Chapter 13: The Test

The day had finally arrived. This was the day that Twilight would be taking her entrance exam for Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Her whole family came for moral support, even Cadance was there. There were two parts to the exam, I written portion, and a talent portion. Twilight was in one of the classrooms, finishing up her written exams.

Meanwhile, in another part of Equestria, in Cloudsdale, it was one of the last days of Summer Flight Camp. Almost everypony was going through the obstacle course, some better than others. However, one filly was having trouble. She was a yellow pegasus with pink mane, named Fluttershy. She was a weak flyer, and nervous around other ponies. Some other foals were giving her a hard time about not being any good, before a pony whom she had made friends with earlier in the week, a blue pegasus with rainbow colored mane, cut in. Fluttershy had almost no friends, so she did remember the names of the ones she had. This one was Rainbow Dash.

"Leave her alone!" Rainbow said.

One of the ponies bullying Fluttershy responded, "Ooh, what are you gonna do, 'Rainbow Crash'?"

"Keep making fun of her and find out!" Rainbow snapped back.

"You think you're such a big shot? Why don't you prove it?" challenged the other pony mocking Fluttershy.

"Whaddya have in mind?" Rainbow responded.

"A race. If you can beat us, then we'll stop teasing. But, if we win, both of you have to drop out of Summer Flight Camp."

"No thank you," Fluttershy whispered. "How about you lower the stakes or something."

"I'll do the race, but the deal is if I win, you two have to stop being mean to anypony, and if you win, you get bragging rights," Rainbow said.

"That is, acceptable," said the other one.

A few days ago, a young earth pony had moved to Manehatten, not wanting to be on her farm after the death of her parents. So, she was now with some relatives in the city. However, city life was not all it was cracked up to be. Applejack was missing her home, her farm, and her family. She could not decide how she wanted to handle her feeling, she just knew that they were there.

In another part of Equestria, this time in a small town called Ponyville that was less than a days trip from Canterlot, a white unicorn with a purple mane, by name of Rarity, was making dresses for a school play, and she just had to make them perfect. But, she couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong. Then, her horn lit up, and began to drag the unicorn somewhere. She knew that resistance was futile, and that it probably had good reason.

Meanwhile, on a rock farm, a family was rotating their rock fields. Why they do this ponies still do not know, but it does seem important in some way. The family consisted of mostly rock colored ponies, and one pink one. The pink one, Pinkie Pie, always thought that there could be more than just rocks, even though rocks were awesome.

In another realm it was the a special day of school at Canterlot High School, though technically it was a junior high. It was the day of the first Fall Formal. Everybody was excited for it. It was a way to get out and socialize. It was just a dance, so there was no king or queen or princess, at least not yet. Everybody at the school came, even some people going through rough times. Six of the girls that were there were Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Sunset Shimmer. The school was divided into clicks, even before outside interference, but these six girls either did not fit into a click, or just were not feeling it that night. Sunset was there for a few minutes, trying to socialize so she could get by, but was rejected at every turn. This was why she never bothered to make friends, nopony, and now nobody, wanted to be her friend. In the almost two months she had been here, she had seen what looked like good friendships fall apart. She didn't know why Celestia had tried to make her make friends, it was always fleeting. Maybe that was something Celestia had tried to do as a mother, but it never helped her. So, she stepped outside, to where the Canterlot High Wondercolt statue was, that double as the portal back to Equestria. But, she knew she couldn't return now, she had been cast out by her adoptive mother, Princess Celestia, and she had disobeyed even that order, and snuck back in, only to leave. Princess Celestia would not take her back, even if she was her daughter. She walked over to the back of the statue, the side facing the road, and sat down and cried softly. What had she done? How was she to survive here?

Twilight had finished her written portion, and now had to take her talent portion. This time, family was allowed in the room to watch and encourage her. However, Cadance still had to wait outside, so she decided to go to the bathroom while Twilight took her test. A dragon egg was brought in. The only thing that was expected of Twilight was to maybe levitate the egg or change it's color. Sunset waved at her sister and smiled, with a look of the upmost confidence in her sister's abilities.

However, as Twilight tried, she was so nervous, and trying so much on actually doing the magic, nothing was happening. After multiple tries, she finally gave up. "I'm sorry I wasted your time," she said, looking disappointed in herself.

