//------------------------------// // Chapter One- Watcher // Story: Gems I: The Sun Princess // by Pen Dragon //------------------------------// Chapter One- Watcher It was the day of the finals as Watcher began walking alongside his oldest friend, Midnight Blaze, a blue unicorn with a black mane and tail with a single blue streak going through it and a crescent moon cutie mark surrounded by five twinkles around a larger star. Watcher could only groan as the two unicorns trotted towards the Beta-class ceremonial finals. “Why do we have to have our finals… So early in the morning?” “You do realize that it’s almost… 9:30 right?” Midnight explained looking at his watch. “Well excuse me for going to bed late… I was practicing a new spell and wanted to impress the teachers,” Watcher answered only for Midnight to snicker, causing him to raise a brow at the sapphire unicorn. “And what’s so funny about that, if you don’t mind me asking?” “What’s funny is that I think you're not trying to impress the teacher, but a certain mare that you’ve been crushing on since she moved from Manehatten?” He said with a smirk only for Watcher’s eyes to widen, giving Midnight a scowl as he raised an eyebrow. “That’s completely absurd, Midnight!” He said, suppressing his blush. “Besides, I don’t know who you’re talking about?” “I’m pretty sure you know who I’m talking about-” “Let’s just move on from this ridiculous conversation… it’s still hard to believe that after all this time, we’re finally going to become Alpha-class magic users! I mean, the written part of it is going to be easy-with the amount of studying we’ve been through it’s practically nothing,” Watcher explained as a smirk peered across his muzzle, only for Midnight to roll his eyes, grinning. “Even if that’s true, there’s the magic and combat testing after that… and even though we’re good, there’s a lot of other students who have more talent at this then us,” Midnight said, concerned as Watcher patted his back. “Hey come on, we’ve been through alot together and with the amount of training you and I have been through, we’ll be ready to take whatever the council throws at us.” He said grinning as he held his hoof up for Midnight. “We got this, Midnight!” Midnight couldn’t help but chuckle as they bumped their hooves together and carried on to the ceremony, which was full of Beta level magic users who had the same goals as the two unicorns as they pushed through the large crowd of ponies that had gathered at stage. Most ponies chatted amongst each other, while others sat down and waited patiently. Before long, three stallions each wearing a black robes approached the stage with grins plastered upon their faces. The oldest amongst them was a grey unicorn, with a long beard and blue eyes stepped forward as everypony silently listened. “For those who don’t know me… I’m Soul Writer, second counselor of the Order and today is the day you get to show us the your true capabilities as a magic user and gain a place as a Guardian,” Everypony began to cheer as they clapped their hooves together. Soul couldn’t help but chuckle before he continued. “Most of you are have studied hard and will most likely pass our exams with ease no doubt, but knowing isn’t the same a doing… So this year we’ll be focusing on your abilities in magic with duels.” Soon the crowd began whispering to each other as their eyes widen, but he simply went on, explaining everything that was needed to know. “Many of you are wondering why? Well it's because we feel that most of you have a good grasp of the knowledge of the magic your teachers have taught… and all we want is to see your abilities in action. As of right now there are two hundred Beta-class magic users here… but only half of you will be graduating to Alpha-class, while the rest of you shall relocate to a different sector and be given a new assignment to serve the Order.” The crowd begin to stir as a single pony stood up from the crowd with a vicious glare. “That isn’t fair! We should all have the rights to graduate together!” A stallion shouted as ponies around them began to agree. “Now I know this is hard for most of you, but you must consider that some of you aren’t fighters and would prefer a different assignment rather than be a guardian. The headmaster and I shall hold the event in an hour, so practice your magic… you’ll need it.” With that Soul Writer stepped off the stage along with the other two members of the counsel. Some ponies, began to panic, while others argued among themselves about who should move up and who shall be left behind, but for Watcher, everything depended on that test and with this new changes it only made him more determined to succeed, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to pass… No matter what!’ “Why the buck are they doing this now?! They should have at least told us ahead of time so we could be a little more prepared!” Midnight said aloud, snapping Watcher from his thoughts as he looked back at his friend. “I know what you mean… still we can only hope for the best… And like I said, you and me are have been through a lot and as long as we stick together we’ll be fine.” Watcher said, patting Midnight on the back as the two unicorns headed to the mess hall to eat breakfast. The Mess Hall Watcher sat down with a daisy sandwich in hoof, while Midnight left to grab breakfast from the lunch ladies. Things were quiet for Watcher… at least it was until he heard the sounds of giggling behind him, one that he was all too familiar with. He turned his head back to a sky blue mare with dark blue mane with a light blue streak. “Hello Watcher… How are you this morning?” She asked. “S-stardust! I’m doing good,” He replied nervously, trying his best to suppress his blush. “Uh… what about you?” “I’m doing alright, but tell me are you ready for the finals? If so you should probably see that new boarding system they installed, it’s showing us who we’ll be facing. Who knows maybe we’ll face each other~” She said, winking at him. He couldn’t suppress his blush, but not only was the Order changing the testing system they had, but went as far as to add a boarding system as well for duels. “Honestly, I don’t think this is a good idea… Not that I’m against it or anything like that, but I mean why change something that isn’t broken? The tests have always been the way they were for almost two thousand years! So why change it now?!” Watcher asked, only for Stardust to place her hoof against her chin as she hummed, before giving her reply. “I don’t know honestly, but you know sometimes changes are necessary,” She answered, sitting besides the stallion. “Just like what happened with the great divide when the Princesses disappeared.” “Please don’t tell me you still believe in that foals tale?” “Of course I do! There’s been a lot of books and history lessons to back it up-” “Okay; sorry for interrupting, but have you actually seen an alicorn around?” She wanted to answer, but nothing came to mind as he went on. “If alicorns did exist, then we wouldn’t have to worry about those rebel attacks in the cities.” “I know it’s childish to believe in that stuff, but seeing isn’t believing….believing is seeing, Watcher.” She replied with a cheeky grin, only for Watcher to blush as he scrunched up his face. “But that doesn’t make any sense at all… you can’t just believe that it’s true when there’s no evidence?” He said confused. “Well history says otherwise Watcher, She soon got up from her seat and headed off before sticking her tongue out and winking at him, swaying her hips a bit. Watcher for his part wanted to tell her she could stay, but couldn’t even utter a word. The sounds of a cough soon caught his attention as he turned to see Midnight standing there with a smirk. “I see that Stardust came to talk with you.” “How much did you hear?” Watcher asked with a sigh. “Enough to know that you seriously need to work on your confidence when asking a girl out-” Before he could finish his sentence, Watcher interrupted. “I have confidence!” He argued. “Remember two months ago when she snuck into the library in… a latex suit?” He said coyly as Watcher blushed intensely. “Y-yeah? How could anypony forget that… ” “And if I recall… we were in there during that time on cleaning duty… than she came through the window and fell on top of you…” “Alright I get it…” “Your nose was bleeding a lot and that wasn’t even from the fall.” He explained as Watcher groaned as he hit his head against the table. “What about you dude! Your face was completely red!” He countered as Midnight laughed sheepishly. “Well, it’s not like she isn’t an attractive mare and that suit she wore was quite sexy, but come on! Are you really going to ask her out, or are you going to let some other stallion take her?. You and I both know you have the hots for her.” He said, patting him on the back. “Look, I find her attractive, but I don’t have the hots for her and… there’s nothing wrong with liking a mare in a tight suit okay!” He said finally finishing his sandwich. “What about that picture-” Watcher immediately shoved Midnight’s bread into his mouth before glaring at him. “Don’t bring that up.” He sighed.“Okay, I admit it already, can we just move on ? Right now, I’m just worried about those duels, and asking Stardust out isn’t exactly helping.” Watcher said as Midnight nodded in agreement, swallowing the bread in his mouth. “I hear ya, still don’t you think it’s a little weird that they changed the finals of Beta-class and not the other ones?” Midnight asked, wiping away the crumbs from his face. “It’s a little weird, but it’s not like changes haven’t happened before… I mean Equestria was one of the largest nations in the world two thousand years ago, but now it’s only a fraction of what it was before. Just because ponies honestly believed that alicorns actually existed and disagreed with the Order.” Watcher said nonchalantly. “Amen to that… I can’t believe that ponies still believe that there were alicorns.” There was a time when the two stallions believed it to be true, but as time went on and facts on proving that they weren’t real as scientists have studied the biology of the pony body, stating that it’s impossible to possess all three traits of the pony races. It showed the two that they needed to rely on each other and not some myth. “Yeah, well we should probably go check out that board just to see who we’re facing.” Watcher suggested as Midnight took a sip from a cup of coffee that he had with him… Somehow? ‘When did he have the time to grab that? I was here with him the whole time’ “Sure let’s go,” The headed towards a massive board that had a couple of other ponies checking it as well, some would whisper as Watcher and Midnight passed them. Watcher couldn’t help but raise a brow as ponies walked away from the board. That was until he saw his name on the board. “Oh, that can’t be good,” Midnight said, looking towards his friend who looked at the board in horror. “I have to face… Stardust?!”