//------------------------------// // The First Day // Story: The Child of Sun and Moon // by Darkest Night //------------------------------// It was the end of a balmy, clear late summer night in Canterlot, very nearly sunrise. In about fifteen minutes, the sun would be raised by Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Starlight Glimmer would put the crescent moon to bed. It was that time before the coming dawn that was both sleepy and shivering with impending activity, with most of Canterlot’s citizens in their homes were getting their last bits of sleep, with only sleepy shopkeepers out of doors, on their way to their shops to prepare them for the day’s business. But not everypony awake in Canterlot was on the way to go start the day. The sleepy shopkeepers and worker pedestrians out on the streets of Canterlot were too caught up in their own musings to hear the sound of leathery wings overhead, their eyes too attuned to the magical streetlamps to see the dark figure whispering across the night sky. The figure was a rare one in Equestria had any of the ponies noticed its arrival, one of the reclusive and mysterious bat ponies—or thestrals, as they called themselves. The figure landed on a balcony of a small tower just across a grassy lawn from the fence of the Royal Palace, the tower itself on the grounds of Princess Celestia’s School for Unicorns, folding back its abnormally large, leathery wings as it pranced a bit before starting for a door leading inside. The figure was tall, long-legged, lean, with very large wings of bony spines with leathery membrane stretched between them, a clawed digit at the nexus atop them. The figure had a dual-toned coat, most of its coat a dark charcoal gray color with the back legs and rump black as the night, an irregular border just forward of its flanks with black spots that extended halfway up the figure’s sides and back. The figure had a short mane of charcoal gray hair, nearly black, which marked the figure as male. However, the figure’s tail was very long and thick, the end of it bound with a leather cord, which was a very girlish tail. But the shape of the figure’s muzzle and face made it clear that it was a male thestral, with ominous yellow eyes, large, tufted ears, and when he opened its mouth briefly to take a deep breath, he revealed fangs. On his flank, within the black part of his coat, a cutie mark of a white crescent moon pointing at an upwards angle towards a white concave four pointed star rested, the moon larger than the star, the star higher than the moon and close to his tail, which put the star on the right on his left flank and the left on his right flank. His name was Starjumper Astra, and he was here for a very, very important reason…to go to school. He certainly didn’t want to be here, but Princess Twilight had insisted, literally had to issue a Royal command for him to come to Canterlot and study magic in Princess Celestia’s School for Unicorns. Given Starjumper grew up in the earth pony town of Baltimare, where there weren’t enough unicorns to make running a school dedicated to magic feasible, it was very nearly an annoyance to graduate from school there, then be summoned to Canterlot to go to school for another year. He had resisted Princess Twilight’s edict mightily, had even appealed to Princess Starlight to have her intercede, but his attempts had failed. It had taken him nearly all summer to arrange this with Princess Twilight Sparkle, for if they were going to make him come here, then he had certain demands he expected to be met, and where he would live while attending school was one of them. He was not staying in a dorm with other ponies. He demanded a private apartment, and he threatened to defy the Princess if she did not accede to his wishes. But lucky for him, Princess Twilight had agreed, and arranged to have him stay in an apartment. It was her old apartment on the school grounds, and he would be using it while he was here. It had sat empty for nearly twenty five years, and for some reason she had never sold the apartment nor rented it out. It had sat here, empty and forgotten, since Princess Twilight graduated from this very same school. But for him, it was nearly perfect. It was literally on the school grounds, it had a balcony off the main living chamber that would allow him to come and go easily—he doubted he would ever use the front door—and it had the one thing he demanded in any dwelling he occupied, and that was privacy. Starjumper wasn’t ashamed of what he was, but most ponies would not understand it, or him, and it would lead to wild rumors or even fear. Starjumper wasn’t a typical thestral. For that matter, Starjumper wasn’t a typical anything. He was unique, he was the only one of his kind, and it was his unique nature that he was here to address, to study the subjects that would allow him to live a somewhat normal life. While he was unique, in thestral history and folklore, there was a title for him, a name, applied to ponies like him who had mixed thestral blood. He was Cursed. It was a simple condition to understand in some ways, but it was very difficult to understand in others. Simply put, Starjumper was both a unicorn and a thestral. His father was a unicorn, his mother was a thestral, and he had inherited both of their aspects. But due to some mysterious, unknown happenstance or condition…or curse…he could not be both at the same time. Almost like the were-ponies in old folklore, Starjumper was a thestral only so long as the moon was up, and he was a thestral in all ways, including having their magic. But when the moon was lowered and the sun was raised, Starjumper transformed into a unicorn, and he was a unicorn in all ways, including being able to use unicorn magic…at least in all ways but one. Starjumper retained a little bit of thestral magic when he was a unicorn. And when the sun was lowered and the moon raised, the cycle began again. The exception was that no matter whether he was a thestral or a unicorn, he retained his fangs and vertically slitted yellow bat pony eyes. They were the only visible thestral aspects of him that carried through to his unicorn form, and told him that at his core, he was more thestral than he was unicorn. He wasn’t here because of his condition, though Princess Twilight expressed a great interest in it and wanted to study it and him…something else he was actively resisting. He was here because he had fairly strong magic as a unicorn that had never been “properly trained,” which was something else that Starjumper resisted vocally. His father Comet Tail had taught Starjumper quite a bit about magic, and most importantly, had taught him how to study magic on his own. As a result, Starjumper was actually a highly accomplished magician, capable of casting quite a few magic spells. Though they lived in an earth pony town that had no organized magical study, the Astra family as a whole were all quite skilled unicorn magicians, all self-taught using their private magical library. So, Starjumper took more than a little offense to the idea that he was untaught. Sure, he wasn’t taught by professional instructors in some big fancy school, but he was taught by a unicorn that really understood magic, and taught the three of his four foals all about it that could learn. Two of Comet Tail’s foals with his thestral wife Nightsong, his older brother Silver Moon and his youngest sister Dancer, were unicorns. The fourth, his younger sister Songbird, was