Xanterlot University

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Chapter 1

A young woman hopped out of a taxi, pulling a huge shoulder bag with her before hurrying over to the trunk to retrieve more. She wore a purple ruffle t-shirt with black leggings and flats. Her hazel eyes shone as she witnessed the beautiful buildings and lush landscape of her new school for the first time. She brushed her dark, straight hair out of her face as she turned to pull out her two suitcases, both deep purple. The most important years of her life were about to unfold, and she didn’t want to miss a single moment.

“Ms. Sparkle?” the driver questioned as he caught up to her. “Are you certain you don’t want any help with those bags? It’s really no trouble.”

The girl shook her head, but smiled at his generosity. “I’m fine. And like I said, call me Twilight.” she said, pushing a couple of bills into his hands.

“Thank you, Twilight.” The man grinned. “I’d wish you luck, but I can tell you’re perfectly capable by your choice of university. Xanterlot is well known as the best around.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you.” She pulled out a map from the bag around her shoulder, and squinted as she examined it. “To be honest, I never took the tour of this place… Do you know where “Kismet House” is?”

The driver looked surprised. “You got placed in Kismet? O-oh, yes, of course I know where that is…” The frown that appeared on his face was not lost on Twilight, who gave him an odd look. “I’m sorry,” he continued, looking over to examine the piece of paper Twilight held in her hands, “it’s that way; right here on your map.” He pointed down a path along the side of the campus, and tapped a building that seemed a bit far off from the others.

“Oh, okay, well thank you! I should really get going, then.” Twilight smiled and waved.

The driver did the same as she started down the path. “Good luck, Twilight Sparkle!”

…

Twilight sighed in relief as she dragged her luggage along; the driver didn’t once comment on her odd name, or the fact that her parents weren’t with her to see her off on her first day of university – things most everyone seemed to bring up.

Truth be told: Twilight had never met her parents. She was told by social services that she had appeared at the door of an orphanage as a two year old with nothing besides an identification card. She’d lived at that orphanage for many years, and was in and out of foster care for far longer. Despite being the smartest in her class, she’d never managed to convince a foster family to adopt her. Twilight kept focused on her studies, and had long since accepted being on her own. A full scholarship to the prestigious Xanterlot University was her reward.

Though as she came across an old, tired building with masses of graffiti scribbled across the side, she wasn’t sure she was impressed with her placement in residence. There was a small plaque on the side of the building that read: KISMET HOUSE. Named after Sir Lionel Kismet (1789 – 1852), one of the founders and scholars of Xanterlot. He encouraged students to “find their destiny, even if in a way they might not expect”.

Twilight turned away and twisted a fancy-looking door handle. The door creaked as it opened, and she noticed a few students set up behind a table.

“Good morning!” a young girl cheerfully greeted. She had curly red hair, and was smiling in Twilight’s direction. Two boys beside the girl raised their hands in greeting. One was a bit taller, with shorter hair. The second was an inch or two shorter, but had more muscles and was arguably better looking. “My name’s Marilyn, and I’m a resident assistant here, as well as the president for Kismet,” she continued, “Can I have your name and ID please? Then I can get Will and Garrett here to help you with your bags.” She gestured to each in turn as she named them, revealing the taller to be Will, and the shorter to be Garrett. “They’re on house council as well… Will’s in charge of finance, Garrett’s vice president.

Twilight approached, dragging her suitcases behind her. “Oh… that won’t be necessary. I can handle the bags on my own,” she insisted, though she was panting from the effort of carrying them. “And my name’s Twilight Sparkle.”

The two boys snickered and Marilyn raised an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she repeated, used to this treatment. She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a driver’s license.

Marilyn took the license and peered at it for a moment before handing it back. “Oh, um, of course, yes you’re right here, room 308. A basic double… your roommate isn’t here yet. Here’s your key.” She passed an old-looking brass key over. “I’m also the RA for 3rd floor, so I’m sure I’ll see you around.” She smiled at Twilight before looking towards Will and Garrett. “Boys?”

The two guys saluted and each picked up a suitcase before Twilight could protest. She was reduced to following, carrying just her shoulder bag up two flights of stairs. They continued down a hallway until they stopped at the room second from the end.

“Here we are, 308!” Garrett announced, gesturing unnecessarily to the door in front of Twilight. “Go on, open it! Kismet’s an old building, so we still use keys… the rest of the campus uses ID cards, but you’ll get used to it.”

Twilight nodded and pushed the old key into the equally old keyhole. The door clicked open.

The room wasn’t very big. It was just big enough for two identical beds, dressers, desks, and chairs, one set on either side of the room, with a bit of floor space left over in the middle.

Will and Garrett dragged Twilight’s bags inside, and dropped them on the bit of floor space she had. “Since you’re here first, you get to pick whichever side you want,” Will told her.

“Oh, okay,” Twilight said, surveying the room. She quickly picked the right side, simply because the desk on the left had a hole in it that she knew would drive her nuts. She started unpacking, believing that the boys would leave once she started doing so.

“So, what program are you enrolled in, Twilight?” Garrett asked.

Twilight sighed. “Astrophysics.”

Both boys exchanged impressed glances. “Wow, that’s sure surprising,” Will commented. “I’ve never heard of a first-year taking astrophysics before… don’t you have to take certain - ”

“I took the requirements online during high school in order to take it first year,” Twilight explained without looking up.

Will let out a low whistle. “Well damn, I’m only in third year business. I’m majoring in marketing,” he said.

Twilight only nodded.

“I’m in the rec program,” Garrett said.

Again, Twilight only nodded.

Garrett cleared his throat. “Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure your next-door neighbour is in rec too…”

Will stared at him in surprise. “Oh God, do you mean–?” Garrett nodded and Will burst into laughter.

Twilight looked up, a mixture of annoyance and confusion on her face. Finally fed up, she deliberately started unpacking her bras.

“I’m sorry, we should leave you be,” Will said quickly.

Twilight smirked, but he continued.

“Just a warning – I’m pretty sure the girl that lives next to you has been drinking quite a bit already today…”

Twilight finally hesitated and gave them her attention. “It’s only one in the afternoon…” Twilight didn’t drink herself, and wasn’t impressed to know her neighbours did differently.

Garrett laughed. “I’d be drunk too if I didn’t have to do all of this house council crap. It’s your first day of university! Live a little!” He winked at her, then both he and Will disappeared.

Twilight shook her head in disbelief. She closed her door, locked it for good measure, then continued unpacking. She was nearly finished when dubstep started blasting from the room beside hers. She tried her best to ignore it as she finished up.

Next on her list of things to do was to purchase textbooks, but a bigger part of her wanted to wait for her roommate to arrive. So long as she wasn’t like her next-door neighbour, Twilight was sure the other girl would be tolerable. Twilight rummaged through a stack of newly-unpacked papers until she found the sheet that identified her room information.

Quickly reading through it, Twilight learned that her roommate’s name was “Flutter Shy”. An unusual name… not that she could really talk.

There was a loud knock at the door. Twilight was excited for a moment; was that her roommate? She stood up and put her papers to the side. The knocking came again, this time more frantic and unrelenting.

Twilight wondered why she wouldn’t just use her key. She opened the door, and a tiny girl in a cyan hoodie nearly fell on top of her.

“Oh, goodness…” Twilight took a few steps backwards as the girl staggered into her room, grinning widely.

“Hiiii!” The girl drawled. Her dark hair was short and choppy, and the ends were highlighted all of the colours of the rainbow. She was clearly intoxicated, as she could barely stand.

Twilight quickly gestured for her to sit on her newly-made bed.

