The Magic Exam

The Magic Exam
By Rathbane


Chapter I Pre-Test Jitters



Octavia stepped out of the cab, and walked around to pay the driver.

“Thank you sir,” she said, handing him some bits.

Once the cab had pulled away, she breathed a sigh of relief.

It’s good to be home, she thought, Being on tour is nice and all, but it’s wonderful to be home….wait what’s that sound?

Looking up at the sky, she saw the source of the sound, and it was getting closer.

Oh no, is it that time already?! No! No! No! I’m not ready, she thought, as she wrapped herself around her cello case to protect it.

The object grew even closer, revealing itself to be Derpy in a freefall. Once she hit the ground, she skidded along it towards Octavia, stopping just short of her.

“Hi Octavia!” Derpy said happily, “Hey, I didn’t crash!”

“Oh, hello Derpy, good job,” Octavia said, not sure how to react.

“Well, here’s your mail,” Derpy said as she reached into her mail bag.

“Thank you,” Octavia said, taking a couple of envelopes from her.

“And here’s Vinyl Scratch’s mail,” Derpy said, pulling out a few more envelopes.

“I’ll make sure she gets them,” Octavia said.

“And here are Vinyl’s noise complaint’s and noise level violation citations,” Derpy said, pulling out a large stack of envelopes that had been bound together with twine.

“How did all those fit in there?” Octavia asked, eying Derpy’s relatively small mail bag.

“Oh, this bag’s bigger on the inside.  It was a gift from Dr. Whooves,” Derpy said smiling. “Well, I gotta go.  Bye Octavia,”

After watching Derpy fly off, Octavia struggled to carry both her cello case and her newly acquired stack of mail, Octavia eventually was able to make it inside the house she shared with Vinyl Scratch.

“Hey Tavi, welcome home,” Vinyl said upon seeing her enter.

“Thank you for the warm welcome,” Octavia said, slightly annoyed that Vinyl hadn’t offered to help her.

“What’s all that?”

“Your mail.  Derpy just delivered it, it’s mostly noise complaints.”

“But there’s so few of them,” Vinyl said, eying the large stack that Octavia was struggling with, “I must be slipping up.”

“Heaven forbid,” Octavia said, “And this is your regular mail.”

“Hey, a letter from home,” Vinyl said, levitating the envelope on top of the stack.  She quickly tore it open and began reading it, “Let’s see here. ‘Dear Vinyl, how are you? We are fine. Yada yada yada.  We’re going on a trip. Yada yada yada.  It’ll last all summer.  Yada yada yada…oh wow, she’s coming to stay with us!  I’d better get things ready.”

“Wait, who’s coming to stay with us?” Octavia asked, but Vinyl was already walking away further into the house.

“Vinyl, wait up!” Octavia said, following after her.

Vinyl had already made her way to her equipment room, where she was hard at work rearranging everything so it was neatly stacked against the walls.  Once she was done with that, she pulled one of the mattresses that she used for sound proofing off the wall and set it on the ground.

I wish she was this meticulous when it came to keeping the house clean on a regular basis, Octavia thought as Vinyl threw some blankets on the mattress.

“Um Vinyl, you didn’t answer me when I asked who was coming.”

“Oh yeah, sorry Tavi.  I just got excited that the coolest pony in the world’s going to be staying with us.”

“And that is?”

“Bliss, of course,” Vinyl said, smiling.

“Your sister’s coming here?” Octavia asked.

“Yup!  Mom and dad are leaving on a trip, so she’s going to be living with us for the summer.”

“Wonderful,” Octavia said.

All this talk about how she’s the coolest pony in the world.  That means there’s going to be a mini Vinyl clone living here…for three months, Octavia thought in horror.

“When…when does she arrive?”

“Let’s see here…in an hour.  We better head to the train station,” Vinyl said.

“She’s arriving today?!  Why did your parents wait so long to tell you?”

“Probably so I couldn’t say no, but why would I?  Bliss is the coolest pony in the world,” Vinyl said, as she walked out the door, as Octavia trailed behind her.



A short while later Octavia was standing on the train platform waiting for Vinyl.  Off in the distance she could see Vinyl returning, a filly was walking along beside her.  The young unicorn’s coat was the same off-white as Vinyl’s, her eyes were red, her  blue mane was mussed up, with the vast majority tapering up into pointed spikes whose tips were aqua.  Her cutie mark was a red and grey spiral that overlapped a trio of wispy and wavy rainbow colored lines.

I can see the familial resemblance from here, Octavia thought, Looks like crazy mane styles runs in the family.

The two continued to approach Octavia and stopped once they were in front of her.

“Bliss, this is Octavia,” Vinyl said, “Tavi, this is Blissful Trance.”

“Uh…um, hi.  It’s nice to meet you,” Blissful Trance said, her voice quiet.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Ocatvia said.