a thestral. Starjumper was the only Lykan in the family...the only Lykan alive in the entire world. So, Starjumper didn’t see his year here as having much potential to be a good one. He resented being here, he resented why he was here, he resented—that was a bit strong, actually he was mildly annoyed with who made him come here, and his condition caused him to be very introverted and secretive, since most ponies that found out about his condition never failed to go completely bonkers and jump to all sorts of wild conclusions about him, at least those who didn’t know of or believe in the old stories about were-ponies. Starjumper kept his condition a secret, and the need to be back home by sunset and sunrise every day was literally the focal point around which his life revolved. He also had to keep up with two different lives, in a way, for those who saw him as a unicorn couldn’t see him as a thestral, and vice versa, so he had to remember who had seen him as what and make sure that he never crossed paths with that pony when he was the other way. While some parts of him changed significantly when he changed from thestral to unicorn and back again, his face and coat colors remained the same, and his quite unusual dual-toned coat made him easily identifiable even if he did or didn’t have a horn, or wings, or his cutie mark changed from his thestral moon to his unicorn star. Starjumper had two different cutie marks. The crescent moon and small concave four-pointed star was his thestral cutie mark, but when he was a unicorn, the crescent moon changed into a larger version of the star, which didn’t change. And that was something else that Princess Twilight Sparkle wanted to study, she said that Starjumper was the first pony she’d ever seen who had his cutie mark change between two distinct and separate cutie marks with regularity. The answer was very simple, which was why he thought her desire to study him was a bit silly and pointless. As a unicorn, Starjumper’s special talent was based on his unicorn magic. When he changed into a thestral, he couldn’t do unicorn magic, so his cutie mark changed to reflect his special talent as a thestral. He honestly didn’t know what his thestral cutie mark represented, since his cutie mark first appeared when he was a unicorn and had changed with him that night. He was a great flyer as a thestral, because of his almost abnormally large wings and body that complemented them, so he suspected that his thestral cutie mark had something to do with his flying skills. But that was just a theory. He entered the unlocked balcony door of the apartment and stepped into the lower chamber, which was semicircular with the balcony taking up the other half of the “circle.” He noticed that the large chamber was clean and that the furniture was new, indicating that Princess Twilight had prepared the apartment for his residence. He immediately went upstairs to the bedroom, where Princess Twilight said she would leave the key, which was smaller than the room downstairs, but was still rather large and airy and spacious, semicircular as well. It was nearly empty save for a row of bookshelves on the left, a bed sitting between a pair of nightstands on the right, and a writing desk under the windows looking out over the Royal Palace. The key to the front door was sitting on the writing desk, which was sitting under the large windows that gave the bedroom a commanding view of the Royal Palace. Also sitting on the desk was a note and a little box that looked like a mailbox not mounted on a pole. Starjumper advanced up to the desk and read the note in the faint light of the moon, his thestral eyes easily able to make it out: Dear Starjumper: As agreed, here is the key to the apartment. The mailbox sitting on the desk is magical, and will be how we correspond. Put something in the mailbox and raise the flag, and its contents will be magically sent to its sister mailbox here in the palace. When I send you letters, the flag on the mailbox will raise to alert you. As you requested, I’ve kept who you are and what you are a secret, and my involvement with you will also be a secret. Most of our correspondence will be through letters. Whenever you and I directly interact, it will be in private. To the school and most in Canterlot aware of you, you are a unicorn from Baltimare who has transferred to the school to study advanced magic applications, the kind of education you can’t receive in Baltimare. I expect a report at least once a week telling me what you’re studying and what progess you’ve made, I want to be sure that you have no problems assimilating yourself into the classes. If you run into any problems, don’t hesitate to write to me. . Good luck. Princess Twilight Sparkle She really was a nice pony, even if she was almost obnoxiously pushy and a little nosy. She’d been raising the sun and ruling Equestria jointly with Princess Starlight Glimmer for about a year now. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had decided to take a sabbatical after thousands of years of responsibility for the sun and the moon, and Starjumper could understand their decision. Princess Twilight and Princess Starlight were more than capable of looking after things, so the Royal Sisters were taking a well deserved vacation. They still showed up in Canterlot from time to time, he’d read in the newspaper, showing up for ceremonies like the Summer Sun Celebration and whatnot, so it wasn’t like they’d completely vanished off the face of Equestria. Starjumper figured they were just enjoying a couple of years with no responsibilities, worries, or cares, time to rest and pursue hobbies and interests that were hard to do with Royal duties, and after carrying the burden of the sun and the moon so long, they certainly deserved it. Assured that the key was here, he went back downstairs to look around and unpack. The downstairs was dominated by bookshelves, but it also held the apartment’s kitchen and storage closet. There was a couch and chair down there not far from the balcony door, a large comfy chair in front of a small fireplace, a dining table, and several stands and end tables, and there were also two different study desks on opposite sides of the semicircular room. There were several floor to ceiling windows between the bookshelves along the curved wall to provide light for the room during the daytime, and just like upstairs, there were panoramic, huge windows that looked out over the Royal Palace. It was spartan, but it was spacious. And it would do just fine. He unpacked what few possessions he brought with him, loaded into the two saddlebags buckled in front of his wings, then put the saddlebags on a peg by the front door. He’d only brought a few necessities with him, in addition to every single bit he owned, which he’d converted to gems and put in a small pouch. The school would give him a free lunch in the cafeteria on school days, but he had to buy the rest of his food and his own study supplies, and that irked him more than a little bit. They were making him come to the school, yet they were also making him pay his own bits to do so. There was barely enough gems and bits in the bag to support him for three months if he did virtually anything outside of school, but he already had a plan for dealing with that. He had a list of spells he intended to study on his own time in the school’s library, where he would get access to them for free, and one of them was a spell that located