It wasn't Morning Glory's fault that she missed something obvious.
She'd spent all of her life around pegasai, not earth ponies, and certainly not unicorns. As such, she took the fact that Goldie seemed less... manic, and no longer vibrating with energy, as a reaction to Glory's story, and nothing else. Most older unicorns would have immediately recognized it for it was, and would have been a bit worried...
Still, while she couldn't put a name to it, some instinct told Glory that something was wrong. Not world-ending disaster wrong, just... slightly wrong, like a portrait hanging slightly crooked, but so slightly that it almost appeared to be straight until you took a moment to look at it. Sadly, that instinct, being an instinct, couldn't be more specific. Instincts are annoying like that.
As the two ponies sat, waiting as unicorn after unicorn filed in and took their places, they talked about themselves. The things they liked, the things they didn't, their lives... and of course, their conversation hit one of Glory's favorite topics.
Books.
In particular, Glory's favorite book: 'Magic For Beginners', written by Galaxy, the principal of Princess Celestia's School for gifted unicorns.
"Yeah," Golden Glow smiled, and said, "my mommy had a lot of fun writing that book."
While her jaw did not quite hit the floor (Glory may have been an earth pony, but she was no Pinkie Pie), the young earth pony's jaw certainly made an admirable effort at trying to reach the ground. "Wait," Glory began, wide-eyed, "your mommy is Galaxy? Principal Galaxy? Former student of Princess Celestia, Galaxy? Three time winner of the Starswirl Award For Magical Advancement, Galaxy? THE Galaxy?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, and probably, unless there's another Galaxy out there that I don't know about who is even more famous," Goldie answered with a smile. She didn't look smug. Proud, maybe, but not smug. Goldie was not the kind of pony who would look smug, even if you dumped a bucket full of smug over her head.
'Geez', Glory thought to herself, 'no wonder she's the top candidate to be Celestia's next student. And no wonder she's already so far ahead of other ponies her age: She's probably gotten all kinds of tutoring about magic from her mom that most of the other colts and fillies here could only dream of.'
Glory reached down to her backpack, which she'd set down on the floor beside her chair, and then pulled out her copy of Magic For Beginners. She turned it over to the photograph on the back of the cover, then showed it to Goldie, and pointed to it, mutely.
Goldie giggled, then nodded, and said, "Yup, that's the one."
Glory turned the book back around, and looked at the photo. She'd seen it a dozen times if she'd seen it even once, but it wasn't one that she'd really studied before. She was a pretty mare, with a pink coat that matched her bright pink eyes. Her mane was tri-colored, red pink and white, with a pair of spectacles perched upon her muzzle. Her mark was a set of seven dark pink stars in the shape of a constellation.
While she may not have been a mystical powerhouse on the level of Twilight Sparkle, Galaxy was well-known through much of Equestria, especially for her works in the field of applied magical theory: Until Twilight, there had not been a new magical spell developed in Equestria for more than a thousand years, but that did not mean that magical research was dead. Instead, researchers had dedicated their efforts to finding how to use old spells in new ways.
And Galaxy had been the pony to discover dozens, neigh, hundreds, of new ways that currently existing spells might be used, a record that had not been reached since the days of Starswirl The Bearded himself.
Glory flipped open the book, and read the introduction again, something she'd read a thousand times before...
'Anyone can be a wizard.'
'These were words spoken by Starswirl the Bearded himself, long, long ago. Many fail to actually understand their meaning. He did not mean that everyone can be a wizard. No, sadly, not everyone who embarks on the path of magical mastery will be able to reach their destination: Not everyone has the drive, the focus, or the talent for becoming a wizard. What Starswirl meant was that you can find wizards in the most unlikely of places.'
