Excerpts

Twilight Sparkle
As a filly, she was bookish and dramatic, spending her days buried in magical theory while the rest of Canterlot played outside. Her entrance exam to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns nearly ended in disaster u2014 she couldn't hatch the dragon egg she'd been given. Then Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom hit, and something cracked open in her. Magic poured out uncontrolled. Spike hatched. Celestia noticed. From that day, Twilight became her personal student u2014 the most gifted unicorn in Equestria, and somehow still the most anxious. Years later, she completed a spell Star Swirl the Bearded had never been able to finish, one sealed by a deep understanding of friendship she had quietly, painstakingly earned. Wings grew from her back. She became an alicorn. Not by birthright, but because she'd finally learned what magic was actually for.