The First Day of School
“Define the Magical Wavelength.”
“It is the frequency at which magical power needs to be released to cast spells. The wavelength varies per spell.”
“What is the Magical Threshold?”
“It is the limit of how much magic a user can release before they reach the point of exhaustion. Several users have different thresholds based on natural magic power or practice.”
What is the Magical Capacity?”
“It is the amount of magic within a magic user. The most powerful users have innate talent in magic. The average kind must work hard to achieve the same feat.”
This exchange of questions and answers between Luna and Statice continued across the study session. Each time Statice finished a chapter, he was going to get a pop quiz from Luna.
This isn’t so bad. I’m learning about magic at my own pace. And Luna kind of reminds me of when I studied with Catrina and Digitalis.
“I appreciate the compliment,” Luna smiled, reminding Statice that his own thoughts were not private as long as they were studying inside her dreamscape.
“Are we gonna practice actual magic in your dreams, Luna?” Statice asked, feeling a bit impatient. “As much as I’m having fun learning about magic, I’ve always been a pony of experimentation.”
He wasn't kidding. Statice pretty much had to create or learn all of his spells by experimenting them through trial and error since he didn't know much about magical theory. While it was dangerous, it was the only method he had and it ended up giving results in the long run.
“It won’t do you much good in the dreamscape,” Luna sighed. “The sensations between reality and fantasy are blurry in this realm, Statice.”
“What does that mean?” Statice asked. “Cryptic messages never mean anything good for the ones who get them.”
“If you perform a spell here and then try to perform that spell in the real world based on the examples set by a dream, there’s a big chance it will blow up on your face,” Luna deadpanned.
“Oh,” Statice winced. “I am familiar with that feeling.”
“Wait,” Luna raised her eyebrow. “You had spells blow up on your face?”
“Lots of times,” Statice informed her with a wince. “Pretty much how most of my early spells were born. It’s a good thing I had my Healing Spell back then.”
“Why would you try to learn and create spells by having them blow up in your face?” Luna asked incredulously.
“I really needed every spell I could muster,” Statice sighed. “I needed to do everything I could with my magic.”
“Did it ever work?” Luna asked.
“I’m here,” Statice looked at her. He wanted to say more, but he chose to pick up a book and kept studying for the next pop quiz.
The study session was a success. For next morning, Statice chose not to have breakfast with Celestia and Luna. Instead, he asked Luna to bring breakfast to his room while he studied some of the spell books Luna suggested.
Having finished a book, Statice took a break by activating his Archive and contacting Meadow Tails. He was currently at the mayor’s office with Catrina. Upon seeing them together, Statice told them about his current situation.
“You’re going to a magic school?” Catrina asked with curiosity.
“It’s not the first one I went,” Statice replied defensively. “There was a Void School in a dimension close to Hammerspace.”
“What happened there, then?” Meadow Tails asked.
“Not sure,” Statice put a hoof to his head. “I don’t remember why I got expelled, but I remember that everybody was crazy over there. So I think it was a good riddance.”
“Guess it won’t be long before you get expelled from this school as well,” Catrina rolled her eyes as she did a little cackle.
“If you’re done laughing, I have to do some transfiguration spells,” Statice glared at the cat witch.
“Sounds cool,” Meadow Tails smiled.
“Not as amazing as you think they are,” Statice groaned. “One of them is turning random objects into teacups and another is turning an apple into an orange.”
“That’s not as amazing as I thought it was gonna be,” Meadow Tails winced.
“It is amazing if you’re the caster and you’re struggling to be the one doing the spell,” Catrina quipped with a knowing smile. “While the amount of magic for the spell is very little, the visualization must be perfect to achieve the desired result.”
At the bit of knowledge, Statice and Meadow Tails stared at Catrina in wonder with the former smiling in appreciation.
Leave it to Catrina to turn something so lame into a thing worth learning.
“I can still hear your thoughts,” Catrina purred as she tapped into Meadow Tails’ horn and then pointed at herself.
