?”

Twilight looked up at the ceiling in thought. “I recall being in my chambers… gazing up at the stars on the ceiling. And…” She scrunched up her nose and sharply inhaled in frustration. “And… some pony entered to keep company… Some pony…” She gritted her teeth in anger at not knowing who was last in her chambers.

“It’s okay. Take your time.” Sig softly encouraged.

Letting out a breath, Twilight quietly tried to regain control of her emotions. “… I can not recall who exactly, but he wished to speak with me and share my company.”

“What did he talk to you about?”

“’Twas in regards of the stars.” Twilight sighed, “He spoke of how…” She paused as she tried to recall something, another pony, amiss in her memories, causing her to furrow her brow in thought. “How…” Nothing. Nothing came. She couldn’t even bring forth an image. Her mind was blank when it came to these ponies and it caused her eyes to prick with tears. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t recall whom, but he spoke of another, and how…” Twilight let out another frustrated sigh, giving up trying to remember the pony. “The other pony regaled of a meteor shower to be performed during our travels.” She finished lamely, her head hanging down and causing her to miss Celestia’s pained expression.

“And where were you traveling to and for what purpose?”

“I-“ Twilight hesitated as her mind came up with a blank once more. “I do not know.”

The unicorn gave another nod. “Do you know what happened for you to wake up here?”

Twilight shook her head.

“I see…” the pale blue pony frowned, ears drooping a bit as his eyes narrowed in thoughtfulness. He opened his mouth to speak once more, but was interrupted by a door opening and the sound of a toilet flushing.

“I-I do apologize, but I am ready to see Miss Twilight.” The orange pony stated,

Sig let out a sigh as he took a few steps back. “Of course, she’s all yours.”

“I… wasn’t interrupting anything was I?” Doctor Pill asked, causing Twilight to arch a brow in question.

“I was simply in the middle of ensuring patient is oriented sir. Responsively she seems to be fine, but her memory seems to be rather shaky.” Sig quickly stated

The orange pony blinked, as though he were unsure how to make of this scene. A cough from Celestia shook him out of his stupor, causing him to shake his head. “Yes, well that can often times happen with ponies who have just woken. We’ll have to do further analysis to see exactly how far back her memories goes to ensure she can properly readjust back to pony society without much trouble…” He mumbled as he levitated a board with sheets of paper… clipped to it?

Twilight stared at the clip, wondering exactly what that was and how helpful it seemed.

Doctor Pill didn’t notice her curiosity as he stared at the board, flipping a few sheets of paper back and forth. Upon notice of a particular bit of information, he would give a small frown before continuing off to another sheet. Once he finished going over the charts, he finally looked up and levitated a small cylindered object out of his pocket and pushed something on the side, allowing light to pour forth from one end.

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of this new device as she tried to wrap her head around how it worked. She quickly theorized and logically concluded with a very basic outline of it within her mind, that the object was actually hollow, and there was an enchantment (and a rather powerful one at that considering how bright it was shining) on the inside holding “light” therefore allowing it to shine in one direction along with a reflective coating around said enchantment to further allow maximum results. Before she could question the Doctor about her theory though, he spoke up.

“Alright, I need you to look straight ahead and try not to blink.” He stated, and before Twilight could ask why, light suddenly beamed into her retinas, causing her to reel back and shut them and groan.

If she wasn’t awake and alert before, she definitely was now.

“WHAT art ye doing?” She hissed.

“I know it’s a bit uncomfortable…”

Twilight scoffed

“But I really need to check to ensure that there is no trauma or injury within your brain.” The doctor continued

Immediately curious, Twilight peeked back at the Doctor warily, “And pray tell fair Doctor, how dost shining your…” she eyeballed the foreign object still floating mid air. “er…”

“Penlight.” Sig supplied.

“… What an odd name… it does not even write... unless it is indeed capable of such performance?” Twilight mumbled in question mostly to her self, but Celestia and Sig heard it nonetheless and both gave a low chuckle. “How dost shining your… light” She continued, obviously unsatisfied with the previous title. “Help with your… assessment of one’s brain trauma and injury?”

“I…” The doctor gave a nervous glance to Sig and Celestia, the latter giving him a firm nod that basically ordered him to answer her question. He quickly gave a polite cough to cover up his sheer incredulity of the situation. “Well, by shining light into your pupil, I am able to ensure and properly assess whether or not the size of your pupils are equal and whether or not your eyes are receiving proper signals to constrict. If they’re not, then that tells me that your brain is suffering from injury. It’s a really basic procedure, but in your case it’s important seeing as-“

Sig gave a small cough to interrupt the Doctor, who suddenly began sweating a little as he shook his head. “A-Anyway, it’s important that you allow me to do this.”

Twilight gave a thoughtful frown as she processed this information. “But why-“

“Twilight,” The white alicorn intervened. “I’m sure Doctor Pill appreciates all the questions that you may have, but I’m certain that he would much prefer finishing his examination to ensure that you are healthy.”

“Oh.” Purple eyes blinked before she straightened herself. “Of course, my sincerest apologies Doctor. I did not mean to prevent you from your practice.”

This time, the Doctor couldn’t do anything more than blink in surprise before shaking his head, “It’s alright… Now, please look straight ahead and try not to blink.” He repeated his previous instruction as he brought up the odd object in front of Twilight once more, shining light into her eye.

“So… pray tell, how didst you think of this, penlight?” Twilight idly asked as Doctor Pill switched over to her other eye.

“Er… What?” He asked, incredulity returning to his tone.

“The penlight. What came upon you to think of such a clever magical appliance?” Twilight asked.

“I… uh…” the penlight lowered in hesitance.

“Which gem did you use to hold your light enchantment?” Twilight continued. “And which spell did you place within?”

“Er…”

“Also, I assume that the –“

“Twilight.” Celetia interrupted once more

“Oh… Right… my apologies once again.” Twilight sheepishly said, ears flattening.

Awkwardly, Doctor Pill levitated his clipboard back in front of him as well as another object, this time wooden, using it to… scratch at the paper. It seemed as though this wooden object was being used as a writing utensil of sorts. The sight caused Twilight to quirk an ear up in confusion. Before she could voice a question though, he spoke up.

“Alright, well all your vitals and reactions seem to be fine. Your heart rate seems to be a little slow, and your blood pressure is on the low side, but that’s normal as you have only been resting and haven’t been able to eat properly as of yet. We’ll have to keep the heart monitor and IV hooked up to you until we determine that you’re able to eat without any trouble. After we get your body back up to speed, then we can go ahead and give you your vaccinations. But other than those few things, you’re the picture of health.” The orange unicorn stated with a small smile, eliciting a scrunched up face of confusion from Twilight. Before she could pose another inquiry though, Sig interrupted once more.

“Actually Doctor Pill,” Sig interrupted, “I still need to finish assessment of her cognitive state. And I do believe you have another patient to see, so it would be in your best interest to leave.”

The look of nervousness and sweat returned to the Doctor’s face, “Y-Yes, of course. W-well then, I’ll be returning once again tomorrow at this time to do further check up on Twilight, but until then please do not hesitate to summon me if you need to.” Doctor Pill said before turning to Celestia and bowing. “If I may Your Majesty.”

The white alicorn nodded with a small smile, giving her permission for him to leave.

With another hasty bow, he hastily made his retreat to the door.

Once more, Sig turned and gave Twilight a beaming smile once the doors shut. “Now that we’ve finished with that, shall we finish our questioning?”

Twilight gave a raised brow, but decided to humor him and nodded her agreement.

“Excellent! Now, as you have stated before, you had trouble remembering two ponies.” He started, pausing as he gave Twilight an inquisitive look to confirm his statement, receiving a small nod he continued on. “But, you remember Princess Celestia here correct?” He asked, gesturing a hoof to said pony.

At this, Twilight smiled. “But of course!”

“And how do you know her?”

A scoff, “I grew up with her, she is like family.”

“I see. Can you-“

Celestia interrupted with a voice of disbelief, “Like-? Twilight, how could you say that?”

“Princess, please we-“ Sig tried to calm her

“How do you mean?” Twilight asked, confusion and hurt evident in her voice. She had thought that Celestia thought of her as family as well. “’Tis true, is it not? We grew up together, played together. Is that not similar to what other families do?”

“Yes, but- you… we are not just ‘like’ family” Celestia tried to reason, “You and Luna were, are-“

“Luna?” Twilight asked, dumbfounded

“Yes! Luna! My sister! The pony you-“ Celestia gasped as her magenta eyes met with confused purple ones, “…you don’t remember.” She whispered, sadness filling her eyes as ears began to droop, but just as quickly, anger flared through her, causing her ears to flatten against her head as she gave a snort of anger. Her billowing mane that previously gave a soft flow of waves, quickened as it began to frantically flicker about. The air around her warmed, small heats waves to form above her. “This is HIS fault…” She said in a low growl, venom dripping from her voice. “If it weren’t for-, If we didn’t NEED to… I would have-“

“Your Highness! Please!” Sig yelled in interruption.

