//------------------------------// // First Day // Story: Colorless Magic // by SparkStone //------------------------------// Monochrome was lugging a large suitcase with him to his room at the castle. When he finally reached the door, her threw his belongings onto the bed. Catching his breath before opening the suitcase, he began to unpack. On the shelf, he places a photo of him and his family. Another photo he places was of him, his sister, and his friends. He smiles at the sight before putting the rest of his belonging away. Just as he finished, a knock on the door catches his attention. “Monochrome? Are you there? It’s time to go to school!” It was Twilight. He recognized her voice by now. As he opens the door, he sees the filly carry bags with her. She seems eager to begin her first day as well. “I’m here. Did you decide to walk with me?” “It’s on the way to Princess Celestia, so why not?” Twilight stated. The two strolled through the castle while they talked. They became fast friends ever since the event had occurred. It was nice to start the new life with a friend, especially when the rest of his family couldn’t come due to their jobs and schools. “To tell you the truth, I’m a bit nervous.” Twilight told him. “I never would have thought I was going to be taught by Princess Celestia!” “I never been to school to learn.” Monochrome stated. “I had to learn from my parents and by going to the library.” “Wow! Your town has a library too?” Twilight said in eagerness. “Books sure are great, huh?” “Very much so.” When they arrived in the Princess’s chamber, the two saw the princess trying to feed a baby dragon. When Monochrome saw this, he had a thought. “Is that the dragon you hatched?” Monochrome asked. “Yes, he is.” Twilight answered. They walked to the princess who noticed their presence. She smiles at the two and welcomes them. “It’s nice to see you two today.” The princess greeted. She turned to the human boy and gave a small bow. “Thank you for accepting the offer Monochrome. I know it must have been difficult to make the decision.” “It was, but I believe it’s for the best for now.” Monochrome assured her. He looked to the baby dragon squirming in his basket, understanding that he was having trouble resting. “Is he alright?” The princess looked to the baby dragon with a bit of dismay. “I’m afraid he won’t eat or drink anything I give him. He’s going to get sick at this rate.” “May I, princess?” Twilight asked. She walked up to the baby dragon and took out a formula. She levitated the bottle near the dragon. He sniffed the bottle before accepting it easily. The princess and the human were amazed at the sight. “Whoa, Twilight, how’d you do that?” Monochrome asked. “I mashed up some of the egg shells from the remains of the dragon egg. Some dragons need the nutrients from the mother, but the shell will also carry those nutrients.” “How impressive Twilight!” The princess complimented the violet filly. “I see that you have been studying very well.” The violet filly smiled quietly, not expecting the praise so soon. Monochrome looked at the dragon and noticed he was in distress. “Huh? Did the formula not work?” Twilight wondered. “He just needs to burp.” Monochrome assured her. He lifted the dragon and patted his back until he burped a flame. He then carefully places the baby back as he quietly slept. The two kids sighed and smiled at one another. The princess was quite pleased of the performance. “You two make a great team, it seems.” The princess pointed out. “I guess so.” Twilight smiled. The dragon was rocking his basket a bit, trying to get comfortable. Once he was settled in, he spoke his first words. “Mama… Papa…” The three were silent as the kid’s faces turned red as apples. The princess merely giggles at the scene. Once they finished with the lesson with the Princess, they began to attend school together as well. Monochrome and Twilight sat together again with many classmates looking over their way. Some of them began to whisper to each other. “Who is he? And… What is he?” One of them wondered. “I don’t know, but I heard he’s very special.” Another gossiped. “He’s from another city and lives at the castle.” “The castle!? No way!” Monochrome didn’t notice them as he was looking through his bag. He took out a notebook, a pencil, and an eraser. Twilight did the same, and the two sat and waited. The teacher enters and begins the day. “Hello class, my name is Mr. Wise. Today, we’ll be examining a creature of your choice. Your choices are the creatures within this classroom.” He levitates several glass containers, each carrying a frog, a snake, a lizard, and other amphibious animals. The class were grossed out except for Monochrome. One of the students raised their hooves and asked, “Sir? What’s the reason for this assignment?” “Good question.” He told the student. “It’s important for all of you to gain as much information from properly examining the creature in mind. Whether it is a relic from the past, a gem, or even an animal. It is important you do it in the most respectful and safest fashion as possible. Now, select your specimens.” The class quickly chose the animals, leaving Twilight and Monochrome to choose either a frog or a snake. When they examined the two, Twilight looked a bit shaky from selecting the two. She turned to Monochrome and asked, “W-Which one do you want to do?” Monochrome raised an eyebrow at Twilight before looking at his choices. “Well, the frog isn’t too scary.” “It… is a bit slimy though…” “That does have a strange abundance of mucus…” “… Is there a third choice?” “Well, I guess so.” Monochrome thought. “Really? What?” Twilight asked with hope. “A human.” Twilight’s expression fell flat as she groaned at the idea. “Monochrome, I don’t think that counts.” “You can either go with the snake or the frog then.” Not wanting to touch mucus or risk snake bites, she sighed and chose Monochrome’s plan. They had two hours to prepare