Realizing his blunder, Statice cut off the transmission before Catrina had the chance of embarrassing him any further.
I should never let her and Luna meet each other.
Having finished his mental reminder, Statice saw a glass sitting on a table and focused his attention to it. Closing his eyes, he imagined the table in the darkness, the glass was sitting in front of it. In the blink of an eye, the glass morphed into a teacup. With the image set, Statice forced the magic in his horn and threw a blast at the glass in front of him with his eyes still closed. He heard a sparkling sound that caused him to open his eyes.
The glass was no longer sitting on the table. There was a teacup, but it was no ordinary teacup. It was a glass teacup rather than a ceramic one. It was an incomplete transfiguration.
What did I do wrong? Did I mess up the magical wavelength? Did I not put enough magic into my spell? Maybe I didn’t visualize enough.
“I’m gonna have to get some transfiguration books,” Statice groaned.
The road to the library was a pleasant one. While he was disappointed that he didn’t do as well as he wanted in his first transfiguration spell, he had a bit of purpose in his library visit this time around.
As he finally reached his destination, he was confronted by a strange unicorn. He was a light gray unicorn with a red robe and a combed black mane and tail with a matching goatee. He had piercing light blue eyes in a disapproving stare and there was some sort of golden medallion in his robe. Once his eyes focused on Statice, the green stallion instinctively formed a matching glare.
“Can I help you?” Statice asked, trying to be polite.
“Are you perhaps the unicorn named Statice?”
“I am,” Statice replied cordially.
“My name is Chancellor Neighsay,” the stranger replied. “I am the head of the Equestria Education Association. I am in charge of the educative qualities of Equestria.”
“Are you connected with Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?” Statice asked as he bothered to say the school’s full name.
“It follows the guidelines of my association,” Chancellor Neighsay admitted proudly. “Princess Celestia told me about your condition and asked me to provide you with the necessary accommodations.”
“What kind of accomodations?” Statice asked as politely as possible.
There is something shifty about this guy. It doesn’t matter if Celestia trusts him, I sense something off with him.
“Your upbringing may give you trouble adjusting to learning real unicorn magic,” Chancellor Neighsay stated as magic came out of his amulet to show a graph with a picture of Statice, another with foals, and another with what he assumed were graduates.
“Your magical knowledge was taught to you from trial and error and different species from outside of Equestria that polluted said knowledge,” Chancellor Neighsay explained. “All of that valuable magical knowledge that you may have learned from studying here was polluted from your…relationships with other species.”
Though Statice spoke calmly, there was a hint of hostility in his voice. “Are you saying that all of the things that I learned about magic amount to nothing just because I learned it from other cultures?” he asked defiantly, not even bothering to hear the rest of the lecture.
“Was it not?” Neighsay raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re the first adult pony who ever studied at Magic Kindergarten. Try to tell me that the knowledge that you acquired from other species had nothing to do with it.”
“That was more of negligence towards studying Equestria than anything regarding my relationships with other species,” Statice countered diplomatically, fighting the urge to smack the pretentious chancellor. “I did well on my magic results, I just flunked on anything involving Equestria.”
“A likely story,” Chancellor Neighsay snorted.
“Says the one who depends on his amulet to do magic on his own,” Statice countered, unable to hold his disdain any longer.
“This is my EEA badge and it was given to me by Princess Celestia herself,” Chancellor Neighsay haughtily as he cancelled his spell to showcase it. “While it may look like a badge, in reality it’s an amulet awarded to unicorns who have the utmost respect for the educational guidelines for Equestria.”
“And apparently wearing it gives you a bloated head and ego,” Statice rolled his eyes as he summoned a rock with an emerald on it. “You’re not the only one with magical amulets and talismans, Chancellor. The different is that I’m not so dependent on them that I don’t forget to how to use my horn.”
Neighsay gritted his teeth at the offense. He opened a portal with his amulet and walked into it with a huff. “Princess Celestia asked me to check on your development as a student,” Neighsay stuck out his head from the portal. “I should remind you to take a more respectful behavior when addressing me.”