'Starswirl himself was, in fact, living proof of that: Historians often forget to mention his first nickname, one that many of his peers would use as an insult: The Potter's Son. Starswirl was the son of a peasant earth pony potter and a unicorn seamstress, in an age where such pairings were extremely rare, and those that did occur were often looked upon with distaste by others. Starswirl is often called the father of the amniomorphic spell, but few remember that this spell was something he developed as a colt, to help his father in his work, and make cups, bowls, and sundry other household items faster. However, it was when he began combining this spell with other spells, including ones that allowed for the rapid creation of ceramic materials, that the young colt began to become famous.'
'In those days, it was rare for anypony outside of the aristocracy to become a wizard, and there were many who tried to hinder Starswirl's advancement to that lofty rank. However, when Starswirl presented to the magical community as a whole a combination of spells that could allow a complete fortress to be created in under an hour, and one made of ceramic materials so sturdy that even catapults and cannonfire were hard-pressed to damage it, nopony could deny that he was, even at only sixteen years old, as much a wizard, if not more so, than the most nobly born of the peerage of the age. Dozens of variations to that spell have since been developed, for everything from simple fortifications to building housing quickly in an emergency. Ponies may sometimes boast about their ancestors, about their wealth and status, and that this makes them a superior wizard. They often forget that the greatest wizard in Equestrian history was the son of a peasant, without any sign of real magical power anywhere in his ancestry, and spent much of his early years without two bits to rub together.'
'What makes a pony a wizard is not a noble lineage, nor wealth, nor anything one is born with, but instead the will, the drive to work hard and dedicate one's efforts to the mystic arts. Anyone can be a wizard... including you.'
"You know," Goldie began, a small smile on her face, "if you want, I could get that autographed for you?"
For the second time today, Glory's jaw tried to unhinge itself in order to strike the floor. It kinda hurt. She'd have to watch that...
"I'd love her autograph!" Glory exclaimed, happily. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, after all: When was she likely to ever have a chance like that again?
Goldie smoothly took Glory's copy of Magic For Beginners, and said, "Okay,I'll go get it signed. I'll get it back to you after the test is over."
Confused, Glory asked, "You're leaving?
"I've seen whose showed up for the test," Goldie said, as the last chair in the hallway was occupied. "I know these ponies, more or less: I've attended enough parties with my mommy to know them all by name. Half of them are only here because their parents are somepony special. The other half... well, I don't expect anything surprising from any of them, but we'll see. The only surprise today was you, and if there's any justice in the world, you'll be Luna's student, and not any of them."
Glory smiled, and said, "Thank you."
Goldie giggled, then gave Glory a hug. "I'll see you when the test is done." With that, Goldie slipped from her chair, and walked out of the hallway.
------------------------------
Goldie sighed internally as her mommy, who had a lifetime's worth of experience with unicorns, and was especially good at reading her daughter, gave that one look that mothers on every world, in every universe, perfect by the time that their first child is three. Yeah, that look, the one that's the equivalent of saying their full name.
"You overreached again, didn't you?" Galaxy asked, an eyebrow raised.
"I... wanted to show off to a new friend," the young filly admitted as her mommy drew her a little bit away from the assembled parents in the room. "I didn't do anything all that difficult, just a double teleport."
"Golden Glow," her mommy stated, her expression stern, "I've told you time and time again, you need to give your body some time to catch up with your talent. You may have the skill to cast high level magic, and the magical energy necessary to fuel it, but your horn is still growing, and it's only barely able to handle spells like that. If you keep using magic above your level, you could crack your horn, or worse!"
This was not the first time that her mommy had voiced that concern, and not without good reason: Young unicorns with strong magical potential had a bad habit of trying to pushing themselves too hard, and until a unicorn's horn has reached its full growth, it may not be up to whatever spell the young unicorn may be trying to cast. It is like trying to fire a cannonball through a cannon whose barrel wasn't wide enough. If the difference was small, then while the cannonball may fire, it can damage the cannon on the way out. If the cannonball is much too large for the barrel... well, a cannon is a lot easier to replace and/or repair than a unicorn's horn, so it was best not to push one's self too far too soon.
