Learning Curve
“Do I have to go?” I asked. Cloudsdale wasn’t exactly the most welcoming place, but it was still better than being shipped off to unicorn boarding school.
“Yes you have to go.” said my mother, fluttering around my room, packing all my things into a massive suitcase. “It’s time you started learning how a unicorn is meant to behave. Besides, I thought you always hated it here?”
“Well yeah,” I replied reluctantly, “But that doesn’t mean I wanna spend the next four years stuck with a bunch of stuck-up unicorns.”
“Comet,” said my mother sternly, flitting over to look me in the eyes, “Your father and I are paying a substantial amount to send you to one of the best unicorn schools in Equestria, you could at least try to be enthusiastic.”
I rolled my eyes. My mother huffed at me then pointed at the suitcase,
“Could you get that please?” I frowned and concentrated: magic had never come easily to me. Other than the cloud-walking spell -which I had known since I was old enough to actually walk- all I could manage was basic telekinesis, and it got trickier the heavier the object. Finally, I got the suitcase in the air and took one last look around my depressingly bare room before walking out the door towards the balloon that waited to carry me towards Canterlot and my new life.
Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns read the sign above the gates.
‘Seriously?’ I thought to myself, ‘even the name of this place is pretentious.’
“I’m not sure about the ‘gifted’ part, to be honest.” I said to my parents, who were standing behind me. My mother looked uncomfortable, but my father just laughed.
“Nonsense son,” he said jokingly, “any unicorn I can put up with for so long has got to be gifted.”
“Besides,” my mother said nervously, “When they heard how long you’ve been able to do that cloud-walking spell they said they’d be happy to have you.”
I still wasn’t convinced, just how advanced were my classmates going to be?
“Well, let’s get you settled in so we can get back to Cloudsdale as soon as possible.”
“Now, you’re sure you’re going to be alright?” my mother asked.
“Of course he is!” boomed my father, “Let’s go!”
They said their goodbyes and left, my mother fare welling me tearfully.
“We’ll write every week!” she promised, and then departed.
I looked around my oppressively small room, which was barely big enough to fit a bed, a desk and some drawers.
“Well, I guess I should get used to this, since I’m gonna be here for a while.” I said to myself, and started unpacking my suitcase.
I was woken up by my blaring alarm at 7am the next morning. I turned it off groggily. For a second, I wasn’t sure where I was, and then it all came rushing back. I groaned, remembering that today was when I started my classes. I rubbed my eyes and started getting ready for my first class, which was History of Magic.
I entered the classroom with trepidation; History wasn’t a subject I’d had much experience with. I knew the basic history of Equestria of course, but I had skimmed the textbook last night, and it had been all about the history of unicorns and magic. I sat down next to a mint green filly who had her nose deep in a book called ‘Is Man a Myth?’
“Um, hi.” I said; she didn’t even twitch.
“Alright class, settle down,” said a stern-looking mare with a scroll cutie mark as she walked into the room. “Lyra, put that away. Vinyl, take those...things out of your ears. Now, let’s begin.”
“Today we will be looking at some of the early works of Starswirl the Bearded.”
The whole class groaned.
I got more and more lost as the class went on; I had never even heard of this pony. Clearly I was going to have do some reading on my own. I made sure to take notes on everything the teacher said though.
I was similarly lost in Magical Theory, as the teacher talked of concepts far beyond what I understood. I was glad when the bell rang for lunch, but nor for long. I got my food in the cafeteria, and then l looked around for somewhere to sit. I couldn’t find one anywhere; it seemed as if every pony was in their own clique, and none to eager to let another pony in. Eventually I just went to an empty table and ate by myself. After an excruciatingly long time eating on my own the bell rang for the start of the class I had been dreading the most: Practical Magic.
The class was chattering excitedly as we entered the Practical Magic classroom. Apparently the other unicorns saw this class as a break from the boredom of normal lessons and a chance to do something fun. A cheerful-looking stallion with three yellow stars on his flank greeted us.
“Don’t get too comfortable class.” He said, smiling “Today will be a practical class.”
I could almost hear the class cheering in their heads.
“I’m sure you’ve all heard of come-to-life spells, yes?” everyone in the class nodded, I sank slightly lower into my chair. “Good, because today we’ll be looking at the practical applications of that spell.
I stared forlornly at the tiny wooden pony I was supposed to be animating, trying to block out the laughter of the other ponies as they messed around with theirs.
“How are you going there?” asked the teacher, trotting over to see my completely inanimate figurine.
“Not great,” I replied, embarrassed, “I’ve never even heard of a come-to-life spell.”
“Where are you from?” asked the teacher, looking surprised.
“Cloudsdale.” I replied apologetically, as if it was my own fault.
“Oh, ok. So how much magic do you know?” he asked me.
“None” I mumbled quietly, totally embarrassed at my ineptness.
“Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that, what did you say?”
“None!” I replied angrily, “I don’t know any spells other than the cloud-walking spell I’ve had to know since I was a foal!” I looked away as I tried to stop tears from coming into my eyes. Everything that day had been so overwhelming, and I hated this new reminder of how little I fit in with my own kind.
The teacher looked at me sympathetically.
“I’m not gonna lie to you,” he told me quietly, “it’s gonna be hard work catching up to the class, but it can be done.” I stared at him, not believing that what he said was possible.
“The fact that you’ve been doing a relatively difficult spell like the cloud-walking one shows that you have great potential.”
“Don’t worry about it ok? I’ll tutor you privately, and we’ll have you up to speed in no time.”
“But for now, let’s see if we can’t bring this figurine to life.”
