About the School for Gifted Unicorn's Entrance Exam...

[Trixie_Surrogate 4]

I've been working on crafting the backstory on Trixie Lulamoon for a couple weeks now, so as to provide some structure for a story that I plan to write about her, when I started thinking about Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, what with Lauren Faust's confirmation back in the Spring(?) that Trixie did indeed attend the school.

 

Knowing this, my mind jumped to the scene where Twilight struggled, prior to the Rainboom Power Boost, to hatch the dragon egg.  Looking back on the scene, the requirements of the exam are rather vague.  Mainly because of the state of the dragon egg.  I'm left to wonder just how the exam is expected to work.  Is the dragon within the egg supposed to be ready to hatch, and the pony expected to assist in its escape from the shell?  If not, then it would appear that the dragon's incubation cycle is to be accelerated...  But that can't be right, as that would require an age-spell, wouldn't it?

 

This brings up another question?  Is the exam exclusively to judge a unicorn's magical ability/potential, or is it meant to judge their problem-solving skills?  Or is it a combination of the two?

 

I know exams like this are meant to seperate the wheat from the chaff in such situations, and that's not the concern I have with it.  I just wonder...  Just how accessible to success would even the upper-echelon of unicorn youth be to success with a scenario as vague as that? 

Edited September 20, 2013 by Michael Maddox-France

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

I remember reading somewhere that Faust said that the test given to Twilight wasn't meant to be passable, though I don't have a source and anything Faust says isn't necessarily canon anyway nowadays, so take that with a grain of salt. It does make some sense though, I doubt forcing an egg to hatch with magic is exactly in the skillset of most unicorns, especially younger ones like those who would be entering the school. Perhaps it's supposed to test persistence, or problem solving ability like you said. Maybe the dragon egg is one of many tests given to little kids trying to enter the school.

Edited September 20, 2013 by DashForever

[dekutree64 713]

I've pondered on this as well. Judging by the fact that it's been said repeatedly that dragons are extremely rare, presumably none of the other students have "pet" dragons like Twilight, I think the school had been using that one egg as the entrance test for a long time, until Twilight came along. In other words, it was meant to be an impossible test, and to see how you approach it.

 

So the test probably goes differently for every student, and it's up to the judges whether to accept them into the school. Make up whatever you want for Trixie's experience

[Scootalove 10,692]

I think that the entrance exam was really too easy just for a unicorn to show their magical skills. The egg test didn't exactly prove much to the really powerful extent to a unicorn's magic. So, there could be something that leads to why a test like that is really passable for any unicorn to pass. I seriously thought that it would be a difficult entry exam.

[Trixie_Surrogate 4]

I remember reading somewhere that Faust said that the test given to Twilight wasn't meant to be passable, though I don't have a source and anything Faust says isn't necessarily canon anyway nowadays, so take that with a grain of salt. It does make some sense though, I doubt forcing an egg to hatch with magic is exactly in the skillset of most unicorns, especially younger ones like those who would be entering the school. Perhaps it's supposed to test persistence, or problem solving ability like you said. Maybe the dragon egg is one of many tests given to little kids trying to enter the school.

 

Hmm.  I could see it as a sort of final exam in a series of tests...  Earlier tests would evaluate a pony's magical ability (raw power and dexterity) and problem solving skills, and then all of that would culminate into that final exam.  ...Yeah, I could see how that'd work.  In this context, your suggestion of the test being used to test perseverance could definately make sense, seeing how the entrant hopeful uses their exhibited skills to try and solve that impossible puzzle, witnessing how hard and how far a pony is willing to go to pursue passing the final test.  Kinda cool.  The overall experience not only would test a pony's magical and mental abilities, but also their tenacity and even their character.  I wonder if any of our Ivy League universities go through such a rigourous screening process.  Reminds me of Twilight's requirements for ponies to join her research team for discovering new magic in Prncess Sparkle's School for Eccentric Unicorns.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Michael Maddox-France

[Planty 1,053]

I've been working on crafting the backstory on Trixie Lulamoon for a couple weeks now, so as to provide some structure for a story that I plan to write about her, when I started thinking about Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, what with Lauren Faust's confirmation back in the Spring(?) that Trixie did indeed attend the school.

