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// Meet and Greet 
// Story: The Magic Exam 
// by Rathbane 
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Sweetie Belle and Rarity walked through the center of Ponyville, towards Twilight’s castle.
“Now Sweetie Belle, there’s no need to worry about the test,” Rarity said, “Especially if you remember these three things: Be polite to the test giver, keep your eyes on your own paper, and if you don’t know the answer to a question on the written portion, nine times out of ten it’s: Star Swirl the Bearded.”
“Got it,” Sweetie Belle said.
They continued to walk along until Sweetie Belle noticed that Rarity had stopped dead in her tracks.
“Why’d you stop?”
“Because I don’t know how meticulously Twilight is following the ‘Test takers only beyond a certain point,’ rule.  For all I know she could’ve thrown up a magical barrier of some sort and I have no intention of walking face first into it.  So this is where we must part ways.  Good luck, Sweetie Belle.”
“Thanks,” Sweetie Belle said, slightly annoyed at Rarity’s paranoia.
She walked up to the castle and wandered around aimlessly a bit, unsure of where the test takers were supposed to stay at.  She soon stumbled across Blissful Trance standing at the side of the castle.
“Hi there!” Sweetie Belle said, waving at her.
“Yeeep! Er…um…hello,” Blissful Trance said, slightly startled.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Sweetie Belle said, “I haven’t seen you in Ms. Cheerilee’s class before.  Are you in one of the other classes?”
“No…I’m not from around here,” Blissful Trance said, “I’m staying here for the summer with my sister, Vinyl Scratch.”
“Wow! That’s so neat, she’s an awesome DJ,” Sweetie Belle said, “I’m Sweetie Belle, maybe we can spend some time together during the summer, when we’re not worried about this test.”
“R…really?” Blissful Trance said, shocked that somepony would want to be friends with her, just like that.
“Sure.”
“O…okay, sounds like fun. I’m Blissful Trance.”
Before their conversation could continue it was interrupted by a loud crash, they both turned to find the source to be Derpy, having crashed into a tree.
“Are you okay?” Dinky asked.
“I’ll be fine, good luck on the test Dinky!” Derpy said, before freeing herself and flying off.
Once she was gone, Dinky noticed Sweetie Belle and ran over to her.
“Hi Sweetie Belle, ready for the test?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Congratulations on getting your cutie mark again,” Dinky said, pointing to Sweetie Belle’s newly acquired cutie mark.
“Thanks!  Congratulations to you too.  Oh, before I forget here’s your invitation to my Cutecenera,” Sweetie Belle said, pulling out an invitation.
“Thank you, and here’s yours for mine,” Dinky said, pulling out an invitation for hers.
The two then noticed that they had been ignoring Blissful Trance.
“And here’s your invitation!” they said simultaneously, holding their invitations in front of her with their magic.
“Are…are you sure you want me to come?” Blissful Trance said, unsure of the whole thing.
“Of course,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Hey, where’s mine?” a voice from behind them asked.
The three of them turned, and saw a unicorn filly with a yellow coat, curly silver hair and copper eyes, sporting a cutie mark of a bar of gold being covered by a blanket, staring at them.
“Sorry, we didn’t see you,” Dinky said, as she and Sweetie Belle levitated a pair of invitations towards her.
“I was just messing with you.  Golden Fleece, is much to awesome of a pony to attend parties held by a couple of former blank flanks,” Golden Fleece said, as she used her magic to tear the envelopes in half.
“Golden Fleece needs to learn to stop talking in the third person,” Dinky said.
“And we’re all former blank flanks, even you,” Sweetie Belle said, annoyed that the insult had found a new form.
“Yeah well, I’ve had my cutie mark for a couple of months so I have seniority,” Golden Fleece countered.
“I’ve had mine for six months, so does that mean I have seniority over you?” a new voice said.
The fillies turned to see that the source of the voice was a white unicorn filly with short light brown mane, green eyes, and a stethoscope cutie mark.