Tears welled up in Celestia’s eyes as her mouth clicked shut, turning her head away so Twilight would be unable to look at her eyes.

Silence enveloped the room as Celestia slowly came to a calm.

Twilight’s ears were flattened against her head as her face distorted into confusion and shame for not knowing what Celestia was talking about, “Remember… what?”

A tired sigh came from the stallion, “That’s… you don’t need to worry about that right now. Let’s continue on.”

Twilight frown deepened, her ears pulling back as she turned and glared at Sig. “No. I do believe that it is time you tell me what exactly has happened to me to incur such questioning and…” She gestured to the foreign devices she was hooked up to with her free hoof, “This strange treatment.”

Sig sighed once again, “I understand that you might be feeling upset and confused, but-“

“I also believe that it is time you confess who you really are Signal Flare.” Twilight said with a tone that brooked for no argument

At her tone, the stallion felt as though he were a little colt caught with his hoof in the cookie jar, even feeling his ears drooping a little. “I uh…” He looked to Celestia for help, who merely shook her head before hanging it in resignation. “Very well then… I apologize for being so discreet, but upon your arrival we, Princess Celestia and I that is, determined that it would be more beneficial if we could find out about your state of mind so we can determine how to… ease you into the world… and how to… well tell you of your current condition… To do that, we thought it best if I were to pose as a medical assistant, to help allay any suspicion towards my inquiry and to… help prevent you from panicking.”

“You see Twilight… You’ve been... well, asleep. For about 1000 years, due to a curse.” He slowly stated.

Twilight blinked, glancing back and forth between Sig and Celestia, searching for signs of a fib. Finding no such signs, she felt her heart sink and her head becoming light.

“I must confess that I’m not very well adverse in your particular condition, as you are the only pony we know of to have such a peculiar effect, but as I know it-“

“It’s like a disease.” Celestia mournfully said, head hanging low in shame. “We were… in the midst of war and you were leading civilians to safety when you were struck with this… curse…”

The words echoed in Twilight’s head as her throat went dry. “W-War? I-I don’t…” She began stammering.

The white alicorn winced at the unspoken words.

She doesn’t remember.

Sig continued on, “Yes. And as far as this, curse, goes – according to the information we do have – it’s a rather slow and painful crystallization process that spreads throughout your inner body. The crystals that are created within you not only seem to slow down your movements due to stiffening the parts of your body it has taken effect, but the crystals themselves upset your inner magical balance at random intervals and significantly depletes or surges one of the magic bodies within you on a near constant basis. This is especially important in your case as you’re –“

“The embodiment of magical balance.” Twilight interrupted in a near whisper. “If one of my magic pools is constantly surging or depleting, it would cause myself to continuously try and counter or spend it in order to bring my body back into harmony, therefore forcing my connection to dissociate with the world’s magic, which may cause it to fluctuate and burst into this realm in different disastrous arrays.”

“Er. Yes.” Sig confirmed with surprise

Twilight lightly blushed, “I have been constantly told of what I am supposed to represent. It would be very difficult to forget such information.” She confessed

Sig nodded to show he understood, and continued on with his explanation. “From what I understand, there was no… instant cure found. Instead, you found that you could be cured if you were to go back into the magic planes, where your natural elemental body could help you recover in time.”

“You were meant to stay in slumber for over a thousand years Twilight.” Celestia said, tears welling up in her eyes once again. “But I- I failed you… I could not maintain balance for that long and as a result… you were made to return still ill.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say as she tried to wrap her head around all the information she was given.

“As the Archmage, I have been entrusted with this information and been asked to study this curse, with hopes that I am able to find a cure for you as this is a magical, as opposed to a medical, case. To start, I did some diagnostic spells,” Sig intervened by continuing the explanation, “And it seems that your curse is dormant – for now. But it seems that your… early release was met with some complications…” He said as his horn took on an orange-red glow, soon after a mirror was being levitated towards them.

Upon seeing herself, Twilight had an answer to a few of the questions that had emerged upon her waking and initial meeting with Celestia.

She had regressed back into the form of when she was a filly.

It was just too much.

Her breathing picked up, breaths coming rapidly and shortly, and her heart began to race.

“Twilight? Twilight, calm down please.” Celestia pleaded as Sig quietly walked out of the room to give the two some privacy.

Dimly she was aware of the foreign device making its’ odd noise much more rapidly.

Her mind became fuzzy, and her vision began to blur.

“Twilight, please. Focus on me.” Celestia said, her face coming into Twilight’s view.

“I-I…” Twilight began to stammer.

“Shhh. I’m here. I’m still here.” The white alicorn said, her voice shaky as she lowered her head and nuzzled Twilight.

She could only respond in heart wrenching sobs.

“I’m sorry.” Celestia whimpered as tears fell from her face.

Chapter 2

After the first night of Twilight’s awakening, Signal Flare had returned to the room to discuss with Celestia and Twilight the situation revolving around her some more. Before divulging into that topic though, he asked Celestia to leave the room so he could conduct some memory tests on Twilight as he didn’t think she would be able to bear hearing and watching Twilight struggle to remember events or ponies.

As it were, he concluded that for whatever reason, Twilight’s memory loss was unlike standard cases. She seemed to retain knowledgeable information on her education on magic, her theories were still incredibly sharp, and it also seemed as though her critical thinking as well as her ability to learn were much faster than he expected. But, her memories pertaining to crucial and significant ponies as well as events were shaky at best or all together gone at worst throughout the time she had been conscious. Small, insignificant events or information seemed to pop up in her memory very easily though, she seemed pleased to be able to recall such mundane information, but Sig figured that it was the one of the few things she could still find familiar and comfort in the world in which she currently lived in.

Celestia was downtrodden upon learning the state of her memory.

“Please do not be so remiss Celestia.” Twilight said with a small smile, “I am certain that the matter is not as bad as it seems. My memory is certain to return at a later date, in the meantime though, there is no reason why I cannot make new memories.”

The princess could not help but smile at Twilight’s statement.

“Now, as for your curse… while it is still dormant, I suggest that we do our best to study as much about it as possible to figure out ways to counter it, or at the very least, slow it down.” Sig stated

Twilight looked down at her hooves in silence, “You do not believe we will find a cure?”

He shuffled in place nervously, “I’m not entirely sure.” He truthfully answered, causing Twilight and Celestia to wince. “Please understand that I, as well as the Princess and the Circle of Magi, will do everything we can to help you find a cure, but in the case that your curse spreads faster throughout your body, then it is imperative that we have a counter ready on hoof to stop or slow it down.”

The small alicorn fiddled with the sheets, “But… I do not understand. Why is it necessary to… keep me alive?”

“Twilight-“ Celestia looked ready to protest

“Please, do not misunderstand my question as a plea to leave me to my… inevitable doom.” Twilight began, “Believe me when I say that I wish to live, but I do not understand why it is necessary as magical affairs seem to be doing decent and why Signal Flare would wish for my welfare when he does not even know me.” She gestured.

Sig for his part looked utterly shocked and almost offended, “Twilight, as you know, you are the Embodiment of Magic itself, or as some of the previous Circle of Magi and Archmages have referred to you as, The Guardian, and as the title implies, you are meant to watch and guard your realm from any creature that may try to cause a disturbance and maintain order within it. And if there are any such disturbances, you are to fix it. As has been one of the original responsibilities of the Archmage, it has been our duty to help you determine the cause and find the best solution to do so, then upon understanding the situation, it is then the Circle’s job to help you go to the location, or do so themselves, and repair the connection.” He paused for a breath while Twilight furrowed her eyebrows

“The Princess has been doing a wonderful job trying to keep it under control, but she does not have your natural connection and attunement to the magical bodies, as you are able to sense those and pinpoint exactly where they are whilst she struggles in finding the general area.” Celestia winced at this statement, while Sig continued on. “Not only that, but the Princess is often over worked or piled with so many responsibilities, it is not uncommon for us to try to do these responsibilities ourselves. And you know… attempting to divulge through the arcane plane is excruciatingly tiresome and dangerous work for us normal ponies. Furthermore, as you may recall, it is of utmost importance to ensure that the magic of this world remains in balance and harmony, otherwise the upset could create a backlash in a number of different forms. It is also important to note that along with the discharge, an imbalance of magic also influences the living creatures with magic negatively.”

