Chapter 1: An Offer She Couldn't Refuse

“Please, Obsidian, TRY not to kill anypony…” the instructor sighed, rubbing her temples with her hooves.

Obsidian said nothing, instead staring intently at her latest project. The young unicorn mare’s horn was aglow, and two sections of the apparatus connected via wires were held aloft in Obsidian’s telekinetic grip.

“Just a few more centimeters and…” Obsidian spoke to herself.

“Obsidian!”

Obsidian jumped in the air, one of the delicate components crushed in her magical grasp and the other dropped to be lost on the ground. Of course, it WOULD be the transparent piece that landed amid the grass. Obsidian leaned in close to the lawn, squinting and carefully parting individual blades of grass in what she knew was probably a vain search from the start.

“Obsidian, are you listening to a word I’m saying?” the instructor inquired again, tapping the pitch-black younger unicorn on her shoulder.

“What?” Obsidian jumped again, then whirled around to unintentionally smack into the face of the instructor. Leaping back and rubbing her own sore nose just as the quietly cursing instructor was doing, Obsidian ran into her project on the table immediately behind her. “Oh, no! Not AGAIN!”

The project, a massive conjunction of wires, clear pneumatic tubes, magical apparatuses, and other things that Obsidian alone knew the names of shifted and then cascaded towards the ground as the table upended. Gasping, Obsidian reached out with her magic and caught it just in time to stop the top few metal antennae from bending and breaking upon impact. It was a good thing, too; Obsidian alone also knew what would happen if such an elaborate magically-powered machine were to break. Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns had made it quite clear that though her natural talent had kept her in school so far, the institution would NOT tolerate another explosive disaster.

Straining to lift the heavy device, Obsidian carefully levitated back to its place on the table and set it down. Wiping the nervous sweat from her brow, Obsidian turned happily around to come face-to-face once more with the instructor.

“OBSIDIAN!” the instructor yelled with enough force to send the dark-coated unicorn’s white mane flying back from the wind.

“Yes, Mrs. Golden Eyes?” the dark-coated unicorn smiled uneasily, realizing she must have missed yet another conversation.

Mrs. Golden Eyes’ name usually reflected her well but currently her regular colors were swapped for an angry red. Sighing exasperatedly again in an attempt to cool down, Mrs. Golden Eyes struggled to maintain her composure as she spoke.

“Obsidian, as you know, this is your Final Exam before graduation,” Mrs. Golden Eyes told her. Obsidian nodded vigorously, biting her lip in a mixture of excitement at what those words meant and a dread of what might be coming next. Her fears were shortly confirmed and her thought about the School was reiterated. “So I really, really, REALLY don’t want you causing another catastrophe on the day you receive your diploma. Because it you do, there won’t BE a diploma, nor will there be any second chances for you at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The School cannot tolerate any more disasters, nor can our insurance afford to cover them. Is that understood?”

“Crystal clear, Mrs. Golden Eyes!” Obsidian responded assuredly. “I know I got the formula right this time. Those judges won’t know what hit them!”

After Mrs. Golden Eyes shot Obsidian a dark look, the younger unicorn hastily added “Figuratively speaking, of course.”

“Good,” Mrs. Golden Eyes smiled wanly, and Obsidian could see in the older unicorn’s eyes just how much she desperately wanted Obsidian to be telling the truth. The instructor looked like she wanted to say something more, then turned to leave, and then came back and said it anyway. “I know you mean well, Obsidian. But please, just this once, try to impress the judges with your knowledge of approved magical learning and not your crazy theories.”

“Of course, Mrs. Golden Eyes,” Obsidian affirmed. “No crazy theories here!”

Mrs. Golden Eyes smiled warily before trotting off to see how the other students were doing. As soon as she was gone, Obsidian lost her paper-thin façade and instantly deflated from the confident appearance she had presented to her teacher. Not that her act of knowing what she was doing had fooled Mrs. Golden Eyes, of course. That had been taken care of after the older unicorn fell for the act the first time, when it was just a little explosion in the demonstration room where Obsidian had applied to get accepted to this school. By the time things had escalated to the accidental destruction of the west wing of the magic labs, Mrs. Golden Eyes wasn’t going to be suckered into blindly believing anything Obsidian said ever again. The instructor did have hope for her and truly believed that the student meant well. But just like everypony else in the School, Mrs. Golden Eyes also knew when Obsidian was involved, it was best to stand at a safe distance.