gems. He would learn that spell on his own, and then use it to supplement his income…which was zero. Despite his displeasure with coming here, it did present to him a unique opportunity, and he was going to take advantage of it. Everything he would do from now until he left Canterlot was all about learning the magic he needed to know to be able to live by himself in relative comfort and security without a permanent home in any city or town, because he doubted he’d be able to settle in one place, or at the very least, settle in a town or city. Ponies would find out about his condition, the rumors would fly, they would get more and more scared of him as the rumors inflated and escalated, and eventually he’d be forced to leave. As far as the thestrals were concerned, showing up at the borders of their kingdom, the Nightlands, would be a death sentence, so part of his overall plan included making sure they couldn't easily find him. So, he was making plans that took into account the fact that he’d never have a permanent home in any pony town, close to shops or an easy means of restocking his food stores. He did have plans to settle in a home, but it would be someplace isolated, remote, and hidden. He’d find a cave high on a lonely cliff and settle there, turn it into a proper home using unicorn magic…which was why he was going to study magic that changed the shape of rock and stone, which would allow him to sculpt the cave into something nice. He had a plan. He got everything organized and managed to pen about half of a letter to his family back in Baltimare that he arrived before the sun rose. He was at the upstairs writing desk when Princess Twilight raised the sun, and when its light swept over the city of Canterlot and touched the tower in which he resided, he felt it deep in his bones. He quickly stepped back from the writing table, as the light of the sun almost seemed to surge into him and through him, burning, burning, burning away the night and the magic of the thestrals within him and replacing it with the light of the sun and the magic of the unicorns. He felt the horn quickly erupt from the flesh over and between his eyes and grow with magical speed from his forehead, sending a line of blood down his muzzle before the flesh closed around the fully grown horn and sealed itself. He felt the tufts on his ears singe away, was blinded by the sunlight for a brief second as his eyes retracted to vertical slits, and then there was the wings. His wings stopped moving, shuddered, and then seemed to burn in the light of the sun. He gritted his teeth and gave a dull hiss of pain as smoke wafted from the leathery membranes and spines as they blackened, charred, and then they turned to ash and fell to the floor to each side of him. The charred wounds on his shoulders oozed with dark blood for a moment, then healed over with magical speed. And on his flank, the crescent moon of his cutie mark became fluid and shifted, changed, and when it stopped moving, it had changed from the crescent moon to a larger four-pointed star, identical in shape to the star by his tail but much larger. Despite the melodrama of it, the transformation didn’t really hurt as much as it looked. Yes, it hurt, yes, there was some blood involved, but he’d endured that pain for his entire life, and he was…used to it now. The worst of it was when his wings burned away in the light of the sun, but he didn’t really feel any pain when his horn turned to dust when the moon was raised. The horn hurt far more growing out of his skull than it did burning away. But he did feel his wings grow out when the moonlight touched him, and that was a bit unpleasant. It was painful, but compared to them burning away, them growing in was by comparison merely not very pleasant sensation. But it did look a tad gruesome. He stood there a moment and collected himself, felt the last of the pain ebb away, then raised his head with a calm, almost indifferent expression. Without so much as a glance down, his horn flared with golden energy as he channeled magic from within, magic brought to him by the rising of the sun, collected up the ash on the floor around him. He gathered it into a ball contained in his levitating magic, then he walked it downstairs and to his backpack. He opened it and dropped the ash in, reminding himself that the first thing he needed to buy was a brass ash bin, then used a cloth from his bag to clean off his forehead and sides. He’d find a suitable place to dispose of the ash when he went out to get what he needed for his stay here. Instead of walking back up to the writing desk, Starjumper instead opted to do it the other way…the reason why he was being forced to attend this school. In a circular burst of golden magic, Starjumper disappeared from the room downstairs and reappeared sitting in front of the writing desk, teleporting back. Teleportation was his special talent, and not to brag or anything, but he was good at it. He’d earned his cutie mark the very first time he’d teleported, and he reasoned that the two stars represented him teleporting from one place to another. He’d been able to teleport since he was a foal, so he had lots of practice with the magic. But, his ability to teleport didn’t mark him as some powerful pony wizard like one of the Princesses. It was his special talent, so it was much easier for him to do than it was for most other ponies. His father and sister were more powerful in magic than he was, but he could also admit that he was considerably stronger in magic than the average unicorn. Unlike many unicorns, he was capable of learning magic outside of basic spells and his special talent—probably because his special talent did require significant magical power to use, even for him—with enough potential to use most any of the intermediate magical spells, but not the most advanced. But, where he was different from his father and sister was that he learned magic much faster than they did. They had more raw strength than he did, but he learned magic faster than them. He was smart enough to learn most any spell, but he knew that he may not have the magical strength to cast the spells he learned. But, he was confident that he had the magical strength to learn the spells on his list, because of the spells he’d already learned. His father had managed to get his hooves on two very important spells two years ago and had taught them to Starjumper, a spell that created a magical force field and a spell that attacked a target with a blast of pure magical power. A spell of defense and a spell of attack, to protect himself if he were ever attacked...and for a pony like him, that was a distinct possibility. It had taken him eight moons to learn those two spells, two very advanced spells, and it was those spells that opened his eyes, had showed him that he’d need to know more magic than that to make it by himself in a world that may not accept him for what he was. It showed him that he had the capability to learn and use high order magic. He figured that if he could cast those spells, he could cast any spell he needed to know once he was out on his own. And then Princess Twilight shows up in Baltimare and commands him to attend school in Canterlot, which both upset and also represented an opportunity to further his own plans. Spells were very, very expensive when one bought copies of them, so getting access to study spells for free out of the school library was a critical part of his plan. He would endure going