It was with a grimace that Sig continued speaking, “Because of that, Equestrian relations have shaky at best for the past few centuries, fluctuating between being on the brink of war and tensile relations. We are constantly on edge when other creatures are not even certain exactly why they are hostile toward each other or us. So when you say that magical affairs seems to be decent, believe me when I say that it is not with constant struggle and putting in our best efforts to make it ‘decent’ despite it supposed to be more. And when you ask why I personally am wishing for your welfare, it is because as the Archmage, it is my duty to uphold my responsibility and perform the original duty of an Archmage and honor of serving by the Guardian’s side. So it is of course, of utmost importance that we are able to bring you back to full health.” He finished with his chest sticking out in pride

Twilight was rather touched with his dedication, thanking him for his belief in her as well as for all his hard work. But, she confessed that she did not remember there ever working with an Archmage or the Circle of Magi, so she asked if he could help inform her of their duties and responsibilities, then she would be much obliged. She also thanked Celestia for taking over her duties for the past millennia, apologizing for the inconvenience.

“There is no need for apologies Twilight, it’s not your fault.” Celestia stated with an affectionate nuzzle.

Unfortunately, as they continued their discussions and diagnosis of Twilight’s condition, they found that there wasn’t anything they could do about it but hope that her body age normally in time. Furthermore, after doing a quick analysis and conducting a few tests, they found that Twilight is unable to perform her duties as, for whatever reason, she could not perform any sort of spells.

“This doesn’t make any sense…” Sig stated, rubbing his chin with his hoof. “You’re performing the spells correctly, your formulas and runes are being drawn perfectly for those that need it, and your emotions are of the correct structure and level as well. There is no reason for these spells to not be put to action…”

As he kept muttering about possibilities and reasons, Twilight continued sitting in bed… starring at the 6, different color-coded, marbles meant to represent each branch of magic. The purpose of the exercise is rather straight forward, each colored marble will only respond to its’ correlated magic branch and Twilight was meant to hold them in the air as long as possible simultaneously as Sig and Celestia would cause them to weigh more and more after a specific time. The test is the quickest and simplest way (as well as one of the most conventional) to assess a unicorn’s magic aptitude in the different bodies of magic as the levitation spell is one of the few spells that is shared in all of the magical branches as well as a method to display a unicorn’s magical strength depending on the size and weight of the subject.

But she couldn’t even lift one of the marbles in her magic.

It would not even form properly around her horn when she tried.

“Twilight? Are you okay?” Celestia’s voice brought the Guardian out of her reverie. “I know this must be incredibly difficult for you…”

Of course it had to be. Twilight is the Embodiment of Magic itself, and she could not even perform what should be the simplest spell despite applying the practice behind it perfectly. She could not do the very thing she is meant to be.

“Twilight?”

“Oh! Yes. I’m fine!” Twilight said with a smile, “I am certain that there is a reason why my magic is not functioning as it should be. We may not know of what that reason is at present, but I am certain Signal Flare and myself will learn of it in due time.” She turned to face the Archmage, “Would I be correct in mine assessment Signal Flare?”

“Hm? Oh yes. Not to worry Princess! We will have Twilight back in top shape as quickly as possible!”

That was just a few days ago.

In that time, Twilight had not been able to perform one single spell. In the mean time though, Sig had given her some texts he thought she might find interesting and Celestia brought her some novels to help past the time. As the Princess had expected, and to the Archmage’s pleasant surprise, Twilight had managed to finish every book brought to her. It was to her pleasure that modern vernacular is now mostly filled with casual language, and was quite eager to change her speech pattern.

It was just today that the Doctor had discharged her from her bedridden state and allowed her to explore outside of Celestia’s bedchambers.

To celebrate her release, the princess had offered to show Twilight around the castle to help get a bearing of her new surroundings.

“Hm. I’m quite surprised, I thought there would be a significant difference with this castle from the old one and was afraid that I would have trouble to gather my bearings here.” Twilight stated, “But, beside it being more massive and luminous than the other one, it still retains the old castle’s color schemes and… grandiosity.”

Celestia chuckled, “I supposed it is, to be quite honest I haven’t noticed.”

Twilight gave a small hum of thought, “That makes sense. You’ve lived here every day for the past few centuries, so it would only be logical for you to be desensitized to… all of this.” She gestured

The princess didn’t respond, but gave a warm smile to the small alicorn.

The sole attention of Celestia’s gaze was getting incredibly unnerving to Twilight that she had to look away. After a few minutes of being on the receiving end of it and fluttering her wings out of nervousness, she finally looked back up into magenta eyes. “Uh… Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

Shaking her head out of her stupor, the white alicorn gave a sheepish, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I still can’t believe you’re actually here.” She confessed with tears welling in her eyes. “I’ve missed you so, so much.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry Celestia…” Twilight said, trotting over in front of the larger alicorn. She found that with their drastic difference in size, she had to flap her wings a little in order to wrap her hooves around Celestia’s neck to provide comfort.“It must have been so difficult watching over an entire empire by yourself for so long.”

Lowering her head to accept the embrace, Celestia allowed a few of her tears to fall in happiness.

After several minutes passed, the two let go of each other and the Princess wiped her eyes and face of tears. “It’s alright Twilight, you’re here now and that’s all that matters. Besides, it wasn’t entirely lonesome.” She smiled, “I’ve had the Archmages, the Circle of Magi, the Counsel, to keep me company on some days. I’ve even had the company of little colts and fillies from the time I have spent at the school.” She paused and looked up in thought, “In fact, I could arrange a visit to the school for you sometime this week if you’d like. I know how much you enjoy teaching Magic to others. It could even give you an idea about the level of education modern unicorn society is at. As you were originally the pony in charge of and leading education in Equestria, I would love to have your input pertaining to that area.”

“Oh… Uh. Sure.” Twilight smiled, despite not recalling any of this. She didn’t even know she had experience in teaching, much less enjoy it. “I’d be happy to help.”

With a beaming smile, Celestia continued to guide Twilight through the castle.

By mid-day, Twilight had seen most of the castle and was currently divulging herself in these interesting and VERY delicious confections called pancakes in the Royal Dining hall. (Upon being introduced to the Head Chef, Maple Syrup, he had stated that despite the delectable course currently being served, his specialty was in Breakfast food, from Canterlot Pancakes to Prench Crepes to Germane Waffles, so she shouldn’t hesitate to ask for any kind of food she’d like during the early morning hours. To his dismay and horror, he learned that Twilight had never tried, much less heard of any of those foods. So, he took it upon himself to ensure that she would have tried all of his specialties within the next couple weeks.) She could not memorize the entire layout of the castle, but she was able to remember the locations of areas she would frequent the most during her “recovery period”; the Royal Gardens, Royal Archives, Main Library, Observatory, and of course, the kitchen.

The only other places that she had yet to see and were deemed important by Celestia were the council chambers and the Tower of Magus, which she would see during her tour with Sig after lunch.

“Sitting in a class to observe and speculate or shadowing Archmage Flare to learn of his and the Circle’s duty is one thing, but jumping into politics is a bit much after waking.” Celestia reasoned, “Take this time for yourself, you already have enough to worry about as it is. I can handle politics for a while longer.”

Twilight could only force a smile at Celestia’s reassurance.

She just couldn’t bringer herself to confess that she didn’t remember having a roll in politics.

All she could remember was lounging around in her room or library studying or traveling somewhere (although, she could not remember the names of said destinations) for studies or to fix a connection or cause of disturbance in the arcane plane.

She could not recall ever having an active roll in politics.

But that was okay right?

Because her memories will come back some time in the near future

Who is to say that they won’t come back after experiencing or witnessing something familiar to her? It’s quite possible that after learning of Signal Flare’s duties as Archmage, as well as the Circle of Magis or observing a classroom would jumpstart something in the recess of her mind, causing a whole flood of memories to come in through her mind.

“Hello Twilight, I trust you had a wonderful morning?” Sig asked as he took a seat on the other side of the large cushion with Celestia’s cutie mark embroidered on it.

To the Princess’s dismay, she was only able to procure that morning free to spend with Twilight, so was remiss to excuse herself a little after the two had begun eating.

Twilight on the other hand, did not see what the problem was until she remembered that despite it seeming like a mere week had passed since they last saw each other, to the Princess a near millennia had passed since she spent time with Twilight.

“It was fine.” Twilight stated, “I have always enjoyed spending what little time I was able to with Celestia. It wasn’t uncommon to only procure an hour of leisure time from her before, so I was happy, although albeit reluctant, that she cleared the entire morning just for me. And despite how ostentatious this castle may be, I was excited to be introduced to the MUCH larger library as well as the observatory. Those were a few things that I’m happy to have woken up to.”