The girl did so, her brown eyes struggling to keep focused on Twilight. “I… I just wanted to say hi, cause we’re new neighbours.” She giggled. “Dunno if you can tell, but I’ve had a biiit too much – if ya know what I mean.” She made a drinking motion with her hand, though forgot to put her hand near her face when she did so.

Oh right. Her neighbour. “Oh, that’s… fine…” Twilight said, extending a hand towards her. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle.”

Much to her confusion, Twilight received a high-five instead of a handshake. “My name’s Rainbow… Rainbow Dash.” The girl smiled.

Twilight glanced at the girl’s hair. “Fitting name.”

Rainbow laughed. “It’s my legal name! The hair came later.” She winked. “By the wayyyy, I have a single next door, so if you ever want to sleep on my floor… you know… need to get away from the roommate or something…” Rainbow Dash snickered. “I don’t mind! Annnytime!” She attempted to illustrate this with a wave of her arm, and ended up falling over onto her side.

“That’s very… generous.” Twilight was starting to worry about how to get her out of her room.

“Well, anyways, I think it’s time to take some more shots!” Rainbow sat up suddenly, grinning. “You should come, Twilight! GAAARRRETTTT!!” she screeched. “COME TAKE SHOTS WITH ME AND TWILIGHT!”

Twilight shook her head, alarmed. “Oh, no, I’m gonna wait here for my roommate. I don’t want to be, uh, too out of it when she shows up, right?”

Rainbow nodded rapidly, wide-eyed. “Oh, that’s a good idea!” She clapped her hands together, then stood up, swaying a bit. “Just me then! I’m the best at taking shots, you know,” she said, her tone turning serious. “I bet I’m better than anyone in this entire residence!” she bragged, pointing a thumb towards her chest for emphasis. “This entire CAMPUS even! I can take them all in a row, too!”

“Too bad you have nowhere to put them all…” Twilight muttered, looking skeptically at the other girl’s tiny figure.

Rainbow giggled, then staggered out of the room. “GAAAARREETTT!”

Twilight closed the door after her, breathing a sigh of relief as she once again locked it. She could hear Garrett and Will outside her door saying something to Rainbow, though she couldn’t make it out.

Rainbow’s voice, on the other hand, carried loud and clear through the wooden door. “Oh, Twilight’s super-cool! You’ll love her! She thought she was better than me at taking shots… but I showed her… she didn’t even take ONE!” Rainbow replied triumphantly.

Twilight rolled her eyes and pulled out a book. She was about to start reading it, but her door gave an audible click as it was unlocked.

Author's Note

Thank you to the wonderful Lhmac for helping me with the editing... it looks much better! :D

If you're here from fanfiction: hello! :) Tried to get this published on a Tuesday, but got set back a bit by the approval process. The attempt was still there, though!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Queries? Type 'em below, and I'll love you for it (probably).

Chapter 2

Twilight looked up, a bit surprised when her door creaked open. Will and Garrett walked inside again, hauled two suitcases – one pink, one yellow – in, and waved when they saw her.

“So, here you have it! Your new room, and this is your roommate, Twilight,” Will pointed towards her, though Twilight didn’t immediately see anybody standing beside him.

She stood up and walked to the door, finally noticing a girl peeking out from the door frame. Said girl widened her eyes and shrank back a bit under Twilight’s gaze.

A loud thud came from the hallway. The new girl flinched, and Will and Garrett looked over curiously. Rainbow’s voice echoed through the hallway, “HOW DO I GET THIS GODDAMN KEY IN THE SLOT?!” There were some more noises that Twilight assumed were Rainbow hitting her door in frustration, then a brass key flew past the doorway.

Will and Garrett quickly left the room. “Rainbow, cool it would ya?! Here, let me get your key…” Garrett trudged past Twilight’s door, heading towards the other end of the hallway.

Will nudged the new girl inside of her room before closing the door, and the poor thing looked downright terrified. Twilight could see that she was holding some sort of glass container close to herself, but couldn’t tell exactly what it was.

The two girls looked at each other awkwardly for a moment amidst the chaos going on outside. The new girl was a bit shorter than Twilight, but not as short as Rainbow. She had big, blue-green eyes, and wispy blonde hair that was parted so that it covered half of her face. She was wearing a long, pale-yellow v-neck with pink capris and flip-flops.

Twilight decided she had better break the silence. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She smiled warmly, and waited for the other girl to introduce herself. When she instead looked shyly at the ground, Twilight decided to prompt her. “What’s your name?”

After a moment of hesitation, the girl responded. “Um… I’m Flutt…s…” Her voice was incredibly quiet, and Twilight couldn’t hear the end.

“I’m sorry… what was that?”

The girl kept her gaze focused away from Twilight. “Um… m-my name’s Flut…r…y”

“Didn’t quite catch that,” Twilight prompted again, starting to feel sorry for the girl.

Instead of a response, she just squeaked something incoherent and looked at the ground.

Twilight stared at her for a few moments. “Oookayyy,” she said, glancing back at the papers she had for her room information. “Well, according to my room documents, your name is… Flutter? Is that right?”

The girl turned back to look at her. “U-um… yes… I-I mean… no…” Twilight gave her an odd look, and she cleared her throat. “I mean… it’s Flutter… Fluttershy.” She finally managed to convey, looking at Twilight with huge eyes.

“Oh,” Twilight said, glancing at her documents again. “That’s your last name, right? Flutter Shy?”

“Oh… no.” She said, looking away again. “One word… Fluttershy.” She looked up worriedly. “If that’s okay with you… I-I mean… I know it’s a weird name, you could call me something else–”

“Of course not…” Twilight said quickly, a bit overwhelmed at her level of shyness.

Fluttershy simply smiled, and placed what she was clutching in her arms on her desk. Twilight finally recognized the object as a fish bowl, but the fish in it looked half dead.

As Fluttershy started cooing over the creature and unpacking her things, Twilight stood up. “I’ll let you get set up… I need to go buy textbooks,” she grabbed her wallet and key before she left. Twilight took Fluttershy’s nod as an agreement, and departed.

Twilight sighed as she closed the door behind her. At least she didn’t get stuck with a partier.

As if on cue, Rainbow Dash stumbled out of her room and spotted Twilight. She waved drunkenly in greeting. “Hey… where are you goin’ off to?” she asked accusingly.

“Going to buy textbooks…” she hoped that Rainbow would be easier to throw off this time.

Rainbow looked confused. “Oh. I’ll come with you! You’ll probably get lost.” She unsteadily started to head towards the stairwell.

Twilight looked at the other girl skeptically. “You’ll get written up for underage drinking. Why don’t you just stay here?” Twilight tried her best to sound kind.

The tiny girl thought for a moment. “Yeah, that’s true.”

Twilight sighed in relief and turned to walk away.

“I’ll just introduce myself to your roommate, then!” Rainbow continued, turning towards room 308.

Twilight halted in her tracks. “Oh, no, she’s trying to get settled in. I think it’s best to leave her be,” she explained quickly, understanding full-well that Fluttershy would be more than overwhelmed by drunken Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow’s shoulders slumped. “Aw, man. There’s nothing cool to do around here.” She flopped onto the ground and stared in annoyance at the ceiling. “At least the ceiling here spins. That’s kind of… of cool.”

Twilight considered helping her for a moment, but thought better of it and instead made her escape.

Minutes later, Twilight was outside and heading towards the campus bookstore, map in hand. Kismet House was located far away from everything else. Granted, the campus was small enough to be crossed in less than ten minutes, so “far” was relative.

Twilight couldn’t help but notice the other residences, which were all better looking than her own. She wasn’t sure what they were called, but she was especially impressed by one made of beautiful white bricks. It looked fairly new. As she watched, a girl with poofy pink-streaked hair came out of the building backwards with a pout on her face. She had on an entirely pink ensemble consisting of a halter top, mini-skirt, and small heels.