"Sorry, mommy," Goldie said, looking suitably ashamed of herself.
After a moment, her mommy nodded and said, "It's alright, just try to avoid doing that again in the future." After a moment, she smiled and said, "Your mother would be so proud of you."
Right. It sometimes confused ponies when they heard stuff like that. Technically, Galaxy wasn't Goldie's mother, but her aunt. Still, mommy was the only mommy Goldie had ever known, so of course she was mommy.
Remembering why she'd come out here in the first place, Goldie said, "Oh, I need you to autograph something, mommy!" Holding up Morning Glory's book, she added, "I made a new friend today, and she said this is her favorite book, so I told her I'd get you to autograph it."
Galaxy chuckled, and said, "Well, if it's for a friend of yours, not to mention a fan, I can hardly say no." Pulling a quill and an inkwell from her purse, she asked, "What's her name?"
"Morning Glory," Golden Glow said, grinning.
Suddenly, Goldie's mother went very still...
---------------------------------------
Glory watched the first applicant walk into the room where Princess Luna was waiting to administer the test, escorted by a guard. The young colt in question had his head held high, and seemed so full of himself that it seemed almost comical. He stepped into the room and out of sight. After a moment, there was a sound that Glory didn't recognize (Having been born in Cloudsdale, where everything is clouds, she'd never had an opportunity to hear a wooden door be opened before). Within a minute afterwards, the youngster was marched out, an almost exaggerated expression of distress and confusion on his features.
"But I don't understand, what did I do wrong?" he almost whined to the guard.
Glory was only five years old, and while certainly much brighter than most youngsters her age, she wasn't quite jaded enough yet for this all to seem suspicious to her, but, once again, some instinct told her that something wasn't quite right, and that she should pay attention to what was going on here.
Perhaps more importantly, she'd come to an immediate conclusion about the nature of the test: Whatever the test was, it was very easy to fail, given that the youngster had been in the room less than a minute. Maybe it was related in some way to that noise she'd heard before the youth was marched out...
Then in marched the second applicant, as proud and confident as the first. He stepped in, and after a moment, there was that noise again, and then a moment afterwards, the applicant was escorted out, his complaints almost identical to the first.
Glory looked around the room at the other applicants, and saw that not even one of them looked the slightest bit concerned about this display. This was no act: They weren't putting on a brave face to keep from showing weakness to the other applicants, but rather they were all completely unconcerned about the fact that the first two to take the test had failed almost instantly. This wasn't self-assurance like Goldie had, but rather total and absolute arrogance and overconfidence. The unicorns in this room all believed that they were the ones destined to be Luna's student, so of course everypony else would fail, until it was their turn.
They all believed that they were the ones who deserved to be Luna's student, in spite of not having done anything to actually deserve it yet...
Glory sighed, and settled in to watch the other applicants march in and out of the room. It was almost guaranteed now that every other applicant was going to fail. She resolved herself, however, to make sure not to repeat their mistake: There was no guarantee she would pass, but Glory was determined not to fail the same way everypony else was failing.
----------------------------
Two hours later...
After watching the final applicant ahead of her take what Glory had come to consider 'The Walk Of Shame', the young earth pony sighed as the guard looked, first at her, and then around the room, as if searching for other applicants who might, in fact, be ninjas and as such be difficult to see right away. Admittedly, there was always the possibility that there were, in fact, ninja ponies in the room: Equestria was just strange enough for that to happen, but it was unlikely that, if any ninjas were here in this room, they were here to take Luna's test. After all, if somepony was already a ninja, why would somepony want to be a wizard too? Just being a ninja was certain to be a lot of work: Piling that on top of the work needed to become a wizard would just be absurd.
Still, as no prospective ninja-wizards stepped forward, the guard looked back to Glory. Glory, to her credit, didn't say anything, but rather just gave the guard a look that said, 'I know exactly what you're thinking of asking, and if you do ask that question, then you will drop about twenty pegs in my estimation of your intelligence. So please, by all means, ask me if I'm in the right place, and if I know what this test is for. I've only been sitting here two hours, after all.'