Sig chuckled, “I must say Twilight, I’m pleasantly surprised that you have been rather positive about this. But then again, I don’t know what else I would expect from The Guardian.”

With a pause, Twilight warily eyed the Archmage. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, forgive me. I had forgotten that you would not know of this.” Sig bashfully said, “There is a book of your grand magical accounts from when you were still living among us for the sole purpose of allowing archmages and members of the circle to have an idea of what you were like. To tell you the truth, I, as well as the other members of the circle, were rather excited to inquire you on said accounts. But, since you… um…” He trailed off, unsure of how to word it without sounding rude.

Twilight gave a small, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry.”

“No no, please do not apologize.” Sig waved it off. “Our expectations were rather high and it is not your fault that you wound up in the current state you are in. But, as I’ve referred to before, I think that your optimism of your situation is rather refreshing and I’m certainly happy that the text was accurate in regards to that part of you.” He beamed.

The Guardian returned the expression with a small, albeit tight, smile of her own.

“Now, how about I show you that Tower of Magi?” Sig asked, getting up and off his cushion. Twilight followed in kind. “I’ll explain a bit more of the resident’s of the Tower’s responsibilities on the way.” He said as they began their trek to the other side of the castle.

“Residents? Do all the employees live in the tower?” The Guardian asked

“For the most part, yes.” Sig nodded. “It is not required, but it has been tradition to do so since around the time the Tower was first established, as it simply was more pragmatic. Though, from what I have learned, it was actually by complete accident and manner of timely intervention that this happened. You see, as a member of the Circle and the Archmage, the job requires the pony’s fore and utmost attention and requires one to be at attention at any time of day or night. So, back then just a while after being formed, one of the members of the Light Branch, Magus Hearty Hoof, had fallen asleep in his workroom studying a potion. Sometime later that evening, a rather troublesome event in another kingdom pertaining to a love potion had occurred and your presence there was required immediately. You were worried that you would be unable to find another pony well adverse in Light Magic and Love on time to travel with you and were prepared to leave by yourself, until you stumbled on Magus Hearty Hoof while gathering materials. As it turned out, he was actually just the pony you needed and promptly took him with you. Ever since then, the other members had simply decided it would be more convenient to stay at the tower in case you, or Celestia as the case was the past millennia, needed us.”

Sig turned to look at Twilight to see her reaction of learning a bit more about herself, but was met with a face contorted with questions fleeting across all over her face and her mouth soundlessly forming words as though trying to make sense of the information he just provided. “I’m sorry, that’s terribly fascinating and all, but I’m not certain what you meant when you said ‘one of the members of the Light Branch’ followed by the esteemed title of ‘Magus’. Because that would insinuate there is more than one pony in the circle specialized in Light magic as a master of said branch only carries the title.”

“Ah, yes.” The Archmage nodded in understanding and agreement. “As you know, there are 3 Main fields of magic; Emotional, Psych, and Celestial. Or, as common ponies now-a-days refer to it as, Heart, Mind, and Outer magic. Each Field is further split into their opposing forces of magic of Natural and Chaos magic to make up; Light and Dark Magic, Traditional and Singular Magic, and finally - Day and Night Magic, and they of course make the 6 branches of magic.”

“Yes, and as one might assume, to perform a spell one only needs to know which Field of Magic the branch is from and one can guess what is required to perform a spell from said branch. Furthermore each branch of magic requires different spell performances as well as what one might call language.” Twilight continued with a wave of hoof, “In the most basic summary, to perform Light magic, positive emotions such as kindness, love, happiness, amongst other emotions are required. For Dark magic, negative emotions such as fear and hate. Traditional magic, the most common kind of magic and is argued to be a science instead of magic, requires formulas, codes, and hard facts to be used. Singular magic, or otherwise known as Trickster Magic, on the other hoof requires an interesting combination of constant imagination as well as focus. Those who express and hold themselves with pride and loyalty can only wield Day magic. And Night magic can only be called forth by those willing to help others before themselves and are passionate of something. But what does this have to do with how large the Circle is?”

“Well, with this basis, you initially had the circle be compromised of 6 ponies, each specialized in a branch of magic, thinking it necessary to keep the circle as small as possible in order to have the highest productivity level.” Sig stated, causing Twilight to nod in agreement. “Unfortunately, there was later a case that required knowledge on not only Light magic, but Traditional magic as well.”

The Guardian could only let out a small groan and face hoofed, already seeing where this was going as Sig chuckled.

Light Magic users have always been known to be sensitive and rather emotional, as is expected from those who specialize in “positive” emotions. Therefore, it was safe to assume that they had a very strong sense of empathy along with being the type of ponies to act according to how they “feel” before “thinking”.

Traditional Magic users on the other hoof were the atypical pause to thinkers. Refusing to allow emotions cloud their judgment and would only act until they had all of their facts straightened and laid before them.

While this did not to apply to the standard unicorn, it did strongly apply to those specializ-ed/-ing to the aforementioned branch of magic as having a lengthy period of time dedicated to studying any branch of magic could affect a pony in such a way.

“As you might guess, it did not turn out very well for those on the trip. Not only that, but it seemed as though they were not knowledgably enough in the area specific to the cause of disturbance. If I remember correctly… there was an unnatural magic growth occurring in a lake near what is now called Marechigan, causing elated feelings of happiness to near hysteria to those exposed to the water. The Light Magus at the time could not figure out how to dispel the affects of the magic from the ponies, as their flights of fancy were genuine enough to cause happiness and the Magus did not know any other way to appeal to them. As for the Traditional Magus, they had calculated that the growth was occurring within the Lake, near the middle. But did not know how to help you get to said point of interest. It was then, you met your second members of the branch and received the idea to include more members. The first mage of the Light Branch gave you the idea that instead of appealing to every pony’s happiness, that appealing to their compassion and concern to others should be prioritized as their hysteria was causing harm to those around them, and themselves. The first mage of the Traditional Branch was an ecologist, so had offered the solution of allowing the plants at the bottom of the lake and trees nearby to soak up the lake water in order to allow you to safely go to the point of magic and fix it. With the plant life corrupted and holding the altered magic, it could easily be examined and purified. That was when you realized that having more ponies specialized in different areas could be more useful. And as such, you would have a larger variety of ponies to help you with different things if needed.” He explained, seemingly summarizing historic events.

“So after weeks of thought, you finally decided that having 4 ponies per branch would suffice, with one pony as Magus and in charge as well as responsible for the remaining 3, while the Archmage continued to be in responsible for all mages. This later proved to be rather favorable when your curse had… spread through most of your body.” He awkwardly finished.

“I see…” Twilight said, trying to ignore the awkward feeling in the air. She also wasn’t sure how to feel in regards of Sig talking of her adventures, when she couldn’t remember doing any of those things or ponies. It also seemed as though she was much more adaptable and open minded to change in her regimens, but she could only ever remember being stressed in regards to straying away from protocol. She decided that it was actually rather frustrating that some pony she had met recently, and 2 other dozen ponies she had yet to meet, knew more about her than she did herself.

Author's Note

Hello readers!

I'm sorry that this chapter may seem rather boring as this is quite obviously an info dump, but not to worry! Things should be moving along a bit quicker within the next few chapters.

If you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'll be more than happy to go over it again and correct it.

Thank you for reading.

Chapter 3

The Tower of Magi had a very unique system and structure in which there were no staircases connecting the 28 floors to each other, but magic circles that were keyed to specified magical signatures drawn off to the sides to allow teleportation to another floor. Each floor, like the magic circles, was also keyed to specific personnel in order to prevent other ponies from entering or wandering around the tower given the chance of entry and each floor also prevented any other method of teleportation to it. In basic terms, the system was very much like a lock and key, and one needed to “knock” as well as ask and be granted permission for entry by either the “master” of the floor and/or the Archmage in order to pass through any of the magic circles. Only the Archmage and Princess Celestia were freely permitted to enter any and all floors of the tower at any notice, but unless in the case of emergency, they rarely did.

The tower also held few windows that were all small in size, just smaller than the size of a young filly or colt to be able to squeeze through. The balcony at the top of the tower did not hold a standard door either. In fact, it looked as though there were no doors there at all, when in fact; there was another magic circle on the wall to allow teleportation inside.

It was safe to assume that these were all safety measures to keep curious minds away from whatever the inhabitants of the tower are studying at the time. But it seemed as though Twilight originally had a different agenda for this. According to Sig, she had merely wanted every member of the tower to be able to study uninterrupted without having to worry about other ponies coming in and out of their floor asking them or looming over to see whatever it was that they were working on. It was also partly for the common pony’s safety as at some point before the safety measurements were placed, a mage of the Dark Branch back then had been fiddling with enchantments and one of the little filly’s of one of the noble’s had been wandering around the tower at that time and swiped one of the enchantments.