A voice came out of the house, presumably directed at the girl. “You aren’t allowed in here! Upper years only, and besides, shouldn’t you be socializing with your own house on the first day?” A male voice shouted angrily at her.

“But, but, but…” the girl said, wide eyed, before speaking insanely fast. “I need to know everybody! If I don’t know everybody, then not everybody will know me, and then they won’t be invited to any of my parties, and they’ll feel left out, and–”

“I’m sure they’ll live.” The voice said unsympathetically, then shut the door.

The girl looked devastated for a moment, then Twilight watched as she sneakily crawled up to a different residence and zipped in when another student opened the door.

Something about the girl made Twilight smile. As she continued walking, she could overhear a similar lecture coming from the residence the girl with the poofy hair had entered. Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle as she finally entered the bookstore.

Twilight approached the clerk working at the store. “Excuse me?” Twilight asked, and the clerk turned around. “Could you help me find some textbooks? I’m taking astrophysics. And psychology as an elective.”

The clerk nodded and directed her towards the appropriate sections. Twilight thanked her, and was able to gather most of her books from the same location. Psychology was listed under a different major, so Twilight had to cross the store to retrieve her last book.

There was another girl also looking in the psychology section with one finger placed thoughtfully on her lip. She was a bit oddly dressed in Twilight’s opinion, wearing an orange plaid crop-top with a white tank-top underneath, blue jeans, brown shoes, and to top it all off, a cowboy hat overtop her braided dirty-blonde hair.

Twilight started looking for her psychology book, but it was nowhere to be found. She turned to the other girl. “Excuse me, are you looking for the intro to psychology textbook as well?”

The girl with the cowboy hat nodded. “Sure am! Don’t seem tah be here, though. Might be outta stock; ah heard it’s a popular course.”

Twilight was slightly taken aback by her strong southern accent, but smiled nonetheless and nodded. “Let’s check with the clerk… it might have been put into overstock or something,” she suggested.

The other girl nodded, and they walked together. “My name’s Twilight, by the way. Twilight Sparkle.”

The girl smiled as her green eyes met Twilight’s hazel ones. “Nice tah meet ya, Twilight! You can call me Applejack.”

After the two girls explained the situation to the clerk, she rushed out to grab some more books for them. Twilight turned to Applejack, deciding to fill in time. “So, Applejack, are you majoring in psychology?”

Applejack shook her head. “Nah, Ah’m takin’ agricultural studies. Ah think mah parents were farmers, but Ah don’t remember ‘em… Ah was adopted, see, and Ah lived in the city mah whole life. Psyc’s just ahn elective.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s really interesting… I’ve never met my real parents either.” The two girls smiled at this similarity. “I’m taking astrophysics.”

Applejack gave a low whistle. “Well jeez, that sure does sound mighty fancy, Twilight. Are ya livin’ on campus?”

Twilight nodded. “In Kismet House.”

Applejack grinned. “Me too! Third floor.”

“Wow!” Twilight exclaimed, “That’s the floor I’m on!”

The girls continued chatting for a few minutes until the clerk came back with their books. “I’m sorry for the wait, they were under a huge stack…” The woman sighed, a little out of breath.

“That’s okay,” Applejack replied. She gave Twilight a wink, who smiled in return.

They both purchased their books and left together. Applejack halted as they left the store. “Ah need tah take care of a couple things down in the student services,” she explained, pointing in the other direction. Twilight nodded. Applejack smiled. “Ah sure do like makin’ new friends… it was a pleasure meetin’ you, Twilight!”

“You too, Applejack!” Twilight returned back to Kismet House, encouraged that she was able to meet somebody who seemed both nice and sane.

…

Later that night, Twilight and Fluttershy were in their room, hiding from the blaring music and loud, obnoxious, drunken voices outside. Twilight was reading a book, while Fluttershy was buried under her covers, uncertainly watching the walls shake with beat of the blaring music.

Twilight was at least glad that she wasn’t the only one who wanted no part in the illegal drinking games going on in the hallway. She did her best to ignore the noise. Rainbow was still going strong, and every so often knocked on Twilight’s door and called for her to come out. Twilight ignored the attempts, and was pleased that Fluttershy did the same.

Twilight could swear that one of the voices in the hallway belonged to the girl with the poofy pink-streaked hair she had seen earlier, but couldn’t be sure; there were so many people outside. She rolled onto her side, deciding to give up on the book. Fortunately, Xanterlot had specified hours where residents had to be quiet, so she wouldn’t have to wait too much longer until they took effect.

A tiny voice came floating from across the room. “U-um… Twilight?”

“Yes, Fluttershy?” Twilight replied, a bit surprised since it was the first thing she had said to her this evening.

The shy girl hesitated before continuing. “I-I just wanted to let you know… I have, um, really bad nightmares sometimes… just in case you hear me crying in my sleep, that’s why. I didn’t want to make you worry if it happened tonight, so…”

“Oh.” Twilight felt sympathetic. She herself had bad nightmares sometimes, though she wasn’t sure if she should bring that up. “Okay, thanks for letting me know. Goodnight, Fluttershy.”

“Goodnight…”

As the voices outside started to die down, both girls fell into an uneasy sleep.

Chapter 3

A beautiful white mare stood proud atop a pedestal in a huge room. She had powerful-looking feathered wings and a huge spiraled horn on her forehead. Her flowing mane was coloured with soft pastel shades, and she wore a huge gold necklace with a single purple jewel that perfectly matched the crown on her head.

Twilight was overcome with respect. She lowered her neck, allowing her own navy-blue mane to cover part of her face, and extended her lavender forelegs downwards in a bowing position. When she looked up again, the white mare was giving her a warm smile.

“Twilight Sparkle.” the mare addressed her. “My ever-faithful student. We need to discuss something very important– ” She was cut off as the floor beneath their hooves started to rumble violently.

Twilight whipped her head around, trying to find some sort of clue as to why the ground was shaking. When she looked back, the white mare had vanished. “Princess Celestia?!” she cried.

In a flash of purple lightning, a new mare took her place. She was a bit smaller, with the same feathered wings and large horn, but coloured a deep indigo. She was clothed in blue armour, and had a malicious expression on her face. Twilight took a few steps back, breathing heavily.

The mare looked at her and cackled. “One thousand years I’ve waited for this moment… And look at you, all alone! Haven’t even gathered the elements, have you?”

Twilight couldn’t do anything except stare in disbelief. She felt as if her worst fears had been realized.

“I am Nightmare Moon!” the mare continued, cackling. And with another flash of purple lightning, everything went black. Twilight felt the ground beneath her slip away, and she screamed as she fell through the air.

“Twilight.” The voice of Princess Celestia calmly surrounded her. Twilight looked everywhere, but could see nothing but darkness. “Twilight.” The voice repeated. “This is what you must prevent. Gather the elements. The time is approaching, and I cannot protect you for much longer. My faithful student… I know you will succeed.” The voice faded away, and a rushing sound replaced it. The sound of somebody crying started echoing around her. Twilight knew she was just moments away from hitting the ground –

Twilight woke up, gasping desperately for air. Her heart pounded in her chest, and after a few moments, she realized she had just been dreaming again. She rubbed her forehead, groaning. It wasn’t the first time she had dreamt about the white mare, but the purple one was new. Something about these recurring dreams seemed so real and familiar to her…

As she started to calm down, she realized that the crying she was hearing hadn’t been coming from her dream. She looked over, and in the faint light of the rising sun could see Fluttershy curled up and sobbing in her sleep.

“Please… please no…” Fluttershy muttered, her voice desperate and terrified. “Get away from me… I-I…!” Her breathing picked up, and she whimpered.

