Chapter 2: Testing
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T
I woke up before sunrise, cool air filtering into my room from an open window from a balcony. I groggily got up, rubbing my eyes with hooves that felt like lead, and trotted over to the balcony. I saw Everfree city sleeping. Besides key members of society, such as guards and police, The streets were empty.
I made no attempt to muffle my hoof steps until I brushed my teeth and flossed. By then, I was awake enough to realize why I had woken up.
It was the first day of classes.
From that moment, I knew Celestia and Luna would want their sleep, as they had to stay up most of the night fixing small problems before school started today. Problems such as an anonymous complaint that we already work too much, advising us to give the position to them.
I snuck out of my room and towards the kitchen. As I trotted, I looked around the hallways, seeing Luna’s and my own paintings and pictures of the past. I allowed myself to reminisce of a time long ago, before any pony had come, when we adventured far and wide, from the desert to the ice lands. We faced dragons and goblins and diamond dogs. Even now we faced them, though in the battlefield of politics instead of hoof to hoof fights.
Periodically, I passed by guards, who were surprised to see me up so early. They nodded and some asked if I was alright, but none stayed for long as they had their patrols to go to. It took a while of wandering, but I found my way to the kitchen with some detours now and then (the chancellor was looking for me).
“Ey! The night owl, she comes to join us, boys!” The main chef shouted loud enough for his staff to hear him. They all looked up from their stations. “What will it be today?” He continued.
I shrugged off the implications of his words and focused on my order. My stomach growled. “I’d like four pancakes please.” I said, finishing right before a growl. “With four or five slices of buttered toast.” I continued with a blush. My stomach growled again. “ And a SINGLE slice of cake.” I finished. My stomach did not growl this time.
The chef heartily laughed, and started preparing my order.
“I can have all that to go, right?” I asked him.
The chef nodded and said “I can do that. It will be done in a bit, so you can come back in about thirty minutes.”
I thanked him and left the kitchens, heading towards the dining room. As I was in no rush, I trotted slowly, passing by more paintings. Though they were not of the past, they were still sentimental, as they were paintings of the night sky during clear nights. All of them were drawn by Luna, and though the stars were not oriented the way she painted, her drawings looked better than the reality. I continued walking
I passed by guards and the chancellor on my way. The guards nodded at me and I smiled and nodded back. The chancellor, without the red and gold robes I knew him for, nodded. But when he thought my head was turned, he scowled. I shook my head and continued towards the kitchen.
Once I got there, I saw the chef and the breakfast prepared for me. It wasn’t much on my scale, but enough to go through the morning and wake me up. I ate a stack of four pancakes with syrup and some buttered toast before turning to Chef Cake and thanking him.
I left the kitchen and took a few turns to a hallway with a high ceiling and many smaller paths outward, kind of like the rings of a tree. Looking at the intricate patterns on the main hallway I saw a door morphing, twisting into new patterns as different ponies drew near. Some touched the bark and watched the patterns on the door roll in on itself like the waves in an ocean. The pictures distorted and flowers became vines, which in turn shaped into clouds and mountains. Once it settled down, the final picture was a meadow.
I heard the ponies at the door shift to look at me. They had smiles on their faces and a welcoming demeanor.
“Princess Terra! What a lovely surprise!” The one on the left, a pony with a red coat and an orange mane. “Don’t you normally wake up much after sunrise?” He asked in a voice that sounded young. His voice and body looked familiar, though I couldn’t place a name on him.
What I wouldn’t do for them. I thought to myself, sighing. “I don’t, usually. But I decided to wake up early to go to the school today. I am the principal after all.” I replied.
“Are you sure it’s no trouble? I know how busy you and your sisters can be.” He asked.
A simple question. Well, a decisively complex one, but the implications ran deep.
“Are you the one who decided to petition to become the principal on account of my inherent ‘laziness’?” I asked coolly.
The stallion came close enough to be within earshot of me, and responded in a soft whisper: “Why of course. After all, you are my target.”
My eyes widened in alarm, though nothing happened.
“Wow, you’re easy to tease, even after all of this time. Eh dirtface?” He responded.
