My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters, setting, and story all belong to Hasbro, Lauren Faust, and present directors and artists. Please understand that much of the content of this work is due largely to their work and creative genius. I take very little credit for anything else besides storyline; consequently, if you enjoy this work, then I believe you should support the original masterpiece of the show tenfold, if not more.

Twilight tossed and turned in bed. Anxiety poked at her brain in a terribly teasing manner. Though she desperately wanted to drown out the feeling, Twilight hadn't felt the weight of her eyes grow heavy in the slightest. Her body begged for rest, but her mind was utterly restless.

Until I see those results, I'll never get to sleep!

Twilight rolled on her side and wiped her wide-open eyes, hoping the motion would dry or tire them out, if even in the slightest. She shifted her head on different sides of her pillow and shuffled beneath the warm bedding. With a pout she stared at the ceiling for hours, waiting for some kind of answer to pass her by.

What if I did something wrong? What happens then-?

Twilight’s ears twitched. The mare sat straight up in a heartbeat. She could barely hear them, slow and soft steps, coming from the corridor. Her brain began juggling consternation and curiosity.

What if that was Colgate? No, no, it was probably a guard. But, if it was her...

“That's it!” Twilight said aloud, before suddenly covering her own mouth.

After a pause, the unicorn conspired in whispers to herself, “If I went out there and got caught, I could just say I was following whoever is out there, trying to warn them that they can’t be out this late. Whether or not I see the results, I won't get in trouble!”

The second the steps passed beyond her heightened hearing Twilight was up against her bedroom door. She carefully opened it and peered into the common room. Weak candlelight sat upon the nearby table and the distant desk adjacent to the suite exit. With this feeble luster lighting a way, the mare started her silent journey as her last hoof slipped from the safety of her uneventful abode.

Twilight reached the door to the corridor and took in a large gulp of air. Already sweating, she turned the doorknob, which opened with a faint click. The door eased open without a sound, and ever so slowly the mare stuck her head out into the darkness. Her eyes, already adjusted to the dimness, followed along the smooth, blurred surfaces of the hall. There were no ponies in sight.

Come on Twilight, you can do this.

She swallowed hard and took her first step, aware that there was no turning back. She crept along the nearest wall, her neck to the floor and her tail between her legs. With her own dark coat and mane she hoped to sink into the darkness, but when she looked over herself from time to time she felt completely transparent. Her imagination played games with her, back and forth, as fear and reassurance ran a relay race inside her brain.

Little by little Twilight snuck closer to the foyer. Its palatial size and low lighting made it appear more like a black hole than a central, homey chamber. The mare crept along with light hoofsteps toward the open space and stopped to scan the entrance hall. The only light in the entire interior came from a torch hanging over the northern entryway leading out to the central circle. Even this did not reach far from its relatively small glass box.

As Twilight stared at this single light she started to feel strangely drawn to it. Her eyes fixed upon its contrast against the ever-present darkness. The amazement lifted her onto the tips of her hoofs and lured her into leaning forward. The second Twilight realized that she was inches from exposing herself to the foyer she dragged herself back against the near wall.

What was that?

Twilight took a deep breath and looked around with caution. There was still no sign of movement nearby. Ever so carefully, she snuck a peek just as she had before leaving her room, with narrow eyes and her muzzle kept low. Her eyes pierced through the darkness as best they could.

She glanced to the left. Nothing was moving. Then she looked to the right. Not a couple lengths away stood a heavy-set guard bearing dark armor and a stone-hard gaze. He nearly blended into the darkness, but Twilight's alert senses immediately detected him. The mare snapped her head back behind the corner where her waiting hoofs muffled her muzzle.

A step sounded from around the bend, followed by another. Armor clanked along with them.

“Who goes there?” the guard asked with a voice as raspy as sandpaper.

Twilight’s mind swarmed with thoughts faster than raindrops forming in a downpour. Every escape plan had a flaw of some sort. She couldn’t hide. Running was pointless. Soon enough ideas of excuses were cast into the mixture, making matters only worse. All of a sudden, one idea stood out from the rest.

An invisibility spell!

With swift concentration Twilight cast the enchantment she had learned not long ago. The light of her horn glowed dimly as she closed her eyes to focus.

