The last day of preschool was more emotional than I had expected when the class said goodbye to our teacher. More than a few tears spilled between some of the foals and even Miss Torial herself. Still, the wonderful mare made sure the day would not be one of sadness as we spent the entire class outside and feasted upon the multitude of different pies she had brought.
Minuette was worried one of the flaky confections would have snails hidden within it on account of our teacher’s cutie mark, but she assured us with a laugh that simply wasn’t the case. She kept her snail pies at home for herself knowing how acquired of a taste they were. After that, even I was just a little hesitant, worried she may have mixed up one of the pies for a slimy surprise, but the fear was unfounded as we munched down on all sorts of fruit-filled delights.
I wasn’t even mad that Mom had us skip dessert and midnight cookies after school. Miss Torial is one amazing baker.
What followed was a week spent away from the classrooms and with my family and friends. Seeing as we all were effectively going to school over our vacation, we had to fit as much play time as we could into those seven days, visiting each other’s houses and enjoying the short break to its fullest.
Pauly visited more frequently outside of training too, and even hung with my friends on one occasion. That playdate was a bit awkward at first seeing as Moondancer practically froze up and Lyra wouldn’t stop glaring at the poor colt like she was trying make his head explode, but we eventually had some fun by playing a board game Bluey had borrowed from his friend.
The knowledge that I’d have the girls as well as my brother at my side while attending the magic kindergarten that I’d probably fail miserably at made me feel almost prepared for the hardships to come… Until I was actually standing outside of the building.
The parents had all met up this morning so that we foals could walk together to our new school, but even with the others chatting excitedly around me, I still feel intimidated. It’s much larger than the little school house I have grown used to, the front a sturdy, plain brick in lieu of a cheerfully painted exterior.
It makes me think more of a bunker than a schoolhouse, ready to withstand anything its student body could throw at it, and after I’ve seen some of the things Bluey could pull off in his infancy, I imagine that’s quite a lot. There’s a thought I hadn’t considered when I agreed to go through with this. I’m going to be in a room full of magical children as they try to unlock the secrets of the arcane.
Can I still reconsider? “Isn’t this exciting?” Moondancer whispers next to me. “Big sis says they have some really good books here to teach foals about magic. I can’t wait!”
Looking over to see the filly literally hopping up the path, as well as the smiling faces of the other foals has me sighing and smiling along with them. I’ll stick it out for as long as I can if it makes them happy. I mean, how long will it possibly take before the adults realize I’m a lost cause and remove me from class?
“Looks like it’s going to be a packed classroom this year,” one of the parents observes.
“What do you expect when there are so few kindergartens in the city? Must be nearly all of the unicorn foals in Canterlot here,” another responds, and I find myself agreeing with the statement.
When we reach the entrance we’re greeted by a much larger crowd of ponies than there ever was at the preschool, with noisy foals running between grownup legs and more than a few magic sparks being shot from excited horns. I can practically feel the magic in the air, and not in a pleasant way.
Mom must see me scratch at my horn because she leans down and whispers, “Are you okay, Pure? Is the magic bothering you?”
“No,” I answer, “It sorta feels like I have bugs crawling on my horn, but it doesn’t hurt. Just tickles.”
“Well, I’m sure once all the adults leave and the foals settle down for their lessons, it will be better,” Mom reassures, and I do my best to believe her.
“Where’s the teacher?” Stepping Star questions, hovering above the crowd and shielding her eyes from the morning sun. “Shouldn’t they be here to greet the parents?”
“S-sorry! Excuse me! Coming though!” Suddenly, a stallion wearing what I can only assume is a baseball catcher’s outfit comes running up the path behind us before tripping on a loose shin guard. “I’m okay! The gear works!”
The smile behind the wire frame of his mask vanishes as he looks up to all the eyes staring down at him. “Um… I’m terribly sorry I’m late, gentleponies. I hope none of you were waiting too long for me. This getup is almost as tough to move around in as it is to put on, Heheh…”
“Oh, I hope they’ll be alright,” Ornate fussed as the adults walked together. It was decided that their little group was going to enjoy a late breakfast before returning to the Blueblood estate to wait for the first day of school to get out.