There was a loud thud as something hit the other side of the wall that separated their room from Rainbow Dash’s. Twilight flinched, and Fluttershy’s eyes shot open. The blonde girl started shaking as she eyed the room, clearly still half asleep, and confused to have woken up somewhere unfamiliar.

Twilight got out of bed and knelt beside her. “It’s okay, Fluttershy… Shh…” she said softly as Fluttershy’s sobbing died down and a few final tears escaped from her eyes. Twilight moved some of the hair that had fallen into Fluttershy’s face, and the shy girl’s breathing evened out as she looked at Twilight questioningly.

“T-Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, starting to sit up.

Twilight nodded. “You were just dreaming… it was just a dream,” she told Fluttershy, trying to convince herself of the same thing. It was just a dream… wasn’t it?

“Oh.” Fluttershy said softly, seeming a bit embarrassed to have caused Twilight any trouble. “I’m sorry… Thank you. I’m okay now, you can go back to sleep if you want.” Fluttershy sunk back into her covers.

Twilight wasn’t sure if she would be able to go back to sleep after all that had just happened, but Fluttershy clearly didn’t feel like sharing whatever she had been dreaming about, so she just nodded and crawled back into her own bed.

The clock set up on Twilight’s desk read 5:14am. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. There wasn’t any truth to the dream… she hoped. After all, horses didn’t talk, or have wings and horns. She tried to brush the familiar feeling off as déjà vu, but she couldn’t help but admit that there was something weird about it at the same time.

Twilight stole a glance over at Fluttershy, and saw that she was staring at the ceiling much like Twilight. Twilight resumed her former position, and let her thoughts overtake her until she drifted off to sleep again.

Twilight awoke to a beaming face and a mess of brown and pink-streaked hair hanging over her. “Rise and shine sleepyhead!” The face sung happily.

Twilight screamed and recoiled backwards, knocking her head on the closet behind her. Dazed, she stared at the girl dressed all in pink standing over her, then over at Fluttershy, who was still holding the door open and looking just as stunned as Twilight.

“I just wanted to introduce myself, because I didn’t meet you two last night when I met everybody else! My name’s Pinkie Pie!” She grinned widely. “What are your names?”

Twilight blinked rapidly, unsure if she was still asleep or not. “I… uh, my name’s Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”

Pinkie Pie clapped excitedly. “That’s a fun name! I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody with that name before, and trust me, I’ve met lots of people so that’s saying something! You must be super-duper unique!”

Twilight just stared at her. “Uh…”

Pinkie Pie turned suddenly towards Fluttershy, who shrank back. “What about you, what’s your name?”

Fluttershy stared at her, wide-eyed. “I-I… um…”

“Her name’s Fluttershy,” Twilight said, deciding to save Pinkie the trouble she went through for the same answer the day before.

“Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked, looking thoughtful. “…Nope! Never heard of that name either! You two are super unique roommates!” She giggled. “I’ll have to have a party for you tonight so you can meet some people! After all, we live on the same floor!” She beamed, clearly excited.

“O-oh, I don’t know…” Twilight said uncertainly.

“Don’t worry about it!” Pinkie insisted, waving her hand dismissively. “It’ll just be a really small party, after all, classes start tomorrow, and everyone needs sleep sometime! Come over to my room at six, I live in 303! Anyways, I need to go eat a banana. I’d better see you two around soon!” With that, she skipped out of the room, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy stunned.

“…What just happened?” Twilight asked, staring at the door where Pinkie Pie exited.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t know. But Pinkie Pie seems nice to me.” She smiled.

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, but I don’t exactly want a wake-up call every morning at…” she trailed off, glancing at the clock. “Oh my goodness, it’s eleven already?!”

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy said meekly. “I didn’t want to wake you, so I snuck out really quietly and ate breakfast and bought my textbooks.” She gestured towards the stack of them, which were on her desk next to the fishbowl.

Twilight looked over curiously, noting that the first one on the stack was the same intro to psychology book that Twilight had purchased the day before. “So you’re taking psychology?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh, no, psychology is just an elective. That and music.” She smiled fondly. “I’m taking biology. I want to be a vet one day.” She glanced over at the fishbowl, where the half-dead looking betta fish swam around feebly with torn fins and pale colouring. “I just love helping animals like Fin here. I found him in the pet store, so I decided to take him with me.” Fluttershy traced a line across the bowl, and Fin followed her finger eagerly. She giggled. “Isn’t he cute?”

Twilight looked at the mangled fish skeptically. ‘Fin’ didn’t seem like an appropriate name. “Yeah, I guess.”

Fluttershy picked up a box beside the fishbowl labeled “freshwater aquarium salt”. She held it over the bowl, and tapped gently, a tiny bit of salt falling into the bowl every time she hit it. Once satisfied that there was enough salt, she placed the box back beside the fishbowl. “You’ll like him better once he’s looking like himself again, I’m sure. The salt will help him heal.” She looked at Twilight, smiling.

Twilight couldn’t help but notice that Fluttershy seemed to be warming up to her. She wondered if it had something to do with what had happened last night…

Last night! Twilight remembered the events from her dream with a jolt. She was compelled to do research on it. Even if she didn’t find anything, Twilight figured she’d at least get a feel for the school’s library.

“Fluttershy, I’m going to go check out the library. You want to come?” Twilight hurried around to find her purse and key.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, thanks.” The blonde’s attention was focused on her biology textbook. “You have fun, though.”

Twilight nodded, and left. The hallway was much quieter than it had been the day before. Twilight quickly freshened up in the bathroom, then headed downstairs.

She was about to head out the door when a voice stopped her. “Hey, Twilight!”

Twilight sighed internally, then turned to see Will, Garrett, a few other boys whom she didn’t know, and, a bit randomly, Pinkie Pie, all in the lounge that was near the entrance of Kismet.

Pinkie Pie’s face lit up when she saw Twilight. “Twilight! We were just talking about you!” Twilight raised an eyebrow, but Pinkie waltzed over happily and dragged Twilight to their group.

“What Pinkie Pie means,” Will said quickly. “Is we were just wondering if you’d seen Rainbow Dash today? Because you’re neighbours and all.”

“Uh, no, I guess I haven’t. I just got up myself…” Twilight said, glancing at the exit. She really didn’t want to converse when she had more important things to do.

“Oh.” Will said. He and the rest of the group exchanged glances.

“…Why, did something happen?” Twilight asked, giving in to curiosity.

Garrett laughed. “No, everything’s fine. That girl’s a champ… probably has a wicked hangover.”

The others nodded, still looking a bit uncertain.

Twilight took a step backwards. “Well, maybe you should check on her? Anyways, I reeeeally have to run. Bit late on my schedule for today.” She waved and turned to the exit to make her escape.

“Remember Twilight!” Pinkie Pie called after her. “Six o’ clock!”

Author's Note

Decided to upload up to chapter three because FIMfiction likes to be very sure that stories are connected to FiM. Hopefully this is proof enough... :3

Chapter 4

Twilight spent several hours in the library researching dreams and unicorns, but couldn’t find much of a connection.

Frustrated, she pulled out another book that was meant to explain the connection between dreams and reality.

She flipped through it absently. ‘Several theories have been made concerning a connection between dreams and future events. There have been several claims by people worldwide that what they see in their dreams represents their destiny.’

Twilight sighed. Unless she was about to change into a little purple horse sometime in the near future, she doubted any of these books had relation to her experience.

The dark-haired girl shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She didn’t have time to worry about it anymore; classes started the next day.

Twilight squinted up at a clock hanging on the library wall. Five thirty. She realized that if she was supposed to meet Pinkie Pie at six, she had better leave.