“My awesomeness transcends time and space, so no you don’t.  Why don’t you join these other losers in basking in my awesomeness,” Golden Fleece said.
“Just ignore her,” she said, walking over towards the others, “Hi, I’m Healing Touch”
The others happily greeted her and they started to talk about the test until they were interrupted by wads of paper hitting them in the back of their heads.
“What is your problem?” Dinky said, as she and the others turned to face Golden Fleece.
She responded by throwing more wads of paper that they were able to easily dodge.
Great she’s like a worse version of how Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon used to be, Sweetie Belle thought.
“My problem is that I have to take this test with a bunch of losers like you,” Golden Fleece said, “There’d better not be anymore of you coming here, or my awesomeness might begin to be affected.”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at the comment.
Before the situation could escalate further, it was broken up by another unicorn filly literally jumping out of the shadow cast by the castle.
“Whoa!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, as she and the others backed away from the new arrival.
The filly was charcoal grey and had her black mane tied back in a messy ponytail that was supported by a pair of criss-crossed chopsticks, her cutie mark was of a trio shuriken.  She stared at the others with her blood red eyes, as her horn glowed with a black magical aura.
“Hi there!” she said, smiling happily.
“Where did you come from?” Healing Touch asked.
“The cherry fields, they’re in full bloom and beautiful,” the new arrival said.
“But how did you get here?” Dinky asked.
“Oh, I just jumped into one of the tree’s shadows and came out through this one.”
“Jumped into the shadows?” Sweetie Belle said in confusion.
“Yup, I do it all the time.”
“That sounds really cool,” Dinky said.
“Hey! No pony is as cool as Golden Fleece and that includes….whatever your name is,” Golden Fleece said in annoyance.
“I’m Ebony Darkness.”
“Did I say that I cared what your name was?” Golden Fleece asked.
“Is she always like this?” Ebony Darkness whispered, as she leaned over towards Sweetie Belle.
“As long as we’ve known her,” Sweetie Belle said, “And that’s only been a few minutes.”
“Hey!” Golden Fleece shouted.
Before Golden Fleece could launch into another insult filled tirade a voice shouted, “Attention all test takers!  Please report to the front of the castle!”
The six fillies quickly ran around to the front of the castle, where they found Spike waiting, holding a megaphone.  Twilight soon stepped out of the castle behind him.
“Don’t you think that was a little much Spike?” Twilight asked.
“Hey it worked didn’t it?” he asked.
“Hello everypony!” she said happily, “If you’ll follow me we’ll go to the testing area and I’ll explain everything.”
She led the group through the map room and down into the castle’s library.
“Have a seat,” Twilight instructed, as she walked over and stood by a table sitting at the front of the room.
The fillies did as they were instructed and sat at desks Twilight had set up the night before.
“Welcome to The Standard Unicorn Magic Exam!” Twilight said excitedly, “With this exam you will show that you are ready to embark on the next milestone of unicornhood, the removal of the natural limiter placed upon your magical abilities when you were born.  The test will be divided up to four parts: Now you may have already met each other so this first part may seem redundant, but you will be introducing yourselves and demonstrating what magic abilities you possess.  Just because you know some unique or rare form of magic, that doesn’t make you better then anypony else, it is one of the many parts of what helps make you who you are. That being said, please forgive me if I get a little excited during your demonstrations, I love seeing magic in action and learning from it.  Next, I will be meeting with you one on one to help you out with any issues you might be having a magical ability, be it a control one or not knowing how to properly utilize it, or just to help you improve upon the basics.  Third will be the written test.  After that we will look into one of the methods of non-unicorn based magic, in this case it will be spell books.  Any questions?”
The test takers sat in stunned silence due to both the sheer amount of information they had been bombarded with and because of Twilight’s enthusiasm towards the test itself.
