On a warm Tuesday afternoon, a young Twilight Sparkle was panicking. Of course, she had known about today for weeks and had spent every day since being informed, perfecting as many spells as she possibly could. It didn't however, make her any less sure she was going to fail her entrance exam miserably.
The biggest problem she faced was not knowing exactly what her test was going to be. She had read the information provided by the school which explained that there were almost a thousand different tests an applicant could be faced with, and the test that was assigned to the potential student was dependent on the skills and attributes that they had expressed having on their application to the school.
To be fair, she did understand the reason that they needed so many potential tests; almost ten percent of all the eligible unicorns from all over Equestria apply for a position at the school. With only twenty ponies selected each year as successful candidates, they needed a way to ensure the exams were fair, and if everypony sat the same exam, the people who took the exam later would potentially have an advantage over the people who took it earlier in the day.
Still, she wished that there was not so much variety in the tests they administered, so she could have a better idea on how to prepare. She also wished she was not one of the first to be being examined. Due to the number of candidates, the period for the entrance exams was eight weeks, and hers was on the Tuesday of the first week. When she had been told she had passed the preliminary stage, she had hoped it would take place towards the end of the exam period, so she would have more time to prepare. Unfortunately, the school made Canterlot candidates go first, to give more time for those who lived further away, to be able to travel to the city.
Already, since arriving at the school three hours ago, she had seen at least two dozen foals leaving in tears, their hope of becoming students of the school destroyed. As another person entered the examination room, there was only one more person before her; she knew that in less than five minutes she would be entering the room herself, and it terrified her.
"What if they ask me to teleport, or to enchant an object, or to turn lead into gold. I don't know how to do any of those things, and I'll fail" she stated to her mother. She would never become a great mage, she'd never do anything important. Then another thought struck her. "What if they ask me to do something simple like to turn a feather into a quill, or light a fire and I mess it up. Then I won't get into any magic middle school." As she continued to talk, she managed to make herself more and more panicked.
"Twilight dear, you need to calm down. Worrying like this is not going to help you, it'll only make it harder for you to concentrate" her mother suggested soothingly. "I'm sure that you'll do -" her mother started, before a bored looking mare came out of the examination room, and called Twilight's name.
Her father wished her the best of luck as they walked towards the room. As Twilight entered the room the first thing she noticed was that apart from the four examiners the room was basically empty. Was she supposed to be conjuring something her mind frantically asked.
She noticed her parents move to the side of the room before she looked back at the examiners questioningly. In response the door re-opened and an egg on a cart was pushed into the room by an earth pony. On the cart was a diagram showing what she had to do.
"Well, Miss Sparkle?" one of the examiners asked. Twilight gave a nervous giggle then a sigh, as all four of the examiners started making notes.
'OK,' she thought. 'I need to levitate the egg of the cart, and use my magic to gently pry the egg open, so as to not harm the creature inside the egg. So I need to use enough magic to lift and open the egg, but not enough to make the egg implode. Eggs are extremely delicate, so I better start gently and add power as needed, or I may hurt the lizard' she finished planning. 'This is going to be difficult.' she realized as she started sweating.
"Well, Miss Sparkle?" the examiner repeated, her patience running out.
Twilight knew she had no more time to plan, and so she started to try to cast. Unfortunately, as she started her first attempt, she began to doubt herself. She was afraid she would accidently use too much power, and that she would kill the lizard. Her split concentration caused her first attempt to fizzle out. She tried again, but due to her internal conflict, was unable to summon any magic on her second attempt.
From the side, she heard one of the examiners yawn before the first examiner spoke again.
"Well, Miss Sparkle? We don't have all day" the mare stated.
Twilight knew she had to act fast, and so tried to cast from every angle she could think of. No matter what she tried, she could not take her mind off of the fact that too much magic would kill the creature inside the egg, and it turned the minimal magic she was trying to use, into non-existent magic.
She tried and tried until she literally collapsed, but she could not bring herself over her mental hurdle. As she collapsed, she accepted that she was incapable of the task she had been set. She had blown her entrance exam. As she sat up she looked down.
"I'm sorry I wasted your time," she said morosely. The examiners all wrote in their notes.
Whilst Twilight was preparing to leave the room, from out of nowhere she heard a loud bang. Twilight's mind turned off. As she entered the mental fight or flight, her magic reacted without her permission and hit the closest thing to her, the egg. Suddenly, as if a delayed reaction to her attempts, the egg hatched. It lifted into the air, and split neatly into two parts, without even a tiny piece cracking off separately, and from the egg safely came a baby lizard.
Unfortunately, the shock of seeing the creature finally hatch put Twilight further into her mental state. Now, instead of her horn just sending magic forward it created a protective bubble around her, before using the bubble it started casting all around her, towards any potential threat.
Author's Note
I wrote this story as I find that the majority of stories about twilights entrance exam, make it so it was supposed to be impossible. I personally feel it is more likely that the test was a power control test, rather than an impossible test. In one of my favorite book series, there is a character whom I feel twilights problem was probably closer too. The character in question can magically raise a mountain, but can not light a single candle the same way, as his raw power means that a single candle, given his full concentration would explode, rather than light up. By the scenes we've seen in the show, she had difficulty lifting a book but seemed to find it more difficult to lift a page of a book, than the entire book. Given how fragile eggs generally are, I feel the problem she had was trying not to destroy the egg rather than not being able to summon enough magic to do the requested task.
Constructive criticism is appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this drabble.