With that one word, I remembered who he was. He was the assassin-turned-friend. The third friend I made. I smiled internally, and said “Dirtface. The most unoriginal name by the most unoriginal assassin.” I said, then muttered “I should have figured, Quick Shot...”
Quick was an assassin, though after he admitted to being forced into the role by his leaders he became a close friend. When we first settled down and built our nation, he was appointed the head of the Royal Guard. He was fast in combat, but his cutie mark told his skill in traps and long term strategy.
I walked past him, though he decided to follow me.
“Don’t have anything better to do?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
“Nope. Just bothering you.” He replied as we walked past the bakery.
I sighed and ignored most of what he said until we got to the outer ring of the city.
“You know, these ponies generally do better than the nobility's kids…” He said.
I nodded as we passed Spike, waving and leaving.
I would have been able to talk with Spike’s parents, but decided not to on account of Quick Shot.
“You know them?” He asked as we took an indirect route to the school, cutting through crowds once in a while.
“Their son, Spike, and some others were topics of interest.” I said to him.
He chuckled and we came into the clearing of grass and bushes that came up to the school. It was inside a tree that had natural resistance against extreme heat and cold. It was originally going to be a bunker, but we thought of using it as a school instead.
Once we got to the door leading in, Quick said his farewells and left to his paperwork.
The door was into the school was much smaller than the door to the castle. The hallways were a bit wider, but that was so the lockers and classes could all fit into the rings of the tree. I walked across the wooden floor to my office in the center of the first floor. I passed by grinning fillies and colts on my way.
There were cliques of ponies sorted sometimes by age or neighborhood. Most had ponies with similar interests, such as the gamers, athletes, and the studious. Although I didn’t like to admit it, there were also the bullies. Though there were few, they had a lot of power due to the rumor mills they started, even though it was the first day of school. I could tell this was true by the circle of students watching a fight between a unicorn and a thestral against another unicorn and an earth pony.
There were the obvious instigators, the pair with the earth pony, and the other team was defending. I recognized the unicorn and pegasus on the defending team; the unicorn, who I found out was Rare Gem, was sitting next to Shining Star yesterday, the thestral was Sweet Dreams.
The earth pony ran towards the unicorn, jumping off of their team mate. Rare Gem caught the earth pony with her magic and used the second she had to change his momentum to throw him back to the unicorn aggressor. The earth pony stopped and skidded before hitting his partner, and the unicorn started casting a spell.
At this point, a pegasus teacher came out of the classroom to see what the commotion was. Seeing the fight that broke out, she tensed and got ready to split it up. I put a hoof up in front of her and shook my head.
“I want to see where this is going. I won’t let any pony get seriously injured, but I need to see how those two react.
The unicorn cast an electric spell at Sweetie. Before the bolt could reach Sweetie, however, Gem caught it in her magic, cast a spell I couldn’t make out, and threw the electric combo at the earth pony. The colt tried his best to dodge it, but it was able to hit his torso, and the spells activated. The earth pony was shocked and feinted, probably through a sleep spell.
At this point the unicorn saw he was at a major disadvantage and took a step back to play on defense. Seeing the victors, I lowered my hoof to allow the teacher to go, then walked through the crowd myself. The teacher had picked up the unicorn colt and started for the health room while I stopped the rest of the participants. I came muzzle to muzzle with Sweetie and Rare. They saw me and lowered their heads. All around us, students started leaving, realizing that there was a certain tension in the air.
“I will see you in my office after first period.” I ordered. It took all my strength not to smile or congratulate them, but my efforts would pay off later.
The two of them nodded and left, the unicorn antagonist backing away slowly, as if I were a predator. I laughed to myself and said “I will see you now.”
We started for my office. Though it was close by, it took us a while to get there as I made a slow pace.
The unicorn colt looked as if he was restraining himself from running, though I could have been wrong. We walked down the colorful hallways, colored in by the tree itself, and the colors were vibrant. There was every shade of red, blue, and brown, but they swirled together, making an abstract portrait. As we stepped up to my office, the only room with a white door, I found that the colt was panicking quite a bit. He didn’t let me see it, of course, but I watched him when he thought I wasn’t looking.