“I’m sure they will be.” Blueblood soothed, bumping shoulders with his wife.
“But what about our little filly? her condition’s-”
“-Been explained in a letter, so her teacher is aware of it,” finished the stallion with a good-natured roll of the eyes. “You’re working yourself up over nothing, dear. I’m sure Mr. Scatter will have everything under control. You remember magic kindergarten when you were younger, right? Those teachers are tougher than army vets and twice as seasoned. That stallion will take good care of them.”
“Actually, I heard the usual teacher for the class retired early so she could move down to Manehatten and spend time with her family or some such, so this’ll be this new teacher's first year teaching,” Stepping Star states conversationally, not taking note of the sudden tensing of all the unicorns in the group.
“Grab hold of your wives, boys! They’re making a break for it!”
“Let go of me, Blueblood! I need to save my babies!”
If you asked me this morning what could distract a room full of eager foals from wanting to learn the ancient secrets of the mystic arts, I’d probably not have an answer for you, and if you asked me now, I’d be too distracted to answer as I watched a wiry, sky-blue unicorn flail as he tried to remove a bunch of sports equipment.
Yanking his face free from his headgear, the stallion wipes the sweat-soaked, white mane from his brow and places the mask on his desk alongside the rest of the outfit. “Phew, I need more practice getting in and out of that thing,” he mumbles before freezing under the stares of his students. “Well, uh, now that that’s out of the way, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you, I’m Light Scatter, or Mr. Scatter if you’d like… as you probably already know… from when I introduced myself to your guardians… Yeah…”
“Um, you’re the teacher?” a filly calls out, getting the stallion to brighten.
“Yes indeed, and I’m quite looking forward to the experience,” he answers, standing straighter.
“Well, when’er ya gonna teach us!” demands a surly colt with a hoof stomp. “My pa can shoot thunder out his horn, I wanna learn that!”
At the declaration, other foals erupt into similar claims and demands, stomping hooves and filling the air with multicolored sparks. I wince; the none-too-fun tickles across my horn more intense within the enclosed space while Mr. Scatter looks similarly uncomfortable. Though, the heavy swallow and slow reach for his pads speaks more of fear than uncomfortable tingling.
“Now, now, children, we’ll get to all of that eventually… probably, but all great magic must be built from a steady foundation, which of course means the basics-”
The stallions words only seems to confuse and frenzy the foals more, Lyra and Minuette included while Moondancer huddles closer and my brother frowns, throwing a quick glance in my direction. Just as I begin to fear the magical powder keg that is the student body is about to blow, I’m startled by a loud bellow of, “Shut up!”
And surprisingly, everypony listens, heads whipping in our direction to stare at my brother who huffs through flared nostrils. “Mr. Scatter, what’s first?”
“O-oh, well, um,” the stallion flounders for words before clearing his throat. “We’ll start with trying to reach our magic first, and going from there. Show of hooves, how many of you can’t use magic yet? Don’t be shy, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about, put them up. We’re here to learn, after all.”
Some semblance of control gained, hooves slowly began to rise under the teacher’s command, mine joining them along with Minuette and slightly less than half of the classroom. More than I expected honestly, being sure I’d be in a far more extreme minority, but Mr. Scatter seems to be pleased.
“Well, that’s better than I expected, and I’m sure you all will be able to proudly keep your hooves down when I ask again at the end of the day.” Smiling with new confidence, the teacher jolts slightly a moment later. “Oh, but before we move on to all that, I can’t believe I’ve forgotten. I’ve introduced myself, but we still need to hear your introductions!”
“…That was really, um, cool, the way you got the class to settle down,” I whisper from the side of my mouth, wishing to distract myself from my current failing attempts at magic. After us foals each introduced ourselves to the class, a process far less nerve-racking than the previous time I had to do it, the teacher went into a brief lecture and explanation of our first exercise.