In Cloudsdale, the pegasi had finished setting up their race. One or two ponies could have sworn that they saw something odd that day, what looked like a unicorn floating with her own magic and, what they knew to be impossible. So they just shrugged it off to their imagination. Rainbow Dash and the two bullies were at the start line, and Fluttershy was to wave the flag to start the race. When Fluttershy waved, the three pegasi took off, which knocked Fluttershy off of her cloud. However, the racers were long gone by the time that she actually fell. Rainbow Dash took the lead, and, on the big descent, she sped up so much, that what appeared to be a cone forming around her. There was one cloud circle at the bottom, When went through it to go back up, she created something not seen for nearly a millennia, a Sonic Rainboom. It could be seen throughout all Equestria, even though most did not know what it was. Rainbow looked back at her flank, to see her cutie mark, a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt.

Fluttershy, when she fell, was caught by butterflies. As all the animals gathered around her, she saw that it was truly amazing. So, she just had to sing,

"What is this place
Filled with so many wonders?
Casting its spell
That I am now under
Squirrels in the trees
And the cute little bunnies
Birds flying free
And bees with their honey
Hooooonneeeeeeey!
Oooh, what a magical place
And I owe it all to the Pegasus race
If I knew the ground had so much up its sleeve
I'd have come here sooner, and never leave
Yes, I love ev-er-ythiiiiing!"

Right after she finished her song, a loud explosion was heard, causing the creatures to panic and hide. But Fluttershy remained calm, assuring the animals it was safe. As she was able to coax the animals back out, she looked back at her flank. Her cutie mark was of three pink butterflies.

In Manehatten, Applejack was sitting in her room, looking out her window. She was still wondering what she was going to do when she saw a rainbow, pointing straight back home to Ponyville. She took it as a sign and went back to her farm and family. And, when she arrived, she found that she got her cutie mark, three apples.

Rarity had been dragged all the way by her horn to a rock. Of all things, a rock! She was upset, when suddenly, there was this huge rainbow explosion that cracked open the rock. Inside, there were gems of all kinds. She had the inspiration and the tools she needed. With the gems, she created new costumes for the play, and they were a huge success. After the play, she noticed that her cutie mark had appeared, three diamonds, like the gems she found.

On the rock farm, Pinkie Pie was the only one left out, as the rest of her family had gone inside. She heard a loud explosion that caused her to turn around. She saw a rainbow, for the first time in her life. It was so life changing for her, that her mane poofed up. She had never experienced such joy in her life.

She just had to share they joy with the rest of her family, so, she came up with an idea, to throw a party!

"Wait, I thought everybody knew this story."

I'm sorry, what?

"Cutie marks and such. Why are you recapitulating?"

Are you talking to me?

"Yes."

Well, because some readers might be new to the fandom, and maybe because some more things are happening. But I cannot reveal anymore. Besides, in yours there appeared to be something missing.

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said, before getting back to planning her party.

The next day, her whole family, Igneous Rock Pie, her father, Cloudy Quartz, her mother, and her three sisters, Maud, Limestone, and Marble. Her party was amazing, causing everypony to smile. Well, Maud smiled on the inside, Pinkie could tell. With this Party, Pinkie gained her cutie mark of three balloons.

Back at Canterlot High, Sunset continued to sit behind the statue, but had dried her tears up. The other five girls who were not getting into the dance had gathered outside on the front steps. But, they were all standing out there awkwardly, not knowing what to talk about.

That is, until a rainbow appeared, seeming coming from the base of the statue. The girls looked in wonder and began talking about it, thus igniting their friendship.

Sunset, also, saw the rainbow. It made her think of what Celestia had tried to make her do. It only made her bitter. She had just tried friendship, and it failed. Maybe, somehow, she could make people respect her instead, make them help her.

A loud explosion happened, amplifying Twilight's magic, making her lose control. She hatched the egg, and made all of the ponies proctoring levitate. She also turned her parents into plants. Sunset and Shining were unaffected, as Shiny had put up a shield protecting them. However, Twilight's amplified magic caused the baby dragon to grow to a huge size. Unfortunately, Twilight was too close to the dragon, and was thrown up by the enlarged head, causing her to be thrown out of the roof of the building.

Sunset's eyes widened. Her sister was in danger. She had no time to think, she just had to save her sister. Her horn glowed as she vanished, reappearing in the air outside the building, grabbing Twilight, and teleporting back inside.

