An unknown sensation

Twilight Sparkle found herself in a warm, comfortable place. Looking around, she saw grass with flowers in it, a tree with a swingset, standing on a hill, a small river flowing underneath, the sun shining on her coat.

This place was fabulous!

"Isn't it?" An unknown voice called behind her.

"Who..." Twilight whirled around. She quickly paused upon seeing that her mane was still the light blue she had enchanted it to be. Then, she spotted the owner of the voice. A silver mare, looking at her, "What is this place?"

"It's... you. Your imagination. Or maybe it's real. Maybe I am real. Or am I a figment of your imagination, awakened through dire need? Maybe this is a vision of the future. Who knows? You don't, and thus I don't either."

"Who are you?" Twilight instinctively reached up to play with her mane, missing it by a hoof. She remembered the style she had it in now, and how it was different from the usual.

"Come on. Small hint: I am a part of you. That doesn't mean I can't be real. Did you know your family has always contained famous scryers?" She answered, shaking her golden mane, revealing a jeweled necklace Cutie Mark.

"Are you... her?" The bold question stroke both the unicorn and the golden pegasus with surprise.

Twilight had not used this word with that certain meaning in months. The pegasus searched her - Twilight's - mind for a second, then answered. "That could be. I had almost believed you would have forgotten about ME since the talk with Rarity.

"No! You've always been in my heart, and now, if I am not completely crazy, I finally know how you will look like! Or am I crazy, talking to myself, in a way?"

"Why don't you find out?" Twilight suddenly found herself embraced in a deep hug and, after her surprise worn off, in a passionate kiss.

It was her. She knew it.

"And you can't tell me your name?" Twilight asked while the pegasus was pushing her on the swing.

Sighing, her new marefriend explained it again, "You still don't get it? I am but a projection of the mare you will meet in the future. This is your way of dealing with a vision of you seeing her and falling in love."

"Sorry..."

"Need not be. This is a rare gift, and will take time to get used to, if you ever will. So why don't you enjoy the rest of the time you're together with her, but don't take it for granted she will react the same way I do. You have not seen her full personality."

She had stopped pushing Twilight. Instead, she felt a gentle nuzzle in her neck.

"Oh you!"

"That's the real world calling. We will meet again with the second vision... or after you meet her."

"But..."

Twilight's perception slowly came back into the real world. She felt the touch again.

She laid on her stomach, stretched into her bed, in her temporary room in Canterlot.

"Wake up, 'Sparkle'!"

"Ye, I'm... You?!" Twilight nearly screamed at her parents.

"Good morning darling!" Her father greeted her, peeking from behind her mother, who just continued to nuzzle her.

"But why are you here? Is it already?"

"It is. Today, you'll have your exam and finally become a proper unicorn! Well, one that finished school, at least."

"How..."

Her mother interrupted the sentence forming in Twilight. "Why, Celestia told us everything of course. Would you really think we'd miss out on such an opportunity? By the way, you look just like when you left us."

"Well, you know, careful living, regular spa visits... and a bit of magic." She whispered the last part.

"Oh dear, we're just messing with you. We know you're enchanted to blend in. But I must say, that kind of blue really fits you."

Twilight blushed slightly, realizing that Celestia would have included that in her report. In her defense, it was still fairly early.

"Why do you have this fancy room up here anyway? You know that you could always just come live with us?"

"I..." Twilight wondered about this question herself for a moment. Why had Celestia insisted on putting her here instead of in her parents' house? "I suppose it's kind of a 'royal guest' thingy."

"Whatever. Say, your exam are scheduled in the afternoon. How about spending the day with your family?"

"I'd love to. But, let me..." Twilight said as she dropped the spell keeping her mane blue. "Better."

"So, before we woke you up, there was a giant smile all across your face. Did you dream about your marefriend?"

"DAD!" Twilight successfully repressed a slight blush. Bad enough that Midnight had a habit of guessing her past, did her parents have to start that, too?

"Just messin' with you." He smiled over the meal his wife had prepared for the three of them. "But seriously now, how does my daughter do as a librarian down in the village?"

"Pretty nice. Most the earth ponies are not that literate, but when they need a book, I have it!" She replied, with joy about her job clearly in her voice.

"Good thing you're getting paid for being there and not per book, right?"

"Suppose so."

This was it. She could do it. When it was her turn, Twilight paused before the door for a second, looking back around. To her right, Midnight slipped into her room. Behind Twilight, her parents were smiling and gesturing her to enter.

"Alright, Sparkle, you CAN do this. Now go in there and show them!" She whispered to herself.

She entered the room, and was instantly reminded of her entry exam. She looked to her right and saw the very same examiners that had been there years ago. Blushing, she wondered if they might remembered her. Celestia probably had made sure that they did.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle. Welcome. While what you pulled off at your entry exam would classify you enough, we have to follow routines. Have a seat." The pony indicated a small cloud hovering in the room. Twilight was instantly reminded of her dream.