like the rest of the class and find the little details as well as learn from the book. When the presentation began, they were the first to go up. Twilight was so nervous, she began to sweat as Monochrome simply placed his hands in his pockets and looked at the class. “Miss Sparkle? Where is the creature you’re presenting?” Twilight was hesitant to speak, but Monochrome managed to do the talking. “She decided to tell the class more about humans since they aren’t from around here.” “Oh! Very interesting. Please proceed.” Mr. Wise continued. Twilight looked at Monochrome smile at her, calming her down before resuming her presentation. “Um… Well, humans are a sapient species.” She began. “Monochrome here is from Cloudsdale, and thanks to his ability to copy magic of other species, he gained the ability to stand on clouds with pegasus magic. When he came to Canterlot, he was exposed to a lot of unicorn magic, and was able to attend school here to learn more about magic.” The class were in awe of this treasure of a story and information. The teacher was quite enthralled by it too. During the talk, Monochrome felt a bit of hot air in his stomach. He started to think he was about to burp. He tried to hold it in, but it started to feel a bit painful inside. Once Twilight noticed he was struggling, she asked, “Monochrome? What’s wrong?” He couldn’t hold it. By then, he lifted his head up and released wasn’t simply air, but a blue flame from his mouth. He paused for a bit in shock of this sudden roar of fire as well as his classmates and teacher. He looked around to see amazed and bewildered expressions. Twilight leaned to him and asked, “Could… humans always do that?” “I thought that was unicorn magic.” Monochrome thought. “I don’t think I’ve seen a spell like that before.” “We should go see the princess again.” Once the news was passed onto Princess Celestia, she rubbed her chin thinking about the cause. She then had an idea and walked further into her chamber. The kids followed before the Princess took out a gem. “Bite this.” The princess requested Monochrome. “Um… Okay…?” He complied half-heartedly. When his teeth dug into it, the gem easily broke and was chewed up. Monochrome struggled to swallow. Once he had though, his eyes widened from the taste of it. “It looks like you received a new magic.” Princess Celestia deducted. “Are you okay Monochrome?” Twilight questioned. “It’s really tasty.” Monochrome noted. “But what magic is it?” She smiled as she moves aside and shows them the baby dragon from earlier. The two then understood which magic it was. “Dragon magic!” “Correct.” The princess smiled with pride for her students. “It seems you can eat gems like the dragons as well as breathe fire.” “That won’t become a problem, right?” Monochrome asked. “Sadly, not much is known about dragons.” The princess stated. “However, with the right spell, we can make your flame outburst not occur so often.” “I think that is the best idea.” With that, the princess casts a spell on the boy. When it was over, she smiled. “You know, I was afraid that the baby would grow up without others understanding his nature.” “You mean the dragon?” Twilight asked. The princess nodded. “Yes, since he is the only dragon from around here, he would grow up with abilities not like the others. But maybe I was worrying too much. As long as we accept and love him, he should grow up fine.” The princess looked at Monochrome and said, “Of course, I believe with you and your powers, you two may get along fine.” “Since I’m kinda the same as him, right?” he assumed. “Yes. You two can learn from each other that way.” “Though, it’ll be a while until he can do any of that, right?” Monochrome pointed out. “Well, I guess either way, it is what it is.” “By the way Monochrome, are you getting acquainted to Canterlot?” Monochrome looked up and thought about it. “It’s fine so far. I still miss my family, so I hope to write a letter to them soon.” “Hmm… I believe I can help with that.” The princess thought. In his room, almost time for bed, he wrote a letter to his family back at Cloudsdale. Once he had finished, he held the letter in his hand and breathed fire on it. The fire turned the letter into dust before it magically escaped his room. He went to lay down on his bed and try to sleep. But the mattress wasn’t as soft as the clouds Rainbow had given him. He rolled in his bed until he was comfortable enough to slumber. But even though his position served well to rest, his eyes couldn’t keep shut. He looked up to the ceiling and thought about his life back before this. Before he even went to Equestria. In the orphanage were countless faces but no one to be called family or friend. His room was actually quite decorative for a room of the orphanage, but that wasn’t enough to make him happy. It was empty in that room. And this home at the castle felt the same way. “Knock, knock!” A voice called with the tapping on the door. “It’s me! Twilight Sparkle!” “Twilight?” He said in surprise. He got up and opened the door. It was Twilight with her school bag and a sleeping bag. “What are you doing here?” “I was too excited about everything we’ve been doing so far, so I wanted to start lessons with the princess as quickly as possible! So I asked if I could sleep at your place for tonight! I hope I don’t bother you, seeing how this is your first night sleeping here.” “It’s… okay.” Monochrome assured her. “Great! Sorry again for this being so sudden!” She unrolled the sleeping bag and lied down on it. When she did, she pulled out a book. Monochrome raised his eyebrow until he remembered something. “That was the book you were reading in class.” “Yup! It’s a guide to slumber parties!” She told him. “Don’t worry! I’m only reading it for tonight. But next time, we’ll actually do this later!” “I… guess?” Twilight stayed up while Monochrome stared at the ceiling again, wondering where his new life at Canterlot will lead him this time.