When Twilight opened her eyes again, the guard was standing in front of her. His eyes, dark and penetrating, locked onto her like a falcon spotting its prey. The large gray figure took a step closer. The mare felt her blood go cold as her heart froze. The guard’s stare lasted for a few seconds, until his eyes gradually started to scan to the left, and then to the right.

Twilight dared not move a sliver. Instead, she let her eyes slide around in their sockets. Upon looking up she couldn’t see her own mane or horn. Her quavering gaze then crept down to reveal that her hoofs were also out of sight. Her gaze returned to the guard, who hesitantly turned his back to the hallway and ambled over to his position just around the corner.

It worked!

Despite her success, Twilight felt hesitation shaking through her body. She had lucked out on one instance, but she feared not finding such good fortune a second time around. Without much consideration, however, Twilight found herself proceeding toward the staircase straight ahead. The test results remained at the forefront of her mind. Her mania drove her onward.

Twilight stared down where her hoofs should have been visible as she snuck along, astonished to see nothing but their successive imprints on the rug. She quickly remembered that she was not alone. With a swift glance she looked over her shoulder and spotted the guard, who still held an ice-cold look on his square face. His eyes never indicated inquisitiveness, nor did his ears ever twitch. Regardless, Twilight watched in wait for some sign of his detecting her.

Once at the staircase, Twilight took a break from her turtle-paced advance. Her muscles complained about the sluggish pace almost as much as they did after a long gallop. Her breaths grew longer and more controlled as she stared out again at the single torch in the foyer. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but she could not peel away her eyes from its dull dazzle.

What an incredible, amazing light-

Something from behind gave Twilight a great shove. Losing her balance, the unicorn tumbled down the staircase, head over hoof. All Twilight could hear was her body crashing against the marble stairs and the high-pitched resonance that rang in her ears once her rolling stopped.

In her panic Twilight tried to stand, but she tripped over her own hoofs. Behind closed lids her eyeballs spun like weather vanes in a windstorm until finally coming to a stop. Once settled, they stared at the ceiling, unable to react. Twilight’s brain was still rattling like an obnoxious noisemaker.

A familiar face of multiple blue hues popped into view.

“Colgate?”

“Twilight!? Where’d you come from?” squealed Colgate in delight. “One minute I'm headed down the stairs, and the next thing I know I run into something, and now... Wait, was that you?”

“Was what me?” Twilight asked, irate. “You mean the ‘thing’ you blindly ran into at the top of the stairs?” She paused. “Well, I guess I did have an invisibility spell cast-”

Twilight suddenly covered her mouth as her cleared hearing revealed her indoor voice cascading through the hall. Twilight's gut wrenched with every echo. She shrieked upon noticing that her invisibility spell had worn off. Colgate tittered at the sight of her frightened friend.

“What, are you scared the guards will hear you?” she taunted.

“Duh!” Twilight hissed as she finally managed to get back on all fours. “Now we'll both get in trouble, and Princess Luna will send us back home, and-” She watched as Colgate's smile only widened. “How can you be so unconcerned!?”

“I guess you haven't noticed yet,” Colgate said as she puffed out her chest. She faced the corridor directly behind Twilight. She motioning with her muzzle toward a guard lying propped up against a nearby wall. “Take a gander.”

“Colgate, what did you do!?” Twilight screamed, then threw her hoofs over her mouth again. More quietly, she repeated herself, “What did you do?”

“Nothing that bad,” Colgate laughed as she strutted over to the body. She poked at it and smirked. “Remember that sleeping spell you taught me a while ago?”

“You mean the one that was supposed to help with your insomnia last month?” Twilight inquired.

“What? Insomnia?” Colgate replied with one eye narrowed in uncertainly, followed by a widening of both. “I mean, uh, yeah. That.”

Twilight sighed, “You didn't really have sleeping problems, did you?”

“Nope! I just wanted to learn it as a safety spell in case of emergencies. Same with the enchantment spell.”

“Enchantment spell..?”

“Haven't you looked at the lighting at all?”

Twilight blinked. “You mean the torch?”

“You got it. I put a nice little ‘Want It Need It’ spell on it,” Colgate bragged. “It was a weaker version, but I guess that turned out to be good. I didn't want the guards trying to grab the little light anyway.” She polished an invisible badge on her coat with pride. “Glad I learned it for whenever I run into danger like this.”

