Luna

It is raining again.
I'm on one of the towers above my chambers, the shingles slick with rain. I am breathing heavily, and there's someone in front of me.

Vinyl? Why is she here? Why am I here, for that matter? And why do we have our katanas drawn?

She starts stepping towards me, katana poised to strike at any moment. She has fire in her eyes and a determined grimace on her face.

"Luna, stop this. It doesn't need to end this way. Come back with me and we can talk. I'm sure we can help you without-"

"No."

It is that cold, cruel voice again, coming from my mouth without me speaking. It's as if someone else is in charge, and I am just along for the ride.

"I've come too far to be stopped by some upstart student who thinks she can wield Shadow better than I."

"Luna, please!"

There's a pleading look on Vinyl's face now. The tip of her blade lowers, and I take that chance to rush in and butt her with the hilt of my katana.

No! Stop! Please! I don't want to hurt her!

As much as I yearn to take control and stop myself, I can't.
She stumbles back, slightly dazed, and I rush in, stabbing at her almost too fast to dodge. Almost.
Vinyl spins out of the way, her katana coming in for a quick slash at my right side. I block easily and turn to face her.

"Please!"

I can see the fear and desperation in her eyes.

Yes, stop! Whoever you are, whoever's in control here, stop this at once!

"You fool! How could you even presume to stand up to me! I am the ruler of the night! I am the fear that lives in the darkness! You should be bowing before me and begging for me to let you live!"

Vinyl's eyes turn hard, and she grimaces. A dark aura surrounds her blade, like in the Trial Room when she'd used her Element, and when I look into her eyes, they burn with black flames.

"Then you leave me with no other choice, Luna. If you won't come back willingly, I'm going to make you see sense. I'm not letting you kill Princess Celestia!"

She attacks then, battering my defenses with hard, fast slashes that I only just manage to block in time.

"I'm going to bring you back to your sister if I have to break every bone in your body to do it!"

Slashes come in from every direction, and I whirl madly to keep up. It is almost as if there are three of her attacking me at once.
My katana burns with the same fire, and I match her blow for blow, hitting her defenses hard and fast. After a few minutes of this, I start to notice something else about the flames. They are growing, elongating my blade and burning ever darker and brighter. The envelop my right arm first, and grow until they cover me like a suit of dark armor.

"I am Nightmare Moon! I bring eternal night and darkness! I will not be stopped by the likes of you!"

I slash only once. My katana bears down on hers and knocks it from her hand, where it embeds itself in a nearby shingle.
She starts backing away, then, and I see my reflection in her eyes.

No. Please, for the love of Equestria, no! NO!

Vinyl's foot slips on a shingle, and she falls backwards, half off the edge of the tower now.

"Eh."

She shrugs, a smile crossing her face.

"It was worth a shot."

Suddenly, a flash of light emanates from behind me. I turn to see Celestia and the others standing on the roof.

"Vinyl! I'm so glad you're okay!" Octavia says, rushing towards us, but Vinyl cuts her off.

"Leave!" she shouts. "It's not safe here!"

While she is occupied, I grab her katana and ready it.

"Go, quick, before she-"

I stab at her. Vinyl looks up at me, and a single word escapes her mouth.

"Tavi-"

The sword pierces her chest.

"NO!"

NO!

I sat up, sweat running down my face.

Nononononononononononononono!

I looked at my reflection. Still me, despite the dream I'd had.

Please, oh please let this not be a premonition!

I stood up, trying desperately not to break down or scream.

If it is... I'm going to... No. It can't be. That was just a dream. I should know as well as anyone that dreams can seem as real and vivid as real life.

I stepped out of my chambers and into the long corridor that bridged mine and Celestia's personal rooms and training areas. I stepped to the window where I'd raised the moon the night before. It was morning now, the equivalent of late evening for me.

It's time to get the students and head back to the Trial Room.

Applebloom

We had all gathered in the Trial Room ahead of time, and we were waiting for the princesses to arrive.

"D'you think we should have told them we were coming here early?" Time Turner asked.

"I left a note." Vinyl said. "Besides, they're smart. They'll know where we've gone."

"But what if they don't see the note?"

"How could they not see it? I taped it to the outside of our door!"

"But what if it fell off?"

"Why would it fall off?"

"I dunno! Maybe it-"

"Just shut up, both of you!"

Octavia cut in, stopping them from arguing further.

