“This, class, is called a celestial gateway. It is connected to a second gateway in the classroom through celestial pearls. When you step onto it, options of where you can go pop up, allowing you to teleport to any celestial gateway around, so long as you have a celestial pearl bound to the gateway you wish to go to. After you’ve selected a location, you simply say the word teleport and you are sent to the chosen gateway.”
Jonny explained as he points at the celestial gateway in front of him.
“These, however, are quite difficult to make and as such, it is unlikely any of you will be making one this year. Should you wish to hook your house up to the system though, I will gladly make one for you and show you how to set it up. There are other forms of teleportation that I will be teaching you all how to use by the second quarter of the school year at most. This, however, is my preferred method of teleportation. Now, who would like to go first?”
All of the fillies and colts present raised their hooves at this and started to jump up and down a bit, hoping they would be picked first. After looking at his students for a minute, Jonny decided to let Ruby go first. Ruby stepped onto the celestial gateway and immediately a black screen popped up for her. There was a small icon showing her current location and it was connected by a small line to another dot. After looking at the second dot for a second to read the name of the location, she tapped on it with her hoof and disappeared. The rest of the class became even more excited at this, and eagerly tried to get Jonny’s attention so that they could be next in line. Pipsqueak was picked next and followed the same steps Ruby did, causing him to disappear as well. The process repeated itself for the rest of the class and eventually Jonny as well, all of them having been teleported to the tower they would now call their school house.
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Once Ruby had been teleported with the celestial gateway, she found herself in a large garden filled with plants she had never seen before. There were, of course, a few that were native to her such as garlic and artichokes, but also many strange crops such as a few various purple flowers strewn about, a plant that was as white as snow, and a tall yellow flower that stood out boldly in the crop plot. As she continued to look around she noticed a large variety of colorful plants, one for every color she had ever seen, and other crops that all looked similar except for the design that appeared on the largest plants. As she was inspecting the flowers, Pipsqueak appeared behind her.
“Wow! Look at all of these cool things! I wonder what that is!” Pip says as he approaches one of the purple flowers in the garden.
“Hold on Pip, we shouldn’t touch this stuff until Jonny gets here. He wouldn’t want us to mess around with things we don’t know about yet.”
Ruby replies to Pipsqueak as he looks at her with disappointment and annoyance in his eyes.
“You’re right, we don’t know what any of this stuff does and it would be bad to mess with it.”
Not too long after, Dinky appears through the gateway and looks around with the same awe Ruby had of the garden.
“Wow! Look at all of these plants. I’ve always wanted to see some of these before!”
“You know what these are Dinky?” Ruby asks
“Yeah! That’s a belladonna, they’re poisonous but have some interesting magical properties. Those are mandrakes and over there are snowbells and water artichokes.”
Dinky explains happily. However, as she notices the tall yellow flower she squeals with delight and rushes over to the plot it is planted in.
“Wow! It’s wolfsbane! This stuff would be super helpful to keep timberwolves in the forest! It messes with their senses and can be quite deadly to them!” Dinky announces as the rest of the class appears along with jonny
“Ah, I see you already know a bit about these plants Dinky. Very well done.” Jonny says, causing Dinky to shake her tail in excitement and joy. “Now then, let us be off to our classroom!”
At this, jonny walks towards the large tower and his students follow close behind. They all look around the garden as they walk, and can’t believe how different it was. There were no fences separating the garden from the everfree and instead there is a large border of wolfsbane and odd looking stones acting as a border line. In the center of the garden there is a large grove of trees, surrounding a white alter with a red tablecloth. There are other devices in the grove but none of the students are able to tell what they are as they move along.
As they approach the tower, more odd plants are able to be found. What Dinky describes as ember moss, and spanish moss, plants commonly used to make poppets and other defensive items. The entire side of the tower is covered in spanish moss, giving it a more old and secretive look. The tower itself has walls made from stone bricks, and jungle wood logs. It looks fairly simple from the outside, aside from a few carvings along the stone at the very base of the tower. Once everyone walks into the tower though, all of the foals are surprised at the sheer amount of odd looking contraptions, items, and papers lying around on Jonny’s desk. As they continue to scan the room, they notice a few large bookshelves in the back of the room stocked to the brim with books. Near the shelves there is a door that seems to lead into a smaller room. There is a set of stairs that lead up to the second story and a dark brown and purple trapdoor underneath the staircase. There are six desks in the middle of the classroom, all stocked with quills, paper, and a few books. While the students are taking in their surroundings, Jonny sits down in his desk and calls to them
“Alright class, it’s time for us to begin. Could you all please take a seat and settle down.”
Everyone takes a seat, and start to look at the covers of their books. Many of them have witchery in the title and mention a specific aspect of that school of magic. There is one book labeled “The Lexica Botanica” and a few books that delve into plant care, and handling. Lastly there is a single unlabeled book with an unusual design on it, and when the students flip through the pages, most of which are blank.
“These are the main books you will all be using for your coursework. The way I have structured this class is to be more of an independent study sort of schedule. I’ll help you find something you want to work on and then it’ll be your job to research it. All of your research will be put towards a large project that you will present at the end of the quarter for a grade. That will be the only grade in this class as well, so make it count! Should you need help with something feel free to talk to me or look for books in the back of the classroom. When you think of a subject that you wish to study, raise your hoof and announce it to the class.”