When you're angry and have had a pretty bad day, you can say a lot with just a look.
After a moment, the guard said, "Give me a moment while I check with the Princess?"
Glory nodded. She didn't trust herself, in that moment, to say anything.
The guard walked into the room, and after a moment, walked out and said, "Come this way."
NEW CHAPTER UP!!!
Write more faster.
Amniomorphic means genetic engineering. Transforming someone in the womb. He developed the spell that created the alicorns.
Or possibly, 'turning someone into a sheep', which is a standard World of Warcraft spell that of course is very important to pony wizards who don't want to kill people they don't need to.
Or the bowl thing, I guess.
Depends on how you interpret the root words.
6591900
Sorry, had a lot going on in my life, up to and including Jury Duty.
And I just died laughing. That line alone made me favorite this story.
6591900 What this guy said.
6591900
udi you taste awful
...
Oh my god.
Morning Glory and Golden Glow are cousins!
Ninja-wizards. I laughed for a solid five minutes. I love you, man. You are one of the best writers I've seen on this website.
Nice Ratatouille reference!
6591955
My name is a pun on the fact that one cannot toast gluten free bread. I tried to toast it with a toaster, an oven, toaster oven, and blowtorch. None worked.
i.imgflip.com/thmjp.jpg
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
6591989
we have different ideas of what toasted is if a blow torch didnt work for you
Well now... I think it's safe to say as much as we loved the others next chapter is the one many of us have been looking forward too.
I heard the same.
Also while these chapters are fun and are setting up many interesting threads that will payoff later (fae, Goldie, Flash, etc) it is still a bit agonizing waiting for the book work to begin. I can't wait!
No really.
I'm wondering if we're going to get Morning Glory's perspective of the test, or if we're just going to skip over it and assume that everyone here read the one-shot first.
Neither one is the wrong or right choice, it's just idle curiosity.
Ooh...a mystery.
Can't wait for the next chapter!
6592027
Spelt based bread (what I had on hand) burn after a while, but it doesn't toast.
Another enjoyable chapter. Well done.
6591975 Good I'm not the only one to have that exact thought.
Yay, we finally caught up with the first story! NEW TERRITORY AT LAST! I was going a little stir-crazy waiting for that, hehe. Lots of interesting bits of background in the meantime, though!
6591912 You mean 'I have horse words to write' wasn't a valid excuse for Jury Duty?
Great chapter. I love the interactions between Glory and Gloldie.
Am I the only one who'll be disappointed if it turns out Morning Glory is "Special?"
The charm of the original story is that she was an ordinary Earth Pony who passed Luna's test with uncommon sense. Now she has a mysterious past, with a mysterious amulet and a mysterious ability to see things ordinary ponies can't. It makes "anyone can be a wizard," ring false.
Love the reference to one of my favorite parts of Ratatouille!
I still have a feeling that Goldie might in some way be related to Celestia. A secret daughter perhaps?
Also, are you planning in any way to tie this in with your changeling stories? I'd love to see Mole Cricket, Ling and others make at least a cameo.
6592260 agree, going to wait for more of the story to develop and see if turns into another "chosen" one story or not. Unfollowing in the mean time.
So are we now finally over with the prologue and can get started with the story?
Two wham lines in the chapter:
Goldie's mother is an author of the book?! Well, technically, she's actually her aunt, but being related to someone who wrote a famous book made me go .
Whoa, that line must have a lot of significance later in the story.
Anyways, that was a wonderful chapter. Can't wait for more.
Well, hello there Ratatouille. Didn't expect to come across you here.
So, Galaxy knows Morning Glory. Since Glory is an orphan who was abandoned, I bet Galaxy is her biological mother. The first chapter shows the her mother cared for her(giving her a hug before leaving), and the adult that teleported behind Glory in that flashback knew something about either the mother or newborn foal.