"Let's just wait here until they come. Honestly, you two are impossible sometimes!"

They stopped arguing, Vinyl giving Time Turner a satisfied smirk.
The princesses arrived shortly afterwards, and I prepared myself to go into the room. I'd been musing over how to beat Applejack all throughout the previous night, and I had some ideas.

One thing's for sure: If she lands even one blow with that hammer of hers, it's over. I have to use my speed and maneuver around her attacks.

I'd also taken some precautions. Vinyl'd let me borrow some of her headphones for the fight. I wasn't going to listen to anything, but the headphones would block out any sound - or, more importantly, any insults - coming from Applejack. I didn't want my fight to go like Scootaloo's.
I stepped into the room, unbelting my mace as I did so. I'd trained for an hour or so before I'd gone to bed last night, and I was starting to get used to using it.
Applejack appeared in front of me about a minute later. She started talking, but I couldn't hear her through my headphones. I saw her start to unbelt her hammer.

I have to strike first, or else this fight could drag on for a while, and the longer it gets, the less I'm gonna be able to dodge.

I swung my mace at her, and she jumped backwards, her hammer falling from her waist and hitting the ground. I moved to pick it up, but Applejack punched me in the face, and as I staggered back, she grabbed the hammer and swung it in a sideways arc towards my head. I ducked out of the way, swinging my mace at her legs as I did so. The mace smashed into her left leg and brought her to the floor.

End it, Applebloom!

I swung my mace downward at her head.
Applejack dove forward and rolled just inside the reach of my weapon, uncurling into a vicious uppercut that hit me square in the jaw.
I staggered back, blood spurting from my nose and reflex tears filling my eyes. Applejack stepped towards me, readying her hammer for the final blow.
Thinking quickly, I ducked and moved as if to dive to the left. Applejack swung her hammer downwards at where my head would've been if I'd actually gone that way. Instead, I dodged to the right and hit her in the back with my mace.
Applejack turned sharply and caught my mace with her hands, dropping her hammer. She ripped the weapon from my grasp and punched me in the gut. I staggered backwards, holding my stomach, and she pushed me backwards, knocking me over.
As I landed on my back, the headphones Vinyl had lent me fell off, and sound rushed in. I tried to get up, but Applejack put her foot down on my chest, keeping me on the ground.

"I'd stay down if I were you, sugar cube. I'll try to make it quick."

I closed my eyes, tensed for the blow that would finish me off. I heard Applejack shuffle a bit as she raised the hammer to strike.
I heard a strange cracking sound.
I opened my eyes, and saw that one of the tiles on the floor was floating a few inches out of its place, just hanging in the air, as if waiting for something. I glanced at Applejack, readying her hammer still.

Okay, if this is my Element, I should be able to control it, right? So how do I get that tile to hit Applejack?

No sooner had I had the thought than the tile flew through the air straight at Applejack, hitting her in the side of the head.
She stepped off of me, holding her head and looking around for some unseen attacker.

Okay, how do I do that again?

I focused on one of the floor tiles and thought Lift! It lifted. I thought Go hit Applejack! and it flew at her face.

So, Earth then? Does this count as Earth? Are the tiles made of stone?

I kept flinging tiles at her, choosing random ones, attacking her from every direction, keeping her on her toes, while I stood up, dusted myself off, and calmly picked up my mace from where my faux sister had thrown it. Lift! I took a few steps closer. Go hit Applejack! A few steps more. Lift! I was nearly to her now. Go get her! I thought about how best to take her out. Lift! I decided on a quick blow to the head. Sic 'er, boy! I started taking tiles mainly from behind her, keeping her faced away from me. Lift! I was almost there now. For victory! It seemed that as long as my intent was in mind, it didn't really matter what I said to the tiles, they would fly at Applejack all the same. Lift! I was behind her now. Go, my child! The tile flew straight at her, and she raised her hammer to block. Stop! The tile stopped inches short of Applejack's hammer. We stood there, Applejack just looking at the tile, wondering what was going on, and me looking at Applejack, mustering up the courage to strike her down.

Enough of this. Time to strike!

I raised my mace, the tile taking my errant thought as an order and slamming full speed into Applejack's chest.
I brought my weapon down. There was a crack as the mace hit her in the back of the head, splitting her skull open like an egg. I screamed.

I didn't mean to hit her that hard!

