Even though it wasn't my idea to join this school, it was still a blast. I loved going there day after day and learning new spells.

I originally thought Celestia was a stuck up celebrity who couldn't give a flying feather about anypony. I also thought this school wasn't even her idea. Somepony just had the idea for a magic school and put Celestia's name on it. But those thoughts blew away when I first entered the school. Celestia welcomed every pony that walked in through the doors. First thing she did was congratulate people for passing their entrance exams.

I remember mine. I just had to hatch a dragon egg. I don't know what everypony else had to do. Maybe they had to do some other magical task, or maybe they did the same as mine Anyways, hatching the egg was simple enough, although it did take a toll on my magic after. They gave me the option to keep the dragon I hatched or let it go live in a far away place with its own kind. I ended up letting mine go. My parents wouldn't have let me keep it anyway. They more than likely didn't want an extra mouth to feed.

I also remember them letting me name it. It was a girl, so I decided to name it Glisten Vial. After my sister.

Anyways, after hanging out for some time, we were all gathered into an assembly hall. Celestia welcomed us to the school, she explained what was going to happen in the next few months. It was going to be like regular school, but it runs through summer and on. But instead of it being annoying, you can go at your own pace. You don’t have to wait to advance to the next “grade”, you’re not vigorously tested on random subjects, and there are no high expectations. If you feel that you can only get to a certain point in your skills, then you pay a fee and you can go on with your life.

I joined the school at the age of nine. Some foals joined at an earlier age because some unicorns are naturally talented in magic, even if they're four.

For the first few years I learned basic self-defense magic techniques and offensive magic techniques. I had the sneaking suspicion that my father was going to come at me swinging a bat at my head intent on murdering me.

I stood before the large gates of Canterlot Castle where the school takes place in. The castle itself was fairly tall and expansive with many halls and doorways. I wouldn’t have been surprised to find a wandering pony trying to find his way out of the labyrinth if I ever find myself going in. Learning teleportation would be a necessity if you wanted to go in there.

I heard some pony tell a story about a royal guard who went inside the halls looking for somepony to deliver a message. He never came out. Rumors began to spread that a ghostly figure wandered the halls, opening doors and calling out every now and again.

A few minutes after I entered the castle, I was greeted by student after student and teacher after teacher. There was a girl whose skin was dark blue and hair that was crimson and dark red who smiled and said a quiet hi. After her, there was a teacher named Black Marble. It was said that he could teach unicorns to use their telekinesis on themselves and make themselves fly. He also taught the basic spells, like levitation, teleportation, regular things a unicorn does everyday (if he could teach that, then what was he doing at the school?). A boy, whose name was Vlaud, with lighter blue skin compared to the filly's, and orange hair. Other faces stared at me in the small crowd that I chose not to acknowledge.

The rest ignored me as I passed them by. I did the same. I wasn't that popular at the school, nor was really noteworthy. I was another face in the crowd to them. I was trying not to get noticed, trying not to make any friends. I do have some friends though. Actually, I wouldn’t really consider them friends, they're just... acquaintances. I preferred to be alone. Still do.

The point I’m getting at here is that friends just aren’t as important as becoming powerful.

It hadn’t occurred to me until I was heading to my first class, but I had plenty of time left before my first class. I didn’t realize just how early it was until I looked up at a wall clock. 7:14 was what the clock read. The classes didn’t start until eight, and my first class isn’t until 8:20. I had time to kill, so I went to the mess hall to go get myself a full breakfast. They served breakfast early in the morning for the kids who came early or those who had overnight classes.

While walking towards the mess hall, I decided to make a quick pitstop at the library to pick up a book about history. I don't know why a history book, though. Fiction was and still is my cup of tea. History never struck a chord with me. I guess all of this talk about gaining great power had gotten me curious if there is such a thing.

I walked into the library, greeted by the scent of candles. The burning wax combined with the smoke penetrated my nose like pickaxes to rock. Unlike the candles back at the house, these provide a strange sort of comfort to me. Like they’ll protect me from the dangers that will try to attack me while I read. Like the stars. Only, the candles... didn't hold a candle to the stars...

The library was fairly small. For a building that large, I would've imagined a much larger library. The ponies who built this place should have paid a little more attention to the library. I liked to think that they made it purposefully small so when a foal somehow finishes all the books here, they’ll go find more to read to satisfy themselves of their literate hunger.