“It’s not like I mean for anything to go up in flames,” Obsidian whispered to herself as she turned back dejectedly to her work. She knew that everypony—well, most everypony—knew that. But the young unicorn also knew from experience that the things other ponies whispered about the dark mare when they thought she couldn’t hear them weren’t entirely untrue. The School upheld strict rules about experimenting outside the known Laws of Magic, and for good reason. The unknown potential of magic meant that anything could happen when one ventured out from the known Laws, which was supposed to be impossible to do in the first place. Even attempting to do so was considered dangerous, though, as Obsidian had experienced multiple times firsthoof. After the first few times when ponies wised up to what her experiments almost inevitably led to, she continued to experience these new spells, albeit mostly alone. Not many ponies were willing to be friends with somepony who refused to engage in research that didn’t have the potential to blow holes in their roof. Obsidian knew the dangers, and she didn’t want to endanger anypony, so she was quite fine with performing her experiments by herself. What really bothered her was other ponies thinking she was crazy for bothering with such experiments at all, even when everything in her heart told her to try them. “I know there’s something else out there beyond the Magical Laws for us to find…what’s so wrong with looking for it?”

Well, none of that mattered right now anyhow. Obsidian was sure her latest project would make it seem like all of the others (and the unfortunate property damage they caused) hadn’t even happened. Today, she would finally find that thing she was looking for, and the world would see how right she was to search for it. With this device, Obsidian would change the world forever, WITHOUT anything blowing up in ponies’ faces.

The dark unicorn gulped. At least, she HOPED so…

“Attention students!” rang out a magically amplified voice. Obsidian and the other unicorns at their respective booths lines up throughout the Canterlot Royal Park turned to see the Headmistress of the School gazing out at them all from atop the judge’s stage. She looked regal and distinguished in her formal mage’s robes and matching hat as she addressed them all. Obsidian watched with the hope that one day she would be dressed the same way and seen with the same level of respect. “The judges will now observe the projects for you Final Exam. Please have your project up and working when a judge comes to your booth. Do your best to explain what your project is, what it does, and why it is important to the study of magic. I wish you all the best of luck!”

As the Headmistress finished her speech, a group of some of the School’s top professors descended from the stage and spread out among the student’s booths. One, a gruff-looking elderly stallion, caught sight of Obsidian’s odd contraption and began to trot in her direction.

Obsidian gulped again. This was it. This was the big moment, the one that would either emblazon her name across the pages of history, proclaiming that she had in fact been right despite what everypony else thought. Or… it would expel her from ever being taken seriously as a professional magic-user ever again.

Obsidian took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for what very well could be her life’s defining moment. Opening her eyes and putting on what she hoped appeared to be a confident smile, Obsidian stretched out her hoof to offer a welcoming shake to the judge and greeted him with “Hello, sir! My name is Obsidian, and I—”

“What have you got here, miss?” the judge inquired, walking past Obsidian’s offered hoof and putting his muzzle centimeters away from her project.

“So much for starting out cordial,” Obsidian thought to herself. Then, brightening up, she announced “I’m glad you asked, sir. This here is the culmination of years of research, based on the most groundbreaking new theories in the magical world—”

“What’s it called, what does it do, and why should I care, lass?” the judge demanded. “We don’t educate you foals to spout gobbledygook about how hard you worked. We KNOW how hard you worked. We’re the ones who gave you the work in the first place.”

“Not in this case,” Obsidian thought triumphantly.

“Yes, sir,” Obsidian apologized aloud. “This here is the Paradox Producer. It’s a device that I can use to make something be simultaneously true and untrue. It’s quite interesting how it works; you see, the internal compartments of the device are filled with—”

“I don’t care how it works, as long as it does work,” the judge snorted without emotion. “And it better. You’re already losing marks for keeping me here with useless facts. Just tell me why this is important and fire up the darn thing so I could get on to the next student.”