I’m embarrassed to admit, but I had actually been a little hopeful starting out, the advice was different than what Bluey often gave and was coming from a teacher. Add the positive conclusion of my recent doctor’s visit, and I actually thought I would manage something.
But it was useless, so now, after nearly ten minutes of trying, I wait eagerly for my brother to respond with something to take my mind off it all. “They were being stupid,” he answers coolly, but failed to hide the proud smirk twitching at his lips. “You gotta have discipline if you want to learn, just like Grandpa says. He would have been really angry if he saw that.”
“Yeah, he would have had them all lined up doing a dozen pushups before running twenty laps around the classroom,” I respond, giggling at the mental image of Grandpa Shield giving foals a dressing down.
Blueblood stops smiling and opens one eye, peeking up at his faintly glowing horn before looking to my dark one. “How’s, uh, how’s it going? Any luck?”
Breathing a sigh, I shake my head. “Nope, nothing.”
He looks around the room to see only a few other dead horns and many more beaming faces. “It’s not hurting, is it? Being around so much magic?”
I take a moment to think about it and realize that, no it’s not that bad at all. I can feel it, sure, but even with more foals using magic, it’s not as itchy. It’s more like a gentle pressure, like running water. “No,” I finally answer. “I can feel it, but it’s not bothering me anymore.” Maybe it’s because it’s more controlled instead of the agitated bursts from before?
“I-I’m doing it!”
“Yes you are, very good, Moondancer!” I look over to see my best friend staring practically cross-eyed at the faint pink glow emanating from her forehead. “Pure! Look, I’m doing it!”
“I see that, good for you,” I say honestly, only to wince as her horn radiates more than her expression.
“Whoa now, take it easy, little one!” Mr. Scatter tells her with a chuckle. When the beige filly hunches sheepishly and stops her magic, he continues. “You have some real potential there, Moondancer. We’ll have to make sure you reach it.”
A glance down the line shows the rest of our friends glowing with both pride and magic and I look up to see the teacher eyeing Bluey and me. “Blueblood, you’ve managed a steady flow this entire time? Impressive.” He says before focusing on my inactive horn. “Do you need some help there, Pureblood?”
I look to the floor and give a shrug. “It… probably won’t help, I don’t think I can do it,” I admit, preferring Mr. Scatter not waste his time on me while there were other students who needed help.
“Don’t say that, I’m sure you can do it.”
“I really don’t think so. Um, I kind of have a… condition.” I go on, feeling my cheeks heat up.
Luckily, I’m saved from having to explain myself further as the stallion opens his mouth for a second, snaps it shut, and quickly trots to his desk, eyes wide. After searching through a folder until he settles upon a single page, Mr Scatter returns, expression contrite. “Yes, Pureblood, I should have recognized the name,” he says, though it seems to only partially be directed at me. “Tell you what, little one. Why don’t we keep trying for bit, hmm? Don’t worry about doing anything just yet, but let’s go over the exercise.”
The gentle smile earns a slight one from me and I nod. He explains once more the exercise, and asks if I'm doing it. Let’s walk through it together, shall we? Yes, my eyes are shut, and I'm focusing all of my attention on the base of my horn. Shut out everything else as best I can, don’t feel anything other than that spot. It’s kind of hard though when the rest of my horn is still tingling, but I’ll try to ignore it.
Use my imagination next. My horn is a faucet, and I’m turning the tap. Yes, that’s just a bit silly, isn’t it? Maybe a hole, as black as I can imagine in a field of white. What’s inside? Can I reach it? No. Maybe try jumping inside, and remember, stay focused on the base of my horn. Can I find anything? Any warmth, perhaps …?
“… No,” I answer with a sigh, opening my eyes and feeling regretful. I knew it would be a waste of the stallion’s time.