Needless to say, that became quite the nightmare for those involved.

Of the 28 floors, 25 of them were dedicated solely for each member of the tower to house them. 1, the very first and bottom floor, was made specifically for those outside the tower to meet with a member(s), whether it be for a scholarly meeting among professors or researchers to a small lecture or presentation to a small group to a meeting with a student(s) from Celestia’s school, in all essence – it was a floor designated for the tower to meet with the public. The second free floor is meant to allow meetings for the entire tower for whatever purpose. And the remaining floor was meant for the members of the tower to relax and participate in leisure activity or even possibly to practice their magic or new spells.

That room was currently where Twilight had been spending most of her time for the past few days, even sleeping there. Celestia had protested at first, insisting that she at least rest in a room and bed, but Twilight stated it would be much more simple for her to stay in the Tower. That way she would be able to practice and research in peace and there would not be too much commotion or questions arising around the palace about the new alicorn resident. Signal Flare had agreed with the Guardian, stating that it would be best if she maintained a low profile. Besides, enough of the palace staff and guards knew of her already from seeing her tour around with Celestia a few days ago, it simply would not do if the nobles got wind of her. So, unless there is illusionary magic casted on her, it would be best if she limited her appearance around the castle as much as possible and kept her identity as Guardian a secret.

Resigned, Celestia reluctantly allowed Twilight to stay at the tower for the time being. But, despite all her initial protests, the Princess and Guardian had not seen each other that frequently since the former had been entirely too busy with politics. So, Twilight was left to her own devices most of the time, all spent either researching or attempting to perform spells.

“Why won’t it cast?!” She grunted in frustration, putting all her efforts into channeling her magic through her horn pointed at the colored marbles from the tests she was asked to do during her bedridden state. But not even a flicker of her magic would shape.

Letting out another shout of frustration, she stomped to one of the many scattered and hazardously littered books around her and narrowed her eyes at the words while occasionally and roughly turning the pages back and forth.

She had been hoping that after a while, she would be able to cast at least a few simple spells in each magical branch. But it was already the end of the week since her awakening and she still has yet to cast any spells. Even when researching for the cause with Sig’s occasional help, they had not found out why she was having such difficulty performing.

“It doesn’t make sense!” She shouted to the walls and shoving the book away from her before she began pacing around in a circle for the nth time since her stay. “I’ve been citing the formula perfectly for Traditional Magic, even triple checking to ensure the weight of the marble is consistent with what Signal Flare told me, and it won’t budge. I’ve envisioned the marble to float and kept that imagery in my mind with no reason, even ensuring I evoke amusement out of it, as necessary for Singular Magic. I’ve asked the magic around me to have the marble float for Celestia so she won’t have to worry about me anymore, as Night Magic would want. Day magic won’t come to me despite my pride of being magic! I’ve drawn the required circle for Light Magic and put enough happiness behind it required to levitate the marble. And I DEFINITELY have put enough frustration behind the Dark Magic circle for this spell! So why won’t they work?!” She ranted, glaring at the differently colored marbles peacefully sitting at the center of her spell casting space.

She snarled at them, as though they were the reason for her misfortune, and began marching toward them with the intention of shattering them. By the time she reached them and raised her hoof to stomp at them though, she let out a long, resigned breath and her body sagged. Slowly, she laid herself down and curled up, her tail hugging around her body as she dipped her head between her fore-hooves and ears drooping as she stared at the marbles.

“Why can’t I levitate you?” She asked the inanimate objects, as though hoping that they would give her the answer.

After a few minutes of silence, she let out a snort of hot air.

“Figures.” She said harshly as she climbed back on to her hooves with flattened ears.

With a flick of her tail as she turned around, she made her way back to her original spot to continue her attempts. She decided she would start with Traditional Magic once again, but by the time she had finished the second stage of her formula, she was interrupted.

“Still working hard as ever Twilight?”

Startled, Twilight jumped a little before turning to Celestia. Irked, a rant about safety around spell casting had begun forming at the tip of the Guardian’s tongue, but dissipated before she could get a word out as she remembered she couldn’t even perform a measly levitation spell. “Yes,” she grumbled instead, her ears and tail flickering in annoyance at the reminder.

The white alicorn winced at Twilight’s annoyance, “Is everything alright?”

“What? Oh! Yes. Wait- No! I mean-“ Twilight let out a growl before exhaling a heavy breath once more, allowing her body to sag, “I’m sorry. I’m just a little agitated. My magic hasn’t been responding to me at all and I haven’t found any reasons or cause for it not to. So I’m just frustrated. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

Celestia gave a sympathetic smile as she trotted over to the small alicorn and wrapped a wing around her. “I understand Twilight, if you’d like, I can reschedule our visit to the school some other time if you’re not feeling up to par.”

The lavender pony turned her head and gave her friend a blank stare. After a few moments, comprehension dawned upon her and a look of horror crossed her face. “The school! The visit! That was today!” She gasped, and if it weren’t for the fluffy white barrier over her, she would have likely jumped 10 feet in the air. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t realize! How could I have forgotten?! Ohhh, we’re going to be late aren’t we?! I don’t even have the illusion casted yet!”

Celestia’s light chuckled filled the air, “No need to worry Twilight, I thought this might happen, so I came 15 minutes earlier.”

“Oh…”

Another chuckle, “Now hold still.” The Princess requested before taking her wing back and making her way to stand in front of Twilight. Lowering her horn to aim toward the small alicorn, it soon began channeling her usual gold magic and just as it did, the illusion had been casted and Twilight no longer had her wings.

“There.” The princess finished with a smile.

The guardian put on a contemplative look, “Since when have you been able to cast Night Magic?”

Celestia’s smile quickly vanished and her wings fluffed nervously. “I have… had my share of practice with Night Magic ever since Luna’s…” she trailed off.

It seemed as though moods turning sour would be an ongoing theme that day as Twilight grimly frowned.

Luna.

The name had popped up a few times in between a few of the conversations Celestia and Twilight shared, but the background and owner of the name had remained anonymous. And any time Celestia was reminded of said pony or spoke of her, the same sad and guilty look would always cross her face, and silence would stretch between the two.

The first few times her name came up, Twilight would simply smile and allow the conversation to continue under the idea that Celestia would tell her soon enough. But it quickly became rather vexing for her as more questions began forming around this mysterious pony.

Who is Luna? Why does Celestia look guilty? What is their connection? What is Twilight’s connection to Luna? Why is she important? Why is Celestia sad that Twilight can’t remember her? Why did Twilight remember Celestia and not Luna? Where is this Luna?

There were no real answers for any of these questions, just skepticism. And to a pony who liked having answers to all her questions like Twilight, it was incredibly bothersome.

But…

She snuck a glance over to the Princess.

Celestia had been worrying on her bottom lip as she shamefully hung her head, ears and wings dropping a little, and magenta eyes glimmering.

And the Guardian quietly sighed.

It was quite obvious that Celestia was not emotionally ready to disclose information about this Luna pony any time soon. And Twilight respected the white alicorn she thought of as family enough to wait until she was ready to speak. Also, it was the least she could do along with brightening up the bigger pony since Celestia had pretty much taken hold of the Guardian’s duties since she’d been sleeping.

Twilight forced a grin, “Well, I’m ready to go to the school when you are! And look!” She rushed over to the side of a room where an overstuffed saddlebag sat. “I remembered to pack ahead of time! Don’t worry; I brought plenty of parchment and pencils. Fascinating things really, I wasn’t aware that the residue left by rocks were possible to erase, but I suppose that’s another discovery made within my absence. Although, I really do wish to learn how these pencils are made… How are they able to get the lead to be shaped in such a way that can be held within wood?” She rhetorically asked as she gave a skeptical look at her bag, or rather… the contents of the bag.

That seemed to snap Celestia out of her dour mood as she began laughing, “Twilight, if I didn’t know any better, I would think that I’m taking you to your first day of school as opposed to your first day of observation.”

It took a moment of thought for her before Twilight gave a bashful grin as she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Come now, we must be on our way.” The princess said with an amused smile, leading the two over to one of the magic circles.

Upon standing over it, Celestia lit up her horn, allowing a bit of her gold magic to flow out. As she did that, the magic circle also lit up in the same color as her magic, and teleported the two onto the first floor.

After reappearing, the Princess and now unicorn disguised Twilight began slowly trotting to their destination, as the school was located near castle grounds, with companionable silence.