On the verge of losing her patience with the judge, Obsidian complied by launching into the most important part of her presentation. This was what she had worked on more than the project itself, staying up to the early hours of the morning night after night to perfect her ability to convince other ponies that her theories weren’t, in fact, crazy.

“A paradox is something that is both true and false at the same time,” Obsidian explained. The judge rolled his eyes in boredom, and the dark unicorn tried her best not to pay it any attention. “So, technically, a paradox can’t even exist. It would cancel itself out if it did, the true and false aspects of it nullifying the whole. Paradoxes thus only exist as ideas, impossibilities dreamed of by the minds of ponies. But what if a paradox COULD exist? What would happen if something truly was true and false at the same time?”

“Probably nothing,” the judge yawned, eyeing the projects at other tables as his mind began to wander. “That being said, I fail to see how creating a real paradox would benefit the study of magic.”

“But even if nothing did happen, at least we would know,” Obsidian tried to press upon the inattentive unicorn. “It would contribute to the study of magic because it would add to our knowledge, allowing us to learn something…beyond the Laws of Magic.”

The elderly unicorn’s full attention instantly snapped back to Obsidian.

“What?” he said bluntly. “My dear, the Laws of magic aren’t something that can be explored beyond. It’s impossible. You should know that by now, just for being a unicorn, much less for being a near-graduate of the School.”

“But I believe…I theorize…that the Laws aren’t restrictive to all possibilities of magic,” Obsidian spoke hurriedly, closing in on the clincher, the thing that would make or break her project and her future. “I theorize that beyond what we call ‘the Laws of Magic’ are a whole plethora of new possibilities just waiting to be tapped into. And with this machine, I will show you just ONE of those possibilities. With the Paradox Producer, I will break the First Law of Magic, proving that reality itself does not bind the possibilities of magic.”

“Now hold on just a minute, miss,” the judge interjected. “The Laws of Magic were discovered by Starswirl the Bearded himself, and all use of magic since he discovered the Laws has been based on them. Are you really trying to tell me that he was wrong?”

“Not so much that he was wrong,” Obsidian corrected, rushing around to the back of the Paradox Producer to initiate its startup procedure. Gears whirred and hissed as their carefully wound clockwork mechanisms began to turn. Rushing back to the front, Obsidian proceeded to pull levers and twists knobs on the crazy contraption, causing it to rumble very loudly and even attract some annoyed glances from the nearby booths. The machine was really working now, preselected potions rushing in and out of its internal chambers and through the transparent tubing while steam erupted into the air as pieces of the device began to spin and rattle. Finally, Obsidian let fly a blast of magic into the metal receiving rod at the top of the Producer, which absorbed the spell and gave the machine something to work with. “The Laws of Magic are very real and very restrictive. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t break them if you know how to. And, if my theory is right, I’ll be the first magical outlaw pony in history!”

“What?!” the judge gasped, backing up nervously. “The Laws are definitely impossible to break, and even if they weren’t, it’d be a violation of every rule of reality to breach them! It’d be unethical against the entire pony race! Not that there would be anything to find beyond them, of course.”

“But we can’t already know all there is to learn about magic!” Obsidian protested as she stepped back with a smile to watch her machine go to work. “And what’s wrong with wanting to know the secrets of magic that we haven’t learned yet?”

“They’re secret for a reason!” the judge hissed. “Now turn off that machine before—”

“I thought you didn’t think there were any secrets beyond the Laws of Magic,” Obsidian asked curiously.

“Of course there aren’t!” the judge snapped, realizing his contradiction. “But as a professor of this School I order you to turn off that device!”

“But this project is the only way I can pass the Final Exam,” Obsidian protested.

“You’re going to be failing the Final Exam if you don’t do as I say right now!” the judge demanded.

Obsidian complied instantly, darting forward and beginning to twist the knobs in the opposite direction and pull the levers into their inactive positions. The machine seemed like it would protest its abrupt halt in production and surge onward with whatever it was it was going to do. Finally, though, it started to die down as its spinning mechanisms ground to a halt and the potions stopped coursing through it.

