The Final Exam (Nightlight)

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Just as he was about to explain to his little jewel about why he was proud, for the third time, the others started moving. Definitly a good group of friends. It's almost as if he was doing nothing but giving her little reminders. Twilight was pulling herself all through this. Even through her own blocks. Her friends even had speeches to say at thier points. While he thought this was a little time exhausting, he had to admit, it was how she thought. Reasonable discussion won over 99% of the time. Just as it looked like they were ready to walk right in there to confront the source of the problum, it walked right up to them. Mainly in the form of the Princess. While the others bowed, Nightlight stood still, looking on and observing. Ok those red diamonds were starting to bug him more than they should. "But this was Twilight's decision to make. She was warned of the consequences of either choice. If that is her wish to place this land in peril instead of using her magic for the greater good, then she needs to deal with the consequences. And that means no longer being my student...or being worthy of the magic she once had." "Actually Princess what choice did she have? Either way the power of the Elements would have been lost. Had she left her friends to die, would you have not lost 5 of the Elements of Harmony? Would we not have exactly the same thing? The only difference I see is that Twilight would have her magical powers but not her five good freinds to help her save Equestria. Right now she may not have magical powers, but she does have the five of them to help save Equestria." Oh that reminded him. His eyes had that look of realization. With a bit of telekinesis, the only spell he was known to have, he pulled out the snacks he mentally prepared earlier from his saddle bags and set it up for them on the railing to the side. "Speaking of which, how about a snack before we get to work. I brought your favorite snack Twily, Oatburger Sliders." As he set out the food there was enough for all eight of them, the six good friends, himself, and the Princess. He always packed lots because when ever food was brought out when they were younger a certain growing colt and a very young dragon would swoop in, devour a plate and still want more. He even produced a thermous of refreshing fizzy drink and cups for everypony.

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Hearing what Nightlight had to say, the rest of the group nodded. Applejack was the first to answer. "T'be fair, Twilight did find th' Elements of Harmony when they were stones. Any other pony could have come along and been part of it. But it was Twilight recognizing us as her friends that made them all work.".

"Well put, Applejack. And without Twilight's magic to activate them, we would not have been able to stop Discord, so she is as much a part of this as any one of us." Rarity added, stepping forward in front of the father and daughter. "It simply would not be fair to remove one from using her Element; if you renounce hers just because she saved us, then you should take ours as well...because I for one am standing by her." The rest took their places beside Rarity and nodded as well, just as Nightlight took out the oatburgers, thermos, and cups.

The familiar smell of those burgers caused Twilight to drool a little before taking a hold of one of them in her hooves. "Thanks, Dad! You always made the best oatburgers!" They were one of the few foods she had whenever she studied, since she would easily read about magic and eat at the same time. But her dad's oatburgers were the best. The rest of the gang - minus Celestia - sat down and started eating as well, with Rarity pouring out the drink into each cup and handing them to everypony. It was as it should be...

...and yet the Princess of the Day didn't seem thrilled at all. "How is it that you can sit there and enjoy yourselves when all of Equestria could be in great danger by now?! There is more than just Discord that resides in the world...have you forgotten Chrysalis and Sombra?! When Cerberus left his post at the gates of Tartarus, something could have used that chance to escape! That is why Equestria NEEDS the Elements of Harmony as a way to keep everyone - not just ponies - protected!" She seemed angry, and those red diamonds on her necklace and crown seemed to reflect the anger the princess felt.

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It's becoming a recurring theme to start out with Nightlight being proud isn't it. Yet once again that was pretty much how he could be summed up. Applejack and Rarity did seem more of the vocal members of the group. Picking up a slider with his hoof, he set one on a napkin and used telekinesis to float it over to the Princess, which often used telekinesis to lift the Sun. Despite the anger she was expressing, the red diamonds were catching his attention. Even they seemed angry. Intriguing. "Well if we are to fix Equestria without the Elements, we might as well do it on a full stomach. Or at least not empty." Picking up one, he took a bite and watched as Twilight and her freinds were already digging in in their own ways. After chewing down his bite, he stopped and looked like he was thinking. He then had the look of a great idea. "I got it. Lets transfer to Elements to new host? With Magic how about giving it to that Lulamoon mare who has been making a name for herself. I know her parents a little. I'm sure she is quite powerful and would make for a great protector. You six have any suggestions from her friends?" This was not his great idea. If anything this would make him look stupid to the Princess. His brillant idea was to actually see how mad he could make those crystals get.