back to school after having already graduated for access to the school’s library and the spells it contained. He always thought it was a bit strange, maybe even a bit ironic, that a unicorn that was only a unicorn during the light of day would be able to use a magic spell that most unicorns dreamed of being able to cast. Teleportation was widely regarded as a spell that only the most learned and most powerful unicorns could use, and the kicker was, Starjumper had never learned it from a book. He had spent years learning how to use it, learning its limitations and its potential, but he’d never formally sat down and studied the spell. For him, it was very nearly a natural ability, because it was his special talent. To him, it wasn't all that special or amazing. It was just...just a part of who and what he was. He could teleport as easily as other unicorns could levitate a teacup. Despite how natural it was for him, though, it was also one of his most closely guarded secrets. The only ponies that knew he could teleport were his family and Princess Twilight Sparkle…and how she found out was still a mystery to him. It was this ability, teleportation, that had caused her to demand that he attend school in Canterlot, to see if he could develop what she saw as significant magical potential. After all, if he could teleport, then he clearly was capable of other higher applications of magic. The reason he kept it a secret was very simple. When a pony like him had a secret as big as his condition, that pony did nothing that drew any additional attention to himself. If other ponies knew he could teleport, it would make them notice him, make them pay attention to him, and that would make it difficult to separate himself when sunset neared and he had to retreat back home so he could change in private. Starjumper never brought attention to himself in any way because of his secret, had never really made friends because of the risk that they might find out about his condition, and that was the way it was going to stay. Besides, when a pony had enemies like the thestrals, that pony didn't reveal his biggest trump card if they ever attacked him. If they knew what he could do, they'd have a plan to counter it. Now able to use his unicorn magic, he finished the letter by writing holding the quill using his magic rather than between his teeth, then put it in an envelope and addressed it. He wrote another quick note to the Princess informing her he had arrived and taken up residence in the apartment and would be present for the first day of school, then put it in the mailbox device and raised the flag. It flared with magical light, and when he opened the door of the device, he saw that his note was indeed gone. Quite a clever little device. The flag raised as he packed his writing supplies for his first day of school—again—and he removed a note that was inside. It was from the Princess, telling him that she received his note, reminding him that he had access to the school library when not in class…and including a suggested reading list of books that might help him get up to speed with the rest of the class. Seriously, how did she write the names of so many books in just a few minutes? Well, she was a Princess. Maybe one of her Royal skills was being a very, very fast writer. He put on his saddlebags, made sure he had his key and bit purse inside it, then headed out. There were a few things he needed to do before he reported to school in two hours. He first explored the campus of Princess Celestia’s School for Unicorns, the most prestigious magical school in Equestria, which was nearly deserted, with just a few unicorns moving about the campus. School didn’t start until nine o’clock today, but it would start at seven o’clock the rest of the time. The late starting time on the first day of school was something of a school tradition, he’d come to learn. He found the library where he’d be studying when not in class, right where the directions said it would be, but he kept walking past it and headed out into the city of Canterlot. He explored the streets around the school and Royal Palace as quickly as he could in the time he had, marking the locations of the shops he’d be patronizing, but also locating isolated little spots to which he could teleport without being seen. It was an old habit of his, finding little nooks and crannies that were ideal landing spots close to the places he wanted to visit. He knew every back alley and hidden nook in Baltimare because of that practice, knew the city better than some of the old stallions and mares that had lived there their whole lives. Since he’d be in Canterlot for a year, he explored every street, every alley, every isolated spot and remote garden open to public traffic, and found quite a few landing spots that would let him teleport to most any part of town without being seen doing it. Teleportation was both very simple and very complex at the same time, but no matter how it was used, it required that the user be fully aware of his or her surroundings. Him learning the limits of his special talent had ingrained into him habits few other ponies possessed, the main one being that Starjumper noticed everything around him. Most ponies that trotted by the sidewalk café he’d just passed would see the tables, maybe notice how many ponies were sitting at them. They wouldn’t remember the color of the umbrellas, the number of glasses on the tables, the color of the hat that the mare sitting at the second table on the left was wearing. Teleportation requited an intimate knowledge of an area to reduce the amount of power it took to use it, so Starjumper had trained himself to observe everything around him at all times, to absorb all the little details that most other ponies missed or dismissed, which would give him enough of a familiarity with a place to teleport back to it with minimal effort. There were three rules when it came to teleportation: location, position, and motion. Starjumper could control all three of those elements of a teleport, changing his location, changing his position, and to a very small degree, change his motion…unless he exploited some of the more obscure rules of teleportation. He could disappear from the street while trotting and reappear in his apartment sitting down and not moving, changing all three elements he could control. Changing any element caused the spell to require more energy to use, and the bigger the change, the more energy it took to make it happen. Starjumper had already worked out his maximum range while teleporting…and it would surprise quite a few ponies to know that he had the capability to teleport to both Ponyville and Cloudsdale from Canterlot. He could teleport halfway back to Baltimare from Canterlot, for that matter, but that would make him all but pass out when he reappeared. He had a range of exactly 43 miles, 1,204 feet, 4 inches. Given that Ponyville was 31 miles away, it was within his range. It would exhaust him to teleport there in one jump, but he could do it if necessary. He had learned over the years that teleportation had quite a few little quirks and tricks, such as he had to teleport a certain way in order to teleport from a stopped position into a moving train without hurting himself, for example. There was a trick he called anchoring that allowed him to inherit the motion of his landing point so long as he anchored himself to it as he teleported, which would allow him to teleport from one place to