And with that, the Paradox Producer powered down from its first and what would most likely be its last run. Along with the dying hum of the machine’s hissing steam and gears went any chance Obsidian had of proving that she really was right after all. There, in the Royal Canterlot park, her only hope of ever proving her theories weren’t crazy and that she wasn’t wasting her time—that SHE wasn’t a waste of time—died. Tears welled in Obsidian’s eyes.

“There, it’s off,” Obsidian announced sorrowfully, turning away from the judge and the odd looks other ponies were shooting at her.

“Good,” the judge sighed with what looked to be relief. “Now I want this piece of junk dismantled and removed from the event immediately. I’ll be speaking with the Headmistress about how you wasted the School’s time with such foolishness, shortly followed by your expulsion from the School.”

“WHAT?!” Obsidian blurted, the tears in her eyes threatening to break free of her desperate attempt to keep them back. “But what did I do? There weren’t even any explosions this time!”

“THIS time?” the judge raised a quizzical eyebrow.

“I mean—” Obsidian tried to correct herself.

“I’d remain silent if I were you,” the judge instructed. “You’ve dug yourself in a deep enough hole as it is.”

Before Obsidian could say anything else to defend herself, though, the sound of fanfare blasted over the park. The dark unicorn and the judge, as well as everypony else at the School’s Final Exam presentation, looked up to see the source of the noise. When they did, everypony dropped into a low bow.

Flying down from the sky was a team of the Royal Guard pulling the Princesses’ personal chariot, complete with the Princesses themselves sitting regally within it. The Guards located an open spot within the park and brought the chariot down to land.

Still bowing, Obsidian could only see the stomping of golden-hoofed horseshoes and the rolling wheels of the chariot as the procession thundered past. Daring to look up, Obsidian caught a glance of the Princesses themselves as they zoomed by. There was the towering Celestia, whose very coat seemed to glow like the sun incarnate. The solar Princess’ luminescent rainbow of a mane blew upon an unseen wind like the aurora, her deep violet eyes scanning the crowd of bowing ponies. Celestia was smiling, happy to see her subjects, and the warmth of that grin seemed almost palpable even from this far away.

However, the Princess that struck Obsidian’s attention the most was not the ruler of the day, but her opposite. Princess Luna was closer to Obsidian and the rest of the students and staff, being seated in the side of the chariot that was currently facing them. Where Celestia seemed to glow and radiate quiet yet confident joy, Luna seemed just as starkly contrasting as the two times of day the royal sisters ruled over. The Princess of the Night’s dark coat stood out in the sunlit park like an ink spot on a white canvas. She was smiling as Celestia was, but her eyes betrayed the true emotions within, namely fear and uncertainty.

To be perfectly honest, Obsidian was very surprised to see Princess Luna out in the day at all. The dark unicorn had never had seen the Princess of the Night outside of her respective element. Celestia’s presence was unexpected enough, but she was at least known to come and go as she fancied; Luna wasn’t known to come and go anywhere at all, rarely being seen outside the castle.

But what could they be doing here? It was unlike the Princesses to show up out of the blue. Obsidian knew for a fact that whenever Princess Celestia went anywhere her royal attendants had to plan events months in advance to keep her busy schedule organized. On top of that, all interactions with the public happened like clockwork. The Princesses appeared at public speeches, holiday festivals, and the like, but not much else besides national emergencies. Even when they deviated from these events the populace would always be well informed of their coming to give them time to prepare to receive their rulers with the proper preparation.

By the looks on the faces of all the School staff, they were just as surprised at the Princesses’ arrival as Obsidian was.

“Arise, my little ponies,” announced Princess Celestia, stepping down from the chariot. The students and staff did so, rushing over to crowd around their beloved ruler, barraging her with all kinds of excited questions.

All except Obsidian. Tears still welling in her eyes, Obsidian remained on the ground, not having heard Celestia’s command at all. Or rather, she had heard it, but it simply hadn’t registered. The dark unicorn’s brain was preoccupied with a number of other things right now, namely her expulsion from the School, the eradication of her future, and what might as well have been her banishment from Equestrian society. If the other ponies hadn’t thought her ideas to be worth anything before, now they never would. She would be a nobody, and more alone than ever. She wouldn’t even have the hope that someday her theories would garner her the attention of others. No hope that her loneliness would pay off in the end, because she would never know whether it was worth it, and neither would anypony else.