“Alright then, let’s start with the introductions.  We’ll go from left to right,” Twilight said, “Step to front of the room when you’re ready.”
Dinky nervously got up and walked to the front of the makeshift classroom.
“Um, hello my name is Dinky Doo and I know levitation and Weapon-casting, specifically Bowcasting,” Dinky said, demonstrating her levitation ability by lifting a pencil that sat on the table.
“I’ve heard reports about your family’s abilities from the royal guards.  Spike, go grab a target for her to demonstrate on.”
“You got it!” Spike said, as he ran off.
“I must warn you, my aim isn’t that great,” Dinky said.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Twilight said.
Spike returned shortly with a dartboard.  
“Ooops hee hee,” Spike said sheepishly, as he tore a photo of Opalescence off it.
“Here goes nothing,” Dinky said, as her horn glowed and crackling ball of energy formed in front of her, it soon elongated into an arched beam before another beam of energy formed the “strings” of her bow. She then levitated a suction cupped practice arrow out of her saddle bag and lined up her shot.  Once she let the arrow fly, it veered to the left of the target, before bouncing off a large globe, several book cases, Sweetie Belle’s desk, and the floor several times before it hit its mark: Spike’s backside.
“Sorry about that,” Dinky said blushing.
“That’s okay, it could’ve been worse,” Spike said, pulling the arrow off and handing it back to Dinky.
With her turn completed, Dinky sat back down and Healing Touch took her place at the head of the class.
“Hello, my name is Healing Touch and I know levitation, level one healing magic, and low level poison removal spells,” Healing Touch said.
“Healing magic is a great skill to have,” Twilight said, “Sadly it’s not really something that can be demonstrated in a setting like this, since there aren’t any hurt ponies and I don’t want that to change.”
“I don’t want it to either,” Healing Touch said, as she walked back to her seat.
Golden Fleece, who had been pretending to doze off during the other demonstrations got up and walked to the front of the class.
“I’m Golden Fleece, and I know triple levitation, making me more awesome then anypony in this room,” she said, as her horn glowed with a dark green aura that she used to levitate a pencil and book sitting on the table, as well as Spike, turning him upside down in the process.
“First of all, what did I just say a few minutes ago,” Twilight said in annoyance, “And second, put Spike down.”
“Sure thing,” Golden Fleece said, as she halted Spike’s levitation, resulting in him slamming into the ground.
“That’s not what I meant!” Twilight shouted, shooting her a death glare.
“Sorry Twilight, but I think I’ll sit out for the rest of this before something else happens to me,” Spike said, getting to his feet and holding his head. 
Before Twilight could respond, a shower of green sparkles formed around the bump on Spikes head, he looked over to see Healing Touch’s horn glowing with a white aura.
“Thanks, that feels a lot better,” he said, flashing her a thumbs up.
Once he had left Sweetie Belle stood up and faced the class.
“Hi, my name is Sweetie Belle and I know levitation magic,” she said with little enthusiasm, as she lifted the book from the table.
And that’s it; I don’t know any other cool magic, she thought, feeling slightly inferior to the others.
Her spirits were lifted when the others, minus Golden Fleece, applauded her.
Ebony Darkness flashed a smile at her as they passed one another.
“Hi there, I’m Ebony Darkness and I know levitation and shadow jumping,” she said, happily demonstrating her levitation skill.
“Shadow jumping?” Twilight said, cocking an eyebrow, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before.”
“I’m not sure what its real name is, that’s just what I call it.  Let me show you,” Ebony Darkness said, as her horn glowed with a black aura and she jumped up and disappeared into the shadow cast by the table.  A few seconds later she jumped out of Twilight’s shadow, startling her slightly.
“It..it definitely lives up the name you’ve given it,” Twilight said, regaining her composure.
I’ve never seen that before or read about such a thing…she’s discovered some form of new teleportation magic, Twilight thought.