another and change his motion and momentum. But if he messed it up, then he’d have the same momentum he had when he disappeared, and that could be potentially fatal if, say, he tried to teleport into the passenger car of a moving train. He’d be stationary and the train would be in motion, so he’d slam into the inside wall of the car with the same force as if he’d walked in front of the train and got hit by the engine. That was what made teleportation potentially dangerous, and he’d learned all those rules without any help. He’d worked them all out on his own, without any books or tutors, and he often paid for those lessons in singed-off manes, bloody noses, and even serious burns and broken bones. But he’d managed to survive the learning process, and now he knew everything there was to know about teleportation. After all, it was his special talent, the very reason he had his cutie mark. When the alarm bell for his small magical clock in his pack went off, Starjumper turned back for the school. He didn’t want to be late on his first day…not because he cared about the classes, but because he cared about getting and keeping his access to the school’s library. It was the first day of the last year of school…and all she had to do was make it to the end. Without too much enthusiasm, Summer Dawn walked slowly down the main street of Canterlot, almost reluctant to travel down the long avenue that connected her house to Princess Celestia’s School for Unicorns, the most prestigious magic school in all of Equestria. School…well, school was certainly something she was greatly looking forward to not having to do anymore. She’d done worse and worse over the last few years, to the point where she barely passed last year. And now she just had to scrape through one more year, somehow manage to eke out one more year’s worth of barely passing grades while enduring the disappointed and annoyed stares of her teachers and the pitying yet slightly maliciously satisfied looks from the other unicorns in her class. They would never admit to her face, but they secretly enjoyed the fact that Summer Dawn was the weak link in the chain. The mare from the richest family in Canterlot that had everything money could buy couldn’t buy herself a passing grade, couldn’t get her important father Fancy Pants or her famous mother Fleur de Lis to talk the headmistress into raising her grades. Summer Dawn struggled mightily in school, and many of the unicorns in school saw it as some kind of strange karmic justice that Little Miss Has Everything Given To Her couldn’t earn something for herself. That stung. That stung a lot. Summer Dawn didn’t expect to be given everything. She loved magic and she worked hard, she just…she just didn’t understand. The books, they were like gibberish to her. She didn’t understand anything in them, and then, when she tried to get her instructors to explain the material, they just quoted from the books that she didn’t understand, or accused her of not reading the material and getting them to do her work for her. She had done very well when she was younger, when the lessons were more about doing than reading, but as the years went by and the schoolwork was more and more centered in the books she couldn’t understand, her grades got worse and worse and worse. So, the last couple of years in school had been anything but fun. But, at least her best friend was in her class, Crystal Bell, so that made things a little bit easier. Crystal Bell was like her, the daughter of society ponies, and they’d been best friends since they were little fillies. They attended all the society events together. She trotted up beside her as she walked down the main avenue, a grand street known as the Promenade, which ran straight through Canterlot from one end to the other. Summer Dawn’s house was near the south end of the Promenade, Crystal Bell’s house was just two blocks away on the Promenade, and the Royal Palace was on the Promenade nearly in the exact center of town. It also ran right by the school, which was right beside the Royal grounds, so getting to school for Summer Dawn and Crystal Bell was as easy as coming out of the gates of their manors, turning right, and walking in a straight line until they arrived. “Hey Summer,” Crystal Bell called. Crystal Bell was a petite young mare with a soft beige coat and a mane of golden brown cut in a short pixie style, a mane that had a very thick streak of white through the right side of it. She had a similar white stripe in her tail. She was carrying her school saddlebags, which nearly hid the two small bells that were her cutie mark. She was a marked contrast to Summer Dawn, who had inherited the white coat and pink mane of her mother, Fleur de Lis, and also inherited her mother’s model-like long, slender body, narrow, fox-like muzzle, and gracefully long legs. The cutie mark on her flank was a yellow semicircle with pink rays extending from it, the depiction of a sunrise, a sunrise for which Summer Dawn was named. She had been born on the morning of the Summer Sun Celebration, at the very moment that Princess Celestia had raised the sun, so her parents had named her Summer Dawn to commemorate that coincidence. “Morning, Crystal,” she replied. “You ready for our last year?” “I’m ready to get it overwith,” she laughed in reply. “Are you going to the party tonight?” “I’m not sure yet,” she said, referring to a traditional party that took place in school after classes on the first day, to “celebrate” the beginning of the school year and catch up with the ponies that didn’t live in Canterlot and had returned for the new school year. Those ponies lived in the dorms on campus. “It’s going to depend on how depressed I am by the time school’s over.” “It’s not going to be as bad as last year,” she said supportively, patting her on the shoulder with a hoof. “Our finals are half written, half practical, and you always do well on the practical exams. You just need to pull enough grade on your writtens to let your practicals carry you.” “I hope so,” she sighed. “But I didn’t do too well on my practicals last year.” “That’s because Professor Starshine had it out for you,” Crystal Bell declared. “Everypony in class saw how mean she was to you, like all the time.” “I’m totally glad we don’t have her this year,” Summer Dawn sighed in relief. “Did you hear? We’re getting a new student in class! Some transfer student from Baltimare!” she said eagerly. “I’ve never heard of a student transfering in for their senior year,” Summer Dawn mused. “I didn’t even know there was a magic school there. I thought Baltimare was an earth pony town.” “I guess there has to be if he’s transferring,” Crystal Bell shrugged as they walked. “I hope he’s cute.” “You are so hopeless,” Summer Dawn accused, which made her laugh. They arrived on campus just moments before the starting bell, but since they’d been going to the school since they were little fillies, they knew exactly where they were going and exactly how long it would take them to get there. Because of that, they reached their classroom and got inside just seconds before the second bell, where all the ponies in her class were already sitting with their quills and notebooks out and ready. And there was the new pony. He was sitting in the very back of the class, in the corner by the window, and he looked…irritated. He was much bigger than Summer Dawn would have expected, obvious even with him sitting at the desk. “So nice of you to join us, you