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Between taking mouthfuls of the oatburgers and the chatter of her friends, Twilight almost paid no attention to the rather angered Princess close by. She always enjoyed the times with the others, even though things were different now that she had no magic. But as they had stated, it wasn't the Elements that gave them a strong bond...but the friendship and almost sisterly love they shared. Each one would help the other at the drop of a hat, and when times really got tough, they were a force to be reckoned with...with or without the Elements.

But in hearing her dad ask about transferring the Elements to a more suitable host, she looked at him in surprise. Why would he do that? And to even suggest Trixie to hold the Element of Magic...?! "Uh, Dad? I hope you are joking, because Trixie specializes in illusions for her magic shows, and all she wants is to show that she's better than anypony else."

Applejack agreed. "She'd only use it t'make fools out of ev'ry pony...like she did with us."

"Or put us all in danger by giving the impression she beat some creature when she really didn't. What a gloryhound!" Rainbow chimed in, only to earn a bit of a glare from the others. "Eh-heh...sorry guys."

The response seemed to cause Celestia's demeanor to darken even further, as well as the sky. Now royally incensed, the Princess stomped the ground hard with a hoof to get everypony's attention. "It is NOT for you to decide who receives what! What makes you think that any other individual can just use the Elements?! If they fall into the wrong hooves, who KNOWS what could happen, as if things are not bad enough!"[/i]

Twilight and the others couldn't help but cringe at the tone Celestia's voice carried; it almost sounded like her own version of the Royal Canterlot Voice that Princess Luna used sometimes. They had never seen her this mad before! Just what was going on?! And what was Nightlight thinking by enraging her further?

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Huh so the Lulamoon Filly had been making a name as a liar of some sort. Something else to log into his memory. though he was getting a good look at the Diamonds and the world shaping around the Royal Anger. One could assume this meant that The Princess was the world for Twilight. Setting the oatburger he was holding for the princess on a nearby railing for her he finished his up and stood up. Waiting for a bit as he finished chewing. When it looked like he was about to say something to this, he let out a light burp and patted his stomach. "Note to self. Not as much pepper next time." While not talking with his mouth full of food was par for the course, anyone who knew Nightlight knew he would never be quite that rude, and had even better manners in front of the Princess. Walking up to her, he stood right in front of her. He had to look up though because she was much taller, but it was definitely a statement. "Well if you need somebody that still has magic, is trustworthy, and has a connection, what about..." He looked back to his daughter and gave her a small wink before holding his front right hoof to his chest and smiling back to the Princess. "..Me!" His smile was large and his eyes locked with the Princess's. It was a wide known fact in Canterlot, he had only telekinesis.

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Hearing that Nightlight was making a note not to add too much pepper on the burgers next time caused Pinkie Pie to start laughing. "Oh silly billy, they were fantastically awesome burgers!" She exclaimed, being her usual hyper self as she finished hers off in one massive bite. The other friends ended up laughing at this as well, especially when the pink Earth Pony's eyes bulged a bit too comically before laughing once again. She just loved making everypony laugh...and was a bit surprised that Princess Celestia didn't take part. The smile instantly faded from her lips as she looked over at the increasingly upset alicorn.

Twilight backed away, seeing this happen. "Oh no...!" She murmured to herself, expecting the worst...whatever that would be. If Luna became Nightmare Moon due to the hurt and anger she felt about having her night being slept through and not enjoyed...what in Equestria would Celestia become at this rate?! "Dad...I think we should go now..."

