A Magical Storm

Author's Note
I'm re-posting this chapter as I've had it looked over by a proofreader and added quite a bit to it.
I will also be doing the same to Chapter 2, although it might be awhile as I have recently obtained Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance and will be playing that.
See you soon,
Storm Quill

Chapter 1: The Pony With Power

Storm Quill stared intently at the book levitating in front of him, encased in the white magical field which kept it aloft. The young colt wiped the drowsiness from his eyes; he had been studying most of the night and was determined to pass his entrance exam. He telekinetically turned the page, and his eyes darted swiftly across the words in front of him.

"It's always important, for a young unicorn, to remember that when dealing with telekinetic fields, gravity still applies to the object(s) you're lifting. It requires a certain amount of concentration to maintain a balanced field, which is why beginner practitioners of magic should not attempt to lift multiple objects with multiple fields until they can get a feel for the tug of gravity."

Storm lowered the book he was reading into his saddle bag and began looking towards the ground around where he was standing. Storm had wandered into the much nicer areas of Canterlot where the roads were maintained far more regularly. Thus, it took him awhile to finally spot the object of his search: a small pile of about six rocks.

He trotted over to the pile and separated the rocks, moving them up next to each other so that they formed a straight line. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath; he focused first on his horn, and when he felt the warm sensation of magic course through his body, he opened his eyes and began to focus on each of the rocks in the line. All six of the rocks rose into the air; they continued to rise until they finally stopped at Storm's eye line. Each of the six rocks was held in a small, white field that seemed to fit their form perfectly.

When Storm was comfortable with the extent of his magical display, he lowered all six stones simultaneously to the ground and released the field around them. He turned back to the road he was on and continued heading towards the center of town.

Storm trotted around the corner and onto a major road that cut through the center of town. The houses down this particular stretch of road were mostly vast, palatial mansions set behind gorgeously tended yards and walled off with splendidly ornate gates. After a few minutes of wide eyed sightseeing, boredom began to creep through the young colt’s mind. Storm magically lifted the left flap of his saddle bag and pulled the educational tome back out for him to read.

The Quill family had lived in Canterlot for as long as anypony could remember. Most of the Quills were scribes or shopkeepers; they would all get together for large family reunions, and spend their time talking about ink prices or the varying quality of parchment. Storm loved his family, but he knew he had a greater destiny than that of some middle class nopony, spending the rest of his life running some bookstore in the rundown slums of Canterlot.
For as long as he could remember, he loved the concept of magic, and as he had gotten older, the practice of it too captured his interest, so he applied to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and he was going to get in no matter what. He had no idea what he wanted to do once he entered; he didn't even know what his special talent was, as confirmed by his rather embarrassingly blank flank.

But Storm knew; no matter how his destiny unfolded, it was going to involve magic, and if it was going to involve magic, he needed to go to this school.

***

The little filly known as Twilight Sparkle trotted slowly behind her parents as they made their way to the main school building, a large spire crawling up to the sky to a height rivaled only by the towers of the princess' own castle. Twilight stared hard at the ground. What will the test be? What if I fail? What if I'm not good enough? Her thoughts raced around in her head so violently that she thought she would be sick. She shook her head to clear mind, and finally she looked up just as an older colt crashed into her.

Twilight was knocked to the ground along with the book that had been floating in front of the white-coated pony. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. I really need to watch where I'm going." Apologized a worried Twilight.

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have been reading and walking" he quickly responded, reaching over to assist her. As she slowly got to her hoofs, aided by the slightly dazed pony, she glanced over to where the book fell and recognized it immediately. "Hey, that's the Young Pony's Guide to Magic isn't it? Wow, I've read that one like a million times! Oh, are you applying to the academy too?"

***

Storm almost collapsed on the spot. She was applying to the academy? She was easily three years younger than him, so she was either very gifted, or very naive. "Yeah, I'm Storm Quill, what's your name?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. Well good luck on the test, I got to go, see you later" She replied, and galloped off to join her parents.

Storm stood there in stunned silence for what seemed like an eternity. He sighed heavily then levitated the book off the ground and stared at it. A sudden wave of doubt and panic gripped him; he began to wrestle with the idea of turning around and going home. How could he, a simple colt from a shopkeeper’s family, possibly join the most prestigious school for unicorns?

"You're a Quill boy! You’ll run this shop like my father, and his father before him and that's final!" Storm's hoof trembled as he thought back to the argument with his father. He smothered the fear that plagued him, drew a deep breath, and galloped towards the administration building.

Storm desperately tried to make sense of the indescribable images he was seeing. As soon as he had reached the building, a massive explosion shook the very ground beneath his hooves. He looked up just in time to see a giant, multihued shockwave rocket outwards from the epicenter of the explosion, miles from the city.

While Storm was still captivated by the rainbow, its dazzling colors filling the sky before finally fading from existence, he heard the cry of a young filly inside. The high pitched voice sounded familiar, but before Storm could place it, another boom, much closer, drew his gaze upwards. What could only be described as an enlarged head of a purple baby dragon, burst through the roof of the building. Storm fell back on to his rump in front of the door in slack-jawed amazement. It was the size of a fully-grown dragon, but the shape of its head betrayed its actual age.

"Excuse me please but I need to get in there right away", the voice rang with both motherly compassion and immense strength, Storm didn't have to turn around to know exactly who was behind him.

"Pri-pri-princess Celestia!?" was all Storm was able to blurt out as he desperately tried to make way for the Sun Princess.

