Celestia sat on her regal pillow, her wings folded, her posture upright, her head held high like a graceful swan's.  To the average observer, she was as serene as ever.  But to Twilight, something was amiss -- her eyes, perhaps, had a layer of fog behind them, and her smile was faintly strained.

It was also strange that she had called Twilight to her chamber for an impromptu session.

Twilight phlumped on her smaller pillow, waiting, expectant.  "Princess Celestia?" she asked.

"I'm here, my pony."  She looked down, and within her eyes there was a flicker of emotion.  "Do you know why I called you here?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No."  She lit her horn, and levitated a scroll from somewhere behind her.  It floated gently through the air and set itself at Twilight's feet.  "I want you to cast this spell."

It was very strange that Celestia had called Twilight in for something as simple as casting a spell, and an insignificant-looking one at that.  Her lips mumbled as she took in the writing, and Celestia waited for her to finish.

She set the scroll down.  "I'm ready!"  She concentrated, crossed her eyes, scrunched her face, and with an eager smile, built up magic within her horn -

And nothing happened.

"Huh?  I guess I cast it wrong."  Twilight looked over the writing, double-checking her work, and once again, she started to cast the spell -

Only for it to fizzle out.

"But - I should be able to cast this.  This should be easy!" she said.  She turned to Celestia, her hooves starting to tremble and a desperate grin crossing her face as they looked each other in the eye.  "I'll try again!  If I try hard enough, it has to work!"

Celestia only watched, with an indifferent gaze, as Twilight failed yet again to cast the spell.

By this time, Twilight was sweating, her hair frizzing and a cheshire-cat grin spread across her face.  "Maybe I made a mistake!  Maybe if I fix my mistake, then I'll be able to cast it!"  She focused in concentration.

It failed again.

And again.

And again.

Until finally, after countless attempts and failures, Twilight broke.

She collapsed to the floor, sobbing softly, muttering something to the cold, unforgiving marble.

And now, Celestia turned to Twilight.  "Twilight, I don't -"

But then Twilight rose with unsteady hooves, sputtering out words even as she choked on her tears.  "But - I'm your student.  You're Princess Celestia!  If I can't pass a simple a test as this, then I'm not worthy of being your student!  In fact, I should be sent back to magic kindergarten!"  And Twilight started crying tears of frustration and hopelessness.

The alicorn moved to comfort her, but suddenly Twilight's horn started glowing, even as she bawled, and a bubble of magic started forming near her.  Celestia stared in fear as the glow got brighter and brighter - not for herself, but for what Twilight may do before she could stop her.

With a pop, Twilight vanished.

[hr]

With a pomf, Celestia appeared in a room - Twilight's bedroom.  She had been to the house, yes, but never her bedroom, which was decorated with pictures of her heroes.  Her eyes drifted to a picture of her, and they became dimmer.

She waited.



After a few minutes, Twilight had finally calmed down enough for her blubbering to become little, exhausted sobs.  Celestia ventured to speak.  "Twilight?"

"I can't even cast a simple growth spell.  I'm sorry.  I failed."

"And yet you teleported miles away to your bed without being taught.  Congratulations, Twilight.  You passed."

Within the comforters, Twilight froze.  "What?"

"The spell was never meant to work.  I was testing you, Twilight, and I was testing how you would react if faced with an impossible challenge."

Twilight poked her head out of the blankets.  Her face, though tear-stained, was hopeful too.  "So it was a test?"

Celestia nodded.  "And you passed.  I just hope you aren't too mad at me."

Twilight smiled in giddy relief.  "Thank you, Celest - I mean Princess!  I'm sorry I teleported away!"

Celestia smiled too.  "We can work on that."

[hr]

Twilight looked at her checklist.  Spell 25, it seemed, was the last one to learn for the day.  She smiled nervously at the memories it brought up, and of the lesson she had learned so many years ago.

Spike looked up at her.  "Come on Twilight.  You can do it!"

"Okay.  Here goes."