Chapter 2: The Lunar Academy

As I approached the gates of the Academy, I found myself unable to advance or speak.  It was just so... Big.  It was amazing, it was almost like the tales of Canterlot from my childrens book.  I continued walking forward and approached the gates.  As I got close a guard moved to stop me.  I didn't even notice and bumped right into him.  I fell to the ground in a daze, and looked up at the guard.  "What are you doing here kid?"  Asked the guard ina demanding tone.  I nearly froze up in fear but I was able to pull myself together before the guard kicked me out.

"I-Im here to a-apply to the a-a-academy."  I stuttered.  The guard just laughed at me.  As soon as he started laughing I filled up with anger.  Why should someone laugh at me, I am going to get into the academy wether he likes it or not.  I readied a spell, one of my favorites at that, one to cause a pony to go blind for a short period of time.  The guard saw me readying a spell but didn't do anything about it.  The instant I cast it, his eyes glazed over and he screamed in terror.  Luckily for him, he didn't fall off the bridge.  After a few minutes he started calming down.  But I wasn't done with him just yet.  Right before the spell was about to wear off, I turned myself invisible and created an illusion of me in front of him.

As soon as the spell wore off the guard just stared at my illusion as if he was surprised.  "You are pretty powerful kid, maybe you are ready for this school."  He reached to pat me on the head but as he did he hoof fell through the illusion and the it fell apart.  He looked around for me before realizing I was nowhere in sight.  I chuckled, and he turned around, staring right at where I am.  "Kid, just go inside, you have earned it."  A grin appeared on my face as I started walking through the door, my mom finally catching up with me.

As I approached the testing room, I began to be nervous.  What if they didn't like me or what if Im not powerful enough to complete the test.  What if I fail, and I get kicked out of Morning Star.  I would be a laughing stock.  'NO!'  I will not let this get to me, I can do this.  I walked through the large double doors and looked at the judges.  I stared in shock, there was at least 100 ponies in here.  It might have been the whole school!  I gulped and approached the stand.  "You are Dusk Storm?"  An old nearly ancient unicorn asked.

"Yes s-sir."  I cursed my stuttering and looked sheepishly at the floor.  The unicorn looked closely at me and gave me an appraising gaze.  Almost as if he was testing me before the tests began.

"You have passed the first test."  Wait, what!?  "You have shown that you are brave enough to stand before us, yet wise enough to know this will not be a cakewalk.  You have passed."  Joy shot into my heart, and I let loose a small grin.  This was better than I though it would be.  "Now, begin."

I looked straight at him in shock.  He didn't even tell me what to do, this isn't fair!  There must be a trick to this, something im missing.  I looked around the room, it was empty except for the crowd of ponies.  The crowd of ponies, of course!  You would not bring so many ponies to the test.  I stared into the crowd and looked around, it almost seemed like some of them were clones of others.  'They are illusion.'  I glanced around and cast a simple mass dispelling spell.

The Unicorn looked around in shock as the entire crowd of ponies dissapeared.  "Well Dusk, I must say I am impressed, no unicorn before has ever completed the test that fast before."  There was a look of genuine happines in his eyes, almost as if he found something he was looking for.  "The next test will be a test of your power."

Something was not right about the room though, I could still sense magic left in the room, almost as if someone was still using an illusion spell.  I could spot one unicorn in the now fairly empty crowd and could tell it was her that was the source of the power.  However, now was not the time to find out why she resisted my spell.

"You must simply prove that you can A: Cast a high level spell, one that should be impossible for you to do at that, or B:   Dispell her illusion... Or both, if you so choose."  The unicorns looked at each other and nodded, almost as if they were having a discussion.

I started concentrating, now was not the time for distractions.  As I felt magic start flowing into my horn, I concentrated it on the shadows in the room.  I felt the light bend and I could see the shadows start filling the room, almost as if they wanted to move.  I barely had to do anything.  Once the room was pitch black I started concentrating on the unicorn in the crowd.  I could feel the magic in my horn increasing, yet nothing was happening to her.  I concentrated harder, I couldn't fail a test just because I couldn't get rid of a simple, yet powerful, illusion.  As I poured more power into my horn, I felt something snap.  Not something on the outside, but rather something on the inside.  A huge wave of magical energy was released into my horn, almost as if a floodgate was opened.  I could see the darkness radiating off of my horn.

Lightning arced across the room.  I couldn't control it, there was to much energy.  I watched in horror as on of the bolts of lightning lashed out towards the two unicorns.  To my surprise however, the black mare deflected it with simply a movement of her head.  I felt the room spinning and I felt sick.  Everything faded to black.

As my eyes opened I saw that I was in a nice black room with medical equipment in it.  I looked to my left and saw my mom sleeping on the chair next to the bed.  She must have been there for a long time, waiting for me to awake.  I glanced to the right as I heard the door open.  Standing there was the unicorn who supervised my test.  I tried to open my mouth to apologize but I was struck silent when the princess herself walked through the door.  I swear, my jaw would have hit the floor if it could.  I realized I was staring at her and quickly looked away, hoping she hadn't noticed.

"Are you okay, my little pony."  Shit.