Shining Armor's horn glowed as he flipped through the pages of a book.

"Have you found it yet?" Pumpkin Cake asked.

"Not yet," he replied. "Pretty sure this is the right book though."

There was a collective groan in response.

"Why can't we just take a bath?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I don't know about Sweet Apple Acres," Shining Armor answered, "but I don't have a tub big enough to fit six foals at the same time."

"OW!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"Sorry," Twilight said. "Spike! Stop laughing. It's not funny!"

"Are you kidding?" Spike said, still chuckling. "It's hilarious.

The young dragon got a glare in response from Twilight, Pumpkin Cake, and Scootaloo. Apple Bloom was pouting, Sweetie Belle was just being embarrassed, and Pound Cake... just seemed to be confused by the whole thing. To be fair, finding yourself covered in dirt, sticks, leaves, and basically glued to five other ponies because of sap can be a very confusing situation.

Shining Armor was uncertain what they were doing -- from the sound of it, they were not even sure -- but it had something to do with trying to get their cutie marks. Whatever the case, the six of them had ended up covered in sap and slamming into each other. So instead of six little ponies running around, there was now just one pony glob.

"That's enough, Spike," Shining Armor stated. "I think the six of them all feel embarrassed enough without you laughing at them."

"Hey, Shiny?" Twilight asked. "I just realized something. You never told me how you got your cutie mark."

"My cutie mark?" Shining looked at his flank. There was a deep blue shield with rose colored burst of magic like a six pointed star. There were also three blue five-tipped stars above the shield.

"Do you really want to hear about this?"

"It's something to pass the time until we get separated," Apple Bloom said. The others gave their own assent as well.

"Alright." Shining Armor turned back to the book, looking for the spell. "Well, years ago, back in Canterlot..."

The little colt, Shining Armor, stood in the hall, waiting with the other unicorns. He continued to shift, moving from one hoof to the other. His eyes looked up, staring as his mouth hung open with awe. He still could not believe it.

He was actually here. He was at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Shining Armor was so excited that he could barely contain himself. He had been wanting to be here since forever.

Well, not literally forever, but to the colt, if felt like it. In actuality it had been a few months. During The Summer Sun Celebration, he had been front and center to to watch Princess Celestia raise the sun. It had been the most amazing, most incredible thing he had ever seen.

It also woke up something inside him. After that day, he became incredibly fascinated (admittedly, obsessed would probably be a more accurate term) with magic. He started to read and study every book on the matter that he could get his hooves on. Shining Armor also started practicing. Not very much at first, just basic levitation spells at first. Once he was able to flip single pages of a book, he started trying to work toward heavier objects and more complicated spells.

Then came the day. His parents -- Night Light and Twilight Velvet -- came in and told him that school for gifted unicorns was about to start a new year, and was holding interviews and entrance exams for potential new students. Which means that he would have an opportunity to go to school and learn about magic. Maybe he would even get to meet Princess Celestia again.

So it was quite a surprise when they arrived and discovered that Princess Celestia was actually right inside the doors and welcoming each young colt and filly who was arriving to try and get in. What's more, she was even talking to each one and learning their names. When she walked up to them and asked him what his name was, Shining Armor was so excited that he forgot his name.

Princess Celestia leaned down and looked closely at the young colt. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him closely, studying him. It made him feel a little nervous to have the princess looking at him so closely. It was a relief when she gave him a kind smile and gently placed her hoof on his head, stroking his mane. She left after that for some reason though.

Then came the waiting. A lot of ponies were in line and waiting for an opportunity. It was pretty clear who had made it in and who had failed. The ones that succeeded looked like they were more a pegasus than a unicorn because they were walking on clouds. The ones that failed looked like they had been run over by a carriage repeatedly.

Shining Armor noticed, he could not help it. He attempted to keep himself preoccupied by trying to look at the building, the paintings, and anything else but the ponies that were coming out. It was all still awe-inspiring to see it all. Unfortunately is was becoming less and less effective. With every pony that came out, with every step closer toward the front, Shining Armor could feel the anxiety building up inside him.

What if he failed? What would he do? This had been what he had been wanting his entire life (since The Summer Sun Celebration and his parents told him). Or what if he succeeded? Could he handle all the pressure and strain of the classes? What if he ended up as a librarian in some small town?

"Next!" a voice called from the room.

Realizing that he was that next pony being called, Shining Armor let out a squeak of terror. His entire body tensed up and he fell over, suddenly unable to move. Once he was picked back up and given a gentle pat by his father did he feel like he could move again. Taking a deep breath, he headed in.