 

Knowing this, my mind jumped to the scene where Twilight struggled, prior to the Rainboom Power Boost, to hatch the dragon egg.  Looking back on the scene, the requirements of the exam are rather vague.  Mainly because of the state of the dragon egg.  I'm left to wonder just how the exam is expected to work.  Is the dragon within the egg supposed to be ready to hatch, and the pony expected to assist in its escape from the shell?  If not, then it would appear that the dragon's incubation cycle is to be accelerated...  But that can't be right, as that would require an age-spell, wouldn't it?

 

This brings up another question?  Is the exam exclusively to judge a unicorn's magical ability/potential, or is it meant to judge their problem-solving skills?  Or is it a combination of the two?

 

I know exams like this are meant to seperate the wheat from the chaff in such situations, and that's not the concern I have with it.  I just wonder...  Just how accessible to success would even the upper-echelon of unicorn youth be to success with a scenario as vague as that? 

 

I guess that a lot of this is very much open to interpretation, and I would encourage you to find the best version you like and go for it (maybe it will even become the standard after that).

 

Personally, I think that its an impossible task (or at least a very very hard task) to complete so that if they do manage to do it they know they are really special and its more about actually finding how far they are willing to push themselves and measure there perseverance.

[Dark Horn 430]

The scene would be much more interesting to me if, as DashForever said, the test was meant to be impossible and impassable.

 

That would've been really cool. Then again, I pretty much take whatever Faust says as canon, so long as it doesn't conflict with on-screen things, so, cool.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

The egg hatching test seem very odd to me. Seeing as only Twilight, is the only unicorn there who has a dragon and no one else has a dragon. So it's hard to say what the exam ponies were looking for when they gave the test. It could be magical ability or problem solving skills. Most likely they just wanted to see if she could hatch it with magic.

 

The school might have more test, besides the egg hatching test. They could have test that test magical ability, problem solving, and some that are both MA and PS.

[GhostPony750 959]

I agree with the posts above.

 

The test was quite harsh for an entrance exam, so I guess it was just to test perseverance, problem solving skills and maybe magic skills. Because I doubt any fillies would be able to hatch a dragon egg at this age, since an adult pony couldn't even do it.

 

But well, we quite got our answer here.

[Dark Horn 430]

The egg hatching test seem very odd to me. Seeing as only Twilight, is the only unicorn there who has a dragon and no one else has a dragon. So it's hard to say what the exam ponies were looking for when they gave the test. It could be magical ability or problem solving skills. Most likely they just wanted to see if she could hatch it with magic.

 

The school might have more test, besides the egg hatching test. They could have test that test magical ability, problem solving, and some that are both MA and PS.

Maybe there aren't any other unicorns with dragons because after Celestia got a student, she didn't need another one, and thus a virtually impossible test wasn't required a second time.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Maybe there aren't any other unicorns with dragons because after Celestia got a student, she didn't need another one, and thus a virtually impossible test wasn't required a second time.

 

Well that's why I think this test is weird. Who knows how many other unicorns took the dragon hatching test and failed it? When they fail do they get a other test in a month and it being different?

 

Also the way the teachers or who ever the ponies who were giving Twilight the test, looked like they had seen a dragon hatch before and were waiting for her to do it like the others. What were they expecting to happen and how did others get in if this was the test? Or did other hatch other eggs, but did not have the power Celestia was looking for.

 

If Celestia just needed 1 unicorn to have a high power of magic, maybe it could have been another test besides the dragon hatching test.

 

Could be anyone of these.

Edited September 24, 2013 by pinkiefan1287

[Dark Horn 430]

Well that's why I think this test is weird. Who knows how many other unicorns took the dragon hatching test and failed it? When they fail do they get a other test in a month and it being different?

 

Also the way the teachers or who ever the ponies who were giving Twilight the test, looked like they had seen a dragon hatch before and were waiting for her to do it like the others. What were they expecting to happen and how did others get in if this was the test? Or did other hatch other eggs, but did not have the power Celestia was looking for.

 

If Celestia just needed 1 unicorn to have a high power of magic, maybe it could have been another test besides the dragon hatching test.

 

Could be anyone of these.

Or perhaps, I might add, as we appear to be brainstorming headcanons at the moment, hatching a dragon egg is virtually impossible for a unicorn filly and the test is simply to gauge how close the student makes it, despite the negative environment of impatient teachers and faced with a crazy-hard test.

[dekutree64 713]

Or perhaps, I might add, as we appear to be brainstorming headcanons at the moment, hatching a dragon egg is virtually impossible for a unicorn filly and the test is simply to gauge how close the student makes it, despite the negative environment of impatient teachers and faced with a crazy-hard test.