We entered my room. Even though I tried to get it clean the day before, it was to no avail. It still looked like a disaster had come into my room. Papers were all over the floor, my desk had random things on it, and my bookshelves had food in them instead of books.
“What is your name?” I asked.
He hesitated, but gave me the answer of “Matrix, ma’am.”
“What occurred before I arrived?” I asked in an indifferent voice.
“The other two were poking fun at our group when--” He started
“Don’t lie to me. I can tell you are lying. Just tell me the truth.” I commanded, sensing his magic.
A little known fact about passive magic is that, when trained, you can sense an untrained creature’s magic. If you have finer senses, like I do, sensing the intentions of ponies, zebras, and griffons is child’s play.
He looked shocked at first, but complied. He lied about a couple of minor things, but he and his friends were pushing students’ patience and Sweetie and Rare pushed back. Matrix and his friend taunted them further, though with no response. They left to do the same with Spike and his group of friends as they had no entertainment. Sweetie then rushed the earth pony while Gem smothered the unicorn’s magic with a blanket of her own. The two fought for maybe 5 minutes, and the rest I saw.
Matrix finished, and I thought for a while. He looked uncomfortable, but I decided to go easy(ish) on them. “I am putting you on a sort of probation. Just you. Your friend, by the sound of it was the leader. He will get the brunt of the punishment. You will instead do a little bit of community work. For the next week, you will stay after school for an amount of time I will determine later. You are dismissed.” I told him.
He nodded and left the already dimly lit room. After he shut the door behind him, the room lit up with harmless mushrooms that light up when I push my magic at them. The corners of the ceiling were littered with these, and my office confused janitors and unicorn scholars alike.
I kind of knew why they were there, but didn’t want certain… secrets to be revealed to the press. The only reason I told Spike’s parents about my ability was because I knew they wouldn’t tell many others.
The first period ended as I was finishing some paperwork for a grade three trip to the forests near us when I heard a knocking at the door. Looking around my office, I saw that much of the floor was clean and there was at least a path going to my desk.
The pony outside my door knocked once more. I yelled “Come in!”. Sweet Dreams and Rare Gem came in through my door. Sweetie looked a bit nervous, and Rare Gem looked defensive.
I channeled my magic to grow stumps for chairs. The two visitors in my room widened their eyes.
“How did you do that?” Rare Gem inquired. She seemed calm, though her eyes were filled with the light of a scholar. She was curious.
Sweet Dreams, on the other hand, widened her eyes for a different reason. Yes, she might have been surprised at my ability, but she was a smart mare who could put two and two together. She was a pegasus, so she knew about passive magic. She probably just didn’t know how I was channeling.
“Sweetie, do you know of the innate magic of each tribe?” I asked, eyes showing amusement.
“I know that pegasi use theirs to fly and earth ponies usually use their magic passively to grow and strengthen those around them… but I’ve never heard of earth ponies with this extent of skill with magic.” She said, unsure.
Rare Gem looked between us, and then asked “You called us here due to the fight?”
I nodded. “I heard one side of the story, and I want yours. Why did you initiate the hoof-fight? I heard that Rare was on the edge, but Sweetie was the instigator. I heard that the fight only began as they walked off talking about harassing other students. But, I have no idea what went through your minds when you decided to fight. Explain.”
After talking for a bit, I found that Rare Gem was only angry because Shining Star, her brother, had been harassed by them. He fought back, but got in trouble through the teachers. Sweetie drew the line at the fact that they dared to toy with them, then with others after they got bored.
“I held hope that maybe, if I was lucky, they would stay with me and leave the others alone. I could not stand then bullying others.” Sweetie said, her tone growing harder in the second sentence.
I turned to Gem and asked “And you? What was your motive?”
“My brother-”
“Do not lie to me. If you lie to me, I cannot give you an appropriate consequence for your actions. Ex. Plain. Now.” I told her, eyes closed and brows scrunched.
“I saw Sweetie and knew I could help. I’ve always worked better in tandem with others, and Sweetie would have gotten hurt had I not. I wanted to lend my efforts.” She admitted.
I sighed internally as I heard this bit. “In that case, you both are free to go, though I would still be… quiet about your consequences. I want you both to come into my office on separate days this week, so I may get to know you both.” I told them with a smile.