“And I can even take a pony with me,” Ebony Darkness said, her horn glowing black once more.  She jumped into Twilight’s shadow and out of the one cast by Golden Fleece’s desk.  She then wrapped her hoof around Golden Fleece’s.
“Hey! Wait! Whoa! What are you doing!” Golden Fleece shouted, as she and Ebony Darkness sank back into the shadow. 
A few seconds later they emerged from Twilight’s shadow.  Ebony Darkness was smilingly broadly, but Golden Fleece was trembling in fear.
“What was that place?!  It was like swimming through a nightmare!” Golden Fleece shouted, fear filled her voice.
“Oh, I just call it the Shadow World.  It’s where I go whenever I enter a shadow.  Isn’t it neat?” Ebony Darkness said happily.
“No! It was horrifying….I mean, it wasn’t all that great.  Just don’t drag me to your loser alternate world again,” Golden Fleece said, returning to her seat.
And things get even more complicated, Twilight thought.
“Alright one more.  Step on up,” Twilight said, beckoning Blissful Trance.
“H…hello,” Blissful Trance said in a quiet nervous tone, “I’m Blissful Trance.  I know levitation and hypno magic.”
Her horn glowed aqua and she lifted the book from the table but stopped when she noticed Twilight staring at her.
“Hypno magic?  That’s quite impressive, it’s one of the rarest forms of magic there is and you’re probably one of the youngest users of it too,” Twilight said excitedly, all the while thinking of things to ask her about it.
“Can I not demonstrate it? I don’t have the greatest control over it, and I don’t like getting into other pony’s minds like that,” Blissful Trance said, wanting to veer away from subject of hypnosis.
“Chicken!” Golden Fleece shouted.
“Of course you don’t if it makes you uncomfortable,” Twilight said, as she and the others shot Golden Fleece death stares.
“Thank you….oh, I also know this, my sister taught me it,” Blissful Trance said, as her horn glowed aqua again and she summoned a magic bubble that had several music notes suspended in it. The notes dissipated one by one and played a tone as they faded away.
Aww that’s cute…kinda familiar, like that movie I saw in the human world where they tried to play music for those aliens, Twilight thought.
Blissful Trance smiled sheepishly as the others applauded her impromptu concert.  However, she was soon filled with dread as she felt a sneeze coming on.
No..not now, she thought.
“Ah…ah…ah…achoo!” Blissful Trance sneezed, causing her horn to crackle with magical energy before it shot out a grey and red colored orb.   The stress of the spell she had cast caused her to then collapse to the ground.
“Don’t worry it’s just a case of magic drain,” Twilight said, as she ran over to her.
“Um, Princess Twilight, that sphere thing she summoned is following you,” Dinky said.
“What?” Twilight said in confusion, as she looked up to see that the red and grey orb was now floating in front of her.
What in the world? Twilight thought.
The orb began to expand before splitting of into six copies of itself, each one position itself in front of a different target.
“Girls get away! I don’t know what these things are capable of!” Twilight shouted.
Before anypony could react, the orbs flattened themselves into spinning red and grey spirals.
What are they doing now? Twilight thought, as her eyes locked on the spiral in front of her, It’s so pretty. I…I can’t look away.  No! What’s happening to me?  I…feel so relaxed.  I can’t…think. I…I…I am hypnotized.  I must obey.
The orb faded away as Twilight’s eyes morphed into red and grey spirals.
“You command, I obey.  You command, I obey,” Twilight said in a monotone.
Blissful Trance shook off the effects of the magic drain and got to her feet.
Ugh, what happened, she thought, before she noticed Twilight standing before her and Dinky, Sweetie Belle, Healing Touch, and Ebony Darkness walking towards her, all of them had red and grey spirals in their eyes.
“You command, I obey.  You command, I obey,” the hypnotized ponies said in unison.
No! No! Not again! Not again! Blissful Trance thought in horror, as the ponies that had fallen under her spell surrounded her.