"Of... course." She could feel the unjustified nervosity in her voice, casting a quick cloudwalking spell on herself and hopping onto the cloud. The examiners made a small note, probably about her using a cloud walking spell without being told to.

The next half hour, she had to perform all kinds of spells a unicorn might need in it's life. Levitation, teleportation, detecting certain objects, for example.

"Very well. I don't think we have to cover Illusion, do we?"

Twilight quickly wondered what the examiner could mean by that. Then, she saw a blue stripe before her eyes, and was reminded of that she had already used Illusion the past few months.

"Now, in the end of an exam, unicorns may perform a spell they deem special. Do you have anything to impress us with?"

Twilight quickly searched for a fitting spell, then nodded.

While she was casting, one of the examiners whispered to the other, "Invisibility? Well, already casting a weak one of those is a feat for her stage of training!"

As Twilight finished the spell, she was gone. Not even the trained eyes of the examiners could still detect any movement, like a cheap camouflage spell would have, nor could they hear footsteps.

She was both completely invisible and silent.

"Boo!" She suddenly popped up from behind them, making the other unicorns jump. She had dropped the spell and giggled at their reaction.

After they had settled again, they asked Twilight where she had gotten that spell. "I don't know, honestly. I just know it from somewhere."

"Are you sure you didn't read it from a note scribbled into a book in the royal library?" There suddenly was another voice. It was Princess Luna, who had been watching Twilight's performance using the very same spell.

"I... You..."

"Aw, don't you apologise. I would have been disappointed if you had not learnt at least one spell from me, too. Do you know how I named it, after creating it to prank Celestia more than a thousand years ago?"

"You made it?"

"Of course I did. It's Night's Embrace. Designed to remove a pony from the perception of anypony else. But, next time you find a spell like that, ask Celestia about it, alright? Unknown magic can do terrible things."

"I will, Princess."

She sat in a fine restaurant somewhere in Canterlot. Her parents had insisted on inviting her there to celebrate the way she had performed EVERY spell even better than requested.

"But why are there eight seats? We're only three right now..."

"Yes, right now. But how about we first welcome the rest of our guests?"

As if on cue, the five ponies Twilight had become such good friends with in Ponyville came into the restaurant, sitting down to her table.

"What the hay are you doing here?"

"Sheez, Twi', we couldn't let you celebrate all on yer own! Besides, ye've been away from Ponyville longer than ye might think."

"We've been missing you. Before I could get done with your dress, you had already been gone."

"And this calls for a PARTY!" Pinkie blew into a horn, from which mysteriously confetti and streamers materialized and got stuck in her mane.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your mane? Was the stress so bad?"

Twilight quickly looked up, spotting the blue color she was so used for it to have. "Oh, that's...fashion?" She explained her disguise and quickly dropped the spell.

"Nice. But why didn't you use the most awesome color of all?" The pegasus struck a pose.

"Since when is a rainbow a color?" The lavender unicorn responded, making everypony laugh.

"Sweetheart, why are those two ponies snuggling up like that?" The father asked his daughter.

"What do you think?"

"Oh..."

It was then when Twilight truly remembered her life outside of Canterlot. And all of her memories came crashing onto her mind.

"Hey, Sparkle!" That call took Twilight by surprise, since she was already back in her old looks (including lifting the spell cast on her by Celestia) and walking out of the restaurant together with her friends and family.

"Wuh...Midnight! How did you know how I really look?"

"Spell detection, of course. We had that right before the holidays. Didn't you study it?"

Truth to be told, Twilight had never heard of an active means of detecting cast spells. She had always taken it for granted that, depending on the strength of a spell, you could only sense them, and that it took a strong unicorn to do that already.

"Who's that, Twilight?"

"Oh, Midnight's a class mate of mine. Or was, rather." After a quick thought, Twilight adressed her newest friend. "So, now you know my real self. In case you didn't hear the tales, us six are also the bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

"You mean, you're the ones that defeated Nightmare Moon?" Midnight asked with a small gasp. The ponies behind Twilight gave her sounds of confirmation. All except Fluttershy, giving her well-known shy smile.

"Yeah. So, while you're here, how did your exam go?"

"Not bad. I thought I'd fail, but then the thought of you inspired me." Midnight admitted, blushing. "You aced yours, of course?"

"Over the scale!" Twilight grinned.

"Alright now, it's late, I demand that you stay at your parents' house. You can go home to Ponyville tomorrow alright, but accept our custody for the night."

Twilight knew better than arguing. She did have a room better than anything her parents could offer her awaiting her return, but she just wanted to spend time with her family that day.

All of the others were already gone. Fluttershy had directly flown back to her cottage, Rarity stayed at her own family's house, Pinkie had simply disappeared and Applejack, after asking a cloud walking spell from Twilight, had been carried off by Rainbow Dash to her cloud house.

When they reached the home of her childhood, Twilight had to admit that her old room was even better than her guest's room in the castle.

It was exactly like it had been the day of her departure. Except for that her bed had mysteriously grown to fit her body.