First Class: A Twist of Fate

“How? How can this be possible?” Celestia demanded of the old tome. “Prophecies do not simply change themselves on a whim!” She telekinetically threw the book against the wall of her study in a fit of anger. It took a moment for her to calm herself. She stepped over to the book, gingerly cradling it in her magic. The prophecy was supposed to read, “On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape,” and so on. Celestia had read those very words on this page, three years ago. But those words of familiar prophecy had vanished, replaced by something more foreboding. “As the Child Of Destiny awakens her true powers, a celebration of light in the darkness in the place where strength is enkindled shall herald the return of the Queen of the Night.” Was this some kind of dream? No, that was impossible. She would have noticed by now if it was a dream.

“What kind of magic could possibly have the power to twist fate in such a way?” Celestia breathed to herself. A knock on the door caught her attention, and she wheeled and opened it. “Yes?”

The brown unicorn bowed respectfully before opening a scroll and reading from it. “Princess, it’s something urgent from the Seers. They request your immediate presence,” he said, before galloping away.

The Seers? But they never called upon anyone, not even the Princess herself. This day is just getting more and more curious. This has to be related to the changing of the prophecy, Celestia thought as she trotted through the maze of halls down to the Seers’ Sanctum. There’s no other explanation as to why the Seers would call upon me. Deep within Canterlot Castle, the great wrought-iron doors of the Sanctum loomed before Celestia. “I’m here. You said you wanted to see me?” The doors creaked and swung open just enough for Celestia to enter the darkened hall of the Sanctum.

“Princess Celestia, thank you for coming,” a hushed voice in the darkness said. A blindfolded, pale gray pegasus stepped out of the shadows. “I am Seer Veilsight. There is much to be discussed. Come inside, but light not your horn.” Veilsight turned and stepped back into the dark. Celestia hesitated. “You need not worry, Your Highness, so long as you follow my voice and the sound of my hooves, you will not falter,” Veilsight insisted. “Now, please, time is of the essence.”

As Celestia followed as best she could in total darkness. It was not something she was used to. In the near thousand years since the incident that pressed on her mind, she had only stepped hoof in the Sanctum seven times, and then only to request the aid of a Seer to oversee diplomatic meetings. Only once in the history of her reign did she venture this far in, during the building of the palace when light was permitted inside.

She heard occasional gasps and shuffling and whispering off to the sides of the path Veilsight was leading her on. “Pay the acolytes no mind, Princess,” the pegasus told her. “They are unaccustomed to one with such vibrant spirit energy in their midst.” Before too much longer, Celestia heard Veilsight stop. “We are here. The Council will see you.” A flutter of wings signaled Veilsight’s departure.

Celestia looked around, still trying to acclimate to the dark. For a few moments there was a deafening silence. She decided to break the stillness of the moment and spoke up. “You summoned my here. Why? Does this have to do with the changing of the prophecy?”

A candle lit itself off to Celestia’s right, illuminating an ebony-coated unicorn stallion, blindfolded like Veilsight. “That is correct, Princess. Something rather unprecedented happened. We know you, too, are attuned to these kinds of events. Tell us, what do you know about this prophecy?”

Celestia turned to face the speaker. “It was one of the prophecies of Star Swirl the Bearded. He wrote it long ago, even before the events in question came to pass, and the prophecy was inserted into the story of Nightmare Moon. I remember it clearly. But this morning, I felt something, some kind of magic I have never before felt. Somehow, I knew something was wrong, that something had changed. And somehow, I knew exactly where to look. What could have done something so inconceivable as changing a prophecy?” Celestia asked.

Yet more candles lit up, revealing a ring of ponies encircling Celestia, all blindfolded. “There is only one thing with enough power to do such a thing,” said a green-coated earth pony filly. “The Elements of Harmony.”

Celestia wheeled around to this new speaker. “The Elements? But they have not been used in almost a thousand years! How could this be?”