A large plaque that was placed above the exit caught Twilight’s eye. It looked very old, and seemed as if it was supposed to read the name of the school’s library, but the first letter was replaced with something similar to a long apostrophe. It simply read: “anterlot Library”, and was covered with secure plastic barriers. Twilight looked briefly around for evidence of what it was before leaving, but couldn’t find anything.

Twilight made it back to Kismet with fifteen minutes to spare. She hurried into her room, and was a bit surprised to see that Fluttershy was already gone. She didn’t think anything of it, and quickly fixed up her hair and threw a bit of makeup on. She hoped that Pinkie Pie wasn’t expecting anybody to dress up.

The bookworm made her way over to room 303, and noticed that it was already open. She walked in slowly, and four smiling faces turned her way.

Three of them Twilight recognized. Fluttershy was perched on the bed on the right side of the room, and Rainbow Dash was sitting beside her. The rainbow-haired girl seemed fine, despite her heavy drinking the night before and the boy’s concerns about her. On the other bed, Twilight recognized Applejack as she tipped her hat in greeting.

The last girl was sitting in the desk chair on the same side of the room as Applejack. She had luscious, long, curly black hair, bright blue eyes, and was wearing a white summer dress that was bejeweled around the bust area.

“Oh, come in, dear,” the girl in the chair said, gesturing for Twilight to enter. “It’s so nice to meet you; the others have said wonderful things! My name’s Rarity; I’m Pinkie Pie’s roommate.” She stood up and offered her hand, which Twilight gladly shook.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Rarity!” Twilight said in return, smiling. “Your dress is really something, by the way. Where did you get it?” Twilight wasn’t really interested in fashion, but sensed from the number of dresses strewn across Rarity’s side of the room that she certainly was.

Rarity looked down, surprised. “Oh, this old thing? I made it myself, as a matter of fact.” She smiled, appearing touched by the compliment. “So I take it you’re Fluttershy’s roommate?”

Twilight nodded. “That’s right.” She glanced over at Fluttershy, who smiled shyly. “And you said you’re Pinkie Pie’s? She seems really nice and all, but I’d imagine sharing a room with her might be a bit… overwhelming.”

The others laughed in appreciation, but Rarity shook her head, smiling. “Not at all, seeing as she’s hardly ever here. It’s perfect, really!” She gave a small laugh. “There’s no need for you to stand, by the way, Twilight. Go and have a seat next to Applejack on my bed.” Rarity pointed to the bed on the left side of the room, then sat back down in her chair.

Twilight did as she was told, and exchanged smiles of recognition with Applejack. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?” Twilight whispered, wondering why the party-lover wasn’t at her own party.

Applejack gave a small laugh. “Oh, don’t you worry none. Ah reckon she’ll be here soon as it’s six.” Applejack pointed out an LED clock at the end of the room, which read “5:57”.

Twilight nodded, deciding not to question it. “Did she wake you up this morning too?”

Applejack looked confused for a moment. “Pinkie Pie?”

“Yeah, she was the first thing I saw when I woke up this morning…” Twilight recalled, still a bit annoyed at the intrusion.

Applejack laughed. “Boy, Ah’ll tell ya, that girl sure is an energetic one! But nah, Ah met her last night. She told me ‘bout this party of hers today while Ah was already awake. Ah have a single across the hall from here.”

“Lucky you…” Twilight said with a small smile. She turned her attention to the other bed, where Fluttershy was saying something in a low voice to Rainbow Dash. Upon noticing Twilight looking at her, she prodded Rainbow and smiled at Twilight.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, looking sheepish. “Uh, listen Twilight… I’m really sorry about yesterday. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

Twilight smiled at the apology, though wasn’t entirely sure if she could shake the first impressions from her memory. “Don’t worry about it. How are you feeling today?”

“A lot better thanks to Fluttershy.” Rainbow glanced at the girl beside her, who smiled shyly.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, a bit taken aback.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, she was awesome. She was the only one who bothered checking on me. Got me water and food and everything!”

Fluttershy blushed at the compliment. “When her friends were knocking on her door, I don’t think they heard her saying that the door was unlocked... The walls are so thin that I could hear her from my room, so I thought I’d check and she was, well…”

“A mess,” Rainbow Dash finished, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. “I can’t believe how much those guys convinced me to drink. I mean, any other day I’d totally be able to handle it… but, uh, first day and all. I was excited, obviously! Might have went a bit overboard.”

Twilight was more surprised at Fluttershy’s behaviour than Rainbow’s. “Fluttershy, had you even met Rainbow Dash before today?” She found it hard to believe that her roommate would go out of her way for a complete stranger; she seemed way too shy.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I hadn’t… but sometimes everyone just needs to be shown a little kindness.” She gave a small smile, which a slightly taken-aback Twilight returned after a second.

“Seriously though,” Rainbow Dash continued, “if you ever need anything, I–”

Twilight blinked rapidly to clear her vision, which suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion. Her hearing had completely cut out as well, though nobody else seemed to be suffering from the same thing. The four other girls were grinning at the doorway, and when Twilight turned her head, she noticed that Pinkie Pie had emerged, carrying a giant bowl containing some sort of chocolate-banana dessert.

Pinkie put the dessert down, and turned happily to Twilight. The pink-clad girl was speaking to her, but Twilight couldn’t hear what she was trying to say. Twilight could feel her heart picking up pace, and she looked at the others in the room in panic.

The voice from her dream started to echo around her. ‘Gather the elements… my faithful student, I know you will succeed… gather the elements…’ The sentences started melding together, and Twilight breathed heavily, her vision alternating between the five now very concerned faces staring at her

‘Gather the elements, you will succeed… Gather the elements... The elements…

The elements.’

Like a switch had been flicked, everything in Twilight’s world suddenly returned to normal, albeit she had a pounding headache. She became aware that Applejack was supporting her with both arms, and the others were gathered around worriedly.

“I think she’s snapping out of it…” Rainbow Dash said in a low voice.

“Y’all right, sugarcube?” Applejack asked softly.

Twilight’s breathing slowed down and became more shallow as an unpleasant feeling washed over her. “I-I think I’m gonna be…” She paled.

Rarity was quick to toss a garbage can in Twilight’s direction right before she started evacuating her stomach. Applejack frowned and rubbed Twilight’s back as the rest of the group flinched backwards at the terrible sound of retching.

“If you didn’t like bananas, you should have said so earlier!” Pinkie Pie said lightheartedly as Twilight finished.

Twilight raised her head upwards, groaning. “I’m sorry… Rarity, I’ll clean this up later.” She gestured to the garbage can.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t your fault.” Rarity said, still looking shocked.

Twilight’s vision flicked between the worried faces watching her. She appreciated their concern, but she really didn’t feel up to doing anything besides sleeping now. “I think I’m going to go to bed,” she said, standing up shakily.

Fluttershy watched her anxiously. “Do you want me to come with you?” she asked and started to stand, but Twilight shook her head.

“Thanks Fluttershy, but I really just want to be alone.”

Fluttershy bit her lip, but nodded and sat back down.

…

Twilight found herself in front of the beautiful white mare with the feathered wings and huge horn. Again, she stretched her forelegs forward, and dipped her neck. When she looked back up, the mare was watching her with a sad smile.

“Twilight, I’m so sorry.” Princess Celestia spoke. “I tried to communicate with you while you were awake, even though I knew your body wasn’t ready for it yet.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s alright. But what did you mean, ‘the elements’? I still don’t understand.”

The mare chuckled, and for the first time, extended her wings and leapt into the air. Twilight watched in awe as she circled the room, then landed near a glass window. Princess Celestia gestured to it with her horn. “The elements have been painted into the walls of this room since before any of them existed in their destined form.”

Twilight squinted at the window, but couldn’t see it clearly. She figured that wasn’t the point. “In their destined form?” she questioned.