She stood there in all her majestic glory; her beautiful, multi-colored mane seemed to dance as if blown by some imperceptible wind and she smiled kindly as she made her way into the building, followed, meekly, by Storm.

A soon as Storm entered the building, he nearly collapsed from the pain radiating from his horn. He could feel the dense magical storm long before his eyes were capable of deciphering the odd visuals that it had caused. The whole room felt like it was filled with an overly thick fog, and Storm could sense the violent push and pull of the cosmic energies as they warped reality around him. The pain in his horn so intense that he fell to the ground, with eyes clamped shut. Just when Storm was about to pass out, the magical anomaly vanished, its effects reversed. Storm finally managed to open his eyes. Instead of the madness that should have followed a magical outburst of that scale, the large presentation hall was filled only with the princess, a hand full of very shaken ponies, and one very confused looking Twilight.

Storm could only sit there and watch as the little filly's life improved by such a staggering amount that the colt began to wonder if he was simply a figment of the young pony's dream given sentience.

It wasn't until the princess and Twilight's family left, that Storm was awoken from his stupor by a rather loud and impatient sounding, cough coming from one of the examiners.

"And who might you be, hmm?" asked the blue coated stallion, still in the process of fixing his tie after a brief period of "involuntary levitation".

"Uhh, oh, yeah, my name's Storm Quill, I'm here for my entrance exam." Storm managed to say as he made his way down to where the little purple unicorn had been standing only moments ago. He stepped around some of the debris and looked up towards the hole caused by the sudden dragon growth spurt. "I promise I won't accidently turn you into pottery or anything" Storm looked over at the examiners and tried to smile.

The examiners stood there in cold silence, until finally one of them raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where are your parents?"

Storm's heart skipped a beat. How did he not think of this? Of course they would want to meet his parents, and as far as they knew, he was out at a friend's house.

"They . . . had to run back home real quick to . . . run the shop" It took all of Storm's will to keep himself from shaking. He tried to meet their gaze with equal strength.

After what felt to Storm like an eternity, the examiners turned their heads back to their clipboards. "Fine, bring in the next egg." an earth pony wheeled in a cart filled with hay, and atop the pile of hay sat a beautiful pink egg with tiny, blue polka-dots.

Storm stared at the egg in wide-eyed amazement; he had seen pictures of them before in the dusty, old books his parents sold, but to see one up close… A dragon's egg.

The sign on the side of the cart showed the egg split in half vertically, a tiny dragon inside, with two arrows pointed in opposite directions above it. As Storm studied the picture, trying to decide how best to hatch this sucker, he heard another forced cough come from one of the examiners.

Storm's mind raced as he thought of how he could hatch it. His ability to manipulate inanimate objects was impressive, but living things were still a touch above his skill set, and he didn't have the faintest idea how to hatch an egg.

Just as he was about to call it quits, he took another look at the picture, then mentally face-hoofed. It couldn't be that simple could it, he thought to himself. The picture showed the two arrows pointing in opposite directions, and Storm just assumed it meant hatch it, but that was clear enough from the picture, no, the arrows meant something else.

Storm closed his eyes and felt the familiar sensation of magic radiate from his horn as he reached out toward the egg. It was only when the white telekinetic field enveloped the egg, that Storm remembered a key aspect of draconic anatomy. He understood why this test wasn't going to be easy.

Horse apples, dragons are magic resistant.

Storm strained hard to keep the field around the egg; it was like trying to keep a grasp on something incredibly heavy and slippery. After what felt like a hundred attempts, he finally got a grasp on the egg.

Now the hard part, Storm slowly started to rock the egg back and forth, having it lean further and further out with each tilt. Sweat fell from Storm's brow, and he soon began to lose confidence.

Did I read the sign wrong? Oh Celestia, I must look silly right now…

Almost as if it heard him, the egg began to tremble slightly. The sound of hay ruffling forced Storm's gaze toward the egg. He stopped rocking it just as a small crack appeared toward the top. Slowly, it ran down the side of the egg until it eventually met the bottom. The two pieces of the egg fell away, and in their place sat a tiny, pink-scaled, blue-spined, baby dragon.

Storm couldn't tear his eyes from the adorable creature; his heart almost melted as it opened its eyes, stared at him, then yawned.

"Congratulations, Storm Quill, you passed! Welcome to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." exclaimed the yellow-coated examiner, a smile finally spread across her face.

Storm couldn't care less what the examiner had just said. The tiny creature was still staring up at him with its rich, cobalt eyes; they reminded Storm of the deep blue of an early night’s sky. The tiny dragon repositioned itself, bringing her (he noticed) tail up, and then proceeding to suck on it, causing Storm's heart to stop.

"Uhh, what will happen to her?" Storm inquired, pointing a hoof at the baby in the cart.

"Well that's up to you; the last applicant decided to keep it, but you . . ."

"I'LL KEEP HER!" blurted Storm before letting the mare finish her sentence. The very notion that he could keep the pink creature sent Storm's spirits higher than he thought possible.

"Right then, well, what do you plan on naming it?" one of the examiners asked.

Storm stared into the dragons eyes. What should I call you? The dragon just sat there with her tail in her mouth, when suddenly, a small hiccup caused a tiny burst of fire to jet from her mouth; it was the same color as her eyes, the color of the sky.

"I know, I'll call you, Skyfire" Storm said as he moved closer to his new charge. In response, the baby dragon giggled and reached for Storm. Storm smiled, and reached his magic out to pick her up, but instead of the impossibly heavy, slippery mass he felt before, he felt a warm, soft presence emanate from Skyfire as he lifted her onto his back.

"Come on, let's go home."