two,” Professor Frostmane said curtly as they hurried towards the back of the class, where the only empty desks were left, and took seats in the back row but on the other side from the new pony. He looked…like he didn’t want anypony sitting beside him. Frostmane looked the same as she did last year, a tall, almost skinny pony with long legs and a handsome yet severe face. Her namesake, her thick, long mane of frosty white hair, was brushed back away from her eyes and ears, the end of it nearly dragging the ground. It complemented her ice blue coat very well, and her pale blue coat made her cutie mark, a single shimmering white hexagonal snowflake, stand out. “Nine o’clock means nine o’clock, ma’am,” Summer Dawn dared to inject, which caused a few muffled giggles in the front of the class. Frostmane sent a chilly look towards the back of the classroom. “Well then, welcome to the senior year, mares and gentlecolts,” she said, turning and using her magic to pick up a piece of chalk. She wrote her name on the blackboard in flourishing, handsome loops. “I am Professor Frostmane, your advanced magical applications instructor. Our objective in this final year of your education is to learn the most advanced spellcasting techniques you will apply to intermediate and advanced magical spells, learn six spells that will apply those lessons, and also to prepare you for your final exams. Those exams come in two parts, a written test that will challenge everything you have learned in this school from your first year, and a practical spellcasting exam where you demonstrate the magical skills you have learned. “The reading list for this year consists of fifteen different books,” she continued, which caused a few groans of protest, and made Summer Dawn nearly pale. Fifteen books? That was too many, she’d never finish it with how slowly she read! “Which will form the foundation of the techniques you will learn to apply to more advanced magic. To give you time to work through your reading list, your senior year will be divided between classroom lecture, magic lab, and independent study time in the library. We’ll be in the classroom in the mornings for lecture and magic lab, and after lunch, you will go to the library to study the reference material. I’ll be available in my office after library period for any questions you mght have. Fridays, however, will be a full day in the classroom for lecture, lab, and end of week quizzes and tests. Since you know when you will be taking your quizzes and tests, I expect you to be prepared for them,” she declared firmly. Her horn limning over in a silvery nimbus, the color of her magic, she distributed pieces of parchment to each student, no doubt the reading list. But it was a lot of writing for it to just be a list of books. She struggled to read the first paragraph, to the point where she zoned out a little bit, trying to make out the words on the parchment, until a loud noise nearly startled her out of her desk. “Miss Summer Dawn, pay attention!” Frostmane barked, which caused some faint snickering. She abandoned trying to read it after that, listening as Frostmane went over a more detailed schedule for that next few months, what they would be studying and the spell they’d be learning in the first part of the year…a rather advanced spell that froze water. It was much more advanced because a spell like that interacted with physics, and also because it was a spell that would take away instead of give. The magic would drain the heat out of the water and make it freeze, where most magic spells invested magical energy into an object to enact a magical change or effect. Part of what they would learn in advanced spellcasting techniques was how to work around physical laws using magic, to learn how to take away the heat from the water and make it freeze, and what to do with that heat once they drained it out of the water. “Professor,” the new stallion called, his voice deep and rich. “Yes, Mister Starjumper?” “I already know that spell,” he answered evenly. “Can I work on another one instead?” “You already know how to freeze water?” she asked. He nodded. “Yes ma’am. It’s a spell my father taught me, we use it in our shop to make ice to sell in the summer,” he answered. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Mister Starjumper, it would detract from the work of the rest of the class. Once you demonstrate sufficient mastery in the spell, I’ll permit you to self-study in the classroom while we’re working on the spell. You will, however, still be required to take the written quizzes and exams dealing with that spell, so I suggest you do study the bookwork. I rather doubt how you learned the spell is exactly the same as we teach it.” “Alright, ma’am,” he answered. “Report to my office after you eat lunch so you can demonstrate your knowledge of the spell.” “Yes ma’am.” Frostmane returned to discussing their schedule for the year, but Summer Dawn was distracted by a small note that Crystal Bell set on her desk with magic, taking advantage of Frostmane turning to write on the board. It took Summer Dawn a few minutes to decipher the note, and nearly giggled. New stallion is already getting under Nova’s skin, it read. Nova was the class prodigy, the pony with the highest grades and the most talent in magic, and he made sure everypony else in class knew just how smart and talented he was at any available opportunity. Crystal Bell was right that the new stallion’s casual declaration that he already knew a spell that Nova didn’t know would eat at his hooves a little bit, and that would surely bring Nova’s snide, derisive attention down on the new pony. After a couple of hours of going over their plans for the year, Frostmane dismissed class at the lunch bell. “No afternoon period today, you’re free to go,” she called as they all started gathering their writing supplies. “Mister Starjumper, come to my office after you eat lunch so I can assess your mastery of the spell.” “Yes ma’am,” he answered. He gathered up his quill, ink, and book and put them in his saddlebags, and when he stood up and started towards her, she stopped dead and stared at him. His eyes…they weren’t normal! His pupils were vertical slits, like a cat’s! she gawked as he passed by, him not even sparing her a glance. Summer Dawn and Crystal Bell followed him out, and they walked down the hall with several other classes, all heading for the exit. The cafeteria was in another building, and those like Summer Dawn who lived in Canterlot year round didn’t get to eat in the cafeteria for free, and if she was going to pay for food, it was darn well going to be better food than that. So most Canterlot residents went to one of the many diners and restaurants that were near the school, that catered to the students. Once outside and a good distance away from the new stallion, the gossipping almost immediately began. “Did you see his eyes?” Golden Heart breathed as she came up with them. Golden Heart, along with Berry Cream, were the core group of her friends in her class and in school. They were the fillies of society ponies, just like Summer Dawn. “I’ve never seen anything like that before!” “He must have had some sort of awful magical accident, and they sent him here before he turned himself into a radish,” Berry Cream speculated. “He’s half bat pony,” sober, serious Strider said from behind them. “Whoa, seriously?” Crystal Bell gasped. “I heard the professors talking this morning,” the short, slender young