Instead of the blood and brains I would've expected to explode out of her head from such a blow, there was only a puff of smoke as she disappeared entirely.
The door unlocked, and I stepped in. Surprisingly, except for a couple of broken ribs and a bloody nose, I was fine. Luna stepped to meet me, and put a hand on my shoulder.

"C-Congratulations, Applebloom. You have passed the first trial and discovered your Element: Earth!"

I'm glad that's over.

Octavia

While Applebloom had been fighting her sister, I had been tuning my cello. Just because it doubled as a weapon didn't mean it couldn't sound perfect. I finished the last of my adjustments and stood up, clearing my throat as I did so.

"I might as well go next. I just finished getting ready, and I don't want to waste any more time just sitting here while my friends nearly die just to find out what power they have. I've got an even shot at getting either Ice or Light, so there's not much to do but go for it and see which side the coin lands on, is there?"

I walked towards the door, pressing the small button that opened up the neck of my cello, revealing the quiver of arrows concealed within, and gave the group a small smile.

Here goes nothing. I wonder how Vinyl will react to me killing a copy of her... She is the person I respect most, after all. I can't really think of anyone else I'd rather fight with or against than my roommate.
But as the now familiar cloud of black mist congealed into someone in the room, I realized I'd been wrong.

Detective Nightshade?

Sure enough, there she was.
My mind flashed back to a few months ago, when I'd read the first of the book series she was in. From the very first page, I was hooked. Nightshade was never afraid of danger, she never gave in, and she was always able to help those in need. In a way, I wished I was her. She was just like me, but better.
And now she was standing in front of me.

Can the room do that? Can it make fictional characters?

The unicorn looked around, obviously confused.

Why is she a pony? If I'm a human, shouldn't she be one too? Wait, this is a fictional character. If she's a pony in the book, she's a-

A hoof slammed into my face, shattering my state of contemplation.

"Get me out of here."

What?

I evaded another kick from the feisty P.I., still utterly bewildered at the sight of one of the greatest fictional minds since Sherclop Holmes being real and alive and very angry.

"Let me go, whatever you are. I have urgent business in Cloudsdale, and I can't afford to waste any time here fighting you."

It seemed like she was taken straight from where I'd left off in my novella. Detective Nightshade had an important message to deliver to the mayor of Cloudsdale concerning a ring of thieves and smugglers that were operating in the area. She'd discovered their location, and she was just about to rally the authorities when we'd left to go to the castle.

How can I kill a fictional pony? Can I kill a fictional pony? This spell really is something. It must be the 'huge magic boost' Vinyl was talking about.

I pressed the small button on the handle of my bow, sensing more than seeing the wood bend and lock to form a curve, and loaded an arrow onto the string.

Well, I still need to beat her to pass.

I drew back, ready to end this battle quickly, but a grey aura enveloped my hands, and I couldn't move them.

"Whatever you are, I'm afraid I have to kill you." the unicorn said, slowly walking towards me, her horn glowing as she levitated a small knife from her saddlebag. "Don't worry though; you won't feel much."

I tried to let go of the bow, and to my surprise, even though my hands were trapped, my fingers could still move.

She's got me at the wrists.

An idea formed in my mind then.

If I can just move a bit...

I swiveled my body, trying to work around the magical hold she had on my hands. I managed to maneuver my way until my arms were stuck straight out in front of me, my wrists still held in place.

Come on, let your vanity take over...

As I'd hoped, she didn't kill me from the side, which was the wisest choice she could've made at that time. Instead, she walked around me until we were facing each other dead on.

"I want you to see where your death comes from," she said, putting the knife in her mouth and rearing on her hind legs.

Now!

I moved my feet out from under me, dropping and swinging by my magically held wrists, bringing my feet forward and into the unfortunate pony's stomach. The magic holding my hands went away as the unicorn flew through the air and slammed into a wall. I got up, dusted myself off, picked up my bow, and pressed the button, turning it into a harmless cello bow. I picked up the arrow from where it had fallen, and brandished it, the metal shaft gleaming dully in the light of the room.

It's obvious I won't get very far with trying to shoot her, so it'll have to be a bit more... complicated. Let's see how I do in a knife fight.

It turned out I was pretty decent at it, though that might have been due to the fact that I had a definite hight and mobility advantage due to me being human and my opponent being equine. I was actually starting to make her nervous. I could see fear in her eyes as she blocked yet another attack.

The fight is won. I'm beating her easily.

She blocked a few more, her guard slipping more and more as time went on.

Too easily.