“Is something the matter, my little pony?” asked a voice Obsidian didn’t recognize.

Broken out of her thoughts yet confused by this new voice addressing her in the way only a Princess normally would address her subject, Obsidian raised her head to see Princess Luna staring down at her. Just like before, the Princess of the Night was smiling, but it looked forced; her eyes were full of fear. Fear of what? What could somepony as powerful and respected and even feared as Princess Luna possibly be afraid of? Of these three things, Obsidian herself had only ever experienced the last one. Plenty of ponies had learned to fear and avoid her explosive research in particular and then her in general.

Obsidian’s words wouldn’t come out, wrought as she was with fear herself. The dark unicorn’s words tumbled around in her mouth before she finally forced them to haphazardly answer the Princess’ question.

“M-matter is the nothing, your majesty,” Obsidian spoke. “I-I mean…Nothing is the matter!”

“Are you certain?” Luna inquired, looking unsure of what to say or even do in this situation. “You look rather flustered.”

“It’s…it’s nothing…” Obsidian finished, looking to the ground as she fought back tears. It was laughably ironic, really; here she was, talking to a Princess, something most ponies would never get to do in their entire lives…and she was upset about something as trivial as the School.

“Come, sister,” Celestia called to Luna from across the park where she was still among the herd of ponies. Finally they parted to allow her to step through, and the Princess of the Sun made her way to the stage. The other ponies, notably the staff, followed her eagerly.

“I must go,” Luna informed Obsidian. “I…I am sure that whatever ails you will soon come to an end.”

“Thank you,” Obsidian responded, raising her head to look Luna in the eye. The dark unicorn’s tears were free flowing now, unable to be kept at bay a moment longer.

Luna gasped when she saw this, and Obsidian winced. It was just one more thing to add to her list of failures. Not only had she been expelled from the School, or at least soon would be, she had made a Princess feel like her subject was crying because of her.

Luna looked uncertain of how to respond again, looking up to her sister talking among the other ponies and then to Obsidian and then back to Celestia again.

Finally, the Princess of the Night tore herself away and galloped towards the stage.

Obsidian watched her go and join all the others. Then, turning back to her booth, Obsidian trotted over to her machine and raised a hoof to begin dismantling the object she had spent her entire life trying to theorize and build.

. . .

Obsidian opened her saddlebags and levitated the last component of the dismantled Paradox Producer into the waiting pouch. It had taken her forever, but eventually the machine had come apart and been stuffed piece by piece into the saddlebags. Obsidian had magically made the bags larger on the inside to carry just such parts.

Obsidian glanced over at her empty booth, the last sight she’d ever see of what could have propelled her into everything she’d ever dreamed of. It was too painful to look for long, and Obsidian quickly turned away.

Obsidian had the fleeting thought to go up to the stage and beg the Headmistress for a second chance, but quickly dismissed it. She didn’t see how it would make much difference whether one pony or the whole School finally confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that she just wasn’t the type of pony that belonged in their School, much less with one of their diplomas. She’d glanced up at the stage occasionally throughout her dismantling of the Paradox Producer, but had seen nothing more than she’d expected. The top unicorns of the School’s class had been lined up onstage, the Princesses talking to each one individually before moving on to the next one. What they were doing was anypony’s guess, but they were associating with the only kind of ponies the School saw fit for them to be with. Ponies who weren't like her.

Obsidian, wiping a final tear from her eye, trotted off towards the path that would take her out of the park and away from the School’s influence forever.

Only to run smack into the tall legs of an alicorn.

Obsidian toppled over backwards, the extra-weight of her enchanted saddlebag’s contents causing her to land on her rump.