"No pony is leaving anywhere!" The princess boomed suddenly as she took to the air. A rather ominous light seemed to surround Celestia as she folded her wings about herself. A few minutes later, the light exploded and Twilight's worst fears were realized: her beloved mentor was something else entirely. Instead of the usual appearance of the necklace and crown, there looked like a helmet made of a dark gold and red glittering diamonds...and armor to match. Even the sun cutie mark had changed - or appeared to change as a piece of armor with a rather fierce-looking sun took its place. "You will all stay RIGHT where you are! I will NOT have ANYPONY running off!"[/b] Her horn glowed a deep yellow for a few seconds, causing a rather large dome to appear over the seven ponies, effectively trapping them inside. "I will deal with YOU when I return. Then you will rue the day you crossed...SOLARIS FLARE!" She then took off, heading in the direction of Ponyville, leaving the trapped ponies behind...and Twilight feeling all the more dejected.

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Nightlight got a good chuckle out of Pinkie's antics and kept the smile going even as Dreamlestia became Solaris Flare. He lost it though as the dome appeared over them. Tartarus. Alicorn magic dome to keep them in place, a Rogue Alicorn heading towards Ponyville. And the fashionista was the only other pony in the area with any type of magic. With a sigh he looked over to them. More specifically his downtrotten daughter. Walking over, he gave her a light nuzzle to try and get her to look up. "Twilight. I want you to watch this and really really think on it. I'm going to cast a spell that will get us out of here and then we will go save Ponyville, ok?" Without even waiting for her reply he walked towards the center of the dome and aligned himself looking towards Ponyville. His horn started to glow as a magic circle appeared and spun clockwise around beneath him. The wind aroudn him picked up and swirled, tossing his short mane as it blew past. It even knocked over the oatburger he had offered Celestia before. "Little Colts Love to Play that is so the fillies say. So i here now Summon to our World...THE TICKLE MONSTER!" This was the 'spell' he used to tell Shining and Twilight when they were younger right before he would tickle them with his horn. Though he didn't have all the special effects. There was a sharp burst of light as the spell ended. A moment or two of silence passed. Then there was thud and the ground shook. A second later there was another thud and the ground shook again. From behind the castle a large potatoe like green creature with agigantic mouth appeared. Twenty eye stalks were sprouting form the top of it's head with twenty fine tipped, green and black tendrils snaking from the sides. It turned to look at the dome and started to flail its arms against it in attempts to break it down.

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The appearance of the rather angered Princess Celestia caused Twilight to sink further into depression, and pretty much ignored the light nuzzle her father tried to give her. But what sort of spell could he do that would fix this situation? All he knew was maybe a bit of telekinesis and how to conjure a light...and nothing short of rather strong magic could get them out of this. But the familiar words her father spoke caused her to lift her head and give a look of confusion. Why would he be using something like that...?!

"Dad, that's not going to help! That was back when Shining and I were little ponies...but..." The sudden THUD caught her attention as the ground shook under her hooves.

"What in Equestria was THAT?!" Rarity exclaimed, glancing around for the source.

Rainbow flew to the top of the dome and did her brief scan. "I don't know guys...but whatever IT is, it's coming this way!" She pointed to the rather ENORMOUS creature that was slowly making its way toward them. All six of the ponies took quick steps back to the edge of the dome; even Pinkie Pie was a bit scared watching this massive monster start beating away at the golden-colored prison.

The last little bit about her dad asking her to think on what she was seeing left Twilight's head completely. That little rhyme was something Nightlight used to just before he tickled them as young ponies, so why in Equestria would he use something so silly to get them out of this? And just what WAS that thing? What did he want her to think on? Nothing made sense at all!

...Unless...

...unless this wasn't supposed to make sense. A little bit of reasoning drifted back into the studious unicorn's mind as she thought about just what was going on. She never failed a test before, even something so serious as having the lives of other ponies in the balance, like what happened at the Crystal Empire. Monsters like that didn't exist either, and while Princess Celestia would get upset (once in a while), she had never seen her that upset.