The filly smiled slyly. “Despite your use of them in the past, even you do not know all the secrets and powers contained within those sacred objects. I have seen this: The Elements of Harmony will be used by the Child of Destiny at the Place where Strength is Enkindled. What happened today was not because of anything that happened today. Time is a malleable barrier. Today’s mutating prophecy is a result of a future use of the Elements.” The filly was silent for a moment, waiting for Celestia’s thoughts, but none came. Whatever the white alicorn was considering, she was doing so silently. “You must have questions for us, Princess. Please, ask away. It’s not every day you get a chance to speak with the Seers of Canterlot Sanctum.” The filly grinned mischievously.

“Of course…” Celestia hesitated. There were so many questions flooding to the forefront of her mind, battling for the right of being the first to be asked. “What is… What is the Place where Strength is Enkindled? It was mentioned in the new prophecy as well.”

A gray unicorn mare stepped forward from the circle. “Excuse me, Zen Star, but I believe I would be the best suited to answer this question. Princess, my name is Verita Bility. I am a professor at a very special school called Demongate Academy. My associates and I of the Demongate Foundation search for young individuals, pony or otherwise, to study at this school. Of course, not everypony can be admitted. Only those with supernatural abilities, like us Seers, can gain entry.”

“You mean to tell me that there is a group among my citizens that constructed a school within Equestria without my knowledge?”

“Frankly, Princess, we didn’t think it was important for you to know about. If it had at any time in the 200 years since its founding become a major threat to the security of Equestria, we would have told you. However, all problems stemming from the Academy have been swiftly dealt with by the Foundation. Also, we did not build the school within the borders of Equestria. As we accept students of all races, we had a need to be located in unclaimed and undisputed territory.” Verita felt the gazes of the other Seers on her. She looked around at them, her stare piercing the blindfold. “If we are to tell her of the Academy, she has a right to know as much about it as possible. It may be important that she knows where the Academy is located.” She turned back to the Princess. “Demongate Academy is located on a floating island at the edge of the world. The only ways to reach it are by airship or teleportation.”

Celestia eyed the Seer suspiciously. “Your school and your group have such an ominous name. Why ‘Demongate?’ There are other things you could call it that would be less suspicious.”

“Well, Demongate Academy was built on the site of one of the few remaining Gates to the Demon World.” Verita’s words caused Celestia’s eyes to widen, but Verita continued unabated. “By building a facility to train individuals with extraordinary abilities on top of the Gate, the Foundation believes that the world is better protected from a demonic incursion. We maintain several failsafe protocols in the event of such an event. Firstly, the Gate itself is guarded by Cerberus, with specific instructions not to let anything past him. Secondly, the entire gate area is surrounded by a maze navigable only by those who know it, or those who are extremely lucky, neither of which describe most demons. Thirdly, the entire area is warded against both unauthorized entry and demonic exit. Most things that try to get out are going to have a difficult time of just those three steps. When you factor into the equation that each and every student and faculty member is trained to combat these foul creatures, you can be assured that it is perfectly safe.”

“So, this Demongate Academy is ‘the Place where Strength is Enkindled?” Celestia asked. “What exactly does that mean?”

“Numerous other prophecies have made reference to a group called the Enkindlers of Strength, those who are not incredibly powerful in their own right, but are able to awaken and hone the power of others. At least a hooffull of these prophecies have come to pass, and the Enkindlers of Strength always reference the professors, such as me, of Demongate Academy. It makes sense, then, that Demongate Academy is the Place where Strength is Enkindled.”

“What about this celebration of light in the darkness? Could that be the Summer Sun Celebration? If that were the case, this new prophecy didn’t change the day of her return.” Celestia looked hopeful. “The last Celebration was just a week ago. We have nearly a full year to prepare for that day!”

Verita’s face turned grim. “No, Princess. It’s not the Summer Sun Celebration. It’s the other solstice. The light in the darkness, the celebration of the fire of friendship in a cold and hateful world: Hearth’s Warming Eve. That leaves half a year.” Her mouth turned to a reassuring smile. “Still enough time to make preparations, of course.”

“Half a year…” The princess fell silent. But there was still one piece missing from the whole truth of the matter. “I have just a few more questions, concerning—”

“The child of destiny?” The green filly spoke up again and smirked. “I knew you were going to ask about her. If you’re thinking that we have to prevent her from entering Demongate Academy, you’d be wrong. More is coming in these next years than Nightmare Moon, Princess. The child of destiny must take up the Elements, along with those who bring her to finding the Spark. It is absolutely imperative that her admittance be what sets off this chain of events.”