During the past few days of Twilight’s near solitude, the Guardian had taken it upon herself to do a bit of studying on some of the establishments Celestia had told her of. Including her School of Gifted Unicorns.

As the name implied, only those gifted were allowed entry. In order to enroll in the school, the young unicorn must show 2 separate traits; talent in one of the magical branches as well as higher and/or faster perchance for learning and critical thinking. The school was also not meant for those who are unable to handle high work loads and long hours of study, as they were not only studying the magic of their branch of talent in depth they were also expected to keep up with the standard Equestrian school curriculum for the average pony.

Twilight had first thought that this would end up being a funnel system, but upon further study, she realized that this system would actually keep power hungry nobles who would try to buy their way into the school, out. By initially stating that magical talent was required, one would assume that a unicorn showing any sort of talent in any of the magic branches would be enough. The notion seems utterly ridiculous as any unicorn, especially young fillies and colts, is capable of performing emotional magic, and Traditional Magic was the most basic and widely used kind to perform.

Fortunately, there were 3 different “inspections” of the unicorn before further consideration could be advised; a magic inspection, a family inspection, and an inspection of character. The magic inspection itself was rather straight forward, the magic inspector would come and ask the unicorn to perform at least 3 spells of the branch they held talent in, any spell would do, just as long as it was from the branch they stated they could perform in. After, the inspector would ask the unicorn to channel magic into a device so they could measure their aptitude for said branch, if it reached a certain number then it showed the inspector that there was enough reason to believe the unicorn was capable of further developing their magic. With a family inspection, a pony would research the background of the family’s financial situation, place of habitat, employment, standing in society, etc. The guardian(s) of the unicorn would also be asked basic questions such as environment of home life, the unicorn’s personality, etc. Finally, with the character inspection, a psychologist would arrive to evaluate the unicorn’s mental health and character values, to ensure that the unicorn would be able to handle high workloads of study and tedium.

Upon passing inspection, the unicorn then had to take an entrance exam, or more accurately, a series of tests with a board of ponies sitting for observation. The examiners would provide different instructions and have the unicorn try to perform the spells. If the performances were sufficient enough and each examiner agreed so, then they passed. After successfully performing every one of the spells required to every pony’s standard, the unicorn had passed and was enrolled into the school. But the examiners would provide a “final test” catered against the pony’s specialties and designed to make them struggle in order to gauge more of the unicorn’s personality so they could assign the right curriculum and/or teacher(s) to the unicorn.

Once enrolled, students were sorted and grouped together depending on grade level and personal standard, to ensure that each student was learning at the speed comfortable to them for the standard courses. It simply would not do to have a pony well versed in math, only to be placed among fellow students and a class where the speed was not up to par. When it came to the student’s personal magical courses though, it then became the unicorn’s responsibility to make and find their way to their magic classes. This was more of a matter of convenience, as it was unlikely for the same group of ponies to share the same magical branches.

“I have to say, the enrollment process for your school was well thought out and put together.” Twilight stated, breaking the companionable silence. “It must have taken you a long time to be able to enforce it.”

The princess gave a low chuckle, “While it is true that it took me a while to have the school built and have the enrollment process pass, it did not take long for me to think of it. To be honest, I was actually inspired by one of your methods.”

The disguised unicorn gave a quizzical glance, “One of MY methods? What do you mean?”

“Yes,” Celestia nodded. “You were the one who had set up the system of selecting members for the Circle of Magi. That system is what inspired me, although I assure you it’s much more formal and complicated than selecting students. The inspections for one are vastly different than the ones prospecting students would face. In fact, I’m certain that many different institutions use your selection process as a base of how to create their own. The idea of having an evaluation for a pony to determine eligibility followed by a voting process to ensure the individual was up to standard is very reasonable and ensures that just about every pony has a chance for selection.”

Twilight gave a low hum as she contemplated on what Celestia said while the two continued trotting out of the castle and toward the school

The idea that she created such an important system was incredibly baffling to Twilight. The mere idea of her doing anything important was perplexing in itself and she had difficulty accepting them as facts. To her, these were mere fabrications and stories of some other important pony that wasn’t her.

It was rather… intimidating when Twilight thought about it, as well as irritating. The idea of her living in her own shadow of grandiosity and now having to live with every pony else’s expectations of what they read or remember of her accounts placed her in a very unique situation that one would not ever think of going through.

Before her thousand-year slumber, all she could remember was worrying about living up to becoming the Guardian of Magic… And then after waking up, she learns that she had already become that and then some… but can’t remember any part of playing her role.

As the two neared the school, a yellow unicorn with a neatly combed purple mane with black and white highlights and a braided tail standing outside the building came to view. Upon seeing Celestia, the pony immediately bowed.

“Princess Celestia.” The pony greeted in a soft alto before rising again.

The princess smiled as Twilight shifted awkwardly on her hooves at the display. The guardian had never been one for formalities, and the few times she remembered accompanying Celestia anywhere, she had always averted her eyes from any formal gestures.

“Good morning,” Celestia greeted. “Thank you for taking the time to come out to show us around. I appreciate it.”

“Of course your highness!” The pony smiled before directing their attention to Twilight. The pony gave a quizzical glance at first before turning back to the princess, “Er. Is this the… friend you spoke of your highness?”

Celestia gave a small nod and wide smile to confirm their question, “Yes. This is Twilight Sparkle, she’ll be joining us on class observations.” She then lowered her head to be more at eye level with Twilight, “Twilight, this is Phrygian Scale-“

The yellow pony piped up, “But please, just call me Phry.”

The princess continued on unperturbed, “They’re the teacher of the Singular division and will be guiding us around the campus and telling us how well the students are doing.”

Twilight gave a curious glance at the teacher, “But… What about your own classes?”

Phrygian gave a low chuckle, “Unfortunately I do not have any students at the moment. The only down side of being a Chaos User I suppose, there is rarely ever any fresh meat, and when there is one, they’re too scared to pursue it any further.”

The alicorn in disguise tried to repress an eye roll, “I see that the negative connotation attached to Chaos Magic hasn’t gone away in the slightest.” She muttered.

Most ponies had this idea that Chaos Magic was an evil force and should never be dabbled in. It was most likely stemmed from the facts of the more destructive nature of Dark Magic, the eccentricities and contradictory rules of casting Singular magic that leave viewers baffled, and the seemingly invasion of privacy that Night Magic is able to cast.

She had thought, or maybe hoped, that with the revelation of having Mages and Magus’s in the Circle that Chaos Magic had been explored and experimented with more often. But, she supposed that was just wishful thinking.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Phrygian asked

“Oh. Um…” Twilight quickly thought of something, “I was just wondering what you do at school then if you don’t have students.”

The pony hummed in thought, “Research mostly, but occasionally I’ll help out the other standard teachers if they let me or substitute for one. It’s not exactly the most ideal scenario I had in mind when I obtained my cutie mark,” They said, gesturing to their flank with 2 b’s and a number sign. “But it’s close enough. Now, that’s enough of that, if you’ll allow me, I’ll take the two of you to the standard classes for observation.” They said, receiving a nod of permission before turning to lead them into the building.

Twilight frowned as she gave a questioning glance toward the Princess, silently asking if this was common among the Chaos users, and was answered with a solemn nod.

“There is only one teacher per Chaos branch here,” Celestia whispered lowly enough so only Twilight could hear. “And only about half a dozen ponies show up every other year that show talent and interest in one of the Chaos branches, but even then most ponies that show up are usually young adults as most other ponies, especially parents, try to discourage interest in the field at a young age. It’s considered to be very lucky if any of the Chaos teachers obtain a young student.”

“I assume that the majority of students here are Traditional users then?” Twilight deadpanned.

The princess nodded, “The number of students learning Day magic is also very close to Traditional users. You can also safely assume that most graduate in the Day branch end up joining the guard while the Traditional graduates typically go into research or other applied science.”

“What about Light users?”

Celestia gave a small shrug, “Emotional magic is still the same as back then.”

Twilight gave a nod of understanding, “A lot of enrollment and a lot of drop outs?”

A nod

The guardian huffed in exasperation.

Emotional magic was the easiest and almost ALWAYS the first kind of magic that is performed, for both Natural and Chaos Magic. It was simply due to little colts and fillies exaggeratedly expressing their emotions and performing accidental magic from extreme bouts of happiness or frustration. But, just because performing it is easy doesn’t make it easy to control and/or maintain. Emotional magic is known to be the most draining and fluctuating of the 3 magic fields, not from magical use though, but just a simple matter of emotional exhaustion. The user is literally putting all of their emotion behind a spell and is not supposed to have any other emotion interfere with the output of the requirement. A rather difficult discipline as it is so easy to lose oneself to and for their emotion to change from Light to Dark in a matter of moments.