“Same to you, Chancellor,” Statice replied as he entered the library, not even bothering to look at him.
I’ll show him.
Sitting on a table, Statice levitated as many books as he could and created a fort with them so that nopony could see him. Once inside the fort, Statice stabbed pricked his hoof with his glowing horn and then placed it on the back of the book to cast a Marking Spell for later. He repeated the process with each book, returning it to its proper place in the fort until each book had a mark. Once the process was done, Statice returned the books to their proper place.
That’s enough for today.
Having finished his mission, Statice returned to his room without delay. It was time to get himself a new partner. Luna was a great teacher, but it didn’t change the fact that she was only available during the night. And he couldn’t bring Celestia during the day. Catrina also had her mayor duties. He only had himself for studying, but then he remembered why not partner up with himself. He had a spell for that.
“I’ll start with borrowing one of your spells, Digi,” Statice began with a Leaking Spell as he let the magic of his horn be released outward in a mist. The Leaking Spell was a quick way to release magic harmlessly in an area, but it could also induce exhaustion in the user if done incorrectly.
Must remain focused. I better use the study terms Luna taught me if I don’t want to pass out from magic exhaustion.
“Magic density is how powerful magic power can be when pressurized into a certain shape,” Statice recited the knowledge Luna taught him. “Magic can become denser when you’re on the brink of magic exhaustion to prevent magic users from draining their life force. Using magic reserves with magic density though results in spells being more powerful than usual, although at the cost of the users exhausting themselves or having health complications.”
The room was now having a floral scent. The green magic released from his horn was covering the whole place now. Statice was feeling relaxed. It was the prelude for the exhaustion necessary for the spell.
“Magic Recharge Period is the amount of time on which a magic user needs to wait to replenish the amount of magic used after casting a spell,” Statice recited as he meditated what Luna taught him. “Different magic users have different recovery periods, but users who have trained by exhausting their magical reserves have developed good recharge periods.”
As he defined the term, Statice noticed the irony on how he replenished his reserves by spells that took energy from outside sources or used magical items that contained stored up energy rather than letting his magic recovered the old fashioned way. Back in the day, he used to take chances and see if his magic could recover on time for when he needed it the most.
I guess the older you get the more cautious you become. Statice sighed in disappointment at himself as he now felt exhausted. He was reaching his magical threshold soon.
“High density spells,” Statice muttered to himself. “These are spells that can only be done by many magic users sharing their magic, powerful magic users with innate talents, or an average magic user willing to draw into his life force. Try to guess which one I am.”
Canceling the Leaking Spell as he reached the threshold, Statice closed his eyes and unleashed the spell, fainting as he completed the deed.
“What happened?”
“You completed the spell.”
Statice opened his eyes and was relieved to see a perfect copy of himself standing right in front of him. The Living Memory Spell had been a success.
“Tell me my purpose in life,” the cloned Statice asked nicely.
“You’re going to be my study partner,” the real Statice smiled as he opened his Archive and located the books that he selected with his Marking Spell. They were all there, safe and sound.
“How am I going to be your study partner?” the cloned Statice asked curiously.
“During the night, while I study with Luna, you’re gonna use the Archive to check on the library books on which I casted the Marking Spell,” Statice instructed his clone carefully. “You’re gonna read them and then you’re gonna make a study guide for each lesson and upload it in our Archive. Since you’re my clone, we share the same Archive, so it won’t be any problem once you upload it.”
“For how long do I have to keep doing this?” the clone asked.
“Until I am at the top class,” Statice answered. “So I want you to remain undiscovered by others by remaining inside our room.”
“So…I only exist to help you get good grades at school,” the clone now spoke with a snide tone of voice.
“At least you’re alive, you waste of space, be thankful for that,” Statice growled at his clone.
“I’m starting to see why your other clones tried to destroy you,” the clone snarked at his creator.
“And I’m starting to see why I made this spell so that my clones disappeared once they served their purpose,” Statice countered venomously.