She lunged at me and I sidestepped, in the perfect position for a counterattack. It was too obvious an opening. It was a trap.
Sure enough, as my arrow moved to take advantage of the opportunity, a grey aura enveloped my hands again, trapping me once more, only this time my hands were closer to the ground, ensuring no counterattack like the first would occur.

"You know, even though I was just faking being tired, you are pretty strong, whatever you are." the unicorn said as she calmly strode towards me, readying the knife.

"You're not too shabby yourself, being a pony and all." I replied.

The black coated mare was in front of me now, knife floating and glowing with magical energy.

"Wait..."

She stopped, looking confused.

"Why is it getting brighter?"

I looked around. Nothing had changed for me. I returned my gaze to the pony in front of me, and saw that she was squinting now.

"What are you doing? Why is it so bright all of a sudden? I can hardly see. What did you do!?"

She was covering her eyes now, waving her knife around as if the brightness was caused by some unseen person in the room.

"Stop it, whatever you're doing! Is there some sort of machine in here that turns up the lights?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. It's not any brighter. If anything, it's gotten slightly darker now." I said, utterly confused.

You know, come to think of it, it is kind of warm in here. Not too warm, just... warmer. As if I was in front of the hearth back home.

The knife stopped then, and returned to point at me, or rather, some point off to my left. It shot forward.

She thinks she's stabbing me. Well, as long as she supposedly can't see, I don't see the harm in leading her on a bit.

"Ow! Owww! My arm! You stabbed me in the arm!" I moaned, trying my best to sound as if I were in excruciating pain.

She moved her knife a little to the left, and stabbed again.

"Ow! My other arm! Stop that!"

She moved a bit to the right and up, and stabbed a third time.
I let out a choked gurgle, as if she'd hit me in the neck.

Come on, take the bait...

Sure enough, the magic holding my arms dissipated, and I was free once more. I slumped to the tile, more to simulate my emaciated corpse hitting the ground than anything and slowly rose as she started blindly stepping around and feeling with her hooves for my body.

I could kill her. I could load an arrow into my bow and end it an instant.

I reached for my bow, which was strapped to my cello...
And moved past the bow to the strap holding my cello in place. I loosened it, putting the arrow I'd used as an impromptu knife back in the neck and closing it. I held the cello by the neck, and tiptoed my way over to the fumbling unicorn.

"See ya later, Nighshade." I whispered.

She turned around, swinging the knife wildly and turning her back to me.
I slammed my cello down on the unfortunate pony's head, and watched as she crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
There was a click as the door unlocked. The warmth disappeared, and I saw everyone but Celestia uncover their eyes, and start at the sight of me, holding my cello over Nightshade's dozing form.
As I walked back towards the door I inspected the instrument. The blow to Nightshade's head had made the fourth string a tad flat. I adjusted it as I stepped through the open doorway. Seeing all was good with my quiver, I strapped it on my back and looked up at Celestia, who had put a hand on my shoulder.

"Congratulations, Octavia. You have passed the first trial and discovered your Element: Light."

Light, huh? That'd explain how I'd blinded Nightshade. Speaking of...

I looked over at the room, and saw the fictional pony disappear in a puff of smoke.

See you tonight, friend. I aim to finish your story.

"I've found all my students." Celestia said, glancing at me, Time Turner, and Scootaloo. "Now all that's left is for Sweetie Belle to take the trial, discover her Element, and then we can begin your official training.

Sweetie Belle

The moment I'd been dreading had arrived; It was time to fight Rarity. I looked around the silent room, taking in all the expectant eyes watching, waiting, for me to stand up and enter. But I just couldn't seem to find the courage.

I'm no good as a fighter. Even when I work hard and try my absolute hardest to win, everything seems to go wring. The thread gets tangled up, I keep missing when I swing the needles, or my opponent's just too fast to get caught by my clunky attacks. I could try and use magic, I guess... I don't really know if I can though, even with the magic boost.

Celestia interrupted my thoughts. Apparently, I'd been sitting on that armchair and thinking for some time now. I stood up and tried to talk, tried to tell the waiting room that I couldn't fight, let alone beat, my big sister one-on-one, but I just ended up staring blankly at Scootaloo and Applebloom. They glanced at each other, and it hit them. They'd seen me in training, and they knew just how bad of a fighter I was. They started whispering to each other, just barely too quietly for me to hear, then Scootaloo walked up to me and started to nudge me towards the door.

