Prologue
Pony's Log Number 100: I still can't believe how much my life is shaped on a destiny I still don't understand.
I never had a normal life. From what I learned as a young colt, I was found by Princess Celestia under what had apparently been a massive amount of rubble. Apparently the house had either burnt down and collapsed with me on top of it. I just don't understand how it's even possible that I even survived that, especially when you consider I was apparently just a few days old according to the doctors. But nevertheless, I was alive and well with no serious injuries. According to Princess Celestia, she said my magic is what saved me.
Magic? Well it made sense. I am a unicorn after all. If you are wondering who I am, according to Princess Celestia, my name was Mario Star.
I've got a pale peach colored fur with an orange colored mane and tail with chocolate colored eyes. While I am a colt, during my days as a young foal I was actually very small. This made me very shy when I was growing up under Princess Celestia's care. During my early days as a foal, I spent most of my time near my Mom.
Yes, Princess Celestia is my mother. At least that is what I called her. Whether it was out of pity or she really did like me saying it, I'll never know. (And the elites made it their mission to say it was the former.) But she did look out for me like a real mother did and I loved being with her. When she was busy, her niece Candace would spent time with me. We bonded so well that Celestia literally called us siblings, which made me very happy. She even let me call her sister and I suddenly felt like I was a part of the family. The royal guards were nice to me as well when they had to take care of me too. Even the most stern guards always said that I brought a smile to their faces. Probably because I was willing to get to know them and learn about what they did and tried to be helpful.Once I was old enough, Princess Celestia enrolled me in her academy of gifted unicorns. Passing my entrance exams didn't seem to be a problem. In fact, I appeared to be advanced in both my magical skills and intelligence, but Princess Celestia always hoped that I would find some friends that I could spend my time with besides her. I even accused her of getting rid of me, but she just laughed it off. I laughed as well, knowing what she said was true. I wanted a friend, but I just didn't have the courage to speak up. So it made sense that I was never bumped up a grade or two despite my advanced IQ. I might have been super smart, but my EQ, or social intelligence, was very low. I just didn't have the courage to try and talk to people. Being bullied didn't help my self-confidence either. You would think that being able to learn and master so many different skills and abilities very quickly would have helped. I even tried working out so I wasn't just strong magically and intellectually, but also physically as well. After all, just because I couldn't tell someone to leave me alone didn't mean that I had take punches you know. Even when I got into fights, I always made sure I never started them. Princess Celestia always knew that if I was in a tussle, it was because I was defending myself and not picking fights.
Princess Celestia and Candance always said I was a very special pony. I was at the top of my class and played in various sports and junior athletics. I still felt no better about myself. Could you blame me? I didn't even have my cutie mark while the other foals were getting theirs one by one! And let's not forget. I was lonely. I needed to find my drive. That push to help me finally speak up. Some sort of goal...even a dream...
I remember that day when suddenly that drive hit me like...BOOM, like lightening. Literally, it was like a big boom. A sonic rainboom to be exact. My mother and I were just taking a nice walk around the castle when we heard this massive rumble. I had sensed a massive magical surge. When we both looked up, seeing the massive ring of beautiful colors light the sky. It was right after a big flash of light appeared and we saw a large dragon head appeared out of the castle tower of the academy. We wasted no time tracking the source. That was when I saw her.
She was most beautiful unicorn I had ever seen. Her mane and tail were such a lovely shade of magenta and purple and she looked overwhelmed by her magical power. My mom had said I was in the same condition when she found me so I could sympathize. Once the filly had managed to settle down, Princess Celestia had informed her that she would be her personal student. I was a little jealous at first, but then I just couldn't speak up. In fact, I felt like she needed Mom more than me. So quietly I had accepted the fact I was going to be replaced, but still felt content about it. Her happiness just meant more than mine and that made me feel good inside. That was when I felt something warm against my flank. At the same time, the little unicorn had gotten the same flash of light against her own flank. That was when Mom pointed out her cutie mark and she began to hop about excitedly. I just smiled when Celestia turned to me. Well looks like she wasn't the only one who got her cutie mark today," she pointed out. I froze a bit and looked behind myself. There before me was a golden star that had a silver heart in the center of it with a gold ribbon underneath it, giving the star a majestic appearance. I was so excited that day to finally have my cutie mark I started to dance around, but the stopped when I noticed everypony was staring at me, including the pretty little filly. I suddenly felt very bashful and ducked behind Celestia's hind leg to hide. No one seemed to say anything else about it and the little unicorn left. I was sad to see her go, but I knew we would meet again.
I still think Princess Celestia knew that I liked her and that I wanted to see her again long before I had ever admitted to it. On the first day of magic school, Princess Celestia sent me a letter with very simple instructions: You and that filly will be working together as my personal students. I want you to introduce herself and be her friend. Unlike all the other times, I didn't feel afraid about meeting her. I was very nervous I'll admit, but...for once I had a drive. I liked her and I wanted to be her friend. It gave me the strength to finally get off my flank and go see her. (Which was super easy since Princess Celestia had put our dorm rooms next to each other). I literally stumbled through my entire introduction, only to realize she was so busy panicking about her first day that she had ignored my entire speech and even asked me who I was. I was embarassed, but saved face by telling her my name and that I knew where our first class was. She seemed pleased, introducing herself as Twilight Sparkle, before we walked together to class. She seemed to prefer working alone until we were given a group project that required the two of us. Once Twilight saw how good of a team player I could be, we started to work together from that point on and the rest was history.