The clone watched as his creator absorbed the residual magic in the room inside his horn and dumped a talisman he had hanging from his neck into his bed. Curiously, the clone picked it up and hung it onto his neck. If he wasn’t going to live long, he might as well have something to call his own.
“My name is Emerald Statice,” the clone smiled as he admired the talisman and felt a sense of worth fueling his desire to fulfill his purpose. If he was going to be a clone, then he was going to do so by leaving a mark in this world.
The next days were quite productive for Statice. On the nights, Luna was a good instructor to Statice. She lectured Statice on spells, curses, charms, potions, creatures, and Equestria. He had forgotten how it felt to have a tutor who actually taught you stuff, and he remembered even less about tutors who weren’t insane or criminals.
Emerald Statice, as the clone called himself, was a good study partner. He made study guides from the books that Statice marked and then downloaded them into the Archive. He was also a good training partner as he and Statice practiced spells and potions during the daytime.
As the days passed, Statice’s first day at school finally arrived. He woke up early, had a light breakfast with the Royal Sisters and arrived at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Standing at the entrance, Chancellor Neighsay was unimpressed.
“I take it that me arriving early was not within your expectations,” Statice quipped sarcastically, knowing from experience that beings like Neighsay had standards so high that there was no point trying to please the stallion.
“Any student should bother arriving early,” Chancellor Neighsay scoffed. “It’s nothing to be impressed if you ask me.”
This student bothered to show up despite your nasty attitude, what do you think about that?
“What do you have in store for me, Chancellor?” Statice asked, hiding his challenge with curiosity.
“You will begin your academic journey at the lowest level, but you will be given the chance of proving yourself to me by having a test to determine your worth,” Neighsay summoned a portal from his badge and walked through it.
“What’s the test about?” Statice asked as he followed Neighsay through the portal and was transported to an office.
“It’s mainly everything regarding your current curriculum if you’re up for it,” Neighsay smiled arrogantly. “Foals usually take these tests to skip a few grades. Princess Twilight Sparkle was famous for taking these tests all the time.”
Well, her talent was magic. “I’m sure I can skip a few grades until I reach my age level,” Statice stated. “For the time being, I’d like you to take me to my first class.”
“Potions,” Neighsay replied curtly as he opened another portal and let Statice start his day.
“It’s so good to see you, Statice!” Sunlight Sunray smiled as she hugged the older unicorn. Next to her, Sweet Dreams smiled despite being sleepy.
“Glad to see that you guys made it to this school,” Statice ruffled Sunlight’s mane affectionately. “I guess Late Bloom was right about you two having talent.”
“You’re staying here with us, Stats,” Sweet Dreams snored as he bothered to open his eyes to look at Statice.
“I’ll try to take care of you, kids,” Statice promised. “But I have a mission and I need to graduate fast.”
“Good morning, class,” a familiar voice spoke behind Statice. “I am glad to see some students returning from the previous term and some new faces returning to this class as well.”
Statice turned around and saw Chancellor Neighsay. Something told him that he wasn’t the teacher for this class.
“As a special occasion for today being the first day of class, I decided to personally teach all of the classes,” Neighsay proposed, somehow managing to pull a convincing smile that made the class cheer except for Statice and his foal friends.
“Who is he, Statice?” Sunlight Sunray asked fearfully.
“Somepony who has it out for me,” Statice sighed in exhaustion.
“Did you play a prank on him or something?” Sweet Dreams asked now being a bit more awake than Statice has ever seen.
“I wish I did,” Statice groaned. In his experience, vendettas were more bearable when his enemies had justifiable reasons to hate him.
“All of the students here, I want you to make a growing potion for this seed,” Neighsay levitated seeds for each student. “You are only allowed to use the magical ingredients and concoctions for this experiment. Who wants to try?”
“I will try!” Statice stood up from his seat.
Standing up, he could see Neighsay looking smug and all of the class students being foals who stared at him with conflicting emotions. The green unicorn ignored what they were feeling and walked at Neighsay, picking up what the Chancellor had to offer.