Celestia glared at the child, but suppressed her annoyance enough not to comment on the questioning of her unspoken judgment. “If that is what you have foreseen, young Seer, I shall trust in this knowledge. I do have one final question. Who is she?”
As the filly giggled, Celestia could have sworn she saw a mischievous gleam from behind the child’s blindfold. “But of course you would need to know this, Princess. I believe you are at least somewhat familiar with this particular little pony of yours. Her name is—”

===

Twilight Sparkle growled in frustration. “Useless… All of these books… are absolutely… USELESS!” Her telekinesis violently threw a number of books in every direction. “I just can’t figure out what’s wrong with me!”

Spike looked around the library, blessedly clear of other ponies at the moment. “Don’t you think you’re taking this whole thing too seriously? I mean, sure your magic doesn’t work, I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually. Maybe you’re not supposed to be able to do magic,” he said. He immediately regretted his choice of words.

“If I’m not supposed to be able to do magic, how and why could I possibly be a student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!?” she snapped. “You wouldn’t even be here if I couldn’t do magic! It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Sorry, but I still think my point stands. Maybe you can’t do magic because you’re supposed to be able to do something else. I mean, history is full of ponies who can do things they should never be able to do, like earth ponies taking down tyrannical dragons singlehoofedly, pegasi breaking the sound barrier, and so on.”

“Spike, those aren’t real historical figures. Lord Thunderbolt was made up, and Scale Smasher had a veritable army behind him when he took on the dragon Vicegrip. And even if they did do what the stories say, they probably had unicorns at their backs, making them more powerful. Only unicorn magic can do things like that.” Twilight levitated another stack of books over to her table.

“Well, what about that? You have near perfect control of your levitation powers. Maybe you’re some kind of telekinetic, psychic power user!” Spike exclaimed, hopping up onto a stool. “Wouldn’t that be cool?”

Twilight sighed. “Psychic powers don’t exist, Spike. Levitation is an inborn ability available to all unicorns. If I couldn’t even do that, there’d be no way they’d let me within a thousand feet of this school.”

“C’mon, Twi, where’s your imagination? Hey, what about that rumor that Princess Celestia has a bunch of ponies that can see the future in some kind of secret council or something? That sounds like it could be true.”

The lavender unicorn glared at her scaled companion. “That’s complete and total nonsense. If it was true, why would the princess hide something like that? Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to get back to getting absolutely nowhere on my magic studies,” she said with a groan.

“Aww, what’s the matter, Sparkly? Still hung up on the fact that you’re a total failure?” said a voice from behind Twilight. The lavender unicorn whirled and saw a crimson unicorn with a violet and white straight-cut mane standing in the doorway of the library, smirking.

“What do you want, Comet Blaze?” Twilight asked through gritted teeth, trying as hard as she possibly could to remain civil.

“Oh, you know, just checking to see what everypony’s favorite screw-up is up to.” Spike slammed a hand down on the table, attempting to rise to counter Comet Blaze’s words, but Twilight held up a hoof to stop him. “Oh, that’s adorable. The baby dragon wants to fight his mommy’s battles for her,” Comet said snidely. “But honestly I just wanted to see if you wanted to come to Silver Stream’s birthday party. Everypony who’s anypony is gonna be there. If you wanna stop being a loser, maybe you’ll show up.” Comet laughed haughtily as she left the library, ignoring the two pairs of angrily glaring eyes watching her departure.

Spike turned to look at Twilight, her face screwed up in concentration, and waited a few moments before breaking the tense silence. “What, you’re not seriously considering going, are you?” It seemed to break Twilight out of her reverie, and she looked at him, confused. “I mean, come on. It’s gotta be some kind of trick. You know Comet and her gang are just a bunch of bullies.”

“I don’t know, Spike. You were saying just a minute ago that I should take a break from studying. Seriously, what’s the point of reading magical theory for hours on end if I can’t even do the simplest of non-telekinetic spells? Maybe going to this party will do me some good.”