For example, compassion was required to be used in just about every healing spell, and while idea of caring for a pony, any pony including a complete stranger, was not an entirely difficult concept for most, the kind of injury could make that compassion waver and be replaced or overwhelmed with; nervousness, fear, sadness, or some other emotion. There will always be pressure in healing, especially if the pony’s life is in danger, so it was normal to experience those emotions. It’s that exact feeling though that can interfere with one’s compassion and could potentially make the injury worse or even cause permanent damage. Which is why it became a fundamental law that healing magic is not allowed to be cast when the caster is feeling or about to be overwhelmed with such emotions. The mere idea of having to try to repress those feelings and force one self to have compassion for the injured pony be the driving force of the spell was already stressful enough, but performing it? Any pony would be exhausted.

Staying focused and maintaining discipline in emotional magic was no easy feat, so it was no surprise for Twilight to learn that there was a number of drop outs in that area. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a bit exasperated about the idea of so many students giving up at the pursuit of knowledge, but at the same time, she couldn’t begrudge them for doing so.

Why, she could remember-

…

She could…

Twilight brought a hoof to her forehead as she felt a migraine setting in.

“Is everything okay?” Celestia asked in concern, but to Twilight… she sounded so distant, replaced with a screeching cry in Twilight’s mind.

The Guardian scrunched her eyes closed, just briefly seeing her own hoof reaching out for some thing… some pony. The wretched sob kept ringing in her ears, but she couldn’t place where the sound was coming from. She furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to bring forth the memory that feathered its’ touch in her mind, but the more she tried to chase it… the further it ran and the heavier her headache.

“Twilight?”

The call of her name broke her out of her respite, causing her to stop her chase of a memory and the headache to immediately cease. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“I asked if you were okay.” Celestia repeated, “You suddenly went quiet and looked as though you were in pain.”

“Oh. I’m fine.” Twilight affirmed with a tight smile.

“Are you certain?”

The Guardian gave a brief glance to the Princess. It would not do to make Celestia worry more over Twilight than she already is. “Yes, it was just a minor headache so there’s no need to be so worried about me. Thank you for your concern though.”

Celestia gave a surreptitious look to Twilight, but didn’t say anything further as Phry had led them to the first class of observation.

It seemed as though either the Princess or Phrygian had already told the teachers of their visit ahead of time seeing as there was only a brief greeting to Celestia before the teacher continued on with their lecture.

The three sat in the back as Phry conjured a spare desk for Twilight’s use as well as spare cushions for themselves and the Princess. (Which Twilight noted caused the instructor to pause in their job and the other ponies in the room to shift around in nervousness before continuing on).

Beside the odd look Phry gave Twilight for using her mouth to write, the three merely sat in silent observation.

All throughout the classes, the Guardian was ecstatic about the learning environment and at the subjects that were being taught. She felt that each student was able to keep up with the rest of the class, and that each student was given the chance and encouraged to raise a hoof in question in the case they felt behind. No pony was left out or ridiculed for asking any question. And Twilight enjoyed that.

“What do you think so far?” Celestia asked in a whisper once students were excused to go search for their magic teachers.

“I have nothing but positive reviews if that’s what you’re really asking.” Twilight retorted. “Although, I have to ask if every student throughout Equestria is so lucky to have a similar learning environment.”

Celestia gave a thoughtful frown, “From what I know. Yes. Although, it has been a while since the council in charge of Education and I spoke.”

The Guardian hummed in thought. “How do you know for certain if you only hear it from others?”

The princess frowned, but before she could say anything Twilight interjected

“But, taking into consideration the amount of work you’ve been doing, if other schools are anything like this one, then I have to say it’s really well done.” Twilight smiled.

Celestia let out a sigh of relief

“Although, I would personally prefer a smaller class for maximum learning efficiency.” The Guardian added, causing the princess to chuckle.

“Princess? Twilight?” Phry chimed in, “Might I ask which magic class the two of you would like to observe?”

“Actually Phrygian, If you don’t mind, I recall there being an examinee coming in this afternoon. Might it be possible for us to sit in on the entrance exam and come observe the other classes at a later date?”

“There is?” The pony asked in confusion, only to be met with a nod of confirmation. They gave a thoughtful frown, “Oh… well I don’t see why not.” They said with a shrug. With a white glow of magic, Phry made their conjurations disappear without a trace before leading the two other ponies out of the class and in the direction of the examination room.

Along the way, the three passed by an open classroom that Twilight stopped to peer in at.

Inside there was only one student, but it was the teacher that held the Guardian’s attention.

A blue stallion with dark curly hair that was covered by a wizard hat with golden bells attached to the rims and tip of it, and a rather long curly beard stood before the student with a soft smile and warm eyes. She couldn’t see his cutie mark or tail as a cape decorated with a few scattered crescent moons and stars covered them. He spoke in a low tone and quiet voice that could only be heard by the student.

He turned toward her and gave a soft smile of greeting before slowly trotting up to her, stopping just a few feet away before speaking. “Hello, can I help you?”

Twilight furrowed her brows in confusion at the sound of the voice, thinking at how wrong it sounded in her ears. Another headache sprang up, although not as strong as the one before, but enough to cause her to feel lightheaded and to shake her head in order to help remove the feeling. When she looked up again, it wasn’t the sight of the previous stallion that greeted her, but a different, albeit similar, one.

The blue coat was still the same, but the stallion was wearing no clothing. He still had dark curly hair, but it was short and neatly combed. And not a speck of long hair was seen on the stallion’s face either to show any growth of a beard.

Noticing the look of concern on his face though, reminded Twilight of his question. “Oh… Uh…” She looked around, only to find Celestia and Phrygian Scale had disappeared. They probably hadn’t noticed her stop and continued on to the exam room without her. The room she didn’t know how to get to…

“Actually, I’m kind of lost.” Twilight stated, “I was with…” She paused, thinking about whether or not she should mention touring the school with the Princess of all ponies, and decided against it. “Phrygian Scale and they were taking me to the exam room, but I guess I got separated from them. If you can, could you possibly give me directions to there? I’d appreciate it very much.”

The stallion scrunched his brows in confusion as he digested the information before realization struck him. “Ah, you must be… Well good for Phry! It’s about time, they deserve this opportunity!” He excitedly said with a smile, causing Twilight to tilt her head in confusion. “Never mind that. Yes, I can direct you to it. Just go down the hall, make a right, and it’s the first door to the left by the stairs.” He gestured with a hoof.

“Thank you very much er…”

“Professor Night Light,” He smiled. “And you’re very welcome…”

“Twilight Sparkle.” The Guardian stated

“Twilight.” He repeated, ensuring to cement her name into his mind. “Well good luck and I hope you come by for a visit every now and then.” He smiled

The disguised alicorn gave another look of confusion before trotting away from the professor with a small wave of good-bye.

As she made her way on over to the exam room, her mind wandered back to the previous pony she thought she had seen… but frowned when she realized she couldn’t remember the image of him. She grunted out of frustration. Of course she would forget.

She had quickly found her destination with a sigh of relief; standing on her hind legs to help reach the door handle so she could open it, but nearly fell over when some pony else performed the action before her.

The pony before her widened their eyes in surprise before narrowing them. “Ah, you must be Trixie… You’re... here...”

Twilight blinked in confusion, “ But… I’m not…” She tried to stammer out

“Never mind then, come on! In you go!” The pony asserted, even nudging the alicorn in disguise into the room.

Once Twilight was pushed to the front and center of the room, the pony trotted over to a row of other ponies that Twilight assumed were the examiners.

She glanced around frantically, trying to find Celestia and Phry, but realized they weren’t anywhere in the room. They most likely noticed her missing at the last minute and went off to search for her.

“All right Miss Lulamoon,” One of the examiners said, magically sorting out paper in front of them. “We understand that you’re here to take the test for Trickster Magic-”

“Singular Magic,” Twilight automatically correct before catching herself. “But I-“

“Yes yes.” An examiner waved their hoof in dismissal, successfully offending Twilight. “Here is your test.” Their horn glowed to magically pull a cart with a rather large purple spotted egg on top into the exam room.

The disguised alicorn narrowed her eyes, recognizing the egg to be that of a dragon’s.

“Hatch the egg.” The examiner proclaimed.

“… You have got to be kidding me.” Twilight deadpanned

“Is there a problem?” One of the examiners asked

“This is a dragon’s egg.” Twilight stated, causing a few of the examiners to raise their eyebrows or widen their eyes in surprise.

