Canterlot Academy Trials

Once outside, the elder unicorn would present everyone with a scroll and explain their exact usage…

“These scrolls contain everything you need to gain access to your Familiars. Your familiar will be a reflection of yourself and depend entirely upon your inner strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and charms. Ensure you treat your familiar with respect and it will do the same for you. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!” all of the students sounded off at the same time

“Good. Allow me to show you my own familiar before we begin…” With a flash from his horn, Hassium would conjure a rune from the ground in front of himself which drew the attention of everyone’s eyes…

POOF!

With a flash of gold, almost angelic magic, a giant serpent with red eyes, white scales, and feathered wings would appear and bow its head. It was easily six meters (or 20ft) long with a wingspan of about 9 meters (or 30ft) wide.

“Wooooaaaah…”

“Siiiiick!”

“Damn…”

The students expressed various reactions of excitement as they gazed upon the regal creature.

“This is a Quetzalcoatl,” Hassium explained as he petted the serpent on its head with his hoof. “One of many legendary creatures that roam the lost cities of Mexicolt. Your familiars may come from there, or anywhere else in this dimension. Just make sure you treat them with care and they’ll do the same for you.”

“That’s amazing!” Blue roared from his place in the outdoor class, “And here I thought Quetz’s hated everyone else. Guess I was wrong about that. But I’ve got so many questions.”

“Me too!” a yak student called out--a young bull. “If I can summon something like that, then I can take on all the best missions and show off how strong I am!”

“Not if I do it first,” a hippogriff mare called out from nearby as she opened her scroll. “What’s the plan, teach?”

Hassium de-summoned his familiar, sending the serpent back through the magical portal. “Just be cautious now. A familiar can take many forms. Whether it be a plant, animal, demon, or even the spirit of a pony or other creature from a long time ago.”

“So it’s possible to summon a wraith, ghost, or shadow creature?” Grimrose spoke up with a vague hint of interest in her voice. “I like the sound of that. I hope I get someone who’s vengeful and filled with spite.”

A few students glanced at her with wide eyes and shuddered before turning back to their own scrolls.

“Yeesh, what a weirdo,” the hippogriff muttered, much to the chagrin of the pegasus.

Nebula meanwhile, sat on his haunches as he took a close look at the scroll. “Hm…alright, guess there’s not much to it but to do it.”

Around him, other students had already began to summon their familiars.

The yak bull had summoned a small wyvern.

“Woah…small dragon with no wings!” the yak cheered, “I’m gonna enjoy training you. I think I’ll call you…Flame!”

The wyvern landed on the ground and bowed before the yak, to which the bull petted him on the head.

The hippogriff mare had summoned a jackalope.

“Ooh! A bunny with horns! I love it!” she squealed as it began to hop around her and jumped onto her head. “We’re gonna be the best duo here, I just know it!”

Blue observed the other two students and their familiars before taking a deep breath.

“Alright. No more Scardey-Blaze…come on…” he opened the scroll and wrote the appropriate symbols upon it…

And the result that appeared out of it--

A large, four-legged lizard with varying blue-ish-green scales It was easily the size of an alligator but with a distinct purple tongue.

“Woah…hang on…teach! This is a Basilisk, right?”

“Correct, Mr. Blazes,” Hassium called out from afar, “Known as the king of serpents, this lizard boasts deadly venom. Be careful with it now, understand?”

“Yes, sir!” Blue called out and picked the lizard up, who tilted its head in Blue’s direction. “We’re gonna run this place.”

The basilisk simply nodded its head.

Meanwhile, Grimrose had already summoned her familiar…who was lying limp on the ground.

“I think mine is already dead,” she droned in her usual, stoic manner as she prodded it with her hoof. “It’s got these weird strings attached to it.”

Hassium trotted over to her to inspect her familiar…

As it turned out, Grimrose had summoned a pony-shaped creature with no eyes and no mouth. It was a solid brown color with what appeared to be cyan strings appearing out of its back.

“Ah. This is no ordinary familiar,” the professor continued as he levitated the pony-shaped creature, “This is a golem of sorts. And these strings appear to be similar to the ones that are used to control marionettes.”

“That’s my familiar?” Grimrose muttered while staring at it, eyes still half-lidded, “A puppet?”

“It would appear to be so. Hm…” The professor placed the golem down and made a suggestion, “Try attaching the threads to your wingtips. It might react to your innate magical properties. Familiars appear before their summoners for a reason that often reflects the inner self.”

