Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The sound of small hooves, occasionally muffled by a rug, filled the cosy bedroom. A young unicorn galloped back and forth, pulling books from shelves and digging through small piles as she referenced a scroll that floated beside her head.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
A final tome was added to the gently swaying stack by her door as the scroll snapped shut. The filly looked towards the desk by her bed and carefully examined the nearly silent device that rested on it. A smile danced across her muzzle as she pranced over.
Tick. Tock. Tick. BRIIIIIIIII-click.
The clock fell silent almost before it had a chance to ring.
"Ha ha!" Declared Twilight Sparkle, lifting her hoof, "I told you I could do it, Smarty Pants." She turned, facing towards a gently worn soft toy that sat upon her bed. She gave the doll a wounded look as it stared back at her with its mismatched button eyes.
"I can't believe you would doubt my abilities, and after all we've been through: the Broccoli Rebelion, the Final Stand of Dictionopolis, that One Time I Hid in the Bath 'cause I Didn't Want to Take One. Compared to those great battles, the Quest for the Pre-Exam Study Materials is almost too easy." Smarty Pants' expression remained unchanged. Twilight giggled to herself.
"That's what I like most about you, Smarty Pants. You're calm and collected, even in high-stakes situations. I know you just wanted me to challenge myself." Before Twilight could continue the, admittedly one-sided, conversation, a series of knocks slowly sounded at her door. Twilight rushed over and called out to the knocker.
"Come in." The door opened slowly, exposing a white colt wearing the expression of one freshly woken. Twilight's smile grew even wider.
"Good morning, BBBFF."
The colt, whose name was Shining Armor, not BBBFF(Really, what kind of name would that be? There's no vowels or anything.), yawned before he replied.
"Morning, Twiley. What are you doing up so early?"
"I was completing the Quest for the Pre-Exam Study Materials," Twilight declared in a matter-of-fact tone. Shining's face furrowed in confusion.
"The what?"
"The Quest for the Pre-Exam Study Materials." Twilight pointed towards the stack of collected books; it was almost taller than Shining Armor. The colt sighed, resigned to his fate... again.
"Mom really shouldn't have let Twilight read that manuscript. She's gotten more elaborate." He thought sleepily, before opening his mouth.
"Twilight, how long have you been up?"
"I got up just a little after sunrise. The Quest would not be denied!" Twilight beamed at her brother.
"You need your sleep LSBFF, especially before a test." Twilight's expression fell to a slight frown.
"But, I need to study more! What if I'm not prepared?" Shining smiled gently at his excitable, bibliophilic sister.
"Twiley, you've been studying for this for the past three weeks. You're probably going to be the most well-read pony there. You'll pass, I'm sure of it."
Shining Armor worked to think of something to do that would keep his baby sister distracted from her upcoming exam. "Well, Mom and Dad are busy making breakfast, so why don't you help me keep track of my morning workout?" Twilight's face lit up at the idea.
"Can I use my checklist? I promise it won't be like last time."
Shining Armor remembered last time: he had let his little sister keep count while he did his evening routine and wound up exhausted and sore. She had tripled the numbers without telling him, certain that it would make him three times stronger than the other cadets. A book on exercise was quickly added to her library.
He was about to deny the request when Twilight's eyes suddenly grew large and watery. The colt was determined to hold out against the emotional assault when a plaintive "Please?" was added to the battle. The final line of his heart's defense collapsed before the legions assembled against it.
There were no survivors.
A sigh escaped the defeated colt. "Alright. If you let me look it over first and it passes muster, we can use your list." Twilight started chanting as she tore through her room, looking for the right scroll.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…"
"And we're not double checking the list, right?" The chanting stopped.
"Not for something like this. Short Neigher's Get to the Workout was very clear: 'Do not overdo your exercise. You will cause more harm to your body than good.'"
"That's a relief," thought the colt, "she sure is serious when it comes to learning." "So, Twiley, what's so special about this workout you've concocted?"
"Hold on, I'll show you once I've gotten it." She stopped suddenly in front of one of her shorter book cases. "Found it!" Her face scrunched up in concentration only to relax as her horn flashed into activity.