Princess Celestia nodded, starting to walk back over to Twilight. “Yes. Especially given what happened today, I feel it’s unwise to give you too much information at once. But know this; I have kept the elements safe until this point, but it’s up to you and your friends to discover them for yourselves. It will happen in due time.”

Twilight shook her head. “I want to know more.”

The princess smiled fondly. “I know you do, but sometimes you have to figure things out for yourself.”

Twilight could only nod reluctantly. Princess Celestia laughed.

“Goodnight, my faithful student.”

As Twilight watched, the dream dissolved into a blissful nothingness that continued for the rest of the night.

Chapter 5

Twilight’s alarm clock went off bright and early, signalling the start of the first day of classes. She sat up in bed, yawned, and switched her alarm off.

The first thing Twilight noticed was that Fluttershy’s bed was empty, and her pink quilt-patterned sheets were perfectly made. It was as though it hadn’t been touched all night. Twilight figured she must be taking a shower or something, and didn’t think anything of it.

Twilight grabbed the papers off of her desk, and sifted through them until she found her schedule for the classes she was taking. Everybody took five courses per semester, and this semester Twilight was taking calculus, physics, psychology, chemistry, and astronomy. Since today was a Monday, she had psychology first at 9am, calculus at 10am, then astronomy later on at 7pm.

She left her room to shower and brush her teeth, noting that none of the bathrooms were occupied. Where on earth was Fluttershy? She tried not to worry too much about it, and quickly showered, then threw on clothes, dried her hair, and grabbed everything she needed for her first two classes before she headed out of Kismet House.

Twilight held the map up, this time looking for Xanterlot’s Dining Hall. She soon realized it might be a bit easier just to follow where the large amount of other students were all heading.

It wasn’t long before she had navigated the dirt paths all the way to the dining hall. She entered, expecting to grab a quick breakfast before heading off to psychology. The place was packed with students who also had classes at 9am, making the room buzz with hundreds of students chatting at the same time.

The food was set up buffet-style on one side of the room, and there were tables and chairs on the other side. Twilight looked around for an empty table, and was surprised to see Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack waving at her from a round table near the front.

Twilight walked over to them. She couldn’t help but note the concerned expressions on their faces. “Hi guys.” Twilight smiled and took a seat at their table.

“Are ya feelin’ any better this mornin’?” Applejack asked on behalf of the group.

Twilight nodded. “I’m really sorry if I worried you. I’m fine.” The other four girls smiled in relief. Twilight looked at Fluttershy. “Where were you this morning?” she asked. “You weren’t there when I woke up.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said, quiet as usual. “Well, you said you wanted to be alone last night, so…”

Twilight stared at her. “So you didn’t come home all night?!” Fluttershy nodded. “Oh Fluttershy, that’s not what I meant at all…” Twilight groaned, feeling terrible. “Where were you, then?”

“She was with me and Pinkie.” Rarity explained. “She was insistent on staying for a little longer to give you more time, and she somehow managed to fall asleep in my desk chair!” Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow laughed, causing Fluttershy to blush and Twilight to feel even worse. “We didn’t want to wake her up, so we just let her be.”

Fluttershy gave a small smile, half of her face hidden behind her blonde hair. “Please don’t think anything of it, Twilight,” she said sweetly, sensing Twilight’s distress. “I really did just fall asleep. I meant to go back and check on you… I’m the one who should be sorry. ”

Twilight wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth or not, but was willing to drop the topic with a simple shake of her head. “Just remember for next time that it’s your room too, alright?” Her roommate nodded. Twilight smiled back, then looked at the rest of the girls curiously. “You all have 9am classes too?”

They all nodded the affirmative. “I have psychology.” Rarity explained, pulling out the same textbook that Twilight had purchased.

“Me too!” Twilight said happily, and took out her own copy to show her. The other three girls pulled out the same textbook, and laughed at the similarity. “Are you majoring in it, Rarity?”

Rarity blinked in surprise. “Oh, heavens, no! I’m in the business program. It’s my dream to open a fashion company one day.” She said, her eyes sparkling with excitement at the thought. “Psychology is just a silly elective.”

“Same here!” Rainbow Dash agreed, then quickly added, “The elective part, I mean. Not the fashion part.” She looked disgusted, and Rarity shot her a glare.

“Ya’d better hurry up an’ get breakfast, Twilight. Classes start in twenty.” Applejack suggested. “Pinkie Pie’s up there now gettin’ seconds.”

Twilight nodded and stood up. She went and made herself a bowl of cereal, and after a bit of searching, saw that Pinkie Pie was at the buffet as well. She had a plate of waffles, and was in the process of absolutely drowning them in whipped cream, berries, and syrup.

Twilight walked over to her. “Hey, Pinkie!” she greeted.

The poofy-haired girl spun around, and her face broke into a huge grin at the sight of Twilight.

“Twilight, you’re okay! I was so worried about you!”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Do you have a class this morning too?”

Pinkie Pie nodded excitedly. “Psychology. Bright and early!”

Twilight laughed. “Same as all of us, then. Is it an elective?” she guessed.

Pinkie Pie shook her head vigorously. “An elective? No, silly! I’m majoring in psychology!” she said happily, and beamed as she picked up her plate.

“Oh… of course you are…” Twilight mumbled.

“Anyways, come on slowpoke! We’ve gotta go eat!” she sang, and led the way back to the table.

…

Breakfast was quickly devoured, and the six girls managed to navigate their way to the large auditorium where their psychology class was held. They nervously claimed seats next to each other near the back.

At the head of the classroom, a balding old man stood with the support of a cane as he watched the students file in.

“That guy looks like he could drop dead any second,” Rainbow Dash whispered, earning giggles from Pinkie and Rarity.

“As long as he knows his stuff, I’m sure it’ll be fine…” Twilight said in reply, watching as the clock at the front of the room ticked to the 9:00 position.

“Good morning, class,” the man at the front said, gaining the attention of the room. His voice was surprisingly loud for his frail appearance, and he had a very slight European accent. “My name is Dr. Frank Wires. I’m assuming you’re all here because you’re taking ancient history 101?”

The room filled with an anxious buzz, and the girls all leaned towards Twilight as she pulled out her schedule to double check that they were in the right place.

Dr. Wires chuckled. “I’m only joking! What a gullible bunch I’ve been given this year. We’re all here for psychology 101, correct?”

Most of the students gave small ohs or sighs of relief, and collectively nodded. One boy actually was there for ancient history 101, and hurried out of the room.

“It’s interesting how we as humans are compelled to believe authority,” Dr. Wires continued. “We’ll discuss the Milgram Experiment later on in the course. But for now, maybe it would in fact be best to give a brief history lesson. How many students here are in their first year of studies?”

Nearly every student in the room raised their hand.

“Excellent. How many of you know about Xanterlot’s history?”

Not one student raised their hand. Dr. Wires smiled. “To be expected. Xanterlot University was founded back in 1831, primarily by two extraordinary scholars.”

“Is he really going to give us a history lesson?” Rainbow Dash whispered in an annoyed tone.

Twilight shushed her, interested in what the professor had to say.

“The two scholars were named Dr. John Voli and Sir Lionel Kismet. You’ll recognize their last names, as two of the residence buildings here were named after them.”

“Yes, the most beautiful residence, and the grungiest,” Rarity whispered. “I wish I was in Voli…”

“Rumour has it that they were as different as night and day, but they worked well together,” Dr. Wires continued. “Voli put practices into place to allow students to learn a wide variety of topics. Kismet put together ways for students to grow in the one area they were best at. Choosing majors and electives may seem like common practice now, but back then there weren’t as many options to study.