“Yeah, because you and parties end up so well,” Spike began, voice dripping with sarcasm, “like when they gave you a bottle of shampoo for your birthday.”

Twilight sighed. She knew Spike was right, and she shuddered a bit at the memory of the “mane-removal shampoo” incident. “Alright, Spike. Of course you’re right. You’re always right about this stuff,” she said, rubbing Spike’s head with her hoof. “I’ll just buy something for Silver Stream and mail it to her. She’s nice enough, so I don’t want to just blow her off completely. You can handle the Sending, right?”

“Of course,” Spike said with a grin and a ‘thumbs-up.’ “Now let’s get that gift and get you home and set you down with a good fiction book. I think you’re all researched out for this year.”

Twilight levitated Spike up onto her back, along with a choice few books, and turned to leave. “I guess I could take some time to read up on my mythology,” she said with a giggle as she left the empty library, save for one unnoticed watchful white alicorn and a blindfolded green earth pony filly.

===

Back in the Sanctum, Celestia turned to the filly with a look of confusion. “I’m still not convinced, Zen Star. You said this filly is the child of destiny, and I agree there is something powerful within her that was able to hatch a dragon egg, but she’s currently failing to perform even the simplest magic, aside from the inborn unicorn levitation power.”

Of course, the ever-present smirk adorned Zen Star’s face. Merciful Watchers Above, Celestia wanted to wipe that smirk away. “I can assure you, Princess, this Twilight Sparkle has the potential to become as powerful, if not more so, than Star Swirl the Bearded. Would it help you to see her powers begin to manifest?”

“Please, wait. Star Swirl the Bearded was an Archmage. This Sparkle girl has no magic. How can you even make this comparison?” Celestia asked, growing more confused the more this irritating earth pony filly spoke.

Zen Star laughed; it was a haughty, condescending laugh. “Oh, my dear Princess, I thought we explained this to you. There are more powers in this world at work than just magic. Angels. Demons. Psychics. The power of the soul. It has been this way since the foundation of the world, before you took your place of power, and for most of that time, it has remained secret. Of course Star Swirl never told you he was an ESPer. Had you found out, it would have been his fault that the most dangerous of mares was let in on the biggest secret the world has ever seen.”

“Zen Star, that is quite enough of that!” Verita shouted, and the filly obliged, still wearing that disgusting smirk. “My most humble apologies, Princess. My… colleague… is rather outspoken, and can be rather rude, especially when dealing with figures of authority who are not normally privy to the kind of information we deal with.” Verita’s apology subdued Celestia’s barely contained wrath, at least for the moment.

“Please understand that I’m not used to being spoken to like that by even the most powerful of unicorn archmages. I do not wish for there to be any kind of contention between myself and your organization of Seers, so please control your younger members,” Celestia said, still masking her rage at the filly. Zen Star, however, laughed her haughty laugh again. “What is wrong with you, child!? Do you have no respect even for your Princess?” Celestia roared, her eyes and mane alighting with a furious blaze.

Zen Star looked rather taken aback by Celestia’s outburst, but she quickly replaced her surprise with a soft smile. “So, it takes you a while, but when it comes down to it you can show that you truly do command respect,” she said softly. Her expression and voice then hardened in determination. “Very well, Princess: You command respect, so thus I shall give.” The filly threw off her blindfold and locked eyes with the Solar Princess. “Allow me to clarify my previous statements. Star Swirl found himself in a similar predicament to our dear child of destiny, unable to actually perform true magic, per se. He did, however, find in himself a very special gift: the gift of psychic powers. He was trained by a great master of the psionic arts, said to be a stallion from beyond the stars,” Zen Star said, a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

Not ten seconds ago, Celestia had been ready to immolate this filly in solar fire, but this change in her demeanor, this story she was telling, the things she knew had been wrong with her long-lost faithful student, everything was coming together, and the filly had Celestia’s rapt attention.

Zen Star continued. “He used his power to protect Equestria, nay, the entire world, from all manner of threats. And the entire time, he was able to masquerade as an archmage, all his knowledge of the magical arts feigned, but at the same time, he wielded a power to rival the greatest magic users to walk this land, with the exception of yourself and your…” She trailed off, but kept her eyes locked with Celestia’s.

