Twilight stared at the dragon egg before her, eyes wide. How on earth was she supposed to hatch a dragon?! This was far, far, FAR too advanced for a little filly to handle. She took a deep breath, scared beyond belief and more nervous than she had ever been in her life. She had always wanted to aim for something big, but this was ridiculous!

“Well, Miss Sparkle?” Twilight giggled nervously, her hooves shaking slightly. Instantly, all of the professors levitated up their clipboards, writing away. Twilight gulped, staring at the egg. It didn’t look like any egg she had ever seen before. “WELL, Miss Sparkle,” the mare with the light purple mane asked, obviously annoyed at having to waste her time on such an obviously talentless filly who was not even old enough to have a cutie mark. One of the stallions coughed in the slight silence, turning back afterwards and glaring at her. Everypony was glaring at her, other than her parents, who were anxiously waiting at the side of the exam hall.

Twilight took a deep breath and concentrated hard, shutting her eyes and biting her lip. Groaning slightly, she felt her horn spark with a tiny bit of magic. Come on, Twilight, Come on. You can do this! With a deep breath of air, the sparking stopped. Before her, the egg sat, uncracked. She tried again, with even less results. She heard one of the ponies watching her yawn, and the purple maned mare glanced at her clock. “We don’t have all day.” Trying as hard as she could, Twilight attempted every spell she had read of. Nothing seemed to work. Her heart was racing and she felt even worse than she had when she had come into the exam hall.

Finally, Twilight fell over, exhausted from trying so hard. She sat up again, her eyes downcast. With a small, dejected frown, Twilight looked up at the fearsome judges. “I’m sorry I wasted your time…” Sadly, she shut her eyes as she heard the judges scribble away her fate on those clipboards. She felt horrible and tired and utterly miserable. She kept rolling around questions in her mind, always coming back to a single question: Am I just weak?...

In the midst of what she considered weakness, a large boom sounded throughout the hall, echoing in her mind. She gasped and looked up as she felt… power. She had read of magical surges, but this felt different than what she had read about. Instead of a bubbling up of power inside her, she felt almost as though somepony else’s magic was filling her, uncontrollable and forced upon her. Trying to focus this rush of magic, Twilight concentrated and aimed her horn at the closest thing she could – The dragon egg. In a surprising burst of power, her horn flared with magic and let out a torrent of power. The egg was surrounded by a magical aura and cracked open, revealing a small baby dragon.

Twilight gasped in pain as magic overtook her, her eyesight fading. Everything was white. She felt magic pouring out of her, uncontrollable and erratic. She heard crashes, seemingly from the ceiling, as her magic kept going, blasting away at everything in sight. Twilight cringed, her body attempting to refuse the strange change in her magic. She bit her lip, feeling tears begin to well up in her eyes. Suddenly, she felt a hoof on her shoulder.

Behind her was the form of the Princess. Twilight didn’t know how she could see her, but staring at the princess somehow calmed her… and angered her. She didn’t know why or how or what in Equestria was going on… but she felt her magic begin to fade as the white left her eyes. With a small burst of magic, she took her place back on the floor.

Twilight watched as the judges fell back to the floor, levitated by her power. She watched as her parents changed back from cacti to ponies, shaking with fright. Lastly, she saw the baby dragon fall back onto the hay crate where he had first lain. He quite calmly grabbed his tail and began to suck on the end of it.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight looked up at the princess, her eyes worried. “O-Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to-“

“You have a very special gift,” the princess said, smiling. “I don’t think I’ve ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities.” Twilight could merely gape at the princess. “But,” she continued, “you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study.” Twilight continued to gape at the almighty figure speaking to her. “Twilight Sparkle, I’d like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school.” Twilight felt her jaw drop further. Protégé to the most powerful being known to ponykind?! “Well?~”

Twilight turned to her parents to see their excited faces. Twilight beamed and jumped up into the air. “YEEEEEEEES!!”

“One other thing, Twilight,” the princess said with a slight chuckle.

“MORE?!” Twilight fell back to the ground, unable to catch herself on her hooves. She fell against the floor, her hooves splayed out. Her new teacher and mentor pointed to her flank. Twilight glanced at her flank to see a star with numerous other stars around it, looking like the sparks from her horn as she does magic. She beamed with joy. “M-My cutie mark!” She jumped up, giggling a bit. “Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!”

Twilight went home with her parents to collect her things to move into the school dormitories. The princess glanced at the judges, her face concerned. All of them looked shooken up. “I’ll see you in my office tonight,” she said, pointing to the purple haired mare. With that, she walked out, leaving the mess to be cleaned up later that day.
*~*~*~*~

The mare, Crystal Clear, gently pushed open the door to the princess’s office. It overlooked the garden, but the full moon did nothing to shed light on the flowers shut for the night. “P-princess,” Crystal said, hoping she could have a few of her questions answered.

The princess stood at the window, staring at the moon. “The moon is dim tonight.”

Crystal nodded, not really caring what the princess said about the moon. “But princess, what happened in that exam room? How did she manage to hatch a dragon?!”

The princess sighed. “I have a suspicion, but it is nothing more.”

Crystal trotted up to the window, glancing up at the mighty alicorn. “B-but, princess, we both know that all those eggs are fake. There’s no dragon inside. We just get the little unicorns to TRY to hatch them, to test their determination.”

“I know, Ms. Clear.” The princess turned away from the window, walking slowly to her desk. Sitting there were numerous papers, all of which had to do with an accident long forgotten by those of pony kind. An old mares tale… “I am looking into it, Ms. Clear. You need not worry.”

“Princess, what if she becomes a liability? A threat? We cannot have you teaching a pupil so… erratic!”

Celestia glanced up at Crystal, her eyes soft. “I am princess of Equestria. As such, it is my duty to eliminate threats to our well being. Have no doubt, Miss. I will terminate this threat…” She glanced once more out the window at the shining moon. “Even if it means doing the unthinkable.”

Crystal nodded. “If you are sure, princess.” With that, she walked out, just as confused as she had been walking in.

Celestia walked back to the window, watching the moon intently. “Sister…” Celestia hung her head, a single tear rolling down her face. High above Equestria, the mare in the moon shed a single tear as well.

Author's Notes:

OwO I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I am. This is gonna be awesome.