A scroll shot out from between two bound tomes, friction pulling them forwards and off the shelf. Twilight caught them in her spell and looked them over. The thinner one, which Shining identified as the book on exercise his sister had quoted, was placed back in its place while the other bobbed obediently to Twilight's side along with the scroll.
Finished with the shelf, she pranced over to, and then out of, the door, passing her brother with a cheery, "come on, BBBFF." Shining chuckled and followed his sister to the stairs.
"What's that one, Twilight?"
"It's Short Neigher's workout reference guide: I'll Tone Your Quads, Your Pecs, and your Abdominals. It has step-by-step instructions for every stretch, exercise, and cool down you can think of. This way I'll know we're doing it correctly."
"And what exactly are you going to be doing, aside from being my trainer?"
"I'm gonna do the warmups. Just like I do every morning."
"Well then, we'd better get started LSBFF."
"Right behind you BBBFF."
It was happening! It was really, really happening! Or rather, it would be happening if her parents would hurry up.
"Come on; we're gonna be late! And if we're late, we might loose our place! And if we loose our place, then they might not have enough time to administer my exam. And if I don't take the exam, I'll never get into the school. And I I don't get in, I'll have let you down, and Shiny down, and Cadence down, and Smarty Pants down and… and-"
"-And, silly filly," interrupted her mother as she captured the anxious filly with a foreleg and a nuzzle, "your appointment isn't for another thirty minutes. They want us there early precisely so you and the other foals won't panic about being late."
Twilight drew a deep breath, her tongue queuing the bevy of reasons that the early arrival time was part of the exam. How the school's admissions board obviously wanted students who knew the value of punctuality. How patience and focus were important facets of learning and using magic, which, of course, meant that the wait was being graded too. How it… just wasn't fair that Mom could get to that one spot on her withers so easily. The breath was released in a long, relaxed, and somewhat put-upon, sigh.
She started squirming weakly after several seconds when the affection didn't let up, but the poor filly was caught in the most fiendish of all traps: the Mom's Hug. They were getting later by the second and she was unable to do anything because of that stupid-head pressure point. A desperate whine was the most Twilight could muster.
"Now dear, that's not fair." Yes, dad was saving her! She could still salvage this! "You aren't leaving any filly for me to snuggle." Wait, WHAT!? Betrayal from her own sire? On the Most-Important-Day of all days? It just wasn't fair.
Twilight drew on her last remaining strength, but she only managed a weak "Da~addy" before she disappeared into the impossibly comfortable hug.
\/•/\•\/•/\
Twilight and her parents stepped through the main entrance of the school five minutes later. She was draped across her father's back, grumbling over the injustice of weaponized snuggles. Her ears perked as a cheerful voice called out.
"Hello there! Is there anything I can help you with?" Twilight turned her head towards the voice. It belonged to a filly several years her senior who was sitting behind the counter of a rather temporary looking kiosk. It was obvious to Twilight: this mare was the Keeper of Information and would need to have her fiendish riddle answered before they could continue. Her parents approached, ready to match wits with the guardian unicorn.
"Good morning, we're here for the entrance exam." Yes! There was nopony alive who could match wits with her mommy. Oh, except for the princess… maybe. Princess Celestia was amazing, but her mommy was the smartest, bestest pony she knew. If the two ever did meet, the intellectual battle would no doubt be legendary.
"Yes, ma'am." The bright smile didn't waver in the slightest. Was there something wrong with Mom's answer? "The exams for first years are being held in the north wing at the tower lecture hall."
Oh, of course! It wasn't just a riddle, it was a whole set of challenges. Now they needed to find their way to the exam: the final destination, the treasure at the end of the boss fight, the relic in the middle of the old, abandoned temple. No matter. This, like every other adventure she'd been on, would be overcome; they couldn't lose! Wait, Mom was saying something.
"–ve some advice to give a little pony who's far too worked up over it?" Ooh! She was tricking the guardian into giving out more information. That was something Twilight wouldn't have thought to do. She prepared herself for subtle interrogation. Everypony was counting on her to pass and she wouldn't let them down.
\/•/\•\/•/\
There was still ten minutes left until her exam. The intelligence gathering had gone well and the benches outside the lecture hall were very comfortable with their high backs and plush cushions. She couldn't relax yet though, the upperclassmare who had pointed them here had said that the exam was a short, oral quiz on a random selection of magic studies with a mystery competency test.