They looked shocked to say the least.
“You’re not going to punish us for starting a fight?” Gem asked incredulously.
I shook my head. “Why would I punish you standing up to those who meant others harm? Yes, it could have been handled differently, but you did the best you could.”
“That being said...” I began. The room grew dimmer as the mushrooms dimmed with them. I dimmed it enough to see me, but also enough to have a lasting memory. “You both will have consequences fitting of your actions. I will not save you. This IS your warning.” The room brightened again, with Sweetie and Gem staring at me, heart rate increased. “Mkay? Mkay!” I said aloud. “Oh, and I would like to see Gem today. Sweetie, if you could come when I call, I would be grateful.” I told them.
Sweetie left the room and closed the door with care. Gem tried playing her fear off with a smirk, but I noticed the effort she put forth controlling her breathing.
“I noticed during your fight, you casted in tandem with the unicorn colt. How is that?” I asked.
She looked sideways at me and said “I’m sorry for answering a question with a question, but do you know magic theory?” I nodded at this “Well, I take the magic another is using and twist it a bit. It becomes their magic signature, but I control it.” she told me.
“I’m guessing you can only cast through other unicorns, am I right?” She nodded. “I would like to help you hone this ability, though I’ve already kept you for a little too long. Are you willing to come to the palace? I can meet you about four hours after school, as I have to tell my sisters and get some resources.” I inquired.
She nodded and replied “I can come as long as I get home before sundown. I’ll need to do homework, but I can finish that quickly.”
I smiled and wished her a good day, then got back to my mountain of paperwork.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gem
The final bell rang and I packed up my saddlebags. I walked with a couple of my friends out of the school, then bid them farewell. I didn’t want them to know about… certain things. I walked home to my mother, father, and brother. Star left before me, but I got there first since he walked with friends.
As I came up to my house, I saw a sight worse than usual. All the shutters were closed. This meant I had to be quiet. The house wasn’t run down, but it also wasn’t very sound. I knew of at least 3 leaks in my shared bedroom alone. My Dad could fix them with his flight, or Mom with her magic, but they didn’t. ‘Cost too much’ they tell me.
“Mom. I’m home” I said quietly as I walked into the door, careful to not wake my father.
My mother looked to me with a snide look and asked “Where is your brother?” It was a whisper, but she looked down on me as if I weren’t worth the time.
“He’s probably out with friends”
“Be careful this time. Your father is sleeping and has a headache.
If he would stop drinking, I thought, He wouldn’t have a headache. “One more thing. I got into a fight today and have to go to the palace for Princess Terra.” I told her.
“What is your real reason for going out?” She asked.
“I told you the truth, and I need to do homework before then.”
“I still think you should never have gone to that school.”
I did my best not to snap at her, as Dad would come out and unleash his fury on the both of us. “It was my decision, not yours. I simply did what I thought necessary to make a future for myself and, perhaps, my brother.” I said cooly. “I think I’ll go do homework somewhere else. I don’t want to wake Dad.” I said, walking out of the room.
Mom wanted to call out to me, but couldn’t risk yelling at me. I left and closed the door behind me. Then, I walked towards one of the parks separating the rich and poor.
When the city of Everfree was first created when I was young, Terra and Luna worried that those in the upper class would take land away from all others to turn them into banks or high class event areas. To combat this, they made areas around the two rings parks, free for all. The parks were used by those that wanted to practice magic at this time of day, though there were a few children with parents running and playing.
I turned towards one of the further corners of the park. I walked for a bit off of the main path, into a maze of trees. Instead of getting lost, I turned and maneuvered my way around to a tree. Before the school was founded, I used the tree to hide things that I didn’t want my Mom to steal or Dad to break. It was sort of my safe spot.
In a certain tree in this entire forest, there was a door that I camouflaged as the bark of a tree. It was heavy enough that a pegasus or earth pony couldn’t open it, and I had a magic seal on it with my signature. It opened, making no sound, and I heard a pony down the stairs leading to the carved out roots of the tree.