“How do you know all this?” Celestia asked, absolutely shocked by the revelations placed before her.

Zen Star laughed again, this time more a giggle of a filly with a secret, one Celestia found no ill will against. “Oh, I don’t think we can get to that just yet, Princess. When it becomes relevant, however, I will no doubt share with you my secret.”

Celestia’s expression softened. “I don’t know how, or why, but somehow, I believe… I can trust you, Zen Star.”

Zen Star smiled, for the first time showing a softer joy. “I truly appreciate that, Princess. Now, shall we go and observe our little child of destiny? I know exactly when her powers will begin to manifest.” She extended a hoof to the Princess.

Celestia stepped forward, her trepidation about this strange filly evaporating with every inch she moved closer to Zen Star, despite any lingering confusion. “Very well, let us go,” she said with a smile of her own. She took Zen Star’s hoof in hers, and the pair of them vanished from the Sanctum.

===

The next afternoon, Twilight sat beneath a willow tree, enjoying both the beautiful summer day and the thick, dusty book of mythology she was currently leafing through. That’s strange, she thought. I don’t remember that particular prophecy. Oh, well, I’ll cross-reference it later with some other mythologies, maybe check with one of the professors ab—huh? Is somepony yelling at me? Sure enough, Twilight looked up to see a fuming Comet Blaze. “Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought. Did you want something?” Huh, that only seemed to make her angrier.

“Did I want something!? You ungrateful nag! I invited you to Silver Stream’s party yesterday and you never showed! I even told everypony I’d convinced you to come, and when you never did, it made me look like a fool!”

Twilight sighed and telekinetically closed the mythology text. “So what? I didn’t feel like going, so I didn’t go.”

“SO WHAT!? SO WHEN I GIVE A LOSER LIKE YOU AN INVITATION OUT OF THE KINDNESS OF MY HEART, YOU TAKE ME UP ON IT! THAT’S WHAT!!”

Twilight was suddenly aware that she was standing, her face mere inches from Comet’s. “You know what, Comet? I really don’t care.” She had no idea where this was coming from. Normally, she was perfectly civil. Why was her temper rising to match Comet’s? That was so out of place for her. “You know what I think? I think you’re mad that I didn’t show because you set up some kind of trap for me to fall into, to embarrass me in front of everypony, to prove how much of a ‘loser’ I am, but it backfired and ended up getting you instead. And everypony laughed and laughed, and you totally deserved it.”

Wow, this doesn’t sound like me at all. And that last part was a really low blow.

Comet backed off a foot or so, visibly shaken by Twilight’s words. “H-how dare you talk to me like that!? You’re nopony! You’re nothing! You can’t even do magic!” Her horn began to glow, magically heating up the air around her, readying a magical flame to lash out.

Fight fire with fire, a voice in the back of her mind told her. Get mad, she can’t talk to you like this.

“Seriously, Comet, shut up!”

Why am I so mad?
No, you need to get mad. This has to happen.
Huh? What has to happen?

“I don’t have to take this crap from the likes of a bully like you!”

You have to strike back. Summon up your fire, your anger, get her first.

“I’m not the loser! You can’t even remember who Star Swirl the Bearded is!”

Come on, get angrier! Show her you’re not one to trifle with!

“I’m nothing? I hatched a baby dragon, for Faust’s sake! What have you done lately?”

ENOUGH WORDS! BRING ON THE FIRE!!!

Twilight couldn’t see what happened next, except that she was engulfed in crimson flames and blacked out, but not before hearing Comet Blaze screaming something about her mane being on fire. Hey, wasn’t that really satisfying? The voice in her mind asked, just before the blackness took her.

It only had a hold of her for a few moments, but Twilight thought the blackness had held her for years. When she tried to open her eyes, all she could feel was pain, and snapped them back shut.

Come on, Twilight, you’re not going to let a little burn beat you down, are you?
No! I can’t stay down like this. I need to get back up; I can feel Comet’s rage bearing down on me.
Good! Feel it! Get UP!