stallion said. “One of them said he’s half bat pony.” “Wow. I’ve never really seen a bat pony, at least close up. I mean, I’ve seen them pull Princess Luna’s carriage, but that’s from far away,” Crystal Bell said. “I wonder why I’ve never seen them in Canterlot, you know, just shopping in a store or having dinner in a restaurant. Don’t they get time off?” “Maybe they can’t come out in the daylight,” Berry Cream said. “Those are old mare’s tales, Berry,” Strider snorted. “Alright then, Mister I Know Everything, why don’t they ever seem to come out of the palace?” Berry Cream retorted. “No idea, but it’s not because they’ll burst into flame if they get out in the sun. That’s just an old myth,” he said, a bit scathingly. “Or hey, maybe it’s something really silly and outrageous like they’re out in the city shopping or having lunch in a diner right now, and we never see them because we’re in school,” Summer Dawn said lightly. “And when we get out, they’re already back in the palace sleeping so they can stay up all night to do their duty.” “Well, that does make sense,” Berry Cream admitted. They went to one of the several diners on Book Street, which bordered the school, to have lunch, and then Summer Dawn walked home with Crystal Bell. They discussed the upcoming year and Frostmane’s description of what they’d be doing, which gave Summer Dawn a little hope. All she had to do was outperform in the practical magic labs and the practical spellcasting section of her final exam, and maybe, maybe, that would be enough to allow her to just barely squeak by with a passing grade. But she still wasn’t too enthusiastic. That fifteen book reading list was going to haunt her dreams tonight. It took him longer than he expected to find Professor Frostmane’s office. The campus of the school had six buildings, and all the staff offices and administrative offices were in the largest building, a large circular multistory building with a dome in the front and a tower rising from the back half of it, where the youngest unicorns had their classes. The building was the oldest on the campus as well, a near warren maze of twisting, curling passages and stairways. Frostmane looked a trifle piqued when Starjumper entered after knocking. “You’re late, Mister Starjumper,” she admonished. “The building is more confusing than I expected,” he replied in defense as he closed the door behind him with his magic. “I’ll give you that much,” she agreed, then she set down the scroll she was reading, the silvery nimbus of magic around it fading and then flaring back to life around a pitcher of water. “Very well then, Mister Starjumper. Let’s see your skill with the freezing spell.” Starjumper’s horn flared with a nimbus of golden energy, the color of his magic, and the entire pitcher of water froze solid almost instantly. He had even taken care to make sure the freezing water didn’t expand and shatter the glass pitcher by freezing it from the outside in and from the bottom to the top, allowing the expanding ice to push the remaining water upwards as it froze, which created a slight dome of ice on top of the surface.. Frostmane raised a brow. “Well done, Mister Starjumper,” she said. “That was quite efficient.” “With all due respect, ma’am, I’ve been using that spell since I was a foal,” he told her mildly. “Like I said, my father taught it to me so I could help make ice during the summer, for our shop.” “How much water can you freeze in a single casting?” “An area of about six feet square to a depth of two feet,” he answered. “We have a tank we use to make the ice, and that’s its dimensions. We’d freeze the water, then cut the ice into blocks and sell them. I don’t know if I could freeze more than that in a single casting, I’ve never tried. Once I got good enough to freeze the whole tank, I stopped practicing the spell. That was all I needed to do with it.” “That’s a very large area,” she said speculatively. “That suggests you have some potential, Mister Starjumper.” “My father and sister are way stronger in magic than me,” he shrugged modestly. “Alright, let’s discuss the mechanics of the spell, Mister Starjumper. I’m curious to see how you were taught.” They ended up spending nearly two hours talking about the freezing spell, and magic in general. Frostmane was honestly surprised by his description of how he learned the spell, how it was much different from the approach the school used, and spent the rest of the two hours discussing the differences in the two techniques. Frostmane couldn’t deny that how Starjumper learned the spell was effective given the volume of water he could freeze at once, and she was honestly curious about what else he’d learned about magic from his father. “I’m quite surprised that a self-taught unicorn would have such a strong grip on the mechanics of magic,” she complemented as they finished up. “He taught you very well, Mister Starjumper. I think I would like to speak to your father about magic. I very well may be going to visit Baltimare on our first break.” “Just write first and arrange things, ma’am, don’t just go,” Starjumper warned. “Father doesn’t like unannounced visitors, because he’s very busy. As long as you arrange it with him first, he’d most likely be happy to tell you anything you want to know about what he knows about magic.” “Easily done,” she assured him. “Thank you, Mister Starjumper. Remember, classes start at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.” “I’ll be there,” he nodded. That bit of business tended, Starjumper dropped his saddlebags off at the apartment, and then continued his exploration of Canterlot. He took his time now, taking in every street, everything on the streets, the buildings, everything, categorizing everything he saw with a practiced eye, a skill he learned after mastering teleportation. He didn’t just explore every main street, he explored everywhere, going anywhere there wasn’t a wall, fence, or gate, going down every alleyway, prowling around every shop, walking the length and breadth of every one of the many parks and squares in the city, and always he was observing, observing, observing. Every small detail of the buildings and streets were committed to memory as he slowly made his way through the city, as were many of the ponies he passed in the streets…many of which gave him startled looks when they saw his eyes. But he was used to that. He even saw a pony he knew from pictures, the famous retired model Fleur de Lis— After seeing her, he realized that one of the mares in his class had to be related to her. They looked too similar for it to be a coincidence…maybe a daughter? A niece? Anyway, he’d seen her picture in the shop enough times before she retired from modeling not to recognize her. And since he was a pony that was intensely jealous of his own privacy, he wasn’t about to go over there and bother her as she had tea with a pink-coated unicorn mare with a styled red mane and wearing a large white hat with a pink silk band and opal brooch, with a large gray feather fastened to the hat by the brooch at a sidewalk café. His exploration of the city took nearly six hours, and it had been productive. He had located twenty different places where he could land where he’d be out of sight that would let him teleport almost anywhere in the city, from isolated alleyways to a large nook behind one of the waterfalls that cascaded down the mountain, this one falling into one of the many public parks in the city. His exploration ended at