I was surprised, but readied myself for any pony. Sneaking down, I first saw a forest green coat and brown mane. I wondered who they could be, when I heard them say “I know you’re there. Come down and we can talk.” It was unmistakably Terra.
I sighed in relief and went down the rest of the stairs. “How did you find this place?” I asked
“All of these trees are connected, and I like to take walks around the foliage. It’s calming. What is your reason?” Terra inquired.
I didn’t want to tell her about my family issues, so I instead said “I came to do homework.”
“I know that isn’t the whole truth, but I won’t push. Do you want me to leave so you can have some peace for your work?”
I shook my head. “One of my assignments is in magic theory, and I might need help.” I said.
Terra smiled and responded “Sure! I’d love to. Beats dealing with stuck up snobs!”
I snickered at this remark as Terra realised she said that aloud. “Anyhow, The parts I need help on are the questions on earth pony magic.”
I explained in detail what I knew that unicorns have full control over their abilities, while earth ponies have little control and pegasi were somewhere in between.
“So basically, I know that pegasi have control over their wind magic and unicorns their spell casting. I know that pegasi have little control over their cloud walking and durability… but I don’t know the extent of an earth pony’s prowess over their magic.” I explained.
“Well, in normal cases, earth ponies use their magic to give to the world around them. Trees and the earth soak in their magic and become energy-dense. Plants and animals then use that magic that we emit as energy, using it to grow. It has a limit, as the trees still need water, sunlight, and air. At the same time, they take in magic, strengthening themselves and making them strong as boulders. You would be pretty surprised at what I would go through on a daily basis after meeting Celestia and Luna.” She explained.
“As usual with everything, there are exceptions. There are pegasi that can light the sky ablaze with fire and gravity, unicorns who specialize in other tribes’ magic, and earth ponies who can seemingly cast spells and, once again, gravity. Celestia, Luna, and I are all examples. I can cast spells, but I worked since I was young to do so. Celestia can light clouds ablaze. Luna is particularly special, though. She specializes in magic itself. There are fields, such as chaos and dark magic, that she cannot cast.” Terra continued.
I nodded and wrote that down with my magic, inscribing what she was saying on a scroll as she was saying it with a simple conversion spell. “What I don’t understand,” I started “is how there is so much crossing between the tribes.”
“When our races first started out, there was one race. We fought and found different ways to survive. There were those who were physically strong in both strength and endurance. There were those who found ways to go faster. They eventually gained flight and weather manipulation. Finally there were those who were skilled in neither speed nor strength. They studied and found ways to cast spells, interacting with the world around them magically.
Even though the three races are different in the way they use magic, they can train themselves so long as they have dedication. There are, of course, limits to the extent they can train. No matter how much you train, you will not be able to truly fly as a pegasus, nor have the longevity of an earth pony. I may be able to manipulate magic, but I could never do so to the extent you can, nor fly.
I trained by pushing my magic to trees since I was young. I used to grow entire homes for myself this way. As I grew older, I was able to make precise things, such as spoons and handles, quickly.
Though that is what I wanted to talk about with you earlier. I wanted to see the extent of your abilities. Did you get what I said” She lectured.
I jotted down what she said without many errors until the end. “You want to see if I can cast in tandem with you, right?” I managed to get out.
“I was actually wondering how you were able to pick up the earth colt. They are resistant to levitation on account of their physical strength. Most unicorns your age don’t know how to do what you did without lethally harming their opponent.” Terra explained.
“Instead of trying to pick him up with my magic, I went the long way around and used his magic to cover him. It wasn’t much, and didn’t last long, but it lasted long enough for me to be able to throw him. At the time, I was trying to see what their dueling styles were, and they never duel. They probably just prey on weaker ponies, hoping they don’t have to make good on threats.” I said matter-of-factly.
Terra sat there thinking for a while, then closed her eyes. “Well, I should get going. It isn’t too late, but I need to get back to the castle to help my sisters with paperwork. Have a nice evening, and I hope to see you again soon.” The tree started to warp around her. “Try not to get into another fight, though, okay?” She said as she left, probably going to the castle. I left the safety of the tree, starting on my way home.
For the first night in a while, I had a bounce in my step and a smile on my face. I hoped it would last longer.