He was given a pot, a seed, and different selections of water and soil from different places of Equestria, salts from rare minerals, manure of mythical creature, and light sources depending on the chosen combinations. The correct mixtures would result in either a beautiful flower or a large tree whereas the wrong mixture was going to give him nothing at all.
It’s time to see if I am a worthy heir to my family.
Closing his eyes, he thought of the choices at his disposal, visualizing which one to make. As he prepared to levitate one seed, something happened. One by one, different elements were glowing in his mind’s eyes in a certain order. First the soil, fertilizer, salts, and waters. Finally, a green light from one of the vials. As Statice’s opened his eyes, he realized that he was levitating the objects were still there despite seeing them so clearly in his mind.
It’s my family’s spell. It’s telling me which ingredients to use.
“Soil from Sweet Apple Acres,” Statice decreed, reading the sample’s name and putting it on a pot. “The fertilizer will be spit from fruit bats which will go with the seed of many fruit trees of Equestria.”
“That’s fairly ambitious of you, Statice,” Chancellor Neighsay raised an eyebrow at the green unicorn. “If you make a bad move, you’ll end up with nothing.”
“Cover up the seeds the soil and then add phoenix ashes for salts and melted snow from the Crystal Empire for water,” Statice continued without caring. “Finally, the light must be a green light from a rainbow manufactured from Cloudsdale.”
Once Statice opened the vial and released the green light into the potted plant, nothing happened but Neighsay raising his eyebrow at him.
“I expected better,” he said with fake disappointment.
“Wait for it,” Statice said challengingly, his faith in his family’s spell unwavering.
“What do you expect me to wait?” Neighsay rolled his eyes.
His answer was answered when Statice’s potted plant started shaking and eventually exploded into a large tree that busted through the class’ roof. All of the foals cheered in glee as fruits came out of the tree, ready to be collected. Down below, Statice watched fondly.
“Thanks, Dad,” he smiled as he realized he scored an assignment thanks to the first spell he ever learned from his father.
Shortly after the tree eruption, Neighsay stormed off and brought in a substitute who turned out to be the real teacher. Afterwards, he didn’t show up in any single class like he promised.
This was a good deal for Statice as he got to enjoy his time with Sunlight Sunray and Sweet Dreams without getting bothered. He realized that he remembered everything he studied with Luna and his clone when he tutored them before their classes.
This is easier than I thought. I’ll be taking advanced classes in no time.
Eventually, his classes were over and he said goodbye to his friends. As expected, Statice was met with a portal from Neighsay to take his test. He was probably still mad at him for showing him up back in Potions class.
It was worth it.
“Are you ready for your test, Statice?” Neighsay asked ominously, summoning a desk, a parchment, and a quill.
“I’m ready,” Statice nodded his head as he read his questions and answered at the best of his ability.
The questions were pretty much essay or fill in the blanks, so they were the type of query on which the subject had to know the answer by memory in order to get full credit for the answer.
This guy pulls no punches. There’s no single multiple choice question to give me a hint to a right answer. This may be even harder than my citizenship test.
Having finished his test, Statice gave it to Neighsay. The stallion scrolled the parchment with critical eye for a few seconds and gave his answer.
“65 points out of 100,” he declared firmly.
“What did you say?” Statice slammed his hooves on the table.
“I said you got 65 points out of a possible 100 points,” Chancellor Neighsay repeated slowly.
“Why did I get 65 out of 100 when I answered all of the questions and I’m sure I answered more than half correctly?” Statice demanded, finding his grade unfair. While he was sure that he wasn’t getting a perfect score as he took the test, he was confident that he could get an 80 or above.
“Partial answers,” Neighsay scoffed. “I found your answers to be unsatisfactory, Statice. You didn’t put enough information as you should have. I’m sure, Princess Luna was very lenient with you.”
“You miserable jerk,” Statice glared at Neighsay but whispered the last part low enough to prevent the stallion from hearing him.