“Hey, don’t look like that. I’m still sure you can do it, we’ll just have to work a little harder,” Mr. Scatter soothes, patting my shoulder. Another student shouting in frustration, one of the few remainders sticking out like a dim bulb in a line of tree lights, gets the teacher's attention, and he says, “Listen, Pureblood, why don’t you keep trying for now, and later during lunch, we’ll talk, okay?”
“Okay,” I answer, more than glad to let him help the other students. Looking at the clock, I see that more time passed than I thought and lunch is only a short ways away. Nodding, Mr. Scatter is off and trying to calm the angry foal.
“Um, I’m sure you’ll get it real soon, Pure,” Moondancer whispers to me, prompting the rest of our little group to chime in with similar encouragement. It starts to work too, even with Minuette shaking me by the shoulders and proclaiming me a ninja wizard in the making, I can’t help but smile.
Maybe, just maybe, I can do it. After all, four fillies, two parents, one doctor, a teacher, and my own brother can’t all be wrong, right?”
“See, the building's still standing and there aren’t any royal guards in sight,” Blueblood said with a reassuring smile. “I told you it would be okay.”
“Maybe, but don’t think this means you’re forgiven,” Ornate shot back with a frown. “You tackled me to the ground.”
“And you gave me a bloody nose. Can’t we let bygones be bygones?” Her husband countered, laying his neck across her withers, not getting the pink mare to change her expression at all.
“… When we see the twins, maybe,” she answered, still not looking away from the entrance along with many other anxious parents. Word got around about the green teacher it seemed. “… And at least two boxes of chocolate.”
“Deal.” Just then, the doors opened to a colorful wave of rushing light, little foals already eager to show off their glowing horns to their guardians. Ornate watched anxiously, tapping a hoof and gnawing her lip as the seconds dragged on. She was just about to rush the building when she finally saw them, the foals of their group rushing out and greeting their parents, followed by three more and a blue stallion.
A flash of worry struck at the pink mare’s heart as she noticed her daughter sagging, propped up between her brother and Moondancer, but the tired smile on her lips kept her from leaping to her little filly’s aid. “Pure, are you alright? You look exhausted,” Ornate asked, kneeling down to meet her children.
“I am,” the filly answered, smile growing big as she mustered the energy to stand tall. “But I’m okay, Mr. Scatter helped me, and-”
“Pure lit her horn!” little Blueblood blurted out. “More than just a spark like at the house too. It was glowing for, like, five seconds!”
At the news, Ornate’s eyes widened. “Is that really true?”
As Pureblood nodded triumphantly, Mr. Scatter spoke up. “Yes, it may not seem like much, but I think it shows great promise for her future development. Though there are some things I wish to talk to you about.”
“And that is?” the older Blueblood asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“Well, you see, we didn’t have much luck at the beginning of our first exercise when the whole class was trying to reach their magic, but I hypothesize that it was because of the other students that she was having so much trouble. I believe with so many foals using magic around her that it exacerbated her condition and ruined her concentration.
“Now, if this is the case, I believe it’s important that Pureblood practices at home or at least when there are no other unicorns using magic nearby to see if that helps. And that’s what I’d like to ask you two.”
“You… want us to oversee our daughter's practice at home?” Ornate concluded, getting the blue unicorn to smile faintly and nod.
“Yes, if you could, and share with me the results. If it is the magic of others ruining her focus, then it will have to be something we tackle early on. But before she can learn to ignore the magic of others to utilize her own, she first has to be able to use her magic at all.”
After a few seconds, Blueblood smiled widely, looking down to his foals. “Well then, it looks like we’re going to have your sister joining us in the gardens for practice from now on, Son. I hope that’ll be okay.”
Bluey beamed up at his father and exclaimed, “That’s gonna be awesome! I can’t wait, right, sis…? Sis?”
“Um, I think she fell asleep,” Moondancer commented, struggling against the weight of her limp friend as she snored lightly against her side. “Um, can somepony help me? She’s, ah, k-kind of heavy.”