I Think Your Niece Might Be Gifted Twilight

The thought and suggestion of her niece being gifted made Twilight eager to find out if it was really true. Being a studious pony, Twilight made an immediate decision to approach the situation by relying on past efforts.

"Twilight, are you certain?" asked Spike as Twilight drew up plans in her study. "I mean, testing Flurry Heart the same way as when you tested Pinkie Pie? Doesn't that sound a little, I don't know, irrelevant?"

"It's not irrelevant Spike," answered Twilight, heavily concentrated on her plans. "If Cheerliee says that Flurry Heart might be gifted, then I have to believe her unless Flurry Heart acts differently otherwise. Boy, can you imagine how far Flurry will go if she is gifted?"

"I can only imagine," he muttered to himself. "Only going so far because she is an alicorn."

"I heard that!" Twilight said, turning around sharply towards Spike. "Just because she is an alicorn doesn't make her gifted just like that, Spike! Look at other ponies like well Starlight or even me. Starlight's not an alicorn, but she is gifted with magic. Flurry might be the same way but not just with magic. There is something about Flurry that maybe, I don't think any of us have seen yet."

Spike merely shrugged his shoulders, knowing that perhaps his friend and boss was doing another one of her freak outs. Still, Twilight had her reasons and she wasn't alone.

…

Later that day, the four princesses gathered in Canterlot with how to address the situation with Flurry Heart.

"She's been acting strangely for the past few days," said Cadence. "I don't know what it is, but its definitely behavior that is alarming."

"In what way, Cadence?" asked Luna.

"Well," answered Cadence. "Flurry would normally be covering us in mashed peas, but instead, she's trying to act, I don't know, perfect like a young filly. It's strange and very alarming."

"Acting perfect?" remarked Celestia. "This is very unusual. It could be something that comes with being a natural born alicorn. After all, Flurry Heart is the first born alicorn in Equestria. She certainly has the potential, although we just don't see it."

"That's why I think we should test her," suggested Twilight. "Cheerliee suggested that if Flurry Heart has the potential to be advanced, then we need to find out for ourselves."

The three other alicorns each agreed with Twilight.

"Perhaps we can do some kind of simple testing," remarked Luna, who was writing down possible tests for Flurry Heart. "Problem solving, construction, something like that. Nothing too extreme and around Flurry Heart's natural level."

"When do you think we could start?" asked Twilight.

"Hopefully as soon as possible," said Cadence. "But, there is something else that Shining Armor and I have been noticing."

This caused Twilight to look over at her sister-in-law.

"What's that?" asked Twilight.

"Well," answered Cadence. "Just the other day, Flurry became frightened when there was a loud noise like an alarm. She just enveloped herself in a bubble and ran into a corner, crying softly. It had to take us a few minutes to calm her down, but she never acted like that before until then."

Twilight nervously looked down at the table as she knew very well how sensitive Flurry Heart could be. She knew that even though scolding Flurry Heart was justified, she was a baby nonetheless.

"Hmm, could be another sign that Flurry might have some kind of disorder," suggested Luna, causing both Cadence and Twilight's eyes to widen in shock. "Something related to how her brain processes sound."

"What do you mean 'disorder'"? asked Cadence in a panicked voice, glaring at her younger aunt.

"Cadence, calm down," said Twilight. "We can't just jump to conclusions like that."

"Twilight is right," remarked Celestia. "I think Flurry Heart may be much more than just gifted and we need to find out what it is before we draw any conclusions."

Cadence quickly composed herself before she could freak out over her daughter's well-being. However, she still had her nerves about her.

"I guess you may have a point," she said nervously. "It could be nothing, but we can't be sure until we test Flurry."

…

Once the meeting ended, Twilight returned to her castle not thinking about the meeting itself, but about Cadence. Sitting in her study, Twilight looked up at the ceiling and began to think of the road that she and the rest of the alicorns were going to travel on. Fortunately, she didn't have to think that far for at that moment, Starlight came into her study.

"Hey Twilight," said Starlight. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Starlight," chuckled Twilight nervously, turning around to face her pupil. "Nothing, I was just thinking about my niece, that's all."

"Flurry Heart? What about her?"

Twilight knew that she was going to get personal with Starlight, but there was no other option for her to take.

"Starlight," she asked. "When you were younger, were you ever tested for anything that you might have been born with?"

"Um, why do you ask?" asked Starlight, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Is something going on?"

"Well, we think that Flurry Heart might be gifted or something," answered Twilight. "But, we aren't sure unless we test her. I mean, I know your family life wasn't very good, but were you ever tested for any disorder?"

This made Starlight feel very confused at her mentor.

"Um, no?"

"I see," said Twilight, to Starlight's ever-growing confusion. "You probably may have something that you may never have known you have, Starlight. But, I can test you another time. Right now, its about Flurry Heart."

"Um, okay?" remarked Starlight in a confused tone. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not quite," said Twilight. "But if we need you to help us, Starlight, we'll let you know."

Starlight confusingly left the study while Twilight continued to draw up plans to test Flurry Heart. Soon, Twilight eventually came up with a list of tests for her niece to undergo to see if she was truly gifted.

"All right, this looks as if it should be enough to test Flurry," said Twilight, studying the list. "Only time will tell."