The library was quiet, like it was supposed to be. There were about five other kids in here, not including the librarian, whose name was Packard. He was a kind old stallion who loved reading and really loved kids. He practically lived at this library. I was convinced I saw him with a pillow and a blanket over by the young adult section when I was doing some late night studying for a certain spell.

I don’t know too much about him, but I think he’s a widower. I didn’t want to question him about it because I was afraid I would awaken memories within him that he doesn’t want to be uncovered.

I walked over to the reference isle, taking notice that the students who were in there were either reading spell books or fictional novels.

Scanning the books, I came across a rather big book with the title of “The complete History of the Morer War.”

On the back of the book were reviews by famous authors and larger companies. There was a quote by a stallion by the name of Stein that read “If you want to put us down, you must expect resistance."

Beginning years of the war..................................................10
Weapons........................................................................20
The Eddleston Hill Massacre................................................40
The Dance in the Flames......................................................70

Although there looked like there was some interesting chapters in there, I was just curious to see how we won the war. I know little about what happened during the war, but I do know that the we were losing the battle. But then the tide turned somehow and they defeated the enemy known as "Humans."

Towards the end of the table contents there was a section simply titled “Red and Black.” An odd chapter name for sure. It also stuck out in a way. I could easily predict what the other chapters were going to be about, but this... this had a bit of mystery to it, and it was only the chapter name.

Since it was getting near the end of the book, I decided to take a look at it to see if this could give me any answers. I opened up the book, but remember my original goal when my stomach started to growl. I’ll read it on the way. I thought to myself

I place the book on Packards desk. He looks at it strangely as if he’s never seen it before. He looks up at me. “Are you sure you want this book?” he asks. He notices the strange look I’m giving him. “I just wanted to make sure that... you want this book. Some kids-"

“Yes, this is the book I want.” I took out a few bits from my pocket and placed them on the desk to pay the fee of checking out a book.

But as I left, I couldn’t help but notice this strange feeling in my gut. Like I was about to make some kind of mistake. I thought that it was just because I was hungry, but there I knew that I was doing something wrong.

The lunch hall was a ways away from the library, so I decided to get some reading in before I get there. I picked up the book using my levitation magic and start reading the chapter entitled Red and Black.

We watched them die. We watched them as their world slowly burned from the inside out. I should've been happy. We were winning the war after losing for the longest time. I'm supposed to be happy, right? Even they were relentless in the battlefield, even though they killed so many of us, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for them. What they were going through is something which no species should go through. The worst part about this was thinking about the children down there. All dying in the fires that we’ve started.

Is this what the price of victory is? Knowing that an entire species was brought down to it’s knees, awaiting the execution, and we were the ones to pull the trigger. How could we be so heartless? Have we not learned enough to know that this is wrong? We cannot simply let ourselves get away with this atrocious act. We’re better than this!

I can see the look in her eye. I’m the only one that can see it. There was a certain glow in her eye, a twinkle if you will. I can tell that she is... enjoying this. I’m the only one that can tell that she is, I don’t even think she knows. Is there something else inside of her? Could it be the Didec-

Before I could read any further, I suddenly bumped into somepony. I drop the book to the ground, noticing some papers floating around. I backed up a bit to get a good look at whoever I bumped into. “Ah, jeez, I’m sor-”

My jaw inexplicably became as heavy as iron. When my jaw dropped, I thought it would have detached itself and I would've been left there with blood everywhere and my jaw on the floor. That would make for the most awkward first impression ever.

The spectacle before me was a filly. A filly with vivid crimson hair and brilliant yellow stripes complimenting it. Her fur was a light amber. And before you ask, I was not beholding her beauty. That would be stupid. No, I was beholding the large, light green hurricane of aura swirling around her.

The smartest thing would have been to run away, but instead I just stood there awaiting her to strike me down and cast me aside like a ragdoll. But instead the green hurricane slowly made its way over to me. The filly in the eye of the hurricane put her face up against me. She looked up at me and I looked down at her. The horn on her head wasn’t sharp enough to penetrate my skin, but I felt like she was going to force it into my neck and leave me on the floor to bleed out.

I took a moment to look at her. With the theatrics that I saw, I expected her to cut me down without a second thought. But she just stared at me with a stare that wasn’t all that threatening. She didn’t do anything else nor say anything else. Just tried to stare me down with her attempt at a librarian stare.

I must have made a strange face while looking at her, because she raised an eyebrow at me. “What’s that look for?”