the overlook park, a park built along the lip of the stone ledge that had been built out away from the mountainside that supported the southwest side of Canterlot. A good four blocks of the city was built on that bowl-shaped protrusion off the mountainside, which had been built and shaped by magic, and from the overlook park that meant that there was nothing under the ground and stone under his hooves but thousands of feet of empty air. A low wall was built around the very edge, and he elicited quite a few gasps from other ponies at the park when he fearlessly hopped up onto the edge of the wall so he could lean out and try to look underneath the lip of the wall, see if the stone under the park sloped towards the mountain at an angle or if it was flat underneath. He got back down off the wall and watched the other ponies in the park, and when he was certain none of them were looking in his direction, he jumped up and over the wall and quickly vanished down into the void. But if they’d been able to see below the wall, they would have seen Starjumper’s horn flare with golden magic, and that nimbus quickly surrounded his entire body as he enacted a trick his father taught him, self-levitation. He drifted up under the overhang, studying the stone over his head and further towards the mountainside. He saw that the stone under was almost flat near the edge, no doubt magically strengthened when it was made, then sloped more and more downwards as it neared the mountain, forming a parabolic curve. He turned over and put his hooves on the stone, and then the magical aura around him wavered and vanished, yet he didn’t fall. He was clinging to the stone above him like an insect. This was not unicorn magic. This was thestral magic, the only thestral magic he could use as a unicorn. All thestrals had the ability to cling to surfaces, or “cling” to small items that they touched, which they could then pick up and move if they were small and light enough. The power applied to every part of him, inluding the hair in his tail...and that was why all thestrals kept their tails very long, so they could literally hang by their tails from a solid surface. It was a vital ability in the caves from which the thestrals originated and was also their preferred way of sleeping, hanging upside down off the ceiling. It was a very subtle magic, but it was deceptively powerful and extremely useful. It was also the only unusual aspect of himself in his unicorn form that he didn’t hide from other ponies. The thestral ability to cling to things was well known, it was there for anypony who cared to pick up a book about thestrals and read it, so he didn’t hide the fact that he inherited that bit of thestral magic from his mother. He had also inherited his mother’s ability to stay upside down as long as he wanted without the blood rushing to his head and making him pass out, but Starjumper suspected that that wasn’t magic. That had to be biology. Thestral bodies were built to be upside down for extended periods of time, and he was more thestral than unicorn, had aspects of his thestral heritage even when he was a unicorn. Since he was completely hidden from just about everypony, he decided to get back to the apartment the short way. His horn flared with a bright surge of golden magic, and he vanished from under the park in a circular burst of magical energy. He reappeared inside the apartment in a similar burst, appearing sitting in front of the writing table in the bedroom, where he had set his writing materials. As he took off his saddlebags, the small clock inside rang, warning him that sunset was half an hour away. It was the only enchanted object he owned, a magical clock that rang an alarm three times, at half an hour before sunset or sunrise, fifteen minutes before sunset or sunrise, and five minutes before sunset or sunrise. He could also set a manual alarm for a specific time, a very useful feature for a pony that often lost track of time with his nose in a book. It was a device his father had made for him when he was a foal, and he had carried it for most of his life. That clock ruled him, because it told him when it was time to return home so he could be out of the public eye when he changed. It was a conditioned reflex by now that when he heard that tinny bell, he immediately stopped what he was doing and returned home. Half an hour until sunset, plenty of time to get some things done outside, but Starjumper wouldn’t leave the apartment now that he was back. And he had many wistful memories of sitting in his room back in Baltimare, looking out the windows as the foals in the neighborhood played in the open lot beside the shop, wishing he could be out there with them. But over time, that wish faded, as did his desire to be around other ponies. Most of them wouldn’t understand who and what he was, and it would just cause him more problems than it was worth. His parents had hidden the truth of him his entire life, and he did not blame them one bit for it. As far as he was concerned, they’d made the right decision. He didn’t have that opinion when he was a little foal, too young to understand how his condition would complicate both his life and the lives of his family if it became common knowledge. Some ponies would believe in the old stories about were-ponies and think he turned into some savage monster at night whose bite could turn other ponies into were-ponies. Some would fear him because of his condition the way the thestrals did and reject him, maybe try to force him out of town, maybe even try to do him harm…and when he was a foal, that would also mean that his family would be forced out of the shop they’d run for five generations in the river district of Baltimare, Saddler’s Supplies. Some wouldn’t care about it, and some would drive him absolutely crazy with questions…kind of like Princess Twilight. That meant that most ponies would be a threat to his life or home, because of fear or ignorance, and most of the ponies left would aggravate the hay out of him. He was alone, he would always be alone, and he was fine with it. He had his family if he needed companionship or friends, and while he didn’t plan on going back home, they were never more than a few hours of flying away if he needed somepony to talk to. He spent the time up until sunset writing letters to his parents and siblings, and once Princess Starlight raised the moon and he changed, he finished up as he waited for it to get dark. Once it was dark enough outside, he stepped out onto the balcony, spread his large leathery wings, and vaulted up into the night, his dark coat quickly blurring in with the shadows of the night until he vanished from view. Who needed friends when he had the entire night sky and the song of the night whispering to him? This was why, if he had to choose between being a unicorn and a thestral, he’d choose being a thestral. To feel the air under his wings, the wind in his face, to dance with the wind under a canopy of shimmering starlight…magic could not in any way compare to this. This was freedom, pure freedom, the freedom to go wherever he wanted, freedom from the worries and cares of those stuck on the ground, the freedom to be who he truly was with no worries over how other ponies may react to it. Down there, he was a prisoner of his secret, forced into silence and isolation else the truth ruin his life. Up here, he could be himself, be everything the ground took away from him. Up here, he could be Starjumper.