"This isn't real." She said to herself, almost a bit unsure before saying it louder. "This isn't real!"

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Night Light stood where he was as the mares went into a frenzy before huddling together. Then his ears perked at the sound of Twilight coming to the ralization. The exclaimation blew away the Tickle Monster and the container of food he had brought. Even his sddle bag vaporized into dream mist. He had no need for them now that Twilight made this revelation. After giving her a few seconds to collect her thoughts over this he made his way over to her and her friends. "Correct, this is a Dream, Princess Luna sent me in here to try and get you to wake up. Something is going on in the real world and we all know you could help them figure out what is wrong and how to stop it." He tapped on the dome and leaned on it to put his weight behind it. "However I was not told how to get you out of this dream."

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Even after she realized that this was a dream, Twilight was still confused. She should have waken up by now...everything should have vanished. But it didn't. Just her father's saddlebag and the 'Tickle Monster' disappeared without a trace. Listening to what her father said, her mind started working back to try and figure this out, but looked dejected. "Normally in dreams, something happens that would cause the individual to wake up, but it isn't happening in this case. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, aside from the scenario playing out of the worst possible fears I have: disappointing the Princess, failing a test, and losing my friends." With the last statement she looked to the other five ponies and gave them a tearful smile. They returned it in kind before moving to hug her all at once.

"But Twilight, this is your dream...or nightmare. Surely you can conjure something up so you can wake yourself up, can't you?" Rarity asked.

"That's the trouble. I don't know what caused it in the first place. All I was doing before I fell asleep was studying books as usual. I honestly thought I was exhausted from reading and fell asleep." Twilight responded, sitting down. "Without my magic, what else can I do?"

"You still have your magic!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, perking up immediately. "Maybe Dream Twilight needs to relearn it or something so your Real Twilight can use it to help other ponies out of their dreams and save Equestria again!"

"Pinkie's righ'. Maybe rediscovering' your cutie mark has somethin' to do with gettin' yourself out of this mess." Applejack interjected.

"But that was when I was taking the entrance exam to get into Princess Celestia's school...and I only got that because of Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom during her race caused me to tap into that raw magic and get Celestia's attention..."

"Uh...but I can't do that again unless we get out of this dome." The light blue Pegasus stated, tapping a hoof on the roof of the gold-colored prison.

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Night Light walked over to the dome and thought for a bit. Surely the creators mind would be more powerful than a visitor's mind. Especially when thy are lucid dreaming. But getting her to start trying was the tricky part. Tapping it with a hoof, he turned around and gave the wall a mighty (for a fifty year old Stallion) buck that was much a kin to just getting his back hooves onto a brick wall. Stepping down from the wall he regained his composure, looking to the others. He followed up Rainbow's statement almost immediatly like he was trying to add to it. "To bad domes don't have doors." This might just be the key. If he could get Twilight to imagine up a door, it might be a door, not just out of the bubble, but straight out of the dream. Walking up to his daughter he looked to her. "What do you think, think you can think of a door leading us out of this dome and where you really want to be?"

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Even though she realized that this wasn't a dream, in the young unicorn's mind it still seemed pretty real. Especially when one was reminded of a rather angry Princess of the Sun and the fact se didn't have her magic - the one thing that could get her, her dad, and her friends out of this mess. "If one had a dream in which they were falling, they tend to wake up before they hit the ground. I'm not sure if this dream is the same way. I wish I knew more so I could actually do something..."

"Um, maybe it is about facing your fears? Which seems really scary to me..." The soft voice of Fluttershy was heard for the first time in a while due to her very tender nature.

"I never have any bad dreams. Well, if I did, I would throw a party and laugh them away!" Pinkie Pie interjected, which caused a couple skeptic looks and a chuckle from the others. "What?"