6592260
Who needs horns when you are the Chosen One?
And I suppose they called him "the bearded" because his face was so Hairy.
(Yeah, I know it's an old one. )
.... aaaaand of course you know exactly what you did there.
Okay, that makes sense. I was wondering how Goldie could possibly manage to fail Luna's test; she seemed smart enough to suspect a trick question.
Plot thickens! Could they be sisters or cousins?
Whaaat. In the original story, I thought they didn't see each other walk out, and how quickly they failed. Having this information and still failing to clue in? They're idiots.
Nice world building.
I like how Glory discounts the possibility of ninja-wizards from a purely practical point of view of time management.
6591957
I was thiking sisters, but meh...
6591903
"DAMN YOU, ROOT WORDS WHICH MAY BE INTERPRETED IN SEVERAL WAYS!!!!!!!"
Ok, I'll admit, that reference, now that the word Amniomorphic has been explained, was damn-genius!
6592779 It does take a lot of effort to keep one's ninja skills in top condition. Some ninjas are good enough to be wizards as well as ninjas, but never as powerful as a ninja OR wizard of equal training time.
A 2nd level ninja/2nd level Wizard wouldn't be as good of a ninja as a 4th level ninja and wouldn't be as good at casting spells as a 4th level wizard
Sweet, I love that you covered why Morning Glory wasn't there to take the test! I reread the original a while back and it had said Morning was the last pony to apply, so I was concerned you'd switched it up (not a terrible thing, just not as exciting as skillfully working the new story to match the original). But you've got your bases covered, well done!
I admit, I wasn't expecting Galaxy's surprise, although it makes sense as a plot device now.
I'm definitely enjoying this so far! If I could offer one critique, I think your story would really benefit from a proofreader. The original Morning Glory story was really quite neat and well-formatted, if I remember rightly, but I keep seeing punctuation and formatting errors in the chapters of this fleshed-out version. Not completely heinous, but it does detract from the overall professionalism of the piece and can be a little distracting for us word-minded folk.
6592260 While I see your point, I will argue that it doesn't in any way prove the "anyone can be a wizard" line false. As both Ratatouille and this story have explained, the meaning of that phrase is not that ANYONE CAN BE A WIZARD, but that A WIZARD CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE. I'd say an earth pony who grew up in an orphanage in Cloudsdale totally fits that description of unlikely origins, however mystical her background may be turning out to be. The point of the expression is to remind us not to judge people by the background we can see - and nobody in this story so far, not even Glory, really seems to have any idea of her truly special specialness (except maybe now Galaxy).
6591957 That or sister but cousin is probably more likely.
Nicely done, author. You have just guaranteed that no one following the story, at least no one paying attention, will stop following. No force on earth can now stop me from finding out where this is going. Bravo.
I was wondering why Equestria forgot him...now we know/need brain bleach.
Interesting ... totally jossed what I expected of Goldie, but I think I like her better this way.
6591903 My headcanon is that it's the genetic engineering one, and that it's been used to ... well ... make everypony stronger, smarter, tougher, and longer lived. The Alicorn one is a different one.
6592893 Agreed. Besides, even if she is "special", that doesn't diminish from the fact that she passed the test with just her brains. True, her background may have aided her in getting to the test, but passing it was all her.
6593449 It's a separate one-shot in Nonsense's published story archives. There is actually a link to the story in the synopsis title page of this story.
like glutenfreetoast said
Also, great story :) I hope it meets all the expectations that have been placed in the first few chapters.
Dun, dun, duuun...
(insert gif here)
And I get the feeling we're much closer now.
6591989 Dunno what gluten free "toast" you've been trying, my brothers toast toasts just fine. (My brother is gluten intolerant, I am not. The toast is the best gluten free bread IMO.)
6593742
...Huh. Never knew that.