The two parts would be graded separately and were delivered in random order. On top of that, the questions and the test were unique for each applicant, to prevent the applicants from using each others' answers. That had immediately grabbed Twilight's attention: there were ponies willing to cheat to pass the entrance exam. The more she thought about it, the more obvious it was that the exam was going to be really difficult.
The other fillies and colts waiting to take their exams were compounding her worries. Most of them looked just as nervous as she was feeling, and some of them looked to be at ease, but it was the confident foals, every last one them bearing a cutiemark, that really tickled her paranoia.
What if the teachers didn't take her seriously because she still hadn't gotten her cutiemark yet? No matter how many adventures she went on, she still couldn't seem to figure out her special talent. It just had to be similar to Shiny's and the way got his mark was so amazing! It wasn't just anypony who could ward off lightning strikes for almost an hour with a shield spell after all.
The cushion under Twilight's barrel dipped as her mother shifted over and curled around her filly. The panic practically evaporated in the presence of her dam; she knew it was instinctive, but she didn't care at the moment.
"So, what has my little evening star so quiet?" Twilight pressed up against her mother and considered.
"Well… I'm worried about what Brights Brightly said." Her mother 'ah'ed matter-of-factly.
"Which part?" The young unicorn squirmed a little, mentally weighing the benefits of confiding in her mother against the possible failures she had thought of. It wasn't a fair contest.
"She said that the exam was set up like this to keep cheating from happening. What if one of the others cheat and the exams are called off? Or they make a trap for somepony else to make it look like they were the cheater?" Mother frowned slightly and put a foreleg over her withers.
"Sweetie, you know that I grew up in Canterlot, right?" Twilight nodded. "Well, when I was in school– not Celestia's school, the regular one that Shiny's attending– Picture Perfect, my classmate from journalism class, and I did a biography on her older sister… I think her name was Photo Shoot." Twilight's mom relaxed into the story, thinking back to her youth.
"You see, Picture was the only pony in my class related to somepony that was attending school here, and she was confident that we would be the only pair that could get a story about what being a student here was really like." Twilight's eyes were wide with an anticipation born of a certainty in her mother's stories and the deep wisdom that could be found in them.
"She told us that the magic curriculum is intended to promote creativity and that the only way a student can cheat is to use someone else's work," Twilight Velvet paused for a moment.
"Do you want to know what I think?" Her daughter nodded rapidly. "I think that the questions are different so ponies who try to eavesdrop don't get any useful information."
"I guess that makes sense, but what about the practical? Why is that one different?" Once again, the elder Twilight stopped, thinking through the question to find the best answer.
"Well Twilight, if the quiz is supposed to find out how much you know about magic, the practical must be an exercise to see how you use what you know to solve a problem. After all, it doesn't matter how much you know if you don't know to apply it correctly." The filly was understandably confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Who do you think is better at magic: a pony who knows one spell but can use it one hundred different ways, or a pony who knows one hundred spells that all produce the same effect?" Twilight Velvet watched the problem make its way around her daughter's mind, systematically ramming into every one of her preconceptions. Meanwhile, in the filly' mind, a decision was forming.
What could Mother mean?
Was her mom worried about her spending too much time studying magic instead of practicing? No that couldn't be it, the second hypothetical pony knew how to perform one hundred spells.
The pony who knew one spell was obviously better at magic if she could do so many things with it, but how did that apply to her? Maybe there was a meaning she wasn't understanding, like some comparison she hadn't made yet.
So, the pony who knew one hundred spell obviously studied magic and could do it well, but despite her academics, she could only accomplish a single task with every one of them. The other pony was probably also a student of magic, but she seemed to focus on application if her single spell could accomplish so much.
Oh! Maybe that was the point. One pony knew a lot of magic, but the other could do a lot with magic. Mom could be trying to show her the difference between knowledge and ability; the things you know are only as useful as you can make them– or something like that.
Twilight looked over to her mother. "So you think they want to test how I solve a problem?" Her mother smiled proudly and nodded.