“You know you weren't in danger, right?” asked Twilight.

“Who was the one complaining about getting kicked off the island a minute ago? Oh, that's right. You. Now, let's get on over to the main hall and see if we can find some secret passages or something-”

Twilight swiftly interrupted, “You mean find the exam results?”

At first Colgate remained still and speechless, but after a moment of tapping on her muzzle, she nodded in compliance.

“We could do that first, I suppose. Then we can venture about-”

A stomp and deep feminine voice cut in, “What are you two doing out here!?”

The duo’s heads swiveled and a dark figure on the spiraling stairwell met their eyes. It drew closer with each thunderous step, until only a few steps away. Another figure emerged, similar in size but silent. Its head bowed low and body quivered, making an eccentric couple of silhouettes.

Twilight suddenly spotted on the nearer one a familiar cutie mark of a theatre mask and question marks.

“Quirky! What are you doing!?” Twilight scolded with a contained scream.

The lavender unicorn laughed heartily. “Just messing with you troublemakers. I thought I heard something outside my room, and surely enough it was somepony. I followed her out to the stairs, even around the entire dorm. She kept on casting this weird spell that made the guards go limp, so I was worried she might get me too. But there’s no need to fear; it was just Colgate here.”

“Who's that behind you?” Twilight asked, trying to peer over Quirky’s shoulder.

“This? It’s just Starlight,” Quirky answered.

The stallion stepped down a few stairs to reveal his farouche face. “I-I thought I heard something in the corridor, so I peeked out. I don't know how, but Quirky saw me from the balcony area when she was following Colgate. S-She ran over and dragged me along.” His nervous smile almost looked more like an accidental frown turned upside-down. “I also wanted to see what you all were up to. I-I was kind of worried-”

“Wait a minute, how long were you guys following me for?” Colgate asked the newcomers.

“Since you passed my door on the top floor,” Quirky divulged, which brought Colgate to clear her ears. The lavender unicorn continued cheerily, “Why? Didn't you know I was behind you the whole time?”

“Nevermind that,” the adventurer snapped. “We need to get to those results. All the guards in here are asleep, but the spell won't last too long, so we better hurry.”

Colgate started a dash down the stairwell again, with the other three right on her tail. With no concerns about noise the party flew through the foyer, their hoofs barely touching the flooring. Upon reaching the main floor they all paused. Colgate, the ringleader, looked to both exits multiple times.

“Which way should we go?” the intrepid pioneer asked.

“Aren't all of the doors locked?” Starlight asked.

Colgate merely smirked and held up a polished ring of even shinier items. They jingled as the mare shook her prize. “Not as long as one of us has a set of guard's keys.”

Twilight gasped in horror. “Colgate! Don't you realize how much trouble you'll be getting into when they find all this out?”

“If they find it all out,” Colgate corrected. “And no, I have no idea. But that's the way I like things: dangerous and mysterious. Now, which way are we going?”

“Left!” Quirky said. “I wanted to see that cool glass tunnel again!”

Colgate sighed. “You know we're gonna be going through that all semester long, right? Well, whatever, somepony answered. Hopefully the exam results or whatever we’re looking for are inside. Left door it is!”

The large western exit spoke its warning in the size and black color of its doors. It obstructed the section of wall as a painting conceals a crack in a partition. The arched frame pointed up to a circular window which allowed little trace of light inside. Colgate fumbled with the keys with her magical hold as she examined the titanic lock. She drew one out and it fit perfectly, and with a strong push the heavy portal opened.

Colgate and company moved as swiftly as shadows. Twilight, however, felt the pressures of their possible consequences growing larger than her curiosity. The thoughts slowed her down down until her headway was at a snail’s pace. She looked up and observed the clear night sky that witnessed her exploits through the glass corridor ceiling. Twilight felt as though she were walking straight into a trap, and the natural beauty was saying its final farewell after only having met her hours ago.

Twilight’s eyes fell back down to earth and scanned the commons area between buildings. Three ponies in black cloaks near the main hall entrance caught her eye. They all stood around the doorway, staring.

Wait.

Twilight could still see the ponies’ legs, and the colors she saw seemed oddly familiar. The two bulkier individuals had coats of light grey and of slate blue. The smallest of the trio was a bluish white.