Princess Celestia was there, as were four other ponies. They were all leaned in close and talking softly among themselves. Shining Armor could not even hear them since he was standing in the front of the room and they were all seated in the back row.

"Shining Armor?" one of the ponies asked, looking at up from a clipboard.

"Yes," Shining managed to squeak.

"Bring it in," another one of the proctor ponies said.

At the command, an earth pony came in, pushing a small cart. The cart had a layer of hay in the bottom, and resting on it was a green egg with purple spots on it.

"Now," the first proctor stated, "Please try to hatch the egg."

Shining Armor gulped as he looked at the egg. How was he supposed to do that? He did not know any spells for hatching eggs. Were there even spells specifically for that?

Giving his head a shake, he brought him back to the present and turned his attention to the egg. Closing his eyes, Shining Armor began to try and concentrate. He tried to summon his magic.

Nothing happened. His horn was not even glowing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

Shining Armor tried everything he could think of: magic words, poses, jumping up and down. None of it seemed to work.

Come on, he thought to himself. Think. Think. THINK. He looked out through the large window as he tried to collect himself. As he did, he caught sight of something. Before he even realized it, his horn lit up.

A massive dome shaped magical shield filled the room, covering all the ponies in it. There was a massive echoing boom as the rainbow colored light smashed the windows and filled the room.

Shining Armor let out a cry as he felt the energy pressing against his shield. It felt like there was too much power. Too much for the young colt. He could not contain it all. He had to do something.

The egg.

A ray of prismatic energy shot from Shining Armor's horn and struck the green and purple shell. With a burst, a small purple and green dragon that would one day be known as Spike emerged.

Shining Armor could not stop the power. Now that it was unleashed, there was no way to rein it in and control it. The magic energy continued to shoot out. One struck Spike, making him grow until his head pressed against the top of the dome. Another hit the cart, causing the wooden wheels to sprout leaves and twigs like they were still living trees. Several beams even hit the other ponies in the room.

Shining Armor felt something touch his shoulder gently. The power slowed down before finally coming to a stop. Bringing his mind back to the present, the colt turned to find Princess Celestia smiling down gently at him. Without realizing it, he started to smile back.

"It's alright, Shining Armor," the princess stated, "you have more than passed the test." She looked up at the shattered window. "What is more, you have shown a very impressive skill in creating a shield as well as incredible raw magical capabilities. I believe that it would be best if you were to be my personal student. That is, neither you nor your parents object."

"YES!" Shining Armor shouted, hopping up and down. "YES! Yes! Yes. Yes." This felt like the greatest day of his life. There was no possible way that this could get any better.

"Oh my," Twilight Velvet said. "Shining, sweetie. It seems that you have not only made it into the school, but you have found your special talent as well."

The statement caused Shining Armor to stop and look on his flank.

"And there it was," Shining Armor finished, having told the six young ponies his stories.

His horn continued to glow with magic as the power encompassed the six of them. He continued to remove the sap, dirt and debris from their coats, pulling away large amounts of loose hair from them in the process.

"There we go," he said as the magic stopped. "That should have gotten all of the sap from your coats. You should be separated and free to go now."

All six of them checked themselves out. Sure enough, their coats were completely cleaned. It was like they had just been washed and brushed.

"What was it?" Pound asked.

"You mean the rainbow colored explosion?" Shining asked, getting a nod. "I'm not completely sure. I asked Princess Celestia once. She gave me a book about pegasi and their magic. The best theory is that it was a Sonic Rainboom."

"Sonic Rainboom?" Scootaloo looked up curiously. "What's that?"

"Well it's mostly just a legend. From what I understand is that when certain pegasi -- I don't know what kind -- are able to achieve the right circumstances, they are able to break through some sort of barrier. When that happens, there is a massive rainbow colored explosion that allows them to achieve even faster flight speeds."

"Really?" Scootaloo asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"If I understood it right."

"Do you think it was Rainbow Dash?" She hopped with excitement.

"Rainbow Dash?" Shining Armor repeated, rubbing his chin. "I don't know. I haven't even really thought about it in years. I suppose it's possible though."

"Come on!" Scootaloo shouted. "Let's go see if we can find Rainbow Dash and ask her. She could probably give us some more ideas on trying to get our cutie marks too." The excited orange filly started running for the door, her friends following after her.

"Be careful!" Shining Armor called after them. "I don't want any of you hurt. And keep away from sap for a while."

"I don't think they're listening," Spike said.

"I know." Shining shut the door behind him. "But what kind of big brother would I be if I didn't at least try." He shifted. "Besides, now that she brought it up, I'm kind of curious about it myself."