Princess Celestia saw this whole thing from outside, including Sunny's act of heroism. She rushed inside, and was able to use her magic to undo what Twilight had done. After she had done that, she then spoke to the two fillies before her, "Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer."

Both fillies started panicking, for different reasons, and both started apologizing.

"It's okay, my little ponies. Neither of you did anything wrong," she said calmly. "In fact, you both have special gifts. I have met few ponies with your raw abilities."

"Really?" asked Twilight, while Sunny was still standing there in shock.

"However, both of you need to master these abilities. I have thought long and hard about taking on a new personal protégé, and you both fit the bill. I believe only one of you applied, but I am willing to take you both on," the Princess said. Over the past few weeks, she had thought a lot about it. And she had decided to do it. It wasn't her fault that one of the ponies that had demonstrated such prowess was the other Sunset Shimmer. She knew Cadance would be upset with her, but she was not doing this because of Sunset Shimmer, she was doing it because it was the right thing to do.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sunset cut in.

"I am willing to teach you both, if you are willing," Celestia said. "It doesn't matter where you come from, what's important is where you are going, and I am willing to help guide you on that path."

Twilight looked over at her sister. What would her answer be? Sunset thought about it, especially about what Celestia last said. She probably knew that she was not from here, but she just said that is was not important. Even though she had originally decided to stay at home, she also knew that this was an opportunity of a lifetime. And she would be studying beside her own sister. Besides, with her parents working and Shining going to train to be a royal guard, she didn't want to be at home all day all alone. "Yes, I'll do it," Sunset said.

Twilight then looked back up at Celestia. "We'll do it," she said.

"Oh, and other thing," Celestia said, pointing to the two fillies flanks. They had gotten their cutie marks. Twilight's was a purple star with six small white stars around it. Sunset's was a gold and red sun, the inside shaped like a yin-yang symbol, with red and gold, but without the circles in the center, while the outside was half gold, half red.

"We got our cutie marks!" they both cried out in joy, and hugged each other.

"Now, I must be off," Celestia said. "I was off to a very important meeting, and I would hate to be late. And make sure you take care of that little guy, he's yours now." Celestia flew out of the hole that was made in the roof.

Sunset and Twilight turned to the baby dragon. "What do we name him?" Sunset asked.

"What about Spike?" Twilight suggested.

"That sounds great! Now, how about we show Cadance our new cutie marks," Sunset said.

They left the room, Spike on Twilight's back. Cadance, then, came out of the bathroom. "Does anypony know what caused all that commotion?" she asked.

Twilight and Sunset laughed in response, before showing Cadance their cutie marks.

"You both got your cutie marks? But how?" Cadance asked.

So, the two fillies explained all that had happened, including Celestia making them her protégés.

"That's amazing!" Cadance said after they finished their tale.

Afterwards, everypony went home. It had been a long day, and they all needed their rest.

Author's Note

And thus, another chapter comes to a close.

This was a fun one to write! Showing not only the effects on the Mane 6 (or is it 7 now?) in the pony world, but also human world effects. That moment when the magic is so powerful the portal doesn't even need to be open.

It made me happy to explore original Sunset for a brief time as well, and letting her try friendship, for a brief time, and probably doing it wrong, to help turn her against friendship.

Also, Pinkie needs to cut back on her fourth wall breaking. Just a note.

Hey, what's wrong with it?

Um, it can be distracting? Otherwise it's actually pretty enjoyable.

I specifically made this chapter to be a shifting perspectives chapter, quickly going through each of the Mane 6(7). Putting in the humans came to me during one of the first few shifts. And I thought it was great!

I also had to somehow force Cadance out so she wouldn't talk to Tia quite yet. Yes, both Sunset's cutie marks are the same. But just because theirs are, doesn't mean it holds true for all duplicates.

I also enjoyed expanding some of the scenes. Like putting Maud in Pinkie's story. Talking to Pinkie was not my idea, she just decided to do it. Do not get mad at it being in there, she talked to me, I only responded.

Sunset's and Twilight's cutie mark story was also a huge deal for me. Sunset only discovering her talent to save her sister. Shining being there was also a big deal. Why wouldn't he be there? And I could use him to advance the plot.

I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I do. This may be one of my favorite chapters!