“Guys, come here!” Twilight tried to yell, aware that guards may be nearby. The hoofsteps ahead halted and returned in a matter of seconds.

“Is that Pokey Pierce? And Vinyl Scratch?” Twilight asked as she pointed outside.

The others leaned against the crystal wall facing westward. Their jaws all dropped open.

“I think the other one’s Windchaser. What are they doing?” Quirky asked.

“Probably checking the placement exam results,” Twilight said, then gasped. “We should be out there, not in here!”

“Oh! Is that why we're sneaking around?” Quirky asked as she cocked her head to one side.

All eyes fell on her. Quirky just shrugged.

The group returned their attention to the commons area. Twilight and the others could only see the walls that reached out and above the entryway, which concealed the doors themselves. None could bring themselves to move back down the hallway just yet. They watched in anticipation as their three friends stood frozen in their tracks.

Twilight spotted a figure in the distance directly beyond the three outside. She pointed again. “What’s that over there?”

Quirky Q laughed, “That's Windchaser, silly-”

“No, past him,” Twilight described.

Approaching in the distance was a dark figure, taller than any of the students Twilight had met thus far. It came from a long ways off, even beyond the edge of the castle to the beginning of the northern hills. Its pace was quick and its steps proceeded without faltering. It was headed directly for Pokey Pierce and the others.

“It's coming straight at them!” Twilight shrieked in terror.

Colgate turned and started a mad dash back toward the dormitory. “We have to warn them! Come on!”

The group charged back toward the main hall. Upon reaching the foyer Colgate pulled out the stolen keys and fiddled with them, using her magic to pick the right one on her first try again. She halted before opening the large entryway door.

“Did anypony see how close that thing was to the others?” Colgate asked carefully, though her voice seemed donned with more excitement than alarm. Every pony present shook his or her head. “We'll just have to run and drag them back as quickly as possible. Ready?”

This time they all nodded, however reluctantly. Colgate placed a hoof on the door and gradually shifted her weight against the thick wooden boards, until finally pressing with all her might. The door eased open, even with the mare's full strength pushing against it, and a metal creak of the bolts sliced the air.

Colgate sprinted out, with each of the others trailing one behind the other. Twilight emerged last, pulled as though harnessed along with the others, her own will no longer in control. The coolness of the night struck her face, then her entire body, until she could feel the icy sensation from horn to tail. With her mind entirely occupied Twilight didn't shiver even once. She looked back at the doorway the four had just left, longing to return to it. She was in for the ride, and there was no turning back.

All of a sudden her chest hit against something. It nearly knocked the air clean out of her. Her head snapped back to see Starlight right in front of her, tumbled on the ground. In front of him were the other two, Quirky and Colgate, their heads jerking back and forth with bewildered gazes.

“What's going on?” Twilight coughed, catching her breath. “What are you guys doing?”

“They're not there anymore!” Colgate said with a hushed holler.

Twilight looked beyond her companions and to the castle door. Its large frame no longer harbored the three Ponyville loiterers. She spotted an unrolled scroll pinned dead at the center on the door, but no one examining it. The results were right there before everypony's very eyes, hidden only by the curling of parchment. Their friends, on the other hoof, were nowhere to be seen.

“We need to get back!” Colgate ordered with a lowered voice, turning and pushing her nearby friend Quirky toward the dormitory. “That thing's still coming!”

Twilight peered into the darkness and spotted the blurred figure now headed straight for them. She thought it was a pony, but it its body seemed too large. Whatever it was, it continued walking at an eerily unhurried pace.

In her staring Twilight forgot to run, but surely enough the invisible reins that dragged the unicorn out hauled her back as her five companions darted to the dormitory doorway. Twilight didn’t look back once but could picture the mysterious thing riding on her hoofs. The unicorn felt a wail rising in her throat but held it back with all her might.

Twilight leaped through the door. The cool air of the foyer swarmed her and the door closed with a groan behind her. The sounds of the night crickets faded as quick breaths sounded in rapid succession. The darkness which Twilight feared to gaze into before was now her shade of safety.

Starlight stood with knees knocking together and teeth chattering. “Is it still-?”

“Shh!” Colgate hushed him, covering his small mouth with a hoof. “Listen.”