"Oh, come on, Sweetie Belle. It won't be that hard. She's only gonna be as tough as you are, remember?"

"Besides," Applebloom chipped in, unlocking the door and holding it open for me and my persistent friend. "If you need any help, we'll be right here on the other side of this wall, rooting for you all the way."

We were almost to the door when Celestia walked up to me and Scootaloo.

"You know, if you want, we can just not do the trial." she said. "We already know what Element you have, so me and Luna can just work with you personally to help you discover it."

I just about exploded with relief at the news.

I don't have to fight Rarity? That would be amazing. But... What would happen If Celestia and Luna were burdened with teaching me? It'd take up time that they could use to help the others. Someone else could end up falling behind because I might not get the hang of using my powers right away, and if even one of us is behind, we won't be able to work as a team, and who knows what would happen? King Sombra could win, and it would all be because I was too much of a coward to fight my sister.

"No."

I stopped resisting Scootaloo's pushing, and stepped towards the door.

"I've made up my mind: I'm going to fight Rarity, and discover my Element on my own."

I stepped through the door, and smiled at my friends. The door closed behind me with a loud click, and I stepped into the center of the room.

Besides, Rarity's only as strong as I am. It can't be that hard.

I saw a flash of metal, and quickly dodged out of the way of a massive swath of needles. I had just enough time to get to my feet before another huge group of the things flew straight at me. I ducked again, but this time a small group managed to catch me in the back.

OW!

Pain exploded from the point of impact, overwhelming me. My head swam, and I blacked out for a few seconds. When my head was clear again, there were more needles coming at me.

Note to self: do NOT let those things hit you.

I dodged them, and looked around for my sister. I found her, levitating herself with magic, in one of the corners of the room. I pretended not to notice her, or the flash of light that burst from her necklace. I dove towards her at an angle, working my way closer as I dodged the large groups of floating needles. after a couple of minutes of dodging, ducking and diving, I'd positioned myself so that she was behind me, but I could still see her out of the corner of my eye. I started casually twirling one of my needles around on its thread, making small circles with it as I awaited the next wave of needles, apparently oblivious to Rarity floating there behind me. Her necklace flashed, heralding another wave of silver projectiles.

Now!

I spun on my heel and let go of the string, propelling the needle towards Rarity, who either didn't notice or didn't react in time to stop the thing from hitting her in the shoulder.

"Ouch!"

She dropped to the floor, taking the needle from her shoulder and throwing it off to the side.

"Well, then, sister, I guess the time for going easy is over. I won't be holding back any more."

I said nothing, not wanting to provoke her or show any emotion.

"Oh, sister. If you want to get out of here, you need to learn something very important..."

Her necklace flashed, and I tensed, waiting for a swath of needles to hurtle towards me, but instead intense, searing pain exploded from the area where I'd been hit earlier. My head swam again, and as I blacked out for the second time, I heard Rarity laugh, and finish the sentence.

"Never turn your back on an idle needle."

I came to about a minute later, and leapt to my feet, ready to fight, but when I saw what had happened, I sank to my knees.

This... This is not good. This is the exact opposite of good. This is very, VERY bad.

I was standing inside a globe of needles, the things whirling and spinning around me, flashing constantly and occasionally darting in to attack. I dodged left and right, and drew my daggers...
Which were gone.

"I hope you don't mind, Sweetie Belle," Rarity called from outside the globe. "but I've taken your pesky little daggers and set them down out here. You really should be careful with those; you could poke an eye out or something. Of course, you could always try to come out here and get them if you wanted to."

She walked into the globe, the needles parting around her, and stood facing me with a smug look on her face.

"This, my sister, is the endgame. At any time, I can merely think about all these needles hitting you, and - oops, I almost thought about it."

She laughed, a cold, condescending laugh. I stood up, and just stared at her, not saying anything, not showing any emotion, just staring at her, anger building in the pit of my stomach.

"What, are you giving me the silent treatment? How immature."

The needles edged closer.

"That's no way to treat the person who holds your life in her hands, now is it, little sister?"

"You're not my sister."

Her eyes widened in mock amazement.

"You can talk? I never would've guessed."

"You're NOT my sister." I said, taking a step towards her, fire burning in my eyes. The anger that was there was growing now, blossoming into rage.

"Oh, aren't I? Either I'm not, or you're just more of an idiot than I imagined, which, I have to admit, would be extremely hard to pull off." She glanced down at herself.