Eventually, conflict arose between the two great scholars. Kismet was upset that students were crowding courses in areas they did not even intend to pursue, while Voli was delighted by this fact. Unable to agree on any ways to fix the problem, Kismet gave up, believing that Xanterlot would fall under Voli’s policies.

Xanterlot did begin to fall, but Voli realized his mistakes, and used Kismet’s methods to fix the problem by limiting the number of electives students could take.”

Dr. Wires paused, looking at the glazed-over expressions of the students. “I suppose we should move onto a brief introduction of the psychology course material…” He brought out a remote, and flicked a button, causing a screen to move down and turn on. A picture of a human brain with several different chemical structures labeled around it appeared. “Our first month or so will be focused on neuroscience. If you took biology in high school, you’ll find this pretty simple.”

As Dr. Wires rambled on about different chemical makeups of the brain, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie stared at him with confused expressions. Fluttershy, on the other hand, perked up. Twilight was left wishing she’d thought to review biology over the summer.

…

“That wasn’t so bad,” Fluttershy said cheerfully as they stood outside the classroom after class. The other girls stared at her incredulously.

“I thought psychology was supposed to be about human behaviour and stuff, not science!” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“I don’t understand my own major!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed worriedly. “Psychology in high school was nothing like that!”

“It’s really not that bad,” Fluttershy said calmly. “I can teach you later, if you want.”

The other girls thanked Fluttershy profusely. Twilight glanced down at her schedule. “I need to get going to calculus. I’ll catch you guys later, alright?”

“You’re taking calculus this semester?” Rarity asked, and looked at Twilight’s schedule. “Oh, wonderful! We’re in the same class!”

The other four girls waved as Twilight and Rarity departed. The two girls quickly located the correct building, and headed inside the classroom labeled on their schedules.

Many students were already there when they entered, and Twilight took a seat next to a boy with longish sand-coloured hair. Rarity sat on Twilight’s other side.

The professor walked in shortly afterwards. He was middle aged, with dark hair that was greying in places. He introduced himself as Professor Chris Kobson, and immediately started rambling on about what a limit was.

Twilight picked up her pencil and scribbled down a few notes, but she wasn’t sure why she was bothering. “Why do we have to go over the basics? Everyone here’s probably already learned this,” she muttered to Rarity.

Rarity shrugged. “It makes note taking easy.”

As their professor continued to go over the basics of calculus, Rarity gave up on taking notes altogether, though Twilight continued to copy them down just in case.

“Excuse me,” the boy Twilight had sat beside whispered to her. Twilight looked over. “I’m a bit confused,” he admitted. “Could I look at your notes?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Twilight said, pushing her notepad over to him. He smiled at her gratefully, and began copying them to his own page.

Twilight glanced at Rarity, who was surveying the boy curiously. Rarity’s gaze shifted back to Twilight, and the aspiring fashion designer mouthed the words ‘he’s cute’ with an added smirk. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment.

“Thanks,” the boy whispered as he pushed the notepad back to Twilight. ”I’ve taken calculus before, but it’s been a while. You must be really smart.”

Twilight smiled at him. “It’s nothing.”

The boy smiled back, then turned his attention back to Professor Kobson. Twilight stole a glance at Rarity, who looked giddy with excitement.

After what was a rather pointless lecture in Twilight’s opinion, the class was over. As Twilight and Rarity exited the building, Rarity grabbed Twilight’s arm, stopping her in her tracks.

Twilight looked over, confused. “What is it?”

“We need to see where he goes, of course,” Rarity said in a hushed tone.

“Where who goes?”

“That cute boy who said you were smart and smiled at you in class, Twilight!” Rarity gushed, staring fervently at the sandy-haired boy in question as he walked further and further away from them.

Eventually, he walked into a building with beautiful white bricks. Rarity gasped. “He lives in Voli?! Voli’s only for upper years! Oh Twilight, we need to find out his name!” she continued, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “That’s the most prestigious residence on campus! Oh, we’d be able to go to parties there… I hear they throw the best suite parties around!”

Twilight laughed as Rarity went on. “Rarity, don’t be ridiculous. All he did was ask for my notes.”

Rarity nodded happily. “Yes, that’s the first step!”

Twilight couldn’t do much but listen in amusement as Rarity continued going on during the entire walk back to Kismet.

Chapter 6

After an hour-long lecture introducing the basics of her astronomy course, Twilight found herself in front of a telescope preparing for a pop quiz to test her prior knowledge. First year students were not ordinarily allowed to take astronomy, but Twilight had completed the prerequisites during high school in order to take it first year. She had her schedule for four years organized, and this was the only way she could think of to fit in everything she wanted to take. She had astronomy only on Mondays, from seven to ten p.m.

She tried not to let the older students intimidate her as they went right to work taking the star chart they had been given and filling in measurements and distances. Twilight worked quickly, alternating swiftly between the telescope and paper.

Twilight finished well before most of the other students, which gave her a bit of free time to stargaze. The night sky was clear and beautiful, and the stars twinkled clearly through the magnified lens of the telescope. Twilight had never used such a high-quality telescope before, and was in awe.

Eventually, her mind drifted beyond the mysterious stars and planets in front of her eyes to the many other questions she had gathered in her first few days at Xanterlot: the dreams with the white mare – Princess Celestia, she reminded herself – were still nagging at the back of her mind. What was the significance of them reappearing so suddenly?

When she much, much younger, Twilight had similar dreams, though there was far less talking involved. When she was sad (or more often, lonely,) the beautiful winged mare would comfort her in her sleep. As Twilight grew and learned to become independent, the dreams changed accordingly. Her focus in her studies seemed to have earned her the nickname “faithful student”. The dreams became less and less frequent, until Twilight thought they had disappeared altogether. Until, of course, the last two nights. Twilight couldn’t shake the feeling of sincerity that the dreams presented.

Sometimes she would have other dreams where she was again a little purple pony, but Princess Celestia was not present. When she was a child, she would dream that she had unicorn parents and an older brother. She would dream that they loved and cared deeply about her. Once, she dreamt that they were mourning for her.

The images were hard to shake from her mind, and by the time her astronomy professor had dismissed the class, she was starting to question her own resolution that they were nothing more than ordinary dreams.

…

For the third time, Twilight found herself in the huge room, but Princess Celestia was not present. Twilight looked around for her when a voice came from behind her.

“Hiya, Twilight!”

Twilight whipped around and came face-to-face with a short, purple, and strangely adorable bipedal lizard with green spikes running down his back. Twilight took an automatic step backwards, but as strange and unfamiliar as he was, something told her that he wasn’t a threat… though it was probably just because he was grinning a huge, genuine smile at her.

“My name’s Spike!” he said, his clawed hands clasped together politely. “I know we’ve never met before, but I’ve heard about you from Princess Celestia.”

Twilight hesitated. “It’s… it’s a pleasure to meet you, Spike,” she finally settled on saying. “What… um... exactly…?” She wasn’t sure how to word this question, but Spike seemed to have an answer prepared.

“I’m a dragon,” he said proudly, and blew a small amount of fire from his mouth for emphasis.

Twilight eyed him skeptically. “I’ve always imagined dragons as being a bit… well, larger.”

Spike folded his arms and gave her an annoyed look. “I’m a baby dragon, okay?”

Twilight giggled. “Alright, Spike.” Something else was nagging in her mind, and she decided she might as well voice it. “Where’s Princess Celestia?”

“I’m here, my faithful student.” Celestia’s voice rang across the room. Twilight whirled in circles trying to pinpoint her voice, but couldn’t find a source anywhere.

“Um, where exactly is ‘here’?” Twilight asked.

“The princess is using her magic to project me here, all the way from Canterlot!” Spike exclaimed excitedly.