The leader put her ear up against the smooth wood of the door. For a minute the group stood in uncomfortable silence, ready to run, though unsure of where to exactly. Twilight, unable to stand the lack of planning, began pacing back and forth.

What do we do, what do we do? If that thing saw us it'll definitely come this way. How can we escape? Do we split up? Think Twilight, think think think!

“It's not coming this way,” Colgate suddenly uttered.

Twilight looked up to see her blue friend peeking out through a crack between the doors.

“What are you doing!?” Twilight chided.

Colgate threw a smart glance in her friend’s direction. “Just being a little daring. No worries, Twilight, that thing’s headed down to the beach.”

“Phew! What a relief,” Twilight said with an unsettling laugh. “Now, let’s all just head back to our rooms and pretend none of this-”

Colgate interjected, “Why run away now? We're so close! Didn't you see that scroll on the door? Those have to be the results!”

“But what happened to the others?” Twilight asked. “What if they got caught?”

No one had an answer at first, leaving the four in a speechless state. They looked at one another, unable to give any explanation; that is, until Colgate's gaze met Twilight's.

“Aha!” the blue mare said. “Maybe they used an invisibility spell like you did, Twilight. They could be right outside, or maybe they're hiding near the door somewhere.”

“Then shouldn't we wait for them and ask about it?” Twilight suggested.

“Time is of the essence,” Colgate said as she walked behind the bookworm. She began pushing Twilight toward the door. “If you find any trace of them, lead them back here. If not, check the results yourself. You're the most spell-savvy here, Twilight, you have to go!”

But Twilight did not feel up to the task; all she felt was a huge lump in her throat, as though she had eaten too much dry hay and couldn't swallow.

“I dunno guys,” she objected, but soon enough Quirky and Starlight were helping nudge Twilight closer to the door, until her flank started to sting of rug-burn.

Twilight felt pressures inside and out pushing and pulling her toward the door, a mess of emotion and reason finally caving in as the mare's brain could no longer process everything, or rather, anything.

“You guys-!”

Before she could finish, Twilight found herself out on the steps, cold and alone. She looked back and saw three pairs of eyes peering out from the doorway, each full of concern but also a glimmer of expectation. Trying to ignore their stares, Twilight gazed over at the main castle entry and the scroll fixed upon it.

Okay Twilight, you can do this. Just walk on over, check it, and hurry back. No one will see you, no one will get in trouble. Then you can finally get some sleep.

She knew she was lying to herself, but by that time her brain bought its own fabrications. With no filter of reason - broken by the irrationality of everything that had happened within the past half hour - Twilight could no longer distinguish right from wrong. All she could think about was the scroll.

Twilight scanned the entire commons a fair number of times. After seeing nothing but the shrubbery move after a minutes’ inspection, she crept along the dormitory facade. She hid behind whatever she could, pausing each time to check the circle of the commons for life. She made it past the glass corridor connecting the main buildings until making a mad dash to the corner of the castle. Once again she stopped and searched, but nothing was out and about but figments of her imagination.

Twilight felt her heart beating at a terrible pace, faster than it had ever pulsated in months. What she had been fretting over was just a few steps away. In spite of having faced far scarier situations Twilight could hardly stand the tingling sensation that shook her like a rag doll.

“Guys?” Twilight called, but her whisper could barely reach over the wind. “Any of you out here?”

No response. Twilight sucked in all the air she could and jumped out to face the doorway. Up close it felt as tall as a clock-tower. Even the scroll nailed into the wood seemed larger than Twilight had imagined. The parchment's ends wrapped into curls that met at the middle as a long, thick stake stuck out from the very center. The unicorn had never seen something posted so strangely before.

Delayed by apprehension, Twilight debated which end to uncurl first.

Is it alphabetical, or by towns? How would it be best organized?

After enough squabbling with herself, Twilight gave up the matter altogether and used her magic to unfurl the paper all at once. Twilight winced as though it were going to blind her; but then she eased open one eye, and finally both. Centered on the paper was a single word, written in rough lettering:

“Surprise?” Twilight read in a whisper.

All of a sudden the mare could not feel a thing beneath her hoofs. The doors before her disappeared as a black wall encircled her. All she could sense was the feeling of gravity pulling her down; down a long, long way.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 (Episode 1, Part 2): The Walls Have Life Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 27 Minutes