Twist of Fate

It happened in an instant and it reached further than anyone could have imagined. One small filly broke the sound barrier and rewrote fate for an entire planet as her sonic boom gleamed with the colors of the entire spectrum and enveloped the planet whole. Unknowingly linking her destiny with the fate of five others.

That story is one for another day however. This story is about the rewritten fate of a single creature, and for that story to begin we must shift our focus to a castle in the city of Canterlot. One purple unicorn filly named Twilight Sparkle is attempting to hatch a dragon from an egg when our shockwave of intense destiny magic explodes in the distance. Her reaction is instant.

An intense surge of mana flows into young Twilight as she hovers off of the ground and opens her eyes to reveal glowing white light. Her magic begins firing from her horn in random directions all over the room, turning her own parents into plants, an instructor into a small crocodile, a desk into animal balloons.

Ponies start to panic and bolt for the exit of the room and in the chaos the egg meant to be used for the exam is sent tumbling to the floor, shattering on impact. Magic that was aimed at where the egg once was instead strikes the air and with no target the spell reacts violently. Tearing a swirling purple void into space that expels air and magic into the room, cracking the floor and the walls.

The doors to the room burst open and a large alabaster pony equipped with a horn and wings, bearing the mark of the sun on her flank, steps in with a face covered in concern. She glances around at all the carnage, the chaos, the tear in space, the shattered egg on the floor, and finally on the filly floating in the air going through the most intense magic surge in recorded history. With one ignition of her horn she quickly went to work undoing the carnage unleashed in the room of her entrance exam.

All the transformations are undone in the blink of an eye, the flow of mana is suffocated until the filly responsible has collapsed to the floor on the brink of exhaustion. This leaves the alicorn with two things left to address. The loss of what was sure to be a great dragon and a swirling torrent of pure energy that has been torn into space. She quickly writes off the egg, knowing there is nothing she can do to bring back that potential life that is now lost, and turns her attention to the tear in space.

The alabaster pony known as Princess Celestia is actually unsure of how to handle this tear in reality. She’s already tried over 50 different spells to address the problem over the span of the last few seconds and none of them have had any measure of success. The tiling of the floor is starting to tear away in chunks and float in the air around the tear as unease begins filling the Princess. She’s considering what other methods to use to close the tear when suddenly it flashes a bright white light blinding everyone in the room for a few seconds.

When that light clears the tear in reality is gone. On the ground below where the hole in space once rested is now a small bundle of blankets. Two small hands are reaching out of the bundle and grasping at air as whatever is inside proceeds to coo and giggle softly. The entire room that was still in complete chaos falls silent as they listen to these new noises.

Celestia slowly approaches whatever this creature is and peers down at it suspiciously until she’s standing over it. “What do we have her-”

Her words die in her throat as she shifts some of the blanket around in her telekinesis and comes face to face with an absolutely adorable sight. It has soft pale skin all over and it’s staring up at her with two golden eyes that portray pure innocence and curiosity as it continues to babble and tries to grab at the alicorn that is far too tall and out of reach.

The top of its head has messy deep black hair all over it, and its incoherent babbling is cut off when it makes eye contact with the princess. The tiny hands have frozen as well and its expression has shifted into something close to wonder. In response Celestia does what any Equestrian would do in this situation. She squee’s.

She lifts the child into the air and brings it close. “Harmony above look at this adorable little thing. Do you have a name, little one?”

“Bah…haha”

“In that case I’ll just use our naming spell for you.” Her already ignited horn glows a bit brighter. “Luminous Deviation. What a wonderful name. Forgive me little light, but I need to look at your memories.” The alicorn has to determine if this creature will grow up to be a threat to her ponies.

Several seconds of silence follow before she speaks again, with a troubled expression. “What in the world just happened?” She eyes the infant suspiciously before deciding to address the other parties in the room before investigating the child more.

The princess now finally turns her attention towards the unicorn responsible for this entire ordeal. Twilight is hunched over, extremely exhausted, and receiving reassurance from her parents. “That was quite the surge you had there. What’s your name?”

The unicorn filly is actually so exhausted that she can’t even get nervous or panic despite being asked a question from the Princess Celestia. “My name is….Twilight Sparkle.”

“That’s a lovely name. Would you like to be my personal student, Twilight Sparkle?”

“R-really, Princess?” Even her parents seem at a loss from the sudden offer. “That’d be a dream come true.”

“Perfect. I'll need to talk with your parents for a bit to finalize some details if you could go wait with my assistant on the other side of the room.” She turns her gaze away from the retreating unicorn and looks at Twilight Velvet and Night Light, her mother and father. “Would you two be alright with that arrangement? It would take up more time than just being a normal student at my school.”

“Of course, Your Highness! That would be an amazing opportunity for our little filly!” Velvet enthusiastically answers the Princess without a moment of hesitation.

“Excellent. Now to address the dragon in the room… this tiny creature was summoned by your filly. It’s origins are unknown but it's likely we won't be able to undo the summoning, and I’ve been debating what to do with it. Technically it is young Twilight's responsibility, but with such extenuating circumstances… I’d like to hear from both of you about it. Right now I’m debating if I want to keep it here and adopt it as my own, or if I should send it home with you three. Well, regardless, it'll need to spend a few days here in the castle so we can figure out its dietary needs and determine if it's healthy or not. So, you don’t need to decide right now, but before I make a final decision I do want to hear your opinions. I wouldn’t send it to your home if you don’t want it, or if you think you can’t properly care for it.”

The two parents look at each other then at their filly before Velvet replies. “I don’t think we can give you an answer right now, Princess.”

This was, of course, the expected response. Celestia simply needed them to start considering the idea. “That’s expected. Well I won’t keep you three here longer than necessary, it seems young Twilight is exhausted. Go home and rest, Twilight will have her first lesson in a few days on Friday morning. She can relay whatever answer you two come up with when she arrives.”

The family rises to their hooves while acknowledging Celestia’s words and begin walking towards the exit. “Oh right, I almost forgot! Twilight Sparkle.”

The family stops and turns around to look at the Princess. “Congratulations on obtaining your cutie mark.” Celestia’s voice sounds sincere and her smile is soft as she stares at the unicorn.

“Oh my gosh! I got my cutie mark!” Celestia walks past the family as they celebrate with the small child still in her telekinetic grasp, and exits the room.

The alicorn starts making her way towards the small hospital located in a corner of the castle while deep in thought. Just like those two parents, Celestia also needs to spend a few days thinking. She has to decide if this child should live or not.

He doesn’t have any mana, but she can’t remember anything after she used the memory reading spell. Celestia cannot recall a single memory from the child, she used the spell and then seemingly blacked out for several seconds. Even worse now, those memories are gone. When she tries using the spell again the child is a completely blank slate. Then there’s the matter of his species.

He’s human.