Twilight stared at him. That name sounded familiar… “Where is Canterlot, then?”

“Spike,” Princess Celestia’s voice boomed, effectively stopping him from speaking. “That is enough for today, I think.” Spike quieted.

“Twilight,” Celestia continued, “it’s important for us to keep in contact, but in your present state, communicating with you takes a lot of effort. If I’m going to be able to prepare you and then get you here, I’ll need every ounce of my strength.”

Twilight was still completely lost, but Princess Celestia continued on. “That is where Spike comes in.” Spike puffed his chest out proudly. “You see, Spike has magic of his own that provides very easy communication, even between worlds.”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

Princess Celestia gave a light laugh. “You will. Though perhaps not right now. I will send Spike over as soon as I can.”

“Send him over?” Twilight exclaimed, completely lost.

“For now though, Spike,” Celestia said. “I’m going to have to call you back. It’s time for Twilight to wake up.”

Spike nodded and waved to Twilight, who was still looking bewildered.

“Twilight, my faithful student… you’ll soon understand. I promise.”

“Wait!” Twilight called, but the room faded to black, and a loud beeping filled her ears.

Twilight opened her eyes, then sat up in bed and turned her alarm clock off. She sat still for a moment, trying to take in what she had just experienced. It wasn’t logical that these dreams were something more, but on the other hand, it was just as illogical that they were being so consistent. And they were so… vivid. Twilight made a mental note to do more research on dreams.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy’s soft voice asked. Twilight glanced over to see her roommate concealed under her covers except for her exhausted-looking eyes and tangled hair.

“Oh, good morning, Fluttershy.” Twilight flashed her a smile, stood up, and stretched.

Fluttershy watched her with a confused expression. “Um, I thought your first class was chemistry with me?”

“It is.” Twilight went to her desk and shuffled through some papers to make sure.

Fluttershy hesitated. “You… you know that’s at eleven, right?”

“That’s right.” Twilight turned her attention to trying to find her shower supplies in the closet.

Fluttershy paused for several moments, as if deciding whether or not she should say anything. She opened her mouth, closed it, then finally said, “It’s six in the morning.”

Twilight nodded, not understanding why Fluttershy seemed so confused. “Yes, it is,” she said, glancing quizzically at the other girl.

Fluttershy hesitated again, then seemed to give up. She rolled over and buried her head under the covers.

By the time Fluttershy had awoken for the second time and went off to complete her morning rituals, Twilight had moved on to surfing the internet for information on dreams:

The Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, who developed the discipline of psychoanalysis, wrote extensively about dream theories and interpretations. He explained dreams as manifestations of our deepest desires and anxieties, often relating to repressed childhood memories or obsessions.

Twilight thought for a few moments. She had to admit that she didn’t have the best of childhoods. Was that all it was? She was reliving her repressed memories? …That somehow took the form of horses and dragons?

Twilight groaned and closed her computer. She couldn’t explain any of it, and that bothered her. She was always able to solve problems using logic, so why was this any different? She knew that winged unicorns didn’t exist, that dragons didn’t exist, and above all, that magic certainly didn’t exist.

Fluttershy walked back into the room and eyed Twilight worriedly. “Is something wrong?” she asked, immediately picking up on Twilight’s frustration.

Twilight sighed. “It’s just I’ve been having weird dreams ever since I got here, and it’s like… well, it’s hard to explain,” Twilight finished lamely.

Fluttershy stood very still. “Oh,” she said in a tone that was, if possible, even quieter than usual. She frowned. “I’m glad it’s not just me…”

“You’ve been having dreams too?” Twilight asked, perhaps a bit too excitedly for the tense atmosphere of the room. “Maybe there’s a connection!” At this stage, Twilight was willing to cling to any explanation.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I-I doubt it…” Fluttershy turned her gaze towards the window, which caused her hair to hide her face. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

Twilight looked at the light streaming through the window, a bit taken aback by the topic change. “I-I guess so, but–”

“We should probably get going.” Fluttershy turned back to Twilight with a small smile. “We’ll need to eat now unless we want to be late.”

As Fluttershy started packing up her bags, Twilight hesitated before doing the same. ‘Was I just interrupted… By Fluttershy?!’

...

Twilight and Fluttershy met Rainbow Dash and Applejack at breakfast. Rarity and Pinkie Pie both had slightly earlier classes, so they weren’t with them. Twilight delved into her breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, but soon realized she and Fluttershy had intruded on an argument.

“Ah really don’t get what you see in that boy, Rainbow,” Applejack said, waving her spoon accusingly in the direction of the girl with the rainbow-tipped hair. “Ah can tell he and his friends ain’t nothin’ but trouble.”

Rainbow, who had already finished eating, crossed her arms defiantly. “Listen, they’re cool, okay? You don’t even know them! And besides, I don’t like him like that.”

Applejack scoffed. “Well, that’s good, ‘cause he was flirtin’ with anyone in a skirt Saturday.”

“Who are you talking about?” Twilight asked curiously.

Applejack gave a slight nod sideways. “Table far right, an’ at the end.”

Twilight followed her directions, and spotted a group of boys eating breakfast. She recognized two of them as the boys who helped her move in on the first day: Will and Garrett.

“You know them?” Twilight asked Applejack, who nodded.

“Met ‘em same night Ah met Dash, here. Seemed to like watchin’ her stumble around. They were mighty amused when she attempted tah introduce herself to me, anyways.” She gave Rainbow Dash a hard look. “Apparently Ah know them better than you do.”

“You do not!” Rainbow interjected, glaring. “You’ve never actually hung out with them before, have you?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Ah’d had more than enough ah them after they tried tah drug me.”

“Alcohol isn’t a drug!”

“Technically, Rainbow, it is,” Twilight stated, causing Rainbow Dash to back off a bit.

“Alright, well, they were just trying to get you to have some fun.” Rainbow insisted. “They didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yeah,” Applejack said sarcastically, “Yeh keep tellin’ yerself that. An’ I was havin’ fun without drinkin’, thank you very much.”

Rainbow Dash held her glare for a few more moments, then dropped it and stared at the table.

Applejack sighed. “Ah’m real sorry if Ah was harsh, but Ah’m just bein’ honest, Rainbow.”

“It’s cool…” Rainbow Dash replied, glancing back up. “I still think you’re judging too quickly though.”

Applejack gave a small smile of amusement, and looked towards Twilight. “What do you think, Twi? An’ Fluttershy?” She asked, making sure not to forget the quieter girl.

Twilight noted the nickname Applejack had given her with a small smile before she replied. “I’m not sure…” she said honestly. “I guess they seemed nice enough, but I dunno.” Twilight shrugged. Truthfully, there was something about them that made her wary, but she already knew that was just because they were big partiers, while she much preferred a good book to a huge social gathering.

“I don’t know them all that well.” Fluttershy said quietly. Her expression seemed uncertain.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well, you’ll see, Applejack. We have class with some of them next.” Rainbow smirked.

“What do you have?” Twilight asked curiously as Applejack shot Rainbow Dash another look.

“Something like gym, I think.” Rainbow Dash looked at her schedule. “It’s called ‘physically active living’. Applejack’s only taking it for an elective, but I’m taking it because it’s required,” she said smugly, as if this gave her a leg up in the course.

Applejack grinned. “We’ll see just exactly what you can do, short stuff.”

“Bring it!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her eyes shining with anticipation.

As the two quite literally raced off to their class, Twilight and Fluttershy headed off to chemistry. Twilight was hoping that it would be just as dull of a first class as the rest of them had been; perhaps she could use the time to her advantage to do more research.

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long... these past two months have been absolutely crazy. Hopefully I'll be able to work on this with better consistency now...

Thanks Lhmac for editing, as always! :)