"I look like your sister, I sound like your sister, and I most certainly feel like your sister. From the way things are looking, you are coming away from this an idiotic fool, which is, in fact, not too far removed from the truth of the matter."

My fists were clenched at my sides now, shaking in rage. I didn't just hate this facsimile of Rarity, I loathed her. She was even more stuck up and high and mighty than the real thing. My anger was showing too, my body shaking. The clone's necklace started to glow, and the globe of needles started to shrink ever so slowly, inch by inch. In a matter of minutes I'd be dead, but I didn't care. All I wanted to do was show this clone exactly who she was messing with.

"And although I can't exactly taste myself, I'm pretty sure I taste just like Rarity, that is, assuming you know what Rarity tastes like."

All the mirth was gone from her face now.

"You should've accepted Celestia's offer. Even if you had held the others back, you would've had a chance against King Sombra, but now they won't be able to fight him at all, being down a member."

"Shut up." I said.

Rarity's eyes widened in surprise.

"Is that any way to talk to your big sister?"

A small group of needles broke off from the sphere and struck me across the face, scratching my cheek and sending me spinning to the floor. My eyes filled with reflex tears as my head slammed against the tile.

"Oh, look, she's crying! Aww, I made the little baby cry."

"I'm gonna make you pay for that!" I shouted, running at her, fists raised. She sidestepped me with ease, tripping me as I stumbled blindly past her. I fell face first onto the ground, hearing a resounding crack as my head hit the tile. I was steaming mad now. There was nothing that I could compare my anger to. Nothing could ever come close to the absolute inferno that raged inside me at the sight of faux Rarity laughing at me as I lay there. The anger just kept building and building and building and building and building...
Until, strangely, it stopped. It was still there, but there was a strange calm to it, a serenity I'd never felt before. I thought back to Fluttershy and the dragons, and how she'd managed to stare them both down and nearly kill one. If there was anything like that, than this was it. My necklace glowed, and I lifted myself up off of the ground, turning to face the clone.

"Oh, look. The little kid's-"

She didn't get to finish what she was saying before I tackled her, bringing both of us to the ground. She managed to wriggle free, and stood up shakily.

"Needles!" she shouted, her necklace flashing. "Get her!"
She glanced at me with a look of triumph as the needles closed in, parting for her to get through unharmed.
I closed my eyes, and focused.

NO.

I opened my eyes to see scores of frozen needles hanging in the air around me. I reached out and tapped one of them, feeling the ice but not feeling cold.

"Well, it seems we've reached a stalemate, sister." the clone said, walking around the dome of ice that simultaneously protected me and trapped me. "In order to get at me, you have to unfreeze part of this globe, and the second you do that, you're dead."

A plan was forming in my mind. I reached out with my magic and found my needles where they lay, somewhere outside the globe. The clone was just about in front of them now. I needed to distract her.

"First of all, you're not my sister. Second of all, I have the obvious advantage here, having a large amount of anger and power at my disposal, and third of all, you're already dead."

The footsteps stopped as the clone stopped walking. She was right in front of my daggers now.

"Oh, and how in the world am I already dead, dear sister?"

"You've forgotten one simple thing..."

I picked up my daggers with magic, and hurled them at her back. There was a wet thud as they connected with her. Even without sensing their location I could tell I'd hit something important.

"Never turn your back on an idle needle." I finished, thawing out the globe of needles. As the hundreds of silver projectiles fell to the ground, I calmly walked towards the door, my anger fading slowly away. As I walked in, I noticed something was off.

"Where are the princesses?"

Vinyl stood up to greet me instead, placing a hand on my shoulder, wincing as she moved her wounded arm.

"When you... ended it, Luna got upset and left. Celestia asked me to do your little announcement thingy instead, and left to see what was wrong."

She and I turned to face the others, Vinyl clearing her throat as she did so.

"Congratulations, Sweetie Belle. You have passed the first trial and discovered your Element: Ice!"

As I sat down, Vinyl stopped me.

"Celestia said you should go to the infirmary so she can heal you up after she talks to Luna."

Luna

As I watched the last three trials, my mind kept returning to that dream I'd had.

It's just a dream, Luna. It doesn't mean anything, and it especially doesn't mean you're going to kill Vinyl.

I looked over at said bearer, wrapped up in bandages, still recovering from her fight with herself.

One quick move. Wrap your hands around her head and twist. Snap her neck. It'd be so easy...