“For a passing grade now, you’re going to have to get a perfect score on the magical test,” Chancellor Neighsay declared as he summoned a sheet of paper with a list of spells that he expected Statice to perform.
“Fine then,” Statice glared at him. “I’ll be your circus monkey.”
“Try some transfiguration,” Neighsay summoned a cup of water, and many pairs of fruit. Statice didn’t need to be told what to do to before he casted the spell. The cup of water was turned into a ceramic teacup, an apple was used as a template to turn is neighbor orange into another apple.
“You got something more challenging,” Statice raised his eyebrows at Neighsay. “I am sure that there is more up your sleeve.”
“How about you try the cloud walking spell?” Neighsay summoned a cloud from one of his portals. “This spell is fundamental if you want to go to Cloudsdale. It was this spell that allowed unicorns to establish interpersonal relationships with pegasi.”
“My friend taught me that spell,” Statice smiled fondly as he used his magic to tear off the cloud into smaller fragments and aligned them to point at Neighsay. “I even used it as a template for one of my spells.”
Sending magic into his hooves and then across his body, Statice confidently got on top of the cloud fragment, big enough to hold him. He then skipped across each fragment until he reached Neighsay, looking him into the eye with confidence.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” he taunted.
“Teleportation,” Neighsay demanded.
Statice sparked out of the cloud and reappeared back in the spot from which he started the test. “I don’t need an amulet to teleport,” he smiled confidently.
Ignoring the mockery, Neighsay decided for a question that was extra credit in an attempt to break his concentration. “Try to show me elemental magic,” he petitioned. “It’s not necessary for graduates, but most specialist require it for self-defense.”
A spark at the tip of Statice’s horn was the answer he got.
“I want a shield spell in case you ever have to defend yourself,” Neighsay petitioned, knowing that such things required high concentration.
“Do you want a dome of energy or a disk in front of me?” Statice asked as he first made a curved disk, which he then expanded into a small sphere that encapsulated him.
Neighsay narrowed his eyes. The student in front of him was very rebellious, but there was talent buried within him.
He’s a diamond in the rough. I need to polish the blemishes. I will test him as much as I can to see where should I start.
And so the test continued until the evening.
“Stupid Neighsay,” Statice growled angrily as he was drinking his soup. Celestia and Luna were staring at him in surprise with the way he was eating despite passing the test and earning the privilege of skipping a few grades.
“You’d be in a bad mood if that jerk held you in his office for hours,” Statice munched on an entrée aggressively as if it were Neighsay himself.
“I have to apologize for his behavior,” Celestia sighed. “Neighsay has the best interests of Equestria by heart. The problem is that he’s a bit…stubborn.”
“That’s code word for narrow-minded and stupid,” Statice drank some juice from a goblet, earning a laugh from Luna.
“It’s kind of an unfortunate habit from Canterlot,” Celestia sounded disappointed that such behavior existed in her kingdom. “I’m hoping that someday we can set a better example for everypony to follow.”
“Try to tell that to Neighsay,” Statice snorted as he finished his meal. “The guy has it out for me because I was raised and trained by non-pony creatures.” He stood up from his table as he made a declaration. “I’ll admit that most of them were not worth knowing, but I won’t be looked down because of my background and upbringing. I’m graduating from your school as your best student, Princess Celestia.”
“Wow, I can’t believe you’re attending Princess Celestia’s school! How cool is that, girls?”
“Oh, miserable jerk,” Statice swore as he recognized the voice and turned around, yelping as a pair of pink hooves finished the job for him.
“You have to tell us EVERYTHING!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she and the rest of the Elements of Harmony were standing behind her.
Some of them were friendly from previous examples, like Rarity and Spike. Some of them were civil because they didn’t know what to think about him yet, like Applejack and Rainbow Dash. And others were shy because they wanted to be friends with him but didn’t consider themselves to be close to him, like Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy.
“It’s gonna be a long night,” Statice groaned.
“Yes, it is!” Pinkie Pie hugged him and laughed.
As he said before, it WAS going to be a long night.