I wanted to say that it was the start of a beautiful friendship, but I wouldn't exactly describe it that way. We spent more time working together on our classes, studying, research projects (and she loved doing independent ones for extra credit and personal knowledge) and taking care of her new baby dragon named Spike. Once Spike was old enough to talk, he was also helpful, earning his position as Twilight's number one assistant. A title that I would rather have, but just let it go. As I said before, I got to spend my time with Twilight and that made me happy. But as the years went by, that happiness seemed to become bittersweet. While together Twilight and I excelled in our studies of magic, Twilight was pretty much a bookworm. So was I, but the problem came in the fact that all she ever wanted to do was study. At first that seemed fine, but as time went by we did befriend our classmates that we saw the most in class: Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Heart, Lyra, and Moon Dancer. Twilight and Moon Dancer seemed to enjoy studying together. While the rest of the group made their efforts to help me gain some self confidence. For the most part it worked and I learned that talking to other girls wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. They also encouraged me to take my physical training to the next level. As a result, I became more agile and flexible than most ponies. I was the only pony who could jump a full five yards high without hurting himself. My studies in hedgehog behavior taught me how to curl up into a ball and spin around as I jumped and moved about. That technique actually saved my life when a guard accidentally knocked me off one of the castle bridges and I was able to save myself by curling up and bouncing around until I was able to land back on my hooves. Yet my biggest accomplishment was my speed.
I still remember when Minuette and Twinkleshine encouraged me to enter the school track team competition. Until that point, I never really believed that I was fast or could win a race. In fact, I was never the fastest runner when we used to have our physical exercise classes. The coach was reluctant to put me on the team, but did let me try out. I was so far behind during the first leg of the trail race, but as I continued to run, my top speed and determination continued to grow. By the time the final sprint came, I literally pulled away from the competition at twice the top speed. The coach was most impressed and I earned my spot on the team.
Then my first race came up and I blew away the competition by finishing a good twenty seconds ahead of the other competitors. Of course I was disqualified for cheating simply because I was a unicorn and accused of using a speed spell, which wasn't true. Princess Celestia was able to have the race redone. This time using a spell to disable my magic. I actually was even faster and won the race by a good twenty-five seconds, earning me first prize. I continued to dominate for years and I was recognized at the fastest unicorn alive! The Flying Unicorn they called me. I even got to participate in the Equestria games, earning gold medals in all my events for Canterlot. I felt on top of the world. Until one race when someone jostled me so hard that I crashed into the inner guard rail, smashing it and breaking both my hind legs. The coach immediately dismissed me from the team without even seeing if I could recover. All because the doctor said these painful words:
"You will never be the racer, you once were. We're not even sure you will ever walk again."
After that, my spotlight as a pony racer was done. It was a shame too...considering I fully recovered and I'm slowly approaching speeds that could make a sonic rainboom. I had beaten the odds, but it was too late. Unicorns were banned from racing because too many had used their magic to give them a speed boost. I know in my heart I never used my magic to cheat, but my chance at redemption was gone forever.
I took a huge step backwards in socializing and making new friends after that, sticking to my studies with Twilight. Especially since the bullying had started up again due to claims that I had quit after the accident. I was even scrutinized when I tried to just spectate the Equestria games after my accident and we and the girls left early and didn't bother to watch the other games. I know I wasn't the one who quit and my friends knew that too. Except for Twilight, who never showed up for any of my races. Despite being less social, I still made time for the other girls and at least kept myself in shape. But I had vowed to never join a sporting team or professional competition ever again. I had no respect for them anymore. Not after how they unjustly dismissed me. But also because I felt having a bloated ego once in my life was one time too many.
Despite the setback, I put more effort in actually trying to get Twilight out of her books so we could have some fun together. Yes, everypony, I still liked her and my crush on her continued to grow. I admit it. I was in love. But unlike most boys my age, I learned long ago that the so called macho and tough guy attitude doesn't work. So I did the next best thing...be a good friend to her. I stuck by Twilight whenever she needed a friend and she always seemed to be grateful, but our "friendship" never really grew. She just seemed as distant as ever, clueless to my feelings for her.
Now we're literally young adults continuing our studies under Princess Celestia and things don't really seem that much different. We've all grown up so some extent. However, I still am very small for a young colt. Aside from my male stature, I'm no bigger than most of the full grown mares that we still kept in touch with. Things hadn't changed much between me and Twilight either. The rest of our group had put less effort in trying to get her have some fun since she was always turning them down. I was beginning to wonder if sticking with her was even worth it. My feelings were her were very strong. I just couldn't give up yet. After all, if I give up in her, she wouldn't have a friend anymore. (She even questioned me that I only stayed because Celestia told me so. I made sure to diffuse that accusation. I stayed because I looo...uhh...liked her.)
Something had to give. Something that would finally get her nose out of the books so we could actually be good friends and see where things would go.
Who knew that opportunity would come sooner than expected...