And why wouldn’t they be, it was uncommon for the average pony to be able to recognize what a dragon’s egg looked like, much less a filly.

Unfortunately for them, Twilight had read all the books (at least, all of the ones available to her when she was conscious) on dragons, (although she has yet to have the pleasure of meeting one… from what she could remember at least) and was able to decipher what a dragon’s egg would look like. She also knew that using magic to hatch one was unorthodox, and most likely could not even successfully be done! Especially since dragons, dragon eggs in particular, had skin that were naturally preventative to magic. Even levitating them would be difficult! So the idea of having to hatch a dragon’s egg was preposterous and completely impossible for a filly or colt.

One continued on unperturbed, “Astute observation Miss Trixie. But that doesn’t change the test, please hatch it.”

“But the-“

“Hatch it, or you will be rejected from enrollment of this school!” The examiner proclaimed

Twilight narrowed her eyes, nearly growling, at the examiners as realization dawned on her.

They were actively preventing this student from enrolling in Chaos magic.

How many other students did they discriminate against? How many other young eager minds tried so hard to enroll in this school to prove their worth, only to be met with a test that was too difficult to pass?

Another realization dawned on her as she remembered Phrygian’s confusion at learning of the examination today.

How many times did these ponies push away the Chaos teachers from prospecting students? How often did they snatch away their opportunity to teach from them?

“Well? We’re waiting.” The examiner stated impatiently.

Twilight frowned. She couldn’t state that she wasn’t this Trixie Lulamoon now, otherwise they might reschedule her time and therefore push Phrygian away again. No, she’ll just have stall for time and wait until Celestia and Phrygian came in so she could explain the situation to them immediately while the ponies here were caught red handed. Celestia would know after a period of searching that Twilight would try to find her way over to the exam room and wait for them. So waiting shouldn’t be a problem.

Stalling though was a whole different area.

Twilight gave a nervous glance to the egg.

“Miss Lulamoon! We don’t have all day.” Another examiner stated in exasperation.

The Guardian gave a fierce frown, annoyed that these ponies were so willing to put more pressure on a filly that could already potentially be nervous from taking a test. She supposed that the best way to stall would be to actually look like she was trying, besides, with her current condition the chances of her actually doing anything to the egg was very slim. The reminder of her incapability to perform magic further annoyed her and caused her to huff once again. She trotted over toward the Egg, circling it to exam in further and trying to think of how one would even try to hatch it.

Logically, Singular magic would most likely have the highest chance of success since it was the area where the… most illogical could happen.

Twilight gave an amused snort; at least the examiners got one thing right.

But just performing Singular Magic would not be enough… There would have to be some Light Magic, most likely a combination of Love and Compassion, to replicate a maternal feeling to help “encourage” the egg to hatch and feel safe. Along with a bit of Night Magic, as it was unlikely the being of the egg would need to be gently asked and prodded to come out. Singular Magic itself would have to be used to get the egg to crack though.

She backed up, and began to imagine the egg shaking as realistically as possible. But, like when she had been practicing by herself, her magic still refused to form around her horn. Not even a spark would come out.

Growling in frustration at being reminded of incompetence once again, Twilight tried once again, squeezing her eyes shut in hopes that it would help her imagine the egg shaking more vividly.

Still nothing. She couldn’t even feel even just a fraction of magic flowing forth.

She heard a yawn come from one of the examiners, causing her to feel more aggravated and angry at the thought of educators not having patience for fillies or colts and having the audacity to make them feel unwelcome. Just how rude could they be?

“In case you have forgotten Miss Lulamoon, you are here to take a test,” One of them stated. “So act like you are.”

That was the last straw, and something inside of Twilight snapped. She couldn’t take it anymore, the reminder of having forgotten most of her memories, the fact that she couldn’t even if she tried, the constant reminder that she couldn’t perform her magic for whatever reason, and everything else about her situation that was coming forth to the fore front of her mind to feed her anger! But most of all, she couldn’t stomach the idea of these other ponies in the room who are much too willing to prevent a prospective student from pursuit of education all because they didn’t like the branch she wished to study in!

And at that moment, Twilight’s horn sparked just a bit, but she took no heed to it. Instead, she focused on all those thoughts that were flying across her mind and the emotions bubbling up inside her.

She wanted to take her anger out on those examiners and felt that she would be justified in doing so. These examiners were obviously corrupted and biased, so why shouldn’t they be punished in such a manner? They should experience what it was like to be the filly that they would be putting pressure on. They deserved it. Especially when they demanded that hatching a DRAGON’S EGG of all things be the first part of a test!

Thinking about the Dragon’s egg reminded Twilight of her magical incompetence, causing her to give it a fierce glare.

Why wouldn’t the darn thing hatch anyway?! What, her love and compassion wasn’t good enough for it?! The love and compassion of the Embodiment of magic itself wasn’t good enough?! Well fine! In that case, then it doesn’t need her love and compassion, then why should she care if it hatches at all?! It can continue being some test subject for the next century!

Why should she care for anything at all?!

Or maybe she should make it hatch! Just for the heck of it! Because every castle needed a dragon right?! Right! Besides, she’s sure that the Examiners would LOVE to meet the new dragon!

Once again being reminded of the examiners, she turned toward them with a snarl, ready to give them a piece of her mind, but was interrupted by a thunderous sound.

Before long, anger consumed her and magic immediately overflowed out of her and breaking the illusion that Celestia had casted on her, forcing her wings to spray out. The dragon egg hatched, and the baby dragon within it became enlarged, breaking the ceiling of the exam room. The other examiners became suspended in the air and flying all over the room at random, while other objects transformed into other things; a desk became a pig, a ruler into a snake, the lights shattered before transforming into fireflies and scattering all over the place. Twilight herself was floating in the center of the room, eyes glowing white as sparks of lighting flew out from her, barely striking the other ponies while leaving scorch marks on the walls, ceiling, and floor. Everything in the room broke into chaos and Twilight was finding it difficult to bring her magic back under control or calm down.

The doors to the room slammed open as Celestia and Phrygian ran inside. Upon seeing her, Celestia immediately made her way toward Guardian, “Twilight?” she asked in surprise.

“This is- This is unbelievable!” Phrygian exclaimed in excitement, looking around in astonishment. “She’s actually performing everything there is to Chaos Magic and more! Look at the SIZE of that Dragon! I can assure you that that is not a normal shape for one! She must have used Light magic for that thing! And you can see that she’s using Dark magic on the examiners by the way they’re flying around and screaming in fear! From their aura, I can see that she’s projecting fear onto them and- Look! This pig was a desk! This is Singular magic as there is no sense in being able to turn an inanimate object into a living thing! And-And! Over there! She’s using Night Magic to bring forth lightning! And-“

Celestia merely tuned the excited teacher out as she raised a hoof toward Twilight to grab her attention, wincing as she was met with a snarl of anger, but continued to try and make eye contact.

The moment their eyes met, Twilight visibly deflated and calmed down. In response, her magic dimmed and everything in the room reverted back to normalcy, and those that were in the air dropped to the floor.

“I’m sorry.” Twilight solemnly said, “I don’t know what came over me…”

“Sorry?!” Phrygian exclaimed aghast, “Why should you be sorry?! That. Was. AMAZING! You were literally performing 4 different kinds of magic all at once! You had performed CHAOS Magic near perfectly AND Light magic That- That’s never been done before! Not that any pony has been able to perform 4 different kind of magic before… Or even 3! How did you do it?! And-And!!” Their eyes finally took notice of Twilight’s wings, causing their mouth to loudly click shut.

Twilight furrowed her brow at Phrygian’s assessment of her magic, “Wait… I couldn’t have performed all of that though… I… At the most I should have been able to raise a little panic within the examiners… But, I couldn’t have been able to perform all of Chaos Magic and Light magic.”

“But you did!” Phrygian stated

Celestia nodded in confirmation, “It was indeed rather impressive. Although, rather frightening as it usual is when you do something of like this. The last time you had done something similar to this was with Natural Magic.”

“Last time?” Phrygian echoed

Twilight paid them no attention though as she frowned, “But… this doesn’t make sense. I… I didn’t perform any of that magic correctly. I was… I didn’t care for the dragon egg, and even felt offended toward it. I was narcissistic, self-entitled when it didn’t accept my feelings of compassion or love!” She explained frantically, “And I… I didn’t conjure things up for no reason; I did it because it made sense to me! I deducted and reasoned that everything should come for a reason! I- I even felt selfish and justified in my anger! I felt that those examiners deserved what came to them for being discriminated towards Chaos users and-“ She gasped as realization struck her, causing her face to contort in horror.

“My magic… it’s all wrong.”