“Do forgive me, my little pony! I did not mean to catch thee unawares,” apologized the same voice that had caught Obsidian off guard earlier.  Looking up just as quickly as before, Obsidian saw Princess Luna smiling down at her again. Only this time, there was something different; the fear had gone from the Princess’ eyes. No, it was still there, but it was lessened. The fear had been pushed back to the farthest corners of the mind while the Princess mustered up the courage to do something she hadn’t thought she would be able to do. Odd, the way Princess Luna looked was just how Obsidian had felt before she presented the Paradox Producer… “Art though alright?”

“Yes, your majesty,” Obsidian answered, picking herself laboriously off the ground. It was difficult with all the extra-weight her saddlebags carried, but once she righted herself once more she was alright. “Are you alright? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

“It is quite alright,” Luna quelled Obsidian’s fears. “I hope I haven’t caught you in the middle of something…”

To be perfectly honest, Luna hadn’t. Sure, Obsidian was leaving the park and all ties to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns behind, but she wasn’t really headed anywhere specific. Her few possessions besides the built-from-scrap Paradox Producer were technically the property of the School, so she didn’t have anything to go back there to get. As for where she would spend the night, that was anypony’s guess. Obsidian had lived in the School dorms ever since she was accepted from the orphanage she’d grown up in, never having really known her parents. She couldn’t go back to the orphanage now, so a lonely back alley might actually be the closest thing Obsidian would have for a bed tonight.

“No, your majesty,” Obsidian sniffed, trying to smile and meet Luna’s eye for the Princess’ sake. The dark unicorn didn’t want to repeat her waterworks display for the Princess all over again.

“Good,” Luna’s smile grew, though there was still that flash of nervousness behind her eyes that the Princess was trying to suppress. “Then I was hoping though would not mind if I were to have a talk with thee.”

What?! What would a Princess want with Obsidian?! Had she messed up so badly at the School Final Exam presentation that she needed a Princess to expel her? Had she really offended Luna that much by being unable to keep herself from crying In front of her?

“O-of course, your majesty,” Obsidian nodded, bowing. “What…what about?”

“My sister and I travelled here today for a very unique reason,” Luna began. “You see, I have been finding it most…difficult…to regain the favor, love, and simple companionship of my subjects ever since the…‘incident.’”

“Oh,” Obsidian uttered, realizing exactly what event Luna was talking about. But…what did that have to do with her?

“My elder sister suggested a way for me to remedy this,” Luna went on. “Celestia suggested that I follow her example and better connect with the populace by taking on a student of my own.”

“So that’s why you came to the School’s Final Exam presentation,” Obsidian observed. “You wanted to pick a student from the best and brightest of Equestria.”

“Not exactly,” Luna admitted. “I didn’t know what to look for in a student. Celestia suggested that I start my search here, among the ‘best and brightest’ you mentioned.”

“Did you find somepony?” Obsidian questioned, getting uncomfortable. If Princess Luna had already found somepony to be her student among the best mages Equestria had to offer, then why was she talking to a lowly reject like Obsidian? Surely the judge’s word had spread to the Headmistress by now, and the Princesses would surely have heard about it as well from talking with them. Well, whoever this pony was, Obsidian envied them deeply.

“I believe I did,” Luna replied. “I talked much with the heads of this School, and learned a great many things about its students. One in particular caught my attention. Like myself, she too seemed misunderstood. But before I know if this pony will be my student, I must know if this pony will accept my offer.”

“Are they having difficulty making up their mind?” Obsidian wondered. How could anypony be that stupid? How could they have the offer to study under a Princess right in front of them and not realize the chance they were getting?

“A little bit,” Luna smiled humorously this time, as if she was in on a joke Obsidian was unaware of. “Do you know of any way I could convince them to become my apprentice?”

So THAT’s what this was about. The Princess just needed somepony else from the School’s (would-be) graduating class to tell her how to better interact with another student. And even if she wasn’t included onstage as the others had been, who better to tell the Princess about a classmate than a fellow student? Unfortunately, Luna was out of luck there. Obsidian knew the other students about as well as the other students understood and trusted her theories and experiments. That is to say, not at all.

“I guess I would just ask them if they would like to be your student, plain and simple,” Obsidian ventured at last after some thought. “If they say no, then they don’t really know the honor they’re being offered.”

“Very well, I find your approach suitable,” Luna said. “Will you be my student?”

. . .