Yeah, I'd say seeing how the student holds up under pressure is part of the test. Twilight's lack of actual magic use and defeated attitude definitely would have been a fail, IMO.

 

Three ways I can think to pass are:

1. Spout off some knowledge of dragon eggs being impossible to hatch (may get told to demonstrate some magic anyway)

2. Do some magic on it for a while, and confidently state that not even an experienced adult would be able to crack it.

3. Show off some awesome magic. Regardless of confidence, this would probably get you in.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Or perhaps, I might add, as we appear to be brainstorming headcanons at the moment, hatching a dragon egg is virtually impossible for a unicorn filly and the test is simply to gauge how close the student makes it, despite the negative environment of impatient teachers and faced with a crazy-hard test.

 

I don't know about that. If your not doing anything to the egg with magic and that is the point of the test, I don't think they would let that unicorn into the school. It's just hard to believe that this test would like, the Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek. 

 

 

 

Three ways I can think to pass are: 1. Spout off some knowledge of dragon eggs being impossible to hatch (may get told to demonstrate some magic anyway) 2. Do some magic on it for a while, and confidently state that not even an experienced adult would be able to crack it. 3. Show off some awesome magic. Regardless of confidence, this would probably get you in.

 

 

1 and 2. It's just hard to believe that if your saying you can't do, that you would be let into a school of gifted unicorns, when your not doing anything.

 

3. That may work, but your not doing the test you were given and would most likely be told to hatch the egg. No matter what you are doing.

 

I still think there has to be more than 1 test to get into this school. Twilight just got the hard one, that day.

[Dark Horn 430]

I don't know about that. If your not doing anything to the egg with magic and that is the point of the test, I don't think they would let that unicorn into the school. It's just hard to believe that this test would like, the Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek. 

 

 

 

 

 

1 and 2. It's just hard to believe that if your saying you can't do, that you would be let into a school of gifted unicorns, when your not doing anything.

 

3. That may work, but your not doing the test you were given and would most likely be told to hatch the egg. No matter what you are doing.

 

I still think there has to be more than 1 test to get into this school. Twilight just got the hard one, that day.

Well, why would the school give out tests to the same level unicorn fillies of various difficulties? Just askin'.

 

I'm still sticking to the opinion that Celestia was desperate, and after the Sunset Shimmer incident, set up a test to search for her the next wielder of the Crown of Magic. After she found Twilight, normal level, regular, reasonable tests were reinstated, as she no longer had a reason to give out impossible ones.

[Zygen 6,066]

I honestly cannot rationalize how the other ponies could get into the school for gifted unicorns. And even less that none have pet dragons.

 

My only rationalization of it is that there are multiple tests, and maybe Celestia even knew about Twilight and was purposely setting up a harder test to bring out her true potential.

 

But i think the test must be different depending, which is how some unicorns got in, yet don't have dragons.

 

It could also be that they had that Dragon egg, which we can assume is rare, for a while, and where looking for a Unicorn with the ablity to hatch it, and if they could they knew it would be a suitable Unicorn for taking care of it, aswell as after Twilights display Celestia showed quite the interest in her.

 

Of course she did do way more then she was required to do so yeah ;p.

 

I actually just came up with that theory, but it sounds solid enough to me right now, i may keep it ;p.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

 

 

Well, why would the school give out tests to the same level unicorn fillies of various difficulties? Just askin'.  

 

Well it is a school for, gifted unicorns. So the unicorns have to show that they can do more than just lift up a bunch of items at the same time. Giving more than 1 test and give some ideas on how powerful, that unicorn is.

 

 

 

I'm still sticking to the opinion that Celestia was desperate, and after the Sunset Shimmer incident, set up a test to search for her the next wielder of the Crown of Magic. After she found Twilight, normal level, regular, reasonable tests were reinstated, as she no longer had a reason to give out impossible ones.

 

Now I do believe that they don't use that test anymore. Seeing as unicorns don't know that much about dragons and the chase of getting another egg is most likely not going to happen. Besides Twilight did more than hatch the egg. She turned her parents into plants, levitated the teachers, and grew Spike to huge levels. The test was just to get into the school. Not to become Celestias main student. I just don't think Celestia would not let unicorns who have high magic powers into the school just because they failed one test.