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// Prolouge: The Offer 
// Story: Corners of the Earth 
// by raven618 
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The classroom was darker than usual. This fact, however, was barely noticed by the brown robed students as they were all either elves or half-elves with darkvision. At the moment, most students were removing their textbooks or looking over their notes. A few were engaging in conversations with their friends or were coming in late. All in all, a typical day at the wizarding school. 

The doors suddenly flung open and in stepped the teacher. A female elf going on the high side of two hundred, her skin was immaculate and her golden hair flawless. She wore the same silver robes as the rest of the teaching staff, but missing the bulky sleeves leaving her arms bare. In her left hand she carried the same textbook her class carried, Spell-Casting Volume 1. In her left she carried a golden rod, topped with a pink diamond; her spell medium. 

“Good afternoon, class.” Professor Celestia said. “I apologize for the lighting, but I felt it was appropriate for today’s lesson. I want each of you to cast a simple Light spell. Assuming you’ve all done your readings, this should be a very short class. Though I do ask that no one leave before I say you’ve been dismissed.” She made a point of looking at Minuette, a grey-haired girl who had a habit of accidentally skipping class. “Now then,” she swept her rod out in front of her and all the lights in the class room went out, “begin.” 

The effect was immediate. A cacophony of scraping chairs was heard as the students stood up to cast their spells. The first light to come on was a harsh, red light coming from the rod of one Sunset Shimmer. She hadn’t even bothered to stand up, instead she cast the spell from her seat before she returned to reading her text book. 

A few more lights of varying colors began to take bloom, though some then went out almost as quickly as they came on. Celestia began to move about the room, looking for the students who were struggling the most. 

“Miss Heartstrings, I believe you are holding your wand upside down.” 

“… Thank you, Professor.” The green/silver haired half-elf said as she corrected the error. The result was a warm golden star birthed from her wand. 

Just behind her was a greyish silver light coming from the wand of one Written Script. But the light stayed on the wand instead of floating in mid-air. Written attempted to remove the light by waving his wand around wildly. 

“Dude, cool it.” Said the elf sitting next to him, a young male by the name of Comet Tail. “You just need to give it the release command.” 

Celestia decided to let those two figure out the problem on their own. Instead she turned her attention to a pair of she-elves who were struggling to create any kind of light. One was Moondancer, a red-haired, glasses wearing bookworm. The other was a purple-haired half-elf named Twilight Sparkle. Both girls were exceptional students, but they tended to isolate themselves from the other students. 

“Having trouble girls?” Celestia asked them, her hair bathed pink by the light of another student’s successful spell. 

“We’re sorry, Professor.” Twilight said, “But we just don’t understand. The book says that the spell is powered ‘by the light of the caster’s joyous past’.” 

Celestia chuckled, “I suppose that is a bit cryptic. It means the spell is powered by the happy memories of the caster. Now, I want both of you to put down your mediums.” 

The girls looked at each other, then put down their staffs; Twilight’s an oak sapling topped with an amethyst, Moondancer’s an ivory staff with a ruby encrusted head. 

“Think of a pleasant memory. It can be anything as long as it brings up feelings of happiness or joy.” Both girls closed their eyes and smiled as they recalled their chosen memories.

"Look over there, Sparkle! That's the sun!"

"There's no sun, Daddy. That's just the. . . Wow! It's so pretty!"

“Now keep that memory in mind as you cast the spell.” She put the staffs back into their hands. Moondancer’s lit up with a soft pink light, while Twilight’s glowed a bright purple. 

“We did it!” Moondancer cheered as she hugged Twilight, who was quite shocked by the action. Celestia only laughed and went to help another student who was having trouble. 

Before long, everyone had been able to cast the spell to some degree. There were a few whose light was still rather dim or would go out after a while, but they would improve with practice. 

“Very good job, all of you. Before I dismiss you, I have an announcement.” Celestia pulled a letter out of her desk. “A few days ago, I received a letter from the royal council to investigate a magical phenomenon near the town of Greenvale. Normally this would mean that you would be left without a teacher for a week.” A small chorus of ‘awws’ and ‘yays’ could be heard. “But instead, the council has agreed to let me turn this summons into a sort of class trip.” 

“I am offering you the chance to join me on a magical expedition. If you accept, you will be excused from your other classes for one week at most and will earn extra credit in mine. If you should choose to decline you will have to attend your regular classes.” 

“Before any of you make your decision, I would like to say this. You came to this school to learn about the greater world and become wizards. And in the time I’ve known you, I’ve seen each of you grow as wizards and scholars. But I have also seen many of you retreat into your studies, shutting out the world around you and the people around you. I am giving you this opportunity not only to increase your knowledge, but to increase your experience and wisdom too. The world is not found in books or old spells. It’s out there.”

The class was left speechless, they had never heard their Professor talk like this before, with this level of passion. They felt like she was speaking personally to each one of them. Some felt guilty, others inspired, still others a little intimidated. 

“I will leave a sign-up sheet on my office door. If you plan on joining, leave your name on the sheet before midnight tonight. We leave from the school’s entrance tomorrow morning at seven, please be there with your bags. You are dismissed.”