The room goes dead silent as the students stop looking around the room and start to think about how the course is set up and what topics they want to pick. Jonny walks up to a chalkboard behind him and writes the names of all the different magical schools so that his students can see the list once again. However, this time he adds one more onto the list.
“Sorry class, I forgot to mention one more school of magic that I can teach, although my knowledge in it is a bit limited. It is called totem magic. It is another form of connecting with nature magic, but this form uses woodcarving, music and ritualistic dance. I should have a few books on it back in the library.”
At this Tender Taps immediately raises his hoof, knowing what he wants to do.
“Um, sir. I want to try to use the totem magic you mentioned. It sounds like something I might be good at.”
“Very well, I’ll put you down for totem magic. Once everyone has picked their topic, I’ll make sure to help you find the books for it.”
Tender nods his head in agreement and the class goes silent again as the foals decide on what they want to do. Not too long after, Pipsqueak raises his hoof.
“I want to work with that Ars Magica stuff. Making spells sounds like it could be cool!”
“Alright then Pip, I’ll help you get started with that in a bit okay? For now, let’s sit quietly and let the others think.”
Then Ruby and Dinky chime in
“Can we work together and do Botania and Witchery at the same time?”
“You two can do that, but I expect to see either two separate projects from you or one project that involves both schools of magic, okay?”
“Can do Mr.Teacher sir!” Dinky replies
After another ten minutes, Jonny can start to see a look of frustration on Silver Spoon’s face and Scootaloo looking hesitant to ask a question. Thinking about what to do for a second, he comes up with an idea.
“Alright class, I’m going to get you all the books you will need for today from the library if you don’t already have them. I want you to either stay in the classroom or in the garden, and study for a bit. You can write notes in that unmarked book, or in any of the books that are not from the library. I’m going to take some time with anyone who is undecided and help them figure out what they want to do.”
Jonny says as he moves towards the back of the room. Dinky and Ruby grab their books from their desk and immediately walk outside to the garden to read, while Pip and Tender head towards the back of the room. After a few minutes of searching, Jonny finds a beginners guide to totem magic, and a book that describes the basic aspects of spellcrafting. Tender heads out into the garden while Pip sits back at his desk after they receive their books. Jonny then turns to look at Silver and Scootaloo and motions for them to follow him into the back room. They follow and after they enter, Jonny walks in and shuts the door.
“So girls, having trouble making up your minds?”
Silver is the first to reply
“Well, I want to work on that thaumaturgy stuff you mentioned, but I also want to work on magical crops too. I can’t decide which one to do and it’s frustrating!”
Jonny nods in understanding and thinks for a minute before responding
“I understand. You want to try a few new things but just don’t know where to start right?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Magical crops could help my family out at home, but thaumaturgy seems so much more interesting.”
“Why don’t you go do both then? You can work with the others out in the garden to learn how to take care of the crops, and study thaumaturgy on your own?”
“Sure, if that’s okay with you.”
“It’s no problem with me, but your workload might be a bit more intense.”
“I can handle it, thanks Jonny!” Silver responds before bolting out the door and slamming it shut behind her. Jonny then turns his attention to Scootaloo, who is looking nervous and slouching into her seat a little bit, a sheepish grin on her face. Jonny sighs quietly to himself and then starts to speak to the young pegasus
“So, let me guess. You wanted to work with blood magic but didn’t want to bring it up with the others around.”
“What? No… I was just… having a hard time deciding what to pick?” Scootaloo replies, starting defensive but quickly becomes unsure of what to say next. She tries to come up with something that can get her out of saying yes, but ends up with nothing. As a result, she slumps down further into her seat, her head resting on her desk and her body sitting on the floor instead of in the chair.
“Do you want to know why I decided to change up the course schedule a bit Scootaloo?” Jonny says as Scootaloo’s ears perk up. “I figured that it would be better to let you all pick what branch of magic you all wish to study and explore it on your own. I may be able to teach you magic, but a creature grows the most when they learn something on their own. While my job may be to teach, I will serve more as a mentor than a teacher in your time learning here. Therefore, I want everyone to study what they wish to study. While Blood Magic may be dangerous, it becomes far safer to learn when someone is there to guide you. Since the others are going to be studying on their own most of the time, this gives me the free time to assist any students with dangerous aspects of magic until you learn how to safely study their own. While there will be a few rules I expect you to follow, you are free to study blood magic if you choose to do so.”
Scootaloo looks at Jonny for a minute, contemplating what he has said and attempting to formulate a response to what he has proposed.
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble for you? I don’t want to be a burden for you to have to deal with.” Scootaloo mumbles back, attempting to mask the hopeful tone in her voice.
“Scootaloo, I will never consider any of my students to be a burden for me. I have been wanting to teach someone how to wield magic for years, and there is nothing that will bring me more joy than helping you and your classmates grow and learn arcane arts the likes of which haven’t been seen in Equestria in hundreds of years. As long as you are willing to learn, I am willing to help you.”
At this Scootaloo starts to tear up a bit and replies with a soft, shaky
“Thank you.”
Before wiping the tears from her eyes, gives Jonny a brief hug and exits the room.
“Well then, going to want to keep track of her. Never know if something is going on at home or with bullies.” Jonny says to himself before walking out into the classroom.