She’s so quiet.  Are they really related? Octavia thought.

“We’re gonna have to throw you the biggest welcoming party ever,” Vinyl said, excitedly. “Oh wait, sorry I forgot.  You don’t like parties do you?”

“Th…that’s okay.  You can have one if you want,” Blissful Trance said quietly.

“And that’s why you’re the coolest sister ever,” Vinyl said, as she pulled along Blissful’s trunk as the two of them walked towards the train station entrance.

There’s no way they’re related, Octavia thought, as she stood dumbfounded.


Later that night the three of them sat around the dinner table.

“So Blissful Trance, what do you like to do for fun?” Octavia asked.

“I like to listen to music and sit by the lake in the park,” Blissful Trance said, in her usual quiet voice, “I also like to…ah…ah…ah…”

“Hit the deck!” Vinyl shouted.

“Hit the what?” was all Octavia could ask, before Vinyl grabbed her and dragged her under the table.

Above they could hear Blissful Trance let loose a quiet sneeze.

“Sorry about that,” Vinyl said, “Sometimes when she sneezes her magic goes a little haywire.”

“It’s okay…false alarm,” Blissful Trance said, sadness filled her voice.

“Don’t worry about it Bliss,” Vinyl said, as the two of them returned to their seats.

“But what if it happens tomorrow?” Blissful Trance said, “If I sneeze and things go wrong during the magic exam, I’ll surely fail.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Vinyl said, “I’ve seen unicorns pass that test after they’ve done some pretty crazy stuff.”

“Like when you cast that sonic bass spell and broke every window in the castle as well as, temporally deafening Princess Celestia and the other test takers,” Octavia asked.

“Hey, Princess Celestia asked me to demonstrate what magic I knew.  I still got the third highest grade, behind Rarity and Twilight Sparkle.”

“I wonder if the other unicorns are as worried about the test as I am,” Blissful Trance said.

“I doubt it.  Like I said, there’s nothing to worry about,” Vinyl said, smiling at her.



In the darkened Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle was cowering in fear behind one of the pony shaped dress forms.  She peeked around it and saw a figure lurking in the shadows.

“Sweetie Belle, where are you?” the giant anthropomorphic pencil said, as it stepped into the moonlight. “I don’t want to hurt you.  I just want to erase you from existence.”

Sweetie Belle let loose a small squeak of fear, but quickly covered her mouth.  She remained huddled in her hiding spot a little while longer until she noticed something landing on her head.  Looking up, she realized that it was eraser shavings landing on her head-the pencil was erasing the dress form.

“There you are,” it said once it was done, “Time to get erased!”

“Nooooooo!” Sweetie Belle screamed, as the pencil’s eraser came towards her.  She was relived however, when the pencil exploded into a puff of blue smoke.

Once the smoke cleared she saw Princess Luna standing there, her horn still glowing.

“It would seem even after a thousand years, some things remain the same,” Princess Luna said.

“Princess Luna!  Boy am I glad to see you,” Sweetie Belle said happily, “Thank you for stopping that pencil from erasing me.”

“It was my pleasure,” Princess Luna said, “That was actually the fifth pencil I’ve stopped tonight.”

“What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Young Unicorns all over Equestria are having stress induced nightmares,” Princess Luna said, “They’re all worried about their Magic Exams tomorrow.   I always see a spike in nightmares whenever it’s time for a new group to take the test.”

“So I’m not the only one,” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Of course not, it is perfectly reasonable for you to be worried about the test; it is a big part of a unicorn’s life.  Just don’t let the fear consume you.  I’m sure you’ll do fine tomorrow and I’m sure Princess Twilight Sparkle will be a fine test proctor.  Since this is her first time administering the test, I imagine she’s just as nervous about it as you are.  Now I must go, sleep well Sweetie Belle.”

“Bye Princess Luna, thank you,” Sweetie Belle said, as Princess Luna vanished from her dream world.

I wonder who else dreamed about that giant pencil, Sweetie Belle thought.



“Shouldn’t you head to bed Twilight?” Spike asked as he watched Twilight rearrange the six desks that had been set up in the castle’s library for the fifth time.

“Just a little longer Spike, I’ve almost got everything perfect for the test tomorrow,” Twilight said, “I just hope I bought enough extra quills for the test takers.”

“You bought every quill at the quills and sofas store, so I think you should be good,” Spike said.

“Just think-all these years after I took my magic exam I’m going to help give one to a new generation of unicorns!  I can’t believe I get to be a part of this major milestone in their lives,” she said excitedly.

“Are you sure things won’t go haywire?  I mean, you’ve told me about what happened with Vinyl Scratch during your test.”

Twilight smiled as she finally found the ideal placement for the desks, “I doubt it Spike, this’ll just be a nice normal test.”