I jumped, startled by the thought I'd just had. Shaken, I tried to focus on the fight. I needed something to distract me. The fight didn't help. I turned to look just as Applebloom brought her mace down for the final blow. The ruthlessness of the strike scared me and excited me at the same time.

What's going on?

Applebloom entered the room, and I stood up. I walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder just like with the others.

So easy to do it. Just unsheath your katana and slit her throat. It'll be so fast nobody'll be able to stop you until it's too late.

I shook those thoughts from my head.

Applebloom is my student. I would never harm her, let alone kill her.

I stumbled a bit over her congratulations, so disconcerted was I at these dark thoughts that came to mind when I saw my students.

"C-Congratulations, Applebloom. You have passed the first trial and discovered your Element: Earth."

Applebloom sat down, and Octavia got up.
I watched as Celestia opened the door for her.

A spear, that's it. Make a shadow spear and impale her. Let her blood run down the blade. Let her know of your power.

I shook my head, and Celestia looked at me, confused, as she sat down and Octavia's opponent materialized.

"Well, that's interesting." she said, noticing the nature of Octavia's apparition.

"Who is that?" Applebloom asked.

Vinyl was staring at the unicorn that had appeared, her mouth open in surprise.

"That's not..." She mumbled. "Oh Octavia. Always with your head in a book." She shook her head, an amazed smile on her face.

"That's Detective Nightshade, the main character in Octavia's favorite book series." she explained. "I tried the first book, but for an adventure series, it's really dry. Apparently she really likes the main character."

We watched as Nightshade trapped Octavia with magic and prepared to kill her.

"Ooh, that's not a good position to be in." Vinyl said as the unicorn prepared to strike. "Come on, Tavi. You're clever, you can- Ooh! Nice one!"

Vinyl punched the air as Octavia's kick connected with Nightshade's gut. We watched the knife-on-arrow fight that ended with Octavia once again trapped by magic. We watched as the unicorn closed in...
And we watched the room grow brighter. Soon the light grew until it blinded, and we all covered our eyes save Celestia. When the light faded, Octavia was standing over an unconscious Nightshade, holding her cello by the neck.
As I saw Celestia step forward to greet her student, my hand almost unconsciously slipped downward to rest on the hilt of my katana. I looked at it and moved it away.

This is not good. I need to leave here soon, before anything comes of this, this... whatever it is that's happening.

As Sweetie Belle entered the room and fought her sister, a pit of uneasiness was growing in my gut. The unease grew ever larger as I saw Rarity's facsimile form a globe of needles around her sister and enter it. A short time later, Rarity stepped out, her hair ruffled and a bruise on her cheek.

Come on... Kill her already! What're you waiting for?

I fought back those dark thoughts as the globe closed, and then froze as Sweetie Belle discovered her power. A part of me was disappointed, but the rest of me told that part to shut up and go away please. As we watched, the two daggers that had been thrown to the side rose up from the ground, surrounded by a magical aura.

"She did it!" Scootaloo said, jumping from her chair. "She learned how to do magic!"

She and Applebloom high-fived as the daggers started to move towards Rarity.

Come on. Get her. Get her right in the back of the head. Right in the brain, that's the best place. Right there...

As the daggers embedded themselves in Rarity's clone, a dark sense of satisfaction washed over me.

This... This isn't right. I need to go. NOW.

I stood up and left, the door closing behind me as I walked out into the corridor. I heard footsteps as Celestia left after me.

Please just leave me alone right now, sister. I don't want to hurt you.

I took a sharp turn and teleported without a destination in mind, as long as it was away from those I could hurt.
After a short time in the Everfree Forest, my nerves were under control, or so I hoped.
I teleported back into the castle just in time to see Sweetie Belle walk out of the Trial Room, obviously wounded.

"Here. Let me take you to the infirmary." I said.

After healing Sweetie Belle's wounds to the point where she could go back and join the others, I sent her on ahead and fought the wave of dizziness that washed over me.

Healing spells sure use up a lot of energy.

Celestia walked through the door, and we left together. As we walked, I thought about the dark thoughts that had come over me earlier.

Author's Notes:

Okay, when I said that last chapter was gonna be the longest, I was wrong. This one is. We've still gotta cover a few more fight scenes, as well as something else. There will be a time jump, though.
Sorry.

Oh hey, this exists still. I reformatted it and fixed the other mistakes.