"But I've faced them before. I've made the same choices before, choosing you guys each time. That was how I was able to get the Element of Magic to work, and even Princess Celestia herself said that I needed to make some friends in order to stop Nightmare Moon and redeem Princess Luna." Twilight reasoned, glancing toward Ponyville. "I realize that this is a dream, so why is it different from any other scenario we went through?"

Rarity moved over and placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Think back; was there anything oddly out of place, or something that should not have been there? Details are everything." She reasoned.

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Well that idea bombed. It seems that getting through the analytical world of his daughter, surrounded by her loud friends was going to be tough to be subtle through. Even with her realizing it was a dream, she seemed more resiliant to the shocks in here than other because apparently this was a re-occuring dream. As he plopped down on his flank he started to think, what would shock his little filly enough to cause her to pop awake? Something shocking in the real world? He could tell her that her mother and he were getting a divorce. Nope that wouldn't work, for the past twenty years he had taught her of honesty before anything else. How hypocritical would that be if he lied to her just for a shock. But then again there was nothing he knew of that could really shock her. His life was so boring by comparison. He didn't fight any monsters except the horrible Ring around the collar. The biggest thing in his life right now was buying a house in Ponyville...ding ding ding. We have a winner. He still hadn't let her know he was even in her town yet, much less that he was almost done with papers to close on a nice peice of property just past Sugarcube Corner. He let out a quite audible sigh and looked at the dome. "Such a shame we are trapped here. You mother will be wondering why we won't be there to when she comes home to our new place in Ponyville. I even picked out a place just down the road so we can visit you everyday."

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On the contrary, Twilight was trying to think on how to go about this. If she really was in a dream, and having realized that this was a dream, she would have woken up by now. But instead, something was keeping her here. But who, or what? And why? The answer lay at the source. If she found that, then maybe she could get to the bottom of this, and help anypony else who was under the similar condition. While the ponies trapped inside the golden dome tried to come up with a way to get out of their current predicament, her father mentioned that the had bought a house in Ponyville, where her parents could visit every day. Granted it was a surprise, but it wasn't the answer she was looking for. Glancing at him, Twilight said, "That's great, Dad. But the issue I need to figure out now is just what exactly is causing this. Normally when people realize that they are dreaming, they wake up. I've done that, so why am I still trapped in the dream? There's something else at work here. Once we figure out the source and deal with that, then I'll probably wake up in the real world and possibly have some answers."

Rarity chimed in. "But that would mean somehow breaking out of this rather cramped space and searching all over Equestria at the least for some semblance of what is causing this."

"Or facing an angry princess again." Rainbow added, crossing her forelegs while sitting down.

Fluttershy again spoke up. "If only we had the Elements of Harmony, we can at least try and restore things to normal..."

"...but that won't help until we know what the source of all this is. Was there anything abnormal or out of place? That would be a good place to start." The purple unicorn mentioned. "Anything...odd-shaped or colored? Anything said that was strange? Even the smallest detail could be important."

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And there we have it, all of his best ideas defeated by cold analysis. It was enough to make anypony loose thier mind. With Rarity and Rainbow chiming in about the in-dream predicament they were in, all Nightlight could think of was how hungry he must actually be in the real world. What he wouldn't give right now for a powdered donut. And then remembering he was in a dream, he created a powdered donut and cup of coffee next to him in mid air as he listened. Twilight then asked if anything was off. Taking a bite of donut and a sip of coffee, he thought then mused. "Well the interior seemed rather bleak compared to your first day. I don't actually remember any maroon on the wall or red diamond motif windows. Did that assistant always seem that upset? I could also swore her magic aura was closer to blues, not red. Also your friends here were caught in a maroon aura before being popped into the class room. I didn't think the Princess liked red diamonds as much as she seems to here. In fact the Diamond seemed to be larger than the sun on Celestia's door. Also the gems the Princess wears are usually purple, not red, and when I was making her angry those gems glowed brighter and brighter until she transformed. Also i think Miss Rarity has a bit of Oatburger stuck in her teeth." He took another bite of the donut and chewed while he looked to the mares to see what they noticed.