Noble Harmony

by Tagan

Chapter 2

The class boarded the train with little difficulty, gathering in one long car together. Miss Cheerilee was speaking as Sweetie Bell squeezed in after her friends, last as usual.

"So I want you to all keep together on the trip. Keep your eyes on the next pony in line at all times when we move, alright?"

"Yes Miss Cheerilee!" The class said together cheerfully. Sweetie looked around, and saw that most of the train car window seats had been taken. Scootaloo and Applebloom were sitting together on a bench near the back of the car, and Sweetie joined them.

Scootaloo looked up as she came, and got up, motioning to her seat. "You can have the window seat, Sweetie." she said cheerfully.

Sweetie Bell smiled happily at her friend, and moved to the window to sit down, eager to enjoy the trip.

Applebloom shrugged, and looked over Sweetie's shoulder. "Have we got anythin ta pass the time with?"

Scootaloo pulled out a travel checkers set from her bag and set it up, and the three fillies took turns playing each other, while the odd pony out would enjoy the view from the window as the train traveled. The time passed easily, the three friends getting comfortable in the simple routine until Canterlot castle came into view again around the mountain.

Now most of the class was busy staring out the window at the sight. Though the castle was visible from parts of Ponyville, most of the fillies had never seen it up close before, and it was quite a spectacular sight.

Minutes later, the train pulled into Canterlot station, and Cheerilee led the class into the town center. She headed towards a large ornate building at the corner of the town square.

"Our first stop today, class, is Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! As I told you last week, our town librarian, Twilight Sparkle, has arranged for our class to get a tour of the building and it's labs, and our Unicorn students will be having a lesson from the head of the school, Bright Star himself!"

Sweetie Bell HAD in fact forgotten this part, and she tensed uncomfortably even as the others cheered. The class entered the building, and Cheerilee greeted the school's receptionist. "Hello! We're the class from Ponyville."

The pink unicorn at the desk nodded with a smile. "Ah yes! We've been expecting you. Professor Star is ready for your Unicorn foals in Lab two, and Lab four is open for a magic demonstration for the rest of your class." She motioned to the corridor to the right of the desk.

Cheerilee nodded to the receptionist with a smile, and led the way down the corridor. At the door labeled Lab 2, she stopped and waved her hoof. "Snips, Snails, Sweetie Bell, here we are!" She opened the door and ushered the three in. Sweetie looked back at her friends with a nervous expression, but Snips and Snails entered the room enthusiastically, and Sweetie followed uncomfortably, swallowing nervously

Cherrilee came in after them, and spoke up. "Well, this looks very nice!"

The room was a smallish room, round and with a concave floor and ceiling. A dark blue unicorn with a scroll and star cutie mark greeted the foals with a small smile.

He stepped forward to speak, nodding the Cheeriliee before saying, "Hello, foals. I'm Professor Bright Star, and today we're going to learn more about what makes you special. Unicorns, unlike the other two races of pony, have no innate magical abilities. All of a Unicorn's magic comes from training and, thus an Unicorn is only as powerful or skilled as they decide to be. I hope I can show you some of that in today's lesson."

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Half an hour later, Snips and Snails had successfully levitated a marble, and had lit a candle tip. Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, had set her marble on fire, and her candle had melted.

Bright Star tried to be encouraging, even as he eyed the melted marble curiously. "You show a lot of potential, Miss Belle. Once you manage to calm your mind and focus on the spell, you'll begin to see better results!"

Snips was laughing behind her, still making his marble circle his head. "Yeah! Cause it's really hard to concentrate, n stuff!"

Snails laughed once as well. "And stuff!" His marble was rolling around on the floor in an uneven circle.

Sweetie looked down at the ground, scraping the floor with one hoof. "Thanks, Professor Star. I'll keep trying." She sighed. I thought I WAS concentrating. she thought with some annoyance.

"That's the spirit!" Bright Star said, grinning widely at the three foals. "Now, let me get you back to your class. They should be finishing up the magic demonstration in lab 4 soon."

He led the three out into the hall and down the corridor to the door in question, and Sweetie Belle perked up at the sound of her classmates cheering from inside.

When Bright Star opened the door, they could see the rest of their class standing around a Yellow Unicorn with a Orange mane, who was apparently in the process of changing a brick into something. After a few more seconds, the brick, surrounded by the yellow glow of the unicorn's magic, made a popping noise, and suddenly changed into a flowering shrub.

Sweetie joined the rest of the class in cheering.

The orange maned Unicorn looked up, and seeing Bright Star, nodded to him. "And that's the end of my demonstration, foals! I hope you were entertained?"

Miss Cheerilee spoke up. "Everyone, thank Miss Beam for her excellent demonstration!"

The students looked quite excited, but calmed down at this reminder of proper behavior. They dutifully spoke up together. "Thank you Miss Beam!"

"You are very welcome." The unicorn mare answered them with a small grin. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

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As the class left the building and headed off towards their next destination, Sweetie Belle told her two best friends about her lesson, and then listened to their description of the magic demonstration.

Scootaloo was making wild motions with her hooves. "And then she was like, "Woosh!" and the paper airplane started flying around the room, and it was so fast... and then it landed on Twist's head and went all "Poof!" And Twist was wearing a party hat!"

Applebloom was giggling. "I'll betcha Pinkie Pie woulda loved that trick."

Sweetie sighed. "I wish I could have seen it. All I got to see was everything I tried to magic... melting or bursting into flame."

Scootaloo and Applebloom frowned, but neither could think of anything too say before their attention was drawn away by Miss Cheerilee speaking. "Alright class. I want you all on your best behavior now. We're going to visit the Canterlot Royal Sculpture garden next."

Sweetie Belle perked up at this. Oh... art? Sounds interesting!

As the group entered the garden, passing through an arch formed from a large green hedge, which apparently surrounded the garden, Sweetie noticed that one edge of the garden was bordered by the royal palace, and she gave the building a long, interested look, before Miss Cheerilee started leading them towards one side of the garden, where several large stone statues were gathered around what appeared to be a huge hedge maze.

Sweetie Belle thought cheerfully. I love art! This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun!

Comments

[MrDrProfWEEGIE]

I am really quite enjoying this story so far.

[Little Wood]

Please continue this story!

[Tagan]

Really?

Well, I'll consider it.