“It’s just that... when you pull off an act like that, I would have expected you to-”

With that, she sprinted down the hall, not looking back nor showing any sign of stopping anytime soon.

I stood in the hallway with the book on the ground next to my hooves. I just stared down the hallway she ran down. I swore that I saw trails of fire following her as she ran. Not long after she left, I ran after her.

I don't quite know what it was about her that made me follow her. Perhaps I was curious as to where she was going and why she was in such a rush. What I do know was that it was a mistake to follow her.

By the time I reached her, I was almost out of breath. Running was not my special talent, and I wasn't that athletic to begin with. She had ran quicker than I originally expected. I nearly lost her a few times down these hallways and all of these flights of stairs. But when I did catch up to her, she was just about to jump out of a window.

The filly opened a window and stuck her head out. Her head went from one way to the other, probably to see if anypony was around to see her jump.

I was confused to say the least. She obviously wasn’t about to kill herself. She would’ve been crying or shown signs of tears on her face. Without realizing it, I said what I was thinking.

The filly turned around. There was a brief look confusion, until it turned into one of anger. Her horn glowed, and suddenly I wasn’t on the ground anymore. I was floating off the ground, kicking and thrashing to try and get myself free, but to no avail. She pulled me closer and closer to her and slammed me on the ground. I tried getting up, but she kept me there with her telekinesis.

"Unless you hindered me, hurt me, even if you killed me I wouldn't have followed you. But you didn't and now I'm here, questioning you.”

The filly growled a little. “Get up.” I could feel the magic aura disappear from my body. I had control of my body again. I did as she told me. I did it slowly, but I still did as she said. I was still expecting her to kill me. Though, there was the part of me that doubted that she would.

“Trying to leave this place. I have the opportunity, and now I’m taking it. And now you’re stopping me from doing that, so if you’ll excuse me,” She turned herself around. “I’ve got somewhere to be.” Placing her head out the window, she just about jumped out. But she stuck her head back inside and turned to me. “I didn't catch your name.”

“Sunset Shimmer, but I prefer that you call me Shimmer. I hope that I never see you again.” And with that, she leapt out the window. I ran up to it to see if I could see where she was going. But I didn’t see her. She wasn’t dead on the pavement, nor was she grappling onto a wall. She just disappeared. Teleported herself to some unknown destination.

Long-distance teleportation? That was a very difficult spell to cast, even for experts. This filly looked like she was my age, maybe a year younger, and she pulled off long-distance teleportation without a sweat. If I wanted to go more than ten feet in front of me then that would require a serious amount of concentration and power. How could she pull it off like it was nothing?

I thought about Sunset all throughout the day. By the time the day was over and I had to go back home, I was still thinking about her. Thought after thought entered my mind as I walked home. I don’t remember seeing her around at the school. And why would she want to leave the school? It meant a lot to me, because I could escape my parents, and it was a good place in general. Why would anypony want to leave?

While deep in thought, I ran into the front door of my house. The world around me started to spin as I was trying to get a grasp on reality. I nearly fell over, but I managed to regain my balance and sorted myself out.

I raised my hoof to the door-knob. But I stopped just when I was about to push the door open. I looked around me, taking in every detail about the sad little wooden cabin. I've lived there since I was born, and I haven't left. I've contemplated running away several times but the thought always died when I got the guts to attempt it. I didn't know where I would go if I left, or how I would even survive. I didn't have any relatives that I knew of, and finding food without paying for it would be a challenge. And yet, I always asked myself the same damn question at the end of the day.

I wondered where Sunset Shimmer planned to go. She was just a kid who probably didn't have a perception of how just big the world around her was. Did she have a plan, or does she plan to go with the flow of life?

Why couldn't I be like her? Why couldn't I be brave enough to leave? Why couldn't I have just lit a match and watch that decrepit log cabin to burn to the ground and leave my past behind me?

Questions like that were pointless. I could never answer them, and I'm sure as hay that nopony else can, either. They're not going to come to me on a silver platter. If I wanted answers to my questions, I had to go out and find them on my own.

But I couldn't find the questions then. If I had the courage to do that, then I would have turned around and left right at that second. I couldn't do it because my fears of going out and accomplishing something held me back. They chained me to a rock and bound me there. If I wanted to leave, I would've needed to find some courage first.

The Lust for Power

by All of the Above

Chapter 2