"Exactly. I believe the questions are meant to place you for classwork and the exercise is to give them an example of how you approach a problem and work your way to a solution. It should help them decide which teachers would work with you best." Twilight finally relaxed as the last of her lingering fears of failure was put to rest.
"Ok, I feel better now. Thanks, Mommy." She squirmed as her mother nuzzled her crest and neck, delighting in the attention but distressed at the damage likely done to her mane. They had worked for almost ten minutes back home to style it before her mother had pronounced it perfect and now it was being mussed.
"Mo~om," she wined in a plaintive voice, "you're ruining the work you did on my hair." The contact stopped immediately as her mother pulled back. Twilight grew a little apprehensive when she saw the face looking back at her. The expression was barely there, but Twilight recognized it.
Her mother was smirking.
"Well now, we can't have you looking all scruffy for the important ponies. Hold still." And with that, the elder unicorn began to nip and lick her daughter's hair back into place. Skillfully manipulating the strands despite her target's resumed squirming.
Before too long, the job was done and the out-of-breath Twilight had a pristine mane again. As a bonus(or perhaps as a primary goal), she had completely forgotten what it was that had her so worked up just five minutes prior. Twilight Velvet took the opportunity to check on her husband, who had run into a colleague. From the sound of things, he and Sundance were talking about revising the princess' nap schedule again. Oh, and it looked like she had also brought her filly for enrollment; maybe Twilight could make a friend.
Ah well, she'd just leave them to it. She may have thought it was cute when he started chattering about stars, sleep, and insomnia, but that didn't mean she could understand all of it. Besides, her own filly was trying to get her attention again.
"Yes, Twilight?" Oh dear, she had dug out the flash cards. Well, her daughter was nothing if not a dedicated scholar.
One final study session before the big event couldn't hurt.
\/•/\•\/•/\
"Twilight Sparkle to the examination chamber please!"
The voice was not loud, but it still managed to cut through the chatter in the hall. Twilight had noticed the voice call several other names while they had been waiting, but with her name being the one called it seemed so much more attention grabbing. She quickly hopped to her hooves.
"Mom! Dad! It's time! Let's go!" This was no time for adventure. There were academics to be done and magic to be learned.
Her parents, who had been talking quietly for the past few minutes a little ways off from the couch, turned and followed their prancing filly towards the doors that let to the long-awaited exam.
The princess-scale, oaken portal, was pulled shut once everypony was through, and the unicorn who was accompanying them turned with dimming horn to address the family.
"Alright everypony, here is what's going to happen: Miss Sparkle is going to enter the lecture hall for a short series of questions regarding her knowledge of the history and mechanics of magic. I need the two of you to stay here with me while she goes in. After tha– um… yes?" Twilight lowered her hoof.
"Why do my parents need to stay out here? They haven't been studying." The suited stallion bent down to talk eye-to-eye with her.
"Well Miss Sparkle, some ponies' parents do study. They try to help their foals with gestures and lip reading, and we have to hold everypony to the same standards of conduct so nopony gets an unfair advantage. Besides, your parents were helping you practice with those cards," at this point his tone and expression became more conspiratorial, "and you never know what they might have picked up." Twilight giggled while the older unicorn straightened back up.
"Now then, after you have finished with the questions, the faculty will select an exercise for you to demonstrate your abilities with. Your parents will be present for this, but they are only allowed to observe. Alright?" Twilight nodded. "Good, they're ready for you now so head on in."
The second set of doors opened and Twilight, feeling slightly intimidated by the size of the room beyond, looked over her shoulder at her parents. They smiled encouragingly and her father waved her forwards. Feeling heartened, she stepped into the lecture hall to begin her test. The doors closed behind her and the attendant pulled a clipboard from the shelf behind him.
"My name is Head Count, and while your filly is answering her questions I have a few for you as well." He looked up at the couple, and was greeted by puzzled expressions.
"We need to know what your filly is capable of: what spells she can perform, her study habits, how she handles stress. We need to know how best to challenge her without pushing too hard." It was the mare who first responded.
"We'll do our best, sir."
Author's Note
I'm working on the all-important final chapter, but real life sure does hate scheduling(for me anyway). Once it's done I might finally be able to get to the other ongoing writing projects I have.