“Understood,” Grimrose leaned down and grasped each one of the strings with her pegasus wings, flexing them akin to fingers…which caused the golem to get up and start moving. “Woah…it really is a puppet,” she commented with a hint of joy in her voice.

The other students couldn’t help but watch as she controlled the golem, and eventually it started to move on its own. Turning to Grimrose and kneeling before her.

“...I like this,” she remarked, “Not at all what I was expecting, but I like this.”

Nebula watched as everyone else had already taken control of their summons, leaving him the sole one who hadn’t begun yet.

“What if it’s a chimera? A manticore? Cerberus? Orthrus? Loa? Hayataro? So many potential options…”

With a nervous, jittery glow of his horn, the indigo stallion levitated the scroll and activated the summoning ritual. The stallion kept his hoof in front of his eyes out of fear of what might appear…

POOF!

Once the summoning was finished, he removed his hoof, then slowly opened one eye. Then the other eye…

…and saw a small furry creature wearing a round, straw hat with a pointed tip similar to those found in the Far East.

“Hm?” Nebula looked down at it, and noticed it was holding what appeared to be a recorder--a wind instrument similar to a flute but held vertically when played instead of horizontally. “Hello?”

The little creature pushed the hat down onto its back, revealing the face of a badger-like creature with beady, brown eyes.

“Oooh, he’s adorable!” the hippogriff mare called out from nearby with her jackalope cradled in her arms like an infant.

“Very cute indeed,” the yak bull added, still tending to his wyvern. “Easily cutest summon here.”

“Hey, he is,” Blue approached and squatted next to the furry creature with his basilisk on his back, “Guess he takes after his summoner, eh?” he teased with a grin towards Nebula.

“Ehhh?” Nebula gasped, “Whaddya mean by that?”

“The professor said that the familiars often reflect the will of the summoner,” Grimrose added, “It’s likely adorable because you are, Atomic.”

The unicorn stallion blushed and shook his head. “Naw…you all are just screwing with me…right? There’s no way this badger thing is cute because of me…is there?”

“She’s right to a fault,” Hassium approached, causing the other students to back away, “Give him some space, everyone. Hm…though I wouldn’t say this is a badger at all. It’s actually a masked palm civet. And magical civets can only mean one thing: You’ve summoned a Mujina. Isn’t that right, little one?”

The civet nodded its head and bowed to Nebula, offering up the ivory-colored recorder to his summoner.

The stallion paused and looked at his cutie mark--a bar scale with multiple music notes. Did his familiar already know of his special talent? “Oh, for me?” Nebula accepted it with a smile, “Thanks, little Civ. Er, Mujina. What’s a Mujina, professor?”

“A Mujina is a legendary creature from the Far East,” Hassium went on, “They often appear as helpless ponies and grant fortune to those who are generous and kindhearted enough to grant them aid. While inflicting misfortune and trickery upon those who mistreat them.” The unicorn leaned over to see that the civet had already poured them both a cup of hot tea seemingly from nowhere. “Hm? Oh, thank you, friend.”

Everyone watched closely as the professor levitated, and sipped from the cup…and nothing happened.

“Quite an interesting taste,” he noted the tea’s flavor while licking his lips. “I don’t believe these leaves are native to this region. Very interesting indeed.”

Nebula took the other cup and sipped it. “Hm…really good! This’ll be great to have during wintertime when it gets cold. Thanks, little guy.”

The mujina replied with grateful little chitters as it scampered up Nebula’s body and took solace upon his back.

“I do have to admit,” Hassium went on, “It is quite the sweet little thing, isn’t it?”

“You’re telling me,” Nebula agreed while petting it on the head. "

As everyone started to spend more time with their familiars…

...a certain griffoness was watching from a nearby classroom and looking out of the open window.

“Tch…not that cute. No one would be giving him that attention if he wasn’t attractive. Pony culture, I swear…”

“My my,” a male diamond dog student with white fur and black spots similar to a dalmatian spoke up from nearby, his voice slithery and cryptic with a sinister aura, “Ever the spiteful one, aren’t we, Gaea?”

“Shut it you feculent mutt,” she hissed while breaking the lead of her pencil from the force she applied with her claw.

The canid simply gave a wheezing chuckle as he resumed his assignment. “Touched a nerve there, did I?”