Twilight wobbled to her feet, and felt the pain somehow subsiding.

What? Those felt like second- to third-degree burns, which should be really painful. Why can’t I feel the pain? Is there nerve damage?
No, you idiot, you can feel your body, feel your muscles move. Take a look at yourself.

She finally succeeded in opening her eyes, looking down at her legs. They were unscathed.

But that’s impossible!
No, not if you can tell damage and pain to go buck themselves.
How could I possibly do that?
You still don’t know, yet? Your power is awakening. Now, give her a taste of your true strength!!

“Hey Comet, take a mud bath!” Twilight shouted at her flaming-maned peer.

Comet Blaze looked around frantically, still screaming obscenities at Twilight, spotted a muddy puddle, and jumped in it, dousing her mane, but covering herself in filth. “WHAT IN TARTARUS IS GOING ON!?” she wailed.

This is your power, Twilight Sparkle, the voice told her. Your days at this school are over—
WHAT!?
But your lessons have just begun.

Twilight paled, taking in the sight of the sobbing red unicorn whose mane was burnt beyond recognition, covered in mud.

All she could do was run. She had no ears for the faint popping sound over on a nearby hill.

===

A sudden popping sound broke the stillness of Celestia’s study, depositing the Solar Princess and the no-longer-blindfolded green filly. Celestia coughed and gasped for breath. “Wh-what was that?” she managed to finally say.

“It’s called chronokinesis, or time manipulation. It’s a really tricky ability, but I’ve effectively mastered it,” Zen Star said, probably too nonchalantly. “That was tomorrow afternoon. That’s when Twilight Sparkle discovers her true power. She’s an ESPer, always has been. She just never had the right teacher. It isn’t your fault that she couldn’t learn from you. Your powers are incompatible. She never would have gotten to what you saw without just a little bit of a push.”

“What do you mean by a push?” Celestia asked, still out of breath, but recovering. “Did you influence that display somehow?”

Zen Star looked at the Princess quizzically, and then smiled slyly. “My dear Princess, I practically orchestrated that entire scene. It was quite a simple matter of sending her my own thoughts, and influencing her emotions so she’d be in the prime state to perform her natural abilities.”

“I… I thought you had foreseen her discovery of her powers. Yet you forced them? That seems like a rather self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“Yes, well, sometimes a self-fulfilling prophecy is the only way to get a point across. Besides, nopony really got hurt. Sure, the Comet filly’s mane will be a disaster and she’ll be the laughing stock of the school for a few days, but she was a bully and she deserved it.” She looked at the Princess’ disapproving gaze, and her giddy grin faded into a scowl. “I’m sorry, Princess. It may have been cruel, but when you’ve done this kind of thing as long as I have, sometimes you must realize that cruelty can be a necessary evil. It was probably even crueler to Twilight, to coerce her into doing that, making her believe she’s some kind of monster. Which is why you need to go to her, Princess.”

Celestia looked down at the green filly, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Tomorrow, at three o’clock in the afternoon, you need to go to Twilight Sparkle’s dormitory room and deliver to her this letter,” Zen Star said solemnly, producing a letter out of her cloak. The letter floated up to Celestia on its own, unaided by the Princess’ levitation. “You should talk to her, tell her—No, convince her—that she’s not a monster. That’s what she’s going to need to hear. And before you ask, yes, it’s the absolute truth.” Zen Star turned and headed for the door. “She’s no more a monster than you were.”

Author's Note

And here be the first chapter! What does everypony think?
There are many questions to be answered! Will Twilight be able to handle leaving her entire world behind for this floating island at the edge of the world? Who is Zen Star, really? Will Comet Blaze ever regrow her mane?
Yeah, yeah, I know nopony is going to care about Comet Blaze. She's supposed to be a bitch.
Anyway, I will post the Character Files somewhere, so if you wish to view them, I suppose you'll need to get a copy of the Paragon Database, over here: http://www.robertzprojects.com/tremorworks.php
Also, to understand pretty much anything in that program, you'll likely want to pick up the Paragon Universal RPG, which you can find info about at http://www.tremorworks.com/